GOTM Calendar year 2012

[Inkerman]

2012 was games 130-139, a set which included quite a number of unusual situations. Two were mandatory OCC, one was Professor Garfield's illustration of modern naval warfare, three others were also compositions (two by Ali_Ardavan, one by Inkerman) and then there was the "10 year" game of Lycerius. Taken together they show how well the game handles and plays interestingly in such a variety of situations.

Five members took part in more than half the 10 games. Only Ali_Ardavan took part in all; haleewud took part in eight, Inkerman in seven, and Major_Advantage and mercurios in six. Five of mercurios' games resulted in a characteristic blue star. In the overall scores Ali won five games and the Major three, with haleewud and Inkerman one each.

We were joined for an occasional game by many others, and the games and spoilers were all the better for the presence of Professor Garfield (2 games), and the single appearances of Peaster, Uruwashi, mackerel, CharlieChuck and even our hard-working moderator Magic_Gorter found time for one speedy OCC game.

No doubt the age of the game and demands on real time are a main factor in the pattern. It does tend to take a lot of time for an experienced player to play as strongly as possible, and many prefer not to play unless they can make sufficient time to play thoroughly and the situation appeals to their preferred style.

The spoilers suggest we will in due course see a similar pattern for 2013, with zenon and starlifter amongst the occasional A-list celebrity visitors.

I pick as my highlight haleewud's eventual ultra-speedy conclusion of the Lycerius game.

 

[Prof. Garfield]

It does tend to take a lot of time for an experienced player to play as strongly as possible, and many prefer not to play unless they can make sufficient time to play thoroughly and the situation appeals to their preferred style.

This describes me quite well. There have been times when I've found a GOTM interesting, but I haven't had enough time to play it, and there have been times when I've had the opportunity to play but the open GOTMs didn't really catch my interest.

We may want to consider having a larger number of games "open" at a time (announce a game with a more distant deadline), so that players have a larger "window" in which to play a game they find interesting. Of course, the game should still be designed to be completed in a 2 month window (most of the time).

 

[Ali Ardavan]

That is an interesting idea, Professor. Since most of our games get an extended deadline, perhaps it is best to go from 2 active games and 2 months deadlines to 3 active games and 3 months deadlines.

 

[Magic_gorter]

If a 3 month deadline is wanted/needed to play and finish a game once in a while instead of having not enough time to play then I think we should do it.

However I want to know if more people think that this could be a solution to play and submit more.

If we agree to have a 3 month deadline it should start next year.

 

[Ali Ardavan]

Right on, Magic. I should have said so explicitly that I am wondering what others think.

 

[Inkerman]

I think the opposite!

I find it difficult to play more than one game at a time, and for GotM I like it that other people are playing at the same time - I like reading the spoiler whilst the game is in my mind. I also like the idea that the game is limited by real time. If you cannot finish one month play the next one instead. So my ideal is game set on 1st of month with deadline the 1st of the next month. (And we are working to bring the results closer to the deadline!)

But of course I understand we must be practical; this is just a leisure activity after all, and people have other things to do.

And variety is great, some quicker games, some longer games. So maybe "once in a while" as Magic says is worth trying. We may have in practice moved to longer deadlines...

GotM 148 is relatively quick and its extended deadline meant it was open for nine weeks, and GotMs 149 and 150 have nine week deadlines.