A Vision for CyberNations?

[jerdge]

Admin stopped caring a decade ago

and the leaders of most alliances don't seem to care either.

 

 

It's time that the laymen take their destiny into their own hands­­.

 

 

Activity modestly increased, why not seriously try envision the future of CN? A better moment won't come. I for one am certainly not going to be the prophet. I'd like to ask, instead... to ask to everyone what they do like, what they'd change, where they'd want that the system went.

 

However, I'm not content with the OWF junkies alone... Seriously, I want to go out and ask to every single player out there! We're "only" ~2.8k people, it can be done.

Before asking, it's crucial to understand what questions is best to ask. There, you can help (and you can help manage the survey, too).

 

The question in this thread therefore is: What are the right question(s) to learn what the players want, and how would you formulate them?

Thank you for your help.

 

I'll post my questions later.

 

Where does this idea come from.

Spoiler

Quoting oneself is almost always in bad taste, but...

On 8/7/2019 at 2:07 AM, jerdge said:

Any theory about what caused people to lose interest is just an untested theory, i.e. a collection of ideas (maybe brilliant, don't get me wrong) with no proof whatsoever, because nobody ever made any survey or study by asking to the people that have left.

[...] In other words: research on this subject is horribly lacking.

 

 

[Mogar]

What gives you incentive to login more frequently?

[Pyrrha]

1

Edited May 13, 2021 by Pyrrha

[Johnny Apocalypse]

No more playing 'world police' would be a start. Either declare neutrality if you want to be a stat-hoarder or tackle a challenge equal to(or above) your capacity. Enough of this punching down rubbish.

 

And a couple of spines with a dash of ambition for the people leading alliances wouldn't go amiss.

 

 

Maybe people could start actually publicly RPing a bit too. Being a wartime tabloid propagandist has been fun and I'm sure there are other ways to RP. The political game is played here for the most part. Sure we have discord and that's all well and good, but if there's no visible gameplay occuring on the community forums then of course no one will bother and all that back-channel game will be for naught.

 

I know most players are fatigued, have jobs and lives beyond this but everyone should try and act like a leader instead of an office drone.

 

Edited August 10, 2019 by Johnny Apocalypse

[Stewie]

10 hours ago, Elpis said:

I'm actually a fairly well known PnW player, but the main complaints they pose and the reasons why i haven't seriously joined CN (aside from reading your forums), is stagnant politics, a huge gap between new and older players and a bad UI. The latter can't be fixed afik. It shocked me a few days ago when i checked your forums and noticed Non-Grata attacking Freehold of the Wolves, i'd assumed you guys had already past the point of no return for alliance wars.

 

<> I wouldn't be opposed to joining an alliance, if you guys know of any active ones.

 

Some may have passed that point of no return, I have not.

[General Kanabis]

No matter how many times this same topic comes up- 

 

The major powers will just find a way to hush up any activity by force, or by coercion; so that they may continue evacuating this world in preference of another, where their empires have already settled.

 

[jerdge]

2 minutes ago, General Kanabis said:

No matter how many times this same topic comes up-

 

The major powers will just find a way to hush up any activity by force, or by coercion; so that they may continue evacuating this world in preference of another, where their empires have already settled.

AFAIK this is the first time that this topic comes up.

 

I also don't see how anyone could stop me/others from asking questions to everyone in the game (or why they would bother to do it, for that matter).

[General Kanabis]

6 minutes ago, jerdge said:

AFAIK this is the first time that this topic comes up.

 

I also don't see how anyone could stop me/others from asking questions to everyone in the game (or why they would bother to do it, for that matter).

 

Similar topics have always surfaced, to no avail.

Granted, yours is unique in that no one has attempted to contact every single player since @Mogar set up CN Radio, but it will likely have the same result.

Not to &#33;@#&#036; on your parade, I love this game, but people don't feel the same anymore. They rather bail unless you convince them to choose between smoldering crater and inactive husk.

 

Personally, this is where I belong and nowhere else-

 

[Lord Hitchcock]

One mechanic PnW has that CN does not if the fluctuations in pricing. 

 

I’d like to see this world economy be more linked together- ie global recessions where everyone (including NPO) feels it, and global prosperity, where all benefit.

[The Zigur]

Mechanics need an overhaul, TBH would be better off making cybernations 2.0 on a mobile app minus most of the new wonders and improvements.

[Rebel Virginia]

Jerdge, Non Grata is the future. That invitation is still open.

[jerdge]

4 hours ago, General Kanabis said:

 

Similar topics have always surfaced, to no avail.

Granted, yours is unique in that no one has attempted to contact every single player since @Mogar set up CN Radio, but it will likely have the same result.

Not to &#33;@#&#036; on your parade, I love this game, but people don't feel the same anymore. They rather bail unless you convince them to choose between smoldering crater and inactive husk.

 

Personally, this is where I belong and nowhere else-

 

I don't want to and I'm not interested into fixing the game mechanics. What I want to know is what the players want from the game. The result of such a research may then trigger or not some initiative to improve things, but at any rate no intervention in the game mechanics will be possible, as Admin is not interested.

 

EDIT:

I take advantage of this occasion to say @Johnny Apocalypse, @Lord Hitchcock, @The Zigur that, with all due respect, at this stage I'm not interested in your proposals or solutions, I'm interested in what you would ask to the other players about what they want (not their solutions either). @Mogar got it right (thank you).

 

Edited August 10, 2019 by jerdge

[jerdge]

1 hour ago, Rebel Virginia said:

Jerdge, Non Grata is the future. That invitation is still open.

Thank you.

 

As I said, the company would be awesome, I like many of you, however I'm not interested in your current crusade. I have nothing against the FTW specifically. In fact I can't think of anyone I have any specific grievance or grudge against.

I can't exclude that I will undertake something new, but it has to be in character with what my persona has been this far. It's not really a moral constraint, it's an aesthetic commitment. Our paths may anyway connect in the future, I'd actually love it.

 

Edited August 10, 2019 by jerdge
choice of word

[Johnny Apocalypse]

6 hours ago, jerdge said:

I don't want to and I'm not interested into fixing the game mechanics. What I want to know is what the players want from the game. The result of such a research may then trigger or not some initiative to improve things, but at any rate no intervention in the game mechanics will be possible, as Admin is not interested.

 

EDIT:

I take advantage of this occasion to say @Johnny Apocalypse, @Lord Hitchcock, @The Zigur that, with all due respect, at this stage I'm not interested in your proposals or solutions, I'm interested in what you would ask to the other players about what they want (not their solutions either). @Mogar got it right (thank you).

 

 

 

But I am one of the other players, those are things that I want. I was sound-boarding to see if that was something others would happen to mutually agree on. I take your point however, how would you ask them though? Given that they by and large don't tend to engage anyway how would you approach them?

 

I would ask them if they want a multi-polar power dynamic or a simple bi-polar power structure in terms of navigating alliances and pacts etc. I would ask if they want only independence or to be directly involved in actual political movements. Do they want to just collect stats because, really, they played this game as kids and it holds some small sentimental and nostalgic value to them they don't want to risk losing the years of hard hoarding? Is it a 'sunk cost' where the cost has been time and you don't want to see that time shredded by engaging with the game properly?

 

If it is the latter; declare neutrality. Let the rest of us play, the only people who have fully targeted a neutral were NPO and that is heavily frowned upon, so it is a fairly solid way to isolate yourselves if you want to farm stats. It is however, unfair to use that decade long stat-advantage to put down people who do want to ruffle feathers a little -enjoy a bit of intrigue maybe- when there is an ever looming threat of someone playing world police with the chips always stacked in their favour.

Edited August 11, 2019 by Johnny Apocalypse

[jerdge]

Questions we could ask include:

 

1. If you could decide one thing to happen in Cybernations, what would you choose? (list of choices)

2. What do you most like in Cybernations? (list of choices)

3. What do you most dislike in Cybernations? (list of choices)

4. What would convince you to invite your friends to Cybernations? (list of choices)

5. What would cause you to leave the game? (list of choices)

 

What do you think of these questions? What choices would you list for each?

 

Edited August 11, 2019 by jerdge

[Tiberius]

How would you rate the feeling of being trampled by a Pacifican Jackboot?

[Stewie]

13 hours ago, jerdge said:

Questions we could ask include:

 

1. If you could decide one thing to happen in Cybernations, what would you choose? (list of choices)

2. What do you most like in Cybernations? (list of choices)

3. What do you most dislike in Cybernations? (list of choices)

4. What would convince you to invite your friends to Cybernations? (list of choices)

5. What would cause you to leave the game? (list of choices)

 

What do you think of these questions? What choices would you list for each?

 

1. Creation of secondary servers like AstroEmpires does.

2. The people you meet

3. The people you meet, monotony of the game

4. An App environment

5. Boredom, single alliance domination 

[jerdge]

2 hours ago, Tiberius said:

How would you rate the feeling of being trampled by a Pacifican Jackboot?

While yours is indeed a question, it's remarkably ill-suited to learn what the players want.

 

 

58 minutes ago, Stewie said:

 

1. Creation of secondary servers like AstroEmpires does.

2. The people you meet

3. The people you meet, monotony of the game

4. An App environment

5. Boredom, single alliance domination 

Well, I'm here trying to formulate good questions, not to have any answer.

 

To reply to my previous suggestions, you could instead make your own proposals about what choices to list. It would help to keep in mind that we're not really interested in the development of game mechanics, or a new interface etc, as we'd then find the information useless, as acting on it would require to involve Admin and we're instead assuming that his interest faded years ago.

 

For example:

Quote

Quote

2. What do you most like in Cybernations?

a. The devious characters you can meet.

b. Plotting behind the scenes.

c. Warfare.

d. Role Playing / Fantasizing about my Nation.

e. The friends I can hang up with.

(These are maybe bad choices, they're just the first I came up with. The idea is in fact that you people can help me choose good questions with good choices as answers. Thank you.)

[Stewie]

33 minutes ago, jerdge said:

While yours is indeed a question, it's remarkably ill-suited to learn what the players want.

 

 

Well, I'm here trying to formulate good questions, not to have any answer.

 

To reply to my previous suggestions, you could instead make your own proposals about what choices to list. It would help to keep in mind that we're not really interested in the development of game mechanics, or a new interface etc, as we'd then find the information useless, as acting on it would require to involve Admin and we're instead assuming that his interest faded years ago.

 

For example:

(These are maybe bad choices, they're just the first I came up with. The idea is in fact that you people can help me choose good questions with good choices as answers. Thank you.)

 

My point was more - what sort of answers do you want from said questions?

[jerdge]

17 minutes ago, Stewie said:

My point was more - what sort of answers do you want from said questions?

The answers provided by those answering to them.

Or maybe I didn't understand your question.

[Stewie]

Do you want it to be a checkbox or an essay answer

[jerdge]

4 hours ago, Stewie said:

Do you want it to be a checkbox or an essay answer

With 2.8k people receiving the link to the survey, we'd probably (hopefully) have hundreds of replies, and aggregating hundreds of essays would be impractical.

I thus imagine checkboxes, where the last one could be "other, please specify" and the encouragement not to use it if at all possible.

[Shimmer]

Tbh. How do you fix cybernations?

 

You create a 2.0(new permanent game). Fix the game mechanism, launch an app version, and recognize the game is going a more discord style. The methods of alliances communicating have evolved quite a bit over time. 

[Imperial Emperor]

On 8/14/2019 at 9:13 AM, Shimmer said:

Tbh. How do you fix cybernations?

 

You create a 2.0(new permanent game). Fix the game mechanism, launch an app version, and recognize the game is going a more discord style. The methods of alliances communicating have evolved quite a bit over time. 

 

I think Shimmer touches on the ultimate fix, but more than that there was an inherent problem built into the game from day 0 which is, what happens when the only administrator the game has stops working on it and pushing out updates? Going by the update log the last major implementation was 4 new wonders back in 2014, five years now without updates is a long time in the online world.

[Joseph Black]

If I could invent the wheel as it were, I'd say let go of the past. We use to give the once a week micro DoE crap that they weren't relevant. But we need them more than ever now. This game is dying because we make it impossible to compete. We need to stop doing what we've always done expecting different results.