The Mystery of "Training"

[John]

Thats right in all forums there is a mystery and an arguement between certain groups on weither or not individual training would actually do anything.

For 3 years my mind has puzzled over this, going over it in my head, over, and over, and over. On 552 when I was a newb I would make hundreds of training threads, just to do character development, but then I'd fight and feel robbed in a way that I got no experience for working my ass off writting that training thread.

Then I thought about how 552 had the After Hours... Thats not training, thats an excuse for doing nothing at all and getting experience, and it hit me, they could be actually giving permission for people to Train, but for it to take a month? Thats kinda obserd.

Then I joined a Naruto board. This was different, it was a board where you could train weekly, one post. That sounded interesting. I did that for a while and it worked pretty well. But it was slow moving, the motivation was there, but it wasn't something I'd do for any meaning to my character.

Then I remembered an OLD DBZ forum I joined and became a Super Saiyin on, I was rather powerful. I got that way because of a storyline quest that gave me 4 days of travel, and Every 3 hours I could post travelling in the thread, and every two posts was a day.

So every three hours I put my character through some harsh conditions, and durring the quest reached super saiyin.

Now the conclusion this brings me to, is to make a Training section, maybe sub-board in the monthly quests section, the quests in the future will have build up to them, well, the current one does too, you could say we are in the build up right now.

Now, if a few players say knew a bad event was coming and wanted the chance to train, they just PM a mod, ask permission, and once given the go ahead, start the thread.

Every three hours you would be allowed to post in it, and you had all day to do so. Each post giving you 1 experience point to use as see fit. There would be a word limit, but thats understandable as I dont want you just throwing out two peragraphs and bein like you did something.

Comments?

["Unfettered"]

Mm...

Pros: As a person, I've done what I can to develop my character into someone who could be as powerful as they could be, and, now reaching a point, into a spot where he's capable of kicking ass... he just needs to pick up the speed. His speed.

Generally, the realistic fact remains that not many people here would be able to post every 3 hours, since they're doing something, making this a rather good idea in that aspect, insuring that the average person would, if dedicated, but possessing a rather moderately busy life-style, earn on average (in my own personal estimations) 1-3 points a day. The total per day being 8 points, due to the 3 hour rule, according to your subjective limit.

And if I understand this correctly, only during certain times, times of potential threat would a person be allowed to train, provided they've asked a moderator, and the moderator approves them. Then, from that time until a certain time, a person would be able to train and accumulate points, and hopefully be 'better prepared' then normal. Perhaps even learn a new technique or something.

In fact, as compared to how points are given so freely in 552's 'After Hours', and how points are given for little to nothing if a person 'times out' in 259's Arena... that makes a lot more sense.

Cons: ...Then, the concern would be the post whores, and those who would shit out a bunch of posts with their amazing typing speed. However, those people in our community are few, but there are still a number.

Main concern would be that a person that was that dedicated could rack up 56 points (8 points a day, max)... Although, it could be argued, if they post that much, they deserve it.

That, and it could be quite daunting to some players if they really did max out. Some of the excitement is trying to cap out, isn't it?

There's also the possibility that it may deteriorate the RPing with others a lot more, since more points can be gained more quickly via training, versus fighting. And those more dedicated to statistical points on an 'entrepreneur/realistic' level will further lose a point to fight with others, since they can gain so many more points by themselves as compared to with other people. (Biased Note) This is actually a reason why I do a lot more of my fighting IC, as opposed to in the Arena, though I don't mind its existence for others.

Alternative Solution:
-(Extreme Idea): Raise up max capacity of all ranks by 10. Don't give any additional starting EXP, but this frees up more room for more EXP to be given about freely.
-(Tweaking Idea 1): Perhaps there should be a max amount of statistic points a person can earn every week, to prevent a potential 56 points being gained randomly, and turning uber in one week (Again, you can argue this, since if they dedicated that much time into 259, taking time away from their real life, etcetera).
-(Tweaking Idea 2): Maybe... instead of +1 EXP per post every 3 hours of X number words/paragraphs, it should be more like... +0.1 a point. Or +0.2, or +0.3, pending, though that would put on a lot more work onto the staff, as we'd have to find a way to determine higher levels. Alternatively, just keep it at +0.1 per post.
-(Tweaking Idea 3): Just make sure that it takes about a minimum of 1000-1500 words, and/or at least 3-5 paragraphs.
-(Moderately Extreme Idea): Make fights between players worth more points.

Final Conclusion: I like the idea... but there are indeed more pros and cons then I have listed up here, that I can't think up right now. So long as you find the perfect circumstances as to how to make this work out, however, I'll be personally fine with it.

[John]

See you answered all your concerns in your pro's.

"Can only be done in a time of emenent threat"

It wouldn't be allowed to go for a week, you get one day thats 24 hours to do your training to lead up to the meeting of the threat which is a possible 8 points as you said.

The arena is an extremely high way of gaining experience, not entirely agreeable on by me, but it was an idea thought up that sounded good.

["Unfettered"]

Ahh...

I just wanted to be fair, and tackle both sides though. Fun idea though, so long as these 'emergency' days are used in moderation. But aye, you are right, I'd have to think.

[Wyatt]

Ok I told Leon my little idea that burst forth from the confines of my brain....he seemed to rly like the idea, so I advanced on it alittle (still needs some tweaks here and there but hey its an idea)

Ok here I go.....

Instead of awarding EXP.......why not TXP for trainning....

TXP = Technical Experience Points

These TXP are given to a player who trains their character's fighting style. For example "Bill" uses boxing as his main fighting style, therefore when Bill goes into a training thread and trains his style he will earn TXP.

Know what does TXP do to your character? Well let me tell you my friends...

10 TXP--------50 TXP-------100 TXP-------200TXP
lvl 1 lvl 2 lvl 3 lvl4
Learner Student Pro Master

This shows how adept your character is in the fighting style he/she uses. At each lvl you'll receive a small benefit (stat wise, fighting wise) when they use their main fighting style.

For example if Bill is at lvl 1 on his boxing he'll receive a +1 to Str when he punches in a boxing stance. Lvl 2 he'll recive a +2 to Str on punches in a boxing stance with another benifit...and so on.
(Note this is just a demonstration of my idea)

Also a few other things...

• No more then 10 TXP can be awarded in each thread
  
• One Training Thread per week
  
• A staff member awards 1-10 TXP depending on players RP in the training thread
  
• One main fighting style per player (can have more but no benefits will be awarded)
  
• We can include penalties/weaknesses to a certain fighting style (EX> a Ti-kawn-Do fighter will have weak punches)
  
• More then 1 person can be involved in a training thread
  
• Bonus TXP will be awarded to a sensai & student (2 PC's) training thread
  
• All fighting styles will have to be registered (Like a student profile) so that players know what each lvl of the fighting style gets as a benefit
  

[Mathew Amtrum]

Only problem I see is with people that actually know the fighting style. If I have a Max rating in Judo but someone with lvl 1 knows it in real life then my training is pointless ne? That is the only main flaw I see.

["Unfettered"]

I'd have to agree with Matt...

...But the idea in itself is cool. And XIN isn't supposed to be 100% realistic anyways...

Unless we had people who would be willing to give 'step-by-step' moves on fighting styles or something, or we were just willing to let that small detail pass. Or if there's like a website with all these moves detailed out with pics.

Nice ideas to ponder over, however. I wanna see more people's opinions on this, actually. ---Though, you may have to force it out of them.

[olesya]

I like the idea of TXP. That way people who train deserve what they get but we don't end up with post whores with 100 cap stats. (Speaking from a former post whore myself XD)

Also, it gives the players a chance to learn their fighting style. Someone can SAY they know judo, but role playing practicing it, as well as browsing Wiki and Google can expand your knowledge on the fighting style you chose and help your fighting rp. So if someone who doesn't actually do Judo is a master and someone who actually takes Judo is a level one (Like Mathew's scenario), the person who actually takes Judo is learning as well and doesn't know absolutely everything there is about it. Whether you know the style mentally or physically, it all has to come out in text anyway.

I also agree that the time boundaries should be different than the 3 hours. Not everyone is online for three hours at a time, except at night, and those who don't get the privilege to be online for long amounts of time or other circumstances (like tech problems) would be at a disadvantage. I think one thread per week, X number of posts would be sufficient or something. That way they can do it with a little more flexibility for time.