From bgtribble at gmail.com Wed Jul 1 11:04:26 2009 From: bgtribble at gmail.com (Bryan Tribble) Date: Wed, 01 Jul 2009 18:04:26 +0300 Subject: [War_ooc] France 2013 Message-ID: Country: French Republic Head of State: Adrien Durant, President of the Republic Head of Government: Felix Desmarais, Prime Minister Population: 65,476,127 (2013 est.) GDP (PPP): $2.198 trillion (2012 est.) GDP (PPP) per capita: $33,569 Unemployment: 9.2% Economic Growth: 1.8% (2012 est.) Political Landscape Nicolas Sarkozy's inability to quickly overcome France's economic slump during the global economic crisis paired with his increasingly inept efforts at reviving the European Union and France's global relevance led to eventual disgruntlement with his leadership even in his own party. Comments similar to those during the 2005 Paris riots only served to prolong the 2011 race riots and further damage the credibility of Sarkozy and the government. Calls for his resignation became louder and unavoidable when he sided with the President of the National Assembly, Bernard Accoyer, during a political corruption scandal involving energy lobbyists that eventually led to Accoyer's conviction and removal from the National Assembly. Politicians within the Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) began to regret their 2007 decision to leave the presidency of the party empty by proclaiming that "Nicolas Sarkozy remains, morally, President of the UMP." Leadership positions within the party and the National Assembly were so closely tied to Sarkozy that politicians began to look elsewhere within their party for leadership. Adrien Durant eventually emerged as the most likely and likable candidate. His rise to power within the UMP was based primarily on his assumption of leadership of the Democratic & Popular faction of the party, which contained many members of his former political party, the Union for French Democracy. He was simultaneously elected the new President of the Union for Popular Movement (UMP) and the President of the National Assembly. Durant immediately set about distancing the party from Sarkozy (who had already been informed he would be declining his right to run for re-election in 2012). His political savvy was attributed to rescuing the UMP during the 2010 regional elections, which had been predicted to go heavily in the favour of the French Socialist Party. With the regional elections behind the party, he began positioning for a prolonged fight with the Socialists during the presidential elections of 2012. Although the executive retained considerable power, Durant's use of the media and natural instinct for political manoeuvring allowed the National Assembly (and the UMP) to take credit for France's economic recovery. Despite their success in steering the country out of the economic crisis and onto the road to recovery, the UMP was still unable to make progressive reforms on immigration, the European Union, social issues and foreign relations. The French Socialist Party took full advantage of the UMP's fumbling of social issues and thrived under the leadership of S?gol?ne Royal. The National Front, relegated to obscurity after Sarkozy's election, surged back on a wave of renewed nationalism fuelled by xenophobia over the 2005 and 2011 race riots. Adrien Durant was put forth as the UMP's candidate in the 2012 presidential election but failed to receive a majority in the initial election in April thanks to the surprising performance of the Socialist and National Front parties. Critics within the UMP blamed Durant's initial performance on his unwillingness to "be political," that is to heavily utilize attack ads and other mudslinging techniques, and his positive sometimes overly cosy relationship with the immigrant community in France. In the runoff election a month later, Durant won the necessary majority in a near repeat of Sarkozy's performance in 2007. Despite UMP efforts to hold off parliamentary elections, the Social and National Front parties pushed for the elections to be held on schedule the month following the presidential election. Determined to "form a government representative for the entire Republic," Durant declined to appoint a Prime Minister and form a government until after the parliamentary elections. The parliamentary elections were hotly contested and saw the UMP lose seats to parties in its own coalition, including the New Centre and Movement for France, as well as to the "United Left" coalition. In the end, Durant's coalition held 300 seats versus the left at 272, led by the Socialist Party's 216 seats. After a week of haggling between party insiders on both sides, Durant was forced by S?gol?ne Royal to accept Felix Desmarais, the most liberal member of the UMP, as the Republic's Prime Minister. Economics The most necessary but politically unpopular measures for economic recovery were taken by Sarkozy prior to his fall from grace. Privatisation of the government's vast holdings in industries across the spectrum were halted completely, and extraordinary amounts of capital were injected into financial institutions, key industries and public spending programmes. While this managed to halt a snowballing recession and for a time seemed to signal that France would pull out of the recession ahead of other countries, the stimulus eventually faltered and finally plateaued. Led by Durant, the National Assembly began to slowly initiate programs to restart privatisation in the hopes of making gains on economic growth. A second, more targeted stimulus package was crafted and instituted by the National Assembly and yielded an estimated growth rate of 1.8% for 2012 through heavy investment in infrastructure, defence and aerospace industries; emphasizing exports to a recovering global economy; and encouraging further economic integration with countries in western Europe. Although still below the 2.1% prior to global economic crisis, it was hailed as a triumph and led in no small part to Durant's increasing popularity. However, the stimulus programs placed France significantly above the euro zone's 3% of GDP debt cap. Additionally, unemployment rates remain a problem, particularly in Paris and its suburbs, and it is clear that France's economy continues to desperately need an entire overhaul to compete in the global marketplace. Social Issues One of the most significant social issues facing the Republic is the ethnic tension caused by immigration. Although the government upheld controls on immigration, the number of immigrants seeking asylum increased during the global economic crisis. The continuing mismanagement of France's ethnic diversity, particularly in and around Paris, has led to a number of race riots in Paris and other large cities. Although it can be considered one of the best healthcare systems in the world, France's health system is in need of reform as far as the State's involvement is concerned. Mismanagement of the social security system (or some might say the lack of management at all) has resulted in a higher GDP cost for healthcare than is incurred by other countries with similar systems. Likewise, the burgeoning social security system has been a concern to some economists. It was expanded by the National Assembly during the economic downturn, adding to an already expanded system created by Sarkozy to address social exclusion. As characterized by most of Sarkozy's administration, the social welfare reforms made to address social exclusion were ultimately unsuccessful and left the problem unresolved. Conservatives claimed they were "wasteful" and even Socialists joined right-wingers in saying the program was "ill-conceived and poorly implemented." The most worrying social development for members of "the establishment" has been the Pandora's box opened by Sarkozy's attempts at altering France's la?cit?, the policy which governs the strict, cultural separation of Church and State. The policy formerly separated the two in the strictest sense, leading to cultural taboos on making public remarks about religious views and open hostility to mixing religion and politics in any way. Sarkozy openly explored the possibility of bringing religion into the public eye throughout his administration, greatly attributing to his declining popularity. However, the crack in the dam begun by the Sarkozy administration has started to grow, although in a surprisingly different direction. A growing number of detractors and supporters of Durant have suggested relaxing the la?cit? policy as a possible solution to tensions with the Muslim community, which generally does not see or support a difference between Church and State, especially following the December 2012 attacks. These groups have pointed to the children of immigrants of the 1960's and 1970's who have struggled to integrate themselves into French society and have turned in increasing numbers to Islam as their identity. Like most politicians of his generation, Durant has remained mum on the subject of any changes of the la?cit? but he has refused to reverse the nominal changes made by Sarkozy, including government subsidies to religious groups for purely secular activities. The new president's legislative record suggests an embrace of conservative secularism as he voted in favour of the 2004 ban on headscarves and other religious symbols in the classroom and he largely supported the recommendations of the earlier Stasi Commission; however, Durant indicated early in his campaign that the Republic "should stand ready at all times and under all conditions to demonstrate flexibility within new global dynamics while striving to preserve our uniquely French way of life." Defence As part of the two stimulus packages, military expenditures in France increased from 2.6% to 3.0% of GDP from 2009 to 2012. The increase has allowed the armed forces to reduce their debt, especially to small & medium enterprises and contractors, and finance the renovation of military facilities in metropolitan France, overseas territories and bases on foreign soil. However, the majority of the increase has gone into accelerating equipment procurement and research & development and increasing France's military equipment exports. Military reforms started under the Chirac and Sarkozy administrations were allowed to carry on by the National Assembly, but President Durant has indicated that they are currently subject to review. The reforms involve transforming the French armed forces from a primary responsibility of defending France's territorial integrity to becoming more fluid and responsive to allow a quick response to terrorist and other destabilizing threats. Durant has indicated that more emphasis will be placed on allowing for rapid overseas deployment and further integration with European forces, and he has also indicated that France will reconsider the "size and structure" of its nuclear deterrent. Foreign Relations An internationalist by career and inclination, French foreign relations are poised to gain from President Durant's administration. His extensive experience in Francophone Africa may help relieve recent tension with North African states over immigration issues and his European federalism credentials should help revive French and European hopes in the future and success of the European Union. The new French administration has already openly questioned Sarkozy's position on becoming a more active member of NATO; Durant favours participation in European security structures over involvement with the North Atlantic organisation. He has been careful to distance himself from the cosy relationship between Sarkozy and the United States, although he privately acknowledges the "unavoidable necessity" of a strong relationship between Europe and the United States, particularly given China's increasing global importance. In Europe, France is poised to continue its policy of entente cordiale with the United Kingdom and exploring further economic and military integration. Sarkozy and Durant both recognized the importance of the "core" of Europe: the Franco-German relationship. Fringe groups in the political establishment continue to complain about the close relationship between the two countries, and they have been joined by more legitimate voices of concern over immigration policy and civil liberties in recent clashes between German police and immigrants. The Durant administration has altogether ignored these criticisms, and the new President followed in Sarkozy's footsteps by visiting his German counterpart on the afternoon of his inauguration. Franco-Ukrainian relations have also become increasingly warm as France works to integrate Ukraine into NATO structures (to the extent that France itself is involved in the structures); Durant has publicly criticized the separatist movement in eastern Ukraine. Close relations are also maintained with Hungary, Ireland, the Baltic States, Poland and Romania. France's involvement in the Middle East has increased over the past few years, thanks to Sarkozy's willingness to use foreign problems to shift focus from his domestic performance. The Republic supported the Lebanese Army in its attempts to disarm Hezbollah, and Durant has indicated that France will "work endlessly" to insure that Lebanon is once again a model beacon of stability and development in the Middle East. France heavily protested the completion of the West Bank barrier, even going so far as to withdraw its Ambassador from Israel for a few days. Durant has signalled his hope for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, although he seems reluctant to drag the Republic into the brawl. Relations with Iran are likely to remain cool over nuclear weapons development. Any priority on North Africa is expected to be placed on hold until domestic immigration issues are addressed. Durant has announced that he intends to make relations with sub-Saharan Africa, particularly with Francophone countries, a hallmark of his administration's foreign policy. Rumours have circulated that France's activity in Africa will be designed largely as a Western bulwark against increasing Chinese involvement and influence, a sort of Chinese Fashoda syndrome. Work will focus on extensive aid programs designed for poverty alleviation; political and other work aimed at shoring up the stability of sub-Sahara African democracies; and cultural and education programs to increase the presence and importance of French language and culture. Outside traditional Francophone countries, relations with South Africa, Sudan, Ethiopia, East Africa (including Tanzania, Kenya & Uganda) and Nigeria have been specifically targeted for improvement. In Asia, the Republic has expressed its desire for strengthened relations with India but they will likely take a back seat to a focus on East Asia. Economic ties with the People's Republic of China continue to accelerate at a rapid pace, especially where aerospace and technology are concerned. Durant has expressed a desire to strengthen cultural ties between the two countries but privately there is a great deal of worry at the ?lys?e about China's growing influence in Africa, particularly where Francophone countries are concerned, and it's militarization. France is keen to capitalize on the good relations established with Japan during the Chirac years and with the Republic of Korea as a deterrent against North Korea (and, possibly, China). More than a passing interest has been noted in moving beyond the healthy diplomatic and cultural ties in order to strengthening military cooperation with both countries. Elements within the Foreign Ministry are pushing improved relations with Francophone countries in Southeast Asia but their relative economic and political unimportance seem to have placed them off the presidential radar. Timeline June 2010: Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) performs better than expected in regional elections thanks to Durant's party leadership. July 2011:?Race riots erupt in Paris after French security forces arrested 4 Algerian men accused of plotting a terrorist action.? Tensions ignite and the demonstrations by non-French people turn the suburbs of Paris and other cities in France into a veritable warzone for a week.? Cars are burnt, small bombs go off, buildings vandalized, and French bystanders attacked. May 2012: Adrien Durant elected President of the French Republic. June 2012: Union for a Popular Movement maintains a narrow majority in the National Assembly and accepts a centre-left parliamentarian as Prime Minister. December 2012: Algerian immigrants attempt to attack the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris with gunfire and grenades as the 1830 Mass celebrated by the Archbishop lets out, killing 70 and wounding 45 children who had just made their First Communion. The perpetrators manage to escape in the chaos. Character Biography Adrien Durant was born April 21, 1950 in the 16th arrondissement of Paris to a wealthy family involved in the textile business. His early life was characterised by frequent trips to Francophonie holdings with his father to consolidate business agreements, which gave him a healthy interest in the workings of the world. His parents set aside their own hopes for their eldest son to inherit the business and fully supported his growing political aspirations, securing him positions in the Lyc?e Louis-Le-Grand, Institut d'?tudes Politiques de Paris and ?cole Nationale d'Administration. His education and the contacts made through his education essentially guaranteed him a high position in government upon graduation. In 1976, he was appointed the Deputy Director for Cultural and Artistic Cooperation in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and spent the majority of his time travelling to Francophone countries. After a brief stint as director of that office, his contacts in West Africa earned his appointments as Ambassador to Senegal, Chad, Tunisia and Mali. In the 1990's he served as the Deputy Director for West Africa, the Africa and Indian Ocean Director and Minister of State for Cooperation and the Francophonie early in the Chirac administration. His resignation was less in protest and more to satisfy his political ambitions. Career diplomats were rarely Presidents or Prime Ministers, so he made the move to the National Assembly in the hopes of boosting his credentials. He followed a strictly centrist philosophy with populist leanings and secured a number of re-elections from his Parisian constituency. A member of Union for French Democracy (UDF) until its merger with Union for a Popular Movement (UMP), like most UDF members Durant strongly supported European federalism. Divorced with two children in secondary school, Durant is generally the embodiment of French charm (and arrogance). His internationalist tendencies and experiences abroad have granted him some flexibility, but his time with the Office of Cultural Cooperation and French Language Promotion has been the hallmark of his career. He is extremely proud of his French heritage but quietly insists, as a small but growing number of politicians do, that France should exhibit some degree of flexibility in making concessions to the diversity of people that live in the Republic. He is an extremely principled man and prefers to leave yielding and negotiation to subordinates. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://esteroic.com/pipermail/war_ooc_esteroic.com/attachments/20090701/b8d3bbb1/attachment-0001.html From john.penta at gmail.com Wed Jul 1 12:50:41 2009 From: john.penta at gmail.com (John Penta) Date: Wed, 1 Jul 2009 12:50:41 -0400 Subject: [War_ooc] A breakdown of the old-fashioned World Report Message-ID: For laughs, basically, I took an old WR and broke it down into its component pieces, trying to document it like one would computer code. I'll include my observations afterward. **** World Alliances and Rivalries World Report: Volume xx <--- Number to advance with each WR For all actions since , advancing the timeline to through . (Point can be game start or last WR, day1 and day14 should be expressed in Month day, year format) United Nations Security Council (Permanent Members): United States, United Kingdom, France, China, Russia United Nations Security Council (Non-Permanent Members as of xx): <--- Ideally, UNSC non-perms will rotate every ? game months on staggered terms. An application to automate the picking of NPC members from sorted regional groups would be nice. Until : Until : Pending UN Security Council Actions: Pending UN General Assembly Actions: United Nations Secretariat: ========================================= ACTION RESPONSES ============================= Countries to be sorted in Alphabetical order. INSERT LONG-NAME HERE =========================== Population Approval: xx% Government Approval: xx% International Favor: xx% Economic Growth: xx% Inflation: xx% Unemployment: xx% ---------------------------- Insert narrative here. ============================ A breakdown of the action response section - John's best guesses at meanings: Population Approval: What it says on the label - approval among the entire population. Nominally honest response to the question "Do you approve or disapprove of how is doing their job?" Approval only shown, disapproval and Don't Know/Refused to Answer percentages not kept. Government Approval: Support of Parliament/Congress, the military, etc. Like with PA, approval only shown, disapproval numbers not kept. International Favor: "Do you have a favorable or unfavorable opinion of ?" Economic Growth: What it says on the tin. Inflation: Consumer price inflation. Unemployment: What it says on the tin. *** John's observations: So there you have it. The classic WR format as used last iteration. Previous formats aren't much different. I had to guess at the meanings of Pop Approval, Government Approval, and International Favor. I dug through the OOC list and IC list archives - nowhere could I find where we definitively decided what they meant for any iteration of the WR. I'm surprised at that fact, to be honest. Much of it, actually, seems fairly workable. I would argue that the person who can randomize and automate the picking of UNSC non-perms would do a great service, but otherwise the topline section seems fit for purpose. The Action Response is naturally where everybody's attention is drawn. Thing is that there is no definition, anywhere, of what most people consider the key numbers in that section - PA, GA, and IF. The economic numbers do what they say on the label; the approval numbers had no definitions. Therre were no guides as to how any of those numbers were to be effected by events - just what a swing meant, just what a number of a certain level meant. Very handy to an extent, but also very frustrating, speaking as a player and a GM. I remember riotous arguments about what, if any, effect they should have (especially for low numbers). *** So what's it all mean? If you want to redesign the WR, go ahead - I will gladly look them over and pick the best format for use. This time, however, including definitions of every field, to be posted to the OOC list on the short term and to whatever we use for a web presence on the long term, should really be seen as a non-optional thing, including just where danger zones for each of the approval numbers lie. What might look obvious at first quickly becomes rather less so when we're actually in play; guessing as to what the numbers mean provokes a lot of arguments. John From vampi.digitalwytch at gmail.com Wed Jul 1 18:13:32 2009 From: vampi.digitalwytch at gmail.com (Vampi Digitalwytch) Date: Wed, 1 Jul 2009 16:13:32 -0600 Subject: [War_ooc] Russia 2013-2014 Message-ID: Russian Federation Head of State: President Anastasia Malevich, MD (Fair Russia) Head of Government: Prime Minister Yuri Federova (Liberal Democratic Party of Russia) Population: 140,041,247 GDP [PPP] = $3.025 trillion Unemployment Rate: 6.2% Economic Growth: 6% -------------------------------------------------------- Political Landscape: The current administration is cautious for the most part, still dealing with the bad memories of Putin's heavy handed to the point of old soviet cracking down on the protests and riots that erupted as the recession worsened. When elections ran, it was highly eventful with gratuitous mudslinging and tabloid bickering to where The united Russia party got tarnished with such tawdry tactics, allowing minority parties to gain a significant foothold in the Duma and allowed for a coalition government to form. Ever regarded as a mess of one kind or another in light of the failures of Communism and Democracy, Mother Russia was due for another sweeping change in light of how hard hit the country was with the most recent recession and the then administration's actions towards dealing with the crisis, this time, turning to the Church for stability and structure. While no clergy has held a political office as of yet, the closest coming being the current president having been the daughter of a popular priest, they do have some input into legislative matters, and they are consulted in issues, the Communists are not pleased but it does make things more palatable, especially the tough times and issues. So far things have been working out, but no one's holding thier breath. President Malevich prior to her politics career had been a doctor and only entered politics to help improve things further for the medical field, and tabloids have reported a past romantic relationship between her and the current Prime Minister, but official and unoffical word is that things ended when they were nominated for their parties for higher position. Economics: The latest recession was just as brutal as the post Soviet one in the 1990s and the wakeup call that regardless of how matters were handled prior, enough was enough. The current president's rather clinical approach has grabbed things by the bootstraps and refocusing towards clearing out the old ways of doing things. While manufacturing industries still flourish, there has been an even greater push towards the high tech industries, and those countries that were formerly under soviet control do receive cost breaks when dealing with Russian owned companies. In addition the gap between the rich and poor is still there, with up and coming Russians living lifestyles of luxury while people starve. While not to the degree it has been in decades past, it is still present. Social Issues: Still dealing with the ghosts of the past, the current administration is trying to finally lay to rest as much as possible to the satisfaction of all parties for everyone to move on to better things. In the pattern of out with the old, there has been an almost brutal crackdown on the issues of Drugs with penalties equal to Thailand's. Criticisms of this policy has been met with the opinion that 'one excises cancer, not encourages it'. Equally, much funds have been allocated for alcoholics treatment and rehabilitation which has seen some success with the drop of a reported 52% of deaths related to a current 38%. The Militias have been strengthened and given teeth in their ability to make arrests and bring drug dealers to trial, though with their deaths all but assured many dealers are fighting it out with the police Heart disease is still the major cause of mortality rates even with the current president's push for promoting exercise and healthy dietary habits. Anti-smoking policies have proven failures (especially with the president failing her most recent attempt to quit) and there has been research put towards development of a 'healthy cigarette' Not much progress has been made but they continue to work, if nothing else for future generations. There has been progress made towards human rights reform, though the Islamic community still reports mistreatment and protests from them have been ignored by the government. Defense: The military reforms originally put through by Defense Minister Anatoliy Serdyukov are still undergoing even with the gripes of the 'old guard' though many former complainants have quieted with the current improvements on efficiency. Mandatory military service of at least 2 years is still in place, the brutality in the Russian training regimen has been lessened somewhat with emphasis being placed on leadership and character building. The Class system of conscription with 4th class soldiers being given the dirty work while first class soldiers are exempt has been tightened up, but there are still issues ongoing. The reforms and streamlining of the officer corps does not make the government friends with higher ranking officers being forced to retire to make way for younger blood or to have their positions streamlined or in some cases eliminated even with incentives given to civilian business to hire former officers. The naval modernization initiative begins, older hulls are being decommissioned and sold for scrap. Foreign Relations: Figured as likely going to be a work in progress for many years to come. Most of the focus tends to be more on fixing problems at home to be an example for the rest of the world. Relations with the former Baltic states continue to be troublesome, along with Eastern Europe mostly remembering the days of the iron curtain and the crackdowns. Old schisms between the Orthodox church and the Vatican have welled up and while on the surface polite, the tension's as thick as borscht. Timeline: 2010:January New Russia Coalition government formed, 2010: March Russian Army reforms begin, pay of soldiers increased 2010: May: Drug crackdown begins, first wave of dealers rounded up and executed after show trials 2011: Russian Navy modernization begins 2012: health initiatives begin with exercise encouraged at all levels and crackdowns on binge drinking. -- --I know there are no lifeguards in the gene pool, but damn, there ought to be at least a few sharks in the water. From john.penta at gmail.com Wed Jul 1 20:23:54 2009 From: john.penta at gmail.com (John Penta) Date: Wed, 1 Jul 2009 20:23:54 -0400 Subject: [War_ooc] Quick status report Message-ID: Okay... With Lisa's submission of Russia, and Bryan's of France, we're now waiting for our British players to speak up...Iain with Canada and Mike Brittain with the UK. There's still plenty of time and no rush whatsoever, but I figure it only fair to mark people complete as they come in. After that comes the prayer that nothing massive happens before July 4th. --- Just a stupid note to make things longer, because a 2 line email feels too short. Because of certain factors, namely a blatant attempt to grab press coverage before the G8 summit, the Vatican has an encyclical...an encyclical, mind you, that's been delayed repeatedly, one which has apparently been sent back for a rewrite at least once due to the global economic crisis...signed by the Pope and all ready to go, that they haven't released yet, and won't til the 6th. Well, that annoys me. For future reference, Caritas in Veritate (which even light Vatican-watchers like me have been waiting for for *a year and a half*) is released in WAR too. It's supposed to be focusing pretty heavily on the global economic crisis (hence the hold-off); if it were an encyclical about something randomly theological, I wouldn't mention it. As is, it might in fact say something explosive, ergo I want to pre-empt the questions if it does...As the Vatican, of all places, blows a hole in my POD. Blatant headline grabby-ness is kinda undignified. It will not be something I aid and abet. John From john.penta at gmail.com Sat Jul 4 00:17:04 2009 From: john.penta at gmail.com (John Penta) Date: Sat, 4 Jul 2009 00:17:04 -0400 Subject: [War_ooc] POD passed Message-ID: As of this message, the Point of Divergence is in the figurative rear-view mirror. What this means: --- As a *general* rule, if it has not hit the media by this point, it most likely didn't happen in WAR. However, there are exceptions to this rule. I already made an exception to allow a potentially significant Vatican document, which had already been signed by the Pope (and hence is technically already doctrine) but not yet released. In analogy: I view the POD as newly-poured concrete. Immediately after pouring, it's still wet and porous. If you find stuff overnight, I'm not going to get picky. Over time, it hardens. I get pickier over time. Similar applies here. It will have fully hardened on July 11. No new things will be allowed in after 0000 EDT on that date. However, until that point, if you find stuff which occurred before POD, it's possible to include it. --- As of this point, we don't have all of the country writeups in. I'm still waiting on Iain and Mike Brittain to turn in profiles to me. Okay. Mike has sent me a message confirming he's alive and working on it; Iain I know is a nurse and works horrific hours. Therefore, I'm not actually displeased - I was hoping we could have everybody done by this point, but we don't, and that's life. We press on regardless. Any posts made prior to the submission and acceptance of that country's writeup will be retracted by the GM, to keep things fair. Otherwise, for everybody else who has sent in their country writeups, well, play for you begins immediately. You can send intro posts to WAR at esteroic.com as you wish; next message to follow this will detail common WAR rules in regards to posting. Play for UK and Canada will begin after I approve their writeups and those writeups are sent to the OOC list. John From john.penta at gmail.com Sat Jul 4 00:23:35 2009 From: john.penta at gmail.com (John Penta) Date: Sat, 4 Jul 2009 00:23:35 -0400 Subject: [War_ooc] WAR Rules: Post Standards Message-ID: Okay...This is being written prior to POD and touched up throughout the day. A lot of this is (or should be) obvious, especially to older players, but I want to state it here so everybody knows, so that nobody can say it was never said - and so that newbies can refer to it later. Please don't reply to the list with comments - I'd like this post to stand out so people can find it. Other posts, similarly entitled "WAR Rules" may add to this post. --- Posts should really be in plain text only (If you use google, there's a button to switch to plain text - otherwise, there's an option in every mailer; check your help files). If it's not, the listserv will strip out the HTML usually (always for the archives) and leave it sometimes looking ugly, sometimes completely unreadable. Sometimes there's no effect at all, but there's no way to tell beforehand. For obvious reasons: Posts should be in English only. This is a text-based medium, so proper spelling and grammar is a must. Not that I'll spike a post for typos, but if I cannot understand a post, I will retract it. I strongly recommend, if at all possible, restricting yourself to characters that are on a US/UK keyboard - I can't guarantee that accented or umlauted characters (to say nothing of more exotic characters) will display at all, either on screens or in the archives. Short uses of (transliterated!) foreign language are okay, but if you think the gist might be misunderstood, include a translation. --- Initially I had this whole thing written up about post content. I'll spare you all from reading it. Suffice to say: Use your brains. We're rated R (If you need what that means explained, let me know), but that's a maximum; if you go beyond PG-13 (excluding if it's just foul language), include warnings for the sake of those players reading from school/work/other public places, out of courtesy if for no other reason. We have -no age minimum- for players. For under-18 players, I will endeavor to carefully explain just what they're getting themselves into. For over-18 players, I will make it simple: Use your head. *Anyone* can read the archives. I would be totally unsurprised if they show up in a Google search (and I have no idea, not being the webmaster, how to prevent that). When in doubt, presume a teenager of around 13 or 14 will stumble onto what we post here. Try not to scar them, okay? --- Keep OOC stuff (including country profiles) to the OOC list from this point forward. IC stuff goes to the IC list. IC stuff that goes to the OOC list will get you laughed at and will not count. OOC stuff that goes to the IC list will just get you laughed at, and if done enough get me annoyed. --- Okay, with that said, on to the specifics. I'm going to require post titles. I know they can be hard to figure out, but they help differentiate when we get a lot of posts. Include an IC date in all of your posts; if posts cover multiple days, okay, just give us clues when they happened. Initially, for intro posts, limited retro-posting (posting that takes us prior to the date of the WR period) will be allowed. After the first WR, it'll only be allowed with my approval, so that timelines can be kept sensible. Please try not to advance -past- the WR period. Secret Actions are preferred for posts that you don't want others to ICly know the gist of. Otherwise: Unless you somehow got bugs in the room ICly, or it's clear through context that it's in public and in earshot, you don't hear the details. This should hopefully allow for more writing generally. Subject lines should look like this (keep in mind that the list inserts [WAR] on all posts to the IC list): "US: Insert Catchy Title Here" or "France: Insert Catchy Title Here" Without the quotes. At the start of your posts, I strongly suggest (but will not require) a format that looks like this: --- "Insert Catchy Title Here" Primary Actor (you can be vague here - using "Assorted people" or something is fine on occasion) Country (or countries, if it's a joint post) IC Date (expressed in any readable format, Gregorian calendar only) - if you need to do flashbacks or other forms of time-manipulation, indicate them somehow in the post. =================== --- Posts should ideally be in third person past, with or without omniscience as you may wish. Third person present is a bit out-of-standard, but also okay if used sparingly. First person will get your post retracted and will cause me to hurt you. First person makes my head hurt. This may seem like an imposition...Well, it is an imposition, but it's one that's needed. --- About actions...I'm going to try a test here. If it's just going to be 'Give speech' or something, don't include it. The Actions Section of your post MUST be backed up by the narrative, but should not solely summarize the narrative. Think of it like really high-level computer code: It tells me what to go back and look at when I'm doing the WR, and it clarifies what exactly you want a post to accomplish. When I'm doing a WR, I am unlikely to have the time to deeply analyze this section: It needs to be clear upon skimming. If I don't understand what a post was meant to accomplish, I'll ask. If I misunderstand it, that's a good clue you need to work on your phrasing. --- Posts should ideally read well. If you're trying to do something confusing, only then should you include stuff beyond the post for me or others to read. Meaning, maybe WAR can break its habit of footnoted posts. --- John From john.penta at gmail.com Sun Jul 5 12:07:18 2009 From: john.penta at gmail.com (John Penta) Date: Sun, 5 Jul 2009 12:07:18 -0400 Subject: [War_ooc] Build a bear? Build a World Report! Message-ID: Yes yes yes, maybe I should do this on my own, but I'm being collegial! Or something. --- Anyhow, the problem I'm facing: I'm trying to think through the World Report from the ground up. Problem is: It's meant to be informative to you the players....And I'm not so sure what you want in the thing. --- Obviously the narrative sections, they're the fundamental point of the bloody thing, but what else? John From iain at iain-waddell.co.uk Sun Jul 5 16:07:13 2009 From: iain at iain-waddell.co.uk (Iain) Date: Sun, 5 Jul 2009 21:07:13 +0100 Subject: [War_ooc] Canada 2013 Message-ID: <2E6D4649E63C4ACF8AE5486852CA27EA@iainw> Canada Head of State: Queen Elizabeth II via Governor General Jeffrey Masterson Head of Government: Prime Minister Chlo? Taylor Population: 34,571,728 GDP (PPP): $1.362 trillion GDP (PPP) per capita: $40,750 Unemployment: 6.8% Economic Growth: 3.1% Political Landscape: Steven Harper?s minority government surpassed all expectations by lasting for a further two years after it?s re-election in 2008. However, between 2009 and 2010 it was plagued by infighting and a handful of very public scandals. Several of the more moderate members of his Conservative party openly questioned his stand on civil liberties such as gay marriage and also his well-documented Christian views. On the other side of the party, more traditional conservatives ? mostly those who had been with the party and its predecessors for years, accused him of becoming more centrist and ignoring some of the party?s right-wing ideals. Rumours of potential leadership challenges were rife throughout this period. The choice of Harper to involve the military in breaking up the race riots in Toronto and Vancouver in November 2009 was largely opposed and condemned as ?overkill? by the opposition. Images of violence from forces in Vancouver were broadcast internationally although the fact these episodes had been in self-defence was largely unreported. As the images faded from national memory, with the exception of the anti-war protesters who maintained a vigil outside the House of Commons, disaster struck. In April 2010, massive flooding and the loss of a major hydroelectric dam in New Brunswick (which led to a period of power loss in the region) reignited the disgruntlement of many citizens. The government was portrayed as unprepared for the event, despite the potential for just such an event to occur for many years previous. Criticism was also levelled at Harper when he was slow to call on military resources during this emergency than during the violence of the previous year. However, many were thankful that the death toll only totted up to double figures with many escaping mostly unscathed. Harper remained strong in his position due to the unyielding support of his cabinet ministers, and he returned this with equal fervour. This ultimately proved to be his downfall when several members of his cabinet (including his Finance Minister) were investigated for accepting ?donations? on behalf of the party from companies seeking government contracts which were never officially declared. The government?s popularity with the people hit an all time low, and an imminent no-confidence motion from the Liberals looked likely to pass in parliament. During the week leading up to the no confidence motion, the Liberals were plagued by several scandals of their own. The party had been accepting donations that broke the Party Funding Reform of two years previous and were forced to apologise and return the donations. Furthermore, the deputy leader and shadow minister for agriculture were linked to deviant sexual practices in several tabloids further weakening the Liberal Party. The no-confidence motion passed in November 2010, and Governor General Michelle Jean dissolved parliament. During the election campaign, both of the main parties immediately began denouncing corruption and promoting family values in a hope to allow the scandals in both parties to be ?swept under the mat?. In the end, the elected members of the House of Commons returned in a more fractured state that ever before in Canadian political history. Having been disillusioned with the main parties, many voters had registered a protest-vote leading to 7 independent MPs being elected, and the Green Party having a decent representation for the first time with 6 MPs. The Bloc Quebecois and New Democrats also increased their overall share of the vote but with little change in representation. The Liberal party came out on top by a narrow margin, and secured their position further by successfully forming a coalition with the Green Party following failed talks with both the Bloc Quebecois and New Democrats. The coalition government was formed under leadership of Prime Minister Michael Ignatief and was plagued by difficulties from the offset. Due to concessions being made to the Green Party to ensure continuation of the coalition, the Liberal party found generating motions to the House of Commons increasingly difficult. Those that were made went through several consultations and revisions more than usual. This was, however, seen as a good thing by the people and gave the Liberals the advantage of being seen as increasingly environmentally and socially aware - their new Emergency Flooding Plan was met with particular enthusiasm given recent events despite having been generated by the Green Party. The First Nation protests of 2011 bring about a large faux-pas, with Ignatief quickly relying on RCMP to intervene and (in his own words) ?stamp out? the violence. It takes intervention from his Culture Minister Jean Chatierre, whom was well liked for previous work with First Nation communities, to personally visit in an attempt to smooth things over. The withdrawal of the RCMP from many communities stimulated First Nationals to take control of the situation themselves, and Chatierre promised to lobby his party to commit to improving conditions for them. A promise that has yet to come to fruition, leaving tensions high despite the lack of actual protesting. During the Nav Canada crisis, Prime Minister Ignatief is unfairly implicated of involvement in a security breach following the arrest of a Parliament Hill technical expert for questioning related to the matter. Both are later cleared but protests of the crisis centre around this issue nonetheless. Ignatief becomes less public-facing and many interviews are now handled by more junior members of his cabinet or even those in the party without portfolios. When ?Operation Dirty Snow? sees the arrest of several MPs from both parties including Cabinet and shadow cabinet ministers for funding violations, bribery in by-elections and outright money-laundering, no-one is surprised by a motion of no-confidence introduced in parliament. What does surprise many is that it comes from former-Minister of Health Chlo? Taylor, who had resigned from the cabinet immediately following the arrest of the 36 MPs. She renounces the behaviour of all involved, and demands the immediate resignation and apology of those guilty along with promises to do her utmost to ensure their punishment to ?the fullest extent of the law?. Whilst her words ring somewhat hollow given her own party?s involvement and the similar scandal of 2010, it does give her the front-runner position for leadership when Michael Ignatief resigns from politics following the dissolution of parliament in May by Governor General Jeffrey Masterson, appointed the year previous. Taylor, after some initial contesting eventually emerges as the only candidate for leadership of the Liberals and despite several protest-resignations over the newcomer, heads up the campaign for re-election of a Liberal government. Having lost several high-ranking members to the Dirty-Snow scandal, the Conservatives are left floundering with in-fighting and several efforts to reshuffle plaguing their campaign. Two months later, the Liberals are re-elected to government and Chlo? Taylor appointed to the Prime Ministership. The Greens, earmarked for a possible continuation in government alongside the Liberals, find themselves with only 1 MP and are shunned by Taylor?s administration leading to further displeasure among her parliamentary colleagues. The Conservatives remain in opposition, and like the Liberals find themselves with surprisingly recovered numbers following an ?only two parties have the potential to govern? campaign. Only a handful of those involved in ?Operation Dirty Snow? find themselves with custodial sentences, most are faced with community service and hefty fines and there are grumbles about Taylor?s ?fullest extent of the law? remarks. The issue is never raised again by Taylor?s administration and her popularity takes a beating. The new government faces its first challenge in the form of Iroquois in Southern Ontario. Taylor initially attempts a peaceful resolution by appearing in the area (albeit under heavy military escort) and meeting with some of the Iroquois leaders to open talks regarding the dispute. An attempted attack on the Prime Minister, however, and subsequent over-reaction of her on-edge escorts leads to the death of two Iroquois and an escalation in the violence in the region. The military is deployed in force amid images reminiscent of the 2010 First Nations nightmare. The Iroquois are placated and a ?peace-keeping? presence is left in the area. Comparisons are made to the subjugation of the Iraqi people in recent years by an occupying force, Conservatives openly question the tactics condoned by the Government. Taylor plays down the incident, and talks more about he fact that the plight of these people is now known nationally and legislation is being planned to aid all First Nation communities to improve living standards and representation. This statement is largely ignored due to the First Nations crisis in 2010 never having been resolved. Towards the end of 2012, attacks on Canadian Muslims and ethnic minority groups throughout the country take place in a seemingly organised fashion. Investigations are commenced into all attacks, and the Taylor Government goes out of its way to condemn them all. However, progress is slow and suspects few leading to accusations of incompetence of both the police forces and the Liberals. Economics: The economic slump of recent years has undoubtedly affected the Canadian economy, with a decline in purchase of luxury goods and therefore the same decline in production of these. However, the country?s ability to be reasonably self-reliant in terms of manufacturing, energy and raw materials has allowed it to ride the wave better that some comparable economies. Growth slowed throughout the credit crunch; however only for a period of 6-8 months in 2010 did the economy actually deflate. The government of the time was applauded for it?s handling of the situation by promoting Canadian-made products and services over those from abroad to assist in maintenance of Canadian employment and to keep money in the country. Despite the best efforts, however, unemployment remains higher than pre-credit crunch. Confidence in government handling of the larger economic situation is at an all-time low following the scandals of 2010 and 2012 involving the same politician who were meant to be looking after public money. Economic growth continues to improve, however, so in real-terms Canada and her government appears to be doing a good job of recovery. Social Issues: First Nation disgruntlement with failed promises of increased standards of living and education continue to threaten to spill over into violence once again. The Government has been slow to act on these promises, and is losing the faith of not just these communities, but a large proportion of voters who have been following the well-publicised incidents of recent years. The resurgence of religion in Canada is unprecedented, with far more Christian Groups seemingly taking extreme positions and much more lobbying of the House of Commons. Pressure is on over issues such as abortion, homosexual rights, teaching of Creationalism, and the setting up of more Christian schools. So far the Liberal government has not caved to pressure as most of the Christian stances are incompatible with party ideals, but questions of whether these groups are beginning to represent a larger percentage of the people of Canada increase the pressure. Quebec remains near the top of every agenda ? with Bloc Quebecois MPs continuously raising the issue of sovereignty (and being continuously shot down) along with demands for continued recognition (and ideally spread) of the French language throughout Canada. Bilingualism is slowly on the rise, however current BQ initiatives centre on compulsory teaching of French throughout the education system. Addressing unemployment has been a very difficult issue of late. With a return to purchasing of luxury goods and services, the service sector is once again growing and government initiatives are aimed at training and promotion of working in these vocations. Defense: Following the withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2011, the Government actually decreased spending in Defense from 1.8% GDP in 2011 to 1.0% in 2012 with money diverted to environmental initiatives and economic recovery. This has increased again to nearer 2% in 2013 with upgrades to outdated equipment and vehicles beginning. Although this has met with resistance from the normal quarters ? the upgrades are generally accepted as a long-term investment - more reliable equipment and weapons will mean less need for expenditure in the future and more money for elsewhere. Foreign Relations: Despite the troubled nature of Canadian internal politics, Canada has maintained a decent international profile with continued participation in UN discussions, peacekeeping forces and joint-nation NATO training manoeuvres. Recent relations with the United States have been minimal, owing to Canada trying to maintain economic independence from American markets during the credit-crunch ? as recovery is underway, however, things may change on this front. Some nations have expressed concern over the recent militant policy of Canada?s Government when dealing with internal matters, and this has damaged relations with nations who, like Canada, refused to participate in the ?illegal? occupation of Iraq. Canada remains committed to peace in the Middle-East and several leaders and cabinet ministers have undertaken visits to the region over the past 4 years. However, as Harper?s government became accused of siding with Israel and the Jewish community, statements have become a lot broader and assistance and support distributed elsewhere within the region. Timeline November 2009: Following several scandals in national media, rumours of potential leadership challenges to Prime Minister Stephen Harper begin. Riots in Toronto and Vancouver against the Muslim community get out of hand and the military is called in ? images of violence from these forces are broadcast internationally. April 2010: Thaws and heavy rainfall lead to widespread flooding and the bursting of the Tinker hydroelectric dam. Power outages and substantial damage coupled with the government being slow to react led to disgruntlement. September-November 2010: Several scandals involving both parties precede a successful no-confidence motion, leading to the dissolution of parliament in November. January 2011: The Liberals form a coalition government with the Green Party amid a decline in voter confidence and with the most fractured House of Commons in Canadian history. Michael Ignatief is appointed Prime Minister. March 2011: Outgoing Governor General Michelle Jean is replaced by Jeffrey Masterson ? a more traditionalist selection that most previous occupants. August 2011: First Nation protestors are outraged at the language used by the Prime Minister and the tactics of the RCMP against what are largely peaceful protests with sparse outbreaks of violence. Somewhat placated by Chatierre?s promised of assistance, the protests dissipate but tensions remain high. November 2011: Nav Canada experiences ?technically difficulties? later found to be caused by hackers. The extent of systems failure is revealed in tabloids along with links of Prime Minister Ignatief, he becomes more reclusive. March 2012: Operation Dirty Snow ? MPs from all parties arrested for various charge of corruption. Chlo? Taylor resigns as Health Minister. April 2012: No confidence motion introduced by Taylor passes in parliament. Both main party leaders resign, several of MPs arrested are found guilty. Taylor named leader of the Liberal party, several Liberal MPs resign in protest. June 2012: Liberal party wins election with a majority, shunning it?s former Green Party partners. Chlo? Taylor appointed Prime Minister. Iroquois clashes with police get out of hand, Taylor visits personally and is attacked, the response leads to the deaths of two Iroquois and military actions. A ?peacekeeping? force is deployed and remains in the area. November 2012-January 2013: Several attacks on Muslim citizens and Christian extremists, Taylor government condemn all. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://esteroic.com/pipermail/war_ooc_esteroic.com/attachments/20090705/bc03b6a9/attachment-0001.html From john.penta at gmail.com Tue Jul 7 12:33:04 2009 From: john.penta at gmail.com (John Penta) Date: Tue, 7 Jul 2009 12:33:04 -0400 Subject: [War_ooc] Activity requirement? Message-ID: Okay, I'm taking a deep breath before writing this. For once, I'm not writing because I'm bored, but because I'm hoping to stop a problem before it starts. Activity requirements, in my experience, inevitably leave people fighting. How strict they should be, how high, etc etc. all cause problems. Thing is, they're also necessary. One of the reasons, possibly the biggest reason, that WAR died last time was simply a lack of activity. That was really everybody's fault, but the fact remains: Activity is a vicious cycle. Thus, I'm going to *propose* an activity requirement, subject to the consensus of the players. Below will be the "official wording", as I plan to post it to a WAR FAQ or similar document. We can argue over this as long as we need to, and what's below is a draft. --- Generally, WAR has a very loose activity requirement: One post every two weeks. A post, to count under this requirement, should use proper grammar and spelling, have a plot, and explore that plot. There is not a strict length requirement - however, as a rule, a post that (in Microsoft Word or OpenOffice Writer) is significantly under one page is particularly short. With all that said, however: How much you get out of WAR works in large part as a function of how much you put into it. Once every two weeks might be sufficient, but is almost guaranteed not to be enough to really "get into" WAR. --- What all that means: Generally, a post is a post. I included the "what counts" in order to be clear to newbies. Once every two weeks is enough not to lose your country. However, nobody currently playing is really a newbie. Every one of you knows that posting more means you get more. I'll be enforcing that. Better posts count for much more than weaker posts, determined subjectively by me, but in the end quantity does tend to have a quality all its own. I'll also be tracking it, in a mail to be sent out alongside the WR optimally but every two weeks most likely. I plan to be liberal on allowing excuses and the like - WAR is a game, after all - but with one caveat: Between any particular excused period, I really want to see posting. Otherwise, it gets into an endless cycle of excuses and never any posting. If someone looks likely to be coasting from excused period to excused period, I'm going to quietly ask them if they can really keep up with WAR. But in the end, the question is yours to consider; Should WAR have an activity requirement? John From john.penta at gmail.com Thu Jul 9 13:06:27 2009 From: john.penta at gmail.com (John Penta) Date: Thu, 9 Jul 2009 13:06:27 -0400 Subject: [War_ooc] Everybody's so quiet... (clarifications included!) Message-ID: Just poking everybody because... ...It's so quiet. My email feels strangely empty. I understand a lot of you are busy with RL - which is okay. I'm talking precisely because it *is* so quiet. (Not to hear myself talk!) With that said, if what has you quiet is writers' block (I hope nobody's lost interest already...), I'm offering myself up as a help - I can write minor characters, I can write major NPCs, I can just plain offer ideas. Contact me privately with post starts if that'll help. I'll get back to you with tags as soon as I can. I understand some people might be confused - okay, I may have messed up in combining everything into one or two posts. Stuff people have been confused by, thanks to Iain in particular for alerting me. I shall now attempt to clarify: 1. Play *began immediately* with POD, presuming your country writeup is in. I don't plan on posting anything to the IC list to mark play start. 2. I *am* allowing posting that occurs prior to January 20th, 2013 in IC Date terms (hereafter called 'retroposting'), but only until the first WR is published - on the condition that your posting advances towards 20 January and sticks to introducing characters, governments, and policies; generally, to "setting things up". Use it for character development - it's a gift for putting up with the resurrection pains and spam of the last month. Save accomplishing objectives (including secret actions) for 20 January and after, up to 3 February, the actual 2 week period currently "in play". This will make the first WR much easier to write. 3. Speaking of the first WR, don't expect it in 2 weeks - Once *it's* published, I hope to settle into an every 2 weeks routine, but I'll publish the first WR once everybody is done with retroposting and has posted actions for me to resolve within the "play window" of 20 January to 3 February 2013. This also gives me time to figure out (hopefully, I'll get help from players...*puppydogeyes*) a good formatting for the WR, including what to include beyond just the actions response. (IE, do people want approval ratings and economic numbers? You all made pretty clear you want the WR; what do you want *in* the WR though?) John From iain at iain-waddell.co.uk Fri Jul 10 07:56:34 2009 From: iain at iain-waddell.co.uk (Iain) Date: Fri, 10 Jul 2009 12:56:34 +0100 Subject: [War_ooc] Activity requirement? In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <4D08F6679DE3415E82506FF30BF1F71F@iainw> I completely agree that a minimum posting requirement would be a good idea. If nothing else it means we have something to get our asses in gear and keep us writing. However, given how WAR usually moves when it gets going, should we not be thinking of a once-weekly requirement rather than one-a-fortnight? It would be easier to keep the game going, keep a tab on players and any potential problems. Of course, being excused for periods when required would still be very much an option. Just my thoughts on the matter Iain Aka Canada -----Original Message----- From: war_ooc-bounces at esteroic.com [mailto:war_ooc-bounces at esteroic.com] On Behalf Of John Penta Sent: 07 July 2009 17:33 To: war_ooc at esteroic.com Subject: [War_ooc] Activity requirement? Okay, I'm taking a deep breath before writing this. For once, I'm not writing because I'm bored, but because I'm hoping to stop a problem before it starts. Activity requirements, in my experience, inevitably leave people fighting. How strict they should be, how high, etc etc. all cause problems. Thing is, they're also necessary. One of the reasons, possibly the biggest reason, that WAR died last time was simply a lack of activity. That was really everybody's fault, but the fact remains: Activity is a vicious cycle. Thus, I'm going to *propose* an activity requirement, subject to the consensus of the players. Below will be the "official wording", as I plan to post it to a WAR FAQ or similar document. We can argue over this as long as we need to, and what's below is a draft. --- Generally, WAR has a very loose activity requirement: One post every two weeks. A post, to count under this requirement, should use proper grammar and spelling, have a plot, and explore that plot. There is not a strict length requirement - however, as a rule, a post that (in Microsoft Word or OpenOffice Writer) is significantly under one page is particularly short. With all that said, however: How much you get out of WAR works in large part as a function of how much you put into it. Once every two weeks might be sufficient, but is almost guaranteed not to be enough to really "get into" WAR. --- What all that means: Generally, a post is a post. I included the "what counts" in order to be clear to newbies. Once every two weeks is enough not to lose your country. However, nobody currently playing is really a newbie. Every one of you knows that posting more means you get more. I'll be enforcing that. Better posts count for much more than weaker posts, determined subjectively by me, but in the end quantity does tend to have a quality all its own. I'll also be tracking it, in a mail to be sent out alongside the WR optimally but every two weeks most likely. I plan to be liberal on allowing excuses and the like - WAR is a game, after all - but with one caveat: Between any particular excused period, I really want to see posting. Otherwise, it gets into an endless cycle of excuses and never any posting. If someone looks likely to be coasting from excused period to excused period, I'm going to quietly ask them if they can really keep up with WAR. But in the end, the question is yours to consider; Should WAR have an activity requirement? John _______________________________________________ War_ooc mailing list War_ooc at esteroic.com http://esteroic.com/mailman/listinfo/war_ooc_esteroic.com From john.penta at gmail.com Fri Jul 10 11:50:58 2009 From: john.penta at gmail.com (John Penta) Date: Fri, 10 Jul 2009 11:50:58 -0400 Subject: [War_ooc] Activity requirement? In-Reply-To: <4D08F6679DE3415E82506FF30BF1F71F@iainw> References: <4D08F6679DE3415E82506FF30BF1F71F@iainw> Message-ID: Well, once every two weeks is because I only plan on releasing the WR every two weeks. (I retain the *option* of doing a weekly WR, hence progressing WAR-time by a week, but I question the feasibility of that. I'm currently confused by what everybody wants to see in the WR, so I don't have a template drawn up.) My hope is that peer pressure will work when the pace of activity steps up. I mean it when I say the success or failure of this incarnation of WAR depends on the playerbase. Collect each other's AIM screen names, poke each other. Keep conversations going, but also try to spur activity by your fellow players. For what its worth, I intend to be fairly liberal in granting excuses to any activity policy - I think, from my end, it's more important that there be one than that it necessarily be strictly enforced. It's meant to provide a guideline - "You broke the activity requirement, you go byebye" is not the idea. More "Hey, man, there is an activity requirement for WAR. Where've you -been-?" It's more meant to be a stick to back up basic courtesy (ie, those people on the Internet do worry about you when you don't say anything for a while; say something so we know you ain't dead!), not a strictly enforced measure. In short, it's more important to deal with cases where someone drops off the face of the internet than when they just don't post much. Not posting much is more important to me when it's done by multiple people, because then I go "What's wrong with the game?" and "Is the game still alive?" Of which I should note, I'll probably ask the latter question at an earlier point than we ever did with WAR prior to its previous demise. It was incredibly demoralizing to see WAR sputter to a stop last time, something which will probably lead me to be a fanatic about activity and general game health this time. John On Fri, Jul 10, 2009 at 7:56 AM, Iain wrote: > I completely agree that a minimum posting requirement would be a good idea. > If nothing else it means we have something to get our asses in gear and keep > us writing. > > However, given how WAR usually moves when it gets going, should we not be > thinking of a once-weekly requirement rather than one-a-fortnight? It would > be easier to keep the game going, keep a tab on players and any potential > problems. Of course, being excused for periods when required would still be > very much an option. > > Just my thoughts on the matter > > Iain > Aka > Canada From john.penta at gmail.com Fri Jul 10 12:36:04 2009 From: john.penta at gmail.com (John Penta) Date: Fri, 10 Jul 2009 12:36:04 -0400 Subject: [War_ooc] Potentially Dumb Ideas Message-ID: Just because today is a slow-ish day for me, I'm going to put out some ideas I've been having. I really want to hear feedback, even (especially) if you think it a dumb idea. In short, I'm pondering a rewards system for accomplishing needed OOC tasks, referring new players (that stick around!), etc. A way to take the load from being completely on my back, and spreading it around. Helps to reduce burnout, and helps to make the game more yours, less mine. Some of this stuff that needs doing falls under "Will make the GM's life easier", some of it will fall under "Stuff that needs to get done anyway that the GM has no clue how to do." My pet name for it at the moment is "Improbability chits", though a better one is certainly welcome: You would still be limited by game balance, probability, and just plain story, but if you were trying to pull off a dramatic action where there's no real clue for me how to decide if it's a success or not, an Improbability chit would enable you to at least a 50/50 shot (versus my typical methods, rolling dice against a somewhat-guided target number or number of hits, which gives a smaller chance). Key point: You would only get a limited number of chits at any one time, and they would expire (after, say, 30 to 90 days). --- If people like the idea, I'll come up with detailed rules of application, but this is how I envision earning and spending would work. Earning would be accomplished by being helpful to the game OOCly: For instance, at this moment, I'd award the best design for a WR template a chit. Similarly, once we get the web presence set up, I plan on going on an ad campaign, wherever I can find (that we fit) on the web. Finding places for me to advertise (note to Lisa: I know about the Yahoo groups - I mean besides that) would be worth a chit if I ascertain posting an ad there is allowable and haven't stumbled upon it before you bring it up - and writing a new Standard Ad (the one I currently use is kinda bleh, I wrote it myself) would be worth one too. Advertising, yourself, would also be worth one - especially if you cross into RL and get us notice from more than the usual PBEM types - you could do this by spreading flyers (after approval from me of the flyer), where you're allowed to, for example. I would measure this by including a "where did you hear about us" question on the join form. Referring new players to WAR would be worth chits if they stick around and are active. (I'd probably set some sort of activity standard for this beyond the minimum activity requirement being mentioned in another thread - as well as cutting off the supply if I felt we were getting too big.) Once we get our web presence up and running (I'm bashing my head on the Wiki every day and not getting anywhere, so I may take up Bryan's offer to help with a Joomla-powered website once he gets back Stateside), adding info to it could be worth rewards in targeted cases (for instance, assembling a WAR FAQ for people who stumble on our web presence). --- Spending (draft rules, I reserve the right to change them for the sake of game balance - and to control "inflation"): Not applicable to tech projects - those are governed more strictly, by notes I keep for myself as to what's possible and plausible, my gut opinion of game balance, and so forth. However, you can privately spend them on virtually any other action you take. If I decide it's a "spendable application", I deduct a chit from your account and switch from dice to a coin at random.org. Chits would expire after a period of time, probably between 2 weeks and 90 days. --- Like I said, it is a potentially dumb idea. If people want to do it, I can do it. If there's no interest, or if it's thought a probably or definitely dumb idea, it's something I can set aside. John From vampi.digitalwytch at gmail.com Fri Jul 10 13:47:58 2009 From: vampi.digitalwytch at gmail.com (Vampi Digitalwytch) Date: Fri, 10 Jul 2009 11:47:58 -0600 Subject: [War_ooc] Activity requirement? In-Reply-To: References: <4D08F6679DE3415E82506FF30BF1F71F@iainw> Message-ID: In my defense, I've been silent since finals started up and the rush rush to get my assorted software training at each of the main hospitals out here since next week starts clinicals for me. At this point, all finals over ( I passed), all computer classes over (aced those), and overall passed with a 91.21%. Today/tonight I'm getting dragged out celebrating, and sunday's going to be prepping for the upcoming longass week so hopefully tomorrow I'll have something posted, well, something after I've gotten up out of the drunken stupor and remedied the hangover....and even more hopefully didn't get hauled in for indecent exposure or some such. On Fri, Jul 10, 2009 at 9:50 AM, John Penta wrote: > Well, once every two weeks is because I only plan on releasing the WR > every two weeks. (I retain the *option* of doing a weekly WR, hence > progressing WAR-time by a week, but I question the feasibility of > that. I'm currently confused by what everybody wants to see in the WR, > so I don't have a template drawn up.) > > My hope is that peer pressure will work when the pace of activity > steps up. I mean it when I say the success or failure of this > incarnation of WAR depends on the playerbase. Collect each other's AIM > screen names, poke each other. Keep conversations going, but also try > to spur activity by your fellow players. > > For what its worth, I intend to be fairly liberal in granting excuses > to any activity policy - I think, from my end, it's more important > that there be one than that it necessarily be strictly enforced. It's > meant to provide a guideline - "You broke the activity requirement, > you go byebye" is not the idea. More "Hey, man, there is an activity > requirement for WAR. Where've you -been-?" It's more meant to be a > stick to back up basic courtesy (ie, those people on the Internet do > worry about you when you don't say anything for a while; say something > so we know you ain't dead!), not a strictly enforced measure. > > In short, it's more important to deal with cases where someone drops > off the face of the internet than when they just don't post much. > > Not posting much is more important to me when it's done by multiple > people, because then I go "What's wrong with the game?" and "Is the > game still alive?" > > Of which I should note, I'll probably ask the latter question at an > earlier point than we ever did with WAR prior to its previous demise. > It was incredibly demoralizing to see WAR sputter to a stop last time, > something which will probably lead me to be a fanatic about activity > and general game health this time. > > John > > On Fri, Jul 10, 2009 at 7:56 AM, Iain wrote: >> I completely agree that a minimum posting requirement would be a good idea. >> If nothing else it means we have something to get our asses in gear and keep >> us writing. >> >> However, given how WAR usually moves when it gets going, should we not be >> thinking of a once-weekly requirement rather than one-a-fortnight? It would >> be easier to keep the game going, keep a tab on players and any potential >> problems. Of course, being excused for periods when required would still be >> very much an option. >> >> Just my thoughts on the matter >> >> Iain >> Aka >> Canada > > _______________________________________________ > War_ooc mailing list > War_ooc at esteroic.com > http://esteroic.com/mailman/listinfo/war_ooc_esteroic.com > -- --I know there are no lifeguards in the gene pool, but damn, there ought to be at least a few sharks in the water. From john.penta at gmail.com Fri Jul 10 13:49:46 2009 From: john.penta at gmail.com (John Penta) Date: Fri, 10 Jul 2009 13:49:46 -0400 Subject: [War_ooc] Activity requirement? In-Reply-To: References: <4D08F6679DE3415E82506FF30BF1F71F@iainw> Message-ID: Which is fine, congratulations. I think we were discussing more the general issue.:) On Fri, Jul 10, 2009 at 1:47 PM, Vampi Digitalwytch wrote: > In my defense, I've been silent since finals started up and the rush > rush to get my assorted software training at each of the main > hospitals out here since next week starts clinicals for me. > > At this point, all finals over ( I passed), all computer classes over > (aced those), and overall passed with a 91.21%. > > Today/tonight I'm getting dragged out celebrating, and sunday's going > to be prepping for the upcoming longass week so hopefully tomorrow > I'll have something posted, well, something after I've gotten up out > of the drunken stupor and remedied the hangover....and even more > hopefully didn't get hauled in for indecent exposure or some such. > > On Fri, Jul 10, 2009 at 9:50 AM, John Penta wrote: >> Well, once every two weeks is because I only plan on releasing the WR >> every two weeks. (I retain the *option* of doing a weekly WR, hence >> progressing WAR-time by a week, but I question the feasibility of >> that. I'm currently confused by what everybody wants to see in the WR, >> so I don't have a template drawn up.) >> >> My hope is that peer pressure will work when the pace of activity >> steps up. I mean it when I say the success or failure of this >> incarnation of WAR depends on the playerbase. Collect each other's AIM >> screen names, poke each other. Keep conversations going, but also try >> to spur activity by your fellow players. >> >> For what its worth, I intend to be fairly liberal in granting excuses >> to any activity policy - I think, from my end, it's more important >> that there be one than that it necessarily be strictly enforced. It's >> meant to provide a guideline - "You broke the activity requirement, >> you go byebye" is not the idea. More "Hey, man, there is an activity >> requirement for WAR. Where've you -been-?" It's more meant to be a >> stick to back up basic courtesy (ie, those people on the Internet do >> worry about you when you don't say anything for a while; say something >> so we know you ain't dead!), not a strictly enforced measure. >> >> In short, it's more important to deal with cases where someone drops >> off the face of the internet than when they just don't post much. >> >> Not posting much is more important to me when it's done by multiple >> people, because then I go "What's wrong with the game?" and "Is the >> game still alive?" >> >> Of which I should note, I'll probably ask the latter question at an >> earlier point than we ever did with WAR prior to its previous demise. >> It was incredibly demoralizing to see WAR sputter to a stop last time, >> something which will probably lead me to be a fanatic about activity >> and general game health this time. >> >> John >> >> On Fri, Jul 10, 2009 at 7:56 AM, Iain wrote: >>> I completely agree that a minimum posting requirement would be a good idea. >>> If nothing else it means we have something to get our asses in gear and keep >>> us writing. >>> >>> However, given how WAR usually moves when it gets going, should we not be >>> thinking of a once-weekly requirement rather than one-a-fortnight? It would >>> be easier to keep the game going, keep a tab on players and any potential >>> problems. Of course, being excused for periods when required would still be >>> very much an option. >>> >>> Just my thoughts on the matter >>> >>> Iain >>> Aka >>> Canada >> >> _______________________________________________ >> War_ooc mailing list >> War_ooc at esteroic.com >> http://esteroic.com/mailman/listinfo/war_ooc_esteroic.com >> > > > > -- > --I know there are no lifeguards in the gene pool, but damn, there > ought to be at least a few sharks in the water. > > _______________________________________________ > War_ooc mailing list > War_ooc at esteroic.com > http://esteroic.com/mailman/listinfo/war_ooc_esteroic.com > From vampi.digitalwytch at gmail.com Fri Jul 10 13:57:22 2009 From: vampi.digitalwytch at gmail.com (Vampi Digitalwytch) Date: Fri, 10 Jul 2009 11:57:22 -0600 Subject: [War_ooc] Activity requirement? In-Reply-To: References: <4D08F6679DE3415E82506FF30BF1F71F@iainw> Message-ID: I more or less thought the posting requirement was well known, and for the major countries it was set a bit higher as a just cause thing. In light of where most of us are in RL, I agree with Iain that at least a once a week post is a great idea. >From what I've seen with all my time in WAR is generally when we do the posts and get to where we need a WR or just an email letting us know what went through or not, that's generally where we start to stumble and then things start snowballing from there. I think if we manage a trial of at least once a week posts and all, the WR won't be too overwhelming to get cranked out and we'll keep an even flow so nothing gets skipped or whathaveya. If the 1x a week seems too slow, we can always adjust around to see what works for us as a group. On Fri, Jul 10, 2009 at 11:49 AM, John Penta wrote: > Which is fine, congratulations. I think we were discussing more the > general issue.:) > > On Fri, Jul 10, 2009 at 1:47 PM, Vampi > Digitalwytch wrote: >> In my defense, I've been silent since finals started up and the rush >> rush to get my assorted software training at each of the main >> hospitals out here since next week starts clinicals for me. >> >> At this point, all finals over ( I passed), all computer classes over >> (aced those), and overall passed with a 91.21%. >> >> Today/tonight I'm getting dragged out celebrating, and sunday's going >> to be prepping for the upcoming longass week so hopefully tomorrow >> I'll have something posted, well, something after I've gotten up out >> of the drunken stupor and remedied the hangover....and even more >> hopefully didn't get hauled in for indecent exposure or some such. >> >> On Fri, Jul 10, 2009 at 9:50 AM, John Penta wrote: >>> Well, once every two weeks is because I only plan on releasing the WR >>> every two weeks. (I retain the *option* of doing a weekly WR, hence >>> progressing WAR-time by a week, but I question the feasibility of >>> that. I'm currently confused by what everybody wants to see in the WR, >>> so I don't have a template drawn up.) >>> >>> My hope is that peer pressure will work when the pace of activity >>> steps up. I mean it when I say the success or failure of this >>> incarnation of WAR depends on the playerbase. Collect each other's AIM >>> screen names, poke each other. Keep conversations going, but also try >>> to spur activity by your fellow players. >>> >>> For what its worth, I intend to be fairly liberal in granting excuses >>> to any activity policy - I think, from my end, it's more important >>> that there be one than that it necessarily be strictly enforced. It's >>> meant to provide a guideline - "You broke the activity requirement, >>> you go byebye" is not the idea. More "Hey, man, there is an activity >>> requirement for WAR. Where've you -been-?" It's more meant to be a >>> stick to back up basic courtesy (ie, those people on the Internet do >>> worry about you when you don't say anything for a while; say something >>> so we know you ain't dead!), not a strictly enforced measure. >>> >>> In short, it's more important to deal with cases where someone drops >>> off the face of the internet than when they just don't post much. >>> >>> Not posting much is more important to me when it's done by multiple >>> people, because then I go "What's wrong with the game?" and "Is the >>> game still alive?" >>> >>> Of which I should note, I'll probably ask the latter question at an >>> earlier point than we ever did with WAR prior to its previous demise. >>> It was incredibly demoralizing to see WAR sputter to a stop last time, >>> something which will probably lead me to be a fanatic about activity >>> and general game health this time. >>> >>> John >>> >>> On Fri, Jul 10, 2009 at 7:56 AM, Iain wrote: >>>> I completely agree that a minimum posting requirement would be a good idea. >>>> If nothing else it means we have something to get our asses in gear and keep >>>> us writing. >>>> >>>> However, given how WAR usually moves when it gets going, should we not be >>>> thinking of a once-weekly requirement rather than one-a-fortnight? It would >>>> be easier to keep the game going, keep a tab on players and any potential >>>> problems. Of course, being excused for periods when required would still be >>>> very much an option. >>>> >>>> Just my thoughts on the matter >>>> >>>> Iain >>>> Aka >>>> Canada >>> -- --I know there are no lifeguards in the gene pool, but damn, there ought to be at least a few sharks in the water. From iain at iain-waddell.co.uk Fri Jul 10 18:13:50 2009 From: iain at iain-waddell.co.uk (Iain) Date: Fri, 10 Jul 2009 23:13:50 +0100 Subject: [War_ooc] Activity requirement? In-Reply-To: References: <4D08F6679DE3415E82506FF30BF1F71F@iainw> Message-ID: <53D81298197C42C6A19EE57487C85B1C@iainw> Only indecent exposure? You're clearly not expecting a very good night ;) As for what we expect from the world report, I did quite like how it was.... -----Original Message----- From: war_ooc-bounces at esteroic.com [mailto:war_ooc-bounces at esteroic.com] On Behalf Of Vampi Digitalwytch Sent: 10 July 2009 18:57 To: war_ooc at esteroic.com Subject: Re: [War_ooc] Activity requirement? I more or less thought the posting requirement was well known, and for the major countries it was set a bit higher as a just cause thing. In light of where most of us are in RL, I agree with Iain that at least a once a week post is a great idea. >From what I've seen with all my time in WAR is generally when we do the posts and get to where we need a WR or just an email letting us know what went through or not, that's generally where we start to stumble and then things start snowballing from there. I think if we manage a trial of at least once a week posts and all, the WR won't be too overwhelming to get cranked out and we'll keep an even flow so nothing gets skipped or whathaveya. If the 1x a week seems too slow, we can always adjust around to see what works for us as a group. On Fri, Jul 10, 2009 at 11:49 AM, John Penta wrote: > Which is fine, congratulations. I think we were discussing more the > general issue.:) > > On Fri, Jul 10, 2009 at 1:47 PM, Vampi > Digitalwytch wrote: >> In my defense, I've been silent since finals started up and the rush >> rush to get my assorted software training at each of the main >> hospitals out here since next week starts clinicals for me. >> >> At this point, all finals over ( I passed), all computer classes over >> (aced those), and overall passed with a 91.21%. >> >> Today/tonight I'm getting dragged out celebrating, and sunday's going >> to be prepping for the upcoming longass week so hopefully tomorrow >> I'll have something posted, well, something after I've gotten up out >> of the drunken stupor and remedied the hangover....and even more >> hopefully didn't get hauled in for indecent exposure or some such. >> >> On Fri, Jul 10, 2009 at 9:50 AM, John Penta wrote: >>> Well, once every two weeks is because I only plan on releasing the WR >>> every two weeks. (I retain the *option* of doing a weekly WR, hence >>> progressing WAR-time by a week, but I question the feasibility of >>> that. I'm currently confused by what everybody wants to see in the WR, >>> so I don't have a template drawn up.) >>> >>> My hope is that peer pressure will work when the pace of activity >>> steps up. I mean it when I say the success or failure of this >>> incarnation of WAR depends on the playerbase. Collect each other's AIM >>> screen names, poke each other. Keep conversations going, but also try >>> to spur activity by your fellow players. >>> >>> For what its worth, I intend to be fairly liberal in granting excuses >>> to any activity policy - I think, from my end, it's more important >>> that there be one than that it necessarily be strictly enforced. It's >>> meant to provide a guideline - "You broke the activity requirement, >>> you go byebye" is not the idea. More "Hey, man, there is an activity >>> requirement for WAR. Where've you -been-?" It's more meant to be a >>> stick to back up basic courtesy (ie, those people on the Internet do >>> worry about you when you don't say anything for a while; say something >>> so we know you ain't dead!), not a strictly enforced measure. >>> >>> In short, it's more important to deal with cases where someone drops >>> off the face of the internet than when they just don't post much. >>> >>> Not posting much is more important to me when it's done by multiple >>> people, because then I go "What's wrong with the game?" and "Is the >>> game still alive?" >>> >>> Of which I should note, I'll probably ask the latter question at an >>> earlier point than we ever did with WAR prior to its previous demise. >>> It was incredibly demoralizing to see WAR sputter to a stop last time, >>> something which will probably lead me to be a fanatic about activity >>> and general game health this time. >>> >>> John >>> >>> On Fri, Jul 10, 2009 at 7:56 AM, Iain wrote: >>>> I completely agree that a minimum posting requirement would be a good idea. >>>> If nothing else it means we have something to get our asses in gear and keep >>>> us writing. >>>> >>>> However, given how WAR usually moves when it gets going, should we not be >>>> thinking of a once-weekly requirement rather than one-a-fortnight? It would >>>> be easier to keep the game going, keep a tab on players and any potential >>>> problems. Of course, being excused for periods when required would still be >>>> very much an option. >>>> >>>> Just my thoughts on the matter >>>> >>>> Iain >>>> Aka >>>> Canada >>> -- --I know there are no lifeguards in the gene pool, but damn, there ought to be at least a few sharks in the water. _______________________________________________ War_ooc mailing list War_ooc at esteroic.com http://esteroic.com/mailman/listinfo/war_ooc_esteroic.com From john.penta at gmail.com Sat Jul 11 11:41:36 2009 From: john.penta at gmail.com (John Penta) Date: Sat, 11 Jul 2009 11:41:36 -0400 Subject: [War_ooc] Activity requirement? In-Reply-To: <53D81298197C42C6A19EE57487C85B1C@iainw> References: <4D08F6679DE3415E82506FF30BF1F71F@iainw> <53D81298197C42C6A19EE57487C85B1C@iainw> Message-ID: *Clears throat* Let's not scar the teenage lurker.:) I've already posted ads with every 2 weeks as the listed frequency - As those expire, I can look into upping it to once a week. There's an element of "Oh really? Prove it." in my head re claims you all can meet once a week - and frankly, significant questions as to whether I could get out a quality WR every week. So far as the format of the WR goes - here are my problems: 1. I am annoyed that there is no consistent definition of the approval numbers. Just how the heck you decide what Government Approval means, or Popular Approval, caused rampaging arguments last time. (Here's practically a Zen koan I had to ponder: Is Popular Approval what people honestly think, or what they're willing to say?) And yet I do not feel that it's something I should just decree as GM. (We'll leave aside how they break down, too.) 2. Trying to CALCULATE inflation is what I'd be required to do. I have no idea how to do this. 3. Figuring out effects. Oh, the unholy hell that erupts when it tries to be decided what happens when your Popular Approval or IF is in the 20s. The player at issue will naturally argue "no effects!"; meanwhile it all becomes faintly meaningless unless you get the effects right. So, in short: 1. Before I require once a week, I want the playerbase as a whole to prove it can -do- once a week. Not just some of you - for sanity's sake, I'm keeping to one activity standard regardless of country played - but all of you. 2. I need help drawing up a pretty-looking, useful, readable template for the WR. Including definitions on the numbers. 3. I need help figuring out how to decide inflation for each currency in play. John On Fri, Jul 10, 2009 at 6:13 PM, Iain wrote: > Only indecent exposure? You're clearly not expecting a very good night ;) > > As for what we expect from the world report, I did quite like how it was.... From dylandv at gmail.com Sat Jul 11 19:08:06 2009 From: dylandv at gmail.com (Dylan de Valk) Date: Sat, 11 Jul 2009 19:08:06 -0400 Subject: [War_ooc] Activity requirement? In-Reply-To: References: <4D08F6679DE3415E82506FF30BF1F71F@iainw> <53D81298197C42C6A19EE57487C85B1C@iainw> Message-ID: <763946e70907111608j17b47020gde05eadbbe1d1a14@mail.gmail.com> ok well regarding inflation: the faster an economy is growing, the higher the inflation. when an economy is struggling, there is little pressure to increase production which means little to no inflation. If you want an economy to grow fast, lower interest rates. but by lowing the central bank's key interest rate, you encourage inflation as a side effect of growth. the perfect inflation rate is around 2-3%. any higher, and prices spiral out of control as the economy heats up too much. any lower, and you are facing economic stagnation and deflation. the way our free market system is setup, inflation is a natural by-product, which while controllable, cannot be eliminated without reforms. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://esteroic.com/pipermail/war_ooc_esteroic.com/attachments/20090711/96b3ccde/attachment.html From ssiruuk25 at yahoo.com Sat Jul 11 20:42:59 2009 From: ssiruuk25 at yahoo.com (Dan Garcia) Date: Sat, 11 Jul 2009 17:42:59 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [War_ooc] Activity requirement? In-Reply-To: <763946e70907111608j17b47020gde05eadbbe1d1a14@mail.gmail.com> References: <4D08F6679DE3415E82506FF30BF1F71F@iainw> <53D81298197C42C6A19EE57487C85B1C@iainw> <763946e70907111608j17b47020gde05eadbbe1d1a14@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <925065.35938.qm@web65614.mail.ac4.yahoo.com> Inflation is not caused by growth or vice versa. The line of reasoning you proposed would imply that the economic conditions of the 1970's were impossible, when there was little growth and lots of inflation. Inflation is caused by the supply of money increasing faster than the supply of goods and services and is thus solely a matter of monetary policy. Now, it is often true that periods of growth coincide with periods of fast monetary growth (because the use of credit increases to support and extend the economic growth). Growth and inflation can influence each other, but are not linked all that strongly. That being said, to actually judge the inflation rate based on player activity in any rigorous way would be difficult as those policies which can lead to inflation often have caveats. For instance, running fiscal deficits can cause inflation if the central bank ends up buying the debt (T-bills, etc), e.g. monetizes the debt. This does not happen very often (though it *is* happening at the current time, leading many people [myself included] to fear that in a year or two we will see a big inflation) as most of the time there are plenty of investors willing to buy the debt (but the more investors spend on debt, the less they have to invest elsewhere in the economy, lowering growth, making "stimulus packages" which rely on big debt issuances an iffy business unlikely to provide benefits as large as often expounded by politicians...). Other policies which encourage (or discourage) inflation have similar caveats and subtleties. My advice on the subject would be to wing it. Use it for game balance, use it to keep people from running gigantic deficits, or so on. Inflation in practice is slippery enough to give the GM a lot of freedom. But for the most part, unless someone is doing really weird or crazy things economically it should be in the 2-4% range, fluctuating with the rate of economic growth. Anyway, my two cents. Dan Garcia ________________________________ From: Dylan de Valk To: war_ooc at esteroic.com Sent: Saturday, July 11, 2009 7:08:06 PM Subject: Re: [War_ooc] Activity requirement? ok well regarding inflation: the faster an economy is growing, the higher the inflation. when an economy is struggling, there is little pressure to increase production which means little to no inflation. If you want an economy to grow fast, lower interest rates. but by lowing the central bank's key interest rate, you encourage inflation as a side effect of growth. the perfect inflation rate is around 2-3%. any higher, and prices spiral out of control as the economy heats up too much. any lower, and you are facing economic stagnation and deflation. the way our free market system is setup, inflation is a natural by-product, which while controllable, cannot be eliminated without reforms. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://esteroic.com/pipermail/war_ooc_esteroic.com/attachments/20090711/0b27de88/attachment.html From john.penta at gmail.com Sat Jul 11 20:46:39 2009 From: john.penta at gmail.com (John Penta) Date: Sat, 11 Jul 2009 20:46:39 -0400 Subject: [War_ooc] Activity requirement? In-Reply-To: <925065.35938.qm@web65614.mail.ac4.yahoo.com> References: <4D08F6679DE3415E82506FF30BF1F71F@iainw> <53D81298197C42C6A19EE57487C85B1C@iainw> <763946e70907111608j17b47020gde05eadbbe1d1a14@mail.gmail.com> <925065.35938.qm@web65614.mail.ac4.yahoo.com> Message-ID: Snipping away the argument between Dylan and Dan...Yes, I've decided how I'm going to handle the inflation issue: Starting values will be those from the CIA world factbook for each country. After that, I'll play it by ear in adjusting up or down. John On Sat, Jul 11, 2009 at 8:42 PM, Dan Garcia wrote: > That being said, to actually judge the inflation rate based on player > activity in any rigorous way would be difficult as those policies which can > lead to inflation often have caveats.? For instance, running fiscal deficits > can cause inflation if the central bank ends up buying the debt (T-bills, > etc), e.g. monetizes the debt.? This does not happen very often (though it > *is* happening at the current time, leading many people [myself included] to > fear that in a year or two we will see a big inflation) as most of the time > there are plenty of investors willing to buy the debt (but the more > investors spend on debt, the less they have to invest elsewhere in the > economy, lowering growth, making "stimulus packages" which rely on big debt > issuances an iffy business unlikely to provide benefits as large as often > expounded by politicians...).? Other policies which encourage (or > discourage) inflation have similar caveats and subtleties. > > My advice on the subject would be to wing it.? Use it for game balance, use > it to keep people from running gigantic deficits, or so on.? Inflation in > practice is slippery enough to give the GM a lot of freedom.? But for the > most part, unless someone is doing really weird or crazy things economically > it should be in the 2-4% range, fluctuating with the rate of economic > growth. > > Anyway, my two cents. From john.penta at gmail.com Sun Jul 12 11:48:46 2009 From: john.penta at gmail.com (John Penta) Date: Sun, 12 Jul 2009 11:48:46 -0400 Subject: [War_ooc] Just showing I'm not idle... Message-ID: Nothing deeply important today. Like the subject hints at, part of this is your GM trying to not be idle, and also I want to keep people up to date. Here's where we lay: --- Right now, of 9 potential players: 3 have completed what I'm dubbing "the entry process": their writeups are completed and posted, and their first post is in. This is Mike Downey, Dylan, and Iain, with Mike Downey coming in with the first post of Resurrected WAR. Will there be a prize for that? I don't know. 5 have writeups completed and posted, but don't have their first post in. This is essentially everybody else. This fact is actually making me anxious, as the first post came in a week ago. Momentum, to my puny mind, matters. 1 is still working on their writeup. I'm sure you can guess who. No, this is not meant to be subtle pressure - it's meant to be unsubtle pressure.:) Thusfar, nobody's taken up the retroposting option - fair enough, though I'm leaving it on the table for whomever wants to. --- I have the economic side of the WR all done - My next task is considering ''do we want to include certain commodity prices'; if we do, I have to dig up pricing data, pick which price to use, and figure out how the devil to manipulate it. (Thusfar, I'm only pondering including gold and oil. Are there other commodities I should track in the WR?) I will leave the approvals side of the WR until it's basically time to write action responses, since they're linked. --- I won't start serious work on the WR until everybody has their first post in. Hopefully, I'll get more than one post from everybody! --- On that note: Like I mentioned in the activity requirement thread: *Currently*, the minimum is going to be once every 2 weeks. I know there's some argument it should be once a week, but I want to see you all make that threshold before I apply it to true newbies. --- Speaking of newbies: We don't have any yet. See my post 'Potentially Dumb Ideas' on the OOC list for multiple ideas in that regard which I really want comment on. Which makes it a good time to plan for the process if we do get any! --- Question I'm considering when it comes to newbies, which I'd really like to have answered: Do people still want there to be an entrance quiz? If yes, a second question: Should it be the same quiz as currently is posted at war.dagarcia.net/join.htm? --- Here's how I see the process working from here on out: 1. first contact - The newbie first gets in contact with me (primarily). I try to answer their questions. 2. If we choose to do an entry quiz and the newbie expresses interest in joining, I send them the entry quiz. If we choose not to (or if the player indicates they previously have played WAR; I'll skip it if I even vaguely recall them or can find someone who does), I send another kind of app form, collecting name, email, and top three country choices, and noting that getting AIM is recommended (though not required). 3. After the entry quiz comes back, I grade it. If there is no entry quiz, skip to step 4. If there's no response within one week (7 days as measured by gmail), I "expire" it and set it aside - of course, if the newbie eventually sends back something, I'm happy to work with them. 4. I assign country and send the template for the country writeups, as well as signing the newbie up to the WAR and WAR_OOC lists and introducing them on the OOC list. 5. Country writeup comes back. I look it over and either suggest improvements or tell the newbie to post it to the OOC list. Like at step 3, there's a lifespan of one week where I want to at least hear something. If I suggest improvements, repeat this step until we're both happy. 6. Newbie writes their intro post - as this will be occurring after play has begun, I'll look over the intro posts to make sure they don't conflict with what's already been established, and as a courtesy I'll try to help them put their best foot forward generally. Like at step 5, I'll be attaching a lifespan to this. 7. Once the intro post is done and any conflicts with game-reality are resolved, I ask them to post it to the list. In short: If a newbie is focused and clued-in, it should be perfectly possible to go from just stumbling upon WAR to being a full player in under 72 hours. Most people will take longer - which is fine. --- Any qualms or quibbles with that? John From dylandv at gmail.com Tue Jul 14 11:29:39 2009 From: dylandv at gmail.com (Dylan de Valk) Date: Tue, 14 Jul 2009 11:29:39 -0400 Subject: [War_ooc] Activity requirement? In-Reply-To: References: <53D81298197C42C6A19EE57487C85B1C@iainw> <763946e70907111608j17b47020gde05eadbbe1d1a14@mail.gmail.com> <925065.35938.qm@web65614.mail.ac4.yahoo.com> Message-ID: <763946e70907140829l28d0295fr4477a435371b7fe7@mail.gmail.com> hardly an argument, john. in fact it was interesting to read what dan had to say. i have no choice but to agree. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://esteroic.com/pipermail/war_ooc_esteroic.com/attachments/20090714/5edca02a/attachment.html From bgtribble at gmail.com Wed Jul 15 05:32:00 2009 From: bgtribble at gmail.com (Bryan Tribble) Date: Wed, 15 Jul 2009 12:32:00 +0300 Subject: [War_ooc] Potentially Dumb Ideas In-Reply-To: Message-ID: John, could you give some examples where this idea might apply? For instance, country X is trying to do Y and this "improbability chit" would be helpful. I think I'm not understanding the concept very well yet. Bryan G. Tribble Development Director Chipua Institute for Social Transformation P.O. Box 105650 Dar es Salaam, Tanzania +255 786 522 984 (Mobile) http://www.chipua.org From: John Penta Reply-To: Date: Fri, 10 Jul 2009 12:36:04 -0400 To: Subject: [War_ooc] Potentially Dumb Ideas Just because today is a slow-ish day for me, I'm going to put out some ideas I've been having. I really want to hear feedback, even (especially) if you think it a dumb idea. In short, I'm pondering a rewards system for accomplishing needed OOC tasks, referring new players (that stick around!), etc. A way to take the load from being completely on my back, and spreading it around. Helps to reduce burnout, and helps to make the game more yours, less mine. Some of this stuff that needs doing falls under "Will make the GM's life easier", some of it will fall under "Stuff that needs to get done anyway that the GM has no clue how to do." My pet name for it at the moment is "Improbability chits", though a better one is certainly welcome: You would still be limited by game balance, probability, and just plain story, but if you were trying to pull off a dramatic action where there's no real clue for me how to decide if it's a success or not, an Improbability chit would enable you to at least a 50/50 shot (versus my typical methods, rolling dice against a somewhat-guided target number or number of hits, which gives a smaller chance). Key point: You would only get a limited number of chits at any one time, and they would expire (after, say, 30 to 90 days). --- If people like the idea, I'll come up with detailed rules of application, but this is how I envision earning and spending would work. Earning would be accomplished by being helpful to the game OOCly: For instance, at this moment, I'd award the best design for a WR template a chit. Similarly, once we get the web presence set up, I plan on going on an ad campaign, wherever I can find (that we fit) on the web. Finding places for me to advertise (note to Lisa: I know about the Yahoo groups - I mean besides that) would be worth a chit if I ascertain posting an ad there is allowable and haven't stumbled upon it before you bring it up - and writing a new Standard Ad (the one I currently use is kinda bleh, I wrote it myself) would be worth one too. Advertising, yourself, would also be worth one - especially if you cross into RL and get us notice from more than the usual PBEM types - you could do this by spreading flyers (after approval from me of the flyer), where you're allowed to, for example. I would measure this by including a "where did you hear about us" question on the join form. Referring new players to WAR would be worth chits if they stick around and are active. (I'd probably set some sort of activity standard for this beyond the minimum activity requirement being mentioned in another thread - as well as cutting off the supply if I felt we were getting too big.) Once we get our web presence up and running (I'm bashing my head on the Wiki every day and not getting anywhere, so I may take up Bryan's offer to help with a Joomla-powered website once he gets back Stateside), adding info to it could be worth rewards in targeted cases (for instance, assembling a WAR FAQ for people who stumble on our web presence). --- Spending (draft rules, I reserve the right to change them for the sake of game balance - and to control "inflation"): Not applicable to tech projects - those are governed more strictly, by notes I keep for myself as to what's possible and plausible, my gut opinion of game balance, and so forth. However, you can privately spend them on virtually any other action you take. If I decide it's a "spendable application", I deduct a chit from your account and switch from dice to a coin at random.org. Chits would expire after a period of time, probably between 2 weeks and 90 days. --- Like I said, it is a potentially dumb idea. If people want to do it, I can do it. If there's no interest, or if it's thought a probably or definitely dumb idea, it's something I can set aside. John _______________________________________________ War_ooc mailing list War_ooc at esteroic.com http://esteroic.com/mailman/listinfo/war_ooc_esteroic.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://esteroic.com/pipermail/war_ooc_esteroic.com/attachments/20090715/87236382/attachment.html From bgtribble at gmail.com Wed Jul 15 05:35:59 2009 From: bgtribble at gmail.com (Bryan Tribble) Date: Wed, 15 Jul 2009 12:35:59 +0300 Subject: [War_ooc] Activity requirement? In-Reply-To: <763946e70907140829l28d0295fr4477a435371b7fe7@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: My own person hope is that the inflation rates & other complex kinds of factors aren't going to have an extraordinary impact on game play (beyond something reasonable). I say this because I hate economics. I understand it on a base level but the more we get into the minutiae of things (let's face it, we're not REAL world leaders!) the less fun things start to become for me. I like to put in a degree of thought into posts but I worry that the more complicated we make it the more time consuming it becomes. And if it becomes too much then we may suffer from a lack of activity and new people might be overwhelmed. Bryan G. Tribble Development Director Chipua Institute for Social Transformation P.O. Box 105650 Dar es Salaam, Tanzania +255 786 522 984 (Mobile) http://www.chipua.org From: Dylan de Valk Reply-To: Date: Tue, 14 Jul 2009 11:29:39 -0400 To: Subject: Re: [War_ooc] Activity requirement? hardly an argument, john.? in fact it was interesting to read what dan had to say.? i have no choice but to agree. _______________________________________________ War_ooc mailing list War_ooc at esteroic.com http://esteroic.com/mailman/listinfo/war_ooc_esteroic.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://esteroic.com/pipermail/war_ooc_esteroic.com/attachments/20090715/5a4bfb96/attachment.html From bgtribble at gmail.com Wed Jul 15 05:51:52 2009 From: bgtribble at gmail.com (Bryan Tribble) Date: Wed, 15 Jul 2009 12:51:52 +0300 Subject: [War_ooc] Build a bear? Build a World Report! In-Reply-To: Message-ID: >From a content point of view, I think we should keep it as simple as possible since we're expecting one person to handle it all. As far as I'm concerned the report style used in the past is just fine. It's nice to know who's who in the United Nations, but has it been used very much in the past? We used to use it quite a bit but I don't know if that's continued. The indicators for each country are nice to have but as John pointed out the narrative portion is what everyone wants. I wouldn't necessarily support adding anything to the World Report but I'm sure there's some kind of way we can streamline the process. I imagine the narrative portion is the most difficult & time-consuming to write but that's where we all like to see detail. I wouldn't necessarily be bothered by removing the indicators in favour of more focus on the narrative portion. But as for any kind of fundamental change, I'm at a total loss! Bryan G. Tribble Development Director Chipua Institute for Social Transformation P.O. Box 105650 Dar es Salaam, Tanzania +255 786 522 984 (Mobile) http://www.chipua.org From: John Penta Reply-To: Date: Sun, 5 Jul 2009 12:07:18 -0400 To: Subject: [War_ooc] Build a bear? Build a World Report! Yes yes yes, maybe I should do this on my own, but I'm being collegial! Or something. --- Anyhow, the problem I'm facing: I'm trying to think through the World Report from the ground up. Problem is: It's meant to be informative to you the players....And I'm not so sure what you want in the thing. --- Obviously the narrative sections, they're the fundamental point of the bloody thing, but what else? John _______________________________________________ War_ooc mailing list War_ooc at esteroic.com http://esteroic.com/mailman/listinfo/war_ooc_esteroic.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://esteroic.com/pipermail/war_ooc_esteroic.com/attachments/20090715/8d512dcd/attachment.html From bgtribble at gmail.com Wed Jul 15 06:25:32 2009 From: bgtribble at gmail.com (Bryan Tribble) Date: Wed, 15 Jul 2009 13:25:32 +0300 Subject: [War_ooc] Introduction Message-ID: So I'm technically the new guy around here so I guess I should introduce myself.... My name is Bryan, and I'm 26. I was born and raised in Arkansas but I've lived the past couple of years in Chicago. I'm currently in Tanzania, East Africa working for an NGO in the largest city, Dar es Salaam. I lived here for a year before, so this is my third time over (I came on holiday in between). I'm still enrolled in university, and I'll be going back to Arkansas to finish that up in early August when I leave Africa. I've taken a pretty circuitous route to getting my degree (international studies w/ a developing nations emphasis) but overall I'm happy with the way things have turned out. I used to play WAR a long time ago when dinosaurs roamed the Earth. I even took a few turns as the game's GM but that drives you out of your mind pretty quickly. A few of the players from those days are still around, so it will be nice writing with them again. The game has changed a bit since then, and I'm looking forward to getting back into the swing of things. I'll be playing France, and I'll try not to be too French about it! You can catch me on AIM at the extremely creative SN of bgtribble at gmail.com. You can also looked me up on Facebook. There aren't that many of us on there, but I'm not the Bryan Tribble from Jackson, MS or the Bryan Tribble with the creepy tie or the Bryan Tribble that's some young punk. I'm the other one. =P Bryan G. Tribble Development Director Chipua Institute for Social Transformation P.O. Box 105650 Dar es Salaam, Tanzania +255 786 522 984 (Mobile) http://www.chipua.org -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://esteroic.com/pipermail/war_ooc_esteroic.com/attachments/20090715/857013d9/attachment.html From john.penta at gmail.com Wed Jul 15 11:39:02 2009 From: john.penta at gmail.com (John Penta) Date: Wed, 15 Jul 2009 11:39:02 -0400 Subject: [War_ooc] Potentially Dumb Ideas In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Okay.... Generally, I decide actions, when they aren't otherwise fairly decideable, by rolling dice. For those who don't know, I generally use the "hit-based" system of Shadowrun 4th edition, modified to WAR. In short, I roll a (GM-decided) number of dice (D6s) against a fixed target number of 5. (Initially, I had visions of a chart with "skill levels" for each country in major spheres of activity, which would decide how many dice you got, but at least 6 major spheres....190+ countries....I quickly scrapped that idea.) I'm not in the mood to dig out a chart I have somewhere of the probabilities, but let's sum it up by saying that you get about a 33% chance of success on any given die. Far better for you, then, if I were to use another method more conducive to success. Like a coin. I have someone else designate heads or tails as success/failure, I flip the coin, the result shows obviously. I used to use real coins for this, but I suck at flipping coins and keep losing em, so I use random.org's coin flipper now. I don't lose money that way. Now, where might a player use this? --- Example 1: Player is trying to, I dunno, get a budget passed despite several objectionable parts. He has, for drama's sake, decided to go whole hog and devote a post to this. Now, for various reasons (low popularity for example?), this player does not have a secure grip on their majority in the parliament. Their chances of success thus come down to the dice. If this post matters to the player, perhaps they want to be more assured of success than that. Recently, Player has been helpful OOCly; maybe they've brought in a new player, for example. So they have an improbability chit laying around that they spend. I note the spending down in my excel sheet, I set the dice aside, I pull out a coin, and I ask the player to pick heads or tails. (If they're not around, I ask someone else.) The coin then gets flipped. With a 50/50 shot (representing an unusually good speech or whatever), he has a much better chance of success. John On Wed, Jul 15, 2009 at 5:32 AM, Bryan Tribble wrote: > John, could you give some examples where this idea might apply? For > instance, country X is trying to do Y and this "improbability chit" would be > helpful. I think I'm not understanding the concept very well yet. > > Bryan G. Tribble > Development Director > > Chipua Institute for Social Transformation > P.O. Box 105650 > Dar es Salaam, Tanzania > +255 786 522 984 (Mobile) > http://www.chipua.org > > > ________________________________ > From: John Penta > Reply-To: > Date: Fri, 10 Jul 2009 12:36:04 -0400 > To: > Subject: [War_ooc] Potentially Dumb Ideas > > Just because today is a slow-ish day for me, I'm going to put out some > ideas I've been having. I really want to hear feedback, even > (especially) if you think it a dumb idea. > > In short, I'm pondering a rewards system for accomplishing needed OOC > tasks, referring new players (that stick around!), etc. A way to take > the load from being completely on my back, and spreading it around. > Helps to reduce burnout, and helps to make the game more yours, less > mine. > > Some of this stuff that needs doing falls under "Will make the GM's > life easier", some of it will fall under "Stuff that needs to get done > anyway that the GM has no clue how to do." > > My pet name for it at the moment is "Improbability chits", though a > better one is certainly welcome: > > You would still be limited by game balance, probability, and just > plain story, but if you were trying to pull off a dramatic action > where there's no real clue for me how to decide if it's a success or > not, an Improbability chit would enable you to at least a 50/50 shot > (versus my typical methods, rolling dice against a somewhat-guided > target number or number of hits, which gives a smaller chance). > > Key point: You would only get a limited number of chits at any one > time, and they would expire (after, say, 30 to 90 days). > --- > If people like the idea, I'll come up with detailed rules of > application, but this is how I envision earning and spending would > work. > > Earning would be accomplished by being helpful to the game OOCly: > > For instance, at this moment, I'd award the best design for a WR > template a chit. > Similarly, once we get the web presence set up, I plan on going on an > ad campaign, wherever I can find (that we fit) on the web. Finding > places for me to advertise (note to Lisa: I know about the Yahoo > groups - I mean besides that) would be worth a chit if I ascertain > posting an ad there is allowable and haven't stumbled upon it before > you bring it up - and writing a new Standard Ad (the one I currently > use is kinda bleh, I wrote it myself) would be worth one too. > Advertising, yourself, would also be worth one - especially if you > cross into RL and get us notice from more than the usual PBEM types - > you could do this by spreading flyers (after approval from me of the > flyer), where you're allowed to, for example. I would measure this by > including a "where did you hear about us" question on the join form. > > Referring new players to WAR would be worth chits if they stick around > and are active. (I'd probably set some sort of activity standard for > this beyond the minimum activity requirement being mentioned in > another thread - as well as cutting off the supply if I felt we were > getting too big.) > > Once we get our web presence up and running (I'm bashing my head on > the Wiki every day and not getting anywhere, so I may take up Bryan's > offer to help with a Joomla-powered website once he gets back > Stateside), adding info to it could be worth rewards in targeted cases > (for instance, assembling a WAR FAQ for people who stumble on our web > presence). > --- > Spending (draft rules, I reserve the right to change them for the sake > of game balance - and to control "inflation"): > > Not applicable to tech projects - those are governed more strictly, by > notes I keep for myself as to what's possible and plausible, my gut > opinion of game balance, and so forth. > However, you can privately spend them on virtually any other action > you take. If I decide it's a "spendable application", I deduct a chit > from your account and switch from dice to a coin at random.org. > > Chits would expire after a period of time, probably between 2 weeks and 90 > days. > --- > Like I said, it is a potentially dumb idea. If people want to do it, I > can do it. If there's no interest, or if it's thought a probably or > definitely dumb idea, it's something I can set aside. > > John > > _______________________________________________ > War_ooc mailing list > War_ooc at esteroic.com > http://esteroic.com/mailman/listinfo/war_ooc_esteroic.com > > _______________________________________________ > War_ooc mailing list > War_ooc at esteroic.com > http://esteroic.com/mailman/listinfo/war_ooc_esteroic.com > > From john.penta at gmail.com Thu Jul 16 11:40:47 2009 From: john.penta at gmail.com (John Penta) Date: Thu, 16 Jul 2009 11:40:47 -0400 Subject: [War_ooc] WAR Rules: Off-list messages between countries Message-ID: Okay, since Bryan asked how I want to handle off-list stuff between countries, some quick guidelines: 1. It must be In Character. Out of Character strategizing and stuff is fine, but none of it counts til an IC message crosses the wires. 2. You need to CC me on all messages; if you don't, or if it's forwarded, it may not count. If I don't see it, it never happened is a good rule of thumb. 3. Put an IC Date on all messages, please. John From Chazenesq2b at aol.com Sat Jul 18 23:52:54 2009 From: Chazenesq2b at aol.com (Chazenesq2b at aol.com) Date: Sat, 18 Jul 2009 23:52:54 EDT Subject: [War_ooc] JPs? Message-ID: As you may recall, my last post mentioned a Reception Banquet. If you'd like to have diplomats from your nation attend so that we can get down to some informal business, hit me up for JPs :-) **************A Good Credit Score is 700 or Above. See yours in just 2 easy steps! (http://pr.atwola.com/promoclk/100126575x1222377099x1201454424/aol?redir=http://www.freecreditreport.com/pm/default.aspx?sc=668072&hmpgID=62&bcd= JulystepsfooterNO62) -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://esteroic.com/pipermail/war_ooc_esteroic.com/attachments/20090718/267aba16/attachment.html From vampi.digitalwytch at gmail.com Sat Jul 18 23:57:05 2009 From: vampi.digitalwytch at gmail.com (Vampi Digitalwytch) Date: Sat, 18 Jul 2009 21:57:05 -0600 Subject: [War_ooc] JPs? In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: count me in On Sat, Jul 18, 2009 at 9:52 PM, wrote: > As you may recall, my last post mentioned a Reception Banquet.? If you'd > like to have diplomats from your nation attend so that we can get down to > some informal business, hit me up for JPs :-) > ________________________________ > A Good Credit Score is 700 or Above. See yours in just 2 easy steps! > _______________________________________________ > War_ooc mailing list > War_ooc at esteroic.com > http://esteroic.com/mailman/listinfo/war_ooc_esteroic.com > > -- --I know there are no lifeguards in the gene pool, but damn, there ought to be at least a few sharks in the water. From pbuck11 at aol.com Sat Jul 18 23:57:16 2009 From: pbuck11 at aol.com (Patrick B) Date: Sat, 18 Jul 2009 21:57:16 -0600 Subject: [War_ooc] JPs? In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <4A62999C.7050707@aol.com> I'll bring the beer and the hookers and.... forget the post i'll just bring the beer and hookers From vampi.digitalwytch at gmail.com Sat Jul 18 23:59:16 2009 From: vampi.digitalwytch at gmail.com (Vampi Digitalwytch) Date: Sat, 18 Jul 2009 21:59:16 -0600 Subject: [War_ooc] JPs? In-Reply-To: <4A62999C.7050707@aol.com> References: <4A62999C.7050707@aol.com> Message-ID: You forgot the blackjack. Now I'm sad... On Sat, Jul 18, 2009 at 9:57 PM, Patrick B wrote: > I'll bring the beer and the hookers and.... > > forget the post i'll just bring the beer and hookers > > _______________________________________________ > War_ooc mailing list > War_ooc at esteroic.com > http://esteroic.com/mailman/listinfo/war_ooc_esteroic.com > -- --I know there are no lifeguards in the gene pool, but damn, there ought to be at least a few sharks in the water. From Chazenesq2b at aol.com Sun Jul 19 00:03:10 2009 From: Chazenesq2b at aol.com (Chazenesq2b at aol.com) Date: Sun, 19 Jul 2009 00:03:10 EDT Subject: [War_ooc] JPs? Message-ID: Beer and Hookers you say... Uhhh, yeah, JP... I'll put you both on the list! **************A Good Credit Score is 700 or Above. See yours in just 2 easy steps! (http://pr.atwola.com/promoclk/100126575x1222377099x1201454424/aol?redir=http://www.freecreditreport.com/pm/default.aspx?sc=668072&hmpgID=62&bcd= JulystepsfooterNO62) -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://esteroic.com/pipermail/war_ooc_esteroic.com/attachments/20090719/bc3b8250/attachment.html From bgtribble at gmail.com Sun Jul 19 08:49:48 2009 From: bgtribble at gmail.com (Bryan Tribble) Date: Sun, 19 Jul 2009 15:49:48 +0300 Subject: [War_ooc] JPs? In-Reply-To: Message-ID: Count me in, too! Bryan G. Tribble Development Director Chipua Institute for Social Transformation P.O. Box 105650 Dar es Salaam, Tanzania +255 786 522 984 (Mobile) http://www.chipua.org From: "Chazenesq2b at aol.com" Reply-To: Date: Sun, 19 Jul 2009 00:03:10 EDT To: Subject: Re: [War_ooc] JPs? Beer and Hookers you say... Uhhh, yeah, JP... I'll put you both on the list! A Good Credit Score is 700 or Above. See yours in just 2 easy steps! _______________________________________________ War_ooc mailing list War_ooc at esteroic.com http://esteroic.com/mailman/listinfo/war_ooc_esteroic.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://esteroic.com/pipermail/war_ooc_esteroic.com/attachments/20090719/f5c6d4e2/attachment.html From michael.michaeldowney at gmail.com Sun Jul 19 19:58:00 2009 From: michael.michaeldowney at gmail.com (Michael Downey) Date: Sun, 19 Jul 2009 21:28:00 -0230 Subject: [War_ooc] JPs? In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <6b6ab8a70907191658g59b304bdgc6368e3553a2ac90@mail.gmail.com> I'd like to participate On Sun, Jul 19, 2009 at 10:19 AM, Bryan Tribble wrote: > Count me in, too! > > Bryan G. Tribble > Development Director > > Chipua Institute for Social Transformation > P.O. Box 105650 > Dar es Salaam, Tanzania > +255 786 522 984 (Mobile) > http://www.chipua.org > > > ________________________________ > From: "Chazenesq2b at aol.com" > Reply-To: > Date: Sun, 19 Jul 2009 00:03:10 EDT > To: > Subject: Re: [War_ooc] JPs? > > Beer and Hookers you say... > > Uhhh, yeah, JP... I'll put you both on the list! > > ________________________________ > A Good Credit Score is 700 or Above. See yours in just 2 easy steps! > > > ________________________________ > _______________________________________________ > War_ooc mailing list > War_ooc at esteroic.com > http://esteroic.com/mailman/listinfo/war_ooc_esteroic.com > > _______________________________________________ > War_ooc mailing list > War_ooc at esteroic.com > http://esteroic.com/mailman/listinfo/war_ooc_esteroic.com > > From ssiruuk25 at yahoo.com Sun Jul 19 21:31:51 2009 From: ssiruuk25 at yahoo.com (Dan Garcia) Date: Sun, 19 Jul 2009 18:31:51 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [War_ooc] [War] Italy 2013 In-Reply-To: <790791.26915.qm@web65601.mail.ac4.yahoo.com> References: <790791.26915.qm@web65601.mail.ac4.yahoo.com> Message-ID: <249345.34248.qm@web65613.mail.ac4.yahoo.com> Ooops, this should have been on the OOC list... Forgive me! Dan Garcia From john.penta at gmail.com Sun Jul 19 21:32:52 2009 From: john.penta at gmail.com (John Penta) Date: Sun, 19 Jul 2009 21:32:52 -0400 Subject: [War_ooc] [War] Italy 2013 In-Reply-To: <249345.34248.qm@web65613.mail.ac4.yahoo.com> References: <790791.26915.qm@web65601.mail.ac4.yahoo.com> <249345.34248.qm@web65613.mail.ac4.yahoo.com> Message-ID: You're forgiven. After 5 lashes! :-) John On Sun, Jul 19, 2009 at 9:31 PM, Dan Garcia wrote: > > Ooops, this should have been on the OOC list... ?Forgive me! > > Dan Garcia > > _______________________________________________ > War_ooc mailing list > War_ooc at esteroic.com > http://esteroic.com/mailman/listinfo/war_ooc_esteroic.com > From vampi.digitalwytch at gmail.com Sun Jul 19 21:37:19 2009 From: vampi.digitalwytch at gmail.com (Vampi Digitalwytch) Date: Sun, 19 Jul 2009 19:37:19 -0600 Subject: [War_ooc] [War] Italy 2013 In-Reply-To: References: <790791.26915.qm@web65601.mail.ac4.yahoo.com> <249345.34248.qm@web65613.mail.ac4.yahoo.com> Message-ID: Well, you *do* know some of us like the lashes...when they're done just right.... On Sun, Jul 19, 2009 at 7:32 PM, John Penta wrote: > You're forgiven. After 5 lashes! :-) > > John > > On Sun, Jul 19, 2009 at 9:31 PM, Dan Garcia wrote: >> >> Ooops, this should have been on the OOC list... ?Forgive me! >> >> Dan Garcia >> >> _______________________________________________ >> War_ooc mailing list >> War_ooc at esteroic.com >> http://esteroic.com/mailman/listinfo/war_ooc_esteroic.com >> > > _______________________________________________ > War_ooc mailing list > War_ooc at esteroic.com > http://esteroic.com/mailman/listinfo/war_ooc_esteroic.com > -- --I know there are no lifeguards in the gene pool, but damn, there ought to be at least a few sharks in the water. From dylandv at gmail.com Mon Jul 20 11:19:06 2009 From: dylandv at gmail.com (Dylan de Valk) Date: Mon, 20 Jul 2009 11:19:06 -0400 Subject: [War_ooc] [War] Italy 2013 In-Reply-To: References: <790791.26915.qm@web65601.mail.ac4.yahoo.com> <249345.34248.qm@web65613.mail.ac4.yahoo.com> Message-ID: <763946e70907200819q3adb8e9arf2c45c60d4b6b015@mail.gmail.com> thats just kinky -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://esteroic.com/pipermail/war_ooc_esteroic.com/attachments/20090720/4c22d1a4/attachment.html From iain at iain-waddell.co.uk Mon Jul 20 15:04:39 2009 From: iain at iain-waddell.co.uk (Iain) Date: Mon, 20 Jul 2009 20:04:39 +0100 Subject: [War_ooc] JPs? In-Reply-To: <6b6ab8a70907191658g59b304bdgc6368e3553a2ac90@mail.gmail.com> References: <6b6ab8a70907191658g59b304bdgc6368e3553a2ac90@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: And if you want me, I'm happy to JP with any of you at any time :) Iain Aka Canada -----Original Message----- From: war_ooc-bounces at esteroic.com [mailto:war_ooc-bounces at esteroic.com] On Behalf Of Michael Downey Sent: 20 July 2009 00:58 To: war_ooc at esteroic.com Subject: Re: [War_ooc] JPs? I'd like to participate On Sun, Jul 19, 2009 at 10:19 AM, Bryan Tribble wrote: > Count me in, too! > > Bryan G. Tribble > Development Director > > Chipua Institute for Social Transformation > P.O. Box 105650 > Dar es Salaam, Tanzania > +255 786 522 984 (Mobile) > http://www.chipua.org > > > ________________________________ > From: "Chazenesq2b at aol.com" > Reply-To: > Date: Sun, 19 Jul 2009 00:03:10 EDT > To: > Subject: Re: [War_ooc] JPs? > > Beer and Hookers you say... > > Uhhh, yeah, JP... I'll put you both on the list! > > ________________________________ > A Good Credit Score is 700 or Above. See yours in just 2 easy steps! > > > ________________________________ > _______________________________________________ > War_ooc mailing list > War_ooc at esteroic.com > http://esteroic.com/mailman/listinfo/war_ooc_esteroic.com > > _______________________________________________ > War_ooc mailing list > War_ooc at esteroic.com > http://esteroic.com/mailman/listinfo/war_ooc_esteroic.com > > _______________________________________________ War_ooc mailing list War_ooc at esteroic.com http://esteroic.com/mailman/listinfo/war_ooc_esteroic.com From john.penta at gmail.com Fri Jul 24 17:39:12 2009 From: john.penta at gmail.com (John Penta) Date: Fri, 24 Jul 2009 17:39:12 -0400 Subject: [War_ooc] Post counts for Volume 1 of WAR Message-ID: World Alliances and Rivalries Post Report for Volume 1 Country Vol 1 ------- ----- Japan 1 Ethiopia 2 France 1 US 1 UK 2 Canada 2 Russia 1 Brazil 2 Italy 2 Total logs posted 14 GM evaluation: A very slow start, but a good start nonetheless! In future, if I can figure out a workable plaintext format, I'll try to track the previous 4 WRs worth of activity. Please please please be careful about sending posts to the lists (the IC list *and* OOC list) only in plaintext. If you don't know how, please try to figure out how. It's official - whenever the listserver strips HTML, it also strips out *all* wordwrapping, making posts pretty much unreadable. If a post is unreadable in the archives, you basically have to hope that I managed to keep a copy that has not been eaten. I realize some mailers (AOL seems to be a particular culprit?) love to send out defaulting to HTML. Some do it damned inconsistently, too. Talk to me if you're wondering if your mails commonly get chewed up by the archives. John From john.penta at gmail.com Sat Jul 25 13:42:32 2009 From: john.penta at gmail.com (John Penta) Date: Sat, 25 Jul 2009 13:42:32 -0400 Subject: [War_ooc] A test message Message-ID: Testing setting up a google groups archive of the list.