If we are interested in doing some sort of organized event that is forum-wide, there are different ways of organizing things:
No Teams
This idea has been discussed before and certainly eliminates many of the aspects of team rivalries or imbalance that were part of the criticisms last year. If there are no teams, then each person participates on an individual basis and achieves what he or she sets out to do.
The drawbacks to this idea, of course, is a lack of camaraderie that we used to have. No group banners or slogans. Less cooperation in various fields. That my not necessarily be a bad thing, but it might also be missed.
Small Teams
As Neo mentioned, this idea has merit in that multiple tiny groups can exist together in which only 3 to 5 people can join before a new team is formed. More adventuring party size rather than Team Rocket size. These smaller teams spread out the talent given the size of the community and prevents huge teams from snowballing away.
The downside is, of course, that even a small team can dominate, especially if it's specialized in a single field. A team of Ash K., WinterVines, Monbrey, Synthesis, and Ataro would probably always win the URPG section. (Then again, a team with just Ash K. would probably always win the URPG section.) I'm not saying this will always happen, especially if teams attempt to diversify, but it may not solve the problem from before.
Group Affiliations
Now this idea was borne from a number of sources including Pokemon Contests, White Wolf, D&D Alignments, and other areas. Essentially, instead of a member being part of one group, they're affiliated with 3 (maybe 4) of them.
Let me explain.
No one person is one thing or another in real life. We are all Pokemon fans, but some of us are children, some of us are teenagers, some of us are young adults, and some of us are older than that. In addition, we might differ in terms of our music tastes, politics, faith, birth month, favorite color, and nationality. It's these differences that make us unique and special. It our similarities that bring us together.
So why not emphasize this aspect in our forum event?
Now I'm not saying we should divide people up by race or politics because that's just going to be terrible and even worse of a problem than before, but there are other things that are much more fun to do. Thing Harry Potter for example. If you could choose one of the four houses, which would you want to be in?
Let me take the idea further, by presenting a few example divisions. These can be used or perhaps people can come up with different ideas.
Affiliation by Source of Power
This idea is more thematic. You know how each house in Harry Potter has certain aspects? Gryffindor is for the brave people. Slytherin is for the cunning. Ravenclaw is for the smart. Hufflepuff is for everyone else. Well one example we can do is give members a similar choice.
For example: What do you think is the driving force of the world? Or how do you change things in your life?
(These groups are based on Contests and White Wolf)
Intelligence
Only through the advancement of our knowledge can we truly achieve our full potential. The answers to the world's problems rely on discoveries we have yet to make, but must make in order to move foward.
Potential Roleplaying Powers: Science or Magic
Beauty
What truly moves the soul? We believe that it is our culture and our creations that truly inspire people to greater heights. Do you cry when you hear a beautiful musical piece? Do certain works of art simply overwhelm you? Does a story engage you to the point where you cannot put it down? Art, in all its forms, is what truly engages people in ways that nothing else can.
Potential Roleplaying Powers: Enhances Senses or Illusions
Strength
In times of crisis, sometimes you need more than a pretty flower or a fancy spell. Sometimes you need to simply go out there and use your strength to change the world. We know that only through healthy living and hard work can we be the best that we can be. And when we are at our best, we can move mountains.
Potential Roleplaying Powers: Physical Abilities or Improved Durability
Influence
The world does not move on its own. Each day our decisions are affected by advertisements, opinions, suggestions, pleas, and commands. And while one person can do much, a thousand people can do much more. A single pebble can create an avalanche if it rolls down the right path. In the same way, we know that only by encouraging others to act together coherently can we accomplish major goals.
Potential Roleplaying Powers: Telepathy or Connections
Love
There are no bonds greater than the bonds of love. Not just romantic love, but also the love between family members, friends, comrades, owner and pet, and others. When you truly love someone, you care about them to the point where you'd do anything to protect them. And in doing so, we achieve things never thought possible.
Potential Roleplaying Powers: Entrancement or Second Wind
Affiliation by User Number
This idea is based on an arbitrary way of splitting everyone up evently.
Go to your forum profile. If you look at the URL, you'll notice a number. This number relates to when you joined the forum. It may be possible to create groups based on the last digit this number, which will (more or less) evenly divide people. Since this last digit is between 0 and 9 (ten numbers), you can create 2, 5, or 10 groups from this system.
There are other arbitrary ways of doing this too. By birth month, day of birth, or what day of the week you were born. By lottery. Etc.
Affiliation by Goal
I haven't thought up much on this way of division, but I imagine we could figure out a few different groups here.
Some ideas I've come up with include:
- Liberty
- Authority
- Equality
- Future
Affiliation by Alignment
This is more RP than anything, but pretty easy to do. Essentially, is your character Good, Neutral, or Evil?
Can also do expanded alignments: Lawful Good, Chaotic Good, True Neutral, Chaotic Evil, Lawful Evil.
Anyway, that's just an idea that I figured I'd throw out there into the mix. The benefit of the affiliation system is that even if you're part of one group, you're also part of others with completely different group members. And thus, some groups might do better than others. Perhaps at the end of the event, the Group of Love, the Group of Good, and the Group of Liberty all did the best. You may not be a member of all three groups, but if you were part of one of them, you win an emblem at the end of it all.
And of course, there are other ways of creating Affiliations or even implementing this idea.
It's just another way of doing things and allows for comraderie and teams while diminishing the imbalance issues.
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