Monthly schedule discussion

[civ_steve]

For QSC, I think it would be helpful to have the results out before the end of the month. This would give less experienced players an opportunity to review the timelines of the QSC submittals to improve their game for the next GOTM. To facilitate this, if it's possible at all, the QSC submittal date could be moved up to the 15th.

Releasing the GOTM Scope of the Game a few days early is generally a good idea! (Although some will die of anticipation!!) Being one who barely has time to finish a game ever (December and January have been very bad months for me finding time to do Civ3), I'd plead to leave the submittal date on the 2nd, but I'll adust (somehow) if it gets moved up.

So, how about moving QSC submittal to the 15th, and releasing next month's Scope of the Game and this month's QSC results 2-3 days before the end of the month? This way new players can review timelines and anticipate the next month's Game at the same time. The QSC site would have to be listed as a spoiler for this month, but that would be no different than the Spoiler theads that already exist.

 

[Man of Kent]

Along with a number of others I have no problem with moving the start/closing dates for the GOTM.
With regard the acceleration of the QSC results I think the timetable for the release of the results for both the QSC and main games must be left to the discretion of the GOTM team. Whilst I appreciate that any help is welcome I do feel by trying to bring forward the QSC results this may cause a problem for the GOTM team especially as the entries seem to be growing and we may end up agreeing an impossible target. In all these events we need to think of the 'backroom' boys who put a lot of effort and time into running them. If GOTM16 is anything to go by I'm sure Cracker must be spending a lot of time preparing the stage for the following months GOTM and personally I would rather have the 'add-ons' to the standard game, which makes it more enjoyable to play than worry about getting the results a bit earlier.

 

[ControlFreak]

Early scope of the game without save
Great idea, I think it really builds the interest. (Also agree with Borealis and others about withholding terrain info.)

Earlier Submission Dates
As someone who never completes a GOTM, I cringe at having two days fewer to complete. But, as a realist, I concur with COL and others that a Game of the MONTH should start and end in a MONTH. If it helps administrative efforts, this is an obvious do it. The GOTM staff deserves anything they want.:worshp:

[EDIT:]Regarding the QSC deadline, I could understand moving the QSC deadline up a LITTLE, maybe as far as the 15th (hey thats tomorrow, I better finish my writeup.) Especially if this meant that the QSC results could be released with the next months Scope of the Game or the next months .SAV file.

Anything else to address these issues
I think it should be possible to retire a game and submit it. With the new scoring system, there is an emphasis on getting people to submit no matter what. Last game, I had to gift all of my cities away, declare war with the nearest civs and move my troops out of my capital. There should be a way to just turn my game in on the deadline day and get the points that I've accumlated to that point. In the win/loss catagory, you could add a retire state so that people would know your loss was a loss to R/L and not necessarily the game. I think you might have less complaints about moving the deadline up by two days, especially from those of us that rarely get the game finished anyway.

 

[Creepster]

I think it should be possible to retire a game and submit it.

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This is something we are looking into. After the new scoring system is in place and up and running we are going to try to see what would be required for adding the Retired option to a game. I think there are a lot of players out there that for what ever reason run out of time with the game and never submit it. So there is value in getting those games submitted once we understand how to score them properly.

 

[ControlFreak]

Originally posted by Creepster
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This is something we are looking into. After the new scoring system is in place and up and running we are going to try to see what would be required for adding the Retired option to a game. I think there are a lot of players out there that for what ever reason run out of time with the game and never submit it. So there is value in getting those games submitted once we understand how to score them properly.

As usual, you guys are all over it!

 

[Bolka]

I think it should be ok for most of us. But it is effectively reducing by 4 days the time available to complete a gotm, and with the new overall scoring system, a player is penalized by not submitting a game.
So I guess it would make sense we could submit a retired game, so as to minimize the penalty on the overall score when having a busy month, or being on vacation.

 

[civ_steve]

Currently, if time is running out and one wants to submit a unfinished game, you have to engineer a defeat. In my GOTM15 I ran out of time, and it took over an hour to gift my cities to someone else, disband my hordes of units, starve my last city to size 2 to build a Settler, while waiting for Egypt to finish me off. The option to submit a retired game would be so much more desireable.

 

[Bolka]

I have been thinking about the scheduling of the gotm, and I came to this conclusion.
Pushed to the extreme, there are two solutions.

One constists in having a very dynamic system, with, for example, a game that officially starts on the 1st, but is actually available 2 weeks ahead, like on the 15th of the previous month, but it is understood that if you start playing it earlier spoilers will only be available following the current schedule. The advantage is players get more flexibility to manage their playing time. The submission date could also be a bit more flexible.

The other is to start on the first and end on the 30th/31st. The advantage is players are more 'synchronized' in their games, playing in the same era at the same time, and spoiler threads more timely. On the other hand, if for some reason you can't play for a couple of weeks, you'll have a hard time making it for submission.

In both cases I guess it makes sense the submission date not to be delayed too much, or made flexible, as we don't want to wait a month for the results.

Just brainstorming...

 

[Bamspeedy]

I, too would prefer to see the deadline for submissions as the last day of the month, not the 2nd day of the following month.

QSC deadline I would prefer to remain at the 20th of the month. Even with the deadline at the 20th, I was unable to make it this month due to my own personal situation, but my situation was a rare, unique one for me. But we should keep in mind that sometimes some people may go on vacation or something (or in the hospital) for 2 weeks, and if the 15th was the deadline, they would have 1 day (or less) to do the QSC. And sometimes you just don't have time on that 1 day to play Civ3. Giving them 5 days beyond the 2 weeks would be more reasonable. I could have completed the QSC, but I didn't feel like going to work on 2 hours of sleep . Hopefully, the 10 or 11 days would give the GOTM staff enough time to compile the results from the QSC. If we get tons of submissions, that they don't have enough time, then I would agree that the deadline should be moved up, if they feel that they need to.

I don't want the QSC results posted until after the GOTM deadline. Even if it is agonizing waiting for the results to see how you ranked.