Jaxon's Soapbox

I know that there have been a few times, when as an alliance leader I've done a public rebuke of something the membership of FoB has said, but I can't really say that I agree with what you're saying.

I think it's got more to do with the rising tensions during war and the buildup to a war

Private channels are boring.

There is no reason to continue keeping 99% of the world out of 'the know'. This isn't sensitive intellectual information here ... it is a war/political game. The more the merrier!

It ironic that you call it nostalgia that you want to go back to private chans (which are still dominantly used) when during the time they where popular people where complaining bout how nobody did anything publicly anymore.

Because the world now revolves around various opposing blocks, and winning the hearts and minds of "the people" is the key to getting ahead.

It was the same way in the Great Wars era.

Look at it in terms of RL politics. If you're trying to get a few people in a legislative organisation to do things your way, you'll usually end up brownosing, scurrying from one to the other, lobbying and socializing; if instead you are trying to get an electorate to do things your way, you'll shout as loud as you can, get all the media around you and magnify every little thing into a national drama act.

This ends up making people more argumentative, and that is a self-reinforcing thing. People discuss something, others come in, you get more politically uninvolved people (who are less inclined to follow convention) saying whatever they want, etc, etc.

I don't know about you, but I quite like things out in the open.

Because the world now revolves around various opposing blocks, and winning the hearts and minds of "the people" is the key to getting ahead.

It was the same way in the Great Wars era.

Look at it in terms of RL politics. If you're trying to get a few people in a legislative organisation to do things your way, you'll usually end up brownosing, scurrying from one to the other, lobbying and socializing; if instead you are trying to get an electorate to do things your way, you'll shout as loud as you can, get all the media around you and magnify every little thing into a national drama act.

This ends up making people more argumentative, and that is a self-reinforcing thing. People discuss something, others come in, you get more politically uninvolved people (who are less inclined to follow convention) saying whatever they want, etc, etc.

That is my point exactly. The OWF is a place for PR work, not regular conversations.

The means of communication depends on the incentives and emotions in play. As Comrade Letum noted, during a great war the incentives are to make PR plays and try to show the opposition up as much as possible. During peace time the incentives are either to avoid rocking the boat in order to maintain the existing structure, or to avoid rocking the boat in order to prevent an attack on your alliance.

So don't worry. We will return to your regularly scheduled programming (or lack thereof) shortly.

'Private channels ftw' stops 99% of the players from actually playing the game. The more of it that's played out on the game forums, the easier it is for people to actually have fun instead of just being directed like drones for the 100 people who run alliances and whatnot.

The problem with private channels is how it serves to keep those who rule ruling, whether they do a good job or not. It also limits those with any real say based on the actuality to a very low number of the total players and you end up having the twenty-thousand plus players as fodder for those in command, this has become troublesome and dull. A well-informed alliance is a much more powerful and motivated alliance. If you're in a dictatorial alliance then it does fit, but a democratic one should be open and transparent to it's rank and file at least.

That is my point exactly. The OWF is a place for PR work, not regular conversations.

Maybe what you think are regular conversations are just good PR work?

Maybe what you think is PR work is really just a regular conversation?

What is a regular conversation anyway?