Recently, I've been thinking about the subject of this article. What implicit authority do ambassadors and representatives of alliances have when speaking to foreign alliances? This may seem at first trivial, but it's actually quite important. It matters when it comes to alliances' responsibility for what their representatives say. Here we will delve into this question and attempt to work out an answer.
All authority is either explicit or implicit. Explicit authority is that which is grant
Something that isn't often talked about in this world is how alliances administer justice. Despite the dearth of discussion though, it's actually a crucial subject when it comes to understanding our world because the way justice is delivered across the Cyberverse has a great deal of bearing on how community norms are enforced and alliances maintain control.
So to aid in understanding, this entry will focus on the different generalized systems for administering justice and will analyze their re
This is a video you should definitely watch because holy crap it's hilarious. So in order to bring it to you I'm taking a break from my usual reasoning on complex issues and dealing with Tywin going on about something (I don't care what most of the time) to bring you it in all its glory.
To note: I do not know the maker of the video, but whoever it is deserves some serious props!
Here's a link to it: http://captiongenerator.com/25821/Chims-Coalition-Plans
This entry of Practical Ethics will be about casus belli, or CBs. More specifically it will be about whether it is ethically permissible to have no casus belli when going to war. For any that do not already know, casus belli is a latin phrase meaning the reason for war. It is the justification used by one party when making war against another party. Casus belli have a long tradition on our world, going back to the first ever war fought amongst alliances, but tradition does not make something
This part of a new series called Practical Ethics, which will be about the ethics of affairs across the Cyberverse.
This entry will be on poaching, which for the purposes of this article is defined as soliciting a member of a foreign alliance to join your alliance without that alliance's explicit permission to do so. The question is whether this is ethically permissible. This is actually a rather complicated question because for many the gut reaction is to say no, but it brings up issues of c
The Web is a curious place. A land populated chiefly by cats and porn stars is also a land that helps to overthrow governments, spread awareness of important social and societal issues, and ensure that nobody has less than 200 "friends". It is also the land of text. For as much as some decry CN as outdated for its entirely text-based appearance and game play, the vast majority of communication on the web takes the form of text. Written language reigns supreme in the realm of interconnected m
It almost seems like the OWF is made up entirely of straw men. Is this the way it has to be? Rational argumentation should have a prominent place here. Why? Some may say arguing a point logically is boring, but to those that say that I say "You must never have studied philosophy." Rational arguments are chess matches, they require finesse, they require strategy. In other words, they're difficult. I know it's easier to eat the chips rather than the eggs or chicken, but the chips aren't wor
DBDC has many relationships with many alliances, many of which have significant upper tiers. The alliances best in a position to destroy DBDC are also unlikely to do so because of these connections. However they all have something in common: most view DBDC as a partner of necessity to keep their upper tiers safe so they can focus on other threats and keep aid flowing. However, they all share a common interest, being significant upper tier forces, in preventing DBDC from becoming too much to m
Hypocrisy is an oft slung critique on the OWF. It's an easy argument to make because everyone in this game who's played for almost any amount of time can somehow be made out to be hypocritical on just about any topic. However, there is a massive problem with this:
It doesn't work as an argument.
Calling out someone for being hypocritical in their arguments is an ad hominem attack not a valid critique. Yes, the person in question may very well be hypocritical, but that hypocrisy does not nec
Every month there is at least one thread on these forums devoted to the state of the game, specifically regarding how it isn't doing very well. The trouble is that even if no one mentions it explicitly, the main reason for this doom and gloom is that CN is not as popular as it was at its height. This is completely true; though I was not around back then, I have heard 50k players thrown around and I believe it. By that metric, CN has decline 80% over the years in user base. However, that isn'
In metaphysics, one of the three major branches of philosophy (the other two being epistemology and axiology), there is a concept known as identity. Identity in metaphysics is not the same as the commonly understood concept of identity. Identity is rather about what makes something itself. Is the me of today the same person as the me of two decades from now, even though I would've, of course, changed in some fairly major ways between then and now. It seems like there would be an obvious answ
The current paradigm of foreign affairs largely revolves around spheres. Spheres are just collections of alliances with multiple bilateral connections between them, which, to varying degrees, act according to some common interest or interests.
Sphereology is the term used here to denote the theoretical view of the world derived from this paradigm. In sphereology, the world of CN is made up of several spheres which encompass most of the major alliances.
A sphere is imprecisely defined. We
On today's Planet Bob, merger is seemingly more common among established alliances, instead of just recently established micros. The reason for this is simple entropy, despite the fact that I believe CN to have a decent amount of life left in it, the older alliances become, the more likely it is for them to go into decline, a state which often leads to merger. It takes a lot more effort to keep an alliance going for five years than it does for one year, so it is significantly less likely for a
This will be the first in the Wow So Meta series of entries. Wow So Meta will talk about the talk that occurs all the time on the CN forums. This entry will be on why outrage is so alluring.
One thing that really struck me is how much crap gets a great deal of attention, views, and comments. Of course, it's no secret that controversy breeds interest, but many topics and blog posts on these forums aren't particularly controversial but also aren't particularly well written, important, or inter
With all the (frankly inane) talk of revolution on Planet Bob, it almost seems no one has no noticed the "Quiet Revolution" that started last summer. This revolution has fundamentally changed the very concept of alliance sovereignty.
In the past, alliance sovereignty had merely two components: recognition by other sovereign alliances, which occurs implicitly through such actions as signing treaties and exchanging ambassadors, and de facto control over a territory (i.e., an AA). With the int
While in reality, I'm not as full of wisdom as the legendarily wise King Solomon, I figured every blog needs a punny or otherwise amusing title, so I went with The Wisdom of Solomon. Periodically, I'll release a volume containing some (I hope) interesting musings on Planet Bob for you all to enjoy (or not, as the case may be).
I encourage debate and comments, and you'll find that I have no problem engaging in some good old fashion logical argumentation. This means that I will admit when I'm
