Coordination in "Battles"

[Amaril Torrun]

Oh, I wasn't talking about you. I was taking a jab at Dissinger, seeing as how he's up against me...

I'm a pretty big deal.

[MetalDrago]

Ah... Heheh. Wow. I wish you both the best of luck, in any case.

[Dissinger]

Aw, do you really want to remember your last tournament as one in which you got knocked out in the first round? Shame, shame, shame.

You gotta take a swing that does something first, punk.

Like I said I'll probably not battle with Seth after this again. Its just too hard to justify it, when the other character isn't at least within a level or two of you. Perhaps when more characters break the level 10 barrier I'll break him out again...

[Damion Shargath]

Battle threads I think are often misunderstood by most people...

Logically, in a battle, you try to win. Your primary aim shouldn't be to dispatch of the other player's character, though, moreover it should be about outwitting him. The entire idea of a battle thread is to outwrite the other person. If you're good enough, you can even draw a pretty nice IC win out of it, apart from an OOC win.

I always try to force my opponents into awkward positions from which they only have a limited array of options to choose from (concerning their character's actions). Not only does it bonus me with the IC win, it makes his/her writing seem debile and uncreative - and there you go...you win.

But ever since some fuck delibaretely disqualified me, or better put bereft me of my chances in winning fair and square I lost my faith in that sort of writing. The other writer waited until the last minute to post is closure in a tournament free for all, me having engaged his character, I had to wait for him to post. Now write up a page in one minute - it's not going to happen. I was deducted a closure and lost a large amount of points that would have allowed me to continue to the next round - so I was told by the admin. Blaming the other writer for unfair and cheap tactics OOC didn't help...so quite frankly, I don't "do" battles anymore.

The "I'm very sorry" PM with a smiley didn't really help me appreciate the person...

The only battle threads I see myself doing in the future are "normal" one's...eventually...sometime again, although apart from that one time I was always successful.

Coordinating battles makes for better writing flow though...definately. As Godhand mentioned: Ending every post with "*shitface* threw a punch but couldn't see if it connected." is pretty ridiculous.

[Christoph]

Yes, I know well that particular story -- definitely a dick move for the history books. As it is, the rules of the Invitational explicitly stated that pulling a stunt like waiting until the last minute to post in order to deny your opponent the chance would be counted severely against you. I didn't see anything about that specifically stated in the Magus Cup rules, but I think (hope) that it would fall under "common sense" these days.

[Damion Shargath]

I hope so, because it just ended up being a huge waste of time for me...I'd like to think that instead of doing that I could have accomplished something other with my time ^^ oh well...happens, so all you can do is tell people to watch out and enforce the protective rules against that harder.

I CALL UPON MARTIAL LAW! :P

[Letho]

Personally, without coordination I find battles extremely dull. No matter how you sugarcoat it, it comes down to a pattern that looks a lot like attack-reaction-counterattack-reaction-counterattack-reaction-needless rant-counterattack-unnaturally long inner monologue-etc. Yes, you can be creative, but without coordination you end up extremely limited. Example, let's say you're playing a dude that knows like judo or something. Without coordination, the best you can do is write how you attempted to throw your opponent and then leave it up to them to (mis)interpret it any way they want. I mean, when you think about it, battles rely heavily on the action, and action sequences wind up chopped up into segments (usually lacking brevity) that lack the flow without coordination.

Another thing is the story. Without coordination you can hardly get any storytelling done. That's why I avoid battles and even when I do them, I tend to coordinate a lot with the people I'm fighting and try to get some kind of a story running through it. You could argue that battles aren't meant for that, but then I could counter-argue that battles aren't really meant to determine who's the better writer either. I mean, when you look at it, the story is the very foundation of everything we do here and the better writer should be the one who tells the better story. And since battles seldom have any kind of story (and no, I don't count "I came to the Citadel to train and test my skill" as a story), they can hardly be a true measure of a writer.

But I'm probably not very objective about all of this as I dislike and avoid battles like the plague.

[Dissinger]

I love working with Letho, especially on battles. Then again He's one of the guys I just love working with period. His battles are a case in point to how the thrill of battle can be done right. THe problem with the "me first" attitude is that battles don't become fun for both players, unless there is some interaction. Take a look at Letho and Me, we both had a blast in that battle, and while it shook up his storyline for a whole three threads, (he just couldn't stomach it, the wuss ) my loss to him was only mildly disheartening.

When the two people involved in a battle feel they've put in all they've got, and had a blast doing it, they both come out winners even if they are knocked out of a tournament.

[Visla Eraclaire]

personally, without coordination i find battles extremely dull. No matter how you sugarcoat it, it comes down to a pattern that looks a lot like attack-reaction-counterattack-reaction-counterattack-reaction-needless rant-counterattack-unnaturally long inner monologue-etc. yes, you can be creative, but without coordination you end up extremely limited. Example, let's say you're playing a dude that knows like judo or something. Without coordination, the best you can do is write how you attempted to throw your opponent and then leave it up to them to (mis)interpret it any way they want. I mean, when you think about it, battles rely heavily on the action, and action sequences wind up chopped up into segments (usually lacking brevity) that lack the flow without coordination.

Another thing is the story. Without coordination you can hardly get any storytelling done. That's why i avoid battles and even when i do them, i tend to coordinate a lot with the people i'm fighting and try to get some kind of a story running through it. You could argue that battles aren't meant for that, but then i could counter-argue that battles aren't really meant to determine who's the better writer either. I mean, when you look at it, the story is the very foundation of everything we do here and the better writer should be the one who tells the better story. And since battles seldom have any kind of story (and no, i don't count "i came to the citadel to train and test my skill" as a story), they can hardly be a true measure of a writer.

But i'm probably not very objective about all of this as i dislike and avoid battles like the plague.

qft