Player's Committee.....

[fishfleas]

Hey guys,

I'm the one that Jordy was talking about.  I have ideas on the directions we could take this.  What I do want to do though, is try to respect what has been working in the game, while addressing what needs to be fixed. My goal would be to incorporate the feedback of the players into our decisions, but ultimately we would have to have people make the tough decisions. 

I have been helping the SWCCG PC only as a graphical artist, so I don't want to make it sound like I have been involved in the design.  I'm more than willing to help get the card templates looking good.  I do have experience in doing game design and custom modifications to dead games.  Most of the work I have done is with a game called Star Wars Epic Duels, where we have made entire expansions of a great game that is a marriage between Card game, Board game, and miniature game.

I do possess quite a bit of skill in game design, and I have worked with others in groups to formulate the direction and guide a game down the path of custom expansion.  I do have some ideas and visions for the PC, but they would be best shared with a council of players that would be on board in helping to get the PC together.

How do we get this council together?

I would love to see open nominations happen for players that could be valuable assets to the council.  We could then have those nominations voted on, assuming the players would then accept their nomination.  yes you can nominate yourself.  This way the players in charge would be helping to represent the other players. 

I also bring experience in this game.  I did not play much in the tourney scene in real life. When I got to be a good player, I was spending the weekends visiting my gf who is now my wife.  The best part about this now though, is that she would be on board in helping to make my time spent on this project successful.  She also plays the game and is not too shabby herself. 

Why have I not been involved in these forums much?

Well to be honest, I watched the game die, and I tried hard to get a PC going near the end of it's life.  However, others were asking me to hold off as they wanted something "Official" with D.  I obliged and nothing ever came of it. I watched the game die, and I became content playing with my group of friends.   I lost contact with the forums after that, but my desire to see a PC formed has never really been extinguished. I would love to see the fire lit again, and I am encouraged to see this group that has formed.

I would lead this charge if anyone is willing to follow. 

So would anyone be interested in me heading this up?

,Fishfleas (aka BoromirLOG)

[Gil-Estel]

yeah...I will follow you....that song is pounding through my head anyway these days

[fishfleas]

Very Cool,

I'm still figuring out the nuances of this functions of this forum, but you should PM me with what you think you could bring to the table.  If I do head this up, then I'ld be looking people that are good in different areas.

[Jerba]

I've been trying to get people warmed up to the idea of a PC. I had no idea fishfleas was the guy to do it, but I'm in full support and hope I can help.

[MR. Lurtzy]

What will you do regarding the hunter's block?

[fishfleas]

Generally speaking, I think it has alot of potential.   However, I also see that it has issues too.  I do have ideas on how to handle it.  I know this was a huge obstacle for alot of players.  My goal would be to provide a format that gets the game back to the gem it was.  The exact method of doing that would be open for discussion.  I definately have my ideas on the project, but I would definately want to take in everyone's input.  I also think we would need to see what the current community is mainly playing.  What formats are popular?  What formats are players most in favor of?   All these are things that must be evaluated to make things successful.  I do have my ideas on the direction of the game, but the last thing I want to do is FORCE them down anyone's throats. I would want to make sure we are taking into account current, old, returning, and new players.

[Thranduil]

I am definitely interested in getting involved in this and I'm happy for you to take charge, fishfleas. I'd love to be in design or development.

How widespread do you expect this PC to be? Do you envisage it being made up mainly or entirely from this forum? If not, how are you planning to go about the nominations and such?

Thranduil

[fishfleas]

Well so far it seems like people wouldn't mind me leading this. I'ld like to see if everyone is on board for me to lead it, before we go about nominating people.

As for widespread... I think there would be great assets outside this forum, but we need to have a central location to discuss.  We would need private forums that none but PC members can see.  There of course would have to be some "Fight Club" rules of sort.  However, I would like to see the players be more involved and not so much of a good ol boys club.

I would like Nominations be held.   I'm open to suggestions for specific layouts.  Should we have terms?  Should we just see how it goes, and then we decide on terms?   All these are good questions.   Some of these things may depend a bit on how we begin to structure the game progress itself.   

We'll need playtesters.   We'll need designers.  We'll need artists. We'll need PR people.  We need all kinds of people with various skills to really pull this off.   People will have to be able to spend some time on this. 

We'll need to formulate a list of roles that will need to be filled. I'm not opposed to people filling multiple roles.  I don't mind doing some artwork, but if I"m leading the project then I probably will need to just oversee Graphic Design. I would like to also give input in the design of the sets, but I'm not sure I want to design a whole set.  So if I'm at the top per se, then I could put some influence on areas while being able to give control of those areas mainly to nominated leaders of those areas.   

Does that help a bit on what I'm thinking?

I'm not really typing anything up formally, I'm just discussing on the fly atm.

[MR. Lurtzy]

No private forums. It's bad enough with the mods already.

[fishfleas]

In design and what not on the PC end of things, it would just be a mess to not have private forums.  There is just too much discussion that would need to be kept private to be able to have any kind of progress.   It's just part of the process.  However, I am definately open to having more player input and feedback involved.

I just don't see any realistic way to make the PC work with a completely open forum though.  If you have good reasons and support for that opinion though, I encourage you to state it.  However, you would be going against the grain of Years and years of game design implementation.   So the argument would have to be good.

[MR. Lurtzy]

I would like to know why the discussion would need to be private. Everyone deserves to see what's going on.

[fishfleas]

Try putting 50 people in the room with various ideas.  See how easy it is to make progress in moving forward.   Your point though is also along the lines as I feel though. I want the players in the community involved. I want their voices heard. I would like to see a setup where that can happen.  However, we will still need a forum that would be for private discussion.  At the very least where only the PC members can post. 

IN Design designers need the freedom to through ideas out.  I've seen it too many times where cards that are created are just so good or bizarre that most people may just flip out over the power of playability of the card.  When that happens sometimes great ideas are lost.   Allowing Design to be creative is good.  It's what makes for a healthy design environment.  Given there does need to be some parameters.  I think everyone would agree we don't need to see 30+ str orc armies...

I do hear you though Lurtzy.  I don't want this to be a "good ol' boys" club.  It needs to involve the players and be for the players.   I also appreciate your questioning things.  It's very healthy to have people question ideas.  If we all agreed then things could end up even worse.

[MR. Lurtzy]

What does it matter if there are 50 people giving out ideas (I guarantee it won't even be half that)? Just because more people have opinions does not mean that they should be ignored.

[Gil-Estel]

I think the first thing to do is to generate credibility. With every forum the risk is that people get to know eachother, and indeed a 'good ol'boys' club is created. Therefor credibility and acceptance by the whole community -as far as possible- is needed. Maybe via the old groups on decktech? So we need definately need quite some time to get more people involved..people from all over the world.

[fishfleas]

Lurtzy,

I just told you, I by no means want to ignore the players.  I want them to be involved, but I still feel there will need to be a forum that is PC only.  This is my feeling.  It's not to segment the players from the PC.  It's just what is needed in order to make the PC function smoothly. 

This is why though that we need the correct people involved.  The player's Advocate will be directly responsible in communicating with and for the players. They need to be someone who can communicate well with other members and the players.  However, what I see is someone in this position going further than just communicating.  I would like them to take polls.  Gather feedback.   Talk with the players.  Hear their concerns.   Now at a small scale we could possibly all be PLayers Advocates on the Council.   As we grow though, that would need to be designated to one person, or a couple people. 

These are just thoughts though.

I've heard people saying they would like to structure this based on the SWCCG PC.  Well this is how it is done there.   However, I would like to try to find ways to have the players even more involved with this council.