Re: Baalz' good player pledge
 

I pledge

Re: Baalz' good player pledge
 

Guess I'll pledge. :p

I don't go AI when I'm dying anyway, though!

Re: Baalz' good player pledge
 

I will pledge.

I am so used to being the underdog and being in a losing position that it is just natural for me to stick with games that I have no chance of winning!

Re: Baalz' good player pledge
 

I Pledge.

Re: Baalz' good player pledge
 

Me too,

Re: Baalz' good player pledge
 

I'll sign.

Re: Baalz' good player pledge
 

I pledge

Re: Baalz' good player pledge
 

Just coming back to some Dominions and I'll take this pledge.

Re: Baalz' good player pledge
 

I pledge.

Re: Baalz' good player pledge
 

This is how I already play, so I'm happy to agree to it.

Re: Baalz' good player pledge
 

I'm in.

Re: Baalz' good player pledge
 

Sure sure, but frankly I prefer to play the underdog...being the most powerful in a game is meh..unless it's close of course. Then it feels o' so' good.

Re: Baalz' good player pledge
 

I pledge.

Re: Baalz' good player pledge
 

I pledge.
The caveat being that I consider being beaten fair and square to be 'a completion' (meaning one-on-one fights, mainly at the end of the game). And that I hope that the game originator will, in his turn, try to accomodate player(s) asking to postpone hosting, so as to avoid stalls.
All other terms are quite good and fair.

Re: Baalz' good player pledge
 

I just noticed this in Baalz' sig; being new to PBEM but not Dom3, I certainly pledge from here on adhere to this promise and to play a losing nation as if I am in some bunker in some besieged city, desperately moving non-existent armies around on a map, clinging to any bizarre or remote fantasy that I can still somehow win...

Re: Baalz' good player pledge
 

I make this pledge.

Re: Baalz' good player pledge
 

still looking to get into my first multiplayer game but this pledge certainly looks reasonable.

I pledge.

Re: Baalz' good player pledge
 

I already play in this manner and thus will also pledge.

Re: Baalz' good player pledge
 

Krec has pledged

Re: Baalz' good player pledge
 

For whatever reason, I wanted to wait until after successfully completing an unsuccessful campaign. In my very first try, I was a miserable failure. Or, in this context, a success!

Pledged.

Re: Baalz' good player pledge
 

Pledged.

Re: Baalz' good player pledge
 

Great thing to have in this community. I pledge.

Re: Baalz' good player pledge
 

I pledge. :D

Re: Baalz' good player pledge
 

Pledged.

A list of those who pledged in the initial post may be useful for admins of games that want to make this a requirement to joining.

Re: Baalz' good player pledge
 

Why would anyone make this silly pledge a requirement?
Most players hope their enemy turns AI when they hit him fast and hard anyway...

Re: Baalz' good player pledge
 

Heh, I was also wondering...:)

Re: Baalz' good player pledge
 

What an Interesting thought. So, if you have reputation of the person who fights till end you will hardly be selected as a first target. But if everyone knows you tend to go AI after first battle you've lost, you are sweet target.

Re: Baalz' good player pledge
 

Re: Baalz' good player pledge
 

Well, both true and not true.
Vets and newb or quitters get attacked just as much. A vet will be attacked before he can became a real danger and a newb will be attacked for being an easy target, so it's really the same, well except that vets tend to get ganged up so the newbs have a advantage in fair battle there don't they? :)

And anyway, you ought to attack a nation that is geographically suitable, or easier to defeat, like Mictlan attacking Neif, etc... and not the player behind the nation, just my thoughts doe...

Re: Baalz' good player pledge
 

I've been in way too many games where very viable positions are abandoned when the pressure is put on. For me at least it destroys a lot of the enjoyment of the game if the winner is determined because somebody's early neighbor quit when his pretender died or he just got frustrated by a stalemate or he just got bored. Have this happen 3 or 4 times in a game and it starts feeling like we're playing a game primarily of chance which I don't personally find that interesting.

Re: Baalz' good player pledge
 

True, true...
But that doesn't chance the fact that what I said is also true.

I just don't see how taking a "pledge" or making it a requirement for a game, which I just find silly, is going to improve game quality.

Don't get me wrong, I respect what you tried to do here, raise the awareness of other players, but I just don't see this pledge as having any real power or impact on any game what-so-ever.
If you want a game without stales or quitters, etc, you need superb admining and a really competitive bunch, eg. the YARG game, btw, my congratulation to WL for creating such a game.

so I guess my question was, what's the point of making it a requirement?

Re: Baalz' good player pledge
 

Well, the problem is, while this pledge is nice in principle, it means absolutely nothing. Heck, I'm in a game right now where someone who had given the "pledge" has bailed from the game, no excuse given. The "pledge" is a nice idea, but ultimately worthless. Just ask Nevil Chamberlin what 'pledges' are ultimately worth ;)

At this point, I won't join a game unless I have a reasonable certainty that folks wont punk out. At the moment, that means only joining games advertised at the 'other' forum, figuring anyone who bails on one of those games can expect to be crucified unmercifully.

But I'm sure punks and bailers will eventually find a way to join there (just create a new ID, etc.), and muck up things up there too.

Re: Baalz' good player pledge
 

As I posted originally the pledge has no teeth at all other than whatever conscience you bring yourself, the only point is to make sure that people realize the impact of what they're doing. Dicks are gonna be dicks and you're never gonna have 100% compliance, but that doesn't mean asking people to think twice doesn't prevent some people from dropping. I've seen too many times where people join a game and don't even read the mods, house rules, etc. for the game, so the idea was to put one little hurdle of going to another thread to acknowledge it so at least people have to actively be dicks rather than not thinking about it.

Re: Baalz' good player pledge
 

I agree with all the above...

Regardless if you are playing Dom or going out of town on a Rugby Tournament, there is always a guy or two that said they will Play (or go) and you always wonder in the back of your mind if they will show up at the airport or have their turn in EVERY turn.

All you can do is make sure they know the impact that it can create for the rest of us that count on their word to play and either not play with them agian or Cut them.

When I fist saw the pledge I didn't take it for a while as I felt MY word was good enough and was offended that someone would ask me to actually put it in writing.

But the more I thought about it, the more I started to understand it wasn't about ME taking the pledge....it was about the pack mentality. If EVERYONE has signed it and you want out, it MAY be just a little harder to pull the trigger. That is all it is and I think in some instances it REALLY does work.

Of coursr if your a 'bailer' you could put a deposit down and you would still bail.

We have a guy (that is pretty well known) that loves to expand wily nilly until he is the biggest, with NO thought of what the Hell he is doing or why. He then just doesn't show up anymore and skews the game until we get a sub. It is twice it has happened now and I see him starting in another game. I won't play with him agian and the pledge wouldn't mean anything to him....but it MIGHT get a new guy thinking that he doesn't want to be known like that and hang in there.

Sorry so long, just my opinion.

Re: Baalz' good player pledge
 

who is he?

Re: Baalz' good player pledge
 

Sorry, but to smear a guy because I noticed something would not benefit the site and may start a Flame war which I don't want to be involved in.

I know you are a serious player and don't want to spend your time if that person is in a game with you, but in this case I would prefer not making a big case of it.

He has been around enough to be noticeable but isn't a MAJOR threat like Executor (hi buddy), Psycho, squirrelloid, and many more. Trust me, there are more and more people starting to notice it and his name will surface soon.

Re: Baalz' good player pledge
 

You know, there is a place where airing such grievances is more or less (pretty much more) acceptable ;)

Re: Baalz' good player pledge
 

I think the pledge is a good idea because it communicates a major concern of many players to ALL players. I'm happy to abide by the pledge, but have a few questions;

1. What about a game administrator pledge? I have been in games where I have invested countless hours - but needed a short extension for RL concerns. I communicate the request in a timely manner, but it is ignored and I have a stale (or two) in a tightly contested game! Sheez.

2. Ethical Question: What if a player is part of a team (and is the weaker link - by far - of the team) and he advises his ally that the best thing to do would be for the stronger player to take over the provinces of the weaker player? In this way resources (gems, money, research, etc.) would be better utilized - for the team. On the other hand, it could be argued that the weaker player is not "fighting to the death".

Re: Baalz' good player pledge
 

What value is such a pledge, when it's own owner does not abide by it?

Not much value, methinks.

Re: Baalz' good player pledge
 

As A new player I feel like that EXACTLY!!!

However, if people do pledge and break it and I can see it, then I am prepared if I see them in a game and it is nobody's fault but my own if they do bail and I have known about it.

As a previous post said "You could make some players put down a deposit and they would still break it". Whether it is a good tool to judge the charecter of a player or not I have no opinion. BUT, as a tool to see if I want to spend 3 months playing and they have a record of 'exiting early and often' them I might pass on that game.

I am just a new guy on here, but saw the same things in MOO2 (shows my age), Civil War Generals 2, and a number of other games that I invested time in just to be dissapointed.

Thank you.

Re: Baalz' good player pledge
 

Baalz has a record of AIing when being attacked by half the players in the game 2/10 of the time, oh noes.

He should have said something first, just in case there was a sub crazy enough to want to try. But I don't really blame him that much.

Re: Baalz' good player pledge
 

In the game I'm running six out of nine player either went AI without a word or couldn't find a sub and went AI, so I know how frustrating dropouts are. Might not really mean much but I'll pledge.

Re: Baalz' good player pledge
 

I've decided to make a post with those who pledged for now.
I'll try to avoid playing with non-signers after mindblade.
I am putting " -- ?" symblols after people who, as much as I've understood, support at least significant part of pledge (I didn't understood from their posts that they fully support the pledge).

13lackGu4rd; aaminoff; Aethyr; Agema; AlgaeNymph; Alpine Joe -- ?; analytic_kernel; ano -- ?; AreaOfEffect; Baalz; Belac; binarysolo; Black Sun Empire; Burnsaber; Calahan -- ?; chrispedersen -- ?; Corvus; DakaSha; Deathjester; Digress; Dimaz; Elrctro808; Euarchus; FAJ; Fakeymcfake; Fantomen; Frozen Lama; GameExtremist; Gandalf Parker; Gregstrom; Grijalva; GrudgeBringer; Hadrian_II -- ?; Ishamoridin; Jarkko; JR77; Juffos; Kheldron; kianduatha; Kietsensei; Krec; Kref; LDiCesare; llamabeast; LoloMo; lsokron; Mardagg; MartialDoctor; Micah -- ?; militarist; Mithras; Morpf; Pablomatic; pfloom; RabbitDynamite; Raiel; rdonj; Samhain; SciencePro; secretperson; Sensori; Septimius Severus; sevenwarlocks; Sil; Skor; slayers_ai; Squirrelloid; Stagger Lee; Starshine_Monarch; statttis; Strabo; Stretch; swapoer; the Vanishag; thunderbird; Tollund; Toran; Trumanator; TwoBits; vladikus; Wrana; zzcat.

I am sure the list would be updated, so if I missed someone just post that.

Re: Baalz' good player pledge
 

This post has become useless.

Re: Baalz' good player pledge
 

I shall take this pledge. This reminds me of "I quit" moments in board games, where the sudden exit of a player with remaining forces in a board game throws out all balance and most enjoyment. Truly frustrating!

Re: Baalz' good player pledge
 

Seems your post is kinda pointless since some of those who signed didn't meet the pledge. I've never signed and I don't stale or go AI. You'd do better to choose opponents based on their record rather than some arbitrary pledge.