1 Hit Scores Rules
Posted: Thu Jul 21, 2011 11:22 am
For those who have played before, how does this work? Do people have to temporarily freeze or go respawn after they are hit? I'm assuming that we play for a set period of time and then the team with the most kills at the end of that time period wins. If we are playing to a set score I do not see how that could possibly work, since then everyone, everywhere must always be aware of the current score, and I don't see how that's possible.
I am most interested to play this game - theoretically - but practically this is the game that I am least interested in playing. Here are my concerns, hopefully we can work them out.
Scoring: I think it will be difficult to keep up with how many hits/scores you make.
First of all, there is the possibility that people forget how many kills they make.
Second of all, there is the possibility that people exaggerate the amount of kills they make.
Third, if you do not have to freeze or go back to a re-spawn zone when you are hit, multiple hits can be made in mere seconds, which makes it much much more difficult to keep track of hits/scores.
Gameplay is altered This system highly favors kamikaze type action. This can be good, like a gambit in a game of chess, but it can also be very bad. Allow me to elaborate. I worked at Laser Quest laser tag and arcade for 2 years. We may be playing with waterguns, but at the core the mechanics of the games are very similar. You get points for "tagging" an opposing player, and (I assume) you are temporarily down after you get hit.
At LQ the best players and teams would play aggressive, and would often go on suicide like missions. You send 2 of your best players out against an opposing squad of 5. Your 2 guys may get hit, but they will take out 5 guys in the process, thus accruing more points for your team. It flips traditional tactics on its head. The teams and players that won were ALWAYS the ones that fought aggressively outnumbered. This is even more true with waterguns where you can use an entire stream or multiple quick bursts (much faster than laser tag) to "tag" or take out multiple opponents. Lastly, if you are not temporarily frozen or forced to go to a respawn location then my last point is even more important. One person could attack an enemy group of 5 and would get many many more points than they would, simply due the number of targets available.
These are my concerns. I do have a few ideas to remedy at least some of the problems I identified.
1) When you get hit you have to go back to a respawn point. This relies on the honor system, but I trust you guys, and I hope I can trust the people you bring.
2) Each person gets X # of flags made from engineering tape. One team will have 1 color, the other team will have the other. When you get hit you must remove one of the flags in the sight of the person that shot you. At the end of the battle everyone counts the number of flags they are missing and thus counts how many points the opposing team has made.
Proposition 2 is not without its flaws. In the heat of battle, the person who made the hit will most likely still be fighting and cannot take his eyes off his still in play opponents in order to make sure the person he just tagged is not cheating (ie keeping the flag on). Also, we would have to walk around the battle field after the battle and pick up all the flags dropped. You could remove a flag when you are hit, and then carry it to a respawn point and drop it there, but that ups the risk of cheating because who is to say that a person won't put the flag back on at the respawn point, thus denying their enemy of deserved points. Lastly, brightly colored flags are counterproductive to those players who wish to rely on camo.
I am most interested to play this game - theoretically - but practically this is the game that I am least interested in playing. Here are my concerns, hopefully we can work them out.
Scoring: I think it will be difficult to keep up with how many hits/scores you make.
First of all, there is the possibility that people forget how many kills they make.
Second of all, there is the possibility that people exaggerate the amount of kills they make.
Third, if you do not have to freeze or go back to a re-spawn zone when you are hit, multiple hits can be made in mere seconds, which makes it much much more difficult to keep track of hits/scores.
Gameplay is altered This system highly favors kamikaze type action. This can be good, like a gambit in a game of chess, but it can also be very bad. Allow me to elaborate. I worked at Laser Quest laser tag and arcade for 2 years. We may be playing with waterguns, but at the core the mechanics of the games are very similar. You get points for "tagging" an opposing player, and (I assume) you are temporarily down after you get hit.
At LQ the best players and teams would play aggressive, and would often go on suicide like missions. You send 2 of your best players out against an opposing squad of 5. Your 2 guys may get hit, but they will take out 5 guys in the process, thus accruing more points for your team. It flips traditional tactics on its head. The teams and players that won were ALWAYS the ones that fought aggressively outnumbered. This is even more true with waterguns where you can use an entire stream or multiple quick bursts (much faster than laser tag) to "tag" or take out multiple opponents. Lastly, if you are not temporarily frozen or forced to go to a respawn location then my last point is even more important. One person could attack an enemy group of 5 and would get many many more points than they would, simply due the number of targets available.
These are my concerns. I do have a few ideas to remedy at least some of the problems I identified.
1) When you get hit you have to go back to a respawn point. This relies on the honor system, but I trust you guys, and I hope I can trust the people you bring.
2) Each person gets X # of flags made from engineering tape. One team will have 1 color, the other team will have the other. When you get hit you must remove one of the flags in the sight of the person that shot you. At the end of the battle everyone counts the number of flags they are missing and thus counts how many points the opposing team has made.
Proposition 2 is not without its flaws. In the heat of battle, the person who made the hit will most likely still be fighting and cannot take his eyes off his still in play opponents in order to make sure the person he just tagged is not cheating (ie keeping the flag on). Also, we would have to walk around the battle field after the battle and pick up all the flags dropped. You could remove a flag when you are hit, and then carry it to a respawn point and drop it there, but that ups the risk of cheating because who is to say that a person won't put the flag back on at the respawn point, thus denying their enemy of deserved points. Lastly, brightly colored flags are counterproductive to those players who wish to rely on camo.