Vitek: Goddam you all. This is not why I came back, this is why I left.
Please do come back. I understand the frustration, but as noted, friends do get frustrated with each other sometimes.
I think what I've observed over the past two years is that the issue isn't that we sometimes disagree, we just have a hard time sometimes coming back to the table and apologizing when we bleep up. And certainly, we've had some folks in the past just unwilling to acknowledge mistakes or seek reconciliation.
But I do think that at least everyone who did play this game had their heart in the right place, even if I also understand how they came to be at odds.
Even having gotten pretty frustrated myself, I don't perceive any animus amongst the folks still standing.
As a side note, trying to address part of what Poppy is speaking to, I suggested way back (ironically it was Drealmer's first game) that one way to address onboarding new players is to bend the rules against talking outside of game and give them a neutral buddy outside the game that can help translate basic game concepts and strategies, and helping them filter through pages of personal noise, while also potentially moving some of that noise outside the game thread.
I realize a) that might be hard to balance where that line is of giving feedback without directly guiding, and b) that requires finding even more people willing to participate in the game in some fashion.
But actually, I think it could be done without too much demand since we tend to only have 1-2 newbies per game, and it might actually be preferable if that person hasn't been following the game closely and instead is only answering specific questions as asked.