Well, I've decided the open lobby just isn't the place for this. Yes, it's nice to have more people racing, and a few randoms have actually become weekly participants, but dealing with people who have no idea what's going on is just too hard.
For one, we have to explain the entire process every time anyone joins, and some people don't comprehend it and end up ruining races. Tonight we had someone who repeatedly told us to "just start the race, man" despite not setting any lap time. We eventually kicked him, but it's just too frustrating. At another point someone joined the room and the race right as it was starting, causing us to have to start over.
Most importantly, the time-saving technique of having people get times before they show up is worthless if random strangers are showing up too. Unfortunately, there is no way to let people run laps while the race is going on, without them leaving the room. And as if they would come back (except one did, which was nice). This means we still get very little racing accomplished as we spend most of our time just waiting.
In essence, it boils down to this: I would much rather do two hours of racing with three or four good drivers who know what's going on, than do about 45 minutes of actual racing with twelve drivers, some of whom are clueless and destructive. I'm willing to sacrifice the number of drivers for more and better quality racing overall.
If the process is streamlined enough, perhaps starting at 9 will be unnecessary. I noticed a few people left about two hours in at 11 anyway, so it didn't give us that much more time.
Anyway, if we're ditching open lobby, we need as much participation as possible. I know there are people who would be interested in this but have no idea about S.N.A.I.L., and now it will be very hard to reach these people and show them this. If anyone wants to try hosting this on their own time to find interested people and lead them here, feel free. But it's a lot of work to weed out the crazies and get good racing in, so I can't expect anyone to do so.
It's just a bit frustrating because getting the most enjoyment out of this requires several good drivers. It just isn't fun with very few people or with horrible drivers. Right now I'm just trying to find a balance between those two extremes. Any help getting there would be much appreciated.
, thats a great offer zer0. Trust me everyone, it is a great night of racing
