[From nobody Tue Jan 23 13:51:44 2007 Received: from [134.198.240.128] by royalmail.scranton.edu (mshttpd); Sat, 20 Jan 2007 19:00:21 -0500 Date: Sat, 20 Jan 2007 19:00:21 -0500 From: <pentaj2@scranton.edu> Subject: Fwd: NHSAC: WAR's status To: waradmin@yahoogroups.com Message-id: <250af2ae09.2ae09250af@scranton.edu> MIME-version: 1.0 X-Mailer: iPlanet Messenger Express 5.2 HotFix 2.04 (built Feb 8 2005) Content-type: multipart/mixed; boundary="Boundary_(ID_D0W72SAjfvlMzhDqZy8YVw)" Content-language: en X-Accept-Language: en Priority: normal This is a multi-part message in MIME format. --Boundary_(ID_D0W72SAjfvlMzhDqZy8YVw) Content-type: message/rfc822 Return-path: <owner-nhsac@novahorizon.com> Received: from serval.scranton.edu (serval.scranton.edu [134.198.122.16]) by royalmail.scranton.edu (iPlanet Messaging Server 5.2 HotFix 2.04 (built Feb 8 2005)) with ESMTP id <0JC600MM4SEAX0@royalmail.scranton.edu> for PENTAJ2@scranton.edu; Sat, 20 Jan 2007 16:44:34 -0500 (EST) Received: from CONVERSION-DAEMON.SERVAL.Scranton.EDU by SERVAL.Scranton.EDU (PMDF V6.0-24 #39402) id <01MC5QO8DQA800437K@SERVAL.Scranton.EDU> for PENTAJ2@ASTEROID.SCRANTON.EDU (ORCPT pentaj2@scranton.edu); Sat, 20 Jan 2007 16:44:34 -0500 (EST) Received: from ulama.scranton.edu ([134.198.122.10]) by SERVAL.Scranton.EDU (PMDF V6.0-24 #39402) with ESMTP id <01MC5QO8C9JG006BFE@SERVAL.Scranton.EDU> for PENTAJ2@ASTEROID.SCRANTON.EDU (ORCPT pentaj2@scranton.edu); Sat, 20 Jan 2007 16:44:34 -0500 (EST) Received: from ulama.scranton.edu (ulama.scranton.edu [127.0.0.1]) by localhost (Postfix) with SMTP id 6E3C5AC8219 for <pentaj2@scranton.edu>; Sat, 20 Jan 2007 16:44:34 -0500 (EST) Received: from ru14.servadmin.com (ru14.servadmin.com [12.47.44.114]) by ulama.scranton.edu (Postfix) with ESMTP id 52717AC8214 for <pentaj2@scranton.edu>; Sat, 20 Jan 2007 16:44:33 -0500 (EST) Received: (from mail@localhost) by ru14.servadmin.com (8.10.2/8.10.2) id l0KLiCY20308 for nhsac_site116-list; Sat, 20 Jan 2007 15:44:12 -0600 Received: from serval.scranton.edu (serval.scranton.edu [134.198.122.16]) by ru14.servadmin.com (8.10.2/8.10.2) with ESMTP id l0KLiB920304 for <nhsac@novahorizon.com>; Sat, 20 Jan 2007 15:44:11 -0600 Received: from CONVERSION-DAEMON.SERVAL.Scranton.EDU by SERVAL.Scranton.EDU (PMDF V6.0-24 #39402) id <01MC5QNMLJGW00437K@SERVAL.Scranton.EDU> for nhsac@novahorizon.com; Sat, 20 Jan 2007 16:44:05 -0500 (EST) Received: from jaguarundi.scranton.edu ([134.198.122.14]) by SERVAL.Scranton.EDU (PMDF V6.0-24 #39402) with ESMTP id <01MC5QNMJYYQ006D7G@SERVAL.Scranton.EDU>; Sat, 20 Jan 2007 16:44:05 -0500 (EST) Received: from jaguarundi.scranton.edu (jaguarundi.scranton.edu [127.0.0.1]) by localhost (Postfix) with SMTP id 2DECFDF867B; Sat, 20 Jan 2007 16:44:05 -0500 (EST) Received: from scranton.edu (asteroid.scranton.edu [134.198.122.3]) by jaguarundi.scranton.edu (Postfix) with ESMTP id CFA4BDF8688; Sat, 20 Jan 2007 16:44:02 -0500 (EST) Received: from [134.198.240.128] by royalmail.scranton.edu (mshttpd); Sat, 20 Jan 2007 16:44:02 -0500 Date: Sat, 20 Jan 2007 16:44:02 -0500 From: pentaj2@scranton.edu Subject: NHSAC: WAR's status Sender: owner-nhsac@novahorizon.com To: nhsac@novahorizon.com Cc: war_admin@yahoogroups.com Reply-to: nhsac@novahorizon.com Message-id: <1ffb220a3f.20a3f1ffb2@scranton.edu> MIME-version: 1.0 X-Mailer: iPlanet Messenger Express 5.2 HotFix 2.04 (built Feb 8 2005) Content-type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-language: en Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit Content-disposition: inline X-Accept-Language: en Precedence: bulk X-PMX-Version: 5.2.0.264296, Antispam-Engine: 2.4.0.264935, Antispam-Data: 2007.1.20.132932 X-PMX-Version: 5.2.2.285561, Antispam-Engine: 2.5.0.283055, Antispam-Data: 2007.1.20.132932 Original-recipient: rfc822;pentaj2@scranton.edu Not going to submit by form because, well, WAR's situation is odd. In July, we went through our latest restart; we do em kinda regularly, we'd run out of steam, we figured it would energize things. Um, no, not really. Activity remained low; The fact that the GMs were all going through RL hell did not help. Since...Mid-November, we've had no posts. Period. Initially, maybe it was because of the approaching holidays, or finals, or whatever... No, probably not just that. We're not going to declare WAR dead. However, Hiatus doesn't seem appropriate either. The general opinion I've gathered from those in WAR is that the game needs a rest. Come back to it in 6 months or so, maybe longer, we don't know when, and see if there's any willpower to do it. --- That said, my...I don't want to say post-mortem, but lessons learned, possibly helpful for anybody else considering a geopolitical sim or anything like it: Right now, and really since 2003, WAR has been consistently outpaced by real-world events. It used to be we had an uncanny habit of 'We'd post something...And out of left field, occasionally it'd happen.' (We had a burst of this when North Korea tested a nuke. Not even -days- beforehand, our DPRK rebel player had posted...DPRK testing a nuke, out of the middle of nowhere. What do we see hours later? You guessed it.) Now, real-world events are going at a pace that is impossible to keep up with, and the fact that reality is surprising us makes it very difficult to stay ahead of things, fairly essential if it isn't all going to feel hollow quickly. Iraq, I think, has also made it a lot more difficult for us. The world's lone superpower being tied up like it is makes things difficult. And then, finally, there's a degree of weariness. WAR, in -slow- periods, was a game that required a lot from the GMs. As any game like this would, where the players are in many ways in competition with each other. I have to give many, many kudos to Chris Hazen and Dan Garcia, the two who've GMed WAR along with me (along with Ian Martell, who stepped in when grad school started to disabuse Dan of the notion that he had free time). It occasionally drove us all nuts, and the fact that we managed to keep the atmosphere between us mostly friendly and light is a credit to all three of them. For anyone considering something like WAR, I have a few suggestions...Things we did not do but perhaps should have: 1. Find a webmaster. Do whatever you can to get them to keep the website updated. This was WAR's continuing problem. We never really had anyone who could do a good website, and it hurt us, especially in recruiting, I'd wager. 2. Automate, automate, automate. Action Reports drove everybody who tried to GM WAR insane. In part, this was because putting it together on a good day was a difficult task. However, a lot of it was because we kept having to do stuff manually that someone with an average amount of programming skill could have automated into an front-end. 3. Decide your parameters early and STICK TO THEM. WAR had debates that nearly became as intractable as theological disputes. The level of realism (a distinct problem in a game like this) was a constant dispute...If everybody was playing one country, maybe it wouldn't have been an issue. But that was not WAR. We often had trouble finding the right balance, and WAR over the years swung from "realistic" to "What's realism?" and back again, never quite finding a working medium. I think, as an unlisted point...WAR was enormously educational in a lot of ways. Which was always an unintended consequence that I didn't particularly mind. Playing a country required research; a higher bar to pass to get in than most PBEMs, but it made it a blast when we could really -write-. WAR has and had easily one of the more intelligent and intellectual playerbases I've experienced in roleplaying; they also turned out to be really good writers, too. But that came at a cost. Suspension of disbelief is difficult when your playing field is the real world, harder still if your plotlines are often enough ripped from the headlines (or eerily preceed them). When I came into WAR in...I want to say early 2001, I thought I knew a lot about politics, history, and international relations. I then have had the last nearly 6 years to apply what I knew, as I went through college as a political science major, and learned more, and applied that, too. I was not the only one, either. I think, eventually, we knew simply -too- much. It became hard to suspend disbelief, like it is for science-types when Hollywood grievously abuses science in films, and just play. And then, finally, WAR -has- been going on for a long time. On AES and NHS combined, we're awfully long in the tooth, and the nature of our setting (Earth, now) means we ran out of plots. Not just once, but more than a few times. More often than not, with the same group of players. We need to recharge. But as I said: I don't want to declare WAR dead. It's not. We may just bring it back. But I don't know when that will be, and so I don't know if 'Hiatus' is necessarily a term I'd like to use either. So, er. WAR is going to take a nap. John Penta Co-GM, WAR ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ NHS: Administrative Council http://www.novahorizon.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ NHS: Were Games Reach For A New Horizon ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ --Boundary_(ID_D0W72SAjfvlMzhDqZy8YVw)-- ]