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Marcus Aurelius

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Everything posted by Marcus Aurelius

  1. Mechanics make people come and build up routines. Communities make people stay. This game has always been the complete polar opposite of a Skinner box, a system that does everything in its power to discourage logins and basic repetitive maintenance activities. It's a real testament to the alliances that anyone still plays, despite the game itself.
  2. Holy poops, CNG still exists!? I mean... Pit Vipers reporting in! How's this game doing? I see many familiar faces and few nations.
  3. Congrats on quite the achievement. I remember you guys back from the LUE days, when you were one of our first allies. I might even still have an old account gathering dust on your forums. Holding the attention of players past the first rewarding few weeks. I shared a few thoughts on this in the Nations in the World topic a few months back. Much of the data in my graph was scraped from people posting their scores in old topics about CN on random forums, where I watched community after community spring up, flourish, and leave the game in slightly angry boredom after half a year of play. I agree that the politics and community made the experience, and the game was at its best when it took a hands-off approach to those kinds of relations, but it never hit that balance between fun from gameplay and fun from alliances.
  4. Throwing my idea in: the retro look, I thought it fitting for this game I can overhaul them if the lack of a game logo is a problem
  5. I agree that players bear a lot of the burden of making the game fun, but it's a hard task these days. The problem with CN itself is that it's actually really boring, and all the fun that's been had here has actually happened despite the game. Games of this type usually use instant gratification to grab players and condition them to stay. CN, on the other hand, has extremely delayed gratification beyond the first few weeks of nation building. It actually discourages you from playing often and forces you to save up and wait for smaller and smaller incremental gains, like two and a half weeks for a sled, ten days for a tech shipment, many months for a warchest. This is suicide for a casual browser game. A noob with a life can forget he even has a nation in two and a half weeks. This is where alliances step in. They provide a fun environment and a sense of commitment and gratification separate from the game but inextricably tied to keeping a nation running. This was ok, but not great, back when entire online communities were setting up shop here and alliances were huge, active, and engaging, but really lacking with the ghost-town alliances and dead forum we have now.
  6. Now that GOONS have shuffled off, has anyone inherited their tracking and data?
  7. How accessible are the forums from a mobile browser? Getting people in the game's nice and all, but there needs to be a direct way for them to get into the politics.
  8. And as I've mentioned, this couldn't be more ridiculously different from what's actually happening. The last reviews are more than half a decade old. The last good buzz is from about 06-07 when people were first discovering it. About a year later is a wave of incredibly pissed former players cursing the game out. After that are sporadic mentions followed by questions of whether the game is still here and still dying, and a few old former players actively discouraging new people from joining. This is what potential players will see when looking for what this game is about. Also the Urban Dictionary and Encyclopedia Dramatica pages. Those are always a good thing to have.
  9. I think "the WOW of its genre" is NS. It's been around a few years longer than CN, has over 100k players, and at its lowest point had a few thousand more players than CN had at its peak. It also has no combat system, which makes it 100% debate and community, and might be the thing that kept it going for so long. It could be that people can see themselves joining a community and still being a part of it ten years down the line, but few people can see themselves playing a game for that long, especially not continuously which was the case before inactivity mode. The war mechanic screws that up because people who aren't fully invested in the politics game see their hard work destroyed every few months, and the grind turns to burnout. As for improvements, things like tech and pricing could be rebalanced in a way that flattens the game and makes it relatively quick and easy to get to a strength tier where a new player feels useful, but getting to upper tier would be more of a grind. Tech would be cheap enough to buy on your own to a higher level, but returns from massive tech levels would diminish, so that someone with 2x your tech would not have 2x your military and NS multiplier. That way, powerful players could still be threatened by weaker players and noobs wouldn't feel like they can never catch up to the oldsters. I hear the kids are all into those internet phone things, so a good mobile game client and forum reader wouldn't hurt either ;) .
  10. It's what I made it for. Data points are right there in the spoiler if you want them.
  11. It exists to me. Peak Cyber Nations occurred on March 3, 2007, with a total of 40,820 nations. I'd like to see you plot your recent graphs with the addition of my data set. Putting it together was a fun scavenger hunt. [spoiler]Column 1: NATION COUNT (291 entries) 6,179 8,002 8,680 11,261 12,858 12,820 18,551 19,099 19,125 19,159 19,908 20,137 20,472 20,995 20,813 20,915 21,059 21,798 21,919 22,077 22,544 22,544 23,120 23,897 23,832 24,387 25,554 27,913 30,732 31,264 30,717 32,355 32,813 33,230 33,169 33,635 33,636 35,634 37,361 37,926 38,376 38,798 39,306 40,001 40,520 40,770 40,820 40,804 40,774 40,420 40,522 40,461 40,577 38,613 37,691 37,509 35,326 36,326 37,311 38,695 38,895 39,080 37,524 37,795 38,157 38,401 38,283 36,994 35,354 35,430 35,407 35,243 33,751 33,318 32,961 31,596 31,503 31,272 31,315 31,535 31,865 31,885 32,037 32,108 32,115 31,860 31,726 32,150 31,964 31,637 31,202 31,335 31,317 31,443 31,305 31,176 30,933 30,980 30,884 30,906 30,898 30,918 30,950 31,030 31,196 31,515 31,446 31,336 31,177 31,171 31,286 31,312 31,537 31,429 31,299 31,307 31,242 31,032 30,874 30,776 30,803 30,790 30,724 30,819 30,899 30,707 30,624 30,700 30,575 30,603 30,329 30,203 29,194 29,078 28,868 28,775 28,708 28,790 28,905 29,056 28,752 28,394 27,629 27,720 27,723 27,733 29,053 29,253 29,408 29,443 29,271 29,787 30,103 30,364 30,396 30,342 30,345 30,236 29,920 29,842 29,807 29,881 30,037 29,602 29,275 28,316 27,626 27,558 27,002 26,709 26,563 27,022 28,098 27,970 27,027 26,993 26,873 27,134 27,069 27,083 26,803 26,626 26,511 26,546 26,365 26,175 25,771 25,883 26,025 25,964 25,955 25,596 25,547 25,580 25,518 25,708 25,762 26,002 26,143 26,181 26,108 25,606 25,214 24,934 24,942 24,956 24,809 24,925 25,490 25,441 25,146 25,089 24,975 24,600 23,935 23,733 22,941 22,761 22,695 22,596 21,945 21,890 21,872 21,104 21,152 21,086 21,059 21,021 20,947 20,853 20,669 20,672 20,681 20,634 20,661 20,697 20,754 20,790 20,763 20,514 20,078 20,053 20,039 20,466 20,540 20,765 20,483 20,270 20,546 20,281 19,580 19,492 19,420 19,274 19,194 19,098 19,077 19,031 18,368 18,315 17,465 17,430 17,342 17,280 17,171 17,068 16,761 16,490 16,382 16,354 16,197 16,046 15,928 15,678 15,799 15,809 15,778 15,564 15,521 15,809 15,409 15,189 15,128 15,120 15,111 15,080 15,106 15,009 14,878 14,782 14,731 END Column 2: Date Posted (291 entries) 4/8/2006 4/24/2006 5/9/2006 5/27/2006 6/15/2006 6/16/2006 8/14/2006 8/31/2006 9/1/2006 9/2/2006 9/14/2006 9/17/2006 9/30/2006 10/1/2006 10/3/2006 10/7/2006 10/9/2006 10/22/2006 10/23/2006 10/27/2006 10/30/2006 11/1/2006 11/6/2006 11/10/2006 11/11/2006 11/13/2006 11/21/2006 11/27/2006 12/6/2006 12/10/2006 12/12/2006 12/16/2006 12/21/2006 12/23/2006 12/29/2006 1/5/2007 1/6/2007 1/18/2007 1/29/2007 2/2/2007 2/3/2007 2/16/2007 2/20/2007 2/26/2007 3/1/2007 3/2/2007 3/3/2007 3/9/2007 3/10/2007 3/11/2007 3/14/2007 3/15/2007 3/20/2007 3/28/2007 3/31/2007 4/4/2007 4/8/2007 4/23/2007 4/28/2007 5/9/2007 5/14/2007 5/21/2007 5/28/2007 6/3/2007 6/14/2007 6/17/2007 6/19/2007 6/28/2007 7/17/2007 7/25/2007 7/30/2007 8/9/2007 8/15/2007 8/17/2007 8/19/2007 8/28/2007 9/6/2007 9/18/2007 10/2/2007 10/7/2007 10/19/2007 11/1/2007 11/7/2007 11/11/2007 11/15/2007 12/4/2007 12/11/2007 12/17/2007 12/24/2007 12/27/2007 1/19/2008 1/27/2008 1/30/2008 2/2/2008 3/9/2008 3/11/2008 3/15/2008 3/19/2008 3/21/2008 3/22/2008 3/23/2008 4/8/2008 4/10/2008 4/14/2008 4/21/2008 5/4/2008 5/9/2008 5/15/2008 5/18/2008 5/20/2008 5/29/2008 6/2/2008 6/8/2008 6/11/2008 6/18/2008 6/26/2008 6/27/2008 7/8/2008 7/15/2008 7/24/2008 7/25/2008 7/26/2008 7/27/2008 8/4/2008 8/7/2008 8/12/2008 8/13/2008 8/24/2008 8/27/2008 8/27/2008 9/6/2008 9/9/2008 10/6/2008 10/24/2008 11/4/2008 11/13/2008 11/15/2008 11/21/2008 12/4/2008 12/10/2008 12/15/2008 12/21/2008 1/16/2009 1/19/2009 1/24/2009 1/25/2009 2/5/2009 2/9/2009 2/13/2009 2/17/2009 2/19/2009 3/1/2009 3/4/2009 3/7/2009 3/11/2009 3/16/2009 3/19/2009 4/1/2009 4/5/2009 4/11/2009 4/19/2009 4/23/2009 4/30/2009 5/12/2009 5/16/2009 6/1/2009 6/9/2009 6/24/2009 7/12/2009 7/16/2009 7/19/2009 7/25/2009 8/17/2009 8/18/2009 8/30/2009 9/1/2009 9/4/2009 9/16/2009 9/21/2009 9/25/2009 10/4/2009 10/14/2009 10/21/2009 10/28/2009 11/1/2009 11/5/2009 11/20/2009 11/27/2009 12/22/2009 12/27/2009 12/28/2009 1/6/2010 1/10/2010 1/13/2010 1/17/2010 1/25/2010 1/28/2010 2/4/2010 2/8/2010 2/13/2010 2/25/2010 3/11/2010 3/28/2010 4/6/2010 4/17/2010 4/28/2010 5/4/2010 5/12/2010 5/21/2010 5/26/2010 6/7/2010 6/11/2010 6/13/2010 6/23/2010 7/3/2010 7/6/2010 7/26/2010 8/2/2010 8/6/2010 8/8/2010 8/22/2010 8/24/2010 8/26/2010 8/30/2010 9/17/2010 9/21/2010 9/25/2010 10/10/2010 10/19/2010 10/22/2010 11/10/2010 11/12/2010 11/13/2010 11/16/2010 11/29/2010 12/2/2010 12/7/2010 12/13/2010 12/16/2010 12/28/2010 1/10/2011 1/18/2011 1/18/2011 1/24/2011 1/27/2011 2/6/2011 2/16/2011 2/19/2011 3/14/2011 3/22/2011 4/19/2011 4/22/2011 5/10/2011 5/18/2011 5/22/2011 5/26/2011 5/28/2011 5/30/2011 6/19/2011 6/23/2011 7/23/2011 7/28/2011 8/2/2011 8/16/2011 8/24/2011 8/30/2011 9/17/2011 9/22/2011 9/29/2011 10/5/2011 10/12/2011 10/23/2011 11/1/2011 11/27/2011 12/7/2011 12/8/2011 12/22/2011 12/31/2011 1/2/2012 1/4/2012 1/7/2012 1/17/2012 1/27/2012 1/31/2012 2/5/2012 2/19/2012 2/23/2012 3/1/2012 3/11/2012 3/18/2012 3/24/2012 END The data's spotty at times, especially toward the end when there aren't as many people bragging about their nation rank :rolleyes: This would have taken five minutes to make if Admin hadn't put the demographics stat page behind a password wall in 06 and let Internet Archive crawl the thing. I could have plotted the number of nations that quit, and highlighted periods of good and bad player retention. [/spoiler] Seeing such a broad swathe of CN history really made it clear to me that this game leaves a huge wake of pissed off former players. In 06-07, it's all "look at this cool nation sim, let's make an alliance!" but by 08-09, anyone who brings it up gets shot down with "why are you still playing this ***** game?" There are few fond memories and fewer people who want to come for a second look, and the people who did enjoy it admitted that they liked it despite the game itself and portions of the community. edit: added 60 new data points, getting rid of most of the blind spots
  12. I agree, there's no reason why they shouldn't get peace. They have members, a mission statement, an alliance forum, and a wiki page. They posted a war declaration, and now are suing for peace. Do the gentlemanly thing and give it to them.
  13. This is a pretty good point. War details could be sent to each combatant via in-game message, or put on a category similar to successful spy ops, where they can be seen only by the nations involved once they have been deleted from the war and battle screen, unless someone does a Gather Intelligence operation against them. Going off the radar is a successful strategy that is being used by the underdogs in the current round of wars to hold their ground against numerically superior opponents, and removing such a strategy seriously limits the counterplay opportunities in such a situation, only reinforcing the advantage of superior numbers.
  14. [quote name='D34th' date='19 April 2010 - 04:59 PM' timestamp='1271710722' post='2266723'] I'm a bit disappointed, not a bad pip in fact a good one but I have to say that I expected better from MK This one is beautiful [img]http://i263.photobucket.com/albums/ii141/bukketofphotos/vantag1.png[/img] Also can someone provide a link here or via PM to this 107 one? I'm very curious lately [/quote] There was a backlash against anything too complex by people who believed everything had been done before by other alliances. Also, thanks. That was Vanguard's pip from the CnG boards.
  15. [quote name='Denial' date='19 April 2010 - 05:41 AM' timestamp='1271670101' post='2266126'] The two most likely candidates: [img]http://img9.imageshack.us/img9/4578/derpj.jpg[/img] [img]http://img443.imageshack.us/img443/1015/lnpip.png[/img] [/quote] And definitely this: [img]http://i263.photobucket.com/albums/ii141/bukketofphotos/vantag1.png[/img] And my mark on CN alliance imagery grows yet again
  16. [quote name='baskan' date='01 April 2010 - 01:44 AM' timestamp='1270100672' post='2243324'] Did anyone notice this was posted at midnight server time?? making this well idk APRIL 1ST??!! [/quote] Someone's not dealing with it We're really merging. You'll believe it soon enough.
  17. I couldn't agree more. *made the high-res flag*
  18. o/ Keep on slithering, my little vipers!
  19. That's how it should be. After all, the game is supposed to be a business and an income source for him, so allowing players to run his customers off sounds illogical. The official statement, however, is "I'd do it if I had a nation."
  20. Apparently, they keep it legal to avoid tying their hands in case they "needed" to use it.
  21. Now there's something I haven't heard before.
  22. I wonder how the wiki mods got the metal flag up. I thought it was only used for internal stuff. I've notified Tygaland. There's a gift-wrapped nuke headed your way
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