Official Poll/Discussion on Renaming IOT Sub Forum

[filli_noctus]

On consideration and putting aside the NES issue I think a rename is in order, purely because thinking back the main reason I didn't come here before Jehoshua suggested I try out a game is because I had no idea what the forum was for and didn't really care enough to find out. That being said I would find it hard to justify NES being included in the name without either merging or archiving the NES forum as that could cause confusion.

 

[EQandcivfanatic]

Yeah, ok, upon further consideration, if we drop all of the concerns about NES and so forth, an IOT rename does make sense in terms of practicality for people finding out what it is exactly we do here. At the very least a more descriptive description could help too.

 

[Ailedhoo]

Narrative Strategic Games or World Building Games would indeed make a better move to give a more piratical naming convention to replace the name Imperium Offtopicum.

 

[NinjaCow64]

Honestly I would be even less willing for a rename if NESIOT and variations are excluded. We are never going to get a name that is perfectly descriptive considering we have at most 3-4 words to work with. Changing the description of the forum would be a much better way to describe what we are about.

 

[CivOasis]

I'm pretty ambivalent on whether or not we rename if its not to include NES, but if we are going to and want a defused descriptive name, I support worldbuilding games. Its no less accurrate and a good deal clearer than IOT, and its divorced from both NES and IOT history enough that there's no good reason to politicize it.

 

[JohannaK]

I also support Republicum Ontopicum as a new name for IOT.

 

[Ailedhoo]

I'm pretty ambivalent on whether or not we rename if its not to include NES, but if we are going to and want a defused descriptive name, I support worldbuilding games. Its no less accurrate and a good deal clearer than IOT, and its divorced from both NES and IOT history enough that there's no good reason to politicize it.

WBG might be a good compromise; we should consider it.

 

[SouthernKing]

I also support Republicum Ontopcium (RON). Vive la revolution!

 

[thomas.berubeg]

IOT has a charm that lots of other names don't.

 

[NinjaCow64]

IOT has a charm that lots of other names don't.

Agreed.

 

[Decamper]

worldbuilding games

Yes please.

 

[Terran Empress]

What Ninja and Thomas said.

 

[hoplitejoe]

Changing the forum description is the best option at this point I think, until we get to a point where we can discuss a name change completely separately from a merge.

At the moment you can't talk about one without thinking about the other, and the nes merge has coloured a lot of people's opinions of the name change.

 

[Thlayli]

Given that a lot of people *have* expressed support for the rename, the best next step might be to take the poll, but have IOT (status quo) as one of the options. There's certainly a lot of support for the *idea* of a name change, but it has yet to be seen if the reality of a name change will gain majority support. I think it should further be held that no name change would go through without a 55% or 60% majority at least.

I'm a Narrative Strategy Game supporter, because "Worldbuilding" doesn't quite fit with everything that we do here in NES or in IOT; some of it is very local nation building, sometimes people launch games where you roleplay as companies or movie stars or individual characters. Sometimes there's a pre-made setting that people inhabit but don't contribute to or "build" at all in a substantive sense.

So Worldbuilding Games is a good choice, and if it becomes the consensus I'll support it, especially since this forum could use some more legitimate worldbuilding and maybe less Fate series worshipping. Just kidding, haha, don't lynch me. I'm afraid of that look in your eyes. But seriously, I think Narrative Strategy Games is a more comprehensive option.

With that said, the mods said this isn't a place to discuss titles. Sorry.

 

[Mosher]

For the past fourish years, going on this subforum, playing the games, and being able to identify as an IOTer is what has gotten me through a lot of rough days. I spent the majority of my teenage years growing up on it, honestly, and I really don't see why the name has got to be changed. We've been Imperium Offtopicum for a long time, and the name's got a lot of history associated with it.

If the main purpose of the name change would be to clarify what the forum is meant to be, then just attach a description beneath the title. It does the same thing without altering the uniqueness of the culture here and needlessly destroying its culture. I grew up as an IOTer and I would like to remain that.

 

[Nuka-sama]

Yea, there's definitely alot of people who support, or at the very least would be ok with, a name change, it's just finding the name that gets the most traction. I could personally be ok with WBGs, NSGs, or a variation of the NESIOT names, but I feel that IOT, by only representing one of the communities and not being a very descriptive name, is not the most ideal name (though should be included in the poll of any potential rename)

 

[Nuka-sama]

For the past fourish years, going on this subforum, playing the games, and being able to identify as an IOTer is what has gotten me through a lot of rough days. I spent the majority of my teenage years growing up on it, honestly, and I really don't see why the name has got to be changed. We've been Imperium Offtopicum for a long time, and the name's got a lot of history associated with it.

If the main purpose of the name change would be to clarify what the forum is meant to be, then just attach a description beneath the title. It does the same thing without altering the uniqueness of the culture here and needlessly destroying its culture. I grew up as an IOTer and I would like to remain that.

I felt the exact same way about NES. However, the fact is that the community has changed from its earlier years, in terms of games played, who's playing them, who's modding them. The entire front page is filled with games moderated by ex-NESers and played by both IOTers and NESers. You cannot argue that its the same community, and I think to say that one community should be predominant over the other is a little....off.

 

[Mosher]

Yea, there's definitely alot of people who support, or at the very least would be ok with, a name change, it's just finding the name that gets the most traction. I could personally be ok with WBGs, NSGs, or a variation of the NESIOT names, but I feel that IOT, by only representing one of the communities and not being a very descriptive name, is not the most ideal name (though should be included in the poll of any potential rename)

IOT represents IOT. The people who came here to participate in the subforum chose to; it wasn't merged.

 

[Nuka-sama]

It was de facto merged after the events of the exile and debate last September. CFC, I do not think at this point, can support 2 seperate forums of the exact same game types (in terms of numbers of players for each forum), and at this point there'd be little reason to

 

[Thlayli]

The structure of the poll also has to be considered. There's ample evidence that the way a poll is created can also shape the results; see the British parliament changing a Yes/No response to a Leave/Remain response in crafting the European Union membership referendum.

It seems pretty clear that having a poll with IOT vs. 6 challengers will almost certainly preordain an IOT victory. A poll with IOT vs. the consensus candidate of the non-IOT choices would be more likely to have a more balanced result.

So, if the mods are interested in doing this the scientifically correct way, they'd first solicit 5-10 names for the official challenger to IOT, have a designated debate/campaigning period, then open THAT poll to decide the winning alternative that will challenge IOT. Then after that, the final poll will be held in which IOT goes up against the most popular alternative, and the majority vote wins.

This mirrors the runoff structure of the French presidential election, or of the primary/general election system in American politics.

Alternatively, the mods could hold a discussion/debate thread, and then simply pick whichever name they think is best to challenge IOT, but I think they want the alternative to come from the community regardless.

There's definitely a space for more debate; it seems like the challenge is that the function-based alternatives (Narrative Strategy Games, NESIOT, Worldbuilding Games) lack the phonetic grace and aesthetic sensibility of NES and IOT. Something about that second letter vowel really gets people going, evidently. So the challenge for the name changers might be to figure out a name that describes what we do but is also pleasing to say and type.