[Cainehill]

Originally posted by Norfleet:

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Originally posted by Cainehill:
But maybe if you did a lottery to see who gets first choice of nations, who gets 2nd, etc? Everyone has a fair chance of getting something decent - the 1st person gets a primo nation, sure. But the next to Last and Last get to make a choice with the knowledge of just what nations are going to be in the game, which might even it out a little bit.

That's essentially what happens: In the event of a collision, there's a random toss to see who gets it, and who gets to pick something else. Even if it was strictly "dibs", first come first serve, being the first to choose is not necessarily an advantage: Yes, you get the nation you like most, but everyone knows this before they even have to decide, and you're making your choice blind: You have to be fairly confident in your ability to play that nation to do this. At the opposite end of the spectrum is the late entry, where many nations are taken....but you know what you're up against, and if a nation YOU want is still open....great! If not, at least you know it's not, and can move on. Picking in the middle of the pack, on the other hand, lets you glance at some of your opposition, while still being able to snag one of your choice nations. It's all a tradeoff, either way: Randomly assigned nations is really a good thing, as most people don't have adequate playing experience with every single nation out there.[/qb]

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But I think you'd agree that almost everyone would generally prefer having first choice, and very few would want Last. Currently, you get people grabbing dibs, getting first choice (and possibly some advantage) while others coming late look at the leftovers and decide not to play.

Doing a lottery means that every player in the game has a chance at a good pick of nations; maybe they don't get one, but they have the chance. While the regular fanatics don't always get their favorite races just because they check for new open games every 10 minutes, all day, every day.

But I agree - randomly assigning nations would be good as well, possibly leading people to discover a new favorite, and at the minimum giving them a better understanding of the nation, helping them to play more effectively against it.