So round one is over.

[Flames of Hyperion]

I would first like to state that I thoroughly enjoyed my first-round experience. I haven't battled in earnest (okay, figuratively, but hey ^^) ever since my previous haunt closed down, and it's certainly been good to get the old competitive juices flowing again. Not to mention that I've remembered just how much I like RPing with Yuka ^^.

That said, what is the opinion of everybody here about post turnover time? Considering the difficulties of different timezones, the intrusion of real life jobs and studies, and the time necessary to formulate battleplans and rough drafts, I do think that a minimum of two days are necessary... and even this is between teammates used to roleplaying with one another and willing to work together towards a common storyline. This means that a round of posting - four posts - will take a week at least, which no doubt in turn was responsible for the unfinished storylines of many of the Round 1 battles. I understand and respect the desire of the judges to enforce a strict time limit, and am more than willing to blame myself for more than my fair share of delays; I would just like to learn from this and attempt not to repeat the same mistakes.

I daresay that there are many ways around this. For example, I think that agreeing a general synopsis with your opponents beforehand could greatly speed up the battle. Certain amounts of bunnying should be permitted - within reason, of course - and there are not a few writing techniques that would be of great use here, the main thing being not to rehash previous posts and to build on what has already happened.

I would be really interested to hear what other people have to say on this subject. I think that by discussing this in the open, we can make Round 2 an even more enjoyable experience for all involved.

[Shadowed]

A synopsis would be bad. I write each post as it comes; having to follow even a general outline would be harder, because you have to conform to a preset script, even if it is basic. I prefer organic writing. As for time between posts, I wrote my first post in three hours, second post in an hour or two, third one in an hour (Though I didn't get home to start it until 10 hours or so after my opponent posted). I know that some people take more time to post, but two days?

So, yes, it does somewhat limit threads to only reaching 3-4 rounds, but I think that loosening up the posting orders would help that. I mean, if you're in the middle of an attack and don't want to come back the next day to find the other three have done two posts each, say so and keep it a bit stricter. But there are a lot of scenarios where you could even have two people trading off posts (Such as when they're off on their own, and the other two are doing their own thing). So, really, just talk it over with your partner and see if you can work it out that way.

But besides that, I still think we'll see a lot more posts in the second and third rounds.

[Jericho]

(EDIT: Ninja'd! Post @ Flames)

I agree, I was feeling rather rushed. The general trend seemed to be that it took me about two days to put together a post that was up to snuff.

But you're right, orchestration can help with that. In cases where we expected delays (like at the opening of our thread, when I got stranded in wifiless wastes without warning), we tried to contact our opponents and establish the gist of what was going on so they could start working ahead.

On a case-by-case basis, I've also found it helpful to agree between teams to a free-edit rule, granting general approval for typo and style edits, so long as they don't alter a post's plot or harm continuity. For me at least, that means I can post quicker, knowing that later I can go back and touch up problem spots, rather than trying to have everything perfect before I post and let the thread continue.

Although, it seems the judges anticipated some of this 2 days/post = 4 posts/week = 12 posts/round, which was the minimum.

[Dissinger]

When I write fights one of the first things I do is go straight to the other writer and ask them if there is anything they need to accomplish in the fight. Once we both have our goals out there we write the fight with these "spots" planned out ahead, how we get to these spots is another story entirely, but making sure these actions happen, makes the fight at least entertaining for each person.

So yes, script your fights, but don't script the whole thing. Think of it like a World Wrestling Entertainment match, they have places in the fight they need to get to, so they work to getting there, then they move from "spot" to "spot" and try to make it believable. Since the emphasis is on writing a good story, working with your opponent to an extent is going to only boost both teams scores, its in HOW you write that you distinguish yourself from your opponent.

[Shadowed]

So, do we have an ETA on judgments?

[Isis Ixidar]

Eeeh'. I established a storyline going in because I felt it was boring for people to just meet eachother in an abandoned steel mill and beat the tar out of eachother. Thats all fine and dandy for an episode of Dragon Ball Z, but after ten years of RP the idea of a random throw down in a wide open space starts to become a little stale.

The storyline itself wasn't meant to be so dominant in the thread, more like something nonsensical to just get the ball rolling. But by the fourth post it became clear that our opponents weren't looking for a fight as hard as they liked to claim, instead they were just running around like chickens with their heads cut off filling up post space and waiting for us to make the first move against them. So me and Masika just decided to continue what we were doing and if they wanted to fight us they would have to actually you know... fight us. Unfortunatley that never really happened, instead we got elevators falling with no explanation.

As far as post number? When you tell people that you're having a competition based on who writes the best they're going to take at least two days to post, what with editing everything to make it look nice and pretty. Then that bastardly thing called real life pops up making things take longer, the fact that there's four people posting in a thread all having to wait for eachother and none of them able to control the others actions.

I'm not saying that there are people who can't function well under that kind of situation. A lot of teams managed to reach two pages, but for the most part I can't see one month being enough for a full fight. Maybe in a place like Gaia where writing doesn't matter and you're lucky to squeeze a paragraph out of the person, but not Althanas.

[Wings of Endymion]

((Waking up in the wee hours for the win!))

@Shadowed - I do see your point, I really do. But for somebody with a sixty to eighty hour study week and twenty hours of work on top of that, even that single hour of uninterrupted concentration to sculpt, create, and refine a post can be extremely difficult to find. And I highly doubt I'm the only one juggling both full-time study and the need to earn a living. I think that your point about communication being key is absolutely spot-on, but here time-zones come marching in, and when PMs are your only sure-fire means of contacting your partner, things tend to slow down a lot more.

@Jericho - I think you're right with the formula, and the fact that judges anticipated it. What I'm starting to think of now is how to condense a meaningful battle to within those limits. Ideally, of course, we'd have more posts as well, but by (for example) feeding off each other's introductions and agreeing premises and a framework beforehand, I do think that it's possible.

@Dissinger - I like your analogy ^^. It's more of what I meant by a synopsis or framework - apologies for the confusion if any - and I do think that it helps a lot. I've never been much of a WWE fan, I leave that to my brother, but I always did appreciate how they managed to keep the storylines semi-believable in tandem with the entertainment.

@Isis - Would we have it any other way? If it was a choice between a well-crafted, well-written incomplete thread and a poorly-put-together but complete attempt at a full battle, I think I'd rather read the first and try to guess how the authors intended it to end up. Again, though, your words bring up the issue of communication between teams, and the fact that we probably want more of it next round to at least help with the issues you've identified ^^.

((And now back to bed to catch on a couple of hours of shuteye before work!))

[Saxon]

Again, though, your words bring up the issue of communication between teams, and the fact that we probably want more of it next round to at least help with the issues you've identified.

That's all fine and good when you have both sides that want to talk to each other about this shit. I tried to get in touch with these two to ask questions and plan a couple times during the round. I got shut down or berated or told off every time. Perhaps my approach wasn't great nor my tact, and I know we didn't get along because of things said from both sides but communication is a two way street. If Isis had a problem with my posts, especially about the 'elevator', and didn't get it (which was a clear invitation to fucking fight me for once) then she should've came to me and asked so we could've worked together instead of ending it with some pointless story that had no place in the battle in the first place, passing the buck to us, and blaming us for their ignorance.

It got to the point during our round where Cory and I just looked at each other and said we weren't going to even bother to ask these two anything because all we got was fucking flak. I honestly don't know how people can preach that we can all work together when one side clearly has said in bold print "Fuck you." from day one. For three weeks our hands were basically tied, so I guess you could call both team's posts during the round like the three blind mice trying to find each other in a circle jerk--it just didn't work.

Speaking of which, when're the judgments coming so we can get this all settled with?

EDIT:

But, Isis was right about one thing, three weeks wasn't long enough to get this done. I would also like to point out that we perhaps need to get rid of the minimum number of posts needed to reach a judgment. It isn't efficient because people work at their own speeds and occasionally you get people who are trapped in a match like we were where both sides clearly didn't know what the fuck was going on or just didn't care.

Instead of a posting minimum or even a deadline, perhaps there could be another way to settle these battles without actually have them drag on ad nauseum. Maybe we can get it so the round doesn't end until all battles are completed? This raises the question of what needs to be done about the battles that clearly won't finish or how much time is really needed for a full, fair round when all circumstances are taken into consideration. But what needs to be weighed more heavily? The people who actually are trying to finish their matches all the way or the people who've abandoned it completely?

This issue has some merit.

[Christoph]

Come on, let's remain civil. We all know what's expected by now. If anyone has issues with their opponents, settle it in private.

In regards to the time limit: Three weeks is actually longer than has been allowed in most past tournaments. Keeping the deadline open-ended is a sure-fire way of ensuring that the tournament never ends.

[Shadowed]

Reference to the Tournament of Legends. That went on for something like an average of 2 1/2 to 3 months per round when you included judging, appeals, and the other random crap that got thrown in. I'd rather have a shorter fight and let this tournament end in less than 15 months, please.