Styles/Motivations (does this belong here or gns theory?)

[urizenhh]

Hi there!

Because of my groups problems I want to create a questionaire (sp?) for my players to figure out what they/we really want from playing.

I was thinking about somthing with opposing pairs like
Vannilla Fantasy <---> gritty "real" Middle-Ages
Total Immersion <---> easy-going style of play
and wondered if somebody already did something similar or
if you guys could help me complete a list of possible variables of game.

So what do you say? ;-)

Urizen

[Rob Carriere]

I'm not sure if the opposing pairs is such a good idea. By using such pairs, you are in effect creating a closed universe of possibilities and if the best fit for your group happens to lie outside that closed universe, you'll never find it. Instead, I would ask a very few, very open questions and then see what patterns/common grounds emerge.

For example,
1. What was the best roleplaying experience you had in the last year?
2. Name 2 things you would like to do/would like to have happen in a roleplaying game.
3. Name 2 things you do not want to see in a roleplaying game.

SR
--
EDIT: Instead is spelled with an `s'

[Valamir]

Agreed Rob.  Especially since you'll never get people to agree that your opposites are relevant.

I for instance, would never take a quiz which suggested that the opposite of Total Immersion was "easy going".

I don't even consider those items related on the same scale, much less representing opposite ends of a scale.

[Bankuei]

Hello Urizen,

Another possibility to deal with is that your players may not be able to articulate or communicate what they want, thereby making a poll useless.  

Oftentimes people get what they ask for, which isn't at all what they wanted.

I would recommend looking at the history of your group and what made everyone excited during play.  It might be difficult, since we tend to focus on what we liked, and less on what was going on with everyone else, but their enjoyment during various parts of a game are what give away what they enjoy the most.

Second, you can always ask what they enjoyed.  I've personally found the more formal you make this(quiz, written poll, 12 page essay...), the less effective it becomes.  A good way is when you are all BS'ing around, bring up one of your favorite game memories(whether with them or outside of that group) and share it.  Usually someone else will jump in and add theirs.  The key point is NOT what's happening "in game" but what was happening at the table when they are describing it.

So, if you're hearing about "Zozo the moon elf" and his antics, pay attention to whether the player is talking about combat, character interaction, being sneaky or clever, etc, and try to figure out what was likely going on at the table.

Chris

[John Kim]

  Because of my groups problems I want to create a questionaire (sp?) for my players to figure out what they/we really want from playing.

I was thinking about somthing with opposing pairs like
Vannilla Fantasy <---> gritty "real" Middle-Ages
Total Immersion <---> easy-going style of play
and wondered if somebody already did something similar or
if you guys could help me complete a list of possible variables of game.

So what do you say? ;-)  

There are two attempts at a multi-axis approach which you might want to have a look at.  The first is the "Campaign Axes" model by Leon Stauber and Rodney Payne.  This was developed on rgfa around '96-'97.
http://www.darkshire.net/~jhkim/rpg/theory/models/campaign_axes.html

The second is the "Channels" model by Larry D. Hols, which was developed independently last year in reaction against the Threefold Model.  
http://www.carrollsweb.com/crkdface/

Now, neither of these has particularly caught on and I haven't heard great success stories with them.  I think that the multi-axis ratings are hard to visualize.  i.e. If you describe a game as Realism-8, Immersion-3, etc.  that doesn't create a good visceral picture of what play will actually be like in practice.