Would you play 3 XOTMs per month?

[da_Vinci]

The thumbs up/down poll of WOTM has raised the issue of three XOTM per month. That might have implications of diluting the competition in each game if few of the best players play in all three. So this poll seeks to assess how many players would expect to compete in which games in a three games a month system (consider game preferences and time constraints). It would also be nice if the top players would post with their choices (in addition to voting), so we can assess whether three games a month would strip away the competition for awards in some games.

dV

 

[ngraner42]

Three would be super, but it would be good if one was a small map. Actually after GOTM25, I decided I really like small maps, since every city becomes much more important. I know the staff puts a lot of effort into game preparation, so making one game a random roll it up would be fine to reduce the impact on them.

Having three games also reduces issues with difficulty level. If you don't like the Prince level GOTM game, wait 10 days and you will probably get that Immortal game you were hoping for.

 

[Kennigit]

I'd try really hard to play 3 XOTM's every month, and I probably would be able to 90% of the time with my current playstyle. GOTM's take me no longer than 5 hours to play, so thats 1/2 hour a day for all 3 games. But for the purposes of this poll and because of real life events coming up soon, I voted for 2: BOTM and a GOTM.

 

[Jimmy Thunder]

I'm not sure I could fit in 3 games in most months.

If I had to choose out of the three I would probably pick BOTM and GOTM as these would likely be the most popular games.

My absolute preference would be the 12/6/12 GOTM/WOTM/BOTM split that has been talked about.

 

[Trynthlas]

Well I'd say yes to three, but I only have Vanilla and BtS, so I voted for that

 

[cabert]

I'd play all 3. Not every month, though.

 

[Lejonmanen]

I would prioritize BotM and maybe play the other games as well, if I have time.

 

[da_Vinci]

Early results are rather interesting. If the current patterns hold, only about 1/3 expect to play all three (risking some competition dilution?), about twice as many would play B+G as B+W, and 1/3 would play BOTM only.

This pretty much indicates one BOTM per month, and a two to one ratio of G to W. So I think the finalists for patterns are 12/6/12 if we don't see competition dilution as a problem (and the staff can manage it), or 8/4/12 if three games a month is problematic.

Keep on voting (only if you have not aready! )!

"Vote early, vote often"

dV

 

[ChrisFromLux]

I would try to play 3 games, but I'm really not sure if I can manage that every month; that's why I voted for GOTM/BOTM.

But I would prefer the 8/4/12 proposition ...

 

[nokem]

I've got all three and I'd play anything pitched at my novice difficulty level. So I guess I'd like as many as possible, although I'd only play a small proportion.

 

[wwassme]

I've got all three and I'd play anything pitched at my novice difficulty level. So I guess I'd like as many as possible, although I'd only play a small proportion.

@dV: Nokem makes a good point. Your poll designs do not account for the fact that some players will play only the low difficulty levels and some players will play only the high difficulty levels. Others may selectively play games based on the chosen leader/map type/etc. Thus, in trying to estimate monthly participation and participation dilution, the actual numbers are likely to be different than your poll results might suggest.

Overall, I'm in favor of a 12/6/12 arrangement if that is manageable for the staff. I think that balances all the different interests.

 

[da_Vinci]

@dV: Nokem makes a good point. Your poll designs do not account for the fact that some players will play only the low difficulty levels and some players will play only the high difficulty levels. Others may selectively play games based on the chosen leader/map type/etc. Thus, in trying to estimate monthly participation and participation dilution, the actual numbers are likely to be different than your poll results might suggest.

Overall, I'm in favor of a 12/6/12 arrangement if that is manageable for the staff. I think that balances all the different interests.

No question that there will be variability around any expected values that this poll might generate. And I don't see a practical way to incorporate all of your valid points into a poll. But the low % expecting to play all three games is revealing, I think, in that sheer number of games may fragment the playing community even when players own all versions.

I agree that 12/6/12 may well be the best balance of all interests ... see

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=6277260&postcount=30

dV

 

[LowtherCastle]

The more the merrier. 12/12/12

 

[Mastiff_of_Ar]

I'd attempt them all... that's for sure!

 

[AgedOne]

I just don't have the time for all three. I'd play one, possibly 2 (any 2 of the 3), and just once in a blue moon 3.

 

[morpheus11]

More than likely I would only be playing BOTM but if GOTM was at a lower level I will probably pick that up too.

 

[Kennigit]

100% in favor of 12/6/12. Hopefully with the addition of the newly staffed Thralia and Dynamic the GOTM staff can handle it.

 

[MarkM]

These results are gratifying. For the last couple months I felt alone in the wilderness, shouting into the empty void "now that I have & am playing BTS, I really don't want to play the others any more." Now I see my POV (one game a month, BOTM) is actually the most common POV. A GOTM would have to have some unusual attraction to motivate me now.

I notice in the BOTM01 pregame discussion that a lot of folks have had BTS sitting around for 6 months but not gotten around to installing it yet (!!! ... that's kinda hard to believe). If that is true, I wonder how many people in that boat who are saying now that they'll play these other games, but really won't want to play them once they've played BTS a bit. I think a few months down the road this poll will be more worthwhile than right now.

I also suspect the answers may hinge on play style. If you're an uber-warmonger, you go for the jugular early and that means 1) the game takes less time, and 2) you only see the early game. where there aren't as great differences between versions. So you probably play all three. But if you're a builder the opposite is true, one game takes a long time and in the late game where you spend most of your time the experience is night & day different. So maybe you tend to pick just one xOTM, and it would be BTS if you have it & realize the difference it makes.

p.s. an interesting statistical tidbit: there are 35 people currently not saying they'll pay any and every xOTM no matter what it is or how many they are. If you take "I'll play everything" to be another way of saying they just don't care much what the version is (probably true for large majority of those 13?), then of those 35 people who are selective in what they will/won't to play, all but four of them (~90%) are saying Warlords is the version they won't bother with.

 

[da_Vinci]

p.s. an interesting tidbit from current results: 35 people are not saying they'll pay any and every xOTM no matter what it is or how many they are. If you take "I'll play everything" to be another way of saying they just don't care much what the version is (probably true for large majority of those 13?), then of those 35 people who are selective in what they want to play, only four of them have any interest in warlords ...

I think most of your points are reasonable, but I think you are overstating this last one. While I am surprised at the lead for BOTM + GOTM over BOTM + WOTM (given the frequency of "prefer warlords to vanilla" in the other poll thread), that might be a function of not ownnig Warlords for some of those voters, more than dislike of Warlords.

With 48 precincts reporting ... 95.83% say they will play BOTM alone or in some combination. 56.24% say they will play Vanilla alone or in some combination. 35.41% say they will play Warlords alone or in some combination. So while only 12% of your "selective group" (selective by game preference or by software ownership?) picks warlords to play, a third of the voting population does.

To me, the concern from these numbers is how only a quarter of the voters expect to play all three games. Almost all play BOTM, so the GOTM and WOTM participation falls off, possibly diluting competitiveness in those versions for awards (and affecting global rankings). Having a monthly BOTM and a second montly game that rotates between GOTM and WOTM (8/4 or 9/3 G/W) might bring the participation in the "second game" back to 90% of the active community. This might be healthier for competiton.

We would need to poll how the 12/6/12 option would be expected to play out ...

Still, if the smaller pool of WOTM players includes the elites going for those eptathlons, maybe the competitive quality is still high, even if the numbers are not, and that is what matters.

In fact, might we find that the better players prefer Warlords to vanilla when available, so the quality drop is largest for vanilla, even with more players? Maybe that is not so bad, as there has been sentiment for something like upper and lower divisions ... maybe this would happen by natural selection in a three game per month system?

dV

 

[MarkM]

I think most of your points are reasonable, but I think are overstating this last one. While I am surprised at the lead for BOTM + GOTM over BOTM + WOTM (given the frequency of "prefer warlords to vanilla" in the other poll thread), that might be a function of not ownnig Warlords for some of those voters, more than dislike of Warlords.

With 48 precincts reporting ... 95.83% say they will play BOTM alone or in some combination. 56.24% say they will play Vanilla alone or in some combination. 35.41% say they will play Warlords alone or in some combination. So while only 12% of your "selective group" (selective by game preference or by software ownership?) picks warlords to play, a third of the voting population does.

I suppose it's all interpretation, and unknowable without asking the followup question to these 13: "Are you saying that you specifically want to play Warlords every month, or are you saying that you'll play everything, if it's one of each you'll play that, but if it's vanilla/BTS/BTS (BTS twice) you'd do that too?"

In other words I'm not sure those 13 aren't just saying "I want to play as much as possible, you put a game out I'll play it no matter what the version"