Sitting on the fence

[Gandalf Parker]

1) The .2h is a binary file. It gets read by a program, and each character is important. But the people who worked on the God Viewer would be the ones to ask.

2) Im probably being misleading by calling it a game log. Its actually a debugging log. Turning on debugging to get a dump of the games activity is something that programmers add. Its meant more for Johan to see what is going on and what might be a problem. It wasnt really meant as something for us but I have gradually gained more info being put to the log and other output files.

There is also the scores.html which the game can be asked to dump each time it hosts. It looks like this...
http://www.dom3minions.com/games/Massive/scores.html

[Lazy_Perfectionist]

One more idea, this one relatively simple to implement and focused towards multiplayer.. I call it Vegas rules. As in, "What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas".
I'd go with Orwellian titles like Ministry of Truth.

The basic principle is that there are no rules. Lying and treachery are encouraged- not required - and backstabbing within this game doesn't get held against you in a different game. Though it can certainly lead to consequences within the game.

In more detail:
A. Joining is semi-anonymous. In PBEM, an independent host (llamabeast) might handle this. In a network game, a few simple rules must be followed for joining.
A1). You cannot make a post claiming a faction. The faction goes to the first player uploading to the slot.
A2). You must respect slots where someone else has uploaded a pretender.
A3). You must make a post within 24 hours stating that you have joined the game and uploaded a pretender. You needn't mention the faction, though you may if you wish. You can make this post whenever within the 24 hours. Ideally, it will obscure which nation you selected.

B). Game Play
B1). Vegas rules aren't rules _during_ the game.
B2). Treachery and lies are encouraged, but not necessary. Truth can be a weapon too.
B3). Any backstabbing will be forgiven once the game ends, and shall not affect other games. What happens in Vegas stays in vegas.
B4). Juicy after action reports are encouraged- just be sure to mention that its vegas-style before detailing all your treachery.
B5). Both secret and public alliances are allowed. You can punish betrayal, but you should keep in mind when its to both side's advantage to call off a feud.

[llamabeast]

I had a similar idea for a game LP - I was going to call it a 'Machiavellian' game.

One problem - how can you do public diplomacy, battle reports on the thread and so on without giving away your identity?

[Kristoffer O]

> how can you do public diplomacy, battle reports on the thread and so on without giving away your identity?

In game messaging. But it might be slow.

[Lazy_Perfectionist]

Alternatively, you could get some instant messaging/chat program that gives you a number as an identity, and allows you to assign an alias, such as Agartha.

For battle reports, you might be able to have a blog or livejournal that allows anonymous/guest posters where you can type in a name each time you post.

Personally, I like the idea somewhat of having to give away your identity to manage really quick diplomacy. There will be a cost to complete anonymity. And to encourage 'coming out', theres the whole bit about "what happens in Vegas" stays in "Vegas". The anonymity lasting simply for joining is enough to prevent a player from designing a specific counter. There could be a definite advantage to not proclaiming you've taken a slot at all- polls to keep track of numbers.

I'm not really familiar with instant messaging clients, so I don't vouch on accuracy. I think maybe IRC or ICQ just assign you a number and let you pick and change an alias to your nation. I do know there are some anonymous online chatrooms, though I haven't used any.

Alternatively, if there was a huge demand for super secret games, maybe there could be something done with a separate forum. A game could be started here, with some discussion going on, and the rest done on a forum where users have to register (to prevent spam), but doesn't display usernames.

[Gandalf Parker]

One of my game ideas was to do a mega game and assign an email box on the system for each nation. It was part of an effort to have a totally anonymous game.

[Gandalf Parker]

with a new mega game being discussed, and it being pointed out to me that I need to dig up some of my old ideas for my ghost-town of a server.. it seemed like a good time to bump this thread.

But just to make it more than a bump..
let me add fuel to the fire on the "Civil War" idea that was discussed here. Im not a modder so I have no idea how well this worked but back in the Dom2 days we had a module to do what we needed.

Nation Replacement
This mod duplicates most nations of Dominions II, and Ulm's two themes, so that the same nation can appear many times one game.
Version 0.90
Created by Endoperez.
Download mod: nation_replicas.zip

Its still available on Illwinters site