New news event

[catparty]

The game says character X died.

The game did not say it was a permanent death. X may have been resuscitated immediately afterwards by medical personnel, but had to step down from public office for a few years due to health reasons. Compromise reached.

[EEL123]

The game says character X died.

The game did not say it was a permanent death. X may have been resuscitated immediately afterwards by medical personnel, but had to step down from public office for a few years due to health reasons. Compromise reached.

I beg to differ.

[Valdštejn]

All these events are coded into the game, and have nothing to do with moderation. I can't say for sure how long the assassination one exists, but I've seen it emerging from time to time for the last four years at least.

Damnit. At least it doesn't happen much. But with the amount of stigma attached to godmodding, I find it inexplicable at best and hypocritical at worst (not necessarily on your part).

Well, if the game's mechanics kill of a character, it isn't godmodding. The Pax Cynica defines Godmodding as

"The act of RPing unfairly, unrealistically and/or ignorantly to benefit your own characters or nation at the expense of others following the rules and conventions of The Game."

which makes it pretty clear that if the game does it, it isn't godmodding at all, since the game doesn't RP, and it doesn't kill the character to benefit its own characters or nation, and it doesn't do so at the expense of others following the rules and conventions of the game. You might have a point if the mods or Wouter were deciding, randomly or not, who gets to die, but since this is done by a program's algorythm, this is about as far from godmodding as it can get. With the same logic, you might suggest the game to be godmodding if it gives you less votes than your opponent.


However, since these little things in the news don't mean much to the game, neither rule- or RP-wise, feel free to ignore it, or treat it like a false report and incorporate it into your RP.

[EEL123]

All these events are coded into the game, and have nothing to do with moderation. I can't say for sure how long the assassination one exists, but I've seen it emerging from time to time for the last four years at least.

Damnit. At least it doesn't happen much. But with the amount of stigma attached to godmodding, I find it inexplicable at best and hypocritical at worst (not necessarily on your part).

Well, if the game's mechanics kill of a character, it isn't godmodding. The Pax Cynica defines Godmodding as

"The act of RPing unfairly, unrealistically and/or ignorantly to benefit your own characters or nation at the expense of others following the rules and conventions of The Game."

which makes it pretty clear that if the game does it, it isn't godmodding at all, since the game doesn't RP, and it doesn't kill the character to benefit its own characters or nation, and it doesn't do so at the expense of others following the rules and conventions of the game. You might have a point if the mods or Wouter were deciding, randomly or not, who gets to die, but since this is done by a program's algorythm, this is about as far from godmodding as it can get. With the same logic, you might suggest the game to be godmodding if it gives you less votes than your opponent.

Well, the Pax Cynica definition is quite narrow. I could do a billion immoral things without violating the letter of the law. And anyway, election results have no direct bearing on the biological status of your characters. Killing them seems a bit too far in this sort of game. The idea that randomness exculpates anyone or thing is invalid. It's like saying that Adam Lanza isn't guilty of murder because he did not individually pick out his victims; he fired more or less randomly.

Anyway, is there a way to remove it from the coding? Is Wouter still available? Or has he moved onto other things?

[CalF]

I agree with EEL. I don't think it's fair having a randomly generated event as serious as this.

[Aquinas]

Thanks to Valdstejn for setting us right on this. I take particular note of what he writes here:

However, since these little things in the news don't mean much to the game, neither rule- or RP-wise, feel free to ignore it, or treat it like a false report and incorporate it into your RP.

That is sensible advice to bear in mind. We don't have to go along with game engine assassinations, although to be fair, it might be exciting to do so. These game engine events are probably designed to make the game a bit more fun and random, not to get in the way of what players are trying to achieve.

[Valdštejn]

Damnit. At least it doesn't happen much. But with the amount of stigma attached to godmodding, I find it inexplicable at best and hypocritical at worst (not necessarily on your part).

Well, if the game's mechanics kill of a character, it isn't godmodding. The Pax Cynica defines Godmodding as

"The act of RPing unfairly, unrealistically and/or ignorantly to benefit your own characters or nation at the expense of others following the rules and conventions of The Game."

which makes it pretty clear that if the game does it, it isn't godmodding at all, since the game doesn't RP, and it doesn't kill the character to benefit its own characters or nation, and it doesn't do so at the expense of others following the rules and conventions of the game. You might have a point if the mods or Wouter were deciding, randomly or not, who gets to die, but since this is done by a program's algorythm, this is about as far from godmodding as it can get. With the same logic, you might suggest the game to be godmodding if it gives you less votes than your opponent.

Well, the Pax Cynica definition is quite narrow. I could do a billion immoral things without violating the letter of the law. And anyway, election results have no direct bearing on the biological status of your characters. Killing them seems a bit too far in this sort of game. The idea that randomness exculpates anyone or thing is invalid. It's like saying that Adam Lanza isn't guilty of murder because he did not individually pick out his victims; he fired more or less randomly.

Anyway, is there a way to remove it from the coding? Is Wouter still available? Or has he moved onto other things?

Narrow though the Pax Cynica definition may be, it's still the definition that counts. Nevertheless, as I said, feel free to ignore it, the event was definitely not made to ruin players' plans with their characters. If you want to talk to Wouter about it, you can pm him - moderators don't have access to the game's code.