[melanthiabast]

About Chain Gang again:

I'm thinking it would be a good idea to limit the game to one new round per day (unless a round is terminated at 5 or less posters). That would 1) ease my workload somewhat and 2) make it less attractive to rush through with a smaller chain, since players would know the next round may not come up right away.

Thoughts?

You could treat it like Daily Dices. It runs once a day for sure, twice a day sometimes, and thrice a day when we are very lucky. That'll keep people on their toes and relieve the pressure on you.

If you are looking to run less rounds a day, the element of random number of rounds per day could be fun

[xdat]

I'm wondering if I should limit myself to starting one chain a day, regardless of how long it goes on.

I don't see how you keep from being worn out trying to keep up with these. Or, maybe you ARE tired and we do not know how much. IMO, I think one is reasonable. We shouldn't expect you to continually be providing a new game as soon as one ends. Esp, as you are a "volunteer" Mod. Other contests do not all operate that way.

[avoran]

Saving myself work is only part of it. I would like to do something to encourage people not to skip so much, so that more people would have a chance to play.

How about two separate threads, one always running ordinary CG and run always running backwards? Each starting (normally) once a day, probably from the same starting letter?

That would be 1) less confusing than two chains in the same place and running in the same direction (and in fact less confusing than having one thread that switches back and forth); 2) save a bit of work for me, although not as much as just having one chain a day; and 3) spread the chances of getting in around a bit more.

I like the idea of not being able to post in both chains, but that could create problems at choke points where there are only one or two players. One or the other chain would time out.

[melanthiabast]

Saving myself work is only part of it. I would like to do something to encourage people not to skip so much, so that more people would have a chance to play.

I don't remember who brought the idea up originally, but someone did suggest that once on a letter the order shouldn't matter until the chain goes onto a new letter.
so for example : melanthiabast - McJalm - moneyguzzler would not be alphabetical, but it would still be a valid chain because we are all in the same letter.
that would also eliminate the waiting for others who come before you in the alphabet, and the broken chains that come from people close in the alphabet posting at the same time.

How about two separate threads, one always running ordinary CG and run always running backwards? Each starting (normally) once a day, probably from the same starting letter?

That would be 1) less confusing than two chains in the same place and running in the same direction (and in fact less confusing than having one thread that switches back and forth); 2) save a bit of work for me, although not as much as just having one chain a day; and 3) spread the chances of getting in around a bit more.

I like the idea of not being able to post in both chains, but that could create problems at choke points where there are only one or two players. One or the other chain would time out.

A forwards and a backwards chain in separate threads could be fun, but as you said I am in favor of allowing posting in both because there are 2-3 letter areas that are "choke points" - where posters of a certain letter are rare and the chain could time out there.

[xdat]

Chain Gang:

I've wondered at times about this: Using Round 35 as an example with the starting letter being C and ending letter being B:

awshucks has posted and B is the last letter. We know bettyeruth has been PMd, but since the start of the round shows up on previous page(s), a newcomer or even non-regular might think he could post another C and keep continuing. So, what if awshucks goes back (since she is a regular and knows this can be done) and edits her post saying below the name list:

This chain started at C and ends at B. Only names in alphabetical order after "awshucks" and through B can post; e.g. Awt-, Ax-, and B- names.

I know this sounds like an awful lot of work and could not necessarily be done EVERY time, esp if someone is using iPad or mobile. But, it could be helpful, esp with a long chain like this in Round 35, that looks so beautiful. This is a situation, too, where bettyeruth might not be posting and we have to wait 12 hours, so a posting like this might be informative.

This could be handy, too, where we skipped over the first letter(s). So, if Canmus had not posted first, and Emmilina had. A person looking at the chain might think C and D were still available...but, they're not.

[avoran]

Maybe people whose names were skipped, could start a second chain and if that chain gets more people than the main chain, the people in the second chain win.
This gives skipped people an extra chance and it also MIGHT be an incentive for people not too skip too many names.

I love the idea behind this, but I can't see how to make it work with simple rules.

[avoran]

If names starting with the same letter didn't have to be in alphabetical order, people with common starting letters would be skipped less often (which is good) which means probably longer chains (good in terms of the interest generated, neutral in terms of the winnings, which could be adjusted by going to N-10, say). But for some reason I can't put my finger on right now there's something about the idea I don't like. Still, it's probably worth a try...

[avoran]

Unless something happens to change my mind before then, we're going to play Chain Gang rounds 41-50 with two rule changes, as an experiment:

1. names starting with the same letter don't have to be in order
2. prize formula changed to N x (N-10)

Rounds 46-50 will still be played backwards.

NOTE THAT THIS IS NOT YET.

[avoran]

CHAIN GANG RANKINGS

After 40 rounds:




The average length of a chain is 11.3.
Wyndolyn is still our MVP, although at one point she was only 2 wins ahead of Anonnymouse. Several people with common letters have lots of wins - so obviously effort counts for something.

[Anonnymouse]

Wyndolyn is still our MVP, although at one point she was only 2 wins ahead of Anonnymouse.

I'll never be a MVP....not with the amount of A's playing

Go Wyn!

[Guy1731]

Terrible connection speed today my place guys.

[avoran]

Yuck. Hope it's fixed today

[avoran]

A thought about chain gang:

When we get to round 51, as well as deciding whether or not to make the experiemental rules permanent, I want to do something about the occasional excessive pay-outs. But instead of pushing the number in N-10 up even further or further limiting the number of players, I'm thinking about capping each individual prize at (say) 200 WRZ and removing the limit on chain size.

What do you think?

[awshucks]

That sounds fair. As much as I enjoy receiving 300+ WRZ$ rewards, it does seem excessive for a game that runs so frequently.

[Guy1731]

Yuck. Hope it's fixed today

Today is back to normal, thanks. (Though I shouldn't say that to loud...)