“Politics & War” forum?

[keoni]

As was suggested by others in this thread:

http://ryzom.com/forum/showthread.php?t=16688

…perhaps it is time to have a new forum area, where potentially hot topics can be discussed without muddying up the general forum. We might use this new forum area to forge alliances against perceived common threats, to publicly report acts of war or aggression, declare war between guilds or factions, discuss peace treaties, and so on.

Just as we have PvP areas on Atys, this would essentially be a PvP forum. The topics discussed will naturally be more heated than the norm, and so I think it apropriate that the normal forum rules would be *modestly* relaxed here. A basic level of decorum should be required, but if you had a contentious issue to discuss, this would be the place to do it.

If they do put something like this in, I think it is a good idea to make it clear that it’s for *Atys* politics & war discussion - Earth politics should be in Off-topic, if anywhere.

[pr0ger]

agreed. sub-forum the "The Saga" ?

[mrshad]

No, it is too easy to ignore in another thread.

We should be proud of the PvP aspect of this game, and the way we, as a mature community, are able to deal with it.

Shunting the occasional dispute off to another forum implies that most of the community would rather not be bothered with the pure joy that is PvP. And I know that we are all happy to embrace that element of the server population that will attack without provocation in the Prime Roots.

As PvP is making up more and more of the 'content' of SoR, so should it take up more and more of our hearts and minds. It should be placed foremost in our forums as well, lest we forget the great blessings and game enhancing opportunities PvP brings us.

After all, this time, it has been done right. Why would we not be proud of that?

[mmatto]

Well, such a central piece of game surely needs an own discussion area. General area is good for miscellaneous discussion about less important matters.

[vinnyq]

lol, mrshad.

Someone got the sarcasm machine turned up to full power today

[keoni]

Originally Posted by mrshad

We should be proud of the PvP aspect of this game, and the way we, as a mature community, are able to deal with it.

Shunting the occasional dispute off to another forum implies that most of the community would rather not be bothered with the pure joy that is PvP. And I know that we are all happy to embrace that element of the server population that will attack without provocation in the Prime Roots.

Yep, the sarcasm inherent in your post isn't lost on me, and I largely agree with you.

However, to elaborate a bit - the intent of having a seperate forum area for this sort of stuff would not be to bury it (at least not how I see it) - just to give it a more focused venue.

I do think that it helps to openly discuss these issues, even though it gets contentious. You can learn a lot about people when they disagree on the forums, especially when it's an emotional topic such as PvP. Are they capable of disagreeing about something without resorting to veiled or direct threats of violence in game? Without resorting to direct insults? Without directly or indirectly suggesting the other person shouldn't even be expressing their opinion publically?

If you read these sort of discussions closely enough, even though they do get nasty, they can also go a long way towards helping everyone sort out the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.

[varelse]

Yes, I'd like a Politics & War forum to be on the main page, not buried in "the Saga". It's high time we had a place to discuss PvP topics such as tactics, alliances, and development or balance issues, as well as the current political scenarios being played out. It would be good, for instance, to have a discussion on what is and what is not considered 'bad form' in the pvp areas, for most of the community members. Hiding such political or philosophical discussions from the casual browser or new player will also prevent them from getting an idea of what kind of behavior may have undesirable consequences for them in the community.

[grimjim]

Originally Posted by varelse

Yes, I'd like a Politics & War forum to be on the main page, not buried in "the Saga". It's high time we had a place to discuss PvP topics such as tactics, alliances, and development or balance issues, as well as the current political scenarios being played out. It would be good, for instance, to have a discussion on what is and what is not considered 'bad form' in the pvp areas, for most of the community members. Hiding such political or philosophical discussions from the casual browser or new player will also prevent them from getting an idea of what kind of behavior may have undesirable consequences for them in the community.

PvP and politics/social development are not necessarily related, indeed they don't seem to make up much at all in the many PvP threads we have had.

[rushin]

Originally Posted by varelse

... Hiding such political or philosophical discussions from the casual browser or new player will also prevent them from getting an idea of what kind of behavior may have undesirable consequences for them in the community.

oh dont worry when we have more PvP area's the whole bloody forum will be made up of 'u ganked me', 'haha i pwned u n00b' threads There was a point not so long ago when i thought PvP could work and would b fun in SoR, largely because the few PvP events i have attended were a lot of fun and everyone (mostly everyone) had a good time. Looking at the all the 10+ page threads on the subject in recent weeks that's sadly not going to b the case...

[keoni]

Originally Posted by grimjim

PvP and politics/social development are not necessarily related, indeed they don't seem to make up much at all in the many PvP threads we have had.

Call me a cynic (and I pretty much am) but to me there's very little difference between politics and warfare. They're both all about winners and losers, marshalling your troops, forging alliances, winning hearts and minds, yada yada yada. Political disputes may transmute to warfare (civil or international), open war might stage back into a political dispute, but conflict in one form or another remains inevitable.

True, the PvP threads typically have degenerated into flaming and sniping. But so do politics back here on Earth. I think we should keep these discussions (such as they are) where those who are interested can read them - while acknowledging it might be better to have them in their own area, where those who want nothing to do with it can more readily avoid them.