Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
Rocket your D&D 5E and Level Up: Advanced 5E games into space! Alpha Star Magazine Is Launching... Right Now!

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="yangnome" data-source="post: 2390814" data-attributes="member: 7413">Let’s suppose that you were able to grab a large enough sample and not only similar scenarios which could test the various factors and rates of play you are trying to test, but you were able to agree on what a rules heavy system is and what a rules light system is.  You and your staff develop two different games systems, one rules heavy and one rules light (This will introduce two new systems which may decrease previous experience with either system.  The systems both support the same setting, a generic fantasy setting, same gods, same flavor…this will help reduce bias between the two settings and allow you to isolate the system as much as possible. Let’s also assume that you have a large sample of groups (both of newbies and experienced gamers.)  Each group will play both systems and their results in the various categories will be recorded.  I suspect the newbie results may be skewed a bit no matter what you do because after the first game, they will be a little more familiar with what an RPG is.Anyhow, you have all this worked out.  Everything is perfect as possible.  I suspect that the overall results will show that the two systems take approximately the same amount of time…however, this is not for the same reason that Ryan Dancy purports (or at least what I assume from the conclusion of his analysis of the test.  I would guess that if you look closer at the data that if you look at each individual group, play time between the two systems will vary…probably a large difference.The reason for this is not that one type of system is better than the other.  Instead it lies in the preference and abilities of the group, and IMO to a larger part on the ability of a DM.  As has been mentioned in the other thread, different people have different reactions to the different type systems.  Some DMs prefer to have everything outlined for them and work better under this system.  Others prefer a loose system and feel inhibited by a large set of rules.I am not saying one is right or wrong, they are just different styles.  Some people are good at math, others are good at art.  Some people feel enabled by a large system, some people feel oppressed by it.  Some people feel liberated by a light system and others feel lost.  This is what is going to affect the speed of the game.I likely believe that the tests that were conducted overall showed that the two systems take just as much time to run a game.  I would be more interested in seeing the data based on each test sample.This is similar to a situation if you polled the general population to see if people prefer urinating while standing or while sitting.  Looking at the data as a whole, it would likely be very close to 50/50.  Once you break it down between the different sexes, you’ll see that there is a large difference in preference and ability to perform under different circumstances.</blockquote>

Verification