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J Kell

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    The Problem with Ronny's META™ (Poll included)

    in Orbis Central

    Posted · Edited by J Kell

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    The Problem with Ronny's META™

    By

    @J Kell

    Sponsored by

    @zevfer

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    Da META™ defined: Metapolitics (sometimes written meta-politics) is metalinguistic talk about politics; a political dialogue about politics itself. In this mode, metapolitics takes on various forms of inquiry, appropriating to itself another way toward the discourse of politics and the political. It assumes a self-conscious role of mediating the analytic, synthetic, and normative language of political inquiry and politics itself. (source)

     

    AKA

    The self-imposed rules the players play by when engaging in in-game politics.

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    @Sweeeeet Ronny D's comment reflects  the worst attitude you can have in a gaming community; a repulsion to change. Ronny wants us to keep the “Da META™” because he, along with a few dozen other players, has spent over seven years creating it. It’s a handcrafted set of rules that these players hold close to their hearts. Why shouldn’t they? These players have put hundreds and thousands of hours molding “Da RULES™” into their liking. I have been asked by many to explain why should we challenge/change these rules? They are well established and the players of Orbis have been taught they are the moral law while those that go against it are disruptive to the game.

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                We have been blessed here on Orbis with the arrival of thousands of new players. Newer players, having been taught “Da META™," and after two years of exploring, are realizing just how stagnate the politics in Orbis are because of “Da META™.” These views are reflective in various polls and the increase in raiding and pirates in Orbis. New players are disengaging with the politics of Orbis because “Da META™” began being built by some 50 players when the game had less than five thousand regular users. We now have nearly three times that number of active players.  The view Ronny espouses expressly ignores the new players’ desire to change the way the game is played because “they were here first.” The new established players should be allowed to have a voice, and they have numbers that the old guard does not have. The old guard needs to reckon with the fact that they are leading spheres filled with members who do not agree with them. Let’s hope moving forward we can have a debate on the merits and not the “I was here first” debate.

                I am working on other responses to Keezgo and the whole “bi-polar era was terrible” argument. Can I please reiterate something that @Kevanovia has said for me multiple times, I am not saying the before NPO times were amazing and perfect, I’m giving my vision for the game that I think will help it grow. I do think that it was better before NPO, but do not conflate that by stating I want things to “revert” back.

     

    I Await Your Discord...

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    A Proposal on the Culture of Orbis (Poll Included) - Published by HarvardU

    in Orbis Central

    Posted · Edited by J Kell
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    Published by

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    by

    @J Kell

    @zevfer

    Preface by @Kevanovia

       Tick tock The clock seems to be inching ever closer to our impending doom. How do we pass the time of the dangers that loom? Do we spend it trying to go out and find love? No, we instead spend it donating our pixels to the ones above. With this wasted time, do we take control of our own PnW story? No, we tend to pass off all of that fun and glory. What is the answer? Please do tell...

       May I present to you, the teachings of JKell. James Keller Jr makes a compelling point as to how we have arrived to the current political entrapment we find ourselves in. Jonathan Keller is a Orbis-renowned author and artist, some call him a philosopher. I think he's closer to a prophet. Do his solutions hold the key to what we crave? Only time will tell. One thing I know for certain, Jeremiah Keller Esquire's words provide some real value and thought provoking ideas. I sincerely hope you enjoy the fluid thoughts of JKell, my friend

    Introduction

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       Orbis is at a crossroads. The game Politics and War has become one of conflicting philosophies on how to play the game. We see culture wars over alliance spheres, automated bots, and whether this game reflects in-game personalities or out of character personalities. There are divisions everywhere, most of them very blatant and exposed for the world, others hidden from the public eye but have been allowed to stew for far too long. This game which depends so much on community, has a community that cannot even agree on basic gameplay mechanics. I hope to begin healing the divide, but first we must look deeply at the divisions within the community and how to fix them.

     

    I.               Proposal - Thesis

        Alliance leaders should strive to be more focused on their own role-playing element, members, and what benefits them as an individual alliance. No longer should spheres be the dominate deciding factor in determining war and politics. The foreign affairs of most alliances have been reduced to only contact within their respective sphere with a heavy reliance that the head alliance in the sphere would then engage in good faith negotiations with the opposing spheres. Alliances should pursue wars and peace terms where their specific alliance’s goal and vision is met. No longer should alliance leaders rely solely on their paper to determine their next war. Wars should be fought on a much more individual alliance level that way specific alliances benefit from the wars they wage and not just the general sphere they are in. Additionally, alliances should be willing to impose economic sanctions, reparations, and demilitarization in peace negotiations in order to pursue the best outcome for their respective alliance.

     

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    II. NPO and Sphere Silos


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    n63PY4t.png - JaxTeller

     

                When NPO was dissolved there was a gut reaction to go the opposite direction of what NPO was doing such as demanding reparations, demilitarization, and permanent disbandment. This is understandable as NPO was engaged in tactics that were very unsavory and could cause the causal player to either shrink away in fear or join in to simply avoid conflict. To this day we still hear the cries of “don’t be like NPO” or “NPO tactics!” This has gone from players making sure no one else steps in to be abusive to the community, to players demanding that people keep within accepted social norms that were only newly created in this post-NPO world. 

                What has resulted from these new social norms is a world that NPO sorely wanted, one of limited action (an argument I will not include here because I do not have the research done for it is that NPO actually invented the modern alliance sphere we see today and that other alliance leaders adopted it because it was so successful). There are 5 spheres that control the entirety of the game. In avoiding having a specific sphere being the dominating and controlling force within the game, we have allowed the game to be boiled down to 5 controllable players. Players have recently rejoiced that the number of major spheres is growing, this is a shortsighted celebration. They believe that this will lead to more politics, which it will, but not at the scale Orbis was accustomed to before NPO’s wipe. Instead, we have, what some in the community has lovingly referred to, a “merry-go-round of war.” There are 5 spheres that operate as individual units. The alliances within those spheres do not step outside their sphere out of fear that they will be abandoned for going against the sphere FA. These alliances within the spheres can only attack the alliances their sphere has decided to attack. Thus, the only wars, by necessity, the alliances within the spheres can engage in are global. Global wars, because of their size and scope, end all most solely in “white peace.” The white peace gives the spheres fighting enough time to rebuild so then within the next coming weeks they can fight another one of the 4 spheres at their disposal. What is there to debate or allow for politicking? The two sides fight for a time, white peace is agreed upon, and then move on to the next war where it is rinse and repeat. Typically, the only FA that occur in these encounters are the spheres’ FA leaders discussing when they want it to end.

                I challenge my friends in FA to dispute the above scenario. Perhaps I am over generalizing the issue, there may be exceptions. But given the sheer number of global wars that have occurred in the last 2 years, I don’t think I’m exaggerating the issue. I think I’m hitting the nail on the head. There is barely any FA that occurs outside of the spheres’ FA leaders discussing peace terms with the other spheres. Alliance to alliance FA outside of spheres is limited and that, in turn, limits the politics that can occur. Therefore, it is in our best interest, as players, to engage in more alliance-to-alliance FA regardless of spheres. Sphere’s borders should be removed so that alliances are not restricted by what their sphere’s FA leaders agree to.

     

    III. Discord, OWF, and Out of Character Communication

    farj6la.png- Sweeeeet Ronny D

    559gyQT.png - Agent Guyn

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                One of the greatest tools that has come to Orbis is the use of third-party communication. Discord has allowed for more communication between alliances and nations that never was possible in-game and through the OWF. Real time discussions and voice chat has allowed us to gain friends we would never have gotten sticking to in-game messaging, alliance announcements and OWF threads. However, all this real time communication has blurred a line, a real line that has helped create the paper filled mess we find ourselves in; where our real life personality begins and our in-game character ends. 

                Unfortunately, I do recognize that any game will cause toxic players to go after real life personality. It happens and it is unavoidable, what is avoidable is for regular in-game interactions to stay within character. We are playing characters, characters that can have differing or similar personalities to the real-life person playing the character. What the character in the game believes, says, and does should not be considered reflective of the beliefs and character of the real person. We need to preserve this line.

                We must be proactive in this in two ways, ensure players know we are in character and secondly, utilize OWF more as this is a buffer zone of “certain to be in character.” Discord with all it benefits causes the most problems in determining whether someone is in character or out of character. When someone posts on OWF, however, it is very clearly (or it should be) a statement from the character the player is playing. While Discord allows fast paced politics to take place where emotions can run wild (allowing real world personality take hold), OWF forces the player to take a step back an realize what they are typing. There is no rush to respond. Time can be taken to make a response.

                Of course, players have to take the initiative to act in good faith and keep other’s own out of character personalities away from the discussion on OWF and Discord. If players are actively trying to bring in someone’s outside personality or life into the game, nothing can combat this. The game will be infected with personal stigma that will ruin the community. The hostilities within the game should stay within the game and not go with the person once we step out of Orbis.

                Besides all of the above points, playing a character instead of being yourself is just more fun in Orbis. I want to be the balls to walls type of person here that I am not in the real world. I would hope people would agree and want to pursue it, but the last few years have shown this to not be a popular sentiment.

     

    IV. Conclusion and More to Come

                This is but the tip of the iceberg. I have a lot more to come that will be published in the following weeks including peace terms, how to keep this game friendly, and bots. Please follow me for updates. I will not have time to respond to all the comments in this thread, unless Orbis completely ignores this, so instead of individually replying, I will make a response to criticisms in a separate post (one to come very soonish in order to properly respond to @Keegoz). Please be civil. We are here because we love this game and playing it with one another. If the people you despise were not playing the game, then who would you fight?

     

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    Endorsed by the Following

    @KillzBob@James XVI @Emperor Adam@Scrognoot @Zach LaVine@darkblade@Krampus

    Dedicated to @Rozalia

    I AWAIT YOUR DISCORD...

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    TL;DR - but please read it before you comment

     

    I. Preface: Yo listen up!

    II. Intro: Yo, no one can agree on anything and the game is stagnate! I think I can help!

    III. Thesis: Alliance leaders should strive to be more focused on their own role-playing element, members, and what benefits them as an individual alliance.

    IV. NPO and Sphere: Yo, we are stuck in the world of huge spheres were individual alliances have limited influence over the wars they fight as the big daddy sphere alliance does all the FA. 

    V. IC vs. OOC: Yo, people be using Discord and OWF to not RP which leads  to OOC insults and vendettas which doesn't help the game or META.

    VI. Conclusion: Yo, I'll be back with responses to criticisms and more analyzation of the state of Orbis.

     

    • Like 3
    • Upvote 22

    Dichotomization : Mapping the Orbisan Political Landscape

    in Orbis Central

    Posted

    Very well put and pretty accurate on how people are engaging in Orbis politics. I will offer my own thoughts

    10 minutes ago, zigbigadorlou said:

    On the far end is those who wish to return to the more chaotic pre-bloc times where oA and chaining/non-chaining terms mattered.

    This is the only way to think so anyone who doesn't have their little marker on this far side is living a fantasy. I also disagree with the "Bipolar" naming of this belief, but that would take too long to go into. Additionally, screw the meta. People who try to keep everything as the status quo and the proper way of doing things should realize that they cause problems in the evolution and progression of the game. These people are also the ones (cough @keezgo) that will claim you are going backwards whenever you say there is a problem with sphere politics and we need to be more individual alliance centric. 

     

    13 minutes ago, zigbigadorlou said:

    here are pacifists who refuse to go to war for nearly any reason

    If you are part of this ideology, I hope you realize you are ignoring half of the purpose of this game and honestly help destroy the fun...  

     

    14 minutes ago, zigbigadorlou said:

    Businesses

    Due to sphere politics, if you trust a business that is run outside your sphere, you deserve to lose all your money.

     

     

    • Upvote 1

    [RON Exclusive] Politics are dead!

    in Orbis Central

    Posted

    1 hour ago, Keegoz said:

    I wouldn't call it unpredictable. The bipolar era was predictable, that's why we moved away from it.

     

     

    1 hour ago, Sweeeeet Ronny D said:

    You guys are nuts if you dont think we are having significantly more, and varied wars than what has ever occurred in the last what is it?  7-8 years the game has been going?

     

    11 minutes ago, Justin076 said:

     

    I'm afraid I disagree with your assessment of things.

    What are they going to do tonight?

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    [RON Exclusive] Politics are dead!

    in Orbis Central

    Posted · Edited by J Kell
    Needed to update credits

    This weekend I hope to publish a piece I've been working on for over a week titled A Proposal for the Culture of Orbis. I have been cultivating this piece with help from @zevfer @CitrusK @Kevanoviaand input from @Emperor Adam as well as leaders of individual alliances who agree with my sentiments but are withholding public support until they read the finished piece. This piece will detail exactly how we got here and the best shot we have to getting back to world where Alliances speak for themselves, the politics of this game involve in-character dealings and not OOC, and we get more player engagement with the diverse and amazing world of Orbis. I hope you all read it.

    Preface to be written by @Kevanovia

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    Pictured, J Kell writing.

    • Like 2
    • Upvote 4

    My thoughts on bots and a plea to blanket ban all third party automation and develop the tools inhouse

    in Orbis Central

    Posted · Edited by J Kell

    @Firwof KromwellAre you like leaving the game already or will you keep lurking?

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    9 hours ago, Prefontaine said:

    With the recent threads about a returning to the forums, nostalgia for how politics played out then and such... Perhaps bots contributing to laziness is the real enemy all along. 

    IMO it didn't help, but at this point you cannot pull it. I would have years ago proposed an almost complete ban of bots, but we are past this point. Bots are so synonymous with gameplay that it would alienate way too many people and additionally people who do not use bots would probably get caught in the crossfire and banned even though they didn't do anything and there would be others that fly completely under the radar. I agree with others in this community that think access to bots and resources in building bots should be made more readily available, as this is the more realistic solution to problem at hand.

    • Upvote 1

    Some pretty serious allegations regarding borg and his scripts

    in Orbis Central

    Posted · Edited by J Kell
    Borg deserves a benefit of the doubt.

    2 hours ago, Mars said:

    I think this at least warrants some attention from the game admin and some assurances for the community that this is at least unfounded or demonstrably false.

    I would agree that allegations this major (and concerning enough for Borg that he deleted his messages) must be rewarded with a response from @Alex. However, we should all recognize that Alex would have to try and figure out the legitimacy of this on the backend which could be nearly impossible and therefore, Borg should get the benefit of the doubt. I would appreciate at least a "I will look into it and keep you all updated on it" response at this time.

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