Slow the Ticker, Please

[Wu Han]

Hello,

I just want to put this here to continue a bit of an informal discussion we've had on Discord regarding slowing the ticker. There, we had a sizeable group in favour of changing the ticker from 1 in-game month per 8 hours, to 1 in-game month per 12 hours. However, I don't think many players saw that discussion and thus I wanted to post here.

Personally, I am strongly in favour of this change, as I think it provides more time for slower, more considered RP – particularly as many of us are busy with real world obligations. I also just think 2 months per day and one year every six days is clean and neat, rather than 3 per day, year per four days.

I am (perhaps) not the best advocate for this change, as I am endemically behind in my posts, but selfishly I think this would help myself and any other players who like to engage in planned out, long-term RP arcs. Providing more time also helps with balancing other game-related time demands, like updating the wiki, doing design stuff, participating in international orgs, global publications, etc., outside of strictly national news RP. I encourage any players who support this to indicate so below. Opponents, of course, are also welcome to weigh in... but I don't like your position!

Anyway, just wanted to officially open discussion on this. I am not aware of the extent to which this might be a bigger coding issue than it seems on the surface so apologies in advance if I am proposing something that would require a greater deal of work than it would otherwise seem.

Thanks folks.

[Mbites]

I'm very much in favor.

[Zanz]

Also in favor.

[AdAstra36]

I am against. While I understand the concerns and arguments, I feel like even longer ticks would bring game to be a slog to get through, especially for arcs that take more years.

[hyraemous]

I am against. While I understand the concerns and arguments, I feel like even longer ticks would bring game to be a slog to get through, especially for arcs that take more years.

I am strongly against for this reason.

[Doc]

I am opposed to increasing the ticker length.

I agree that it will take forever for arcs to complete, but also selfishly, I don't want Kalistani Monarchs aging in real time.

I also think a faster ticker encourages engagement among the community.

[Kubrick]

An excellent proposal, even with the current ticker the game is difficult to keep on top of if you have a busy work/social life. One of my main gripes with PT classic was that, as we were ageing, events that should take a few weeks ended up taking near a decade in IC time.

We now have an excellent opportunity to rectify such silliness and find a time that works for both the players that currently have a lot of time and the group of players that want to have a lot of time to play PT but struggle with it, like Wu who keeps telling us about his girlfriend while posting on PT. It's amazing he manages to combine the two, but let's give his girlfriend a bit more time with Wu!

Bottom line, I think many arcs do not need years to fully work out, and if they do it is great to plan long-term, but I believe it will be far more efficient for the entire community to slightly slow the ticker and potentially increase activity.

[GreekIdiot]

Either way, I'm on board. I'll adjust my playstyle as needed, if/whatever change applies. Which is not much of an adjustment personally, to be honest.

Think the ticker vs roleplay subject is more of a perception thing. 

The concept of time in PT is a rather loose one, considering we have absolute control over roleplay and progression (regardless of time).

[Wu Han]

... Wu who keeps telling us about his girlfriend while posting on PT. It's amazing he manages to combine the two, but let's give his girlfriend a bit more time with Wu!

It is undoubtedly amazing that anyone can combine the two, but somehow I find a way.

I'll just add that I don't think the change I've proposed would represent such a longer tick compared to what it is currently that it would suddenly render the game "a slog." We're talking about two more days per in-game year... and as Kubs says, it has already long been an issue that "events that should take a few weeks ended up taking near a decade in IC time," given the pace of the ticker. I think this proposal strikes a good balance between keeping things moving, while also producing a more manageable and realistic time scale for mid-term and long-term arcs, particularly those which require collaboration between multiple players, across multiple time zones.

[Elena1012]

I'd be in favour of this. As much as I sometimes feel time is too slow, I find myself in favour of slowing the ticker. No other major comments to say.