Are the NPO still the bad guys?

[Vladimir]

I'd liken the NPO to postage stamp if it meant putting some distance between myself and your illusions of grandeur.

[Chief Stubbs]

[quote name='Vladimir' date='23 July 2010 - 01:08 PM' timestamp='1279908479' post='2386165']
I'd liken the NPO to postage stamp if it meant putting some distance between myself and your illusions of grandeur.
[/quote]
Hey man, we are not the ones who said we're as bad as or worse than you folks. Take up your offense at that with those who did.

[Haflinger]

[quote name='Chief Stubbs' date='23 July 2010 - 01:56 PM' timestamp='1279907789' post='2386137']
Right. Well, I suppose it's now proven that NPO metaphorically likens themselves to "international drug barons", which is kind of weird in its own right, but okay.
[/quote]
No, the NPO is like a drunken teenager.

[Maelstrom Vortex]

Bad to the bone.. lol.

[Yuenny]

[quote name='TrotskysRevenge' timestamp='1279439211' post='2376887']


Evil? I don't know about that, but that we are perceived as evil is true. Even when we were under terms and unable to really do anything, these boards were filled with threads about how we were going to "get back" at certain alliances and such. And now that we are out of terms, these boards are filled with threads such as this and posts in other threads that still stress how we haven't changed, we never will change and the world is still not safe from us. And what have we actually done? Nothing. Nada. Zip . Zilch.

Guess the world still needs a bogeyman.
[/quote]

Of course you haven't done anything. The only treaties you’ve ratified are with crappy alliances like TPF, Invicta, Olympus, and NSO, who wield no real diplomatic or military power. Relations with TOP are still strained, and IRON are still at war with Gramlins. Unless you finally persuade TOP that you’re trustworthy, you’ll simply become isolated from the centre of power and drift into the realms of irrelevancy, where you won’t achieve anything. Give it time. The Emperor and IOs over-estimate themselves frequently. It’s called narcissism. Eventually you’ll screw up and SG will jump you. Everyone remembers what life was like when Continuum dominated CN and nobody wants that to return except you. Pacifica’s culture hasn’t changed and neither have you.

[Haflinger]

[quote name='Yuenny' timestamp='1279958713' post='2387290']
[b]Unless you finally persuade TOP that you’re trustworthy,[/b] you’ll simply become isolated from the centre of power and drift into the realms of irrelevancy, where you won’t achieve anything.
[/quote]
OK this is funny.

[Iosif]

I don't consider NPO to be the bad guys. I didn't really consider them to be bad guys during their glorious ancien régime - I just didn't like them and disapproved of some of their actions. Also, yeah, their sphere of influence is in shambles, so even if they were the villains around, they would be pretty much as convincing as Aquaman gone bad.

[Cortath]

[quote name='hawk_11' timestamp='1279903277' post='2385978']
Personally, these days I take an old-man-on-the-porch approach to CN politics, but I agree with this post. Everyone in CyberNations love to hate us, and it's never going to change with some no matter how hard we try. For the rest of you, come stop by.
[/quote]

*chuckles* Yup. You don't preach to the choir or peach to the damned. You just lose your voice. You preach to the people you can save.

[HeroofTime55]

Is it still considered funny to vote that the NPO is evil in these things?

Anyway, I never thought the NPO were horrible monsters to begin with. They definitely made their share of mistakes in their time, oh boy did they ever, but they were never anywhere near true [i]evil[/i]. Everyone just focused on their mistakes, and blamed a whole lot of other stuff on them that wasn't their fault, because they were the in the number one spot politically. And you know, it's a sound propaganda strategy if you're looking to snipe the number one spot off someone who's held it for as long as they did, but it doesn't make all the rumors true.

Now the leading alliances just demonize NPO at every chance they get to basically keep everyone living in fear of the second coming of NPO, and so they can get away with their own terrible acts. That is the gist of it. And you can say that you haven't installed a viceroy, but it is now common practice to assign such huge reparations that keep alliances out of the action for [i]years[/i], so you tell me which is worse. A few months of a viceroy or making an alliance your tech farm for a year. And the most common excuses for it are always "It's justice!" "Inflation!" or, the still popular, "NPO did worse!"

In short, NPO stopped being "the bad guy" a long time ago. Very likely even before their screw up that kicked off the Karmic War. And I'm not justifying installing a viceroy into an unwilling alliance, but they are not anywhere near the biggest threat to this game right now, nor are they likely to be for a long time. Overall, though, demonizing them and continuing to blame things on them seems to be an effective strategy for the current world leaders.

[Comrade Goby]

NPO aren't the "bad guys".

All political morality is a point of view. I would argue that every alliance should be considered "bad guys".

Edited July 25, 2010 by Comrade Goby

[Mongol Federation]

Evil? Na, not anymore. Frankly, I'm getting bored with the lack of major alliance wars. Still, peace is proving to be quite profitable for me, so meh.

[Senator Mark]

Sigh. I wasn't in the Order before the Karma war and I didn't see them as evil. The NPO is an alliance, not a belligerent demon. And last time I checked, they never organized a raiding sphere on microalliances in a specific color.

Edited July 25, 2010 by Senator Mark

[snibbmaster]

Lol it depends on whether you're planning on joining the red team

[Feanor Noldorin]

I voted No.

[Delta1212]

The fact that NPO has allied some of the same alliances as before proves they are exactly the same as they used to be. If they wanted to show the world that they had completely changed, they should have signed treaties with some of the same alliances as before but different ones.

Or something.

[Llednar Twem]

[quote name='Delta1212' timestamp='1280079190' post='2388411']
The fact that NPO has allied some of the same alliances as before proves they are exactly the same as they used to be. If they wanted to show the world that they had completely changed, they should have signed treaties with some of the same alliances as before but different ones.

Or something.
[/quote]

If people would actually bother to look at our current list of treaties, you'd see that is exactly what we did. As an example, I don't remember being allied to NSO before the Karma war. If I'm wrong, feel free to point it out.

Besides, why ally ourselves with new people when we can return to relations with those that have proven to be loyal and dependable allies? The last time I checked, it was us who determined our foreign policy, not the peanut gallery. Why complain about who we're allied to, anyway? I doubt it affects you in any way, unless you're directly allied to us or are the ally of an ally of an ally of some other alliance a dozen links down the spider web that we call a treaty web.

Edited July 25, 2010 by Llednar Twem

[Delta1212]

I can't tell whether you're using my post as a convenient jumping off point or whether you just missed the point I was making.

[Llednar Twem]

[quote name='Delta1212' timestamp='1280089909' post='2388626']
I can't tell whether you're using my post as a convenient jumping off point or whether you just missed the point I was making.
[/quote]

No, I get the point. You were being sarcastic.

What I did was take your post, which would be taken literally by some, and make an argument to it. A lot of people think what you said is the truth, and it helps to have something that refutes it because it seems to come up everywhere.

Edited July 25, 2010 by Llednar Twem

[Delta1212]

[quote name='Llednar Twem' timestamp='1280090187' post='2388632']
No, I get the point. You were being sarcastic.

What I did was take your post, which would be taken literally by some, and make an argument to it. A lot of people think what you said as the truth, and it helps to have something that refutes it because it seems to come up everywhere.
[/quote]
That's what I was hoping, but it was difficult to tell.

[Blacky]

The term "bad guys" is relative.

The people who are opposing you generally are seen as the bad guys. Right now the NPO does not oppose me and as such I don't perceive them as the bad guys. GOONS on the other hand...