Planning on doing a Forum wide hunt again

[KH7672 1,604]

I first want to praise for the valiant effort by Jeric to attempt the" Rarity Investigates" story experience but it is clear further planning needs to be in order to pull of such an idea so here are my suggestions:

• The biggest one is write it all out way in advanced. Every plot point, every character line, have it all laid out ready to be used for each destination.
• The next thing is to have it scheduled. Have in your head a set time for each new post to be available, you can even tie it into the context of the story: "Rarity has such and such time to investigate and then it is up to you to solve it" and "Rarity has arrived at the Ponyville Inn and the clerk has allowed her four hours to search the room before it is cleaned" that signifies the next post will made be four hour later.
• Another thing is to explain the situation better (the rules and guidelines should also be written in advanced like the script) plenty of users were confused at the actual expectations of the event which could have been cleared up by easy rewrites and story elements. As such it could have been (in condensed form): "Diamonds were stolen, gather clues follow Rarity around the forums as she investigates, she only has limited amount of time at each location before she moves on. Once she has all the clues and talked to all the suspects  she will pass them onto you and you will have 24 hours to figure out the culprit and message her." So now we have established the rules, the expectations and even gave others the decision to follow the hunt as they appear and do the multi-choice plotline (I did like that addition almost like a choose your own adventure) or just wait for all the posts to be made and then find go through them when the 24 hour limit is in play.
• The other thing would be to update the OP with a link to the previous post. So when you are out looking for Flim and Flam at the Station in the Forum Games you can easily access Sweet Apple Acres and Ponyville Inn by just a link so that new players don't feel so lost.

Finally, and this is the big one, don't put all this pressure on yourself. Jeric, you do such a phenomenal job here on the forums and the work you put into everything should NEVER go unappreciated but you're NOT alone.  I know you wanted to do this big investigation thing all by yourself but if you know you're busy then let some one know. This going for anyone planning this kind of event to be prepared. You have three Event Coordinators for a reason and while Lord Valtasar was busy with the Dress Making you still had Ganondorf8 and Jedishy who could have managed it for you. If you had everything planned out you could have easily messaged one of them and said "If I fall behind I want you to follow this script and keep it going" We are a community forum for a reason, we should not worry about being a burden to others when we have too much to handle. The fact that Jeric himself changed the date of one of the qualifying rounds of the cup just so I, a measely member, could participate the way I wanted just goes to show how kind and understanding of each other this forum is.

Don't give up on the idea just yet, I say it can be done with the right kind of attitude and effort, not even just from one person, and I encourage anyone to add on or elaborate on anything I have said here.

[Jeric 46,834]

I likely will not be planning another one of these myself.

The fun with a good mystery narrative is to make it challenging for the reader. If I’m making it too clear and too easy ... then it simply won’t be fun for me. I simply despise over planning anything, and that includes improvised dialogue and plot changes. There were many many manual elements to that, and I was literally the only one controlling the characters. It slowly became tedious and felt more like work. When that happens I cut my losses as soon as possible, because quite frankly... if I’m not enjoying doing something ... then it’s a bad idea to force it. 

That isn’t to say it won’t happen in the future, but doing as as outlined above KH, will require one of the EC’s to plan it. I’m not touching this again or I’m liable to walk away in sheer frustration from the amount of messages. There is always going to be a ‘just go with the flow and you’ll see’ element to what I try and execute 

 

FWIW, my visit with family is why it didn’t go off as well, not poor planning. Each time I logged in ... instead of having fun with the Noir event, I had to force myself to type even one sentence. This sort of thing is going to happen with me on occasion. It comes with the package. Some events are going to go off without a hitch. Some won’t because I will be pulled in a direction that has a higher priority. 

 

[KH7672 1,604]

Quote

I’m not touching this again or I’m liable to walk away in sheer frustration from the amount of messages.

I kinda guessed that it's why I didn't quote or mention you at all. This is more anyone's feedback not specifically yours, you were just the prime example.

Thank you for the response and I understand your reluctancey now.

[Goat-kun 2,498]

Heavy and cruel is a DM's crown. You need to put participants before yourself yet hold them in your grasp. Games by gamers, social events by event organizers. Know the difference, know what you want, know what your audience wants. Have your "event deputy" analyze the population of participants. Postmortem ain't over till you stitch the corpse.