JCCC4 Celebrity Artemis feedback wanted!

edited March 2014 in JoCo Cruise
Greetings everybody!  I have heard through the grapevine that some people liked JCCC3's Celebrity Artemis better than this year's.  As the organizer of the event, I would love to heard your feedback (not sure if THO will relay any such feedback in the survey to me...).  I want to find the issues and work to fix them, find the things that worked and expand on them, and listen to any suggestions or thoughts in general.  Obviously some things like the time of the show and how the performers behaved were out of my hands, but many things were in my hands and I want to optimize your viewing pleasure!  There are already plans within plans to make next years (if you guys want it that is) a bit more exciting.  You can also contact me directly at isildur42@ (google mail system).

Comments

  • The only very minor quibble I had was the game's ambient sound was mixed too high to the point of drowning out some of the on-stage chatter sometimes. From what I was told, the person in charge of the sound board could have brought that down though.

    As funny as it is to watch people fail to pilot the ship, After a couple of these events, I'm getting the impression that something about operating the helm is more complicated than other stations, or maybe it's just more obvious with the helm when the wrong buttons are being pushed?

  • Helm is a more demanding position, absolutely.
  • Much as I enjoy people-watching when people are drunk, I think the reason last year's Celebrity Artemis was more interesting was because the players were more in control of what they were doing and therefore more "in character" (and funnier).

    Was there a celebrity training session to teach people how to play their positions?  I know there was a rehearsal last year.
  • I think the players were a little better last year. But of the things you can control, I think it would be more entertaining if the players were either more trained or less drunk. Preferably the former. As funny as it is when a hapless helmsperson gets stuck in reverse, it's happened three times now, and I think it might be more fun for everyone if they could play a bit more... competently.
  • Honestly, I don't think there's much in terms of setup that can be done.  A large part of the entertainment behind Celebrity Artemis is the players getting into character and delivering on the scenario at hand.  It may be just because it was a new experience on JCCC3, but I found the delivery last year to be better than it was this year.  I personally find it more amusing when they play hilariously poorly, so I thought that the USS Independence of the Seas of the Skies in Space was the best round this year.  But there are always going to be a wide array of opinions on that matter, so going one direction or another with training probably won't make things any better or worse.
  • My only problem with the Independence of the Seas of the Skies of Space was that it was the first game of Artemis I'd ever seen played, and so I had a lot of trouble figuring out what was supposed to be going on... If Roderick's or Wil's bridge (or a generally more competent/less unsober team) had been first to go, I would've appreciated Team Angela's performance a lot more :)

    Organizationally speaking, I'm not sure what more you guys could've done, though. I had a lot of fun -- thanks for setting it up, @isildur42!
  • I don't really have anything else to say other than that I enjoyed this year's Artemis, drunken helmsmaning and all.  I do like the idea of having the less drunk people go first so the people who don't know the game can see what's supposed to happen. =)
  • I enjoyed watching both years. Since I've never played it and only watched it on the cruise, I'd love to see an expert crew run a mission first, then watch the famous people have a go (drunk or not). 
  • I heard there was practice sessions and our drunken monkey did well until the booze kicked in. I'm not sure how much practice there was on the JCCC3 but I did enjoy Roderick's damn hell nukem if we gottem attitude.
  • I suspect it could be pretty epic to pit two crews against each other, but I don't know how that would be pulled off logistically with all those people on stage screaming at each other simultaneously.

  • Like last year, there was a training session, well over an hour long in fact and it ended about 30 minutes before the show, though some of the performers had varying amounts of time due to late arrivals.  However, as already mentioned, alcohol played a large role in how much was retained (or how much tom foolery went on).  I know for a fact that all 3 helmsmen were informed of where the reverse button was (after last years incident), and how to toggle it... Part of the issue is with how we have the stage setup in so much that the crew doesn't have a terribly great main view screen (this years was better than last years, but still not great) and thus may not have been fully aware they were in reverse.  Having the less drunk/more competent crews go first is a good suggestion.  With the available time, we don't really have the luxury of having non celebrities play on the main stage (we were running games off and on all week long in the game room, and will likely do so again next year).
  • As the guy who tried to get Grant out of reverse (and who hasn't run helm in years) I think it might also be an interface issue. If you are in reverse, when you try to go into warp it flips up to 4 (or whatever speed you choose) and then drops back to 0. Either you should be able to warp in reverse (which would be awesome) or going to warp should cancel reverse.
  • I enjoyed it this year. My complaint was the hour that it was held at and having to wait so long to get seated when I was already exhausted from a long day of drinking and merriment.  I know that the hour and technical difficulties were beyond the control of organizers.  Hoping that since we have 8 days next year maybe things will begin a little earlier.  Loved drunk Grant flying warp 4 through asteroid field without getting a scratch!!!
  • Are there cheats in Artemis to make it more party-friendly?

    I feel like the game itself has the normal checks and balances any game should have, but those end up not being conducive to a crew who is inexperienced.  For example: running out of energy.  That just makes things slow and boring.  Or maybe upping the number of weapons the ships get so they don't run out so quickly.  It's kind of like no-fail mode in Rock Band; it's great to turn on in any party setting because it makes it less of a game and more like karaoke.

    I know it would wildly unbalance the game but who cares?  I'm going to watch people make Kirk jokes for an hour, not to see expert Artemis strategy.
  • My only Artemis complaint is that I slept through it.  Hopefully next year's schedule won't be so compressed that I'm worn out at 11:00 pm and just rest my eyes for a second ....snrrrrk!  Damn, it's 1:30 am.
  • edited March 2014
    I wasn't on JCCC4, but did watch "celebrity Artemis" for a short time on JCCC3. When I did, I discovered that I am no more a fan of spectator gaming than I am of spectator sports. I have more fun playing even an unskilled, bumbling game of football than watching a professional football game on TV; likewise, I'd rather be playing Artemis with a group of interesting non-famous geeks than watching "famous people" play it. (If there were a way to participate or interact, I'd be more interested.) So, after awhile I wandered off and went to bed. YMMV, of course.
  • Is Artemis setup in the game room?  I've seen this at a lot of Cons.  It would be a nice way to get to know fellow Seamonkeys.
  • Artemis is set up in one of the rooms on board at specific times, which are posted.
  • Maybe this is heresy, but has anyone looked into Quintet?  It looks like a simpler version of Artemis, might be easier to grok in a short period of time.
  • Yes, Quintet has been investigated, sadly not much, and the one time we tried it at my local group, we had setup issues (I'm sure it is simple enough to fix...but we just didn't care enough to muddle through it).
  • I can't give you direct feedback as I am only an Aspiring Sea Monkey. But I love Artemis, and it would be top on my list of things to do on JCCC5 should I manage to make up my mind to go in time to get a reasonably-priced room. I would both watch the celebrities play as well as playing myself at the designated times. I would also likely come equipped to run my own spontaneous mini-sessions (laptop for mainscreen/server, several old Galaxy s4s/tablets to loan out).

    I expect the things you can potentially improve would be technical, including setup well in advance to work out bugs such as mainscreen viewability, sound levels, connectivity, etc. I also like the suggestion to have the least drunk/most experienced group go first as a demo for those who follow. The amount of training you describe sounds right, while people need to be oriented, they are also on a semi-vacation and we want them to have a good time, too.

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