[War] Fwd: RE: WAR's situation (was: Re: NHSAC: Waiting on Game Reports - December 2006)

[Dan Garcia]

My two cents on various things:

I like the proposal to start things off in 2012/2013.  A lot of times, things in the game were too
closely tethered to reality, almost lockstep like.  Things got good when this was broken.  That's
not to say there aren't issues, primarily with working out who decides and how it's decided what's
happened in the intervening five or so years.  My own gut would be, as far as player countries, to
leave it up to the player to the point of departure.  Outside of player countries, the GM(s) needs
some role, but it needs to be streamlined.

As to the website, I admit this is an issue, but I would point out that to automate the site is
easier said than done.  It would be nice if we could adapt something from another sim.  But at the
same time, I have to throw my lot in with the KISS people.  Flashy graphics, Java, and Flash are
nice, but they also require a not insubstantial amount of effort to first setup, and then maintain
(e.g. someone tries to do something that the site wasn't designed to respond to, or we go through
a restart and we're left figuring out how to reset the website which we borrow the code for). 
Basic HTML might not be that impressive in this day and age, but it gets the job done, and is
relatively straightforward to maintain (TextEdit, Notepad, or Emacs being all you'll ever need,
depending upon your OS of choice...  :) ).

That's my input on the future of the game.  As to my future with the game, all I can say is that I
don't have the time to be hugely involved anymore.  As a case in point, tomorrow will be spent
doing homework and grading the homeworks and quizes of 100 students.  Ugh.  I don't know what
things will be like starting in May, but the real world (or as much of the real world that can
exist in academia) has begun to impinge on my life.  :(

Anyway, it's nice to see people talking at least.  :)

Dan


--- Vampi Digitalwytch <vampi.digitalwytch at gmail.com> wrote:

> Maybe because it's a topic I'm still sensitive on, not everyone can
> afford the latest and greatest computers so having a website that
> isn't properly functional on thier screen pretty much discreetly says
> 'we don't care about the havenots'.
> 
> When I started simming, the computer I had just barely had Win95 on it
> (lost the original Win3.1 discs and had to use a neighbors) and we
> couldn't fit the case on the computer because we'd just pick up memory
> when we could and slap on an extender to fit the chips.  Hell, I was
> terrified of when I'd have to download something just in case it'd
> blow everything out of whack, and yes, there were websites I simply
> couldn't view because they required downloads the computer didn't
> have.
> 
> Last thing we want to do is discriminate against someone who'd be a
> great contributer to the game, but due to circumstance just doesn't
> have a spiffy computer.
> 
> As far as WAR goes, with all the assorted sims I've seen around, I've
> never seen anything like WAR.  Really, as much as people love to rant
> and snort about politics on message boards, you'd think that they'd
> love stretching thier wings in a political sim.
> 
> Taking into account the uniqueness, we're really off on our own for
> the most part since closest that comes to us are the West Wing sims if
> those are even still around.  Our best point is that we look global
> rather than just stick to the machinations of one country.  What drew
> me to WAR was it wasn't like anything I'd seen before in the vast
> simming sea of Xmen, Harry Potter, and Trek.
> 
> Granted I'm probably the suckiest poster here, and the closest to
> poli-sci I come is when I read up on the canidates for the elections
> here.  Hopefully I represent the sort who've gotten tired as all hell
> with the usual gamut of sims and want something different.
> 
> As far as the website goes, we do need to have something easily
> updated to reflect game events.  For a rough design, we could loosely
> model it along the lines of a government website but not too much or
> we'd get traffic from those looking for official services.  A listing
> of what countries are taken, with the basic CIA worldbook info with a
> section on what's happened in game probably would cover most bases.
> Could even have a compliated listing of WAR reports as well which I
> find invaluable to my posts to make sure I'm either not going too wild
> or at least keep pace with what everyone else is up to.
> 
> That's about all I can think of for now, so feel free to comment,
> nitpick or tell me to go back to being the silent schlemiel on the
> list.
> 
> On 1/27/07, pentaj2 at scranton.edu <pentaj2 at scranton.edu> wrote:
> > KISS is good, BUT you want a website that catches people's attention,
> > and where flash or Java can do that, it's a good thing.
> >
> > Anyhow...we have a paucity of commentary, I note...Folks, speak up? If
> > it's just me, Pat, Chris, and Mike...that says nothing good. Granted,
> > it's the weekend and all. But still.
> >
> > Hopefully someone can put this all in an organized form or something.:)
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: Pat B <pbuck11 at aol.com>
> > Date: Saturday, January 27, 2007 7:10 pm
> > Subject: Re: [War] Fwd: RE: WAR's situation (was: Re: NHSAC: Waiting
> > on Game Reports - December 2006)
> >
> > > First rule of websites in my opinion is the KISS principle
> > >
> > > Keep It Simple Stupid, we don't want lots of flash, java or
> > > anything
> > > like that, we don't want something people who don't have Windows
> > > XP and
> > > the latest most powerful computer can't view.
> > >
> > > I'd say what the site needs first of all is a synopsis and
> > > overview of
> > > the game, the structure and the rules, and ways to join.
> > >
> > > Then we need a list of taken countries and maybe even a small
> > > state of
> > > the WAR post, not too big, simple things like headlines, or even
> > > put the
> > > WR on the webpage, let folks read a bit whet the appetite,
> > > honestly what
> > > gets me interested in a game is the writing and the stories, what
> > > got me
> > > most interested in my first Sim the USS Galaxy was reading the
> > > past
> > > mission logs.
> > >
> > >
> > >
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> > >
> >
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> 
> 
> -- 
> --I know there are no lifeguards in the gene pool, but damn, there
> ought to be at least a few sharks in the water.
> 
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