The Council of Wyrms

[Cainehill]

Not too many other games I've played in have a site/board/wiki definately associated with them, where such rumors and innuendos can be and are published in the guise of "News" (Current events = news, to me.) Never seen anyone posting stuff like "Such-and-such a nation just found a fort via the Crystal Cathedral" here on the forums before that I can recall - but at least here it wouldn't be anonymous.

Frankly, that's what really chafes my scales - and when I saw it, my initial impression was that an outside arbiter (ie, someone not playing in the game) was using the master password to look over the game and post what he considered to be news worthy.

Which would have been an even bigger dose of crap than a player doing so - if there is an outsider posting stuff learned via the master password (that isn't directly related to, for instance, someone pretending their Wyrm is alive when it isn't in order to vote in council), then I'll be letting someone else take over my nation.

My reason for this is that I don't need a bloody "narrator" deciding what information to hand out for free to players, and what not to. And I'm not real happy about anonymous postings of said information either.

[Huntsman]

I agree that we don't need a 3rd-person POV "narrator". I was hoping each Wyrm would write up their own logs for RP value, without revealing too much intel and possibly doing some bluffing and starting rumors and such.

[RonD]

In fact, that particular Current event notice was posted by Arralen (Machaka) - something that took me all of 20 seconds to figure out.

In the end, though, I play the game for fun. I must have missed the post where prize money was announced.

[Ygorl]

I wonder if it would be possible to disable posting by anonymous folks on the wiki. That way, anyone who posts anything is accountable (as RonD knows, you can see who makes each edit by looking at the Recent Changes panel).
If someone is putting out too much information about you, you've got a few options... You can deny it, you can post information about them in revenge, you can wipe them off the planet so that they can no longer do the nasty things that they are doing, you can take steps to render the information they discover dated and useless... If you find that someone's using this information against you, you can even take advantage of it to lay traps and the like.
This game is a little different than most. There's much less potential to conduct all your operations in secrecy. With my proposition about revealing homelands, I was trying to level the playing field in this respect a bit... People didn't like the idea though. I think I'm running into the realm of rambling, now... Oh well. My point, if I have one, is something like this: there's more information available here than normal, and less value to it (because of the restrictions on how it can be used).
Really, I just hope I don't have to hunt down an image of chafed scales.
Cheers!

[Cainehill]

RonD said:
In fact, that particular Current event notice was posted by Arralen (Machaka) - something that took me all of 20 seconds to figure out.

Really? When I look at the Wiki via Recent Changes or History, the only changes I see attributed to a person were by Morkilus, way back on 28 October. All the more recent changes show an IP address, not a user. Personally I don't think I (or other players) should have to research what IP address goes to what country, and which players are from that country, in order to try and figure out something that took you all of 20 seconds.

Did it take you 20 seconds because you're a wiki expert (or have privileges that allow you to see the person who made changes)? Or because you recognized the IP addresses? Or because you're so familiar with Arralen's writing style? If it's the wiki expert, perhaps you'd share the setting which would let everyone see who makes the changes?

In the end, though, I play the game for fun. I must have missed the post where prize money was announced.

Ah, if something isn't for prize money you'd never find anything irritating and diminishing your fun? Someone taking 2 cards from the deck before you got into a game of gin rummy, or telling everyone else what letters you have when they happen to see your tiles when playing Scrabble?

Cool.

Myself, I get a little irritated when rules aren't made clear up front - and nothing that I read anywhere indicated that anonymous postings were going to be involved. Given that I don't care for anonymity, I possibly wouldn't have gotten involved had I known.

[RonD]

All I had to do was expand the recent changes page to show a longer list, then look to see what else that same IP had changed. Turned out to be a proposition vote by Machaka. Took 20 seconds.

Frankly, I only even bothered because I would have been upset if it had been a non-player. As long as it was a player then, to my mind, such postings and rumor-mongering is entirely within the spirit of this particular game.

And, no, I do not let little thinkgs like this spoil my fun. If it bothers me enough, then I maybe (or maybe not) say somthing about it. Then I play that game out to completion, and maybe avoid the same situation in the future. I play a lot of recreational soccer. Some guys, even in a 40+ league, just can't let anything go. I'm not that way. I don't let the little stuff get to me. {and this really is little stuff here}

[puffyn]

On the subject of anonymous posts: as wiki-keeper, I can trivially set it so that only registered people may post. I have never considered this necessary in the Yarnspinners 2 wiki, because it's typically pretty clear which of the other three regular contributors posted something if they forgot to log in, but it may be useful with this motley band.

The downside is a little more time spent logging in periodically, because the wiki likes to not store registration information for too long (at least in my experience), but since I typically want to not be anonymous anyways that's no big deal.

Of course, there is nothing to stop you from registering "AnonymousCoward" and posting whatever you like about your neighbors using that perfectly legitimate login name...

Since we haven't propositioned anything lately, let us now turn this signature debate to the wiki, where Proposition 11 will debut shortly.

[The Panther]

My two cents worth:

Since Arralen posted under an IP address instead of his own name, I would say he is perhaps setting Cainehill up for a nice, juicy proposal in Council. Though I do wonder how RonD figured out that the IP address of the post in question belonged to Arralen. Edit: I saw that Ron explained it in a post while I was writing this post.

Don't forget that in order to get the Council to vote in your favor, you must have decent supporting evidence (or at least claim to have evidence with a convincing argument). I see absolutely nothing wrong with posting the rumors, for that is what this game is all about.

In fact, this game is more open than usual. In a typical game, a neighbor would simply contact several neighbors around a "target" and tell things which may or may not be true. They would then form an alliance and try to wipe out the player who was likely just minding his own business. I myself have done this and similar things more than once. And I have even won a couple of MP games spreading rumors privately and such. It is all part of being an FFA game.

So, to answer the question from Huntsman, I would have to say this game differs from most games in that it is far more open and above-board than typical. Less secretive, so to speak.

Cainehill's explosive reaction has probably not made him many friends in Council...


PROPOSAL:
I now know where all 17 capitols are, thanks to my harpy scouts. Anybody who sends me 31 gold and 1 gem (of any type) within the next 3 turns will receive this information in a private email!

[Cainehill]

The Panther said:
Cainehill's explosive reaction has probably not made him many friends in Council...

You mean, hasn't made me any friends amongst the players. ::shrug:: My "explosion" wasn't in reaction to what happened, which is relatively minor. (Just as my initial post about it was relatively mild.) But get me into a ... heated discussion, ne argument, and ....

[Huntsman]

The Panther said:.

So, to answer the question from Huntsman, I would have to say this game differs from most games in that it is far more open and above-board than typical. Less secretive, so to speak.

Perhaps. But the games I've played with the folks at QT3 have been similar to this one in that there's plenty of "open" chatter, be it fact or fiction, and there's also quite a bit of stuff going on behind the scenes. SO to me this is business as usual which is why I'm puzzled by Cainehill's reaction to the current events "spin".

The way I see it, Cainehill, it's all rumor until I can verify for myself anyway...

BTW, did the game host?