NES players overextending thier time. (NES ettiquete)

this is not aimed at anyone specific. i'm just gettin annoyed with the speed the games have addapted.
i'm bored and so i nag.

it seems to me like people sign up for a ****load of games, and then either dont send orders to half or quit the other half.
if you dont have the time to devote to the game then dont sign up.
if you know that in 2 weeks time you're gonna go on a vacation to the moon and wont have internet access dont sign up for a game now, cause you'll disappear right when it starts getting interesting.

just because you have just joined 4 games and it only took you 30 mins to do the orders for all 4 does NOT mean that you should sign up for another one, when the games get going it will take MUCH more then 10 mins a day for each game.

just because the mod of the game has said "i'll do the update when i get ALL the orders" it does not mean you should wait 3 days to submit yours "in case some deplomacy happens". if diplomacy happens then you can react to it on the next turn.

if you are going to quit a game, quit AFTER sending your orders, so that atleast the game has some time to find a replacement. It would be nice if you could find someone before quiting who is willing to take over for you.

i'm not sure if this is realy a problem or if it just seems like it to me, but CHECK YOUR PMs REGULARLY. we are playing games where secrets can be important, and i have definetly had situations where people never saw a PM i sent right after an update untill AFTER the next update (by which time the PM was irrelevant). meaning people write their orders without checking to see if they have PMs from other players. sometimes you cant post "player X check your PMs" cause it reveals a LOT if everyone knows that you are communicating with a player secretly.

ok, enough rambling i guess. hope someone actualy reads all that.

I know one of those people is me and I'm sorry. Since I was relativly new to NESes, I didn't realize how much time they would take up. As a result I had to drop out of 2. I realize I shouldn't have signed up for so many NESes and will not do so in the future.

I am slowly migrating over to Diplomacy But don't worry I will continue to mod my nes IF people send orders in on time!

Hehe, troq and I are both becoming converts to Diplomacy, but I will stay with all my current NESes

Thank you Roddy, been having some of the same problems in RTOR, you said it all. This should be a Sticky.

i think this thread needs an update.

If you are going to start/mod a game:

No one (including you) can think of and remember to write down ALL the rules that your game will need. There will always be rules questions upfront. That means that after you start the game you should be present to answer those questions in a timely manner, dont start a game and disapear for a week figuring that by the time you come back all the players will be signed up.

In most games the first turn (and sometimes the first few) are very easy to do, but some people sign up for a game and FORGET that they did so. As the MOD it is YOUR responsibility to either get them to send their orders, or kick them out of the game and get new players.

Just because your game has had no posts since the last time you were online that is no reason to ignore it. A lot of people give up on a game when there has been no activity for a long time (a long time can range from 1 hour for some people to 3 weeks for others). and it your duty to either keep everyone interested and it can be as simple as posting who's orders you have and who's you still need.

if you do give up on a game, and decide not to continue it, TELL THAT TO THE PLAYERS on the thread, so that people dont waste time trying to find out why there is no activity on the game.

The players dont know that you only have 3 of the 10 orders. Only you know that, and unless you post that those 3 (interested) players will think that you are just ignoring the game and next time might not send their orders.

Just because you now have your own game to mod, do not abandon the other games you were in (as a player). Since this isnt a very large community, the mod of that other game is likely to be one of your players, and how would you feel if he started ignoring your game.

My personal pet peev is that Mods seem to give up on their own games faster then the players do. Its very annoying. You started the game, that means that you WANTED to mod it and you thought the rules were interesting. Others have invested their time into it.
I think the last FEW posts of any game should be the Mod saying "Oh come on guys, PLEASE SOMEONE send in your orders, dont let this die".
Unfortunatly the last post of most games seem to be either one of the players (me often) saying "well, when's the update?" or the mod saying "well i'm closing this game, cause i wanna start a new one"