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EVE-Online RP Discussion and Resources => The Summit (IG Channel Discussion) => Topic started by: Makkal on 09 May 2013, 14:27

Title: Slow down, you're going too fast...
Post by: Makkal on 09 May 2013, 14:27
... got to make the moment last.

Has anyone else been having trouble managing the Summit lately? It's either rapid streams of argument, which means people constantly miss what others are saying and seem to give less consideration of their reply. Or it's suddenly dead.

Previously, I've found it moderately easy to follow conversation while out and about New Eden, but now, even while ship spinning, I'm having difficulty.

What do you do to help?

I've started having Makkal respond to one, and only one person, for any given conversation. It's easier for me but I feel bad for other characters trying to join in and getting ignored.
Title: Re: Slow down, you're going too fast...
Post by: Morwen Lagann on 09 May 2013, 14:34
It happens in every channel when lots of people get involved.

In this case it's mostly due to a series of Big Important Events involving Very Important People having Very Bad Things happen to them.

Give it a few weeks for the arc to progress and settle and it'll go back to normal.

The quiet periods happen all the time, either due to people burning out on the screaming matches, or timezone changeovers (like the 'handoff' from EUTZ to eastern US/Canada to central/western US/Canada).
Title: Re: Slow down, you're going too fast...
Post by: Ché Biko on 09 May 2013, 16:12
I leave. Recently, a visit to The Summit lasted only 3 minutes before I could take no more and chose the relative quiet of The Sphere. and BBComms.
Title: Re: Slow down, you're going too fast...
Post by: Ghost Hunter on 09 May 2013, 16:47
This is my fundamental issue with most public RP. I can give my attention to two, maybe three, people at most. Any more than that and I lose the trains of thought necessary for deep conversation.

I generally recommend having a goal in mind when engaging in the Summit. Finding someone you can lock onto for engagement is the best approach and occasionally chiming into other conversations when you can spare the attention. For those who wish to engage you but they are not part of your schedule, having a public channel or other means to contact you is useful.

I normally try to drag the people I engage with into White Morning just so we have a quieter place to discuss without massive scrolling to contend with.
Title: Re: Slow down, you're going too fast...
Post by: Katrina Oniseki on 09 May 2013, 17:04
I feel this is possibly indicative of what could be called "content starvation". These floods of activity seem triggered by juicy RP. It doesn't just happen in the Summit. It happens anywhere there are a large number of lurking players.

For example, the other night at my I-RED Lounge, there was a fairly nice conversation going on. This attracted the attention of someone else in the bar, and instead of sipping drinks in the corner, they joined in. As the conversation became more interesting, lurkers in the channel started piling in through the door and before I knew it... it was moving at three or four lines a second with several people talking and emoting together.

Similar situations happen in the Summit. It will experience periods of relative quiet, but when interesting things start happening, the lurkers come out of the woodwork. This isn't a bad thing. Participation is healthy for any RP community, especially when it's genuine non-trollish participation. I don't know what causes the lurking, but I think these bursts of activity stem from normally quiet people finding something to jump into and participate in.

To use an analogy, there are many people sitting in a room together, all of whom are mildly peckish. They'll sit there for hours, not getting something to eat... until one of them finally does. The smell of food fills the air, and everybody is finally given the motivation to get up and do something about what they want.
Title: Re: Slow down, you're going too fast...
Post by: Makkal on 09 May 2013, 17:23
I normally try to drag the people I engage with into White Morning just so we have a quieter place to discuss without massive scrolling to contend with.
I suppose Makkal could set up a large VR room and suck people into it if I was struggling with a conversation.
Title: Re: Slow down, you're going too fast...
Post by: Sepherim on 09 May 2013, 17:48
+1 to Katrina.
Title: Re: Slow down, you're going too fast...
Post by: Louella Dougans on 12 May 2013, 15:05
the spurts of activity are when there is something to talk about.

At other times, there are fizzles of activity, when someone says "hello", and asks "how are things?". A few people will reply, but because most of the time, things are the same as last week, there is not always a lot of conversation momentum generated.
A few people have the ability to start and maintain a conversation, because they are dynamic individuals with a lot to say, that other people find interesting to reply to. This is the crucial thing - the interest of other people. Several people have a lot of things to say, but either the subject matter or the presentation, is not engaging enough for others to involve themselves.

Due to the glut of things to talk about with the Colelie incident, and the causes and effects of that, then a conversation, once started, gains momentum, and more and more people throw their opinions into the mix. Almost everyone has some interest in the matter, so everyone has reason to engage.