[Kaiba]

'Hi mate, im looking to play some online game and you have played that Planetarion thingy for years and years, is it any good?'

'Yeah its pretty cool, ill show you how to sign up and set your planet up otherwise you will really struggle if you dont get it spot on'

'Oh ok mate, so what do you have to do on it? I mean i know its a combat game but is it just a case of who attacks the most wins?'

'No not really, it has alliances and stuff and lots of politics. So it all depends on which side you are on and how lucky you are'

'Oh sounds pretty cool. So i could do well at it then? Is it easy to win? Im guessing those guys at the top of the rankings are really active, attacking everyone'

'Well no, to be honest most of those guys at the top barely attack, and if they do they normally take five mates along with them to make sure they land'

'Oh thats a bit lame, i guess they are helping their friends by sharing the lands tho'

'Oh no, their friends recall the attacks once its a known to be a land. They are just escorting that guy to easy roids to keep him at the top'

'Oh... right. Thats pretty crap, so i wont ever get a good rank then?'

'Well a lot depends on what alliance you are in, the best alliances look after their members planets better and the less roids you lose the better your planet will be'

'Hmm ok, so your in a good alliance yeah? Could you get me in there too? So i can play with you?'

'Ill try mate, but my HC's arent fans of new players, if you dont know what you are doing they wont take long to get rid of you, ill try though'

'That doesnt sound very friendly, i would attack with you though and do what you say, surely that would be enough?'

'Well you would have to give your phone number or some contact point so they can wake you up in the middle of the night to send defence ships to other alliance members'

'well, i like my sleep but i guess i can understand that all the attacking goes on when most are sleeping, seems like a good tactic, i guess if the attackers are getting up to attack i can get up to defend'

'No mate, you dont have to get up to attack, you can set your attack like 11 hrs before it has to launch and the game does it for you, pretty cool huh?'

'WTF man!! Why would a game have that? Why would it allow people to set an attack and sleep all night and yet make people get up at ungodly hours to protect themselves? Thats not even remotely fair'

'Well i could set you up in a smaller alliance? They dont all require you to give a number which means you could sleep in a bit more?'

'Yeah that sounds ok, i really wanted to play with you but no way am i getting up at all hours because of some bent coding with attacking and defending'

' Dont expect your planet to be as safe though man, the bigger alliances like to pick on the smaller ones, because its an easier place to land attacks. Those guys dont get up and defend cos they have no way to contact members to defend themselves'

'What!?! So either i play in a top alliance where i have to sell my soul or i play in a smaller one where i will get hammered to peices by the big guys? The ones that set an attack before they go to bed and then dont have to worry about it till morning? Why do you even play this game man? It sounds completely ****ed up, it must have some cool graphics or something to keep you intrested this long'

'It doesnt have graphics mate, its a text based game on a webpage'

'HUH! Why the hell do you even play????????'

'Well i like the community, we all go on iRC and chat and stuff, i have known these guys for like 8 years now, they are like real friends'

'Well that seems ok, maybe you could introduce me to them?'

'Ill try but dont expect much, they normally just like to abuse new people or send them down the wrong way for a laugh'

'You are friends with these guys? Man why do you even like them? They sound like douchebags'



This is in a nutshell is what is wrong with PA... We will never get new players in with these fundamental bad game mechanics and attitude problems in place. It would be hard for someones friend to join the game, let alone a complete stranger.

I offered out an idea about XP earlier and some random 'cool kid' in #planetarion accused me of being a communist and that people should play PA how they want and not be pushed to do things, like attack and defend. This response is typical of so many people now in the top alliances and in the little troll clubs that appear in others. These attitudes of apathy and elitism is what is ruining the game and i think its time the PA team said sod it and stopped listening to them. For too long this game has been governed by an apathetic minority and it needs to change. I actually have some renewed faith in Lunar_Lamp that he could be the man for this, but i think he needs to act quickly, using his own mind and not have his ear bent by the likes of mz and others (the know-it-all club)

SAVE PA LUNAR BEFORE ITS BEYOND REACH