Why do NESes fail?

[Gelion]

One thing people failed to metion in this thread is that NES happens between the updates. NES is more than a wargame its about LIVING the nation you are playing. How many could seriously say that they get involved?
If a mod sees no stories, no diplomacy, no people getting involved in their nations in the 3 or 5 pages of text over a week how can he find motivation for a good update?
Picture this metaphor:
Tall giant like mod and many normal sized players are moving through the marsh. They are tied by a rope: mod and players. Sometimes mod has to pull players out of the marsh. Sometimes players help the mod out. However unless both "halves" move smoothly the "saving" cannot continue for long.

Second reason: Dreaded Orders.
Consider this from the mods perspective:
You get 10-15 orders for a game. Three are illegible, six are 3-4 lines of text of "grow economy" type. Two are "roxxlololo" "I pwn all". Which normally leaves about 4-5 orders one can really enjoy reading and working with. Now where should the motivation come from? Obviously a mod does stories for those 4-5 nations only to get complaints from 10 other players as to why nothing interesting happened in their countries.

Reason Three: "I got an idea!"
When a mod opens a game he usually has some idea in mind. "Hey I want to be God in ancient world", "hey I read a book about Mongol conquests, lets have a game with tribes mixing". "hey lets do a ww2 game cuz I read about this cool battle of 1944". What does a mod get? Lets take the ww2 example:
Mod thinks - lets do a ww2 tactical scenario - players would manage war production and command battles:
What's happening?
- 2-3 people start projects that take 15 years. THIS IS a 3 months/turn game people!!! What are you thinking?
- One person dreams of unifying south america as Spain. It would take decades to bind Latins together!!!
- someone whines about why cant Germany start Manhattan project. This is a tactics game.... relax!
and so on.....
Mods... if you have an idea of how the game should progress - shape it! Or it will die and die because you'll think "this is not what I wanted to mod"...

 

[Israelite9191]

Second reason: Dreaded Orders.
Consider this from the mods perspective:
You get 10-15 orders for a game. Three are illegible, six are 3-4 lines of text of "grow economy" type. Two are "roxxlololo" "I pwn all". Which normally leaves about 4-5 orders one can really enjoy reading and working with. Now where should the motivation come from? Obviously a mod does stories for those 4-5 nations only to get complaints from 10 other players as to why nothing interesting happened in their countries.

Perfectly worded, I am in complete agreement.

 

[Birdjaguar]

Yes I had forgotten about all the between update stuff. Thanks. Do you really get orders like "roxxlololo" "I pwn all"?

 

[Israelite9191]

Yes. There are many people who use internet speak etc.. I find those to be some of the most horrid things I have ever had displeasure of reading.

 

[Lord_Iggy]

Personally, I love simple orders. But there's no point in arguing which is better, for it's a simple difference in preference.

 

[alex994]

Well, I too would prefer simple orders, to write and read. But the truth is that it changes from mods to mods. Some mods prefer an excruciatingly detailed orders *looks at a certain mod* *cough* Symphony

 

[TheBladeRoden]

I get scared off by players who post thousand-word stories in every post.

 

[LittleBoots]

You don't have to read them Although if the topic interests you, it can be a lot of fun. Reference Panda's long speeches or Symphony's recent constitution, which was a very nice, if very long, read.

 

[Reno]

Second reason: Dreaded Orders.
Consider this from the mods perspective:
You get 10-15 orders for a game. Three are illegible, six are 3-4 lines of text of "grow economy" type. Two are "roxxlololo" "I pwn all". Which normally leaves about 4-5 orders one can really enjoy reading and working with. Now where should the motivation come from? Obviously a mod does stories for those 4-5 nations only to get complaints from 10 other players as to why nothing interesting happened in their countries.

This was one, major, reason for me closing my recent NES.

 

[Harleqin]

I agree with much of what has been said. Right now my nes is very close to being shut down. Few players, lack of player interaction etc is a killer for me. I'd like to see the world start breathing, people forming alliances, negotiating, backstabbing etc.
As it is it appears to be close to dead simply because my motivation is rapidly vanishing as I can't see any real purpose in continuing. It is a real pity though as I have several surprises planned to happen later on.
I think the best example is that the update was posted yesterday and in the... what... 20 hours since there haven't even been a comment.

So, for my point I think the thing that kills a nes is lack of player participation which then lowers the mods motivation. There are exceptions of course, but that's how it is in general.

Oh, and I am in complete agreement with Gelion

 

[Disenfrancised]

I haven't gotten any "roxxlolo" type orders yet, which is something I'm rather thankful for .

 

[Kal'thzar]

Swissbezerker never played in your NES's did he?

 

[Lord_Iggy]

I agree with much of what has been said. Right now my nes is very close to being shut down. Few players, lack of player interaction etc is a killer for me. I'd like to see the world start breathing, people forming alliances, negotiating, backstabbing etc.

Whoah, whoah. There's a ton of stuff going on with me, but it's all PMed.

I will work tirelessly to remotivate you Hq! Look, your NES is first on my sig!

 

[Harleqin]

Right, then go and post what a good update I wrote

 

[Captain2]

Right, then go and post what a good update I wrote

if it helps i did already

besides i've been in a fair bit of diplomacy in your nes, just its all secretive by PM

fog of war

 

[Birdjaguar]

If mods played NPCs in a more assertive role (rather than responsive only) between updates, would that help players stay involved? and keep the public thread alive?

 

[TheBladeRoden]

I'm also intimidated by 200 page long threads

 

[Lord_Iggy]

I often play them aggressive or something, look at Gamorrea or Tsaya in LINESII. They definitely add interest to the game.

 

[~Darkening~]

Second reason: Dreaded Orders.
Consider this from the mods perspective:
You get 10-15 orders for a game. Three are illegible, six are 3-4 lines of text of "grow economy" type. Two are "roxxlololo" "I pwn all". Which normally leaves about 4-5 orders one can really enjoy reading and working with. Now where should the motivation come from? Obviously a mod does stories for those 4-5 nations only to get complaints from 10 other players as to why nothing interesting happened in their countries.

Eh, my orders tend to be of the second type because i rarely have the time to go through long, winded orders. I have one day a week- most often sunday nights- that I really have the time to go through it all, think about the posibilities, and come up with a strategy.(which now I try to send all orders I need to on). I never complain if I send crappy orders and i have a small/little section- its what you get for your effot. Plus, for those that havr ever actually spoken with me, you'd know that I hate typos.

As for stories, I hate posting anything under two-thousand- its not worth it. But sadly, the quality in my works (which was already in short supply), has fallen to nothing recently.

 

[Harleqin]

I think the most important thing with orders are clarity. I like getting some details in them to help with the update, but too many details can be daunting. Problem with too many details is also if it doesn't work as the player wants... then there might be complaints later