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So it's no surprise to any forum regular that the Wolf games (and derivatives) have pretty much fallen off. I am glad to see the DnD games holding steady and being engaging for those involved, but I can't help but wonder in the back of my mind when the next wolf game will be. A few of my thoughts going forward:
So what say you all? Do we get back on the horse? Do we need some more time to "want" to play again? Or have we moved on? I welcome you all to share you most direct feedback possible. I miss playing with you all, and miss the closeness I was starting to feel with some of you. If the parade has passed, that's totally cool, but would love to be marching on with y'all again.
- Player Issues & Responsibility :: We have encountered issues both minor and major involving these games. Some petty nonsense, but other times, true, emotional, psychological infliction. This has caused a significant chunk of the player base to either stop playing games or leave the forums entirely. While some of us, myself included, had thought that the majority of the problems were talked out/worked out, it is only more clear in retrospect how this is not true. I don't mean to open any closed wounds, but I'll be the first to admit that I was wrong about the severity of the consequences of some of these games, and the mental toll it had on others. A few forum posts back and forth do not solve an underlying issue as many others have said. I acknowledge this more now after not playing for so long, but also can admit that I was wrong for thinking "everything was fine". I think I must have been confusing "everything is fine" with "I am fine so why isn't everyone else?" That's not fair, and after not playing for so long, I am genuinely saddened we could not come to some type of resolution to continue playing. Perhaps there is no resolution, and the game of wolf is deceptive and involves deceiving our friends to an uncomfortable degree - game or not. This might be a roadblock we can't get around. I acknowledge this too, but wanted to open the conversation up again after some time has passed.
- Frequency & Timing :: We probably played too many games in such a short succession that we started burning people out without (or with) realizing, only for these compounding efforts to ultimately lead to the demise of the game. At one point we had three different versions of the same wolf/mafia style game going at once. I think if we start to play again, we should make it into some type of planned event, rather than randomly posting a sign-up thread and seeing who's interested. However, those sign-up threads allow us to actually gauge interest in the game. If we continue, maybe we should limit the amount of wolf games played to once every month or even two months, just to give people time to decompress after a game.
- Hosting :: I have endless appreciation for the GMs that have stepped up to run games. At this point, if I knew how to get started or what to do, I would likely give it a try, but I admit I have no idea what the fuck to do behind the scenes. I am fortunate enough to not have been psychologically impacted in a negative way from these games (besides that day I couldn't eat lol) so I think I have the will and aptitude to run one of these games. However, I'd much prefer someone with experience (cough @Zell 17 @Kat ) to continue doing an excellent job being the primary GM. That being said, if someone were to teach me, I would happily take on a GM role for wolf games if there is interest.
- Activity Level :: My activity on GWF kind of fell off with the wolf games. It seems the games brought me to the forum each day, which led me to other discussions quite frequently. For the past month, I've still been checking daily, but my interest has waned. I think that wolf games encourage activity not only in FOG, but the forum as a whole. With that knowledge, I think it's really important to keep something like this going - limited amounts if necessary, but something nonetheless. I'm not saying GWF will fail without a wolf game by any means - this place ain't going anywhere - but I do certainly believe activity overall picks up during wolf games, inside and out.
So what say you all? Do we get back on the horse? Do we need some more time to "want" to play again? Or have we moved on? I welcome you all to share you most direct feedback possible. I miss playing with you all, and miss the closeness I was starting to feel with some of you. If the parade has passed, that's totally cool, but would love to be marching on with y'all again.