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CN Ethics - Part 1


Derantol

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What is Cybernations? Ultimately, Cybernations is a game. That will be the first big claim I make, but I’m going to anticipate that most people will agree with me on this one; if you don’t think Cybernations is just a game, you’ve got some priorities to rearrange. Now, in making this claim, I’m not speaking about alliances at all. I recognize that a lot of alliances have a stronger community that could at least partially survive a sudden absence of Cybernations. That’s awesome; if you want to interact with you community on a level above how you interact with the game, more power to you. I honestly do encourage it, because it’ll probably enhance your experience. But it doesn’t really matter, because ultimately, I’m talking about actions you should take in game. Cool. We’re on the same page.

Cybernations is a game

So Cybernations is a game. So what? Well, here’s what Wikipedia says a game is:

A game is a structured activity, usually undertaken for enjoyment and sometimes used as an educational tool.

I’m pretty sure we can all agree that Cybernations is not an educational tool. We can snip that part off, I think. It must be a structured activity then, usually undertaken for enjoyment. What else is it undertaken for?

A game is an activity or sport usually involving skill, knowledge, or chance, in which you follow fixed rules and try to win against an opponent or to solve a puzzle.

Okay, so Google’s dictionary thinks we’re supposed to win something. Well, Cybernations doesn’t actually have a win condition, so that one’s out. The only other applicable definition given (at least in my mind) is this one:

You can describe a situation that you do not treat seriously as a game.

This is a HUGE can of worms to open, and right now, I’m not going to bother – I may come back to this one later, if I find the time to. Also, I probably won't broach the question if this ends up being a flop. Either way, not right now.

Cybernations is a game

A game is a structured activity, usually undertaken for enjoyment

Perhaps I’m alone, but I believe that means that Cybernations is meant to be… enjoyed? I think so. I’m going to consolidate our list of “knowns”.

Cybernations is undertaken for enjoyment

Well, I’d love to go further, but one of the main failings of these attempts at philosophy on Cybernations is that people think they can take really big steps. So, I’m going to stop here and see what people think. Unfortunately, I’m kind of a nobody, so I can only assume that no matter what I say, especially given the subject, that I'm and idiot, and not worth listening to. But hey, maybe I'll do okay, since I'm not trying to tell anyone who's right or wrong yet.

So, poll questions. I'm putting them down here because while I can make claims left and right, and all day long, ultimately I'm going to have almost zero say in how Cybernations is played. Well, maybe 1 in 25k or however many people are playing right now. Anyway, I need to know whether I've made a claim that people generally agree with, or if what I think is really complete BS. Today's questions are a little... biased, shall we say? I expect certain answers out of these ones, so I'm including them for the sake of routine. Here's what I ask - before answering the questions, read the argument I make. If I am largely agreed with, I can move on to the next logical topic. If not, I'm going to need to pull a do-over and try again. Here they are:

Question 1: Is Cybernations a game?

Option 1: Yes.

Option 2: No.

Question 2: Are games undertaken for enjoyment?

Option 1: Yes.

Option 2: No.

Question 3: Should Cybernations be played primarily for enjoyment?

Option 1: Yes.

Option 2: No.

Oh, and someone should quote these questions to prevent me from being a HUGE troll and changing what the questions say so they support whatever agenda I may try to push on everyone. Seriously guys, it's a big deal!

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I’m pretty sure we can all agree that Cybernations is not an educational tool

It could be, such as for a government or foreign affairs class.

However, CN is a game, it is meant to be enjoyed. Those who are more competitive than others and take it seriously historically are more successful, such as NPO during the WUT/Continuum era. As for those who will say "what about Karma": "Hegemony" got cocky in my honest opinion.

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I guess it probably could be an educational tool, for a class such as that, but from what I've heard, most (or all) attempts at that have ended in a class full of "multis" being deleted, since they sign on from one location.

Also, while I could try to argue for or against taking the game seriously right now, it'd fail dismally, since it would just degenerate into the "lulz" vs. "srs bsns" argument from several months ago. That would in turn degenerate to calling out specific alliances as examples, which would end with everyone disagreeing with whether or not a particular alliance (such as MK) is lulz, or srs bsns, or some combination of the two. So until I have a much better basis to work from, I'm personally going to avoid that particular question.

And who says Russian Roulette isn't played for enjoyment? :P

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'Enjoyment' is incredibly subjective and can mean anything -- literally anything. What I consider to be enjoyable could be your worst nightmare, and likewise, what you consider to be enjoyable could be pure tedium for me (which 'lulz', for example, usually is).

As such there is really nothing substantive here to agree with you on.

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That's kind of the point, actually. It's "Part 1" largely because it isn't complete. What enjoyment can be considered isn't discussed for the sake of avoiding being biased one way or another. That part doesn't come yet, I need a limited form of credibility before I can make any sort of controversial claims and hope to be taken seriously. In addition, I think there are probably other facets of CN that can be discussed and agreed upon before we get to what enjoyment really is.

So you are correct, there's nothing substantive to agree with me on.

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Multiplayer games are to be played for the enjoyment of all players. So yes, yes and yes, but with the major caveat that you should not be allowed to play it in ways which stop other people playing the game. That is the OOC reasoning behind certain elements of IC 'ethics', like being against tech raiding, extended war, crushing terms etc – being the victim of these things stops the game from being fun. EZI would be the ultimate example of that, and even non-moralists (in their IC personae) started to point that one out as 'unsportsmanlike behaviour'.

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