Whats the point of stages?

[Chewett]

What do people see as "the point" for stages?

To me, I dont see that they affect anyone really, they are a name to which we attach announcements.

Its all well and good arguing whether we have moved to "the next stage" as a point of intellectual debate since we like arguments. But whats the point?

Surely, if you want it as a "unit of advancement" then every announcement made, every ruling decided, and every offensive comment Dick Dastardly makes, is an advancement in MD?

[Sasha Lilias]

They're just a number that goes up after a couple hundred announcements.

 

Saying "the next stage" would insinuate that an objective or criteria, that had been set, has been met. I don't see any of the major changes to the game fully completed or functioning from the stage before. In fact, if you look back at all the stages in the past, there's always been some outstanding work needed to finish something off in the previous Stage.

 

So no... I don't think "Stages" (in the way it's being used now) is appropriate or meaningful as there is still outstanding work.

 

Though that's my opinion.

 

I think Mur sees stages as a mark of when he feels the game as progressed to a new level i.e new ways of role playing and item creation.

Edited January 30, 2015 by Sasha Lilias

[Rophs]

It's a nice placebo and at this point we're beyond the point of no return.

[Eagle Eye]

For me every is stage very helpful. New stage have the point and the coder know it. Volume of changes, Valume of new item, Valume of new scene.

Thanks to Mur and Chew help each other to make things have a point of stage

[DARK DEMON]

In my mind Stages should have been either:

 

1) Focused plans, eg: one stage dedicated on lands development, one stage on combat-fixing, one stage on tutorial/newbie stuff

2) A "shift" in how people generally play MD every now and then (meaning that changes were introduced that changed gameplay in general, eg: citizenship voting introduction)

 

Currently it seems like the second one, though not much of that either, since the foundations of loads of game-changing projects are laid, with so much potential, but no work is being done to complete them.

[Chewett]

Currently it seems like the second one, though not much of that either, since the foundations of loads of game-changing projects are laid, with so much potential, but no work is being done to complete them.

A25 features being implemented and used as a quest? Seems pretty game changing to me.

[DARK DEMON]

A25 features being implemented and used as a quest? Seems pretty game changing to me.

 

Exactly, but they aren't complete yet. What actual changes will occur if we won't see the effects of these game-changing plans?

 

Advance the stage after the change occurs and you see people's reaction/opinions, not when you start working on the game-changing thing or midway. That way you will also be able to quickly make amendments rather than getting very confused later with loads of unfinished projects waiting to be fixed

 

(clarification: 'you' is a general term here, not referring to Chew directly)

[Chewett]

Exactly, but they aren't complete yet. What actual changes will occur if we won't see the effects of these game-changing plans?

Nothing is ever complete. Thats MD.

[(Zl-eye-f)-nea]

If you reverse engineered a system, based on a different concept of time than our own, then to that person, these 'stages' would mark obvious and clear development points. That's how I see the stages, and the end point, may well shift and morph, but it is still there. It would also be part of the reason people constantly feel like things aren't 'complete - which imo has nothing to do with actual things, but is more to do with systems (not talking computer systems here).

 

Z

[Grido]

Take an MD Stage as being a Comedian's Tour. At the start of the tour, it's a lot of the same material as the end of the previous one, few new bits thrown in, maybe structured a little differently. As the tour goes on over time the set changes as new material is developed and added, by the end of the tour, it's pretty much a whole new set, ready to shuffle and then start the next one.

 

Yes MD has had some Stages where nothing massively obvious may have happened at that moment, but compare the end of one against the start and see what's changed and you might see differently. Granted though, a big 'thing' is always a good way to make the change obvious - rpcs being done for instance marked a stage change.

[Ary Endleg]

Nothing is ever complete. Thats MD.

 

In my eyes it's not about being complete, it's more about being put to wider use. Currently A25 isn't used.

[Eara Meraia]

There is a known concept of goal achieving called SMART. To make goals easier to achieve they have to be specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-related.

 

In my oppinion stages could at least do the role of A and T for MD. Having some feedback after each stage also makes the progress more measurable and can be very encouraging.

 

And this really works if used properly. BIG goals like those I have seen in MD recently are nice, but achieving them can be divided into steps (or stages) which would make them more attainableb and realistic at once. Otherwise one tends to dissipate ones energies having no clear direction and seeing no progress in what one is doing.