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General Kanabis
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Blog Comments posted by General Kanabis
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"from the moment absurdity is recognized, it becomes a passion, the most harrowing of all."
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Things to consider:
.power politics permeates almost every level of the game
.asymmetrical warfare is a perpetual preference
.widespread use of proxy warfare
.competition for limited resources
(specifically, control of new alliances)
.propping of recycled ideas via recycled political posses (old guards)
There is no one solution, but an entire host of them may just do the trick.
A myriad of ideas need to ferment before anything like that can happen though.
Please share this link.
Far and wide.
I'll do my part.
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On 9/23/2020 at 3:51 PM, Sir Gunz said:
Failure to upkeep a nation, should result in negative consequences to nations and alliances. There should be inherent degradation and natural anarchy resulting from stagnation. However, the overlords can simply check-in on day 20 and send bolts down to their frightened minions.
This really stands out as a radical proposal that is better suited for the game suggestion section provided by Admin.
I, for one, would support such a change in game features.
On 9/23/2020 at 3:51 PM, Sir Gunz said:Finally, I would argue the inability to perceive a direction may not necessarily indicate there is no vision or no purpose. Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. At the end of day, is it a game of alliances or a game of war?
I think a little bit of both.
We have certainly cultivated a certain potential within the community that allows for exploration of different cultures and backgrounds.
True stagnation, for the purpose of identifying lack of vision, should be defined as groups who no longer engage in any activity beyond what the confines of the already stiff in game mechanics will allow them.
This includes OWF, Discord, Wiki, and things of that nature.
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Wory gets less credit than he deserves
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2 hours ago, lilweirdward said:
there are still people in these alliances that I'm sure would love to see their communities up and running again, were it only for someone else who had the answers.
Tevron mentioned old guard politics earlier.
That could be a start.
Promote from within.
Sit back.
And see where the next generation takes us.
The longer we hold on, the more we will lose our grasp on this world.
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On 9/15/2020 at 4:01 AM, Tevron said:
Overall I agree with you again GK
. I think that you may have mistaken what I deemed as toxicity as being forum drama itself though. I think arguments, heated passion and so on are the lifeblood of the OWF! Watching people get owned, including my own side, in arguments over the Snake Eyes War (for example) are a positive form of activity that gives alliance leaders something to discuss and weigh in on. The toxicity that I meant is more the automatic disdain and undercutting that has become more and more frequent. Sure, we're all familiar to some extent, but it's simply boring when threads are always Us vs Them and there is little to no agreement or discussion. We have seen a huge decrease in people who are willing to argue about the issues -- just take a look at the lame riffs about not knowing the name of RFI from some of the active forum posters -- these unsubstantial contributions are meaningless and simply say "we don't like you" again and again.
I view the people who constantly whine about the death of the game (in both OOC and IC areas) as nonsensical. The "waste of time" that is our simulated entertainment should probably matter more to these people, but they've become obsessed with a circlejerk that has been around for as long as I've been here. Unfortunately, the people who consistently cry in every breath about the "dead game" or "who cares" are clinging to their ivory towers and/or the sunken cost fallacy that keeps them around. They tend to be the same people who obsessively reference 2007 CN politics for whatever reason.
Of course, this series is about the Death of Politics in our world, so I may be just as guilty of poo-pooing the state of the status quo, but this series obviously sets out to identify problems rather than to give in to the existing world and resign ourselves to simply waiting for the heat death of Bob.As someone who has recently (and painfully) made a real effort to separate toxicity and character, I agree with you to a certain extent.
But I don't believe that trolling, by itself, is in any way responsible for the lack of players.
What you call a "boring riff" has more political reference than your biases would care to acknowledge.
International leaders do it all the time.
When Iran was accused of launching drone attacks against Saudi Arabia, Putin suggested that the Saudis had purchased an inferior air defense system and that they should instead, invest in a Russian one, like their Iranian allies had done. He said this to Saudi leaders while holding back literal lulz.
Hugo Chavez once commented that the UN smelled of sulfur (after George Bush gave a speech) because the Devil was there.
As much as we want to simulate a valid experience in politics, we must recognize that there simply is no politics without trolling, especially in CN.
But back to the dying.
Someone made a post recently about being disillusioned with CN, specifically, the lack of people who they (the poster) had been building up to hit one day.
That's the thing...
The culture throughout COBRA and our extended family is that we won't ever let an opportunity slip our grasp if and when we have determined that the time has come for retribution.
To you that may seem like we cant bury a hatchet, but just because we pick up a similar hatchet from a similar location doesn't make it the same one.
It just means hatchets are getting harder to come by.
And it's a real shame because that is the primary tool used to forge the legends we so secretly cherish (can't let your friends know you read the wiki too!)
We have now identified; ultra violence, excessive merging, old guard politics, and cult apathy as contributing factors to the decline.
If your aim is to possibly propose a solution to the overall stagnation in game, we would be happy to help.
I actually believe our spheres can work together to encourage growth.
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6 hours ago, Tevron said:
Protection status and protectorates + mergers don't really seem to do anything unless the protected alliance is going inactive.... The same can be said for the splinters themselves, they can be seen as positive except when they rob their host alliance of significant activity. I wish there were more new alliances that weren't either re-rolls or splinters, but I think we're basically down for the count with regards to that at this time, barring some sudden youtuber invasion.
I would suggest that certain spheres do have cultural thrusts, but I think the individual leaders are probably more important than that overall sphere culture. An alliance leader can easily decide whether or not to break with the ideas of the past and head into new directions, but usually they have to do it more gradually or as a series of compromises. I think that COBRA, for example, is already a lot different than they were two years ago. Doubly so for alliances like CCC or Sparta that were literally dead until recently. As this relates to the culture of merge or violence, I do think in COBRA's case it is a genuine culture of aggression and military superiority over the micro-tier. From that perspective, it's kind of hard to deny that the reverse could be true. Maybe alliances in RFI, Oculus, Ex-Moralists are all simply more culturally driven to merge for a variety of reasons. What aspects of their cultures seem to individually support that?I've noticed merges of inactive alliances tend to be halted almost entirely by pride, so now instead of mostly inactive protectorates, there are simply only inactive ones.
There are really only 3 reasons an alliance would merge; for Political reasons, for Ambitious reasons, or for Emergency reasons.
Unfortunately, all three seem to apply for (some) fairly recent mergers.
And here is where the violent culture of a lower tier alliance comes into play as a stark contrast of what their historic enemies represent.
A larger force is more likely to take under their wing, newer AAs that spring up, adding to the power and capabilities of tomorrow's potential enemy, precisely because they are expected to merge eventually.
Of course, when speaking of an ultra violent sphere, you can imagine anyone is a potential enemy.
But going back to what you previously said about victimization, I can agree that it plays a major role in this attitude.
If an alliance has good historical reason to perceive ill intentions from a larger group allied to an even larger group allied to a megacrew, then you can understand why they might be on edge all the time.
When applied in game, this thinking creates a sort of Cold War, or micro arms race, if you will.
Within the parameters of this dilemma I have established that to one side is left the majority of the burden, and perhaps it is indeed a time for real change, but in order to bring about such a solution, a deeper examination of the other side is needed;
The specific point I would say is the tendency of former Doom affiliates to disband or merge constantly under obvious duress.
I believe this is one of those tri-category situations I outlined above.
Coming from me, it may sound like hateful pessimism, but when an alliance, or a group of alliances undergo this process under those specific conditions, a pattern of recklessness emerges.
Recklessness in the sense that for the sake of all affected, certain considerations should never be rushed.
In other words; you can't leave any loose ends!
Because ultimately, it is hard to leave the past where is belongs when the vestigial consequences don't trail far behind.
6 hours ago, Tevron said:I agree with you that antagonizing forces are essential to the survival of the political game. I think the problem is that the bad guys are non-existent right now from a narrative perspective. One of the tragedies of the last five years has been that there has been no truly villainous sphere to rise up. There were times when people expected Polaris to bring about a kind of anti-oculus, Karma 2.0 but that narrative was made impossible by the very same people who acted like it could have been a possibility to begin with. Alliances like Non Grata who have certainly been the 'bad guy', ultimately joined the 'good guys' and became the neither good nor bad guys in Oculus. I wonder if part of the reason there are not strong villainous alliances right now is because moralist politics are near completely dead. More on that in the next blog post...
An influx of players is ideal but ultimately we have to work with what we have. It's a type of adaption I would imagine springs into action when an entire ecosystem is on the verge of extinction. Rather than focus on something we cant really control (unless we suddenly learn how to advertise en masse), we need to understand why people become so disengaged.
I blame the general attitude that has developed within this community and is largely endorsed by the old group of players who basically run the show.
When activity appears on the OWF, people are engaged, no matter how toxic.
In fact, the toxicity levels and activity levels often correlate!
"Waste of time"
"Irrelevant"
"Who cares"
"Game is dead"
That's not what generates active or spawns culture.
It in fact, props a status quo among the residents of Bob that isolates any desire to participate in the game because the cool kids don't agree with it.
The result; the only perceived villains left are those who dare rage against the dying of the light. -
"paralyzing micropolitics into a singular sphere outside of a pair of protectorates scattered across the world"
One could say the same about certain blocs which are effectively paralyzing macropolitics into a single sphere outside of a pair of neutrals scattered across the world.
You actually already did (excellent read, btw)
A vast majority of the player base is concentrated in the mid-upper level and they are slow. Real slow.
Ever building up for a war that will never happen.
The micro world works differently.
It is a faster community.
Always has been.
Disband an unprotected micro militarily and your members gain experience while the defenders seek a new home/independent FA to contribute towards a common goal. Disband them through inactivity and no one gains anything except for maybe those tech stocks.
The problem here is that many of the micros that pop up these days are rerolls or just splinter groups (genuine or otherwise), which is OK but it goes back to what you said about an 'Old Guard'
Same principle applies because habits is habits.
What about protection status?
A trend that seems to exist is the eventual merger of Protectorates to their protecting alliance, which I generally don't approve of unless that alliance is going inactive.
But we need to understand why this happens-
Are certain blocs as culturally prone to merging as ours is to violence? And if so, what can we do to encourage a symbiotic understanding between them?
If COBRAsphere conducts itself in a perpetually aggressive manner, then it is most certainly a result of a large scale adaption through interaction with larger groups such as your own. Your assessment is mostly accurate, I will say (IMO) and you are correct in pointing out a lack of political ambition, which is definitely in its infancy.
I leave on this note;
An antagonizing force is essential to the survival of this game.
Think back to the bad guys of yesterday and ask yourself how drastically different the landscape of today would look had they not existed.
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On 3/3/2018 at 9:32 AM, Stonewall14 said:League of Micro Penises gonna bump heads lmfao....
That's the point!
It's a brave new world, Stony.
Bumping heads is our way of staying awake. Sitting in a crowded AA is not fun anymore.
Micros will inherit Planet Bob.
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56 minutes ago, Lord Hitchcock said:
GK, you've gotta understand Masta Hanssen’s way of thinking. For example: "dem pies are macro only pies".
I'm tired of seeing my micro brothers and sisters slaving away on the tech farms, wastin their gameplay for a day that never comes. They should be waving their alliance flag proudly, today! And without the fear and persecution from macros who don't want to play with us anyway.
Now I have a dream, that one day all of admin's micros will be free.
Preach it!
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GK: The way Macros have been playing the game is effective in driving everyone away.
KH: So you're saying it's a result, not a cause?
GK: ...
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4 hours ago, Keysariyt Hanssen said:
Being boring and miserable is quite nice, though. In the world that is Planet Bob, it seems to be quite effective.
Effective in driving everyone away;
07/21/11 - 17,525 Nations
09/15/11 - 16,777 Nations
10/11/11 - 16,125 Nations
12/14/11 - 15,883 Nations
02/17/12 - 15,070 Nations
03/16/12 - 14,776 Nations
05/12/12 - 14,357 Nations
06/18/12 - 13,856 Nations
07/22/12 - 13,385 Nations
09/09/12 - 12,603 Nations
11/04/12 - 12,307 Nations
01/18/13 - 12,930 Nations
02/21/13 - 12,286 Nations
03/31/13 - 11,969 Nations
06/16/13 - 11,491 Nations
09/21/13 - 10,783 Nations
12/15/13 - 10,275 Nations
07/03/14 - 9,944 Nations
10/19/14 - 9,586 Nations
01/18/15 - 9,087 Nations
02/22/15 - 8,979 Nations
06/17/15 - 8,300 Nations
07/30/15 - 7,810 Nations
10/18/15 - 7,388 Nations12/08/15 - 7,115 Nations
04/25/16 - 6,773 Nations
06/22/16 - 6,445 Nations02/17/18 - 3,918 Nations
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9 minutes ago, Tankobite said:
With that nosedive in nations, you may be welcome to participate soon.
good point
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8 minutes ago, Keysariyt Hanssen said:
Spotted hyenas have a highly vulnerable pack mentality that prevents them from truly taking over anything that isn't a medium-sized ungulate. Their inability to function without being a completely co-dependent group leaves them open to being easily separated and killed off. Which is how every single predator deals with them.
Striped hyenas are just useless scavengers that nobody pays attention to.
1 hour ago, Keysariyt Hanssen said:It's very enjoyable how easily words intended to rile you have done so.
Lulz
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We're all irrelevant, but hyenas will inherit the savanna.
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It all began when a senile person in this Forum pointed out just how irrelevant the micro world is.
We, who provide cheap tech to the macros.. who attack the !@#$ tier when the big guys can't reach it, and often stay there for weeks at a time without respite.
We who make things interesting.
4 hours ago, Knights of the Grail said:My questions are:
1. How do you extricate your league from large-alliance politics? For example, the aid package from a large alliance to yours.
2. Are Knights of Ni, UCR, and LSF now considered micro-alliances?
We extricate ourselves only from the oppression.
6/200 tech deals are oppression.
A ban on sensible raiding is oppression.
These things and many others, are the topics we discuss.
All of those alliances are micros so yes, if they so choose it, they can and will participate.
On that note; we are not an official bloc, or political platform in any sense.
We do however, encourage a "good smack" (as LH puts it) once in a while. Micros need to wake up and get their engines running, especially the older ones.
We are hoping to institute an unspoken agreement and pledge to keep micro wars under 2 weeks in duration. The latter to discourage curbstomps.
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2 hours ago, The Zigur said:
I think some of you are misinterpreting my statement.
You said the game has devolved.
I agree.
That's the point of this here gathering of neckbeards and trolls.
We know our world is fading away. But why reminisce and wish things could go back to how they were when it's impossible. Things have changed, it's a smaller world. The Micros will inherit Planet Bob.
Instead of bringing back the old ways or devolving into chaos, we wish to adapt.
Micro lives matter, Junka
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there are some sickos out there..
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2 hours ago, The Zigur said:
Game has sadly devolved from respectable politics into tribal wars lite.
That's the gist of it, genius.
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A place for the irrelevant masses to come together and wallow in their magnificent irrelevance.
Conclusion I: Problems
in Talking with Tevron
A blog by Tevron in General
Posted
Admin coming up with some solutions already
Would you look at that