A Proposed Plan

[Fly Swatter]

The "Proposed Plan" started in a discussion with a former staffer, worked over by me for doability, and put before other staff members for approval. Its become more of a process then a plan, but the plan is what sparked it, so i thought id point that out. So, no plan just a process. It breaks down to building something for pub similar to the prac arena, but designed to accommodate more players, and promotes interaction between vets and noobs.


Main objectives:

1) Pub that mirrors league.
2) More activity in the main arena.
3) Interaction between vets and noobs.


Skipping ahead to what has been done. Upper and lower map are spilt, think of pub as two arenas. Upper map will host the league style game, it can host a combination of sectors. Bot has a method that can activate sectors (based on player count maybe other factors). It dose this using doors, and a bool active or inactive value for each flag. The flag poles them self are highlighted red or green to indicate there state. In reality the doors are not even needed, but they do serve to funnel noobs and stray into the sectors being played. And, yes there will be noobs and strays to deal with because it is pub, also unlike the prac arena players will have to fly in from the outside nkz (those two facts should be pointed out). The core flags are never doored off, but inactive (highlighted red) unless west is being played. I ended up using the old league map and swapped out the tileset with the one currently use in the prac arena (it looks good), and there are many unused tiles to develop the lower map with. So, now we can play sector prac in pub, games can start with as little as 2vs2 or as many as 15vs15, and we retain the iconic death star. This setup also make switching back to normal pub as simple as a staff !command. The bell flag league game is relatively simple to code, but the scoring system really doesn't make sense imo, and would prefer something different (strait forward clinical i think might be best). The lower map will be developed over time and will be free to enter by anyone at anytime, unlike the upper map that gets locked when a game starts.


What is needed:

1) Scoring and Ratings - Everything related to scoring, ratings, stats, weekly/monthly achievements (the whole system).
2) Graphic Designer - Design of two new nkz's, and general purpose.
3) Mapper - Development of map/tileset - http://s23.postimg.org/jdz8fxncr/publeague_map.png

Development can be found (with all its lose ends) at ?go #publeague

-Fly

Oh, this should be considered plan b, or on hold, as the results of other debates are sorted out.
And, I can be convinced of something else, so this is open to debate.

[Beer Hunter]

Just for the record, this is also a plan I will be going for, unless other and more appealing plans appear. This is a long term project, first starting on small scale and expanding slowly to cover more area. Depending on the server software we'll use, it could get quite interesting.

[the_real_the_snake]

questions:
1) Do you plan to remove the current prac arenas?
2) How will you address the squad based gameplay in pub that was an essential part for many years, and somewhat was lost several years ago? thats what established us as a community.
3) What incentive is there for people to play with noobs?

[falconeer]

1. Removal of practice arenas is 2 years overdue.
2. A move to ASSS should be the focus, not another failed pub idea.

Part two is to enable part three to be possible.

3. Practice sectors should be moved into pub and be independent of the pub map.

For Part three, the reason practice should be independent is because what you call merging pub into league. I call destroying pub, and replacing it with league. Part of pubs value was that it wasn't a competition and it was more of a kill game, where you could fool around. I am a long time, many hours spent, pub player. And I've also played in league so I know how to respect both aspects of DSB. No plan for a zone can be a good plan when it completely ignores and destroys one aspect of the zone in favor of another.

My plan enables both aspects to co-exist in a symbiotic relationship, essentially my idea only adds to the zone and merges two types of players; Pub players, and league players, into one arena.

So again the proposed idea by DSB staff is a poor idea, and a last ditch attempt to make up for the fact that you guys are totally powerless and incapable of doing what is needed right away, which is moving subgame to ASSS. Please STOP harassing DSB any further and let me help you.

4. Once sectors and a separate death-star are in the same arena. We can provide incentives for playing pub. Such incentives could be that if you play, you get put on the queue to enter the next practice that is starting. Which means you need to be involved in a pub game, and type ?next, to get on the list for the next east practice. Being in spec doesn't work. You would need a certain amount of weekly pub hours to always maintain a spot to practice daily. This can be further enhanced by improving pub game play to something more enjoyable. (Which can be discussed later).

5. Using the_snakes idea to make squads more meaningful in pub would also help, by equating squad size to private frequency size, and adding other reasons for squads to play pub. Other reasons could include but not be limited to a scoring and rating system for squads in pub. Which should have been added 6 years ago.

[Beer Hunter]

1. Removing the prac arenas is complicated, basically we can not and should not prevent the players of this community to do anything against their will - unless they give a permission for such a limitation, then it can be done to certain extent. Does the community want for the pub to come back and those newbies being trained properly? If so, then you might want to accept limitating the access to actual practice arenas - or are you willing to play on public prac by yourself - even if there is an option of more extensive (normal) pracs at ?go dsb. Basically we're allowing the possibility for getting public active, the rest is up to the players of this community - that's my "noble" viewpoint of this. Fly has some ideas for this subject as well, so I will let him voice them - at least he had last time I spoke with him and I value his efforts greatly in developing the best possible public theme but it does not come out as the best unless the community is fully behind it.

2. Possibilities there are - public squad gaming ladder where squads compete vs each other? You could have same squad for league and public or then create new one for public - that's up to the players. Creating the sister/cadet squads with the idea I've shared in DSB League forum would support this.

3. Greatest incentive there is for current players to play with new players is the fact that these players could become part of DSB for a long period which supports our league growth as well. We, as in staff, can not force a change in league participation numbers to happen - it must be a community effort.

I'd be interested to hear your ideas for this, that means all of you involved in DSB one way or another. the_snake and Delic in particular and Fly, Eridu and Tembest from "our side", I can't name you all or I'd need to make a list so long it would take up a lot of space. Every opinion counts and this is a future we're building for YOU, not for ourselves and not for our own preferences.

[falconeer]

I also would like to see a 12 vs 12 league, focused on two squads. European Squad, vs, North American Squad. It can be a yearly event, 5 game league. Meaning it lasts 1 month and two weeks. And it can have fantasy league aspects attached to it allowing people to place bets and get more involved.

I like how you say you can't force anything, but you are basically forcing league into pub. As opposed to merging pub and league players. You are merging league game play into pub, which practically annihilates the concept of pub altogether. You will have a deathstar with sectioned off sectors. North would be blocked by doors, because there would only be enough players for an East and South game. Poor decision, the whole idea of pub was to freely move across the whole deathstar. Now that free concept game play can only be enabled if we find 24 players to play at once.

[Seriel Killer]

For public:

The map size is huge, we don't have 300 players on a daily basis any longer, need to reduce size by a factor of 10.

There is a nice map in ?go minids - i'm all for putting that one.

Tweaking the settings to create bouncing bullets or something like that could create more base play in the DeathStar.

If you can create practices in public arena to separate freqs that would be good, but I assume it takes a lot of work.

[falconeer]

No. Reducing map size is the worst idea ever. I reduced darkns map three times with three different versions. Dakrn wasn't capable of that type of map editing and didn't have time. But all that aside the logic is faulty. You need to think big, to get big. Constantly reducing doesn't mean more people will play and the game will last longer, especially when the map is cramped. Map size has nothing to do with increasing population. So it just means you will have to keep reducing the map as the player population decreases, until you basically have a 2 vs 2 map or league. In fact what makes the classic deathstar so beautiful, is the size. You cannot have the same game play if you shrink the classic deathstar. It practically destroys east completely. It destroys North and South becomes a North game.

[Beer Hunter]

12 vs 12 league with two squads? With the current population that means both squads would have approximately 25 members. At least we'd have show ups, however the problems might be tied to questions like: who gets playing time? How will it be decided? Who will captain the squads? In general, all players should have even amount of playing time - basically with this big rosters you'd never face the same team if the teams rotated their players. Basically, best way this might work is as an tournament which runs for 3-5 weeks. After that some creative methods of awarding best or key players could be done - in addition to awarding Europeans or Americans as winners.

About forcing league to pub - it's just a method of getting public activated better than it currently is - with the gameplay which everybody loves, in theory it should create more inspiration to play public. Public still is our main way of attracting new players and with some people playing on public we would ensure they would stay and learn a bit. At the moment the situation on public is sad, when you enter, you fly alone or then you need to hop straight to practices which is not pleasurable experience as a first timer, not to mention how many first timers even know how to check if there is some activity as they expect to be taken to the action when they come in?

[falconeer]

You fly alone because everyone is in practice. Moving practices into pub and keeping them separate from pub will solve the problem of flying alone in pub.

For example:

• When I enter pub, there will be a 3vs3 practice in east, which is taking place in the same arena but separate from the deathstar.
• 12 people might be in spec. The zone looks somewhat active now.
• 6 people will be in a pub game, because they want to qualify for the next 3 vs 3 east practice.
• Me being a new player will be player number 7 in pub, and I will have people to play with.

Doing it this way, takes nothing away from the zone (Pub still exists with it's concept intact)
Free flying game play still exists (No sections of the deathstar are blocked off, no 24 players are needed to unlock all sectors)
Different types of pub maps can be used, that differ completely from the classic league map. (Such as my own deathstar)
Practices are still somewhat seperate from pub, so new players won't destroy the quality of practices right away. Practices can also be automated to make teams based on practice ratings. So the players with the best and worst ratings will always be on opposite teams.
Squad game play is introduced, allowing reasons for squads to play pub. (I had a good idea to add to this but it escapes me at the moment).


Whats wrong with a two squad league? What makes it fun is that its Europe vs North America. The captains are voted on by the squad members. The person with the most votes gets to lead the squad and make the line ups. Everyone plays at least once, even if it was for one game and for one half. It will have fantasy league aspects so all the details can be worked out.