He Who Has No Name

Come and try to require us to do anything, little fly, and we will visit pain and hatred upon you that will make your ancestors scream in horror. Oh, look at that, one of us is already doing so. You chose very poorly. Too bad this will not be over for you quickly.

Actually, chuckles, what I see is "aNiMaLz" now sheltering you after you sent false-flag war orders to multiple FAN members, while wearing a deliberately deceptive false AA. Whether they choose to continue doing so, or whether they choose life, is entirely up to them. Rollover is 5 hours, 26 minutes away. So is the deadline we've already given you for the apology you already owe FAN.

You're cute, kid. Stick around, maybe you'll make something of yourself.

It has taken me a while to put my thoughts together. Here's the best they're going to get. [img]http://img267.imageshack.us/img267/6199/wittyjacktarr.jpg[/img]

[quote name='Methrage' timestamp='1327217331' post='2904607']I hope FAN being let free from this after taking a few bites out of NPO they are finally even now, if FAN hits NPO again now after NPO didn't punish FAN despite being the winners they would have no excuse citing past grudges. Good luck to both rebuilding [/quote] We were hunted mercilessly across this world and the next for [i]two years[/i] in a sadistic pogrom. We will [i]always[/i] have justification to level with NPO.

[quote name='TehChron' timestamp='1324361466' post='2882435'] HWHNN, you're misunderstanding the draw entirely. Actually, the true appeal of CN has little to do with power playing, it's all about the narrative. Im gonna get into that in this thing Im writing up now. [/quote] Oh, I understand the draw entirely. It isn't there. The only reason I am still here is because of A) my FAN brethren, and B) I have a deep hatred of dictators and authoritarians, and of those I still have a few heads to take and names to cross off in this world, of people who wronged me years ago. YEARS ago. I have been here since working from the edges, content to engineer efforts and actions behind the curtains to create mayhem and undermine the status quo. I've had my hands in the black ops activity of various places of this gameworld for more than three years now, all out of revenge. I am not the average player and I am not the kind of statistics that a successful game or business model can be built around. That said. From what you've admitted, basically, the appeal of CN has nothing to do with CN itself and everything to do with the metagame created by the fanbase. Which isn't CN. What you've just admitted is that the actual core appeal for the people still playing isn't CN. They could replace the entirety of the CN game system with their own homebrew formulas and dice roller app, and as long as everybody kept each other honest by posting their calculations and stats online, it would function pretty much the same - albeit slower. Given that the core fanbase basically doesn't care about CN the game as much as they do CN the metagame they made around it, and that to them the game system itself is replaceable or very nearly disposable... that doesn't strike you as problematic? There are no limited resources (space or fungible goods) in contention, no territory in conflict, no mutually exclusive designated goals. Even Minecraft, SimCity, and Spore have some of those elements included to drive gameplay and player engagement. CN has NONE of them. If Admin genuinely wants to fix the negative growth curve, he needs to get the pencil out and retool the game space and experience to focus on something more than "the narrative", because it ISN'T PART OF THE GAME.

[quote name='Indian Bob' timestamp='1324144042' post='2880588'] As is pointed out in every thread of these that is created, there are on average 100 new nations that sign up to CN every day. With the change to resources, none of those should be just pure resource re-rolls which means we just need to do a better job of bringing those new players in and getting them engaged. It's the nature of this game that it's very hard for new nations to "catch up", but for many people that's the best time to be playing, before everything is cookie cutter and figured out. This game has retained ~3.3% of the the nations created all time. I would hazard to guess that, that is a low percentage, but not too terribly strange for a game of this age. Especially when you consider that a certain percentage of those "lost" nations are multis, and nations that have re-rolled. There are people who study this sort of thing and even games like [url=http://www.artifex.org/~bonnie/WoW_retention_04_24_11.pdf]WoW keep less than 25% of their players after 2 years[/url]. After 5 years, I would assume that percentage is much closer to CN's adjusted number. So, the fact is that games slow down. That doesn't mean it has to die, just that it's normal like every other game and as others have said, we can make of it what we will. [/quote] The root problem is that the majority of the game space - that is, the parts of the gameplay experience that actually allow any significant impact on something besides your "character" - has been constructed almost entirely as metagame aspects by players, and access has been kept extremely exclusive. The chances of any average Joe signing up for CN and being able to lead an alliance of even passing influence are, basically, zero. That is a broken game. People are not going to bother sticking around if the best they can ever reasonably hope for are to be pawns in somebody else's chess game. The fact that CN still has as MANY nations as it does is a small miracle - and a waiting-to-happen psychology treatise on abusive relationships. If Admin wanted to fix this game, he would need to confiscate the creation and control of those metagame aspects from the community and build them as functional, integral aspects of the core gameplay itself, in a way that the majority of the player base could feasibly hope to one day partake in. The player base powers-that-be right now will screech like little girls if that happens, and so it won't happen. Backroom powerbrokers and kingmakers are ultimately going to be the death of this game. Fitting that they will ultimately destroy everything they worked so hard to keep for themselves.

[quote name='Rush Sykes' timestamp='1323570970' post='2873109'] As clever as you think that was, just because you say it, doesnt make it so. In fact, id bet almost everything I own, that were it not for VietFan, your entire alliance would still be playing the same game as everyone else. [/quote] You just wish you had brass balls and ammo forts as big as ours. Jealousy is not becoming of you, have to say. And you need to come up with your own shtick. The one you're trying to wind up right now wore out at the height of VietFAN. Seriously, we've been at this longer than you've been around. All the sad excuses and clever comebacks you think you're slinging about? We've already dropped nukes on those at least twice. We are who we are, and we don't fit in, and it pisses everyone off because we break their little systems, and we're good at it and we love it. Sticking your tongue out at us, trying to sound pithy, and attempting to smarm us into doing things the way you prefer...? The NPO couldn't pull it off. What makes you so cocky you think you somehow can?

So... ahem... Has anyone seen Cortath lately? Or, y'know... Moo? Because we've got mpol out. We were expecting at least an equivalent show of vets.

Tickles my cold black heart to see so many new faces trying to sing the old, tired songs. "Durrr, one of you is in peace mode!" "Put your money where your... uh... where the... the thing... where, um... Give me money." "LOLFAN" <--- this poor !@#$%^& got eaten by bears, by the way. Keep up the hard work, kiddos, you're just about catching up with your fore-bearers.

Much like the stink on a pair of socks left under the bed too long, or an unpopular character in a bad soap opera who happens to also be the show's producer... mhawk, The Big Bad, and the rest of the TPF circus keep coming back after people earlier really celebrated their departure. Oh well.

No love for Farung, or Walford. Here's a little hint - Walford was the driving force behind pro / anti-raiding ideology-sparked events from the beginning of the game, through the internal conflicts that broke up the Initiative, and which ultimately resulted in VietFAN. Think about how different history would be right now if NPO and FAN were still somehow on the same side - or at least not mortal enemies. I would chalk up Walford as more influential than even Ivan, in many ways.

Sure is nice to have somebody thinking of us so much.

[quote name='Johnny Apocalypse' timestamp='1295024788' post='2575176'] Actually, in this case; it is paranoia. [/quote] You're either woefully uninformed or deliberately ignoring FAN's history if you call an armed response to any unprovoked attack on us "paranoia". People have been trying to kill us for nearly our entire existence, and they have publicly SAID as much; these halls are filled with those records, and some of the parties responsible for those atrocities against us who are walking about still occasionally try to stir the mud in hopes of attracting cronies for another try. We'd be insane if we [i]didn't[/i] promptly and forcefully defend ourselves.

[quote name='hizzy' timestamp='1294987975' post='2574846'] I was gonna make a quip about you being brainwashed into believing some revised version of history but that would imply the presence of a central nervous system. [/quote] I'd suggest you double check exactly who WROTE most of that history...

[quote name='Sigrun Vapneir' timestamp='1294987582' post='2574837'] I see unimpeachable evidence that one nation carried out a spy attack. I have seen nothing to even suggest that MFO endorsed or encouraged it, however. It's not all that hard to arrange for a single nation to commit an act of war under the flag of any alliance against any other alliance. It is the custom to respond to rogue attacks with a *narrow* military response - NOT a blitz on the entire originating alliance, and to allow diplomacy a chance to work, for a reason. The alternative is that every alliance can find itself at war at any moment, with no warning, because of a single rogue attack (whether the work of foreign agents or not) that they did nothing to encourage and could not possibly have stopped. I've always been fond of FAN, and the "Guns for Tots" program is truly praiseworthy. But blitzing an entire alliance over a rogue attack without even giving them a chance to deal with it? That is a precedent in no ones interest. [/quote] The last time we were hit with a "rogue" attack and tried to respond diplomatically, we were hunted for months on end with the goal of attempted genocide. Not once, but TWICE. Please don't try and lecture us about the appropriate response to unprovoked aggression. FAN has already paid the teacher for that knowledge in our blood.

[quote name='Muddog' timestamp='1294986285' post='2574804'] Thats to bad, I was wondering where the other rednecks like me were, y'all got a forum? [/quote] Flash message sent in the clear (check IMs) Bring your whisky, women and rifle.

[quote name='cookavich' timestamp='1294985879' post='2574791'] There you have it, folks. Have fun, FAN. [/quote] This is not fun. It is, however, necessary.

[quote name='Andy P' timestamp='1294985573' post='2574783'] For real? Someone goes rogue while having the MFO AA (possibly not even a member), and you go all out without even contacting them? [/quote] FAN's history has well established that we risk our very safety and survival by allowing ourselves such luxuries - much less allowing them to the people that attack us without warning or provocation. You may wish to take such risks; we have learned the hard way not to. This police action is the result of many years of a long and painful learning process in how to deal with such threats.

[quote name='Balder' timestamp='1294985318' post='2574777'] Now this is a just war. The nation of Hringhorni supports such defensive actions. We will send our finest doctors to help your citizens FAN, such unprovoked attacks are disgusting in today's world and I'm glad to see you sticking up against the bullies. [/quote] Thank you, Balder. Your generosity and assistance in our noble cause will save FAN soldiers and citizens as we fight to protect our homelands from such vile and inhuman terrorists.

[quote name='mpol777' timestamp='1294984432' post='2574756'] No. We received no contact from MFO either before or after they launched their terrorist attack against us. [/quote] It was terrible. Men and women were lying in the street, struck down in mid-stride by this cowardly act. Children were screaming and searching frantically for their parents. Somewhere, a dog was barking.

Here are some by myself from the first days after Legion blitzed us. (...yes, Legion really did try to blitz FAN once upon a time, children. It ended badly... for the Legion.) [img]http://img195.imageshack.us/img195/3974/yellowhorse.jpg[/img] [img]http://img201.imageshack.us/img201/3307/comeandtakethem.jpg[/img] [img]http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/701/molonlabe.jpg[/img] [size="1"]Note: this was before the [i]alliance[/i] named Molon Labe existed.[/size]

[quote name='Freelancer' timestamp='1287104847' post='2484868'] I would never [i]normally[/i] do this, but it's FAN !! I'm not a fan of the AR-15, that said let me know when you want to take custom orders, this bad boy tricked out with a Minute Man logo would send a clear message. [IMG]http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/dd139/freelance_r/SKS1.jpg[/IMG] MPOL, it has a very distinct sound when fired [/quote] Holy leaping snotballs, did you drag that through the TAPCO catalog with a crap magnet? Wait... I have a Saiga with an M4 stock and an ACE receiver block... ...carry on.

[quote name='HeroofTime55' timestamp='1286942961' post='2483221'] If I had money and was not a poor college student, I'd be signing up for this in a heartbeat. Please repeat this in the future, when I have an actual job and can afford such nice things, thanks. [/quote] The more people in the batch order, the lower the individual unit price. Start rounding up your friends!

[quote name='Methos' timestamp='1286941677' post='2483191'] I like this thread. Sadly, I don't hunt and owning a gun in Canada if you don't hunt just makes you look like a wacko. Good luck though! [/quote] Au contraire, my frostbitten friend, [i]millions[/i] of lawful Canadian firearm owners can't all be whacko. Well, whacko-er. The hangup is importation, though. That we probably can't help you with. But you can get things like this in Canada, and they do not make you a whacko. Heck, I was visiting the Sunshine Coast in August, and I saw more firearms up there than I did in my own gun cabinet (and I has me some guns).