Tawa wrote:I would love to know the names of any of those players who left because of Cultural Protocols. If a player can't accept the fact that he can't come to Barmenia for example and delete the established culture there and install say a Swedish based culture with no reasonable RP whatsoever, then forgive me if I won't mourn such a player when he chooses not to play the game anymore. It's not as if cultural protocols don't allow gradual and reasonable changes.
Me for instance. I started the game back in 2004 or 2005, played for a few months in Rildanor. Everytime I reactivated over the years, I played in Rildanor. Over the last 5 or 6 years, the few times I reactivated in Rildanor, it was for the purpose of culturally converting Rildanor to an ethnically African state within the rules of the cultural protocols. Even when I had the country all to myself, it was unsuccessful because 1 or 2 players who had parked in Rildanor for a few real-time years reactivated the minute anyone proposed significant changes. This 'veteran swarm' is what I referred to as mob rule. It is one of two ways the cultural protocols are enforced.
After trying 2 or 3 times over the years, I deactivated my Rildanor party for good when Aquinas created then left Ibutho. While I was in Ibutho this past spring, a new player registered there. We PMed a couple times, I introduced myself, and addressed his/her questions about having difficulty understanding the game. I explained that s/he could propose laws, and that party and character names had to be within the nation's culture. S/he went quiet and the party expired a few days later.
I spent the spring this year fleshing out Ibutho then deactivated. Just as I was leaving, 3 veteran Ikradon (Ibutho predecessor state) players showed up, 2 with the goal of reverting Ibutho to Ikradon, which they had spent several real-time years creating. Because they never cultural protocolled Ikradon, Aquinas (then Eel and I) were able to create Ibutho in its place as if Ikradon never existed. 2 of those players deactivated/expired. Not sure if they're playing elsewhere, but I haven't heard from them since. The 3rd player remained in Ibutho, changed his/her party and character names to Ibutho-culture names, and has been quiet since. When I reactivated a week or two ago, that player told me that s/he just logged in out of habit, but had lost interest in the game since cultural protocols were introduced in former Ikradon. I don't know if or how long that player will stick around.
The bottom line is that the game code allows players to change the most visible parts of a country's culture -- it's name, head of state and head of government titles, and it's motto, anthem, national animal, and national sport. When a veteran player tells a new player, 'no you can't change that, it's against the rules -- I even wrote it down in that bill on the nation page you're not allowed to delete,' it comes across to new players as someone trying to control the game and limit what other players can do. And it is.
It is not unreasonable that players who spend months (years even) constructing florid and deep stories about their main countries should have a minimum level of assurance that their creations can be preserved. But it is also not unreasonable that new players should be able to click whatever they want to. And since they'll get bored doing that soon enough anyway, and since it'll help keep them around in the interim, there's no harm.
RE: forgiving you for not mourning, I hope you don't talk to new players with that dismissive tone. That snide internet comments section bullshit is one of the quickest ways to run people off, and it's no small part of why this game's player base has been on life support for years now.
The way to grow the player base is to reduce barriers to entry. Anything that does that should be welcomed.
Tawa wrote:Of course not. Here I was addressing the general idea of adding to the Moderation' responsibilities without adding manpower. We only have one Mod after all.
Barring cultural protocols for 2 to 5 countries doesn't add to moderators' workload at all, as I mentioned above.