Wait, I thought he already deleted...

[ChairmanHal]

Nope.  Don't plan on deleting either, but I'll be going pretty much totally inactive soon, save for logging in periodically to make sure friends don't lose trades.  With the dwindling number of people here, keeping a full trade set will become increasingly problematic for the remainder of the game. 

 

This is being one of the last times I'll ever post here (total posts around 7,500 over 11+ years), some thoughts as I exit.

 

1. This was on balance...fun and I'm glad I played.  Oh sure it had its highs and lows, all games do.  Would I change anything?  One or two things of course, but I leave with no regrets.  My list of accomplishment is long and I'm happy with them.

 

2. Some of you people unfortunately forgot at times how to be not only good at a game, but also a good member of a gaming community.  The game suffered because of it.  I'll not mention specific incidences, but I'd like to hope that you have matured and recognize the mistakes you made for what they were.

 

3. I learned things here.  Things that made me a better person, a better leader, and more technically proficient, and I carry those lessons forward not only to other games I play but to other things I do IRL.

 

4. I've  come to the conclusion that the game was destined to die the moment for four things happened:  

• technology was made something that was a commodity that could be bought and sold...or simply given away
• technology could be stolen through warfare (which is itself is a patently silly idea, sorry Kevin, since through the history warfare societies would copy the technology of their enemies, perhaps even improve upon it, but societies almost never lost a technology through theft)
• technology was made something that mattered in virtually every aspect of the mechanics
• the players became aware of all of this

Tech being a commodity lead to wide spread cheating and abuse that got worse as the game ground on.  The stealing of tech became a primary motivation early on for "tech raiding" (and remained so), which had the side effect of the driving of newer players from the game in frustration as we went from raiding inactives, to people who stepped away for a week, to people who didn't step away at all but looked weak.  But you say, "ChairmanHal, all the things you mentioned were true almost from the beginning!"  That's right, they were.  Yet for an extended period of time, there were enough active players, and enough political drama, to keep the game interesting for most for several years in spite of the flaws.  

 

5. Shout outs (way, way too many to mention individually): To all those who remain from LIH, \m/, Browncoats, Ragnarok, Valhalla, Anarchy Inc., and PPO, may your lives be a journey filled with wonder or at least good coffee and pleasant companionship.  I will be speaking to some of you "on another network" soon.  To all the other friends I made along the way, you will hold a special place in my heart.  As for the rest of you...be good to each other.  Time is short.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Asero]

5 hours ago, ChairmanHal said:

Nope.  Don't plan on deleting either, but I'll be going pretty much totally inactive soon, save for logging in periodically to make sure friends don't lose trades.  With the dwindling number of people here, keeping a full trade set will become increasingly problematic for the remainder of the game. 

 

This is being one of the last times I'll ever post here (total posts around 7,500 over 11+ years), some thoughts as I exit.

 

1. This was on balance...fun and I'm glad I played.  Oh sure it had its highs and lows, all games do.  Would I change anything?  One or two things of course, but I leave with no regrets.  My list of accomplishment is long and I'm happy with them.

 

2. Some of you people unfortunately forgot at times how to be not only good at a game, but also a good member of a gaming community.  The game suffered because of it.  I'll not mention specific incidences, but I'd like to hope that you have matured and recognize the mistakes you made for what they were.

 

3. I learned things here.  Things that made me a better person, a better leader, and more technically proficient, and I carry those lessons forward not only to other games I play but to other things I do IRL.

 

4. I've  come to the conclusion that the game was destined to die the moment for four things happened:  

• technology was made something that was a commodity that could be bought and sold...or simply given away
• technology could be stolen through warfare (which is itself is a patently silly idea, sorry Kevin, since through the history warfare societies would copy the technology of their enemies, perhaps even improve upon it, but societies almost never lost a technology through theft)
• technology was made something that mattered in virtually every aspect of the mechanics
• the players became aware of all of this

Tech being a commodity lead to wide spread cheating and abuse that got worse as the game ground on.  The stealing of tech became a primary motivation early on for "tech raiding" (and remained so), which had the side effect of the driving of newer players from the game in frustration as we went from raiding inactives, to people who stepped away for a week, to people who didn't step away at all but looked weak.  But you say, "ChairmanHal, all the things you mentioned were true almost from the beginning!"  That's right, they were.  Yet for an extended period of time, there were enough active players, and enough political drama, to keep the game interesting for most for several years in spite of the flaws.  

 

5. Shout outs (way, way too many to mention individually): To all those who remain from LIH, \m/, Browncoats, Ragnarok, Valhalla, Anarchy Inc., and PPO, may your lives be a journey filled with wonder or at least good coffee and pleasant companionship.  I will be speaking to some of you "on another network" soon.  To all the other friends I made along the way, you will hold a special place in my heart.  As for the rest of you...be good to each other.  Time is short.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2 and 3 is certainly true 

[The Big Bad]

Good luck to Hal.  

[Ethereum]

I’m not sure the game is dying as much as it’s in a constant state of change, with it requiring effort for those who remember the old times in preserving some of what made the game interesting for us. If NPO gave up for example, I think newer players would see it as an opportunity rather than the death of the game. What many of us consider the decline stage of the game is all many players know.

 

Good luck.

[Master Hakai]

bye charmander hal!!

[Caustic]

Not a single tear was shed this day...

[Monster]

8 hours ago, Ethereum said:

I’m not sure the game is dying as much as it’s in a constant state of change, with it requiring effort for those who remember the old times in preserving some of what made the game interesting for us. If NPO gave up for example, I think newer players would see it as an opportunity rather than the death of the game. What many of us consider the decline stage of the game is all many players know.

 

Good luck.

There aren't as many newer active players as you describe. The game is objectively dying. It is down to less than 10% of its peak membership.  Nothing is really changing about it except people deciding to finally close up shop. It's a dead end. The reasons Hal describes contribute a lot but a lot of is also there is no desire on the part of the creator to keep it alive beyond just paying the hosting and occasionally fixing errors/downtime. The game would be a lot more thinned out if not for the SEO advantage it gained when it was bigger as that's where all the players are coming from now.

Edited August 15, 2018 by Monster

[Lysergide]

Non Grata wins again.

[Ethereum]

9 hours ago, Monster said:

There aren't as many newer active players as you describe. The game is objectively dying. It is down to less than 10% of its peak membership.  Nothing is really changing about it except people deciding to finally close up shop. It's a dead end. The reasons Hal describes contribute a lot but a lot of is also there is no desire on the part of the creator to keep it alive beyond just paying the hosting and occasionally fixing errors/downtime. The game would be a lot more thinned out if not for the SEO advantage it gained when it was bigger as that's where all the players are coming from now.

There are many points in time old players have quit deciding the game is done & them having the same valid points on lack of updates/shrinking player base. For different people its different points they gave up & decided to burn down as much as possible on their way out. However despite how few people from the old days are still active, the game is still here many years past when many of us considered it dead.

 

So the game will never be what it used to & nobody can remain motivated forever to keep trying in a game like this. Although wouldn't surprise me if 10 years from now, the game is still going on with a very different political landscape & mostly the only old players still around are those who check in when they're bored every once in while; despite having decided they were done with the game many times before. So you're right on entropy & lack of enthusiasm from admin meaning eventually the game will be dead completely (Nothing lasts forever). Although I don't see a big difference in how dead the game is now compare to 1, 2, 3, 4 or even 5 years ago. Right now isn't particularly special compare to all the other times people have proclaimed it dead or dying.

 

Also I think an interesting way Admin could maybe revitalize it later is if he makes another persistent world where people start from scratch & later updates the space exploration features where the two worlds can interact. He's went long periods of time without updates before, only to suddenly get a burst of motivation. Like when he added the Navy, Spies, Generals, etc. Creating a new persistent world would attract a lot of new players, especially if its created for another platform; such as the Android & iOS App Stores. Right now I don't think anyone expects Admin to put that kind of effort into the game, but the passage of time can change things & it would bring a lot players back if there was a interesting update like that. Another world would allow the physics & coding to be different in areas where the current setup has shown not to be ideal; while also similar enough he doesn't need to create a new game from scratch.

Edited August 16, 2018 by Ethereum

[Monster]

53 minutes ago, Ethereum said:

There are many points in time old players have quit deciding the game is done & them having the same valid points on lack of updates/shrinking player base. For different people its different points they gave up & decided to burn down as much as possible on their way out. However despite how few people from the old days are still active, the game is still here many years past when many of us considered it dead.

 

So the game will never be what it used to & nobody can remain motivated forever to keep trying in a game like this. Although wouldn't surprise me if 10 years from now, the game is still going on with a very different political landscape & mostly the only old players still around are those who check in when they're bored every once in while; despite having decided they were done with the game many times before. So you're right on entropy & lack of enthusiasm from admin meaning eventually the game will be dead completely (Nothing lasts forever). Although I don't see a big difference in how dead the game is now compare to 1, 2, 3, 4 or even 5 years ago. Right now isn't particularly special compare to all the other times people have proclaimed it dead or dying.

 

Also I think an interesting way Admin could maybe revitalize it later is if he makes another persistent world where people start from scratch & later updates the space exploration features where the two worlds can interact. He's went long periods of time without updates before, only to suddenly get a burst of motivation. Like when he added the Navy, Spies, Generals, etc. Creating a new persistent world would attract a lot of new players, especially if its created for another platform; such as the Android & iOS App Stores. Right now I don't think anyone expects Admin to put that kind of effort into the game, but the passage of time can change things & it would bring a lot players back if there was a interesting update like that. Another world would allow the physics & coding to be different in areas where the current setup has shown not to be ideal; while also similar enough he doesn't need to create a new game from scratch.

It being here isn't significant. Barely anyone is ever on the forums and there's very little in-game activity. It's solely propped up by people googling nation simulator when something happens politically IRL.  Most admins of similar games shut their games down before they got to this point.  Just a different standard. The only reason admin is keeping it around is because it's not losing him money and it's a sentimental attachment. It has been dead for a long time. 

 

I would be surprised if it's around in 10 years with more than a couple hundred players unless some people get really stubborn with the psychological attachment. admin has benefited from people just not being able to let go but the time is approaching where more and more will just start forgetting about it. 

 

It's been several years now and he doesn't seem concerned in the slighest and doesn't want to do an app. 

 

[Ethereum]

1 hour ago, Monster said:

It being here isn't significant. Barely anyone is ever on the forums and there's very little in-game activity. It's solely propped up by people googling nation simulator when something happens politically IRL.  Most admins of similar games shut their games down before they got to this point.  Just a different standard. The only reason admin is keeping it around is because it's not losing him money and it's a sentimental attachment. It has been dead for a long time. 

 

I would be surprised if it's around in 10 years with more than a couple hundred players unless some people get really stubborn with the psychological attachment. admin has benefited from people just not being able to let go but the time is approaching where more and more will just start forgetting about it. 

 

It's been several years now and he doesn't seem concerned in the slighest and doesn't want to do an app.

I think whether the games shuts down will depend on if the cost to keep it going is higher than the cost of hosting. I remember speaking with one player maybe a year back who asked me what I imagined doing in CN 10 years. Forgot exactly what I said, but probably that I doubt the servers would still be running 10 years from then. (I didn’t think I’d still be playing a year from then even.) He wanted to eventually rule the world; become the hegemony as his long term dream in CN. 

 

His nation wasn’t even nuclear capable & he wasn’t the leader of his alliance even. Although if everyone experienced & holding on power now give up, maybe small fries like him will inherit the Planet someday. Thinking over long periods like that means people nobody knows about now & who never had much power in CN, eventually might.

[Tygaland]

Adios, Chairman Hal. We rarely agreed on anything in-game but it is, after all, just a game. All the best post-CN.

[AlmightyGrub]

Farewell mate.

[Buds The Man]

Its been a pleasure Hal.  

Edited August 19, 2018 by Buds The Man

[Buds The Man]

On ‎8‎/‎15‎/‎2018 at 3:44 PM, Caustic said:

Not a single tear was shed this day...

The Butt hurt is still strong in this one.  

[Joseph Black]

ChairmanHal,

 

I wish you nothing, but the best in all of life's adventurers. You have been a hallmark of the community and a pleasure to fight against and along side.

 

Rest in peace,

Joseph "Muddog" Black

[Incitatus]

I hope all is well in the other realm. Godspeed sir.

[Helbrecht]

Cheers Hal.

[jerdge]

On 8/15/2018 at 7:13 AM, ChairmanHal said:

2. Some of you people unfortunately forgot at times how to be not only good at a game, but also a good member of a gaming community.  The game suffered because of it.  I'll not mention specific incidences, but I'd like to hope that you have matured and recognize the mistakes you made for what they were.

These are a lot of understatements, for sure. What's long past is however long past.

 

On 8/15/2018 at 7:13 AM, ChairmanHal said:

4. I've  come to the conclusion that the game was destined to die the moment for four things happened:

[...]

But you say, "ChairmanHal, all the things you mentioned were true almost from the beginning!"  That's right, they were.  Yet for an extended period of time, there were enough active players, and enough political drama, to keep the game interesting for most for several years in spite of the flaws.

While I don't completely disagree with your analysis, you seem to miss a relevant point: this game rewards seniority too much, the benefits of technology (and the abusive ways to acquire it) wouldn't have broken it to this level if seniority wasn't that decisive in determining the distribution of technology itself. The same could be said about money (and wonders, but in a minor part). The flaws you mention having been there from the beginning didn't matter until seniority started playing a major role, which intrinsically required time.

Anyway, the game is tainted to the bone and its owner hasn't been caring for years - as it's darn sure it's his right to do - why should we care about it anymore?

 

On 8/15/2018 at 7:13 AM, ChairmanHal said:

5. Shout outs (way, way too many to mention individually): To all those who remain from LIH, \m/, Browncoats, Ragnarok, Valhalla, Anarchy Inc., and PPO, may your lives be a journey filled with wonder or at least good coffee and pleasant companionship.  I will be speaking to some of you "on another network" soon.  To all the other friends I made along the way, you will hold a special place in my heart.  As for the rest of you...be good to each other.  Time is short.

IMO you've been a good member of this gaming community, which is what matter most: thank you and farewell.

[Mogar]

It was a pleasure meeting you and chatting with you over the years.