PBW - Newbie Galactic Combat II Crisis Forum.

[Ruatha]

THIS THREAD IS MAINLY FOR THE PLAYERS IN NEWBIE GALACTIC COMBAT 2 AT THE PBW SITE.
As the game forum is somewhat hard to access I've decided to hold this discussion here at the shrapnel forum.

Hi everyone and thanks for your patience this Last week.

I am hosting Newbie Galactic Combat II. The game is set up in a very large galaxy with 200+ systems and originally 19 players, and currently 16 active human controlled empires.

Initially I was very pleased that the empty slots that came up when someone quit where filled within hours. Many games goes days and weeks without finding replacements.
After I while I started getting 4 e-mails bounced when sending out news from the game, they where bounced as their e-mail provider thought that the mails where spam as they where receiving more than one identical mail.
Their e-mail provider was a Russian free provider equalent to Yahoo or Hotmail. So nothing to put much importance to.

But when I started looking into it I discovered several russian playes in the game and none of them where at war with each other. Most where having partnerships and sharing tech even though they where in the game widely apart from each others.
So I halted the game and sent out an identical mail to all players in the game asking if they knew any other player in the game prior to joining the game and if their in-game alliances where based upon in-game events or externally influenced.

From below one can see that only two of the 7 players from a small area in Siberia knew eachothers previous to joining the game.
Location of players are mostly based upon IP adresses. Tomsknet and Novosibirsk are local IP providers in that area only.
Tomsk and Novosibirsk are neighbour cities in Siberia, Russia.

PLAYER - EMPIRE - LOCATION - (Stated pre-game contact) - e mail response -joined turn
Darklord........ Ghouls.......... Russia, Siberia, Tomsk.. (0).. 3 days.. 17
Sergetti........ Blacky.......... Russia, Siberia, Novosibirsk.. (-).. -.. 13
Romulans........ Dark ATM........ Russia, Siberia, Tomsk.. (0).. 4 days.. 59
Els Homes..... ..Winter.......... Russia, Siberia, Novosibirsk.. (Stalin).. 3 days.. 20
Terran Galactic. Mao Dzedun...... Russia, Siberia, Tomsk.. -.. surrended.. 54
Sons of Thunder. Joker........... Russia, Siberia, Tomsk.. (0).. 5 days.. 12
Traders of Yard. Alex Reaper..... Russia, Siberia, Tomsk.. (0).. 3 days.. 7
CCCP............ Stalin.......... Russia, Siberia, .. (Winter).. 3 days.. 0

Weyrlings....... Ruatha.......... Sweden, Linköping.. (Greybeard).. 0 days.. 0
Jophur.......... Martuk.......... Spain, Barcelona.. (0).. 1 days.. 0
Nyran........... birt............ Ukraina, Kiev.. (0).. 4 days.. 52
Earth Alliance.. Ragnarok........ America,-.. (+).. 1 days.. 50
Thermoilans..... Thermodyne...... US, DC Burbs.. (0).. 0 days.. 0
Fire Geckos..... Gecko........... US, Pennsylvania.. (0).. 1 days.. 0
Argon........... Greybeard....... US, Kansas, Overl Park.. (Ruatha).. 1 days.. 0
Zax............. tbontob......... Canada, AB, Edmonton.. (0).. 1 days .. 0
Draven.......... CaptRR.......... US, Va, Norfolk.. (0).. 2 days.. 0

I and Greybeard had played in one Newbie game previous to this, in that game we where enemies
and I died
So in this game I hoped to win

One reply I’ve got from a siberian player stated that the alliances was made in-game but based on former CCCP countries,
that is not a decision based upon in-game events.

When the Terrans quit the game they surrendered to their in-game neighbour, the Nyrans while
not being at war with them. NGC2 game rules states no surrendering.

-------------------
So, from what has been stated above you may draw your own conclusions.
Some might belive that there are 7 empires currently controlled from Siberia but not 7 actual players, that is my current suspicion.

I have thought some during this Last week about what to do about the current situation.
As I see it there are several options.

1. I kick 7 players from the game which originally had 19 players. This will mean that those empires that are located in the west of the map will only have AI empires as neighbours, they might in that case be playing a single player game and will miss out of the multiplayer part of the game.

2. I split the game into two identical games with 9 players in one and 7 in another, the same problem as above.

3. I delete the game.

4. I withdraw from the game.

5. I quit hosting the game, transferring ownership of it to someone still playing.

6. We continue as we have so far.

7. We continue and make a great war of 7 vs 9 players, fun but not what I intended with the game.

Currently I'm not having very fun in this game due to these suspicions I'm having.
This saddens me some as I've been writing an in-game story and has really enjoyed the interaction with my co-authors.
So right now I'm thinking of taking the easiest way out and withdrawing from the game. If someone not from Siberia chooses to remain in the game and wishes me to stay on as host I will do that but otherwise I'll transfer that to someone else who wishes to be host.
Leaving the game will mean that I can concentrate on the other PBW games I'm participating in and perhaps spend even more time with my kids which they will appreciate

Nothing of all this is written in stone!
Now I'm asking for your opinions and ideas;
What do you think we should do now?
I'm open to all ideas and input.
If you have something you don't wish to discuss openly my mailbox is as always open and your mails and my responses will not be public unless you state so.

To keep things in perspective; Remember that it's only a game, aaltough one that some of us has spent several months playing.

Your Host in NGC2

Ruatha (James)

You will all receive a mail with a link to this topic.

[ March 14, 2003, 11:55: Message edited by: Ruatha ]

[Geckomlis]

For the record:
Ruatha has been, and remains, an impeccable PBW game host. For PBW to function, two elements are required: trust and fun. NGC2 has ceased to have either attribute for me, for exactly the same reasons Ruatha has stated. At this point, I believe the game is irretrievably bollixed and not worth a recovery effort.

The only reasons I have not withdrawn from the game before now is:
I wanted to provide every possible courtesy to an excellent host and my fellow, honest, players.
I wish to build a reputation in the PBW community as a consistently reliable player.

Ruatha, thank you for all your fine efforts in NGC2. I look forward to participating in any future game where you will be a host or a player.

Gecko

[Katchoo]

I may not always be the swiftest nail in the drawer, but 7 people in one game, who all live in the same, very remote part of Russia, sounds awfully wrong.

The game is still relatively new (just above 60+ turns), so I say boot 'em out. I'm willing to come in as a replacement, and i'm sure others are too.

Trust your gut, Ruatha.

[Greybeard]

I also have the utmost respect for Ruatha and he has done a great job hosting this game.

I agree with all of the remarks made by Geckomlis.

This game seems to be too far gone to be viable. It was really fun early, but not any longer. I have made partnerships with almost everyone except the "soviet block players" to fend off intel attacks every turn, and have still lost 4-5 ships to mutiny every turn. I expect that several of the players who quit did so because of the "tone" the game was taking. Even if the offenders are removed, I already have seen most of the map and know everyone's position. Most of the exploration aspect is gone.

Personally, it would be better to start a similar game with the clean players and others who would like to join. The game concept is great.

Finally, have you discussed this with Geoschmo? IIRC, it is against PBW rules for a person to have more than one account. The offenders should be Banned from PBW.

Looking forward to starting a new game...Greybeard

[Stone Mill]

So much for Perestroika.
It may be the cold war all over again!!!

But, if I may suggest:

Make lemonade out of lemons, people. What do you think of setting up another PBW game in good will, allowing a Russia vs. the US scenario, 8 vs. 8?

Kind of like when Rocky fought Ivan Drago?

[Gryphin]

I'm interested in playing either the new game or existing.