Well just to clear up, sage did get back with me about the issue and we talked. He did say he post only rule was no buy out, which is the truth. He agreed and i did that the MC was foul play, but he also gave me his personal number and said if i ever have an issue to call him anytime. Thanks for take care if the problem sage

Since when did the sysop become the person that dictates how the game should progress? Shouldn't the players be able to do that?

Somewhat, I can only reference building games since the others are of no interest to me. I build a game based on the wants and wishes of the player base I currently have. All they want to do is build and kill aliens to play a game based on points for building. All of a sudden a corp comes in that has no desire to build but to dominate and ridicule other players that are not of the same caliber. Once the game is over, the players that prefer building all leave, then the bullies leave since there is no one left to pick on. Whats left? another empty server/game.
But if the building game is not being played as designed the Sysop has no choice but to step in and explain the intent of the game to the ones causing the trouble. Most of the time you hear the same thing, we are playing within the rules of the game. Which is usually true, but they are no where near the spirit or intent of the game. So the Sysop steps in to protect the player base of his/her server, by whatever means necessary. Which usually ends in bad feelings and someone or several players getting banned....such is life. Or the Sysop just closes shop and moves on to some thing else, there are plenty of servers for every type of game I just ask people to find one that suits their style of play. Can't speak for others but running building truce games with the current software can be a PITA, a lot of it can be controlled with scripts but not everything.



To a point but Minnows can't fight Sharks, and some people just like being minnows and that is why they pick certain games. They don't join a laid back style game to put up with some of the treatment that other players hand out. Some enjoy coming in building a few planets, running some colies, selling off some product and just chatting on fed/subspace without having to man the guns 24/7. Just my take I don't ask people to agree or disagree just things I have noticed over the years....

IMO this is how we lose a lot of players.

Toyman your points are well taken. Very well said.

I appreciate the builder game. I've played one, but it
gets pretty boring after a while. I don't think these
players leave because of the 'shark' players so much
as they really don't want to play. The allure of the game
is so fragile that one little thing...a transient corp bent on
game wrecking...can make 'em throw up their hands and
quit. Are these the players we are courting??

I'm sorry to break it to everyone...but this is a kind of geeky
throwback game. The blank stares I get from my younger
coworkers is just precious. They don't understand why you
would set up a proxy into a 'helper program' to play an 80's
text game. Ansi ? Never heard of it.

I love that it has a limited apeal.
I enjoy knowing that the players I'm meeting are just
as sadly geeky as I am..or are actively trying to be!

So losing player in tradewars is like killing off brain cells
by drinking...you're only losing the weak ones!!

They have to start somewhere.


IMO that's why it is slowly dieing "Limited Appeal"



Sorry but we just don't agree, you do not have to be a killing machine to be a good TW player. There are many styles of play and on any corp you have Red (cashers), Blue (builders), Red/Blue (hunters). Each and every person has a place it takes time for some to know where they fit in. Without time and patience (on their part) they may never know where that is since they die every time they move from Sectors 1-10. I know many players that I would say are very good at TW but could not execute a kill command to save their lives, but they do all the building of bases and selling off of product. There is more to TW than just killing.

Heh I just have to giggle because the last time I play game I on Ice-9 Toyman and his corp were the sharks in the minnow tank. They scared off all my newly returning players. Anyhow...

You're both right, it's simply human nature to take the path of least resistance. I'm trying to help a new returning player, his first game back in 10 years and it's challenging, you really need to be a geek who wants to learn how to set-up all the "stuff" necessary to play this game, and have the stubborness to come back time after time of being #SD#.

So anyhow, that's been my "mission" to find some mid-ground, so we're not bored to tears in the builders games, or blown to space debris in all the others.

I'm really looking forward to helping JP with TWGS v4.xx.

In the mean time, I have gotten my server up, rules on the blog links below.

But we selectively attacked you and your corp, and we warned anyone joining your corp we would be coming after them. The few that decided they did not like being on your corp, once your corp number was no longer part of their name we left them alone. Just to clarify

And why was that? I had newly returning players expecting a certain type of game, but they got another. You have a problem with me, you call me out to an unregulated game, and if I have the time I'll deal with you. But respect the edit/style. Just as you complained that a certain someone (shark) came to feast on the minnows on your server, sounds to me like the pot calling the kettle black.

I and everyone on my corp just didn't care for your yapping like a chihuahua all the time, about scripts this and scripts that. You never hear anything correctly so discussing this with you is really a waste of my time. It was a corp vs corp and once we explained to some of the people and they got first hand knowledge of your inept ability to play they left and we helped them get setup with planets/bubble/ships & cash. Our corp went out of our way to help all others on the board we were playing.
I have never said that on occasion that I was not part of the problem, but some people just have the ability to piss others off..... and you are one of them! I played on one server for 4 years (Ice9) and once in a while strayed to play elsewhere but I and the corp I was part of always helped new/returning players.
I no longer play, I have my server so I can test things randomly or if I need to fix a script I wrote for someone. Other than that I am pretty much done unless I see something that J.P. adds that would convince me to open my server public again.

New and returning players often complain about the aggression today's automated scripts have evolved to. Those who have adapted or evolved over time may have forgotten the rawness of it all, coming back and trying to figure out all the stuff we have to learn just to play a game we already know.

With your reasoning - you're going to kill off every new or returning player who has an opinion? Or force a style of play upon them?

And that my dear is one of the ways we lose players...

Nope, just the ones that joined your corp, everyone was good in my book. I call it selective killing, I never ran any script that targeted everyone only you and your corp.



I just was stating a simple reason why people leave, never said I wasn't a cause on certain occasions. But we never joined a game with intent to kill everyone in the game or just plain run everyone off. We only attacked people we found to be a PITA, which was usually you and your corp.

Too thin skinned for a little Fed Com smack? CN5

One of the greatest appeals of TradeWars "in the olden days" was that it did appeal to a variety of different player types. Explorers, builders, social players, attackers, strategists, managers, etc. The game once supported a wide variety of styles of play. Now, if the game is played with all of the right tools, there really is only one way to play. And that one way to play doesn't really appeal to that many people. If you like writing bots to play the game for you, something that actually is interesting, then you like today's TW. The size of the player base seems about right for the segment of the population who would find such a game appealing.

Now that the new version of TWGS is done with all of the optimizations and new features for managing games, basically all of the work that remains will be all about providing gameops with rules and features that can assist them in hosting the kinds of games that they want to host, so that the game can appeal to a broader range of interests. Truce rules, PvP rules, one-player-at-a-time and limited time games, rules to make Corps more static, rules to control access to the map, etc, these will all improve a gameop's ability to run these "alternative" games that currently require so much attention that only a few gameops can truly manage it.

I don't know if there are any answers, but I do know that if we don't shake things up, it's not getting any better. And I'm not talking about attracting a ton of new players, I'm only talking about giving players who love TW a reason to come in and play now and then. If that's all we accomplished, I'd be very satisfied with that.

I rarely if ever use Fed Comm during a tournie, I find most of the chatter childish and annoying. In a building game part of the allure for me is the social aspect and helping others. Sometimes it backfires and I find a person that just irritates me.....this is where you step in. lol

EDIT: I will edit to agree with J.P. I have stated what I think part of the problem is, I am done with this thread......sorry for the derail she drags my Butt into every time.