A Plea To All Those In Power

Draven

Count
This morning, I checked my new player email, and I had a couple that I'm going to be responding to later today.

That's when it hit me. I had a revelation. I want to share that revelation with you.

"Win condition." This is something that's familiar to a lot of gamers, and yourselves, I imagine. But what is a "win condition" for Alliance. I used to think it was "Did you have fun?" And maybe for an individual event, that's correct. But I think Alliance, the organization and individual chapters, have a win condition unique to them and them alone.

Most of us invested in this game have been LARPing for a long, long time. I've got 17 years under my belt, which is interestingly the same amount of time I've worked in customer service, experience that I've put to work for Seattle as the New Player Representative. And I think that I've come to realize that the "win condition" for this organization and all chapters is that they continue to be a place where people come to experience and create stories, endlessly, sharing incredible and remarkable journeys with each other, where one first walks in the light of the torch carried by the heroes before them, only to eventually take that torch into their own hands, for others.

I think that's the win condition for Alliance.

More importantly, I think we've already achieved that win condition, with our currently flawed ruleset of 1.3. It's not perfect by any means. It leads to logistical issues, it leads to power/body bloat. It leads to rules theorizing arguments as multiple people with multiple viewpoints disagree as to where the flaws lie and what should be done about them.

Yet, despite these rules, we thrive.

We open new chapters. A few months ago, I had approximately seventeen new players. I'm expecting some more this event, and I don't remember the last game where we didn't have at least one or two new people.

I feel that these rules, being proposed, are designed to deal with issues that matter on paper, but forget that somehow, we figure it out. Monsters dying too fast? Cards are adjusted. Extra spawns are launched. Not enough monsters? Get some double-hookers. We find solutions, and we continue to be a fun, amazing place to be. Solutions may differ from chapter to chapter...but they continue to find solutions. They continue to grow and make stories.

They continue to win with 1.3. With all the Damage Auras and all the pocket healers and all the annoyances that our current system brings, they continue to win.

The point I'm trying to make is this...as a new player representative and an expert in customer service, I am convinced that these proposed rules will not make our game more fun or more approachable for new players. Yes, new players are overwhelmed by our current rules, but that doesn't make them leave. Heck, it doesn't make them stay.

What makes them stay is us. The people currently holding the torch for them. The ones currently showing them our stories. And if some of us quit because we feel our stories are no longer worth making? That's a lose condition for Alliance.

So please. Abandon this attempt to vastly overhaul the playground we come to pretend in. It's not going to create whatever ideal it's aimed at achieving, and could potentially create an environment that is far, far worse.
 
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