The World Cup Discussion Thread (OOC, Version IV)

[Cassadaigua]

Personally, I don't have any interest in any pandemic RP's (too soon, and especially as someone currently out of work because of it); but it can be dismissed by one nation if the other is doing it. Personally, if I were RP'ing my team playing in an empty stadium like Sarzonia suggested, I would just call the nation exaggerating to the flu or something like that, if I even referenced it at all. I think everyone should be able to work around it if they don't want to get involved with it.

[Mattijana]

I personally won't be, and won't be acknowledging it's prescence in other countries. As someone involved with healthcare, I hear about it a fair bit, so it's nice to have a bit of escapism from the real world here. I'd encourage others to do the same, but of course it's not my place to decide what others do with their nations.

[Terre Septentrionale]

The Noocracy of Bunkaiia is interested! Do you run women’s football as well? I’m down for both

Seen on the World Cup signup thread, but I'm answering here cuz I'm not a current or previous host or the president/vice president.

The World Cup is a mixed gender competition and you're allowed to enter either a mixed gender team, an all male team or an all female team, it's up to you. You can even enter an elves team, a pony team, an ursine team, a team with griffons, it's up to you and there's no rules about that.

The only NS states competition that separates males and females is the olympics.

In reference to a few posts up, if you're planning on RPing a COVID-19/Coronavirus/SARS pandemic in your nation for the upcoming WC please make sure that you consult the other nations in your group to make sure that it is alright to do so. It's a touchy subject right now for some people and it would be nice if we could avoid future problems with it.

Or this could be an unwritten rule that no one told me about and I'm just making myself look stupid. There's truth in it either way.

We've discussed this on Discord. My personal view is that anything impinging on other people's nations, ie, implications of a worldwide pandemic, or your fans spreading disease to other countries (or vice versa) is godmoding, which isn't cool without permission. But someone RPing pockets of contagious disease in their own country is not godmoding, and shouldn't require others' permission. (If another user finds that in poor taste, they can always ignore it.)

Concerning the Covid-19 or any other disease, I'm not on discord but I agree with Zwangzug. I'm gonna ignore any RPs about it, pretending it never existed and no one on my team will catch it.

[Ethane]

Yeah, I agree with the other sentiments expressed. I don't want anything to do with pandemic RPs at the moment. But I understand that some nations may engage in that. But if another nation does RP a pandemic you can always retcon it. The great thing about the multiversal approach we have on NS is that storylines don't necessarily have to converge. There are many different 'realities' here on NS. So if 1 nation does RP a pandemic and you don't recognise it, that doesn't necessarily harm the community or your storytelling, it just means your narrative (official narrative of your nation) would diverge slightly from the narrative engaged in by another nation. Not too much harm in that.

[Main Nation Ministry]

Personally, I don't have any interest in any pandemic RP's (too soon, and especially as someone currently out of work because of it); but it can be dismissed by one nation if the other is doing it. Personally, if I were RP'ing my team playing in an empty stadium like Sarzonia suggested, I would just call the nation exaggerating to the flu or something like that, if I even referenced it at all. I think everyone should be able to work around it if they don't want to get involved with it.

I had addressed this in my team roster about the whole pandemic thing. Basically, I had my nation be in a phase where there is already a vaccine or cure for the pandemic, but there is still some guidelines aimed at making sure the nation is still healthy for teams to arrive. I didn't really have a clear idea on how to do any story arcs for World Cup, but I knew I needed to have it take place after a Pandemic RP that I was involved with for a sense of continuity. However, any nation who ends up in Main Nation Ministry isn't going to be harmed by any viruses or something of the like. I don't want to mess up anyone's else planned narratives or arcs.

[Jeckland]

What's funny about all this is that one of the times I planned and ultimately failed to return with Jeckland a couple of years ago I planned a pandemic situation as an IC explanation of absence. Didn't quite feel right to go through with it this time though.

[Main Nation Ministry]

What's funny about all this is that one of the times I planned and ultimately failed to return with Jeckland a couple of years ago I planned a pandemic situation as an IC explanation of absence. Didn't quite feel right to go through with it this time though.

I had another virus going rampagnt during one of the World Cups, but the situation was contained IC to the point where almost no one batted an eye.

[Recuecn]

I'll probably put something about it in my rp permissions, which maybe other people will want to do too. (I think I saw Banija already do this iirc.) A month or two ago it felt 'too soon' and in poor taste: now I don't really care so I don't what other people rp about it, but it doesn't seem very realistic to me for there to be an epidemic in my own country—if that happened the world cup qualification games we're supposed to be rping about would have to be canceled so it's kind of one or the other.

[Omerica]

As I said on Discord, I’m going to fluid time this shite and use Maxtopian Pox as a convenient excuse for why Omerica skipped the last World Cup. There will be a few lingering effects, but not anything that will affect anyone else’s nation or anything that will form a major plotline for me. I totally understand people being tired of hearing about disease outbreaks and wanting a bit of escapism and I want to respect that.

On a lighter note…

… a team with griffons, …

don’t tempt me, mate!

[Torisakia]

Ok so I'm going to pencil that down as "unwritten rule that no one told me about and I'm just making myself look stupid".

But I agree with everything you said. I should have worded my post a bit differently.

I don't think you look stupid to have not known about a discussion that happened on a completely different platform. Thanks for asking here and making sure we could get all users on the same page.

A certain level of productive conversation on Discord is fine. It's also essential that the results of those conversations make their way onto the forums, where the game actually happens.

Well I'm on the NSS discord server so...

[Sarzonia]

Well I'm on the NSS discord server so...

And I'm not and I have no plans to ever get on Discord, so ... yourself

[Torisakia]

Well I'm on the NSS discord server so...

And I'm not and I have no plans to ever get on Discord, so ... yourself

I've tried getting them to migrate back to the IRC channel but they aren't having it.

[Delaclava]

I don't think you look stupid to have not known about a discussion that happened on a completely different platform. Thanks for asking here and making sure we could get all users on the same page.

A certain level of productive conversation on Discord is fine. It's also essential that the results of those conversations make their way onto the forums, where the game actually happens.

Well I'm on the NSS discord server so...

As am I - but even so, it's hard to keep track of everything that happens while online, let alone get caught back up after a period of being online. That's why I advocated for documenting the conversation here (and gave you a reasonable defense for not knowing) - the visual layout as well as the pace of discussion on the forums is more conducive for being in the loop.

I'm sorry to keep laboring a point besides the original topic (virus-related RP), but given my recent experiences bidding for and subsequently hosting this Baptism of Fire, I'm very aware of the ugliness that can happen on that server as legitimate discussion gets clouded by thoughtless statements and borderline spam. I personally enjoy using the Discord server and will continue to do so in moderation. But I am hopeful that both the forums and Discord get used for their intended purpose, and that the information all players should know is posted here in a clear and concise format, and not only in some cluttered chat log.

[Sarzonia]

And I'm not and I have no plans to ever get on Discord, so ... yourself

I've tried getting them to migrate back to the IRC channel but they aren't having it.

I wouldn't go back there either.

For the rest of us Luddites, bear in mind that not everyone has access to the same technology or is willing to use all the tech that's out there.

Anything major that affects everyone needs to be deliberated here, not Discord, not IRC, and not through whatever instant messaging channels exist now.

You whippersnappers can live with telegrams like the rest of us! *shakes cane menacingly*

[Torisakia]

I've tried getting them to migrate back to the IRC channel but they aren't having it.

I wouldn't go back there either.

For the rest of us Luddites, bear in mind that not everyone has access to the same technology or is willing to use all the tech that's out there.

Anything major that affects everyone needs to be deliberated here, not Discord, not IRC, and not through whatever instant messaging channels exist now.

You whippersnappers can live with telegrams like the rest of us! *shakes cane menacingly*

We'll send letter to each other via snail mail like the good old days. Today's kids have mailboxes that don't even have flags on them.

[Hapilopper]

I included it in my permissions for my AOCAF team and I will include it again for both Hapilopper and Wreckeria. It may sound like godmodding in a sense, but if it comes to either of my nations, I will either ignore-cannon it or just state that Hapiloppians and Wreckerians are comprehensively and completely immune from whatever coronathefuck is running rampant. It just won't exist in my nations.

[Banija]

I'll probably put something about it in my rp permissions, which maybe other people will want to do too. (I think I saw Banija already do this iirc.) A month or two ago it felt 'too soon' and in poor taste: now I don't really care so I don't what other people rp about it, but it doesn't seem very realistic to me for there to be an epidemic in my own country—if that happened the world cup qualification games we're supposed to be rping about would have to be canceled so it's kind of one or the other.

I did do this!

My general words of advice are this. If you are somebody that allows others to Godmod in your RP permissions (as I sometimes do), and you don't want to RP COVID or any other pandemic, you should probably mention this in your RP permissions. I'll be putting that I do not allow any Banijan/Busogan nationals to catch a pandemic for a while to come.

If you don't allow others to Godmod, you probably don't need to explicitly mention it(as giving somebody else the pandemic from another country would, in my definition, count as a Godmod).

The couple of countries I've seen RP COVID in non-WCC tournaments haven't had foreign opponents or fans catch the virus, which is good.

I do think, however, if your opponent says they're playing a home game in front of an empty stadium, you should recognize that. Otherwise? The ignore cannons in regard to an IC pandemic are inherently reasonable.

[Eura]

I agree with a lot of the thoughts expressed here about pandemic RPs - I'm not intending to RP it either. Sadly someone close to me has died of the virus and, working in a job where I get a lot of insight into the crisis, I just don't feel like writing about it right now.

That said - and this might be a surprise given what I said above - I actually don't object to people writing about it, even in this "too soon" phase. Its an enormous event that all of us will remember for the rest of our lives,the first pandemic to produce a full global economic shutdown in the era of globalisation. Its going to be a huge cultural event too just like it is a health event, an economic event, a political event etc.

For a lot of people, myself included, NS RPing is a bit like science fiction writing; it gives you the ability to write stories that use a fictional setting to say something about very real issues and events. Do I think its a bit tasteless to write some lazy RP about a virus identical to the real thing sweeping through your nation? Probably, and to be honest I don't think its great writing.

But you could use it as inspiration for something more interesting. As any of you who read my RPs probably know I RP a lot about non-sporting events. I remember I once wrote an RP series about the Euran government blowing up an airliner and that decisions consequences pretty close to MH17 and MH370, possibly even afterwards. As far as I recall this was actually a coincidence (IIRC I wanted to do a semi-parody of Dr Strangelove and didn't really clock the similarities until I'd started writing) but in hindsight I think I still would have written it.

I've also written about a Euran-Electrum border dispute inspired by events in Ukraine, or how Brexit inspired me to write about the darker side of Euran politics and nationalism, or how the Sameban dictatorship was inspired by a variety of different authoritarian regimes, some of which are very much within living memory. That doesn't mean any of those RPs were any good - maybe they were all garbage and you all think I should stop writing for the sake of all humanity. But the point is current affairs and sensitive topics in real life can be a great source of inspiration for writing something that goes a bit deeper than kicking a ball around.

There is a way to write these things. I can't say I know exactly how I'd do it in the case of coronavirus, but if someone can write something interesting about it without being crass, I don't take issue with it. The important thing is everyone respects each others RP boundaries and doesn't try to force a storyline on others that they don't want to engage in. If in doubt, check their RP permissions and ask before you write anything.

[Torisakia]

I should also add that even if your opponent doesn't post any RP permissions, you should still TG them and ask if it's alright for you to RP a pandemic when it involves yours and their nation. I know that the rule of thumb is 'no RP permissions = fair game' but, going with what Eura above stated, it's better to be cautious about it.

[Sarzonia]

I like to RP within a general framework of limiting what I do that affects someone with no RP permissions to the things I would allow another RPer to do to me if they RP first.

Choose scorers and scoring events? Sure. RP that you kidnapped my striker and killed him? No, that doesn't work.

I feel for anyone who, like Eura, has lost someone close to them or someone like Cassadaigua who isn't at work because of COVID-19. I respect their right to not RP a pandemic given those -- or any other reasons. I still expect my roleplayed pandemic to have run its course in the World Cup for several reasons.

[Banija]

As an addendum to the above, in regards to the RL pandemic and the NS World Cup.

Of course, the IC rules of the international game in NS are pretty much the same as FIFA's rules. Obviously, 90 minutes, 4th sub allowed after extra time, VAR is allowed(assuming your country has the technology for it), etc... But after watching the Bundesliga earlier this afternoon, the thought occurred to me.

FIFA is allowing 5 subs per game for club competitions through the end of 2020. Generally, of course, IC club football is a discussion for the relevant thread, but individual leagues can pretty much use whatever rules they want.

However, I think it should be clarified that (As far as I can tell, correct me if I'm wrong?), international competitive games still use the 3 substitute per game limit, with a 4th sub allowed if the game goes into extra time. So I believe that the traditional substitution rules would still apply for NS World Cup Qualifying, and the NS World Cup 85/whatever number the Cup of Harmony will be on.

Figured I'd mention the topic here before Qualifying starts, so we can discuss and all be on the same page before the games kick off.

[Krytenia]

As an addendum to the above, in regards to the RL pandemic and the NS World Cup.

Of course, the IC rules of the international game in NS are pretty much the same as FIFA's rules. Obviously, 90 minutes, 4th sub allowed after extra time, VAR is allowed(assuming your country has the technology for it), etc... But after watching the Bundesliga earlier this afternoon, the thought occurred to me.

FIFA is allowing 5 subs per game for club competitions through the end of 2020. Generally, of course, IC club football is a discussion for the relevant thread, but individual leagues can pretty much use whatever rules they want.

However, I think it should be clarified that (As far as I can tell, correct me if I'm wrong?), international competitive games still use the 3 substitute per game limit, with a 4th sub allowed if the game goes into extra time. So I believe that the traditional substitution rules would still apply for NS World Cup Qualifying, and the NS World Cup 85/whatever number the Cup of Harmony will be on.

Figured I'd mention the topic here before Qualifying starts, so we can discuss and all be on the same page before the games kick off.

I think, considering the different attitudes towards RPing "a" or "The" pandemic, sticking to the usual regulations would make sense.

[Riennic Isles]

Congratulations to the BoF champions, commiserations to the losing finalists, and thank you to the hosting team for putting together a well-run tournament. Congratulations to Tequilo as well, for a deserved victory in the 3PPO. Looking forward to seeing the class of 72 pull up some trees in the WCQs!

[PotatoFarmers]

11 pages! That is a fantastic achievement for a BoF. Yes, this BoF may have 56 teams and many more results posts, but it is still quite a lot considering your immediate seniors (my batch of 71) only managed 4 pages.
I wanted to congratulate the winners, but I realised that I should congratulate everyone for putting forward excellent RPs! If I get 4 BoF72 participants in my group (Pot 8-11) then I guess I should be worried about getting out-RPed (is that a word?) in the qualifiers? But really look forward to reading more of this batch's RPs in the qualifiers!
Also would like to thank the hosts for hosting such a BoF. It wasn't perfect, but at least it was quite smooth and allowed the NSS World Cup community to gain quite a few new RPers and welcome back some of the older RPers making their return to the World Cup cycle.
EDIT: Just to add on, I do have 3 more friendlies, and I would like some of the BoF teams to sign up in the friendly thread, okay?

[Blouman Empire]

Back after 3 years, good to see this is still going strong, looks like we have BoF 72 just finished. Is it too late to sign up for the next NSWC?

Are some of the old legends still around? Arch (aka Alasdair, Star, Krytenia, Valanora, Audio, Bears Armed, Vilita?

What DBC are we up to now?