Godwin’s Law in action.
Nazis? Gaming purity? Goose stepping? gaming utopia? I am howling! Great stuff! But to make a decent conversation out of some of the concepts imbedded in your rant, some relaxation techniques are perhaps in order. After all, it’s always cocktail hour somewhere. Speaking of…
Take your time, a well worded counter rant is always worth a read.
Trolling the game and trolling the boards.
Good times.
[quote=“uberpenpal, post:19, topic:4314”]
At the core of the game are a few diplomatic, ruthless, back-stabbing a-holes,
[/quote]As the great Curley once said: “hey, I resemble that remark!”. "I RESEMBLE THAT REMARK" from "Idle Roomers" - YouTube
The fact that that behavior is rewarded is a key aspect of the design of this game, I think it’s fair to say. However, receiving, and delivering, the backstab is emotionally difficult for many. This reality is well discussed here: Diplomacy - The Board Game of the Alpha Nerds
It as also fair to say that the emotional cost of the backstab, plus the time commitment required, may limit the appeal of this game, as you have intimated. I would urge everyone to get over it, give it a try, learn to love those who backstab (and vice versa), but I am an an a-hole, easy for me to say.
“Not playing to win isn’t a crime”. True. This is a game, it should be fun. What i suggest is similar to the central assertion of classical economics: when economic actors maximize their personal welfare, the general welfare is maximized. Pursuing your own self interest will maximize the fun of all, in NP terms.
Subject to constraints, of course. Number one: one account per player. There is no valid reason to have more than one account under your control in a game. Period. Perhaps impossible to enforce, but true nonetheless.
Otherwise, it is reasonable to expect that different players may define fun maximization differently than me. There are many players who prefer the technical aspects of the game to the diplomatic aspects. There are also many games available far more technically challenging than this one. Many of those have player counts in the tens of thousands. I find them boring. But that’s me. This game is easily unbalanced technically. Proving it may turn your crank. Great. Do it in a custom game with like minded players.
Many players are by their nature cooperative gamers. They would prefer to compete in the context of a team. I love team games, but all players should be in teams, and each team should be playing to win.
That was more like a dissertation than a rant. Sorry. The Jameson has made me mellow this time. You just never know with that stuff.
1 Like
Yawn. An all together boring reply.
I’m not a lawyer (perhaps someone here is?), but I believe per Goodwin’s Law:
“whoever mentions Nazis or Hitler first has automatically lost whatever debate was in progress”
2 Likes
You bring up a lot of interesting points, I hope I will touch on all of them, troll that I am, and a-hole to boot.
Behavior is rewarded as you say, quite correctly, but it is also punished. The emotional difficulty of the stab here may be greater than in Diplomacy, which plays out in a few hours over a board game at a convention somewhere, where here in NP2 two or three weeks of trust might be shattered by that epic, perfectly timed, end game winning end stab. Given the investment in energy and attention that suddenly goes up in smoke, it becomes understandable that someone gets upset when you play the role of Judas to them.
I myself like the “team game” of it, that is gathering enough players to work together to take one of us to the end, or more often then not develop enough strength to take on the local alliance in the 64 player game that that just started attacking someone.
Neptune’s Pride 2 will never be World of Warcraft in terms of its popularity, it would be interesting to know the total player base in raw numbers, and what % of them are identical ISP users. I half imagine the numbers would surprise most players.
Ok Guys, thanks for the spirited discussion. I think it might be time for a new topic.