The Cult of Personality

[Walshington]

How much of your attitude toward a given alliance is related to the presence of that alliance's primary personality on the OWF?

 

For instance, I generally like RIA.  Got no real good reason why -- I've never warred them, never dealt with them... primarily, it is because I have a favorable disposition to Ogaden.  Whom, I might add, I've never dealt with personally, I just like the cut of his jib on the OWF.  I can literally name no one else in that alliance, yet, if someone asked me about RIA, I would give a favorable review.

 

R&R is similar -- had a good experience with Ego Freaky, I like Muted Faith and Warrior Soul on the OWF, warred a couple of them and liked it, and hence, I am favorably disposed toward R&R.

 

Kashmir I know better, but not much.  Fought and enjoyed it with Denkimon, Heinleiner, Lex Quintus and Sir William, even though they traded me back and forth \for packs of cigarettes at the close of the last war. I like Yolo and Hakai's work on the OWF.  I also appreciate their alliance philosophy, but I literally have interacted with only 6 or 7 of them -- the rest of them could be probably are complete ^$%^holes, but here I sit, liking Kashmir.

 

Does the personality of an alliance's main guy (or a few other interactions) on the OWF drive most people's opinions of the alliances they (allegedly) represent?

 

Is Rush Sykes TLR to most people?  Is Max Power tJL to the masses? Is Rayvon NSO in most people's eyes? Is GOD nothing more than Xiph's posts? Did I like GATO only because of Dre4mwe4ver, prior to him joining MI6  SRA?

 

Not saying an alliance's actions mean nothing -- I've had a few good interactions with Sardonic, but I wouldn't say I'm a fan of GOONs -- but are our perceptions of alliances unduly colored by their most vociferous representatives on the OWF?

 

 

 

[Auctor]

I've always suspected people make judgments about things they do not know fully about based on what they are able to perceive about them.

[Ogaden]

You should come by and visit Walsh, we only bite sometimes

[Rayvon]

I think for the most part, it is so ...
 
I've often told many to come visit us and find out for themselves just exactly what we're like as a whole .. We have a vast array of personalities and a much higher activity level than my single presence on the OWF appears.

[BringMeTheHorizon]

I try not to let my feelings for AA's be based on who posts on who does not post on the owf, but I will say, if I find a person particularly funny, or snarky, it will cause me to check out their AA. 

[iamthey]

My opinion of sengoku is almost singularly derived from my feelings about auctor. I'm not sure what this means for my opinion of sengoku, I find it confusing and difficult to specify further.

[Ogaden]

There are a lot of great personalities out there but I'd say 99% of them went inactive years ago.

 

To be honest, I am not the greatest spokesman for RIA, I don't have Delta1212's debate skills or irresistible reasonableness, I don't have Shadow's implacable cool or writing skills, Moth's ironic wit or llamavore's gift for humor.  Sadly for all of you folks, they can't be bothered anymore, so you have to put up with me.

 

The giants of OWF are largely all gone, we lesser men struggle on as best we can.

Edited May 15, 2014 by Ogaden

[Neo Uruk]

There are a lot of great personalities out there but I'd say 99% of them went inactive years ago.
 
To be honest, I am not the greatest spokesman for RIA, I don't have Delta1212's debate skills or irresistible reasonableness, I don't have Shadow's implacable cool or writing skills, Moth's ironic wit or llamavore's gift for humor.  Sadly for all of you folks, they can't be bothered anymore, so you have to put up with me.
 
The giants of OWF are largely all gone, we lesser men struggle on as best we can.

It's because ~the stats~

I'm the Cult of Personality.

[iamthey]

There are a lot of great personalities out there but I'd say 99% of them went inactive years ago.
 
To be honest, I am not the greatest spokesman for RIA, I don't have Delta1212's debate skills or irresistible reasonableness, I don't have Shadow's implacable cool or writing skills, Moth's ironic wit or llamavore's gift for humor.  Sadly for all of you folks, they can't be bothered anymore, so you have to put up with me.
 
The giants of OWF are largely all gone, we lesser men struggle on as best we can.

I miss ardus. Edited May 15, 2014 by iamthey

[Saxplayer]

I think that the 'spokesperson' of an alliance is a very important thing for an alliance to have, it helps to show people what that alliance 'should' be like. However, I would argue that not all alliances have these, and that some alliances even have multiple. And honestly, most people don't know anything about alliances who don't have a 'spokesperson' Take Knights of Ni for example, I have never seen someone who is in KoN on these forums, this can be both a good and bad thing because 1 people don't know about you, and 2 People don't know about you.

[Beauty]

I agree with the others in the thread.

 

However it is very much so that not all of that alliance's views are on here. Many active alliances I know rarely visit the OWF and people think their inactive until they go onto their IRC or their forums.

 

You may think you know an alliance until you meet all of them.

[Xanth]

I think that the 'spokesperson' of an alliance is a very important thing for an alliance to have, it helps to show people what that alliance 'should' be like. However, I would argue that not all alliances have these, and that some alliances even have multiple. And honestly, most people don't know anything about alliances who don't have a 'spokesperson' Take Knights of Ni for example, I have never seen someone who is in KoN on these forums, this can be both a good and bad thing because 1 people don't know about you, and 2 People don't know about you.

 

 

I agree with this. 

[Bob]

My opinion of sengoku is almost singularly derived from my feelings about auctor. I'm not sure what this means for my opinion of sengoku, I find it confusing and difficult to specify further.

Sengoku is Sengoku, Auctor is Sengoku.

 

Your active members on the OWF will almost always be perceived as the face of your alliance even if they aren't in government.  Just the way things work.  

[Master Holton]

Depends.

 

If the person posting is the Emperor of an alliance, I'd be more likely to give weight to their opinions in regards to my judgement of the alliance.

 

If the person is someone old, well-spoken, funny, or otherwise noteworthy; I'll usually think better of whatever alliance they're in.

 

 

 

 

Generally speaking, the OWF can spark issues if people want issues to be sparked. In other cases, it's laughed off as a universal hot-air-blowing forum.

[Sarkin]

My opinion of sengoku is almost singularly derived from my feelings about auctor. I'm not sure what this means for my opinion of sengoku, I find it confusing and difficult to specify further.

 

It's called arousal. Don't worry, it's a natural part of growing up.

[killjoy123]

Based on the OWF, I pretty much hate everyone but when I actually talk to them I tend to like them.

[Rush Sykes]

Clearly, I AM TLR. Seriously, anyone who still buys this is a fool.

 

 

More on topic though, Bob is mostly right. Like it or not, one or 2 people will always be the face or voice of their alliance even if they take no active hand in it anymore. The entire mentality of Planet Bob is centered around making judging an alliance a simplistic process. If it were complicated, the backstabbing and planning and plotting processes that happen between global wars would never happen, because it would take far too long. You need 1 person (maybe 2, and rarely more than 3) to highlight as "the alliance" for the sake of lumping them into either the "do we like them" or "do we want to roll them" groups.

Edited May 16, 2014 by Rush Sykes

[Elorian]

Clearly, I AM TLR. Seriously, anyone who still buys this is a fool.

It just means that nobody considers us a threat... until our day of reckoning. *nods*

 

Seriously. Rush is important to us but he is not TLR.

[Master Hakai]

I don't judge an alliance based on one individual's OWF presence, but I certainly do hold them responsible for it. NSO for example has a whole lot of real great people, but they sometimes allow members like rotavele or rey and I just call that irresponsible. And I don't like that crab guy much but I don't assume his entire japanese-named alliance is exactly like im.

 

 

Also agree kind of with ogaden, the current generation of OWFers isn't quite as righteous as previous ones have been, but we do what we can

[Walshington]

Clearly, I AM TLR. Seriously, anyone who still buys this is a fool.

 

 

 

Seriously. Rush is important to us but he is not TLR.

 

I'm not arguing that Rush actually is TLR.  I'm just saying that the vast majority of Bob does not visit TLR's forums, or interact in any other way with TLR, other than the occasional war.  Thus , their only window to TLR is Rush's posting on the OWF, and to those people,  Rush is TLR in a de facto sense. Perception of dominant personalities becomes a cognitive shortcut for judging the alliance as a whole. Intellectually, I realize that Ogaden does not represent the views of all of RIA,  but when he posts, it's difficult to not see Ogaden as the manifestation of RIA.

 

I don't judge an alliance based on one individual's OWF presence, but I certainly do hold them responsible for it. NSO for example has a whole lot of real great people, but they sometimes allow members like rotavele or rey and I just call that irresponsible. And I don't like that crab guy much but I don't assume his entire japanese-named alliance is exactly like im.

 

 

Also agree kind of with ogaden, the current generation of OWFers isn't quite as righteous as previous ones have been, but we do what we can

 

I would disagree on people like Rey, Rotavele and Mogar.  Possibly because they have been in so many alliances, I think they have  transcended alliances and are more viewed as personalities than spokesmen. Whereas Rush, Rayvon and Xiphosis have brand recognition with TLR, NSO and GOD respectively, I think when Rey, Rota or Mogar post they speak for Rey, Rota and Mogar only.  When Tela speaks, I think Echelon; when Rota posts, I think Rota, regardless of alliance affiliation.

[Neo Uruk]

which is sad because I'm a great spokesperson.

[Lex Quintus]

I mean yeah, your perception of an alliance is going to lean heavily on your perception of individuals acting in such a way as to represent that alliance.  We read things, we laugh, we nerdrage, we declare war--and we unavoidably associate those individual reactions/responses with the very flag these individuals fly.  Think of a house on your street where some one person spends a lot of time gardening--you will come soon to regard that house/family as having a collective priority on gardening: "Oh, I was down by the house where they garden all the time."  In a gameworld like this, built on things including contentious factionalism, that kind of stereotyping is expedient and reasonable.

 

For a while, and for many alliances forever, your gardener-perception will be enough to allow you to pigeonhole that alliance and anybody in it.  Cognitively convenient.  For some alliances, as has been said, you get on their boards, IRC, whatever, and come to learn that they have among them not only fastidious gardeners but also hoarders, poo-flingers, and Republicans.  So just like neighbors you come to know better (and as individuals), with time and effort comes a more nuanced view of the alliance qua alliance that is less generalized, more inclusive of the sub-types (sub-species?) within, still tied to the overarching alliance tone/persona that is in most cases still best exemplified by the one or few primary voiceboxes on the OWTF.  And whether those primaries are still in fact the best exemplars of that alliance mood, you are going to maintain them as such because of the initial stamp of "archetype" you put on them when they were just the guy who gardens.

 

With that greater familiarity and nuance comes the ability to see frequent speakers in a given alliance as speakers for themselves moreso than for the alliance.  Examples have been given, where few would ascribe alliance-level perspective to posts, even though these free radicals may in fact be more prolific or erudite than their fearless leaders.  They may also not be more prolific or erudite.

 

In my opinion.

[Master Hakai]

I would disagree on people like Rey, Rotavele and Mogar.  Possibly because they have been in so many alliances, I think they have  transcended alliances and are more viewed as personalities than spokesmen. Whereas Rush, Rayvon and Xiphosis have brand recognition with TLR, NSO and GOD respectively, I think when Rey, Rota or Mogar post they speak for Rey, Rota and Mogar only.  When Tela speaks, I think Echelon; when Rota posts, I think Rota, regardless of alliance affiliation.

Nah you missed the point where I never defined NSO by any of those guys, it just doesn't reflect well on whatever AA they're using

[Beauty]

 

 

 

I'm not arguing that Rush actually is TLR.  I'm just saying that the vast majority of Bob does not visit TLR's forums, or interact in any other way with TLR, other than the occasional war.  Thus , their only window to TLR is Rush's posting on the OWF, and to those people,  Rush is TLR in a de facto sense. Perception of dominant personalities becomes a cognitive shortcut for judging the alliance as a whole. Intellectually, I realize that Ogaden does not represent the views of all of RIA,  but when he posts, it's difficult to not see Ogaden as the manifestation of RIA.

 

 

I would disagree on people like Rey, Rotavele and Mogar.  Possibly because they have been in so many alliances, I think they have  transcended alliances and are more viewed as personalities than spokesmen. Whereas Rush, Rayvon and Xiphosis have brand recognition with TLR, NSO and GOD respectively, I think when Rey, Rota or Mogar post they speak for Rey, Rota and Mogar only.  When Tela speaks, I think Echelon; when Rota posts, I think Rota, regardless of alliance affiliation.

 

Which is good because that means every alliance I've ever been in would probably get rolled if they associated my name with that alliance.

[The Zigur]

It's natural and sometimes necessary to make judgments according to what is put in front of us, but whenever possible deeper analysis should be a priority.