Gaming absorbtion.

[Anastasia]

This is something I've been thinking about awhile.

Games can run from the casual pick up games bandied around and discarded like paper towels to long, in depth, ran every day ultragames that stretch out for years. I write this with Sailor Moon Redux in mind, I suppose. It runs pretty much every day with a nearly...no hell, it is fanatical amount of RP and attention given to it. I had a good long think about this today, moreso in contrast to another game I run, Avatars.

I have to say without a doubt Sailor Moon Redux takes most of my attention, energy span and mental capacities I'm not sure what I think about this at times, I have a blast running it, but there's always those little wonderings and questions. So here's a few related questions that are floating in my mind about this:

* What's the most involved you've ever been in a game? How often was it played/how into it were you? Conversely, if you GM, what's the most absorbing or biggest game you've ran and how do you feel about it?

* Do you like being deeply absorbed into games? Is there a point where you've gone too far or wanted to go farther than the group? What about when you realise you need to step back?

* Would you rather play/run in one big game or several smaller games?

[Merc]

* What's the most involved you've ever been in a game? How often was it played/how into it were you? Conversely, if you GM, what's the most absorbing or biggest game you've ran and how do you feel about it?

Hrm...I never really invested all my effort into any one game. I suppose the closest to such would be Weekly D&D, in spite of it only meeting once a week.

Maybe playing Makoto as well, in the original SM game which ran daily, at least once I actually returned from the school mess I'd had that one month that I dropped out from gaming and just generally appearing.

* Would you rather play/run in one big game or several smaller games?

Several smaller games, definitely. As much as I enjoyed SM games, it's a big freaking pain keeping track of all the gaming that gets done, especially when I'm not around. I've found myself enjoying myself vastly more when I was doing the mix of BF and Weekly with a bit of SM Redux and Wasteland, as opposed to doing almost entirely either of the SM games I was in.
On the other hand, I'm also currently bored out of my skull since the only gaming I get to do nowadays is essentially BF, since Weekly got cancelled, SM Redux I can't play in, and wasteland is something I can only post in like once every week or two.

[Anastasia]

Maybe playing Makoto as well, in the original SM game which ran daily, at least once I actually returned from the school mess I'd had that one month that I dropped out from gaming and just generally appearing.

Mako was for a bit, but your prestated absence slowed you down a few hairs. This probably prevented you from going as deeply as Rei or Usagi did. Just my two cents.

On the other hand, I'm also currently bored out of my skull since the only gaming I get to do nowadays is essentially BF, since Weekly got cancelled, SM Redux I can't play in, and wasteland is something I can only post in like once every week or two.

Yeah. I noticed that - I could thread you into Redux, for example, and maybe Drac could make more Wastelands, but all of us are kinda tapped. Have you ever considered running a small postgame for yourself and a few others, Merc?

[Merc]

Hrm? What do you mean running a postgame? Of what?

[Anastasia]

Run a posting based game, Ami-chan. You have forum access at work and are bored in general. Hence run a posting based game! <_<

[Kwokinator]

You should, Merc!  Start a game that I can play in! :D

[Anastasia]

See? Demand right there! Even a first player, Merc! <_<

[Merc]

Run a posting based game, Ami-chan. You have forum access at work and are bored in general. Hence run a posting based game! <_<

Mrf...tried that in the past. It doesn't work out well enough for me. I've got a reaaaaaalllly bad history with running board games.

As a player, I can handle board games, but as a GM, I think I'd really need to do it over IRC, so that limits me to weekends, and there's already lots of games being played then. I'm not sure there'd be enough players that actually have the time to join a weekend game since everyone is either busy with work, or busy with another game.

[Kwokinator]

I would! ^_^

If the game interests me enough ^_^

[Anastasia]

Run a posting based game, Ami-chan. You have forum access at work and are bored in general. Hence run a posting based game! <_<

Mrf...tried that in the past. It doesn't work out well enough for me. I've got a reaaaaaalllly bad history with running board games.

As a player, I can handle board games, but as a GM, I think I'd really need to do it over IRC, so that limits me to weekends, and there's already lots of games being played then. I'm not sure there'd be enough players that actually have the time to join a weekend game since everyone is either busy with work, or busy with another game.

I dunno. I think you have the potential if you sit down and work out a plot, and take advantage of the slower, steady rate of board posting. You'd need to design to play to the traits of the pace you'd set, though, since another IRC game isn't viable right now.

[Merc]

I would! ^_^ If the game interests me enough ^_^

You wouldn't like anything I'd run, I think. You seem to prefer freeform/diceless stuff. I'm finding myself prefering more structured rule stuff like D&D and tristat and would probably run something of that sort.

I dunno. I think you have the potential if you sit down and work out a plot, and take advantage of the slower, steady rate of board posting. You'd need to design to play to the traits of the pace you'd set, though, since another IRC game isn't viable right now.

*shakes head* No, I don't really have any faith in my ability to keep focus on a slow paced game as a GM. As a player I don't post too much in board games, but as a GM, I need to post nearly as much if not more than the players. I don't think I can manage that.

The fact is, I like IRC because I can focus my attention on gaming for 3-6 hours, with a little bit of attention to other stuff. With board games, it's the reverse as I can only focus some of my attention some of the time to the game, and the game and my interest/attention suffer in that fashion.

So if I ran a game it'd -have- to be IRC gaming. There's no other way I would be able to keep my focus on it.

[Ebiris]

Sailor Moon is the biggest most all encompassing game I've ever played, and the fact that I continue to play means I either love it or am a sucker for punishment.

Honestly, though, I do really like it. It gives me something to do, after all! That said, I wouldn't want every game to be like it - I rather enjoy having Bloody Fields and Snowfall & Swordplay as games I can just pick up for a few hours each week and that's it.

[Carthrat]

I'd like to play in a game that does absorb my attention on a greater level.

Sadly, not much has delivered. The only game I can think of that had any success along that route was Adventure, and even then, it was solo. Other games have sometimes seemed like they might end up that way, or I might've really WANTED them to (tDaT and Weekly, respectively), but.. well, didn't.

As for the last part? I'd like to play in games that have staying power and don't die. I'd prefer larger games to small ones (solo gaming excluded 'cos I do have a fondness for that), but I ain't seeing it happening soon.

As for actually running games.. eh. I'm rather haphazard and tend to only look one session ahead. BF is almost certainly the biggest and most absorbing game I've ever run, and as you can see, it's not exactly huge or causing people to wake up and forget that they're Ebiris, not Thrall. I'd like to run something larger as well, but honestly, I doubt I'd be capable of organizing it well enough. I was planning on TRYING with Mage, but that didn't really get off the ground.

[Halbarad]

I'll join the crowd and say that the Sailor Moon game has been the most engrossing game I've played in, and personally I love it. It's fun to have something to sink a lot of thought into.

That said, I doubt I could manage more than one game of that type. Less involved games along the way are still good - hello, Past Sins! - but yeah. If I didn't have the Sailor Moon game, I'd want to get into another game about as involved.

[Dracos]

* What's the most involved you've ever been in a game? How often was it played/how into it were you? Conversely, if you GM, what's the most absorbing or biggest game you've ran and how do you feel about it?

Hrm...I never really invested all my effort into any one game. I suppose the closest to such would be Weekly D&D, in spite of it only meeting once a week.

Maybe playing Makoto as well, in the original SM game which ran daily, at least once I actually returned from the school mess I'd had that one month that I dropped out from gaming and just generally appearing.

* Would you rather play/run in one big game or several smaller games?

Several smaller games, definitely. As much as I enjoyed SM games, it's a big freaking pain keeping track of all the gaming that gets done, especially when I'm not around. I've found myself enjoying myself vastly more when I was doing the mix of BF and Weekly with a bit of SM Redux and Wasteland, as opposed to doing almost entirely either of the SM games I was in.
On the other hand, I'm also currently bored out of my skull since the only gaming I get to do nowadays is essentially BF, since Weekly got cancelled, SM Redux I can't play in, and wasteland is something I can only post in like once every week or two.

You guys are welcome, and I do poke to this regard, to do im scenes with each other and post it.  And I've been getting a bit faster on that regard, though it'll remain at sort of a post or two a day rate.

Dracos