The Duel is very different in character from other games in Tengaged. It does not encourage interaction, excessively rewards micro-game skill, and aims to keep playing time short. The message is that micro-games are everything, and here is a way to get rich quickly just by excelling in them. Naturally this appeals to strong / cheating players, who have the potential to gain high prestige in much less time than was previously possible.
Such a game is against the spirit of Tengaged. In traditional Tengaged games, we spend days at a stretch trying to be as active as possible, and accept that each game is a marathon. Any success comes from dedication and a mix of luck, skill, and diplomacy. A week per game is just about right, considering that many other online games out there demand commitment over a much longer period of time.
To maintain the balance in our volatile virtual Tengaged society, The Duel must adapt to Tengaged, not the other way round. It must preserve the traditional Tengaged values, but not at the expense of losing the flavour of the game. Some simple changes could be made for this purpose.
Constant Day Length (12 hours)
By keeping the day length constant, the game does not end and give out the rewards too soon compared to other games. Also, players know exactly when day change occurs and can prepare for it. Apparently this is an unnecessarily artificial delay, since the players could attempt the next challenge immediately after they have all attempted the previous one and the duel between the two nominees has been concluded. By enforcing 12 hours per day, we need something meaningful to fill in the time - "training".
Training
Duellists have to train, don't they? Yes, they practice the challenges, but that's not what I mean. In the context of the game, there should be a means of simulating virtual training. Just like in Casting and Survivor, we can have a variable called "health" that affects performance. Health could be boosted by activity (positive or negative votes) or by randomly appearing apples, and should determine challenge bonuses. By revealing their high health levels, players could deter others from placing them at the bottom of the list.
Implementation
Each day, the two duellists from the previous day have to play the micro-game for the elimination challenge before attempting the regular challenge. The challenge score of the survivor becomes public after that.
Now we have a constant day length to avoid inconveniencing players, and a reason to be actively involved in the game to fill in the time. With health to think about, a strong player cannot be too lax, as weaker players could have bigger bonuses to compensate. This is now a competition involving both dedication and skill, not just skill alone. Of course a cheating player could still win unfairly, but that's another story.
In conclusion, this version of The Duel will feel like a typical Tengaged game while retaining its distinctive character. As it will take about as long as others, the pay-offs cannot come too frequently and the impact on Tengaged society's demographics will not be too severe. It will thus have adapted to Tengaged, and everyone should be content.
I think we should be able to ACTUALLY practice the game though! Why not have a "training area" ? I suppose because the more exposure a cheater has to a game the more he is able to figure out the weakness of a game and exploit that, i.e., hack or develop cheats etc. I figure that's why we are only provided 20 second versions of the games to practice on. If there were a way to secure them - perhaps have a person log into a special area, and "sign in and out" of games so the algo knows who has been there might be one way of deterring cheaters. (Btw someone in my last duel got -- 1790 -- in numbers. Come on! ). The Duel is fun for me -- 12th place finishes and all - because of the chance to practice the games . I love how quick you can play if everyone is on. And I don't think that aspect should change. But it would just as well do me to have some non-T, non-Karma but health or practice score in their stead. Maybe, the practice area would have to be 1 on 1 - so you'd have to actually compete against someone from anywhere on tengaged - by invitation, perhaps. Sort of like the mini game procedure on Travians. It's always there, you can always access it, it costs something to play, and you get points. IDK! I think we should leave Duel as is for a while tho = 60-90 days - just to give this version a solid run. :
well done again philomenia, i think you should get a site of your own hun you really know how to write and explane things.
To bad i can't always get here hugsssss
I agree, The Duel is giving the same players a huge advantage in regards to advancing. randomize is so stuck on the micro-games for some reason. If he implements the micro-games in rookies it's the end of Tengaged as we know it. :( +11
