Hi All
I am thinking I will probably redesign the CBUB. Besides just a website "Look and Feel" redesign, also a fundamental change of what the CBUB "game" is.
So the CBUB is a place to post a rumble about who can beat who, which is cool. But there are also the "Rated Matches" which is the basis of the CBUB "game". In the CBUB game users write a match and then get graded kind of like they are in school.
It is the CBUB "game" I'm considering replacing. And there's a few reasons I can give for why I think it has had its day. (I'm not talking about the Monthly Tournament, just the day to day "game" thing, BTW).
First off, in the entertainment sense of being a "game" it is kind of more like "work". Users create ever more elaborate scenarios for an audience of a couple of judges who then read them and grade them like they are school papers.
How one wins at this "game" is kind of nebulous. I mean, I guess you win when you are an "A" student.
The barrier to entry is really high. That is, the kind of new person who would dig on that kind of "game" seems few and far between. And also, the kind of writing skills the judges look for takes time to develop and is uncommon in younger people. And lets face it, a website about superheroes probably is going to have a high ratio of young visitors.
And every now and then when a new guy does post a match what often follows is a couple quick posts telling them why their match or writing sucks. That's probably not much fun for them in the "game" sense.
Lastly, it's evolved into something which the original CBUB was not. The CBUB was meant to be light and airy - easy to digest like a bag of Doritos. Just a place to discuss who could beat who. It wasn't originally intended to morph into an esoteric creative writing game which it did.
Anyways, so that's my feeling on it and I think I'm going to be changing what the CBUB "game" is. You know, the thing people play for fun. I want to make something that is more... accessible.
So here's what I'm thinking I am going to make.
A game where players create their own Team of characters out of the database (maybe 5-7 to a team). Matches occur within the pool of characters selected for all teams. Winning a match with one of your team characters gets your team points. The matches occur for a length of time which is a "Season". Let's say a "Season" is a couple months. The player whose Team has the highest points wins the season.
These matches wouldn't require any more set-up than a Rumble. That is, the writing talent of the player is not on trial. Possibly, a script will create the match-ups between the characters in the pool.
Anyways, so that's what I'm thinking. Some game with less barriers to entry, still interesting in that you choose your team at the start of the season and see how they do. And still a place to kick around "who wins" as the match-ups occur.
Something new and CBUB like. Any thoughts?