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Personally, I think the thread is a bit useless too, aside from getting fresh impressions from after this last marathon. It's certainly not because of a timing issue, though.
What the topic should have been:
1) "Ideas for NEXT Marathon." This removes the apparent timing problems that some believe there are, because it would just be about any upcoming marathon, and many of us are hoping for one in the summer. This also allows discussion for things besides what games to play. We probably can't do that now in this thread because it would get a bit unwieldy.
2) The thread should have been created to decide three things: A) The setting; B) the time; and C) the theme (if any) of the next marathon.
As to A, I suggest (perhaps self-servingly) that it be held on the West Coast of the States. This is because the winter marathons are consistently held on the East Coast. However, there is another far more intriguing option (which is also far less self-serving): hold it in Europe.
As to B, I guess I've already said that the point of this discussion, if there is one, at the current time would be to serve a marathon that is held outside the typical Magfest timeframe, such as in the summer. For the record, we probably do not have enough members to support more than two marathons. Huge sites like IGN or something could probably support one a season if they wanted because they only need 1 in 2,000 people to donate to make it worthwhile, and they would meet that kind of mainstream vein pretty easily. We, on the other hand, probably need something much higher, like 1 in 10 or 1 in 100 to donate to make it worthwhile for whatever charity we're supporting. Regular members' attention spans are probably not large enough to devote interest to four or five of these things a year, and potential members will not be excited if the marathons are too frequent. So, two might be the happiest fit, assuming it is anything more than one.
As to c, personally, I don't think we should go for any-and-all games at every marathon if we try to do a summer marathon. Maybe the summer marathon can focus on obscure games? Maybe it can focus on multiplayer games? Whatever, but the two marathons might be better off complimenting each other than supplementing each other.
What the topic should have been:
1) "Ideas for NEXT Marathon." This removes the apparent timing problems that some believe there are, because it would just be about any upcoming marathon, and many of us are hoping for one in the summer. This also allows discussion for things besides what games to play. We probably can't do that now in this thread because it would get a bit unwieldy.
2) The thread should have been created to decide three things: A) The setting; B) the time; and C) the theme (if any) of the next marathon.
As to A, I suggest (perhaps self-servingly) that it be held on the West Coast of the States. This is because the winter marathons are consistently held on the East Coast. However, there is another far more intriguing option (which is also far less self-serving): hold it in Europe.
As to B, I guess I've already said that the point of this discussion, if there is one, at the current time would be to serve a marathon that is held outside the typical Magfest timeframe, such as in the summer. For the record, we probably do not have enough members to support more than two marathons. Huge sites like IGN or something could probably support one a season if they wanted because they only need 1 in 2,000 people to donate to make it worthwhile, and they would meet that kind of mainstream vein pretty easily. We, on the other hand, probably need something much higher, like 1 in 10 or 1 in 100 to donate to make it worthwhile for whatever charity we're supporting. Regular members' attention spans are probably not large enough to devote interest to four or five of these things a year, and potential members will not be excited if the marathons are too frequent. So, two might be the happiest fit, assuming it is anything more than one.
As to c, personally, I don't think we should go for any-and-all games at every marathon if we try to do a summer marathon. Maybe the summer marathon can focus on obscure games? Maybe it can focus on multiplayer games? Whatever, but the two marathons might be better off complimenting each other than supplementing each other.