I was just catching up on the stuff over on the RPG Blog and noticed a nice littler article on Resolution Lag.

I would like to exapand on this a bit.

First what are the different types of RL?

I propose these are the Main types:

• Mechanical
• System Knowledge
• Environmental
• Group Dynamics

Mechanical:These are elements of the games rules that slow the game down even if you know the system very well.

System Knowledge: This is Lag due to the lack of the players or GM's experience with the system.

Environmental: General distraction in the playing area whether loud noises, bad lighting, cramped space. Just about anything that distracts your attention from the game.

Group Dynamics:Lag produced by conflicts or tangency between palyers & GMs both.  Maybe arguments over rules or just too much off-topic socializing.

This is basicaly stuff that Zachary said, but I just added in my thoughts. Once we have a list of "game brakers" (ie: mechanical, Environmental)hopefully we can come up wiht siome suggestion on how to reduce Lag.

let me know what you think.

BTW: Zachary, your site rocks. :respect:

Hey, that's kind of you to say. :bow: I'm afraid I'm a little backlogged over there--my workcenter is passing around a nasty bug, and it hit me hard.
 
RL is just something really basic, just giving voice to a "slowdown" that appears in a lot of games for a lot of different reasons. I like what you've done in breaking it down more clearly, though.
 
I would like to reiterate what I said in the original article: that it isn't endemic or a given in any game. I've seen Rolemaster games that run as smooth as butter, with little delay or roadblock to resolution and I've seen "light" narrativist vehicles that break down under the weight of long-windedness and argument over fuzzy details. The important thing is to discover if it's hurting your game (or your players' enjoyment thereof), and figure out a way to work it out.

Quote from: Zachary The FirstI would like to reiterate what I said in the original article: that it isn't endemic or a given in any game. I've seen Rolemaster games that run as smooth as butter, with little delay or roadblock to resolution and I've seen "light" narrativist vehicles that break down under the weight of long-windedness and argument over fuzzy details. The important thing is to discover if it's hurting your game (or your players' enjoyment thereof), and figure out a way to work it out.

Yup, I totally agree.

So everyone who contributes to this discussion just keep in mind what is causes lag in your game, may not in anothers.

My main point is for this thread it to ID the thinks (in general terms) that cause lag and then come up with suggestion on how to handle them.

You might find this old Usenet post of mine interesting:

http://users.tkk.fi/~vesanto/link.useful/gmlibrary/mechanics.html