BlogNomic Fun Survey

These are the results of a survey initially posted by Josh in July 2012 over a period of a few months, with the results being posted in September 2012.

By Question

Favourite Dynasties

3. Of the BlogNomic dynasties you've participated in, which did you find the most fun?

AND

5. Of the dynasties in which you did not participate, i.e. you either observed at the time or have learned about after they occurred, which appear to have been the most fun?

Dynasty	Number Q3	% Q3	Number Q5	% Q5
The First Dynasty of Lyndse - The Robin Hood Dynasty	1	6.70%	-	-
The First Dynasty of Kevan - The Orwellian Dynasty	2	13.30%	1	7.70%
The First Dynasty of est - The Robot Factory Dynasty	-	-	2	15.40%
The Second Dynasty of Kevan - The Moreau Dynasty	1	6.70%	-	-
The First Dynasty of Damanor - The Galactic Dynasty	1	6.70%	-	-
The First Dynasty of Cayvie - The Elemental Dynasty	-	-	1	7.70%
The First Dynasty of Keitalia - The Superhero Dynasty	-	-	1	7.70%
The First Dynasty of Chronos Phaenon - The Democratic Dynasty	1	6.70%	-	-
The First Dynasty of AngryGrasshopper - The Spaceship Dynasty	1	6.70%	1	7.70%
The First Dynasty of Aaron - The Athenian Dynasty	-	-	1	7.70%
The Second Metadynasty - The Switch Dynasty	-	-	1	7.70%
The Second Dynasty of Chronos Phaenon - The Hegemonic Dynasty	-	-	1	7.70%
The First Dynasty of Excalabur - The Deity Dynasty	-	-	1	7.70%
The Second Dynasty of Excalabur - The Schizophrenic Dynasty	2	13.30%	1	7.70%
The First Dynasty of 75th Trombone - The Text Adventure Dynasty	-	-	2	15.40%
The Third Metadynasty - The Gostak Metadynasty	-	-	1	7.70%
The Second Dynasty of Angry Grasshopper - The Monastic Murder Mystery Dynasty			1	7.70%
The Second Dynasty of Elias IX - The Vegetable Dynasty	1	6.70%	-	-
The First Dynasty of Clucky - The Olympic Dynasty	1	6.70%	-	-
The Fifth Dynasty of Kevan - The Werewolf Dynasty	-	-	5	38.50%
The First Dynasty of spikebrennan - The Wild West Poker Dynasty	-	-	1	7.70%
The First Dynasty of Purplebeard - The Evil Dynasty	1	6.70%	-	-
The First Dynasty of Yoda - The RPG Dynasty	1	6.70%	-	-
The Fourth Metadynasty - The First Metadynasty of Rodlen/The WTF Metadynasty/The Blo vs Gno vs Mic Metadynasty	1	6.70%	2	15.40%
The First Dynasty of arthexis - The Guess the Theme Dynasty/The Gourmet Drag Racing on Mars Dynasty	1	6.70%	-	-
The First Dynasty of Devenger - The Movie Body Count Dynasty	1	6.70%	-	-
The First Dynasty of ais523 - The Reality TV Dynasty	1	6.70%	1	7.70%
The Fifth Metadynasty - The Original Game of Nomic Metadynasty	-	-	1	7.70%
The Third Dynasty of Bucky - The Runic Dynasty	-	-	2	15.40%
The First Dynasty of Wakukee - The Djinn Djinasty	1	6.70%	2	15.40%
The Sixth Dynasty of Kevan - The Mansion Murder Dynasty	1	6.70%	-	-
The Second Dynasty of ais523 - The Steampunk Dynasty	2	13.30%	-	-
The First Dynasty of lilomar - The Paranoia Dynasty	1	6.70%	-	-
The Seventh Dynasty of Kevan - The Cold War Spy Dynasty	1	6.70%	1	7.70%
The Second Dynasty of Brendan - The School of Witchcraft Dynasty	2	13.30%	-	-
The Fifth Dynasty of Josh - The LEGO® Dynasty	-	-	1	7.70%
The Third Dynasty of Purplebeard - The Prehistoric Dynasty	-	-	1	7.70%
The Eighth Dynasty of Kevan - The Mornington Crescent Dynasty	1	6.70%	-	-
The Ninth Dynasty of Kevan - The Lifeboat Dynasty	1	6.70%	1	7.70%
The Sixth Metadynasty - The Today's Economy Dynasty	2	13.30%	-	-
The Second Dynasty of coppro - The Taxicab Dynasty	2	13.30%	-	-
The Sixth Dynasty of ais523 - The Petty Crime Dynasty	1	6.70%	-	-
The First Dynasty of southpointingchariot - The Ansible Dynasty	2	13.30%	-	-
The Sixth Dynasty of Josh - The Visiting the Past Dynasty	5	33.30%	-	-
The Third Machine of scshunt - The Factory Dynasty	-	-	1	-

6. Looking at the dynasties which looked like fun from the outside, please write a little about why they look like fun - what specifically made that dynasty interesting to you.

• "Participation, interesting and good plays, crazy rulesets (BLO anyone?), Long-term strategies not grinding, good theme (and I'm not talking about epicness, but funny, fun or very well implemented. The Sheep Dynasty had a nice theme. The Werewolf too. And you don't need an Emperor to have a good theme, since the BLO-GNO-MIC had an awesome one as well. Maybe I should close this parenthesis now.) Done."
• "Just the ones I got to look. The themes were nice, there seemed to have some nice involvement in the "rules making" of the game..."
• "Interesting rules and interactions among players."
• "1) high flavor-to-rule text ratio 2) Lots of interaction over diverse assets that were hard to appraise"
• "Interesting mechanic and clever scams"
• "Interesting mechanics like in the Djinn dynasty or in the Time monks dynasty are, in my opinion, the best way to exploit the nomic dimension of the game. Dynasties with heavy flavour supported by good mechanics, like the cavemen dynasty, look very cool too. Dynasties like coppro's taxicab or spc's ansible would make good board games, but let few space for actually making meaningful proposals, and unfortunately we don't have a better system than daily actions to emulate turn-based mechanics."
• "Minimalist, recursive structure."
• "Apart from interesting mechanics and interactions and a general sense that the players were Cool People, there appeared to be a nice harmony between the thematic and mechanical sides of the game. A strong theme with no fun rules to back it up results in page-long story posts and not much else; on the other hand, we've had many dynasties where the theme didn't seem to resonate with the players and ended up with rulesets that are basically interchangeable, sans the odd keyword. The best dynasties evoked a sense that the theme was central to the game and visible in proposals, comments and even the way players approached the game. (Do I want to win or do I just want to make interesting stuff happen?) It's striking that the dynasties which focus on intrigue score the highest in this regard. We should make Kevan run more of these; he's quite good at them."
• "A functional path from the beginning of the dynasty to victory. Most Dynasties tend to be too difficult to win, and are never won."
• "BLO vs. GNO vs. MIC: different groups of players, different rulesets interacting Original Game of Nomic: harvest rules from outside sources, interacting structures Cold War Spy: secrets! mystery!"
• "Interesting theme, imaginative worldbuilding and a lot of stuff happening regularly in the game."
• "I like dynasties where there are lots of things to do and mechanics that interact in surprising ways."

Elements of Fun

4. Thinking about the dynasties that you tend to particularly enjoy, what are the most important factors that contribute to your enjoyment?

Response	% Q4	Number Q4
Interesting rules and mechanics	80.00%	12
Number of players	13.30%	2
Frequency of new proposals and resolution	13.30%	2
Specific players with whom I have interacted in the past	13.30%	2
Strong theme / direction from the Emperor	26.70%	4
Rules that encourage direct competition	26.70%	4
Rules that encourage co-operation or betrayal	60.00%	9
Rules that encourage solitaire building	0.00%	0
Rate of play - daily actions	13.30%	2
Rate of play - some daily actions, mostly weekly actions	20.00%	3
Rate of play - mostly weekly actions	0.00%	0
Rulesets that are vulnerable to scams	20.00%	3
Rulesets that reward long-term strategies	6.70%	1

Additional responses:

• "I really don't like daily actions, but coppro's taxicab dynasty was my favourite dynasty nonetheless because I spent most of it trying to set up a scam."
• "I do not like daily actions or randomness. I'm not sure if I effectively indicated that."
• "'Frequency of stuff happening' is possibly an important one; not necessarily daily actions, but just a sense of progression and spectacle."

Recommendations for Play

Pitfalls

7. What do you think are some of the common reasons why dynasties can fail to be fun?

• "Not enough participation, the feeling that you cannot win unless you find a scam because a small group of player is leading on the others by a light-year. The others lose interest, and sometimes even those who are winning, if the mechanics are dull. Also, sometimes the Emperor (or other players) have an idea about how the Dynasty should work, and Proposals that try and fix the dull mechanics get shot down, either by the people who are winning or by others that think "the Proposal is against the idea of the Dynasty", "it's late for such a game changing Proposal", "it's not fair that we have to throw away the last two dull weeks of hard grinding work to make this Dynasty fun". I'm not pointing at anybody here."
• "Few people; mechanisms that prevent or makes it an unadvantage to take actions; the rules are only made for non goal / game playing issues..."
• "Rules which do not encourage active participation by all players, boring or overcomplicated rulesets (often involving grinding to attain a victory condition), and uninspiring themes."
• "Imperial disinterest, mechanics that aren't linked together well, and lack of interaction."
• "Little choice of actions, too slow gameplay"
• "Dynasties that rely on the GNDT too much might lead people into making less proposals, which means less interaction with other players, which means less fun."
• "Lack of basic concept or clear gameflow."
• "Drama, grind, lack of a clear goal to work towards."
• "In Dynasty/Machine 101, it felt like we were just pushing buttons, repeating actions to reach the same, shared goal as everyone else. There was little sense of competition or getting ahead, except through repetition (eventually)."
• "When it becomes too difficult to win, we tend to just proposal-victory a winner. That tends to leave a bad taste in everyone's mouth."
• "Uninteresting theme, "grinding" (repetitive, monotonous action), other players being unsupportive/combative/mean, too much to keep track of, only players with lots of time can be successful"
• "Grinding or a single clearly optimal strategy. A lack of mechanics for aggressive or cooperative player interaction. A lack of noise on the blog (either everyone getting bored, or it being all GNDT twiddling and no proposals). An Emperor who imposes a specific but unpopular type of fun. A dwindling player base."
• "Gameplay mechanics are more grindy than interesting, lack of blue shell mechanics so people can catch up, not enough other players actively doing stuff."
• "Apathy and a lack of direction from the Emperor"

Recommendations for Emperors

8. What advice would you give an Emperor to help them to encourage a fun dynasty?

• "'The first one that reaches 100 points wins' is a bad idea. Give a theme, but try to keep it open, don't think you can control the Dynasty theme AND the whole ruleset. Make a number of Proposals to give it a direction, and then let the monster that democracy is choose the rest. Don't veto unless necessary. That's only a dose of bad feelings added to the roster. About the choice of the theme: The best dynasties I've seen were those in which the players formed a complex society of some kind. The ClingBoom dynasty was fun, but the theme left us very little place for deal making and cooperation."
• "Be active and help keep the game fresh."
• "Choose a theme which suggests interesting ideas for rules."
• "Solicit player feedback and aggressively introduce new mechanics when the dynasty appears to be unfun or stagnant."
• "Set some strong bases for the dynasty while being open to new mechanics."
• "Find a good idea for a game. Build the simplest structure for that game as possible, and make it your initial ruleset. Let players do what they want."
• "The most important thing to realise is that this is not your dynasty, it's everybody's. Don't try to force the players into a direction they clearly dislike. Broadly indicate your general idea for the dynasty either directly in a post or implicitly in your first few proposals so that the players know what they're in for and can tune their proposals to better match your idea for the theme. Speaking of those first proposals, try not to do everything at once; leave some obvious gaps open for the other players to fill. If the first two proposals already form a playable and 'fun' (mechanically nontrivial) game, you've probably done too much."
• "Strive for a more open dynasty where there are a plethora of actions not associated with one another, and where there are (not necessarily clear) ways to put one's self ahead of everyone else."
• "Be willing to let the dynasty end. I think most victory conditions are made artificially far away out of fear of it ending too soon. Instead, they end too late."
• "I don't think I have any particular insights on that matter, other than being open-minded enough to let your idea go off in a direction you weren't expecting"
• "Encourage activity when it wanes, and don't try too hard to impose your own idea of fun on the game."
• "Let the dynasty evolve naturally. Emperor provides some guidance, and sometimes performs the rule of the neutral third party for handling various things, but if he lets the players scuplt the gameplay, it will create a game the players want to play."
• "Have a mechanic in mind first and then build your theme around that."

Recommendations for Players

9. What can the player base at large do to ensure that dynasties are more fun in general?

• "Vote FOR for Proposals (that are not scammable) if you think they'll make the game more interesting. Propose a lot."
• "Be creative to help build the game."
• "Make more proposals and tell the Emperor about problems with the dynasty."
• "Participate and share ideas"
• "Maybe follow Bucky's advice not to start the "play" too early, because it leads in a diminution of proposals."
• "Participate, give feedback, try and make things work before doing anything else."
• "Don't ever use the word 'protosal' again. No, not even then. If you have an idea for the current dynasty, write a proposal. Don't gauge our interest or ask if you got the wording right; that's exactly what proposals are for. Chances are that we love your idea and want to use it and play with it as soon as possible, so don't make us wait an extra two days while you ponder on how best to word the triggered effect in the third paragraph. If you have an ambitious idea for a game mechanic, start small and we'll help fill out the gaps. The larger the proposal, the larger the probability of us finding a fatal error you missed while writing it."
• "Rules. I for one don't come up with many great ideas, but this game is built on its rules. People should try to at least start discussions about future mechanics they think would be fun, and maybe someone else can figure out a way to work it into the current rules."
• "Move away from daily-action grinding. It's rich-gets-richer and nobody likes it."
• "Support, encourage, and instruct new players; propose rule changes to create a game you think is fun; accept that other players might have different ideas of fun, or have different goals in playing than you do;"
• "Be bold enough to propose repealing or changing any rule that seems boring. Make some noise if it's getting quiet. Encourage interaction. Keep any rivalry in-character."
• "Take part of the dynasty. And if they are not enjoying it, make proposals to fix the parts they don't enjoy."
• "Don't be afraid to take the dynasty in unexpected directions, and be less conservative about taking on new mechanics, new tools and entirely new directions of play even late in the dynasty. Be more prepared to pass and fix an interesting but broken mechanic; most people will not willingly repropose the same mechanic multiple times, so if you see something that you want in the game that won't immediately break it, let it pass and take responsibility for fixing it."

By Player

Data is anonymous by default, although some identities will be obvious from context.

1

2. In which BN Dynasty did you join the game?
4th of Clucky - Ants

3. Of the BlogNomic dynasties you've participated in, which did you find the most fun? Please chose no more than three:
The Eighth Dynasty of Kevan - The Mornington Crescent Dynasty
The Ninth Dynasty of Kevan - The Lifeboat Dynasty

4. Thinking about the dynasties that you tend to particularly enjoy, what are the most important factors that contribute to your enjoyment? Please chose the most important three.
Interesting rules and mechanics
Strong theme / direction from the Emperor
Rules that encourage co-operation or betrayal

5. Of the dynasties in which you did not participate, i.e. you either observed at the time or have learned about after they occurred, which appear to have been the most fun? Please chose no more than three:
The Fifth Dynasty of Kevan - The Werewolf Dynasty
The First Dynasty of spikebrennan - The Wild West Poker Dynasty
The Fourth Metadynasty - The First Metadynasty of Rodlen/The WTF Metadynasty/The Blo vs Gno vs Mic Metadynasty

6. Looking at the dynasties which looked like fun from the outside, please write a little about why they look like fun - what specifically made that dynasty interesting to you.
Partecipation, interesting and good plays, crazy rulesets (BLO anyone?), Long-term strategies not grinding, good theme (and I'm not talking about epicness, but funny, fun or very well implemented. The Sheep Dynasty had a nice theme. The Werewolf too. And you don't need an Emperor to have a good theme, since the BLO-GNO-MIC had an awesome one as well. Maybe I should close this parenthesis now.) Done.

7. What do you think are some of the common reasons why dynasties can fail to be fun?
Not enough partecipation, the feeling that you cannot win unless you find a scam because a small group of player is leading on the others by a light-year. The others lose interest, and sometimes even those who are winning, if the mechanics are dull. Also, sometimes the Emperor (or other players) have an idea about how the Dynasty should work, and Proposals that try and fix the dull mechanics get shot down, either by the people who are winning or by others that think "the Proposal is against the idea of the Dynasty", "it's late for such a game changing Proposal", "it's not fair that we have to throw away the last two dull weeks of hard grinding work to make this Dynasty fun". I'm not pointing at anybody here.

8. What advice would you give an Emperor to help them to encourage a fun dynasty?
"The first one that reaches 100 points wins" is a bad idea. Give a theme, but try to keep it open, don't think you can control the Dynasty theme AND the whole ruleset. Make a number of Proposals to give it a direction, and then let the monster that democracy is choose the rest. Don't veto unless necessary. That's only a dose of bad feelings added to the roster. About the choice of the theme: The best dynasties I've seen were those in which the players formed a complex society of some kind. The ClingBoom dynasty was fun, but the theme left us very little place for deal making and cooperation.

9. What can the player base at large do to ensure that dynasties are more fun in general?
Vote FOR for Proposals (that are not scammable) if you think they'll make the game more interesting. Propose a lot.

2

2. In which BN Dynasty did you join the game?
The Second Dynasty of Yoda

3. Of the BlogNomic dynasties you've participated in, which did you find the most fun? Please chose no more than three:
The First Dynasty of Wakukee - The Djinn Djinasty
The Sixth Dynasty of Kevan - The Mansion Murder Dynasty
The Sixth Dynasty of Josh - The Visiting the Past Dynasty

4. Thinking about the dynasties that you tend to particularly enjoy, what are the most important factors that contribute to your enjoyment? Please chose the most important three.
Interesting rules and mechanics
Rules that encourage co-operation or betrayal
Rulesets that are vulnerable to scams

5. Of the dynasties in which you did not participate, i.e. you either observed at the time or have learned about after they occurred, which appear to have been the most fun? Please chose no more than three:
The First Dynasty of est - The Robot Factory Dynasty
The First Dynasty of 75th Trombone - The Text Adventure Dynasty
The Fifth Dynasty of Kevan - The Werewolf Dynasty

6. Looking at the dynasties which looked like fun from the outside, please write a little about why they look like fun - what specifically made that dynasty interesting to you.
No Response

7. What do you think are some of the common reasons why dynasties can fail to be fun?
No Response

8. What advice would you give an Emperor to help them to encourage a fun dynasty?
No Response

9. What can the player base at large do to ensure that dynasties are more fun in general?
No Response

3

2. In which BN Dynasty did you join the game?
Just joined, didn't played yet. I'll just pick some ideas that sounds nice for a game (:

3. Of the BlogNomic dynasties you've participated in, which did you find the most fun? Please chose no more than three:
The First Dynasty of Kevan - The Orwellian Dynasty
The First Dynasty of Chronos Phaenon - The Democratic Dynasty
The Sixth Metadynasty - The Today's Economy Dynasty

4. Thinking about the dynasties that you tend to particularly enjoy, what are the most important factors that contribute to your enjoyment? Please chose the most important three.
Number of players
Rules that encourage co-operation or betrayal
Rate of play - some daily actions, mostly weekly actions
Again, I'm using my gut feeling to awnser this. I'm still not sure what would be the most enjoyable thing about these games, since I only have a vague impression on them.

5. Of the dynasties in which you did not participate, i.e. you either observed at the time or have learned about after they occurred, which appear to have been the most fun? Please chose no more than three:
The First Dynasty of Aaron - The Athenian Dynasty
The First Dynasty of Excalabur - The Deity Dynasty
The Second Dynasty of Excalabur - The Schizophrenic Dynasty

6. Looking at the dynasties which looked like fun from the outside, please write a little about why they look like fun - what specifically made that dynasty interesting to you.
Just the ones I got to look. The themes were nice, there seemed to have some nice involvement in the "rules making" of the game...

7. What do you think are some of the common reasons why dynasties can fail to be fun?
Few people; mechanisms that prevent or makes it an unadvantage to take actions; the rules are only made for non goal / game playing issues...

8. What advice would you give an Emperor to help them to encourage a fun dynasty?
Be active and help keep the game fresh.

9. What can the player base at large do to ensure that dynasties are more fun in general?
Be creative to help build the game.

4

2. In which BN Dynasty did you join the game?
First Dynasty of Jack

3. Of the BlogNomic dynasties you've participated in, which did you find the most fun? Please chose no more than three:
The First Dynasty of Purplebeard - The Evil Dynasty
The Fourth Metadynasty - The First Metadynasty of Rodlen/The WTF Metadynasty/The Blo vs Gno vs Mic Metadynasty

4. Thinking about the dynasties that you tend to particularly enjoy, what are the most important factors that contribute to your enjoyment? Please chose the most important three.
Interesting rules and mechanics
Rules that encourage direct competition
Rules that encourage co-operation or betrayal

5. Of the dynasties in which you did not participate, i.e. you either observed at the time or have learned about after they occurred, which appear to have been the most fun? Please chose no more than three:
The Third Metadynasty - The Gostak Metadynasty
The Second Dynasty of Angry Grasshopper - The Monastic Murder Mystery Dynasty
The Fifth Dynasty of Kevan - The Werewolf Dynasty

6. Looking at the dynasties which looked like fun from the outside, please write a little about why they look like fun - what specifically made that dynasty interesting to you.
Interesting rules and interactions among players.

7. What do you think are some of the common reasons why dynasties can fail to be fun?
Rules which do not encourage active participation by all players, boring or overcomplicated rulesets (often involving grinding to attain a victory condition), and uninspiring themes.

8. What advice would you give an Emperor to help them to encourage a fun dynasty?
Choose a theme which suggests interesting ideas for rules.

9. What can the player base at large do to ensure that dynasties are more fun in general?
No Response

5

2. In which BN Dynasty did you join the game?
34

3. Of the BlogNomic dynasties you've participated in, which did you find the most fun? Please chose no more than three:
The First Dynasty of Clucky - The Olympic Dynasty
The First Dynasty of Yoda - The RPG Dynasty
The First Dynasty of ais523 - The Reality TV Dynasty

4. Thinking about the dynasties that you tend to particularly enjoy, what are the most important factors that contribute to your enjoyment? Please chose the most important three.
Interesting rules and mechanics
Frequency of new proposals and resolution
Rules that encourage direct competition

5. Of the dynasties in which you did not participate, i.e. you either observed at the time or have learned about after they occurred, which appear to have been the most fun? Please chose no more than three:
The First Dynasty of Keitalia - The Superhero Dynasty
The Second Metadynasty - The Switch Dynasty
The Second Dynasty of Chronos Phaenon - The Hegemonic Dynasty

6. Looking at the dynasties which looked like fun from the outside, please write a little about why they look like fun - what specifically made that dynasty interesting to you.
1) high flavor-to-rule text ratio 2) Lots of interaction over diverse assets that were hard to appraise

7. What do you think are some of the common reasons why dynasties can fail to be fun?
Imperial disinterest, mechanics that aren't linked together well, and lack of interaction.

8. What advice would you give an Emperor to help them to encourage a fun dynasty?
Solicit player feedback and aggressively introduce new mechanics when the dynasty appears to be unfun or stagnant.

9. What can the player base at large do to ensure that dynasties are more fun in general?
Make more proposals and tell the Emperor about problems with the dynasty.

6

2. In which BN Dynasty did you join the game?
the second dynasty of coppro: the taxicab dynasty

3. Of the BlogNomic dynasties you've participated in, which did you find the most fun? Please chose no more than three:
The Second Dynasty of coppro - The Taxicab Dynasty
The First Dynasty of southpointingchariot - The Ansible Dynasty
The Sixth Dynasty of Josh - The Visiting the Past Dynasty

4. Thinking about the dynasties that you tend to particularly enjoy, what are the most important factors that contribute to your enjoyment? Please chose the most important three.
Rules that encourage direct competition
Rules that encourage co-operation or betrayal
Rulesets that are vulnerable to scams
I really don't like daily actions, but coppro's taxicab dynasty was my favourite dynasty nonetheless because I spent most of it trying to set up a scam.

5. Of the dynasties in which you did not participate, i.e. you either observed at the time or have learned about after they occurred, which appear to have been the most fun? Please chose no more than three:
The First Dynasty of Wakukee - The Djinn Djinasty
The Third Dynasty of Purplebeard - The Prehistoric Dynasty

6. Looking at the dynasties which looked like fun from the outside, please write a little about why they look like fun - what specifically made that dynasty interesting to you.
Interesting mechanics like in the Djinn dynasty or in the Time monks dynasty are, in my opinion, the best way to exploit the nomic dimension of the game. Dynasties with heavy flavour supported by good mechanics, like the cavemen dynasty, look very cool too. Dynasties like coppro's taxicab or spc's ansible would make good board games, but let few space for actually making meaningful proposals, and unfortunately we don't have a better system than daily actions to emulate turn-based mechanics.

7. What do you think are some of the common reasons why dynasties can fail to be fun?
Dynasties that rely on the GNDT too much might lead people into making less proposals, which means less interaction with other players, which means less fun.

8. What advice would you give an Emperor to help them to encourage a fun dynasty?
Set some strong bases for the dynasty while being open to new mechanics.

9. What can the player base at large do to ensure that dynasties are more fun in general?
Maybe follow Bucky's advice not to start the "play" too early, because it leads in a diminution of proposals.

7

2. In which BN Dynasty did you join the game?
The Art Dynasty

3. Of the BlogNomic dynasties you've participated in, which did you find the most fun? Please chose no more than three:
The Sixth Metadynasty - The Today's Economy Dynasty
The Sixth Dynasty of ais523 - The Petty Crime Dynasty
The First Dynasty of southpointingchariot - The Ansible Dynasty

4. Thinking about the dynasties that you tend to particularly enjoy, what are the most important factors that contribute to your enjoyment? Please chose the most important three.
Interesting rules and mechanics
Rate of play - daily actions
I do not like daily actions or randomness. I'm not sure if I effectively indicated that.

5. Of the dynasties in which you did not participate, i.e. you either observed at the time or have learned about after they occurred, which appear to have been the most fun? Please chose no more than three:
The Third Machine of scshunt - The Factory Dynasty

6. Looking at the dynasties which looked like fun from the outside, please write a little about why they look like fun - what specifically made that dynasty interesting to you.
Minimalist, recursive structure.

7. What do you think are some of the common reasons why dynasties can fail to be fun?
Lack of basic concept or clear gameflow.

8. What advice would you give an Emperor to help them to encourage a fun dynasty?
Find a good idea for a game. Build the simplest structure for that game as possible, and make it your initial ruleset. Let players do what they want.

9. What can the player base at large do to ensure that dynasties are more fun in general?
Participate, give feedback, try and make things work before doing anything else.

8

2. In which BN Dynasty did you join the game?
29 - Second Metadynasty

3. Of the BlogNomic dynasties you've participated in, which did you find the most fun? Please chose no more than three:
The Second Dynasty of Excalabur - The Schizophrenic Dynasty
The Second Dynasty of ais523 - The Steampunk Dynasty
The Seventh Dynasty of Kevan - The Cold War Spy Dynasty

4. Thinking about the dynasties that you tend to particularly enjoy, what are the most important factors that contribute to your enjoyment? Please chose the most important three.
Interesting rules and mechanics
Specific players with whom I have interacted in the past
Rules that encourage co-operation or betrayal

5. Of the dynasties in which you did not participate, i.e. you either observed at the time or have learned about after they occurred, which appear to have been the most fun? Please chose no more than three:
The First Dynasty of Kevan - The Orwellian Dynasty
The Fifth Dynasty of Kevan - The Werewolf Dynasty
The Third Dynasty of Bucky - The Runic Dynasty

6. Looking at the dynasties which looked like fun from the outside, please write a little about why they look like fun - what specifically made that dynasty interesting to you.
Apart from interesting mechanics and interactions and a general sense that the players were Cool People, there appeared to be a nice harmony between the thematic and mechanical sides of the game. A strong theme with no fun rules to back it up results in page-long story posts and not much else; on the other hand, we've had many dynasties where the theme didn't seem to resonate with the players and ended up with rulesets that are basically interchangeable, sans the odd keyword. The best dynasties evoked a sense that the theme was central to the game and visible in proposals, comments and even the way players approached the game. (Do I want to win or do I just want to make interesting stuff happen?) It's striking that the dynasties which focus on intrigue score the highest in this regard. We should make Kevan run more of these; he's quite good at them.

7. What do you think are some of the common reasons why dynasties can fail to be fun?
Drama, grind, lack of a clear goal to work towards.

8. What advice would you give an Emperor to help them to encourage a fun dynasty?
The most important thing to realise is that this is not your dynasty, it's everybody's. Don't try to force the players into a direction they clearly dislike. Broadly indicate your general idea for the dynasty either directly in a post or implicitly in your first few proposals so that the players know what they're in for and can tune their proposals to better match your idea for the theme. Speaking of those first proposals, try not to do everything at once; leave some obvious gaps open for the other players to fill. If the first two proposals already form a playable and 'fun' (mechanically nontrivial) game, you've probably done too much.

9. What can the player base at large do to ensure that dynasties are more fun in general?
Don't ever use the word 'protosal' again. No, not even then. If you have an idea for the current dynasty, write a proposal. Don't gauge our interest or ask if you got the wording right; that's exactly what proposals are for. Chances are that we love your idea and want to use it and play with it as soon as possible, so don't make us wait an extra two days while you ponder on how best to word the triggered effect in the third paragraph. If you have an ambitious idea for a game mechanic, start small and we'll help fill out the gaps. The larger the proposal, the larger the probability of us finding a fatal error you missed while writing it.

9

2. In which BN Dynasty did you join the game?
100 (Visiting the Past Dynasty)

3. Of the BlogNomic dynasties you've participated in, which did you find the most fun? Please chose no more than three:
The Sixth Dynasty of Josh - The Visiting the Past Dynasty

4. Thinking about the dynasties that you tend to particularly enjoy, what are the most important factors that contribute to your enjoyment? Please chose the most important three.
Interesting rules and mechanics
Rules that encourage direct competition
Rate of play - some daily actions, mostly weekly actions

5. Of the dynasties in which you did not participate, i.e. you either observed at the time or have learned about after they occurred, which appear to have been the most fun? Please chose no more than three:
No Response

6. Looking at the dynasties which looked like fun from the outside, please write a little about why they look like fun - what specifically made that dynasty interesting to you.
I haven't looked much at previous dynasties, so I can't comment.

7. What do you think are some of the common reasons why dynasties can fail to be fun?
In Dynasty/Machine 101, it felt like we were just pushing buttons, repeating actions to reach the same, shared goal as everyone else. There was little sense of competition or getting ahead, except through reputation (eventually).

8. What advice would you give an Emperor to help them to encourage a fun dynasty?
Strive for a more open dynasty where there are a plethora of actions not associated with one another, and where there are (not necessarily clear) ways to put one's self ahead of everyone else.

9. What can the player base at large do to ensure that dynasties are more fun in general?
Rules. I for one don't come up with many great ideas, but this game is built on its rules. People should try to at least start discussions about future mechanics they think would be fun, and maybe someone else can figure out a way to work it into the current rules.

10

2. In which BN Dynasty did you join the game?
First Truman Capote

3. Of the BlogNomic dynasties you've participated in, which did you find the most fun? Please chose no more than three:
The First Dynasty of AngryGrasshopper - The Spaceship Dynasty
The Second Dynasty of Excalabur - The Schizophrenic Dynasty
The Sixth Dynasty of Josh - The Visiting the Past Dynasty

4. Thinking about the dynasties that you tend to particularly enjoy, what are the most important factors that contribute to your enjoyment? Please chose the most important three.
Interesting rules and mechanics
Frequency of new proposals and resolution
Strong theme / direction from the Emperor

5. Of the dynasties in which you did not participate, i.e. you either observed at the time or have learned about after they occurred, which appear to have been the most fun? Please chose no more than three:
The First Dynasty of Cayvie - The Elemental Dynasty
The First Dynasty of ais523 - The Reality TV Dynasty
The Ninth Dynasty of Kevan - The Lifeboat Dynasty

6. Looking at the dynasties which looked like fun from the outside, please write a little about why they look like fun - what specifically made that dynasty interesting to you.
A functional path from the beginning of the dynasty to victory. Most Dynasties tend to be too difficult to win, and are never won.

7. What do you think are some of the common reasons why dynasties can fail to be fun?
When it becomes too difficult to win, we tend to just proposal-victory a winner. That tends to leave a bad taste in everyone's mouth.

8. What advice would you give an Emperor to help them to encourage a fun dynasty?
Be willing to let the dynasty end. I think most victory conditions are made artificially far away out of fear of it ending too soon. Instead, they end too late.

9. What can the player base at large do to ensure that dynasties are more fun in general?
Move away from daily-action grinding. It's rich-gets-richer and nobody likes it.

11

2. In which BN Dynasty did you join the game?
First Dynasty of Lyndse

3. Of the BlogNomic dynasties you've participated in, which did you find the most fun? Please chose no more than three:
The First Dynasty of Lyndse - The Robin Hood Dynasty
The First Dynasty of Kevan - The Orwellian Dynasty
The Second Dynasty of Kevan - The Moreau Dynasty

4. Thinking about the dynasties that you tend to particularly enjoy, what are the most important factors that contribute to your enjoyment? Please chose the most important three.
Interesting rules and mechanics
Strong theme / direction from the Emperor
Rate of play - some daily actions, mostly weekly actions

5. Of the dynasties in which you did not participate, i.e. you either observed at the time or have learned about after they occurred, which appear to have been the most fun? Please chose no more than three:
The Fourth Metadynasty - The First Metadynasty of Rodlen/The WTF Metadynasty/The Blo vs Gno vs Mic Metadynasty
The Fifth Metadynasty - The Original Game of Nomic Metadynasty
The Seventh Dynasty of Kevan - The Cold War Spy Dynasty

6. Looking at the dynasties which looked like fun from the outside, please write a little about why they look like fun - what specifically made that dynasty interesting to you.
BLO vs. GNO vs. MIC: different groups of players, different rulesets interacting Original Game of Nomic: harvest rules from outside sources, interacting structures Cold War Spy: secrets! mystery!

7. What do you think are some of the common reasons why dynasties can fail to be fun?
Uninteresting theme, "grinding" (repetitive, monotonous action), other players being unsupportive/combative/mean, too much to keep track of, only players with lots of time can be successful

8. What advice would you give an Emperor to help them to encourage a fun dynasty?
I don't think I have any particular insights on that matter, other than being open-minded enough to let your idea go off in a direction you weren't expecting

9. What can the player base at large do to ensure that dynasties are more fun in general?
Support, encourage, and instruct new players; propose rule changes to create a game you think is fun; accept that other players might have different ideas of fun, or have different goals in playing than you do;

12

2. In which BN Dynasty did you join the game?
Zero

3. Of the BlogNomic dynasties you've participated in, which did you find the most fun? Please chose no more than three:
The First Dynasty of Devenger - The Movie Body Count Dynasty
The First Dynasty of lilomar - The Paranoia Dynasty
The Second Dynasty of Brendan - The School of Witchcraft Dynasty

4. Thinking about the dynasties that you tend to particularly enjoy, what are the most important factors that contribute to your enjoyment? Please chose the most important three.
Interesting rules and mechanics
Strong theme / direction from the Emperor
Rules that encourage co-operation or betrayal
"Frequency of stuff happening" is possibly an important one; not necessarily daily actions, but just a sense of progression and spectacle.

5. Of the dynasties in which you did not participate, i.e. you either observed at the time or have learned about after they occurred, which appear to have been the most fun? Please chose no more than three:
The First Dynasty of AngryGrasshopper - The Spaceship Dynasty
The First Dynasty of 75th Trombone - The Text Adventure Dynasty
The Fifth Dynasty of Josh - The LEGO® Dynasty

6. Looking at the dynasties which looked like fun from the outside, please write a little about why they look like fun - what specifically made that dynasty interesting to you.
Interesting theme, imaginative worldbuilding and a lot of stuff happening regularly in the game.

7. What do you think are some of the common reasons why dynasties can fail to be fun?
Grinding or a single clearly optimal strategy. A lack of mechanics for aggressive or cooperative player interaction. A lack of noise on the blog (either everyone getting bored, or it being all GNDT twiddling and no proposals). An Emperor who imposes a specific but unpopular type of fun. A dwindling player base.

8. What advice would you give an Emperor to help them to encourage a fun dynasty?
Encourage activity when it wanes, and don't try too hard to impose your own idea of fun on the game.

9. What can the player base at large do to ensure that dynasties are more fun in general?
Be bold enough to propose repealing or changing any rule that seems boring. Make some noise if it's getting quiet. Encourage interaction. Keep any rivalry in-character.

13

2. In which BN Dynasty did you join the game?
The First Dynasty of Thelonious - The Musical Dynasty

3. Of the BlogNomic dynasties you've participated in, which did you find the most fun? Please chose no more than three:
The Second Dynasty of Elias IX - The Vegetable Dynasty
The First Dynasty of arthexis - The Guess the Theme Dynasty/The Gourmet Drag Racing on Mars Dynasty
The Second Dynasty of coppro - The Taxicab Dynasty

4. Thinking about the dynasties that you tend to particularly enjoy, what are the most important factors that contribute to your enjoyment? Please chose the most important three.
Interesting rules and mechanics
Specific players with whom I have interacted in the past
Rules that encourage co-operation or betrayal

5. Of the dynasties in which you did not participate, i.e. you either observed at the time or have learned about after they occurred, which appear to have been the most fun? Please chose no more than three:
No Response

6. Looking at the dynasties which looked like fun from the outside, please write a little about why they look like fun - what specifically made that dynasty interesting to you.
sorry too lazy to look at dynasties I didn't play

7. What do you think are some of the common reasons why dynasties can fail to be fun?
Gameplay mechanics are more grindy than interesting, lack of blue shell mechanics so people can catch up, not enough other players actively doing stuff.

8. What advice would you give an Emperor to help them to encourage a fun dynasty?
Let the dynasty evolve naturally. Emperor provides some guidance, and sometimes performs the rule of the neutral third party for handling various things, but if he lets the players scuplt the gameplay, it will create a game the players want to play.

9. What can the player base at large do to ensure that dynasties are more fun in general?
Take part of the dynasty. And if they are not enjoying it, make proposals to fix the parts they don't enjoy.

14

2. In which BN Dynasty did you join the game?
100

3. Of the BlogNomic dynasties you've participated in, which did you find the most fun? Please chose no more than three:
The Sixth Dynasty of Josh - The Visiting the Past Dynasty

4. Thinking about the dynasties that you tend to particularly enjoy, what are the most important factors that contribute to your enjoyment? Please chose the most important three.
Rules that encourage co-operation or betrayal
Rulesets that are vulnerable to scams
Rulesets that reward long-term strategies

5. Of the dynasties in which you did not participate, i.e. you either observed at the time or have learned about after they occurred, which appear to have been the most fun? Please chose no more than three:
The Fifth Dynasty of Kevan - The Werewolf Dynasty
The Third Dynasty of Bucky - The Runic Dynasty
The First Dynasty of Wakukee - The Djinn Djinasty

6. Looking at the dynasties which looked like fun from the outside, please write a little about why they look like fun - what specifically made that dynasty interesting to you.
Interesting mechanic and clever scams

7. What do you think are some of the common reasons why dynasties can fail to be fun?
Little choice of actions, too slow gameplay

8. What advice would you give an Emperor to help them to encourage a fun dynasty?
Don't know. I myself need such an advice :D

9. What can the player base at large do to ensure that dynasties are more fun in general?
Participate and share ideas

15

2. In which BN Dynasty did you join the game?
The First Dynasty of Damanor

3. Of the BlogNomic dynasties you've participated in, which did you find the most fun? Please chose no more than three:
The First Dynasty of Damanor - The Galactic Dynasty
The Second Dynasty of ais523 - The Steampunk Dynasty
The Second Dynasty of Brendan - The School of Witchcraft Dynasty

4. Thinking about the dynasties that you tend to particularly enjoy, what are the most important factors that contribute to your enjoyment? Please chose the most important three.
Interesting rules and mechanics
Number of players
Rate of play - daily actions

5. Of the dynasties in which you did not participate, i.e. you either observed at the time or have learned about after they occurred, which appear to have been the most fun? Please chose no more than three:
The First Dynasty of est - The Robot Factory Dynasty

6. Looking at the dynasties which looked like fun from the outside, please write a little about why they look like fun - what specifically made that dynasty interesting to you.
I like dynasties where there are lots of things to do and mechanics that interact in surprising ways.

7. What do you think are some of the common reasons why dynasties can fail to be fun?
Apathy and a lack of direction from the Emperor

8. What advice would you give an Emperor to help them to encourage a fun dynasty?
Have a mechanic in mind first and then build your theme around that

9. What can the player base at large do to ensure that dynasties are more fun in general?
Don't be afraid to take the dynasty in unexpected directions, and be less conservative about taking on new mechanics, new tools and entirely new directions of play even late in the dynasty. Be more prepared to pass and fix an interesting but broken mechanic; most people will not willingly repropose the same mechanic multiple times, so if you see something that you want in the game that won't immediately break it, let it pass and take responsibility for fixing it.