New Sheriff in town

I have taken on the job of moderating IOT and resolving disputes between players and game mods. The IOT forum is new to me and I do not really understand how the games work or the dynamics of player interaction. Such an understanding will be helpful to me.

Please post in this thread your thoughts on game play, how things should work, how the work in practice and any problems that might need attention. This is not a thread to complain about particular individuals. I am not ready for that yet.

Thanks for your cooperation and help. Educate me please.

Advertise your IOT in NESing

EDIT:

Some of the issues to be thought about:

1. How much power will GMs have in terms of policing their own threads, both at start up and as the game progresses?

2. Can players be banned and kicked for "inappropriate behavior? What is inappropriate behavior?

3. to what extent can players be held responsible for their behavior and when do GM restrictions to game actions take precedence over creative play?

The best way to learn is to play one
They don't take up that much time and there are some just starting.

Birdjaguar said:

I have taken on the job of moderating IOT and resolving disputes between players and game mods.

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What kind of dispute would exist between players and GMs that isn't already covered by the GM's power to kick or ban or CFC moderator actions?

Or are the players forming a union? If so, I demand names so I can send men to break up the damn Unionists!

Sonereal said:

Or are the players forming a union? If so, I demand names so I can send men to break up the damn Unionists!

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Well, only one response to that:



In other news: welcome.

Sonereal said:

What kind of dispute would exist between players and GMs that isn't already covered by the GM's power to kick or ban or CFC moderator actions?

Or are the players forming a union? If so, I demand names so I can send men to break up the damn Unionists!

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Those disputes are the very reason this forum has come to moderator attention. Blacklisting players from games in not in keeping with the spirit of CFC. Neither is being a jerk and wrecking a game for others. My goal is to stop both.

The best way to understand the community is to participate in it, like HJ said. You might want to participate in Sonereal's new Dawn of Colonization, to get a little bit of understanding.

The rules vary, but the basic IOT is this:

-You pick some territory
-You expand and conduct diplomacy, and spend income(if there is any)

Really, that's all there is to it. The games tend to end in a boring peace or a bloody war.

Players wrecking games, to me, sounds like it's subjective. Some players are peaceful builders, some are warmongers(as this is a Civilization forum, this should be apparent). If an IOT doesn't want war, it shouldn't allow it at all, I'd think. Usually warmongering is in poor opinion, and in early IOTs it often led to players declaring whether IOT was a war game or a diplomacy game. (I say it's both)

However, if a player has habitually been seen as ruining games, I don't think it's too unreasonable to allow GMs to blacklist such individuals. Something like, "I don't like him" obviously is not a good reason for a blacklist, as it essentially is a popularity contest. However, something like "the vast majority of players do not have a good opinion of player x's past actions in prior games" doesn't sound like too unreasonable a grounds. As the idea of the game is to have fun at the end of the day, it makes sense to be able to prohibit things that might ruin the fun.

Furthermore, GMs are allowed to ban and punish players for non-constructive conduct already to my knowledge. If you are able to act after the fact, why not before the fact when there's a high probability of a repeat offender?

Of course, the final decision is up to the staff. I propose a compromise: GMs can send a blacklist(and their reasonings behind each individual, preferably with examples) to you for approval. This allows GM to take steps to keep the games flowing smoothly, yet also allows the moderators to ensure that no one is being kept out of a game unfairly.

Welcome to the IOT forum! We won't eat you, of course.

Like others have said, the best way to understand IOT is to play one yourself.

Welcome!
And yeah, you should play an IOT to understand IOT.

As a GM, I found the more unruly players tended to get ganged up on and then they are soon out of the game. The key to IOT strategy is to make friends (allies), so being annoying will not get you many.

Each IOT Game thread is different and the GM tolerances to annoying players differ significantly, depending on the type of game he created. A complex/historical game thread like "Iron and Blood", takes detailed planning and negotiation with other players, it is generally accepted that players take the game seriously.

For this reason, I would like the GM to be considered an "Assistant Moderator" of their particular thread. They can report bad game behaviour (which is against the spirit that the GM is trying to create) to the attention of the Moderator of this forum, who can deal with the user as they deem appropriate. The GM's opinion should carry more weight than any other player in that thread, as the game can be derailed and the enjoyment of others curtailed. In addition, especially a complex game like Iron and Blood, the GM is often doing 100's of hours of behind the scenes work in preparation and game updates.

Bird Jaguar wants to know the dynamics of this group, I think this discussion will help, assuming it stays away from throwing insults at each other.

I think the name lazyNES is kinda insulting and belittling. Lazy tends to be a negative thing and I would really rather not have the game name suggesting it is below what would become "proper NESes". I also don't think they have enough in common to be merged. they came from different places and from that a very real difference. NES, originating from Civ 3 Stories and Tales is about creating a story for a world created through the game, Quoting the NES guide "A NES is essentially a simulation of the real life world." IOT however was born out of Off Topic map thread, with Tkangaru being bored and people creating nations. It is important to note that is was just for fun, a game, with no intention of realism.This is the same situation as I see it today. IOT is a game where people add RP to make it more fun. NES is a simulation which people find fun. This is not a bad thing for either, they are just different and different people enjoy different ones more.

Birdjaguar said:

I have taken on the job of moderating IOT and resolving disputes between players and game mods. The IOT forum is new to me and I do not really understand how the games work or the dynamics of player interaction. Such an understanding will be helpful to me.

Please post in this thread your thoughts on game play, how things should work, how the work in practice and any problems that might need attention. This is not a thread to complain about particular individuals. I am not ready for that yet.

Thanks for your cooperation and help. Educate me please.

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Welcome to IOT! Enjoy your stay!

A couple things if you want to learn about IOT's, the culture around here, what's usually tolerated, whats not, etc.

1) lurk moar! Good general rule to follow, find an IOT beginning now, and just follow it through it's completion. I recommended Iron and Blood 2, which should be starting sometime soon and will last some time into the future (the first one lasted half a year). That way you'll pick up on the general atmosphere of things, and how people post in this forum.

2) Join an IOT! Go with a shorter one, longer one, fun one, serious one, your pick, and have a ball. Interacting with the actual players will educate you even more than lurking through the threads.

3) Look at the rule sets for past, present, and future games regarding what we have established as "IOT etiquette". Then, skim those threads and look for GM comments unrelated to updates and see how they treat certain posts and/or player actions that are deemed outside of the established etiquette. Each IOT's is different, but they all generally follow similar ideas, i.e. no flaming, no spamming (which is different compared to the rest of the board's idea of spamming), no meta-gaming, etc.

The culture here and toleration for certain things is varied and rather different compared to the other boards on this forum, and you probably won't get a very good picture from us just posting about it. Do the things above, and you will pick up and educate yourself on the culture of IOT's, and should have an enjoyable time in the process!

Welcome to our part of CFC Birdjaguar! I'm going along with everybody else that you should join an IOT to get the gist of it. But still, welcome.

Thank you all for your comments. Time does not permit to play a game at the moment, but I will follow a game to learn the ropes.

Those of you who also NES will be familiar with my style of moderation which is pretty hands off until rudeness, incivility, meanness, personal attacks or spoiling the fun of others enters the game.

As I said above, I believe that games and fun are for all. Everyone should have a chance to play. I do not want anyone blacklisted. If they turn out to be trouble makers in a game, it is my job to deal with them. I also understand that game mechanics can be used to "oust" players, but if it is used without just cause, it can be its own problem.

If you see or have problems, report the posts in question and I will take a look. I will use this thread for my questions to you all about what is considered "normal". I think that the best way keep IOT as a fun place to post is to have someone on the ground who can see first hand what's going on. That is why I am here. I will check in here regularly, but not necessarily every day. Please post your questions and comments for me in this thread. It is easier for me to answer here rather than through pms. Use the report function for complaints. I will see those when I am in the staff forum.

I will post my rules for IOT in the OP in the next day or so.

EDIT: I deleted the IOT vs NES posts to condense the conversation. No animals were harmed during that action.

Actually, there is a better way to understand IOT.

Watch all 45 episodes of Monty Python's Flying Circus while playing Starcraft against a Korean, a stoner, and a 12 year old, with Downfall parodies running in the background.

Welcome Mr. BirdJaguar!

Being a fairly casual IOTer myself, I'm probably not the most authorized person to talk about IOT, but I will try.

I'll post more when I get a chance.

We have a wiki for IOT as well. I'm not just posting this because I want even more contributors *COUGH*

http://imperiumofftopicum.wikia.com/wiki/Imperium Offtopicum Wiki?wiki-welcome=1

Birdjaguar said:

EDIT: I deleted the IOT vs NES posts to condense the conversation. No animals were harmed during that action.

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And the world is better for it.

Have to say though, this feels weird, as if a foreign prince was suddenly made Emperor of our realm. Hopefully it doesn't end the same way.

Viva la Revolution.