cracker
Gil Favor's Sidekick
Over the past three weeks, we have had an active discussion of spoiler threads among the GOTM staff members and we have reached a consensus that some changes need to be made to help guide the process in supporting the main mission goals for the Games of the Month.
In recent months, some of the spoiler threads have drifted into a virtual race to see who can spill the beans first instead of a being a tool to promote discussion of various aspects of the game.
Discussion is a critically important part of the GOTM process and we do not really want to do anything that will discourage players of all skill levels from participating freely in the discussion threads.
I feel that many of the issues with how these spoiler/discussion threads evolve can be addressed by making a few simple procedural changes that are backed up with a clearer set of rules and a little bit more active participation by the moderators and staff members to help guide the process.
One of the tasks we have accepted as members of the GOTM staff is for many of the staff members to play the GOTM very early in the month so that we will be available to participate freely in the discussion from the very beginning.
A second major change that we need to implement is a new rule that prohibits any individual player from opening spoiler threads of any kind without first contacting the GOTM Administrator by email or PM. For now, the administrative task falls to me, so I will have the responsibility for determining if a new spoiler or discussion thread needs to be opened. Reserving the task of opening spoiler threads to the administrator will help us assure that the threads have the appropriate disclaimer title and that each thread begins with an announcement message that makes it clear what topics and information may be included in the discussion thread.
To make this clear, effective with Gotm15-Russia (essentially effective immediately) spoiler threads may only be opened by a forum moderator.
The third major change we will implement this month is to divide discussion threads for the current games into time or topic segments. This change will be implemented to make it much clearer where you must be in the progress of your own game before you may join and participate in any of the discussions.
The ultimate objective here is to make it easier for players to know when they are doing the right thing by participating in the discussions and to provide a strong seperation between discussing things you have already done and the risk of discovering things you may not already know.
For Gotm15-Russia, we will have an announcement thread as soon as the game is ready for you to read the new "Scope of the Game" information and then to download the starting save game and begin play. Every player can use this thread to go "Whoopee", "Yeehaw", or "Oh My Gosh" to their hearts content but discussion of any information that is not clearly presented in the game announcement and the picture of the start position should be considered a big hairy no-no.
The first discussion thread for Gotm15-Russia will be opened on January 5th and will include a couple of minimum events (time and knowledge) that you will need to have passed in order to participate in the discussion up to that point. This first thread will not be allowed to include discussion of game events and knowledge that is beyond the cutoff events.
I will open subsequent discussion threads and spoilers to support additional discussion of the games beyond the first segment based on how I see the process unfold.
Plan ahead just a little bit as you begin to play Gotm15 and it is my hope that all players will be able to use these new procedures to make the discussion threads a more valuable, focused, and enjoyable experience.
We will be adding these changes to the new rules/Code of Conduct web pages and if you have any direct feedback on this subject you may contact me by email at gotm@civfanatics.net or you may post to this thread to foster further discussion.
I encourage every player to play and enjoy the Gotm15 game and to participate actively and appropriately in the accompanying discussion threads. I hope this helps to get us all off to a great start for the new year.
- cracker
In recent months, some of the spoiler threads have drifted into a virtual race to see who can spill the beans first instead of a being a tool to promote discussion of various aspects of the game.
Discussion is a critically important part of the GOTM process and we do not really want to do anything that will discourage players of all skill levels from participating freely in the discussion threads.
I feel that many of the issues with how these spoiler/discussion threads evolve can be addressed by making a few simple procedural changes that are backed up with a clearer set of rules and a little bit more active participation by the moderators and staff members to help guide the process.
One of the tasks we have accepted as members of the GOTM staff is for many of the staff members to play the GOTM very early in the month so that we will be available to participate freely in the discussion from the very beginning.
A second major change that we need to implement is a new rule that prohibits any individual player from opening spoiler threads of any kind without first contacting the GOTM Administrator by email or PM. For now, the administrative task falls to me, so I will have the responsibility for determining if a new spoiler or discussion thread needs to be opened. Reserving the task of opening spoiler threads to the administrator will help us assure that the threads have the appropriate disclaimer title and that each thread begins with an announcement message that makes it clear what topics and information may be included in the discussion thread.
To make this clear, effective with Gotm15-Russia (essentially effective immediately) spoiler threads may only be opened by a forum moderator.
The third major change we will implement this month is to divide discussion threads for the current games into time or topic segments. This change will be implemented to make it much clearer where you must be in the progress of your own game before you may join and participate in any of the discussions.
The ultimate objective here is to make it easier for players to know when they are doing the right thing by participating in the discussions and to provide a strong seperation between discussing things you have already done and the risk of discovering things you may not already know.
For Gotm15-Russia, we will have an announcement thread as soon as the game is ready for you to read the new "Scope of the Game" information and then to download the starting save game and begin play. Every player can use this thread to go "Whoopee", "Yeehaw", or "Oh My Gosh" to their hearts content but discussion of any information that is not clearly presented in the game announcement and the picture of the start position should be considered a big hairy no-no.
The first discussion thread for Gotm15-Russia will be opened on January 5th and will include a couple of minimum events (time and knowledge) that you will need to have passed in order to participate in the discussion up to that point. This first thread will not be allowed to include discussion of game events and knowledge that is beyond the cutoff events.
I will open subsequent discussion threads and spoilers to support additional discussion of the games beyond the first segment based on how I see the process unfold.
Plan ahead just a little bit as you begin to play Gotm15 and it is my hope that all players will be able to use these new procedures to make the discussion threads a more valuable, focused, and enjoyable experience.
We will be adding these changes to the new rules/Code of Conduct web pages and if you have any direct feedback on this subject you may contact me by email at gotm@civfanatics.net or you may post to this thread to foster further discussion.
I encourage every player to play and enjoy the Gotm15 game and to participate actively and appropriately in the accompanying discussion threads. I hope this helps to get us all off to a great start for the new year.
- cracker
I will certainly follow the correct procedure next time. 
Perhaps we'll just change the submit deadline to match the calendar and then it will look like you were right and the staff was just a little slow on the uptake. 
