Raphael Posted February 11, 2022 Share Posted February 11, 2022 So this is a direct response to this great thread posted by Adam in which he raised several solid points. I made this thread so as not to derail his because this isn't necessarily about his point but his comparisons. The past of PnW, the past of nationsims in general pre-NPOLT was soul crushingly boring for the average player. Full stop. A bipolar world in which CB are absolutely required and justification for every action is needed lest you suffer ostracization is a horrible, horrible world. NPOLT is often romanticized in newer player's minds as the war to end all wars - it wasn't. It was a terribly toxic global that drug on for 9 months. It wasn't an epic struggle, it was a group borderline exploiting mechanics and then eventually full-on cheating for months with the express purpose of forcing people to quit PnW out of boredom/frustration. Long globals are awful. It's why we moved away from them. A bipolar world is often simplified and romanticized to newer players as a simpler time full of political RP and interesting content - it wasn't. We had less frequent wars, longer lasting wars when they did occur, and a rift in the community caused by several elements of toxicity to the point where the two sides rarely interacted except to screech at each other during war times. The only "politics" that occurred was the occasional shifting of sides. For a long time it was Rose/UPN/Paragon/Covenant vs. Syndisphere. It eventually morphed into Syndisphere vs. IQ with a handful of notable switches over years of gameplay. Just in 2021 we've had like 10+ globals or major conflicts, each with varying sides/coalitions. We saw Quack rise, we saw Quack fall, we saw Hollywood and Blackwater rise and both get rolled. Clock appeared out of thin air, using alliances from multiple spheres. We've seen new top 10 AA's form, we've seen old top ten AA's buckle under their own bloat, we've seen top ten AA's get rolled out of the top 50. The "dynamic politics" a lot of us have wanted for so long are here. Are there problems? Yes. But if we can break bipolarity and see the kind of dynamism we've seen this past year repeat for 2022, we can certainly address some of those small concerns. The big push to use the OWF, to back away from NAP's, to try and pick fair fights instead of dogpiles... Things like that matter. Doomers will tell you it can't be fixed, but they said that about minispheres too. To that end, I would like to echo the renewal of the forums for long-form communication. I would like to echo the desire for more political RP, but not to the extent that saw us gridlocked in bipolarity and pixel-hugging of the early years. I would like to keep seeing people push for reasonable-length wars and white peaces, fair fights and small spheres. We live in a brave new world, and I personally say: Not one step back. 3 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Aglet Guyn Posted February 11, 2022 Popular Post Share Posted February 11, 2022 I had way more fun back in 2016 or so. I was in FA, and back then, you would sign up for people's forum boards and you'd write and roleplay and engage in all sorts of in-game shenanigans. Now, all FA is done OOC on Discord, and much of it is automated, handled by the !embassy command and so forth, and most FA threads boil down to "hey your newbie attacked one of our newbies, make it stop or I'm telling!" Yeah, there are variations, but except for the very high-level "hey, let's all move to Hollywood and go live with Adrienne!" types of discussions, it's all about putting out little fires, either in-game or some bad blood between teenagers in rival alliances. Except.... down at the micro level. There, it's actually lots of fun. Most of you guys who read the OFW have neither the patience nor the inclination to care about something that doesn't involve your own alliance, bloc or sphere, but there are entire gangs of 3-man and 4-man alliances engaged in mighty battles of epic proportions with tales of love and war and poaching and so forth. There is lots of roleplaying going on, lots of using in-game messages, fact books and bulletins, and kids playing the game the way they think Alex intended, (eg like NationStates) not the way a handful of top-10 alliance guys tell everyone else how it should be. They don't use the OFW though, as most are too young to wrap their heads around a bulletin board or play-by-post board, as forums went out of style in 1994 or so, which is why I think Jaden is actually 58 years old since he's here, but anyway, they are around, doing dynamic and fun stuff, and many of the best and brightest move on up to the top 100 or top 50 or higher, become prots or merge into bigger alliances. I think Alann went about it the wrong way, but he had the right idea to cultivate these guys who were trying hard to play their best, but who simply saw themselves as nations instead of as states in a united alliance. (For example, the NATO guy who went to Atlas recently.) 1 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zigbigadorlou Posted February 11, 2022 Share Posted February 11, 2022 2 hours ago, Justinian the Great said: The past of PnW, the past of nationsims in general pre-NPOLT was soul crushingly boring for the average player. As a former average player, I highly disagree. 2 hours ago, Justinian the Great said: It wasn't an epic struggle, it was a group borderline exploiting mechanics and then eventually full-on cheating for months with the express purpose of forcing people to quit PnW out of boredom/frustration. It was both. What do you think epic struggle entails? 1 hour ago, Aglet Guyn said: Except.... down at the micro level. There, it's actually lots of fun. Most of you guys who read the OFW have neither the patience nor the inclination to care about something that doesn't involve your own alliance, bloc or sphere, but there are entire gangs of 3-man and 4-man alliances engaged in mighty battles of epic proportions with tales of love and war and poaching and so forth. There is lots of roleplaying going on, lots of using in-game messages, fact books and bulletins, and kids playing the game the way they think Alex intended, (eg like NationStates) not the way a handful of top-10 alliance guys tell everyone else how it should be. This can't be overstated. The things most of these posters want is prevalent in ways that those same people are extremely dismissive towards. 1 hour ago, Aglet Guyn said: They don't use the OFW though, Also because of the dismissiveness. Half the posts micros make are dismissed and responded to toxically, and that's gone on for years. 6 Quote Hey Krampus, the signature edit is under account settings. Actually, here's the link. https://forum.politicsandwar.com/index.php?/settings/signature/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
katashimon13 Posted February 11, 2022 Share Posted February 11, 2022 (edited) htf did u follow the same stupid logic as badam xD more active and public ic politics has nothing to do with humans detrimental habit of ending up in a 2 party system am i being gaslit? 😧 drink moar water rawr Edited February 11, 2022 by katashimon13 rawr Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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