[quote=@Gowi]
[@Dedonus]

Originally, I started Maximum Comics for just the reasons you stated: the concurrent games were spread too thin. Back a few years ago we had an Indie Comics, One Universe, Ultimate DC, and All-Star Marvel game; and my belief was adding a concrete foundation for a true singularization would make them all not needed and thus folks who I value as talented writers could focus their efforts on one game. Unfortunately between my timing, setup, activity, or whatever other effects… it just didn’t work and I began to doubt myself. I take a lot of the blame for this, but I keep thinking in my head that I didn’t build this game for nothing so I really should find a way to make it work; your version of ASM is a good standard to prove that it works. But my activity was jagged for a month and a half…. and folks gave up. I don’t know if ASM has luck or just more determined folks, but it does give me a glimmer of hope for Maximum.

I just need to talk with my players and find out how to do just that.
[/quote]

I think ASM was a combination of good luck and determined folks.  In one of my in-progress player recruit drives, I lucked into attracting players like [@Sep] and [@Natty] (and others) who have proven to me to be reliable writers who I can count on even if I am a little behind on my posting schedule.  So, I think luck goes hand-in-hand in finding those "determined folks".

You also bring up another good point.  Not only are there similar games being run on different sites, but the All-Star, Ultimate DC, One Universe, Indie, Maximum Comics games also compete with themselves for players on the same site.  People fall behind on posts if they have to write for 3 characters in multiple games.  Unfortunately, I am not quite sure how to "fix" this problem besides properly timing when you put up the game.

Also, I remember three more pieces of advice.

First, although I don't really have any comment on the start date itself, I think it might be beneficial to allow a range of where the players characters can be in the superhero careers.  In other words, some players can have a character in their first year of superheroics, while someone else can have his/her character in his 3rd year.  As long as you establish guidelines for this, I think I can mix things up (i.e. we don't have to go through everyone's origin story, which we have all heard a gazillion times).  For instance, you can say that your character can be anywhere between year 1 and year 3 in their career and certain characters, like mutants, cosmic characters, etc. can have a little bit more leeway.  I don't know if you already are doing this.  If you are, just ignore me.

Second, for these "one universe" games, the GM needs to take into account the landscape of the roleplay when considering which non-DC and non-Marvel characters should be allowed to be applied for.  I honestly think you actually did a fairly good job on this.  The Singular Universe game on SuperHeroHype, on the other hand, kind of got out of control in this aspect.  It is fine if the characters fit into what has already been established in the game, but when that game started accepting Godzilla, the Power Rangers, James Bond, and other characters, things got, in my opinion, too unfocused.  An example of doing this correctly would be accepting the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles when there are a couple other NYC street-level characters so that it does not seem like they are separated in their own little bubble.

Finally, for relaunching Maximum Comics, it might be wise to wait until after the holidays before you start recruiting more players.  Even though this holiday season does include winter break for most students, people also get busy around this time of year too.  When I first started All-Star Marvel, I had to soft-reboot it once because I tried to launch it right after I finished my exams but we all got busy over Winter break.  While it might seem like a good idea to launch a game during a break from school, it might be better to wait until after New Years because people will not have as many responsibilities for their families as over this holiday season.

Also, when determining whether you want to do a hard reboot (clean slate) or a soft reboot (carry over characters, but allows a good jumping on point for new characters), I think you need to consider who in this game currently will be coming along and, as a result, which characters will be doing so as well.  How much of the current lore be salvaged when certain key characters might be changing?