NetNews Usenet Archive 1992 #31/NN_1992_31.iso/spool/rec/games/netrek/11349

Internet Message Format | 1993-01-01 | 1.6 KB

Path: sparky!uunet!spool.mu.edu!agate!soda.berkeley.edu!tom
From: [e-mail] (Tom Holub)
Newsgroups: rec.games.netrek
Subject: Re: Elements of teamwork (long)
Date: 2 Jan 1993 01:17:08 GMT
Organization: U.C. Berkeley, CS Undergraduate Association
Lines: 25
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
References: <[e-mail]>
NNTP-Posting-Host: soda.berkeley.edu

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Herbert Enderton) writes:
)Roles
)
)Tell your team that you'll be playing a certain role, such as
)scout-bomber, ogger, or escort, and then stick to it for a long time.
)That way they know what to expect from you, and thus can coordinate
)better with you.  Roles provide an easy way to manage the division of
)labor, helping to ensure that everything gets done, and helping to
)avoid redundancy.

There are two schools of thought here; most INL teams seem to assign
roles, but I've never found it to be as effective as having everyone
do everything.  This worked for the Golden Bears this fall because
we had 8 dynamic players who could do it all, and we happened to
have a good balance of people who liked to ogg, people who liked to
bomb, and people who liked to scum.  It won't work for everyone, but
I think the quintessential INL team wouldn't have assigned roles.

I would even disagree that an assigned role is the only way to go in a
pickup game.  It is nice to have someone who you know is scout bombing,
or ogging, or whatever, but I find myself wanting to do everything, so I
do.  The important thing is to keep your team informed.

Other than that, it's a good overview of a role-defined system.
 -Mojo