What concrete kind of negotiations are you thinking about?
Well, we need to get started eventually... can't keep talking forever...
I suggest that 4 people get together (via email, chatroom or whatever) to finalize the remaining open points below. These 4 people should be: the two referees, one representative from Civforum and one representative from CFC. So for example: justanick, Furiey, kleinerHeldt and Cyc.
We have had our discussions and polls overhere (the polls end on Wednesday, I guess that's why Cyc suggested that date?!), you have had your discussions & polls over at Civforum, so I guess the two representatives should have a pretty good picture of what the majority of players want.
Of course it's impossible to please everybody, there will always be someone who doesn't like this or that decision. But I have full trust in Cyc that he will represent the majority over here well. And I will accept the decisions of the committee, even if they are not to my liking (I will play even if they decide to ban CivAssist...!
), and I think 99.9% of the people would do the same. (And if really someone refuses to play because of a decision he doesn't like, then we can't help him! Better he leaves us at the beginning than sometime in the middle of the game...)
I think, this is the most practical way to handle this. The alternative would be to keep talking and discussing a couple more weeks until even the last person is satisfied with every detail.
The points to be taken care of:
- Merge the two rule sets into one. Should not be difficult. As far as I can see, the only major conflict is whether or not to allow CAII.
- Decide on the map parameters (size, type, layout etc)
- Decide on the list of playable Civs.
- "Lembot + Embassy threads" or "Email accounts"
After the "Committee of Four" have decided on these four points, they publish the result of their little conference, and then two things can be done in parallel:
- The two referees can design the map (according to the chosen map parameters)
- The teams can discuss which civ they want to play (this as well depends on the chosen map parameters). (And, if Civforum doesn't have teams yet, they can first form the teams. I think the teams here at CFC are pretty much "stable" now. We may see the one or the other switch and get a few additional late-comers, but other than that I don't see, why the features of the map or the rule set would influence our team rosters?! Most of the people here are long-time friends, and I would play with the same team, no matter whether its large archipelago or small pangaea.)
Lanzelot