WaterWar.net

How long should a typical water warfare game be?

Game duration affects so many other variables as well, thus figure we should start discussing preferred game time as well.

Before anyone goes overboard, wanting their water war game lasting to days and days, while those game are undoubtedly great and epic and all, I'd like to presently focus on game durations that would make holding a tournament possible as well as being able to hold local practice games without needing participants to write off entire days.

A 10-15 minute game may work for elimination games, but then again, this may feel too short or restrictive for survival game types. However, having a game continue for 3 hours or more may feel a little long, particularly if one hopes to play multiple games in the same day. Granted, game duration is undoubtedly affected by game type, but when keeping a preferred game type of your liking in mind, what sort of game times seem to be optimal?

Does this thread need to be split into two: one for elimination games and one for survival games? Thoughts and feedback desired!

Update: for sake of argument, as preferred game time may vary slightly depending on number of participants, let's set number of players per team at 8 member and two to four teams per game.

I voted 1.5-2 hours, but it depends on the number of participants. A game with 3 people a side will find an hour and a half much more than enough. However, at 10-15 people a side, I'd say 2-3 hours.

@mr.dude: yeah, you're right regarding time somewhat depends on the number of participants. Hmm... let's say for sake fo argument that games will have 8 people per team and only two to four teams per game.

This really depends on the size of the intended battlefield more than the game type. Larger fields require more time. 8 person teams would have more fun on a large field [Just for a sense of scale, Waterbridge at 1 mile in length would feel too small for 8v8 lol]. With those numbers, longer time limits mean more strategies and more of a chance to mount comebacks. The most exciting part of a war is often the final half hour, though mainly in long, scored games.

Thing is, short games are hardly a test of skill, they don't give one enough time to bring out their best skills and develop their best tactic lines. The RM and WB often spent most of the 1st hour of a war simply maneuvering, testing each other, and getting an idea of how the game would flow. The middle hour was where the hot action erupted, then the final hour was either meek due to a blowout or hella intense due to a tight score. In a shorter game, one does not have the full capabilities to fight for control of some natural things like tempo or build multiple momentum runs.

Now that there are fewer apparent preferred choices for tournament-based team sizes, how does this affect your opinion on game duration for a tournament? For those who didn't follow the team-size thread, it seems that a size of 4 to 6 players per team may be easier to implement as well as easier to follow, co-ordinate, and score. And just in case anyone is worried, these small team sizes have nothing to do with massive water war battles involving scores or even hundreds of participants battling it out over the course of a day. Those epic-type water fights should definitely continue, but are not appropriate for typical tournament-type games.

Assuming we're going with 6 players, I vote about 1 hr. (or less, but 30 mins is a little short) Most elimination mini-games that I've played took no more than 5-10 minutes each, though those were only 2 vs 2. Still, elimination will not slide for having time limits, as eliminated players might as well just leave the event.

I voted 1 hour because, given a reasonable battlefield size and 6 player teams, it should be enough to follow through with enough action without getting too boring. This is also a balance between other types of games/events/sports, whatever in which such games usually run for just a few minutes (say, quick elimination 1HK in airsoft, nerf, or paintball), or for a few hours. (TV sports) As DX said, it wouldn't cover large scale, in-the-long-run strategies, but the game won't run too long either, which, as iSoaker stated, are less appropriate for tournaments.