The World Cup Discussion Thread (OOC, Version IV)

[Chromatika]

It has been a pleasure hosting the first half of the qualifiers.

The cutoff for MD10/11 will resume Friday, May 21 at 9-10PM Eastern.

Here is the link to the countdown timer for converting.

I leave things in the capable hands of Cassadaigua. I'll return for the first leg of the Playoffs!

[Valentine Z]

Ahh, the Valentians picked up on the near-end. Here's to hoping for the next half! ♥

Also, thank you guys for sticking with me, especially those on Discord, you know what I am talking about. Taking out the most personal details, let's put it that way that life likes to put a curveball sometimes. I am still fine (physically, for sure; emotionally... will take time), and truth be told, I sounded like a switch because of how fast it happened. In truth, some things popped up quickly, and also get (semi-)resolved quickly, but the effects will linger on for a while. For those wondering or curious, I can say that I have not done anything heinous or unthinkable yesterday. It wasn't because of NS, and nothing that would dramatically hurt me IRL either. It's not a Noodle Incident.

TL;DR: I'm sorry to use this space to air my personal grievances, but I'm relatively better now (yesterday happened in a blur), and my point is, do pardon me for the lack of RP for these recent few days. And many thanks for sticking with me through ups and downs.

EDIT 2: If that is fine, and maybe at the end of the qualifications or when I get kicked out, will it be fine if I asked you (Chrom and Cass) to provide some feedback on how I am faring with my RPs? I understand that it won't be fair to give me feedback now, so at the end of my participation is fine. ♥

[Cassadaigua]

Thank you to Chromatika for all of the great work so far!

As mentioned, we transition now to the second half. When does my cutoff window begin? Well, add 36 1/2 hours from the time of this post.

I look forward to what should be a fantastic second half!

[Banija]

A wild bid has appeared to host the 80th Cup of Harmony.

Ergo, with a bid in, it is appropriate to set a bid deadline. The deadline to bid to host the Cup of Harmony shall be May 21st, 2021, at 11:59 PM EDT.

Just to reiterate this... 15 hours until the deadline..

[Cassadaigua]

Host Announcement

Today, it came to our attention that the nations of Malandrin and Deniria are undeclared puppets. This was suspected earlier in the day, and a GHR did get send to the admin team, but then the linked post was a public admission by Malandrin that he and Deniria were puppets, so we did not need to wait for the GHR response. Each of these nations are first time nations, so the user in question was only allowed to have one nation. Even if they were a returning nation, they still would have been in the wrong as the puppet was not declared in the signup thread.

Addressing this in the middle of the World Cup qualifiers is unprecedented, and there has been a lot of discussion today on discord (the discussion was kept on discord due to the fact that the GHR was still active and we did not the speculation here) about what the punishment should be for this infraction. Several different theories, all very good suggestions, were made. Valid points and counterpoints were made on those suggestions.

In the end, it has been decided that the results that these teams have already gained up to the halfway point will stand, and their games for the second half of the stand. There will be no forfeits, which was discussed. These nations will receive 0 KPB for the duration of the duration, and will receive a score of 0 for their WC Qualifiers.

It is recognized that it stinks for anyone who dropped points to these nations, but do understand that these spots still would have been filled in the group by a pot 10 team that would have had either equal, if not more points, than Malandrin and Deniria had. We also needed to consider the fact that giving all teams forfeit wins in the affected groups could catapult the second place team in one of these groups into one of the six automatic qualifier spots for second place teams, and that was a pretty big deal. In the end, this should be about punishing Malandrin/Deniria and not rewarding the nations in their groups.

Thank you for your understanding. In the end, this was always going to be a decision that would not have 100% agreement, but in the end, we believe it was the best decision.

[Chromatika]

(Image)

Without being too wordy, I just wanted to say that I'm 100% behind this.

[Eshialand]

This decision seems fair to me. I mean, the KPB reset is a bit irrelevant since neither of them had any anyway, but not giving them any for qualifiers is a just punishment. I just have a couple of follow-up questions though.

Will Deniria and/or Malandrin be eligible to enter WC89, and if so, will Malandrin, since they'll have 0 KPB, be eligible for BoF76 as well?

I understand if you can't/won't answer my questions, but I'd like it to be entirely clear to the user behind these nations what their options are going forward.

Thanks!

[Strike]

It has been brought to my attention that there was some ubermodding regarding a match my team was involved in against the 14 Stars ( viewtopic.php?p=38673262#p38673262 ).

I appreciate the heads up. Considering it was an unranked against a top seed and we got destroyed, an ubermod seems the only reasonably explanation so I am willing to accept it (particularly as my RP permissions allowed it). Of note, I have updated my RP permissions such that injuries are now limited to the duration of the match being RPd unless I give approval via TG. This is not to suggest anything was done wrong by the 14 Stars (In fact I appreciated the fact that they limited the damage to 3 of my players and only a duration of 2 matches opposed to the entire second half of qualifying) - its just to clarify that when I wrote those RP permissions I was thinking "A single player could get injured" not necessarily "The entire team is in the hospital". I'm going to use my own 'ubermod' to assume that we found a way to recover all but those 3 players in time for the subsequent match and accept that the 3 listed players will be absent in the next 2 games.

Congrats on the improbable victory 14 stars but don't be alarmed if you see some VOIA drones keeping an eye on your lands from this point forward... just in case.

[Eshialand]

Don't worry, I'll make sure to TG you about what happened if I somehow win

[NSWC Signups]

Information on the CoH 80 Host Vote

WCC members are encouraged to get their votes in! Best of luck to the bidders.

[Bears Armed]

When the actual World Cup begins, feel free to (and please do) RP seeing some Bears among the neutral fans... and Ravens observing both that tournament and the COH, to gather information: I'm not actually promising another return by the Bear-Belles, at some stage during the next 2 or 3 cycles, yet, but hopefully...

[Kohnhead]

When the actual World Cup begins, feel free to (and please do) RP seeing some Bears among the neutral fans... and Ravens observing both that tournament and the COH, to gather information: I'm not actually promising another return by the Bear-Belles, at some stage during the next 2 or 3 cycles, yet, but hopefully...

As someone who has never actually met/interacted with you and whose knowledge comes from watching The Idiot Project, I am extremely excited for your return

[Squornshelous]

Hello, I hope everyone is enjoying reading and writing through qualifying as much as I have so far.

Due to current events in the Imperium of Squornshelous. (tl;dr a smoldering civil war has flared up big time) the remainder of the Squornshelan national team's home matches will ICly take place at a neutral site generously provided by Tumbra: Trenton Park in Lakewood, Severn, Tumbra. Nothing about these matches changes OOCly of course.

This will affect the following matches:
MD 14: Squornshelous v Brenecia
MD 16: Squornshelous v Cascadia
MD 18: Squornshelous v Twicetagria

[Krytenia]

For those reading Audio's latest RP, any similarities to Yorkshire Television in the AOCAF 60 logo are completely intentional.

[Tumbra]

[...] the remainder of the Squornshelan national team's home matches will ICly take place at a neutral site generously provided by Tumbra: Trenton Park in Lakewood, Severn, Tumbra. Nothing about these matches changes OOCly of course.

This will affect the following matches:
MD 14: Squornshelous v Brenecia
MD 16: Squornshelous v Cascadia
MD 18: Squornshelous v Twicetagria

Yep. For those needing RP info, the capacity is 74,500 and the stadium is also home to Lakewood United FC.

also, good to be back in this thread after so long.

[Saltstead]

also, good to be back in this thread after so long.

And it’s good to have you back.

[Busoga Islands]

Information on the CoH 80 Host Vote

WCC members are encouraged to get their votes in! Best of luck to the bidders.

A reminder that CoH votes are due tonight! There is slightly under 15 hours from this post to get your vote in, so if you are a WCC member, please do so according to the instructions in the link!

And since I was asked about this over Discord- yes, you may change your vote if you wish to do so. The deadline to change your vote, of course, is the same as the deadline to vote- 11:59 PM EDT, so slightly less than 15 hours from this post.

Best of luck to our CoH bidders!

[Graintfjall]

So, once again, the search begins.

OOC requirements:

• style modifier in the -2 to 0 range
• willing to have me RP their character for stuff like basic post-match press conferences and interviews
• willing to put up with my silly sense of humor.

If interested, apply via TG/DM.

[The Archregimancy]

With apologies, there will be no more Holy Empire RPs through the end of qualifying (I've already missed the previous set of match days).

I'm attending an online conference for a professional society of which I'm the president, and since I need to be visible across the conference I won't have any time for NS until early next week.

[Barunia]

So as not to double post, I have two things to ask:

1. Is there. anywhere, a compository of the participants of every World Cup (as in, specifically what World Cups a team has been too?) Can't remember the last time Barunia qualified... I seem to remember there was one, once. I found the Stats Central spreadsheet, but that only told me how many I'd been too, not which ones specifically.

2. Barunia are LOOKING FOR A COACH/MANAGER. Rafael Barrios will end his tenure at the end of the World Cu Qualifiers, and Barunia will be looking for a replacement. The coach must:
- have relevant experience with a national team or top level league club.
- Employ strategies consistent with a moderately attacking mindset (preferably between +2 and +3).
- Be capable of getting Barunia into the World Cup within 5 cycles.

All applicants should respond to Barunia by TG, preferably before the start of the CoH.

[Kelssek]

etc

I'm glad this doesn't need to be said all that often, but I would like to ask everyone to please exercise a bit of sense in what they RP. Especially when it comes to images because they are eye-catching and difficult to avoid. There is no need for the close up graphic of a woman with facial injuries. It does not add anything to the RP and without the context you have to stop and read the post for, it can be easily misinterpreted. Those are the kinds of pictures that come with stories about sexual assaults and domestic violence and indeed my first thought was that someone had written an RP about violent abuse. Before "trigger warning" became a meme the original purpose of them was that such images can also provoke PTSD for people who have gone through those experiences.

About 12 hours ago I contacted St Trinians privately to ask they remove the image, and I was thinking of whether to do a moderation report at this point but 1) I'm not sure I could make a case this is against "PG13" as you do see more explicit violence on TV, 2) benefit of the doubt falls on not properly thinking through the implications of one's actions rather than getting off on depictions of violence against women.

I have no wish to censor or put certain topics off limits but please have some sense and tact in what you post.

[Sarzonia]

I just saw the images Kelssek was referring to.

I wish I hadn't.

Please remove them.

[St Trinians]

etc

I'm glad this doesn't need to be said all that often, but I would like to ask everyone to please exercise a bit of sense in what they RP. Especially when it comes to images because they are eye-catching and difficult to avoid. There is no need for the close up graphic of a woman with facial injuries. It does not add anything to the RP and without the context you have to stop and read the post for, it can be easily misinterpreted. Those are the kinds of pictures that come with stories about sexual assaults and domestic violence and indeed my first thought was that someone had written an RP about violent abuse. Before "trigger warning" became a meme the original purpose of them was that such images can also provoke PTSD for people who have gone through those experiences.

About 12 hours ago I contacted St Trinians privately to ask they remove the image, and I was thinking of whether to do a moderation report at this point but 1) I'm not sure I could make a case this is against "PG13" as you do see more explicit violence on TV, 2) benefit of the doubt falls on not properly thinking through the implications of one's actions rather than getting off on depictions of violence against women.

I have no wish to censor or put certain topics off limits but please have some sense and tact in what you post.

The reason I haven’t responded to yourTG yet is because
a) this is a puppet nation
B) I live in Australia, which means my time is very different.

I apologise for the images, and will remove them once I’m done posting here. My intention was to show how tough my players are. I didn’t consider that people would see them without reading the RP or might be triggered by them

I do think context is important here, and I’ll certainly consider how to construct my images in a way that is less ambiguous (eg, if I had instead shown Speight getting the injury on the field, thta would have been clear without needing to read the RP). Also probably use spoilers.

[Kelssek]

Thank you, and glad this could be sorted out amicably.

[Zwangzug]

So as not to double post, I have two things to ask:

1. Is there. anywhere, a compository of the participants of every World Cup (as in, specifically what World Cups a team has been too?) Can't remember the last time Barunia qualified... I seem to remember there was one, once. I found the Stats Central spreadsheet, but that only told me how many I'd been too, not which ones specifically.

The "Data" tab of this sheet should have it. (It's used to compute the SRS ranks.)