The Grey Wardens: Get First Warden Sir Merlin's Autograph!!

[Reploid Productions]

I think NS needs to think beyond the idea adding anything extra to Gameplay. We can't depend on additions to the game to spawn activity. We need to create the activity itself. TGW may not be creating much drama, but ultimately, it's up to us, the players, to cause activity. The game has been set. If we should want to create a different defender organization than TGW and push it with some sort of "defender vanguardism" agenda, that's what we should do.

Solid advice about not relying on new features/the techies to propel new activity, however ideas are still welcome in the Technical forum. Not being a techie myself (and only marginally conversant in coding), I can't offer any promises or even say just how viable any given idea might actually be, but the worst that can happen is y'get told "No, sorry, not doable."

[USS Monitor]

Want to be petty? Take a look at like Twitter and see what a clap back is rather than running to moderation every five seconds and then complaining about every mod decision as biased. Either you want moderation in nsgp for everyone or you want gp to be less tightly moderated for everyone. Can't have both and can't have one for one side.

Saw a similar point brought up backstage. We've got too many people that are complaining about over-moderation, but then they report minor offenses if it's someone outside their clique.

Hopefully bc I'm still super confused at the new moderation standards this was a pc post?

That's why there's been a lot of discussion and a lot of non-warning mod-posts, to help people get a feel for where the line is going to be going forward.

[Canton Empire]

I think NS needs to think beyond the idea adding anything extra to Gameplay. We can't depend on additions to the game to spawn activity. We need to create the activity itself. TGW may not be creating much drama, but ultimately, it's up to us, the players, to cause activity. The game has been set. If we should want to create a different defender organization than TGW and push it with some sort of "defender vanguardism" agenda, that's what we should do.

I disagree, and here's why. I've been on NS for about 3 and a half years. I'm not an old player, but I'm not new either. In that 3 years, NS has changed alot, in look and some features, but never enough to break out of this GP cycle of "click buttons, shitpost, argue, repeat". This is where I think that something like the Venters spur activity, because it gives people something to fight about, and it breaks us out of this status quo. What ever happens with the Venters will surely lead to massive amounts of fighting and politicking over them, which I think is something we need. It would be great to see these massive regions clash over 5 new regions with infinite potential.

[Swarshengaggen]

I think NS needs to think beyond the idea adding anything extra to Gameplay. We can't depend on additions to the game to spawn activity. We need to create the activity itself. TGW may not be creating much drama, but ultimately, it's up to us, the players, to cause activity. The game has been set. If we should want to create a different defender organization than TGW and push it with some sort of "defender vanguardism" agenda, that's what we should do.

I disagree, and here's why. I've been on NS for about 3 and a half years. I'm not an old player, but I'm not new either. In that 3 years, NS has changed alot, in look and some features, but never enough to break out of this GP cycle of "click buttons, shitpost, argue, repeat". This is where I think that something like the Venters spur activity, because it gives people something to fight about, and it breaks us out of this status quo. What ever happens with the Venters will surely lead to massive amounts of fighting and politicking over them, which I think is something we need. It would be great to see these massive regions clash over 5 new regions with infinite potential.

I think we need to agree on a point where NationStates has ultimately grown to the best degree it can regarding structure and not have to muddle with it anymore. Venters seem like an attempt to do something for the sake of activity, not for completeness, which NS already has.

[Consular]

Want to be petty? Take a look at like Twitter and see what a clap back is rather than running to moderation every five seconds and then complaining about every mod decision as biased. Either you want moderation in nsgp for everyone or you want gp to be less tightly moderated for everyone. Can't have both and can't have one for one side.

Yeah that's more or less why I don't report anyone. It invariably seems petty to me.

[Flanderlion]

Want to be petty? Take a look at like Twitter and see what a clap back is rather than running to moderation every five seconds and then complaining about every mod decision as biased. Either you want moderation in nsgp for everyone or you want gp to be less tightly moderated for everyone. Can't have both and can't have one for one side.

Yeah that's more or less why I don't report anyone. It invariably seems petty to me.

To be fair, a good amount of the reports are petty. I think the last proper report (not counting move requests) I did was in Jan about some NS marriage RP stuff, and it was petty but I was amused when it got moved to Forum 7.

The more serious stuff usually would get spotted and dealt with by moderation anyway due to various mods at times religiously following GP.

La Nav, I don't agree on the NS being complete structure wise. The best games are never complete, and always evolving. We're getting a lot of changes atm. thanks to Elu and [v] both being active.

[Kylia Quilor]

The theory behind Venters is that the creation of Balder and Osiris led to a new age of involvement and drama in the GCRs and the world stage, so, in theory, creating a new GCR - or a new *kind* of GCR would do the same.

[Swarshengaggen]

La Nav, I don't agree on the NS being complete structure wise. The best games are never complete, and always evolving. We're getting a lot of changes atm. thanks to Elu and [v] both being active.

I am seriously concerned about this, because you act as if we're just keep going to add more GCRs every time there's a lack of activity. That's a short-term solution to a long-term problem. We can't keep on doing that, for the activity would always go back down eventually; there should be some other idea that is a long-term solution to a long-term problem.

[Kylia Quilor]

La Nav, I don't agree on the NS being complete structure wise. The best games are never complete, and always evolving. We're getting a lot of changes atm. thanks to Elu and [v] both being active.

I am seriously concerned about this, because you act as if we're just keep going to add more GCRs every time there's a lack of activity. That's a short-term solution to a long-term problem. We can't keep on doing that, for the activity would always go back down eventually; there should be some other idea that is a long-term solution to a long-term problem.

Well that's why Venters are being proposed, as opposed to just making new Feeders/Sinkers.

[Consular]

While I'm sure Tim appreciates the free bumps as usual, opinions about venters would maybe be more useful in that thread in technical.

[Tim-Opolis]

While I'm sure Tim appreciates the free bumps as usual, opinions about venters would maybe be more useful in that thread in technical.

I mean, you don't have to stop

[Fauxia]

While I'm sure Tim appreciates the free bumps as usual, opinions about venters would maybe be more useful in that thread in technical.

I mean, you don't have to stop

Hey Tim-Opolis, are you also the founder of TGW?

[Fauxia]

I am seriously concerned about this, because you act as if we're just keep going to add more GCRs every time there's a lack of activity. That's a short-term solution to a long-term problem. We can't keep on doing that, for the activity would always go back down eventually; there should be some other idea that is a long-term solution to a long-term problem.

Well that's why Venters are being proposed, as opposed to just making new Feeders/Sinkers.

Out of curiosity, what is a "venter?"

[Consular]

Well that's why Venters are being proposed, as opposed to just making new Feeders/Sinkers.

Out of curiosity, what is a "venter?"

viewtopic.php?f=15&t=401404

[Tim-Opolis]

I mean, you don't have to stop

Hey Tim-Opolis, are you also the founder of TGW?

Nope, and reading our opening post would indicate that pretty clearly. Not sure the point of the question, though.

[Fauxia]

Hey Tim-Opolis, are you also the founder of TGW?

Nope, and reading our opening post would indicate that pretty clearly. Not sure the point of the question, though.

Why would I pay attention?

[The Resentine Kingdom]

Nope, and reading our opening post would indicate that pretty clearly. Not sure the point of the question, though.

Why would I pay attention?

Because you bothered to post on the thread???

One would hope you were paying attention to the thread you were posting to.

[Vincent Drake]

Fauxia, please stop derailing our thread if you're openly not going to pay attention to things.

[Escade]

(When you want to ask, "Who is Fauxia anyway?" but then decide whatevs.)

TGW does bring activity to the game because it isn't in some strict moralist view of defending (while I love defending as an ideal and concept and like purity some of the more cultish discussion from the olden days was like too intense). It really does seem like the goal is have fun first and foremost.

What brings activity to any region or group? The people. People need to be able to do things they enjoy (even if on a mschistic level) which creates activity. At the end of the day, if I don't find something engaging I just will check out. Rather then the approach "what to add to the game that will bring activity" maybe starting with "what do the people already here enjoy and or want more of" and "What do people do on other places that they enjoy that can be created here." I do think reducing the size of GCRs to like 1000 or so nations and making the Atlantics (although my heart says everything needs to be renamed to pretty god and goddess names bc that creates like mythology built in although some regions don't do much with theirs so mixed) would be interesting. Mostly because people attract to the power plays in GCRs.

R\D give a lot of opportunities for role play because of the intrinsic actions\reactions. However, it seems like TGW has been the forefront of the kind of reports and stuff that create a consistent history\past and excitement because its also creative. It's nice to see more of that happening across realms.

[The North Polish Union]

(When you want to ask, "Who is Fauxia anyway?" but then decide whatevs.)

I keep getting Fauxia confused with Feux even thought they're obviously different people.

[Shizensky Prime]

Roger Goodell's NationStates is going to be an interesting place.

[Ever-Wandering Souls]

*rubs hands together* Here goes.

TGW does bring activity to the game because it isn't in some strict moralist view of defending (while I love defending as an ideal and concept and like purity some of the more cultish discussion from the olden days was like too intense).

While TGW isn't moralist in a traditional, Unibot/UDL/etc type manner, many would argue it has it's own, "new" moralism, that acts on a different level, one focusing more on being a bad person for x, y, or z. You yourself have repeatedly stressed things like thinking about how the people being kicked out feel, explained that raiders are spewing a "negative flux of tedium and monotonous whine" while saying they as a group are bad for...supposedly saying defenders as a group are bad, claimed that your opponents breed "distrust and hate," and so forth.

There is no shortage of Moralism. Just because you raid now and then and do not fit the old ideas that moralism meant being 100% the white knights, doesn't mean calls on morals don't drive a very large portion of your public discourse.

It really does seem like the goal is have fun first and foremost.

It is the goal of this order to efficiently defeat as many invaders as possible, and as frequently, as needed.

R\D give a lot of opportunities for role play because of the intrinsic actions\reactions. However, it seems like TGW has been the forefront of the kind of reports and stuff that create a consistent history\past and excitement because its also creative. It's nice to see more of that happening across realms.

Well, lucky for you, we don't have to rely on "seems" when we can collect data. After reviewing 90-ish TGW reports since the revival for "a consistent history/past" in Dragon Age plotlines, I've found -

About 40 contained pretty much nothing more than a cursory "darkspawn," either consisting of entirely OOC comments or comments written into random themes.

About 30 contained cursory attempts to follow a Dragon Age theme, replacing a small handful of GP terms with canon terms, and including basic phrases along the lines of collecting darkspawn blood.

About 20 contained anything close to a sophisticated attempt to contribute to an actual deep canon/RP, with only about half of those being long, complex, and detailed. For this marker, I was looking at phrases like...

"The patrol began slowly, with defender forces mostly passing through towns and villages which had been in the way of the blight, helping the citizens repair what they could in a short span of time. However, the events heated up when a Blighthawk was spotted circling Nations Without a Region, with scouts reporting that an entire encampment of Darkspawn in ancient Roman armor had settled in the region."

...That indicated a sophisticated attempt to write the update as a story, not just to swap a few words out.

(Fun facts, Tim and Thomas were most likely to report in Canon, Roavin and Drake least so)

From this, I draw the conclusion that a minority of TGW reports contained "stuff that create a consistent history\past and excitement," which makes "forefront" an interesting claim. TGW is not the first to have a running canon they write into their reports. Hell, the newb startup I was in ages before TGW existed, sicarius, had a similar or better rate of writing detailed reports into it's running assassin canon. To claim TGW is spearheading such things, and to imply that anyone else who includes running themes in reports is inspired by TGW, is to ignore vast swaths of history.

[Solorni]

I mean I'm not sure I agree with that. Balder is certainly treating them like the UDL. NES has been tryharding to paint Roavin as a new Unibot.

Yeah, but it's not working for the rest of us. I mean, TGW annoys the crap outta me, but they're not the modern UDL, and man oh man, is the Lazarus drama dullsville compared to Milo or the Osiris coups

The UDL won too, didn't they?

[Altmoras]

Thanks for going through all our reports and breaking them down. Even I haven't read them all.

[Swarshengaggen]

It should be noted, however, that canon for a theme is essentially a cheap, but reliable, way to create a direction for your own region, as creating an entirely original theme is much more difficult. However, relying on external canon for a theme isn't as stable as simply creating an entirely original theme.

...am I implying that TGW may be losing its direction? No. However, I'd highly recommend them to take DankMemes and make it their new home region, seeing the number of memey reports they tend to make. Funny to see how they so flagrantly disregarded the region so long ago.