The Flightless Hippo
Over the years, my nation has slowly become synonymous with hippos, flightless or not. But where did it come from? Well, it's quite simple:
When I created my nation, I quickly thought of Sirocco as a name for it (explanations are in a previous blog: What's In A Name?), and made it a fiefdom because I live in the county of Fife, Scotland which is also where I was born, and chose the Belarussian flag because I liked it. The motto started out as 'Nullus Anxietas' ("No Worries") which I'd lifted from a book called The Last Continent. I later changed it to a motto of my own devising ("Don't ask me, I only govern here") which I have used ever since. The currency started out as "arm and a leg" but I soon changed it to IOU which it has remained as since.
The flightless hippo has never been changed as my national animal, as it's become a symbol of me which is apparently recognisable anywhere. But where did I get the idea from, I hear you ask, your thirst for knowledge overpowering my weak defences. The answer, as I've already said, is quite simple, and I was about to tell you it before you so rudely interrupted me.
Ahem.
I didn't get the idea from anywhere. It just sprung into my mind. I was thinking about putting something like 'winged cat' or 'seventy-foot tall turtle' or something improbable like that when I thought it would be amusing to give the animal a characteristic that while supposedly marking it out would be pointless because all the other types have it anyway. I thought of a hippo. What can't hippos do? Fly, of course! And thus, the flightless hippo was born.
A few weeks later, I was intrigued to find that a nation called 1 Infinite Loop was designing flags for people, and I thought 'Wow! That's great!' So I asked for a purple hippo with wings (the thought occured to me that it would be funny for a flightless hippo to have wings) against a yellow background. 1 Infinite Loop obliged, and I've kept the flag ever since.
The notion that after all the thought that went into the name, flightless hippos could fly, later struck me as amusing during an RP. And thus the confusion began whenever I talked about flightless hippos soaring through the midnight skies with grace and dignity and terrifying roars of bloodlust.
The eventual evolved description of the flightless hippo can be read here: The Flightless Hippo.
I reckon flightless hippos would look great on T-shirts or as soft toys, but sadly I'm pretty sure that if there were ever any NationStates merchandise they would not be included!
19 May 2005
18 May 2005
It's All About Adverts
It's been a while since I've talked about regional politics, so I thought I'd mention something which, depending on your point of view, is either a useful NationStates tool, or a self-serving scourge of the site: namely, regional advertisements.
Almost every region will hit across the problem of recruitment, unless you're a lone wolf in which case you don't care, or you're the delegate of one of the Pacifics, in which case you don't need to. There are various solutions of course, some of them are obvious, some of them are McDonaldesque in their cynicism, some of them are innocent, and some are against the rules.
Let's consider the brand marketing adverts first.
One way in which some regions can gain greater membership is to have a region which is well-exposed, has a good name, and a bold and sunny appearance (where applicable anyway - this IS NationStates). Such regions usually have 'obvious' names, coming from real countries, continents, et cetera. Or they will try to gain acknowledgement through other means, for example adding long strings of zeroes to the beginning in order to appear near the beginning of the region-list (which, sadly due to technical limitations, cannot have a search engine). Personally I would never feel comfortable in a region with such a crap name though. The main reason I named my region 'Lancre' was because it had a nice solid sound to it and is a great name for a region. Those places without snappy names have resort to other techniques however.
As any new nation will know, about thirty seconds after coming into existence you will be plagued with telegrams asking you to join a region, offering love, fun, organised government, and other such joys and treasures. This is where the cynicism sets in because it's exactly the same trick used by junk food companies (and quite a few other industries are guilty of the same thing). What they're doing is getting them while they're young. Such innocent nations think "Oh, wow, I must be incredibly special to have received such an invitation! They must really want me!" and of course they're soon immersed in the region's politics before they can explore and fully appreciate the scope of the game. Prevents them mentally from considering creating their own region, or finding one which is more well-tailored for their individual needs instead of a hefty huge region whose main aim is power. That's great from one point of view, because it's such amazing initiative and really adds a whole new dimension to the NationStates community. On a personal level it's a bugger, but there you go.
Such telegrams and regional messageboard adverts have to fit to the rules of course, to prevent spam. You can't advertise in player-created regions (which leaves The Pacific, The North Pacific, The East Pacific, The West Pacific, The South Pacific, The Rejected Realms, Lazarus, and the warzones). This is because it would be a real pain if some prat came into your region and said "Hey, come and join my region! It's got bells on!" and then left. You can only advertise your region on the messageboards once a day for obvious reasons.
As for using scripts, that's DEFINITELY against the rules as it is spam of one of the most invasive and annoying types. No script may be used to send unsolicited telegrams.
How did I advertise my region? Well, as I've said in earlier blogs, I tried to make Lancre more interesting. For example, I created The Lancre Cup (fun for all the family), indiscriminately encouraged everyone to try to be delegate (still do), and generally told everyone that the most important thing about being in Lancre is to have fun. Otherwise there'd be no point. To actually get people shifting bottoms into the region I simply created a thread in the NationStates forum (there was no Gameplay forum back then) which had lots of info about the region and basically said "Come along if you want". I created another thread a few months ago too, but it didn't attract much attention. Too much jousting from people who wanted new members more than I did, I suppose!
The best method I've personally discovered is to get everyone to encourage friends to join NationStates and then join Lancre - if they want to, of course. I may be a cynic at heart, but I don't like cynicism. It's a tad boring and isn't anywhere near as fun and imaginative as I want Lancre to be.
Almost every region will hit across the problem of recruitment, unless you're a lone wolf in which case you don't care, or you're the delegate of one of the Pacifics, in which case you don't need to. There are various solutions of course, some of them are obvious, some of them are McDonaldesque in their cynicism, some of them are innocent, and some are against the rules.
Let's consider the brand marketing adverts first.
One way in which some regions can gain greater membership is to have a region which is well-exposed, has a good name, and a bold and sunny appearance (where applicable anyway - this IS NationStates). Such regions usually have 'obvious' names, coming from real countries, continents, et cetera. Or they will try to gain acknowledgement through other means, for example adding long strings of zeroes to the beginning in order to appear near the beginning of the region-list (which, sadly due to technical limitations, cannot have a search engine). Personally I would never feel comfortable in a region with such a crap name though. The main reason I named my region 'Lancre' was because it had a nice solid sound to it and is a great name for a region. Those places without snappy names have resort to other techniques however.
As any new nation will know, about thirty seconds after coming into existence you will be plagued with telegrams asking you to join a region, offering love, fun, organised government, and other such joys and treasures. This is where the cynicism sets in because it's exactly the same trick used by junk food companies (and quite a few other industries are guilty of the same thing). What they're doing is getting them while they're young. Such innocent nations think "Oh, wow, I must be incredibly special to have received such an invitation! They must really want me!" and of course they're soon immersed in the region's politics before they can explore and fully appreciate the scope of the game. Prevents them mentally from considering creating their own region, or finding one which is more well-tailored for their individual needs instead of a hefty huge region whose main aim is power. That's great from one point of view, because it's such amazing initiative and really adds a whole new dimension to the NationStates community. On a personal level it's a bugger, but there you go.
Such telegrams and regional messageboard adverts have to fit to the rules of course, to prevent spam. You can't advertise in player-created regions (which leaves The Pacific, The North Pacific, The East Pacific, The West Pacific, The South Pacific, The Rejected Realms, Lazarus, and the warzones). This is because it would be a real pain if some prat came into your region and said "Hey, come and join my region! It's got bells on!" and then left. You can only advertise your region on the messageboards once a day for obvious reasons.
As for using scripts, that's DEFINITELY against the rules as it is spam of one of the most invasive and annoying types. No script may be used to send unsolicited telegrams.
How did I advertise my region? Well, as I've said in earlier blogs, I tried to make Lancre more interesting. For example, I created The Lancre Cup (fun for all the family), indiscriminately encouraged everyone to try to be delegate (still do), and generally told everyone that the most important thing about being in Lancre is to have fun. Otherwise there'd be no point. To actually get people shifting bottoms into the region I simply created a thread in the NationStates forum (there was no Gameplay forum back then) which had lots of info about the region and basically said "Come along if you want". I created another thread a few months ago too, but it didn't attract much attention. Too much jousting from people who wanted new members more than I did, I suppose!
The best method I've personally discovered is to get everyone to encourage friends to join NationStates and then join Lancre - if they want to, of course. I may be a cynic at heart, but I don't like cynicism. It's a tad boring and isn't anywhere near as fun and imaginative as I want Lancre to be.
17 May 2005
Issue #178 Is In The Game!
After much blood, sweat and tears, yes, I am pleased to say that issue #178 has been completed. It's had a few ups and downs - I wasn't sure where to begin at first because it was quite badly structured, but I persevered and after much toil and even some input from Max Barry himself(!) it was considered fit for public consumption.
Incidentally, Max liked the third option best, which is the one I wrote from scratch to fill a hole left by the author. Isn't that great? It is for me, it makes me feel like someone who's making a literary output instead of some crazy person wasting his time editing a website!
Nations will start receiving it after the next game update.
Incidentally, Max liked the third option best, which is the one I wrote from scratch to fill a hole left by the author. Isn't that great? It is for me, it makes me feel like someone who's making a literary output instead of some crazy person wasting his time editing a website!
Nations will start receiving it after the next game update.
Today I Am A Happy Man
In the 'Got Issues?' forum there is a sticky by NuMetal where people can report typographical errors in issues (other types of typographical errors should be reported to Technical). Two months ago, I excised the list to give to Sal or [violet] so that they could fix them. They never did though, until now!
After two months of asking, harassing, blackmailing, threatening, grovelling, begging, pestering and demanding, I managed to grab hold of [violet] who dealt with it straight away!
No more telegrams about the correct spelling of 'fluoride'! It's a dream come true!
After two months of asking, harassing, blackmailing, threatening, grovelling, begging, pestering and demanding, I managed to grab hold of [violet] who dealt with it straight away!
No more telegrams about the correct spelling of 'fluoride'! It's a dream come true!
16 May 2005
Fun With Anagrams
Here's some cool NationStates anagrams:
Max Barry NationStates: Marxian, natty boasters.
It's all a communist ploy!
Forum Seven: Removes fun.
Don't say I didn't tell you...
The NationStates Moderators: toothsome, retardant nasties.
Ahem.
The NS Generalites: Stealth engineers.
Sneaky ones they are. Apparently. I always thought they had the least subtlety of any forum!
The NationStates Community: Mutant tenacity to hominess.
Kind of contradictory to a community isn't it?
SalusaSecondus: Nauseous scalds.
Too much time spent in the boiling innards of NationStates in my opinion...
King Siroc: Sick groin.
It would explain his general unpleasantness...
Katganistan: Taking Satan.
The horror! I wondered what was with all the two-headed goats and everything.
The NationStates Admin: Hesitant, neat saintdom.
Any claims that I'm sucking up will be utterly refuted!
Is Max Barry [violet]?: Mail sexy vibrator.
... no comment.
Got any good ones of your own and I'll put 'em up here!
Max Barry NationStates: Marxian, natty boasters.
It's all a communist ploy!
Forum Seven: Removes fun.
Don't say I didn't tell you...
The NationStates Moderators: toothsome, retardant nasties.
Ahem.
The NS Generalites: Stealth engineers.
Sneaky ones they are. Apparently. I always thought they had the least subtlety of any forum!
The NationStates Community: Mutant tenacity to hominess.
Kind of contradictory to a community isn't it?
SalusaSecondus: Nauseous scalds.
Too much time spent in the boiling innards of NationStates in my opinion...
King Siroc: Sick groin.
It would explain his general unpleasantness...
Katganistan: Taking Satan.
The horror! I wondered what was with all the two-headed goats and everything.
The NationStates Admin: Hesitant, neat saintdom.
Any claims that I'm sucking up will be utterly refuted!
Is Max Barry [violet]?: Mail sexy vibrator.
... no comment.
Got any good ones of your own and I'll put 'em up here!
15 May 2005
Learning The Language
NationStates has evolved an interesting terminology over the years, some terms come and go (I vaguely recall people calling telegrams "grams" at one point) but a lot have stuck. So I've collected a few memorable ones to note here:
DEAT: a distortion of the word 'dead' invented by Neutered Sputniks as a term for a deleting a nation (i.e. I DEAT, you DEAT, he/she/it DEATs and so on) and also a nation that has been deleted (i.e. this nation is DEAT). This is still used frequently nowadays even by people who've never heard of Neut, which is pretty amazing. I reckon it should be put in a dictionary somewhere. Then we can all say "Of course Yugoslavia is DEAT now..."
GORT: same meaning as DEAT. Invented by Scolopendra, taken from a sci-fi film called 'The Day The Earth Stood Still'. It's got a robot in it called Gort, see.
n00k: this one's a real oldie - it's what nuclear weapons are called when they're being operated like Lego toys by amateur roleplayers.
Region crashing/invading: it used to be most commonly known as region crashing, but it's fallen out of favour with invading becoming more popular after people started getting more organised. Invading is when a bunch of nations join a region to usurp the delegate and seize control.
Forum 7: the name given to the mysterious 'missing' forum where it is rumoured that the moderators lurk. It's also the name of an old forum where people could spam until their faces turned red. Thankfully, it was eradicated during the move to Jolt.
IGNORE cannon: invented by Reploid Productions (I think). It's a fictional weapon which is fired as a symbolic declaration that you're pretending someone else doesn't exist. This is a subtle hint to the person that's been cannoned that you don't want to roleplay with them.
Unendorse: to withdraw an endorsement from a nation.I don't think this is a bona fide lexicological term, but you never know, maybe with time it will be. It's certainly a real word in NS!
Invaders and Defenders: there is much contention between these two polar opposites. The way they go on at each other you'd have thought it was some kind of apocalyptic showdown. The invaders are, as mentioned, people who invade regions. Defenders are people who deliberately thwart invaders by attempting to get power first and see them off. This can make things very confusing, not least to the original, bewildered inhabitants who have suddenly found their region becoming a battlefield. It all seems a bit like the Falklands really.
DEAT: a distortion of the word 'dead' invented by Neutered Sputniks as a term for a deleting a nation (i.e. I DEAT, you DEAT, he/she/it DEATs and so on) and also a nation that has been deleted (i.e. this nation is DEAT). This is still used frequently nowadays even by people who've never heard of Neut, which is pretty amazing. I reckon it should be put in a dictionary somewhere. Then we can all say "Of course Yugoslavia is DEAT now..."
GORT: same meaning as DEAT. Invented by Scolopendra, taken from a sci-fi film called 'The Day The Earth Stood Still'. It's got a robot in it called Gort, see.
n00k: this one's a real oldie - it's what nuclear weapons are called when they're being operated like Lego toys by amateur roleplayers.
Region crashing/invading: it used to be most commonly known as region crashing, but it's fallen out of favour with invading becoming more popular after people started getting more organised. Invading is when a bunch of nations join a region to usurp the delegate and seize control.
Forum 7: the name given to the mysterious 'missing' forum where it is rumoured that the moderators lurk. It's also the name of an old forum where people could spam until their faces turned red. Thankfully, it was eradicated during the move to Jolt.
IGNORE cannon: invented by Reploid Productions (I think). It's a fictional weapon which is fired as a symbolic declaration that you're pretending someone else doesn't exist. This is a subtle hint to the person that's been cannoned that you don't want to roleplay with them.
Unendorse: to withdraw an endorsement from a nation.I don't think this is a bona fide lexicological term, but you never know, maybe with time it will be. It's certainly a real word in NS!
Invaders and Defenders: there is much contention between these two polar opposites. The way they go on at each other you'd have thought it was some kind of apocalyptic showdown. The invaders are, as mentioned, people who invade regions. Defenders are people who deliberately thwart invaders by attempting to get power first and see them off. This can make things very confusing, not least to the original, bewildered inhabitants who have suddenly found their region becoming a battlefield. It all seems a bit like the Falklands really.
14 May 2005
Let The Match Commence!
Lancre Cup X (hosted by moi) begins today! As usual, there has been an ornate Opening Ceremony organised by Bestiville, and it's pretty cool - though you can see I wasn't quite in the mood for writing speeches that day!
Interestingly enough, by some strange coincidence my nation ended up playing Bestiville in Heat 2. I say strange because there was a delegate vs. founder match in the last Cup too!
The Lancre Cup has always been a great treat for us, and I'm sure this one will be just as fantastic. In both meanings of the word!
Interestingly enough, by some strange coincidence my nation ended up playing Bestiville in Heat 2. I say strange because there was a delegate vs. founder match in the last Cup too!
The Lancre Cup has always been a great treat for us, and I'm sure this one will be just as fantastic. In both meanings of the word!
13 May 2005
Password Problems
We get an awful lot of complaints of 'nation hacking' where people have guessed others' passwords, or where people have used a public computer and their nation's had auto-login switched on.
So here's how to prevent your nation from being nicked by some chancer:
Should you ever log on to your nation using someone else's computer, or if someone else uses your computer to play NationStates, make sure that your auto-login is off. Or they'll immediately be able to access your nation, change your password and do, ooh, terrible things. You should also be sure that no-one logs into your computer with their UN nation if you've got one too. Otherwise, it'll show up on our scans as a cheat. Usually it's easy to tell the difference between cheaters and family members, but it's not infallible. And the mendacity of your general NS cheat means we have to assume the worst.
Now, the ideal password is something which is:
1. Not a real word, nonce-word, foreign word, or slang word.
2. Has letters of both upper and lowercase and numbers.
3. Easily memorable so you don't end up having to write it down on a piece of paper which either gets lost, or worse, discovered.
4. not a sequence of letters or numbers (qwerty or 123 and stuff like that. And no, putting them backwards is not clever).
And finally, DON'T MAKE THEM GUESSABLE! This means don't name your password after your favourite TV programme, your pet, your mother, your nation, region, or anything else. Don't use the word 'swordfish' either, everyone tries that.
And for crying out loud don't use 'password'.
Should anyone be interested in this article for less than honourable reasons, I remind you that if you steal someone's nation, we will find out about it and you can expect your nations to be deleted as punishment.
So, I hope this has helped a few people! Maybe it'll stop potential problems eating up my spare time in the future too!
So here's how to prevent your nation from being nicked by some chancer:
Should you ever log on to your nation using someone else's computer, or if someone else uses your computer to play NationStates, make sure that your auto-login is off. Or they'll immediately be able to access your nation, change your password and do, ooh, terrible things. You should also be sure that no-one logs into your computer with their UN nation if you've got one too. Otherwise, it'll show up on our scans as a cheat. Usually it's easy to tell the difference between cheaters and family members, but it's not infallible. And the mendacity of your general NS cheat means we have to assume the worst.
Now, the ideal password is something which is:
1. Not a real word, nonce-word, foreign word, or slang word.
2. Has letters of both upper and lowercase and numbers.
3. Easily memorable so you don't end up having to write it down on a piece of paper which either gets lost, or worse, discovered.
4. not a sequence of letters or numbers (qwerty or 123 and stuff like that. And no, putting them backwards is not clever).
And finally, DON'T MAKE THEM GUESSABLE! This means don't name your password after your favourite TV programme, your pet, your mother, your nation, region, or anything else. Don't use the word 'swordfish' either, everyone tries that.
And for crying out loud don't use 'password'.
Should anyone be interested in this article for less than honourable reasons, I remind you that if you steal someone's nation, we will find out about it and you can expect your nations to be deleted as punishment.
So, I hope this has helped a few people! Maybe it'll stop potential problems eating up my spare time in the future too!
12 May 2005
Mod Olympics
The Sixth Game Moderator Olympics
For those who don't know, the Game Moderator Olympics is a periodic publication of just what all the mods have been doing for the last few months, and medals are awarded to those who come first, second, and third in each 'event' (nations deleted, UN proposals, deleted, issues edited (my personal favourite of course) and so on).
The Olympics tend to be more of an occasion for the players than the mods really. Though most Olympics can herald promotions (this most recent one hasn't), it has never really been on our minds much. How can it, when there's such a lot to do? I usually do well in the Olympics because I've got unhealthy amounts of free time, and I'm the one who frets about the size of the tasklist most. If I see that it's got huge again, I simply have to reduce it.
I've always regarded myself as an Issue Editor who does Game Moderating on the side. If only it could be true! Necessity makes it the other way round, more often than not, so until the day when we start getting wages (my goodness, I just saw the Prince of Darkness go past on a sledge) I'm going to keep having to do my bit.
Big cogratulations go to Myrth of course, who drank too much coffee when he became a game moderator and frequently obliterated the tasklist before anyone else could get close to it! If only it could be the same now. As I've already mentioned in my blog, the tasklist is still increasing at a meteoric pace, and it'll require everyone's hard effort to keep up with it.
For those who don't know, the Game Moderator Olympics is a periodic publication of just what all the mods have been doing for the last few months, and medals are awarded to those who come first, second, and third in each 'event' (nations deleted, UN proposals, deleted, issues edited (my personal favourite of course) and so on).
The Olympics tend to be more of an occasion for the players than the mods really. Though most Olympics can herald promotions (this most recent one hasn't), it has never really been on our minds much. How can it, when there's such a lot to do? I usually do well in the Olympics because I've got unhealthy amounts of free time, and I'm the one who frets about the size of the tasklist most. If I see that it's got huge again, I simply have to reduce it.
I've always regarded myself as an Issue Editor who does Game Moderating on the side. If only it could be true! Necessity makes it the other way round, more often than not, so until the day when we start getting wages (my goodness, I just saw the Prince of Darkness go past on a sledge) I'm going to keep having to do my bit.
Big cogratulations go to Myrth of course, who drank too much coffee when he became a game moderator and frequently obliterated the tasklist before anyone else could get close to it! If only it could be the same now. As I've already mentioned in my blog, the tasklist is still increasing at a meteoric pace, and it'll require everyone's hard effort to keep up with it.
11 May 2005
Issue #178 Under Construction
Now I'm not going to say what the issue's about as that would spoil the surprise, but here's a few unhelpful hints of what it'll be like.
Currently, it has four options. This may be changed, depending on whether I think they're good enough.
The issue is partly based on events that started in 1987 and partly based on events that happened in 2001.
The author is a UN delegate with three endorsements. S/he is also an atrocious speller.
Finally, there have been issues which touch upon the subject, but this is the real McCoy and has been a long time coming in my opinion.
Well, that's all you're getting. Happy Guessing!
Currently, it has four options. This may be changed, depending on whether I think they're good enough.
The issue is partly based on events that started in 1987 and partly based on events that happened in 2001.
The author is a UN delegate with three endorsements. S/he is also an atrocious speller.
Finally, there have been issues which touch upon the subject, but this is the real McCoy and has been a long time coming in my opinion.
Well, that's all you're getting. Happy Guessing!
10 May 2005
Editing Issues
Editing issues can be painstaking. It can be hard. It can make you cry, and wish that the submitter could come up with better ideas (or at least better spelling). But most of the time it's just plain arduous.
Picture the scene:
Here I am, hunched at my computer, I've been going through the list of submitted issues for a stolid hour and my eyeballs have turned pink with the strain. So far the list has not yielded a single issue worth editing. Then suddenly something interesting turns up - I dare not blink lest it all happen to be some kind of dream (though this would be improbable - last night I dreamt I was playing ping-pong with an Australian janitor in a leisure centre which is situated next to the world's largest pillow (I swear to God I did! I was quite bewildered when I woke up. The pillow was pretty huge, though, and I admit I was impressed. Even if it did appear to be a direct rip-off of the dull green-striped one I have.). Something as mundane as an editable issue is probably not going to feature too heavily. But there it is: an issue which isn't like all the other travesties. It may not shine, but at least it glimmers with some kind of dusted dignity.
Then the editing begins.
Editing can be difficult because there are so many things needing to be balanced - obvious ones include political and economic biases, argument emphasis, and all the rest. Less obvious ones include certain statistical adjustments (which shall remain secret, mwahaha), option lengths, previous issue statistics, previous issue ideas, a whole spreadsheet of brain-numbing number analyses, and, oh God, so many more. Editing a single issue can take as little as an hour to as long as a week (or even longer) depending on time constraints, my mood, how well the issue had been written before I touched it (not many issues start off being written well. The best issue writers I've noted have been Mirkai and Frigben.) and how much feedback on my drafts I can squeeze out of the other mods, who pretend they're not around when they see I'm about to interrogate/discuss an issue with them for the next half-hour.
But when that's all done, I can get down to the second editing session, which is basically pruning and adding. What is necessary, and what is not? It's at this time that I add little puns and references to current events and things. I sometimes get telegrams from people who've spotted them. Typically, most people just skim issues and then go with whatever option takes their fancy. Some people pore over them like a mother reading her daughter's diary. And a very small number think about what they've read in any great detail. F'r instance, a few people have noticed I stick the name 'Catherine Gratwick' in some of my issues, though no-one's figured out why yet.
When I've done that, the issue goes through a final slash-and-burn, usually with much discussion on the mods' part, and then goes into the game. And then I realise that I've forgotten to correct a typo or put in a quotation mark and I roll my eyes with irritation. Given Sal and [violet]'s constant beavering away at their various projects, it can take an ice age for them to get to that part of the to-do list which says "fix that list of typos that Sirocco's being going on about for the last two months".
That's what the state of affairs is right now, anyway. They'll get fixed someday, I manage to drag myself in front of my largely repetitive inbox everyday because I believe it. But for now, I've got to get a move on with issue #178...
Picture the scene:
Here I am, hunched at my computer, I've been going through the list of submitted issues for a stolid hour and my eyeballs have turned pink with the strain. So far the list has not yielded a single issue worth editing. Then suddenly something interesting turns up - I dare not blink lest it all happen to be some kind of dream (though this would be improbable - last night I dreamt I was playing ping-pong with an Australian janitor in a leisure centre which is situated next to the world's largest pillow (I swear to God I did! I was quite bewildered when I woke up. The pillow was pretty huge, though, and I admit I was impressed. Even if it did appear to be a direct rip-off of the dull green-striped one I have.). Something as mundane as an editable issue is probably not going to feature too heavily. But there it is: an issue which isn't like all the other travesties. It may not shine, but at least it glimmers with some kind of dusted dignity.
Then the editing begins.
Editing can be difficult because there are so many things needing to be balanced - obvious ones include political and economic biases, argument emphasis, and all the rest. Less obvious ones include certain statistical adjustments (which shall remain secret, mwahaha), option lengths, previous issue statistics, previous issue ideas, a whole spreadsheet of brain-numbing number analyses, and, oh God, so many more. Editing a single issue can take as little as an hour to as long as a week (or even longer) depending on time constraints, my mood, how well the issue had been written before I touched it (not many issues start off being written well. The best issue writers I've noted have been Mirkai and Frigben.) and how much feedback on my drafts I can squeeze out of the other mods, who pretend they're not around when they see I'm about to interrogate/discuss an issue with them for the next half-hour.
But when that's all done, I can get down to the second editing session, which is basically pruning and adding. What is necessary, and what is not? It's at this time that I add little puns and references to current events and things. I sometimes get telegrams from people who've spotted them. Typically, most people just skim issues and then go with whatever option takes their fancy. Some people pore over them like a mother reading her daughter's diary. And a very small number think about what they've read in any great detail. F'r instance, a few people have noticed I stick the name 'Catherine Gratwick' in some of my issues, though no-one's figured out why yet.
When I've done that, the issue goes through a final slash-and-burn, usually with much discussion on the mods' part, and then goes into the game. And then I realise that I've forgotten to correct a typo or put in a quotation mark and I roll my eyes with irritation. Given Sal and [violet]'s constant beavering away at their various projects, it can take an ice age for them to get to that part of the to-do list which says "fix that list of typos that Sirocco's being going on about for the last two months".
That's what the state of affairs is right now, anyway. They'll get fixed someday, I manage to drag myself in front of my largely repetitive inbox everyday because I believe it. But for now, I've got to get a move on with issue #178...
09 May 2005
What's In A Name?
I often get telegrams asking me where I got the word 'Sirocco' from. Some ask whether I took it from a computer game, some ask whether I like Volkswagens, some even ask me if I'm a fan of some band in Australia. I once even got a vindictive accusation that I had spelled 'Scirocco' wrong (Scirocco and Sirocco are alternative spellings of the same word). But none of these are true. I did, in fact, get the name from a dictionary. Bit boring, yes? It all started like this:
Years and years ago when I was just a wee little lad (around seven or eight perhaps?), full of imaginative and budding ideas, a friend (who, coincidentally enough, was the one who introduced me to NationStates) and myself decided to create a world and populate it with made-up characters. We created stories, maps, mythologies and put everything we created in a little customised (i.e. lots of sticky tape and cut-out paper) book which I still have. The main heroes were Longnose (he had a long nose - I wasn't THAT imaginative) and Roko Moon who fought the evil villains King Bind and Emperor Scargon, the despotic tyrants of the world. We couldn't think of a good name for this world, so we got a dictionary and looked for a word that had the right sound to it. Eventually, we came across the word 'Sirocco'. We liked it. It stuck. The book was called "The Book of Sirocco".
Anyone wondering why I just plumped for 'King Siroc' as the nation's leader may be interested to know that one of the two moons orbiting Sirocco was called Siroc. The other was called Roko. There weren't any flightless hippos on this Sirocco, though, I didn't dream them up until NationStates! The kind of creatures we did have were the Sirocbulls, the Xyra fish (think whales, only with lots of teeth), and the warring clans of snakes led by the kings Yiza and Liza. There was also realms belonging to The Dongo Emperor, Lord Baud, and The Ferrets. These kingdoms and empires took up a lot of the maps!
The 'goodies' were pretty much relegated to being a rebel gang, hiding in Sirocco's capital city which I called Chcot for long-forgotten reasons. It sat at the base of the inauspiciously named volcano Mount Erupto. There's a lot of volcanoes on Sirocco's map. I liked volcanoes. Anyone familiar with my nation will know I called the capital city Chcot. Now you know why!
Incidentally, the Wikipedia says this of the Sirocco (which, if you didn't know, is a type of hot, dry wind in the Mediterranean; a type of sandstorm):
I can assure you this is not true. When I'm aroused I am the sexiest thing on the planet, baby. Oh yeah.
Here's two random excerpts from The Book of Sirocco, unedited (spelling/grammar mistakes and all, though I can't include the drawings, alas):
Name: King Liza
Age: 500!
Background: King Liza is King Yiza's evil counterpart. He leads an empire of rebellious snakes. He is strong, powerful and has a nasty bite. He is locked in a constant battle with King Yiza. He isn't very good on the defensive side. He cannot make such good bites as Yiza
Height: Large snake
Status: Bad guy
Skills: making plans on the offensive side and biting. His territory can be found on the south western area of Strandof
Name: Noog
Age: 44
Background: Noog is a door to door sales man who sells the most terrible faulty items eg. brushes with bristles that fall out etc. he makes the items himself his best friend is ododd the dumb bird. He is part of the resistance.
Height: S of person
Status: Good Guy
Skills: None unless you count his serendipity
I'll maybe talk more about this later. There's a lot to Sirocco's origins!
Years and years ago when I was just a wee little lad (around seven or eight perhaps?), full of imaginative and budding ideas, a friend (who, coincidentally enough, was the one who introduced me to NationStates) and myself decided to create a world and populate it with made-up characters. We created stories, maps, mythologies and put everything we created in a little customised (i.e. lots of sticky tape and cut-out paper) book which I still have. The main heroes were Longnose (he had a long nose - I wasn't THAT imaginative) and Roko Moon who fought the evil villains King Bind and Emperor Scargon, the despotic tyrants of the world. We couldn't think of a good name for this world, so we got a dictionary and looked for a word that had the right sound to it. Eventually, we came across the word 'Sirocco'. We liked it. It stuck. The book was called "The Book of Sirocco".
Anyone wondering why I just plumped for 'King Siroc' as the nation's leader may be interested to know that one of the two moons orbiting Sirocco was called Siroc. The other was called Roko. There weren't any flightless hippos on this Sirocco, though, I didn't dream them up until NationStates! The kind of creatures we did have were the Sirocbulls, the Xyra fish (think whales, only with lots of teeth), and the warring clans of snakes led by the kings Yiza and Liza. There was also realms belonging to The Dongo Emperor, Lord Baud, and The Ferrets. These kingdoms and empires took up a lot of the maps!
The 'goodies' were pretty much relegated to being a rebel gang, hiding in Sirocco's capital city which I called Chcot for long-forgotten reasons. It sat at the base of the inauspiciously named volcano Mount Erupto. There's a lot of volcanoes on Sirocco's map. I liked volcanoes. Anyone familiar with my nation will know I called the capital city Chcot. Now you know why!
Incidentally, the Wikipedia says this of the Sirocco (which, if you didn't know, is a type of hot, dry wind in the Mediterranean; a type of sandstorm):
"The corroding wind of a hot Sirocco has known depressing effects."
I can assure you this is not true. When I'm aroused I am the sexiest thing on the planet, baby. Oh yeah.
Here's two random excerpts from The Book of Sirocco, unedited (spelling/grammar mistakes and all, though I can't include the drawings, alas):
Name: King Liza
Age: 500!
Background: King Liza is King Yiza's evil counterpart. He leads an empire of rebellious snakes. He is strong, powerful and has a nasty bite. He is locked in a constant battle with King Yiza. He isn't very good on the defensive side. He cannot make such good bites as Yiza
Height: Large snake
Status: Bad guy
Skills: making plans on the offensive side and biting. His territory can be found on the south western area of Strandof
Name: Noog
Age: 44
Background: Noog is a door to door sales man who sells the most terrible faulty items eg. brushes with bristles that fall out etc. he makes the items himself his best friend is ododd the dumb bird. He is part of the resistance.
Height: S of person
Status: Good Guy
Skills: None unless you count his serendipity
I'll maybe talk more about this later. There's a lot to Sirocco's origins!
08 May 2005
The NationStates Wiki
As a moderator, I don't officially endorse or approve of any external sites that don't belong to the High Lord Max Barry (may his pen be of endless satirical wit), but between you and me, and in a totally unofficial way, the NS Wiki is pretty damn useful. In the Wiki (which is, in essence, an encyclopaedia where you can submit and edit your own articles) you can put up a lovely little entry all about your nation, its culture, its history, its terrain- anything you want. It's quite brilliant, because if you want to know about something, you've just got to look it up here. And owing to the constant editing, it soon gets honed into something more-or-less definite (at least with the more interesting articles anyway). Some articles are useless because the author couldn't be bothered to write anything and everyone else cares even less, but hey, c'est la vie.
I've got a Wiki page for Sirocco here: Sirocco's Wiki Page
I've got a Wiki page for Sirocco here: Sirocco's Wiki Page
07 May 2005
Thirty Thousand Towering Tasks
We've just hit thirty thousand tasks. Good God. Probably not something to celebrate, but noteworthy enough to mention here I feel.
You incessant whiners!
You incessant whiners!
The Siroc & Newsted Saga
This contain spoilers about The Siroc & Newsted Saga. You have been warned.
I'm not exactly a roleplayer mod. My first few attempts at creating roleplay threads were unsuccessful and largely ignored. The only one that has had any continuity is The Siroc & Newsted Saga, a roleplay thread that is quite unlike most others. It started when a friend of mine (NuMetal) and I declared war on each other in a thread by The SLAGLANDS all the way back in 2003. The premise was that here were two national leaders (King Siroc and President Newsted) who had met in the 'Chamber of Peace', later to be confirmed as being in Sirocco, to engage in diplomacy.
At least that's how it started out.
It soon became really silly, as I sent my hordes of flightless hippos soaring (yes, they can fly) over to NuMetal to destroy his Great Fork which had made his citizens immune to death (that most degenerative of maladies) whereupon he revealed that he had a back-up! The Great Spoon, hidden underground. I replied that flightless hippos could bury. He fired hippo food to make them too fat to fly. I sent anorexic hippos. He covered his Great Spoon in trampolines. And so it continued, in the same vein. With fish-fighting, a type of battle invented by myself and Dregruk.
But then the RP took into the more prosaic form that long-time readers (if there are any) will know and love. This evolved soon after Newsted and Siroc fled the Chamber of Peace to escape gangsters (I know, I know...) and got incredibly lost.
The story since then has been of the two rulers fighting together (and sometimes apart as misfortune often prevails - at one point Siroc and Newsted are rding on the back of a dragon which promptly roasted Newsted sending him hundreds of feet below into a lake!) to get back to Sirocco and stop the war which has been presumably still going on since they left. They are not very good at this. The two rulers have been on an adventurous sprawl throughout the NS World, taking the idea that all these regions really do exist on the same planet and really are like what their descriptions say they're like. So far, they've been in these places (I may have missed some out, my memory is not perfect):
The regions of Hell, Heaven, Lazarus (in the nation of Testlandia), The Rejected Realms (in the probably dead nation of Military Police), The Pacific, Francos Spain, NuMetal (where they discovered that Newsted's power had been usurped in his absence), SPACE, and, where they currently are, the region of Venus. These places aren't in order of arrival, as I can't quite remember what that order is!
Probably uniquely amongst the many RPs of NationStates, The Siroc & Newsted Saga is about two rulers trying to stop a war and not fight one, They are both pretty thick, when confronted with danger their first instinct is to run, and their control over their nations are either tenuous at best or non-existent.
It's being getting more difficult to add to it, though, as we both are extremely busy people (you may notice that the writing style is often hurried and clumsy as are these blogs!), but when we can post, we do. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as Siroc and Newsted hate enduring it!
I'm not exactly a roleplayer mod. My first few attempts at creating roleplay threads were unsuccessful and largely ignored. The only one that has had any continuity is The Siroc & Newsted Saga, a roleplay thread that is quite unlike most others. It started when a friend of mine (NuMetal) and I declared war on each other in a thread by The SLAGLANDS all the way back in 2003. The premise was that here were two national leaders (King Siroc and President Newsted) who had met in the 'Chamber of Peace', later to be confirmed as being in Sirocco, to engage in diplomacy.
At least that's how it started out.
It soon became really silly, as I sent my hordes of flightless hippos soaring (yes, they can fly) over to NuMetal to destroy his Great Fork which had made his citizens immune to death (that most degenerative of maladies) whereupon he revealed that he had a back-up! The Great Spoon, hidden underground. I replied that flightless hippos could bury. He fired hippo food to make them too fat to fly. I sent anorexic hippos. He covered his Great Spoon in trampolines. And so it continued, in the same vein. With fish-fighting, a type of battle invented by myself and Dregruk.
But then the RP took into the more prosaic form that long-time readers (if there are any) will know and love. This evolved soon after Newsted and Siroc fled the Chamber of Peace to escape gangsters (I know, I know...) and got incredibly lost.
The story since then has been of the two rulers fighting together (and sometimes apart as misfortune often prevails - at one point Siroc and Newsted are rding on the back of a dragon which promptly roasted Newsted sending him hundreds of feet below into a lake!) to get back to Sirocco and stop the war which has been presumably still going on since they left. They are not very good at this. The two rulers have been on an adventurous sprawl throughout the NS World, taking the idea that all these regions really do exist on the same planet and really are like what their descriptions say they're like. So far, they've been in these places (I may have missed some out, my memory is not perfect):
The regions of Hell, Heaven, Lazarus (in the nation of Testlandia), The Rejected Realms (in the probably dead nation of Military Police), The Pacific, Francos Spain, NuMetal (where they discovered that Newsted's power had been usurped in his absence), SPACE, and, where they currently are, the region of Venus. These places aren't in order of arrival, as I can't quite remember what that order is!
Probably uniquely amongst the many RPs of NationStates, The Siroc & Newsted Saga is about two rulers trying to stop a war and not fight one, They are both pretty thick, when confronted with danger their first instinct is to run, and their control over their nations are either tenuous at best or non-existent.
It's being getting more difficult to add to it, though, as we both are extremely busy people (you may notice that the writing style is often hurried and clumsy as are these blogs!), but when we can post, we do. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as Siroc and Newsted hate enduring it!
06 May 2005
The Swastika Debate
In NationStates, it is against the rules to have a swastika flag. This was decided by [violet] (or was it Max Barry? I forget) after several complaints were recieved by users who were upset. This is because, as we should all know, the swastika was the symbol that was adopted by the Nazis during World War II. The swastika has become synonymous with the brutal, horrendous deaths of millions of people from nations all over the world.
This has become quite a divisive controversy in NationStates, since many don't see why they shouldn't use the swastika. After all, it's an ancient Hindu symbol of good luck isn't it? And what about the hammer and sickle? Shouldn't they be banned too?
The thing is that yes, maybe once a long while ago the swastika was a symbol of good luck, and I imagine still is in some parts of the world. But it just isn't true anymore. The ideas connotated with images evolve and change over the years. Take the crucifix: once upon a time this was an instrument of torture and a slow painful death. Nowadays it is the symbol of Christianity which is a religion (mostly) based on love and compassion. The tick certainly wasn't always the depiction of trainers of dubious origins. So even if you genuinely do want to use the swastika as a symbol of good luck (which I would find very hard to believe, personally. There's thousands of good luck symbols, why pick the swastika?) then it's still disallowed.
As for the hammer and sickle, we don't get hundreds of complaints about people using them. In fact, I don't believe we've even had one. So I can't see that being banned any time in the future.
So next time you want a flag which exemplifies the good fortuity of your people, have a look at the four-leaved clover, eh?
This has become quite a divisive controversy in NationStates, since many don't see why they shouldn't use the swastika. After all, it's an ancient Hindu symbol of good luck isn't it? And what about the hammer and sickle? Shouldn't they be banned too?
The thing is that yes, maybe once a long while ago the swastika was a symbol of good luck, and I imagine still is in some parts of the world. But it just isn't true anymore. The ideas connotated with images evolve and change over the years. Take the crucifix: once upon a time this was an instrument of torture and a slow painful death. Nowadays it is the symbol of Christianity which is a religion (mostly) based on love and compassion. The tick certainly wasn't always the depiction of trainers of dubious origins. So even if you genuinely do want to use the swastika as a symbol of good luck (which I would find very hard to believe, personally. There's thousands of good luck symbols, why pick the swastika?) then it's still disallowed.
As for the hammer and sickle, we don't get hundreds of complaints about people using them. In fact, I don't believe we've even had one. So I can't see that being banned any time in the future.
So next time you want a flag which exemplifies the good fortuity of your people, have a look at the four-leaved clover, eh?
04 May 2005
A Snapshot Of NationStates Society
... Through submitted issues! Yes! A complete and (probably) accurate look at what NSers feel to be top of the agenda. Things that we MUST decide on. Here we go (trumpets please), the most-submitted subject for an issue is... public sex. Yep, that's right. Looking at the number of issues I have deleted over the last year, about one-in-ten is about the right to have the old wayhey in front of everyone; the right to bare your cue and two billiards; the right to wear the costume that is in fashion everywhere (except possibly Greenland); the right to nevermind the bollocks or anything else.
Quite, quite terrifying.
And if it's not sex, it's urination, defecation, masturbation, bestiality, morris dancing, and all manner of other things that should be kept private and out of sight. There have been a fair number of issues about sex education too, though most are sadly unprintable. One sex education issue that I particularly remember was from some excitable schoolboy who suggested there should be PRACTICAL demonstrations! And you should get to TOUCH! It continued in the same vein, the caps lock key getting more out of control as it progressed. He also specified that no-one in his region (which was a class region, run by a teacher) should get it. This was for obvious reasons, I expect, being able to get a date one of them. After resisting the urge to tell the teacher about it, I deleted the issue and carried on.
But why delete this issues, I hear you ask when you're sure no-one else can hear. The answer is simple: they're just not appropriate for the game. Some issues which have a more adult nature (like ones about prostitution, cannibalism, that issue about sado-masochism (which was kept as non-sexual as possible to avoid it going under the axe. I still get a lot telegrams about it despite not being its editor though.) and the others) are put in because they're real issues and not fantasies. A special condition is put on these issues so that class regions don't get them. Yes, bestiality and other perversions could be construed as real issues, but if that's the kind of thing you want to discuss, then I'm afraid you've picked the wrong website.
I don't know about incest; I'd probably have to ask the boss about that should I ever see a good one on the subject.
So, in conclusion, a fair amount of NationStaters are a bunch of perverse sex-maniacs with about as much self-control as a magpie in a silver mine. Yeh'd never have guessed, eh?
Quite, quite terrifying.
And if it's not sex, it's urination, defecation, masturbation, bestiality, morris dancing, and all manner of other things that should be kept private and out of sight. There have been a fair number of issues about sex education too, though most are sadly unprintable. One sex education issue that I particularly remember was from some excitable schoolboy who suggested there should be PRACTICAL demonstrations! And you should get to TOUCH! It continued in the same vein, the caps lock key getting more out of control as it progressed. He also specified that no-one in his region (which was a class region, run by a teacher) should get it. This was for obvious reasons, I expect, being able to get a date one of them. After resisting the urge to tell the teacher about it, I deleted the issue and carried on.
But why delete this issues, I hear you ask when you're sure no-one else can hear. The answer is simple: they're just not appropriate for the game. Some issues which have a more adult nature (like ones about prostitution, cannibalism, that issue about sado-masochism (which was kept as non-sexual as possible to avoid it going under the axe. I still get a lot telegrams about it despite not being its editor though.) and the others) are put in because they're real issues and not fantasies. A special condition is put on these issues so that class regions don't get them. Yes, bestiality and other perversions could be construed as real issues, but if that's the kind of thing you want to discuss, then I'm afraid you've picked the wrong website.
I don't know about incest; I'd probably have to ask the boss about that should I ever see a good one on the subject.
So, in conclusion, a fair amount of NationStaters are a bunch of perverse sex-maniacs with about as much self-control as a magpie in a silver mine. Yeh'd never have guessed, eh?
03 May 2005
Tantalus
The tasklist keeps getting bigger and bigger. I just don't know why. Either players are getting whinier or there are just more nations. I'm thinking it's a combination of both.
In the old days, we'd be able to finish the tasklist easily because not many people used it. I'm not sure if there's been more reliance on moderators or if people have just been made more aware of the Getting Help page. But it just seems to be getting exponential, more so every day. No sooner have I polished off the previous day's tasks I find we've got twice as many taking their place.
I've had a great deal more free time than the others so I've been carrying a fair brunt of the work, but the next month will be very, VERY busy for me so I shudder to think what things will be like when I return.
So until June, could we have less rule-breaking please?!
In the old days, we'd be able to finish the tasklist easily because not many people used it. I'm not sure if there's been more reliance on moderators or if people have just been made more aware of the Getting Help page. But it just seems to be getting exponential, more so every day. No sooner have I polished off the previous day's tasks I find we've got twice as many taking their place.
I've had a great deal more free time than the others so I've been carrying a fair brunt of the work, but the next month will be very, VERY busy for me so I shudder to think what things will be like when I return.
So until June, could we have less rule-breaking please?!
02 May 2005
Of Delegates And Demons
Well, mostly delegates. Demons come later.
In Lancre, Bestiville, the first new delegate we've had in over six months has arisen from the fiery flames of endorsement-swapping frenzy that has been creeping around recently. I welcome a new delegate because, frankly, the previous one, DTAS LAND, didn't really do much. The role of Delegate is to represent the region in UN matters and I don't think DTAS ever even looked at the UN page. He wasn't a bad delegate. He did write up the Lancre constitution and he was always interested in regional events, but there was always that gape in the UN area. And it did, admittedly, niggle my sensibilites.
But hey! New delegate! The usual way to become UN delegate is through hurried endorsement-swapping which is a skill than it first appears. Why? Because of this general rule which I shall call Sirocco's First Law of Endorsement-Swapping:
It is damned difficult to convince someone to endorse and support only you for delegacy when they and everyone else in the region are attempting the same thing.
When things stabilise, it can take just one endorsement withdrawl or addition to set things off again with slapdash promises of power and involvement - I remember this most particularly from the first region I joined, Switzerland Sucks (don't ask. Just don't.). When I left that region and founded Lancre, I decided that I was going to try something else. My plan went as this:
I would ask everyone to endorse me and emphasise that they did not have to do so as I wanted things to be democratic. This struck a chord and I was very quickly delegate, even though I hadn't endorsed anyone. This continued for a considerable while until moderator duties got so huge that I had to retire and let someone else deal with the incessant requests to approve proposals.
I continue to maintain a neutral stance in Lancre to avoid stepping on anyone's toes.
And what about the demons? Anyone who's been a delegate will know who they are: everyone else!
In Lancre, Bestiville, the first new delegate we've had in over six months has arisen from the fiery flames of endorsement-swapping frenzy that has been creeping around recently. I welcome a new delegate because, frankly, the previous one, DTAS LAND, didn't really do much. The role of Delegate is to represent the region in UN matters and I don't think DTAS ever even looked at the UN page. He wasn't a bad delegate. He did write up the Lancre constitution and he was always interested in regional events, but there was always that gape in the UN area. And it did, admittedly, niggle my sensibilites.
But hey! New delegate! The usual way to become UN delegate is through hurried endorsement-swapping which is a skill than it first appears. Why? Because of this general rule which I shall call Sirocco's First Law of Endorsement-Swapping:
It is damned difficult to convince someone to endorse and support only you for delegacy when they and everyone else in the region are attempting the same thing.
When things stabilise, it can take just one endorsement withdrawl or addition to set things off again with slapdash promises of power and involvement - I remember this most particularly from the first region I joined, Switzerland Sucks (don't ask. Just don't.). When I left that region and founded Lancre, I decided that I was going to try something else. My plan went as this:
I would ask everyone to endorse me and emphasise that they did not have to do so as I wanted things to be democratic. This struck a chord and I was very quickly delegate, even though I hadn't endorsed anyone. This continued for a considerable while until moderator duties got so huge that I had to retire and let someone else deal with the incessant requests to approve proposals.
I continue to maintain a neutral stance in Lancre to avoid stepping on anyone's toes.
And what about the demons? Anyone who's been a delegate will know who they are: everyone else!
01 May 2005
Lancre Cup X
The tenth Lancre Cup heats are drawn today, and boy isn't it exciting! There's 32 nations in the region right now which is a lovely hexadecimal number which should maintain smooth progress through the finals.
There's not much to be said about the Lancre Cup which hasn't been said already, but this one will be rather special - the scoring system takes previous results to estimate your team's skill. This will influence how well your nation plays in its matches. Lancre Cup IX couldn't do this because most of the nations that played in Lancre Cup VIII are now dead.
My nation won the last Cup so I'll have a decent advantage over the other players, but I'll be up against Bestiville who also did very well. Who'll win? We'll soon find out!
There's not much to be said about the Lancre Cup which hasn't been said already, but this one will be rather special - the scoring system takes previous results to estimate your team's skill. This will influence how well your nation plays in its matches. Lancre Cup IX couldn't do this because most of the nations that played in Lancre Cup VIII are now dead.
My nation won the last Cup so I'll have a decent advantage over the other players, but I'll be up against Bestiville who also did very well. Who'll win? We'll soon find out!
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