Up For Discussion: Timing

I observed not too long ago that most trivia games run at a pace of ten to twenty questions per hour, usually filling two-hour event blocks. There's a huge difference between these extremes in terms of how the rest of the time gets used. A good host can make a game enjoyable regardless of the amount of time between questions, and some games seem to drag regardless of actual pacing. And of course a critical factor is whether trivia is the only thing taking place at the event or if there are other activities keeping players occupied, like sploders and dancing.

I've occasionally heard people complain about the pace of slow games, whether it's about starting too late, waiting too long between questions, or sitting through a forty-minute intermission that was supposed to be fifteen. These complaints are rare among trivia regulars (besides the one about the forty-minute intermission, which is an ongoing joke), and pretty much only trivia newbies lack the tact to do it privately. But I've never heard anyone complain about a game moving too quickly, which makes me wonder why most hosts tend to opt for games with sparser question formats.

When I started doing impromptu trivias, I made it a point to try wrapping up the twenty questions within an hour (though bonus questions extend past that) because they take place in my garden, not at a club, and there's pretty much nothing else going on there except the trivia and watching the turtle walk around when I happen to have it rezzed. Also, the concept behind them recommends it: I'm asking people to come over at the last minute for trivia; I'm not going to make them wait for it.

There are reasons for slower pacing, though, and one of my other games -- Chaos Trivia/Truth or Dare -- falls at the other end of the spectrum for that, and a lot of effort goes into managing the pacing of this game for exactly that reason. There's much more going on at Chaos than trivia: when a player gets a question right, he or she wins the opportunity to challenge another player to a truth or dare. Some of these are quick (such as the dare to shout across the sim that you want to have sex with a chosen person), while some are much longer (those who put the most effort into the dare to IM something erotic to three people in the group tend to spend a lengthy chunk of time composing their messages).

My cohost Reke Wezzog and I try to move things along by paying attention to how much time is elapsing and by allowing people to complete longer dares while we continue asking questions, but much of the pacing depends on the players, the truths and dares involved, whether people are afk when they're challenged, whether a person completing a truth is a slow or a fast typist, the time it takes to find props for certain dares, etc. As a result, it's not unusual for ten or more minutes to go by between questions, though we try to keep it closer to five. In addition, I've recently begun turning my typing animation on while hosting Chaos specifically so that I don't appear to be silent or absent when I'm typing in between the times when something is more clearly taking place or when I'm answering a truth question. I started doing this when I noticed that players who use typing animation make it easier for us to gauge timing because we can tell if they're finished completing a truth or a chatty dare.

The point, though, is that the best pacing for a game is relative and hinges on a number of factors, at least when there are factors other than the trivia to take into account. Nonetheless, the questions remain: What's your pacing preference, both as players and as hosts? Does timing affect which games you choose to go to? If you host, are you conscious of pacing and/or did you use it as a factor in designing your game? If you prefer a more relaxed pace as a player, why?

Jasmina Kline hosting trivia at Charitable Bliss

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