Okay, IOT guys, I need your help here:
Imperium Offtopicum has been given its own section. (Well, subsection of the 'Empire-Building Games' section, alongside Lazy-NES and Diplomacy, both of which have lain inactive for quite a while.) So it needs a short definition to explain the game and attempt to entice new players in, like all the other game types have.
But the problem is that I have never played in an IOT and don't really know what they're about - what's the tone, for example? Are they very serious and stick closely to actual history, like a NES, or are they more wacky and far-out, like War at Civfanatics? Also, how much behind-the-scenes diplomacy is there, and how much of a time commitment is it to play?