Welcome to the new Open National RP Community. I will ask, beg, and plead with you to read the new forum guidelines for here and the subforums. They are important. Beyond important. You should read them every night before bed if you are going to post here, or else you and I are not going to get along well. I hope that's clear!

Because of the growing RP community that has separated itself from the realm in which alliances operate and instead play out wars that don't actually happen in-game, we have split the communities into their two distinctive halves. You roleplayers know that this is your half, I hope. You now no longer have to struggle with OWF being full of threads all about alliances and their conflicts and may use this Open National RP forum as your OOC base for outlining and discussing your RPs in the subforums. Speaking of the subforums;

The Subforums

Game-driven RP is in-character and for the roleplay of things happening in-game. If another person is spying away your nukes in-game, ya roleplay it here. If a rogue randomly attacks you out of the blue, ya roleplay it here. This allows it to overlap a bit with the alliance world, so it's up to the RP author to decide whether it does. Power to the people.

Fantasy RP is where you troublemakers go. This is the world where your imagination runs wild. If it's not happening in the game, it doesn't matter -- what you roleplay here is limited only by your imagination and the threshold across which your roleplay belongs in Game-related RP. Almost everything is left up to the RP creator, so I will again encourage you to read the above guidelines for more details.

The Rules

The rules have changed considerably from the old RP guidelines. Most notably, meta-gaming has been defined and made illegal in the RP forums. In short, meta-gaming is the usage of OOC knowledge gained by reading another RP in an IC manner. If your character wasn't part of the RP, they shouldn't act as if they've had. Don't be a poor sport: don't do it.

In-Character and Out-of-Character have new definitions that you should read. In-Character has essentially been modeled on the old "strict" form that disallows references to RL events, but also to IRC, forums, game mechanics, and the like.

Unlike in Open World RP, author's rights have remained. They have been shifted a little bit but the three basic rights remain: lock requests, closed RPs, pruning of a closed RP.

And at last we come to our role. We have given you extensive leeway to tailor your RPs the way you want them and for the bigger ones to set up your own rules and regulations. It is up to the RP community to enforce them. We will not be enforcing any player-created rules in RPs. There are options available to you if you wish to not RP with a certain player. If you have a dispute in your RP over a player's actions and whether they meet the established parameters of your RP you may request the judgment of an objective moderator on the situation. We will not enforce that judgment and it is up to the community/persons involved to act upon it or not.

In addition we will no longer be pinning the threads of certain RPs in these forums. If your RP is active your threads should remain so and it is not our intention to officially sanction or endorse any particular RPs over others.

This thread will remain open for civil discussion. This is an official policy thread that affects the entire community and thus in this thread only you may discuss the issues of moderation in this thread ONLY as it applies to the new guidelines and forum structure.

Enjoy.

Thank you Snape.

Yay for Serverus Snape.

Professor Snape, where exactly are Sports RP going now? I've seen the Sports RP thread spread out throughout this forum and its sub forums.

Fantasy RP would be the most appropriate place. Those that were moved to this forum are sign-up threads, or otherwise OOC.

All heil Severus Snape and the other mods! (such as HK and Stormcrow)

Snape! HK47! Stormcrow!

I must admit, this is a pleasant surprise.

Certainly a change was needed. Thanks!

A humble suggestion:

Of course we need an in-game related RP and a need for a fantasy 'let your imagination run wild' RP is good too. But perhaps a third sub forum entitled something simple like 'Global RP', would have been a good idea.

What was the 'news' forum in OWF, has gone a little further than simply a collection of disparate posts and stories. There are some common threads which run through them...a sort of 'canon' which is generally accepted by most of the people that spent time there, as well as some guidelines which seem to have pretty much gained consensus, these are basically the structures and guidelines in the following threads:

OCC Thread,
World Map
List of Treaties and Blocs
Tech / Infra Database.

The RP world is a confusing place as it is, and without these threads (and whatever emerges to compliment or replace them) what was starting to morph into a fairly tangible world with some structure and blurry boundaries, all of which facilitated logical RP, might find it difficult to remain coherent.

Those threads are still here, they are simply not stickied. The only complaint I can see here is that you now have to share the Fantasy RP forum with others who might want to RP outside of "CNRP" which is easily circumvented by placing a CNRP designation in your thread subtitle.

What is the particular issue?

People being Elitist/Non Sharing.

If you would like to differentiate from the threads, use the old CNRP tags from 06.

In the Sub-Title you would put <CNRP>

That from the initial chaos, there appeared to be some sort of coherent framework emerging within which there could be structured, logical RPs (especially important where conflict was concerned).

I understand the point that this particular RP world should not be considered official etc, but there did seem to be near consensus that it was the de-facto 'default', and without these stickies (which give and impression of officialdom) this world could lose some of its coherence and the enjoyable canon that has arisen could be lost in overlapping and competing parallel worlds.

So your concern is that the relevant threads outlining the rules and regulations of CNRP are going to be buried, disintegrating interest?

Apologies if I'm coming off as pedantic but the better I understand exactly where you are coming from the easier it is to formulate an appropriate solution.

His issue is that, due to the organization of this new section, "Fantasy RP" is the most logical spot in which the CNRP community posts for CNRP. However, this also means that people, including those not in CNRP, can also post there; things like magic, mechs, impossible genetics, generic mushroom induced realities, etc. CNRP isn't based on any of those things; its RP based on our IG nations stats and thoroughly grounded in reality
He sees long term; eventually we are going to have to decide what is canon to CNRP and what isn't, because the above mentioned things are going to get in the way

I propose that non-cnrp and even Cnrp people put "Non-CNRP related" in the name of the topic that isnt CNRP related

And i'm sorry if im not making myself clear!

Yes, basically. I'm concerned that if its gets all too confusing and choatic it will ruin what we have managed to create and stop people joining in.

I get the point that no instance should be sanctioned over another as its out of game, but i really enjoy CNRP (the forums aren't blocked at work but the game is so its a nice distraction for a few moments each day ).

There are some nation RP games that occur on forums without a coded game attached to them, but this is more fun because it draws from the CN community and the game behind it provides some basic rules and stats so it doesn't degrade into god modding or inactivity. The de-facto world as represented in those threads provides some good guidelines and boundaries for sensible RP'ing 'beyond' the game itself.

Alright. I see your point. What if we created an index thread in the main OOC forum here that had under each large, active RP community / saga a link to all pertinent threads which detail how the RP works, all its rules and guidelines, etc.? So for example there would be an entry for the CNRP community that had your name as a header, perhaps a brief description, and then a list of links to the threads you mentioned above?

Of course i may be completely wrong, things may just continue as they have done.....

That could work, but then you'd have to differentiate each large, active RP community in each thread which relates to it. For CNRP i guess you could just put CNRP at the front of each thread title. Then quite a lot of work for your team, figuring out which one was 'large' enough to warrant it. And if multiple worlds arise...

The existing 'CNRP' world took months to devise, there the numerous 'scramble for x continent' threads, then 5 iterations of the world map, a database, etc and so on. Wouldn't a sub forum just be...simpler?

I guess you could post something like this for CNRP:
“CNRP
Although no RP is official, 'CNRP' is the largest and longest established RP saga and evolved over many months to form a coherent world based upon in-game stats (with some exceptions) a world map and some basic guidelines and rules.

Relevant Guideline Threads
General RP guidelines: http://forums.cybernations.net/index.php?showtopic=34779
The CNRP 'out of character thread': http://forums.cybernations.net/index.php?showtopic=42831
World Map: http://forums.cybernations.net/index.php?showtopic=43368
Tech / Infra / Land Database: http://forums.cybernations.net/index.php?showtopic=45158
List of treaties and blocs: http://forums.cybernations.net/index.php?showtopic=35983

Threads in CNRP
New threads which form part of this RR should start with 'CNRP'.”

I have to do some work and go home now, so i'll check in tomorrow!

A subforum would be the best one. Its easy to do, and less confusion. OOC can still stay here; I don't care where it is as long as its easy to get to.

Yeah, so now we have to share. Interesting, but now, it got very lose and i feel al the structure we had is going to be lost.

Alright, I'm a bit unhappy with the new organization. I think that it would be better if there was the "Fantasy RP" subforum, and then a CNRP specific subforum. The current structure brings in a lot of people who want to do little things, and seriously splits up the way things were done before, and in my opinion, for the worse. I would like this all a lot better if we could have a nice, simple CNRP sub forum, so we can keep doing what we were doing before.

My two cents.

EDIT: I also don't like the whole "Imagination" thing in your description, Snape. It leads me to believe that anything goes in the subforum, and that it's going to bring in a lot of people who want to RP giant hover tanks and stuff, which is seriously going to ruin CNRP's structure as reality based. It's all looking like a good way to dissolve CNRP in it's entirety, which would seriously be a shame.

So, I'm just trying to make things clear here so I understand it better.

Making these threads...



...stickied in the Fantasy sub-forum wouldn't be enough together with using a CNRP tag together with all threads related to CNRP?

Either that, or just make a new sub-forum with a title like "CNRP" or something (beside the other subforums).

This was a pleasant suprise when I came to check on my CNRP nation

not too fond of not having the World Map pinned, but I understant why not

Im afraid of change. It confuses and enrages me!

My feelings exactly. A terrible combination of confusion, rage and sadness.

I'd like to echo njndirish's concern about Sport RP. I think that, since the events require sign-up and since it's run in a dramatically different fashion from most RP, there should be a separate subforum for sport so:

1. major CN sport events don't get lost in the crowd of RP topics.
2. event organisers such as njndirish, PremierApex, and Botha don't have to go back and forth between two forums to set the event up. It's easy to lose track of threads that way. When you're dealing with multiple external applications as well as forums, this can prove frustrating to the organiser.

Snape, I want to clarify something..

You're telling me I could write up my own Cannon, including the allowance of mergers.. etc.. and those who wanted to could play by it if they wished to? I would just have to write an ooc post with all the guidelines being used in that RP.. and then people can just tag the RP and participate in it?

They don't even necessarily have to be large, just active with 5 or so players. Our RP Moderator team is able to keep up with the demand I think. And the CNRP label doesn't even have to be at the front of each thread title (though that would be the most obvious), it could be in the subtitle or even the thread itself. As I understand it that was something that used to be done anyway?


We are not giving an entire subforum just to a single RP. Doing so creates all sorts of problems with moderation, especially of rules created by players rather than moderators. You are all complaining that not having your threads pinned stifles your RP and ruins your structure -- what of other RPs? Does it not ruin their chances to grow and develop the way CNRP has if all the threads pinned at the top of the forum are dedicated to CNRP, or worse if CNRP has its own subforum? It is special treatment to a certain community. The means to conduct your RP are at your disposal already and you can do it without having an entire forum to yourself.


If you do not want those things in your RP then have a discussion and do not allow them in your RP.


There was maybe half a dozen IC active sports RPs in the Sports Forum. I didn't and don't consider that enough to warrant its own forum as it fits just as well into the Fantasy RP forum: you have a sign-up/explanation thread in the OOC forum and then a thread as usual in the Fantasy RP forum. What is the issue with this?


Yes, you absolutely can.

I like that alot.

Less subforums does make things rather chaotic, perhaps we should have gone for more subforums.

Sooo...tell me again why all was compressed?? Wasn't this originally to put News Reports back into its original purpose. For people making news about their IG nation?

I thought this whole was all about the fact that CNRP had gotten quite large, basically conqured News Reports, and that the two forums would make the split between people wanting to do Non-CNRP stuff, while we got filed away into a sub forum like the trade circles did.


Basically CNRP would combine with the sports Rpers, but that wouldn't be much of an issue I think.

This is almost exactly what I thought would happen, versus what actually did, which seems to be the opposite...

What did you think 'Game-related RP' was?

This is what has happened except you seem to be having difficulty grasping that perhaps other people will want to develop their own RPs with the liberty CNRP has developed and that maybe you should share a forum. This wasn't possible before because there was no place to do it, except perhaps News Reports, which was completely hijacked by the CNRP crowd which demanded stickies and whatnot, further killing any possibility for anybody else to open their own roleplay arc.

I mean, isnt THIS what we had voted on in the first place so overwhelmingly?

Ugh, now we are going to have crazy storyline that don't use physics or science. Someone remind me why I came back.

EDIT: Great..now we have some kind of Spore RP, there goes the CN. I'm going to wait untill thursday night to see if the situation improves, otherwise i'm out of here, but this time for good reason unlike the last time I left.

For all purposes, I believe we need more sub forums to accomodate the "original" CNRP, various other versions of CNRP, and general RP.


Can a specific game have its own forum if say 20 people are willing to create a seperate world?

I thought this whole thing was just a re-organization of the sub forums into two seperate RP sub-forums. One to give back the original essence of News reports, and another for those of us that had formed this large community of RPers.

No one is forcing you to participate in those RPs.

For the rest of you, I somewhat understand your point. A solution is being worked on that will hopefully ease some of your concerns without venturing into areas we mods feel best left untouched.

It's the thought that counts. I would say my colorful metaphor, but I think "landfill" compared to a "park" would be offensive to someone.

Once again, I'm waiting until Thursday night before I give a final "leave or stay" judgment, so here's to hoping it improves.

I'm not sure how to spell it out more simply. CNRP is an RP created by players and for players. The moderation team is not going to sanction it as the official RP by giving it an exclusive subforum nor are we going to prohibit other RPs which have just as much right as you to post in an RP section. What we have done for you is split up RP forums so people roleplaying their in-game nation have a place to do so without being crowded out, but in no way shape or form are we going to encourage CNRP supremacy over the fantasty RP subforum. It is not difficult to tag your roleplays with [CNRP] nor is it difficult to ignore threads without [CNRP]. If someone is doing an RP you dislike no one is forcing you to read it.

Going from three to two forums is claustrophobic, some of us prefer the extra breathing room.

I would welcome suggestions for how you think this might improve without us granting CNRP official status with its own subforum and/or stickies?

Would splitting Fantasy RP into specific subforums like Politics & War, National, Characters & Sports, etc. resolve these issues? Or would doing something that gives things like and including CNRP -- that is, player-created alternative political realities -- its own subforum while other types of "fantasy" RP are left in the main forum be preferable?

We're not averse to compromise or feedback, here, but we have drawn the line on certain things that give a de facto staff endorsement of CNRP or any other RP for that matter, and we've little intention of creating a sanctioning system for the biggest RPs as has been suggested. We are taking your concerns here into consideration so please take ours into consideration as well.

Constructive criticism here, guys.

Finally. I've been waiting a while for this. Thank-you, Snape.

A suggestion I have for the Fantasy Forum: Remove all CNRP-related pinned threads. (such as the map thread.) Those have always been by far the closest thing to a staff endorsement of CNRP.

Perhaps something like this:
- Normal game-related RP
- CN-based RP (such as CNRP)
- Fantasy-RP (Such as Mael's new try with fantasy-creatures)
and each having perhaps
- politics
- wars
- sports
etc. as subforums. Though this may actually make it worse. Dunno.

I believe a section uniquely for those who RP a nation related to their CN nation would be a good idea. It's a big difference from RP'ing the nation of France, Germany, China, the nation of Alice in Wonderland,or a land of dragons, than RP'ing the nation of, say, Tahoe, Ile de Noir, Rebel Virginia, or Transvaal. It was always my impression that RP started on these forums based on their CN nations. I propose a section for CN based RP'ing, where you play with your nation, but not the events happening to it.

I think that Lynneth has hit the nail on the head. Subdivision is a form of organization. More organization always > to little organization.

This more than anything.

I like the 3 "Major" Sub-forums. I don't think the Sub-forums for the Sub-forums are necessary.

I second this, the three subforums is ingenious, subforums of subforums is a bit excessive.

It was only a suggestion, and you're free to rip it apart.
I too find the "subforum of subforum" somewhat much, but some may actually like it, lol.

Lynneth has it, but the sub sub forums is too much