[Long]On dedication, honour and teamplay.

[qebab]

I want to open this thread by saying that this is not completely unrelated to alliance discussion, but I want to keep specific alliances out of this. So if you have anything bad to say about "Omgels", eXilition, or any other alliance, please keep it out of this thread.

The biggest question in my head as I write this is; Where did all the good guys go?

The last few rounds I've played, I've seen a serious decline in the amount of people actually working hard for their alliance and friends, and hanging in there for each other. What I mean to say is, I see a lot of planetnaps, I see a lot of spying and shipjumping, and I can't remember that there was so much of it before. I could be wrong, but I feel that the "good guys" that made up 90% of alliances before, are reduced to the 10% nowadays.

I haven't been in a lot of alliances in planetarion, so I'm not sure how qualified I am to state these things. But the last rounds I've played, I see a lot of people not joining into alliance raids, not doing enough defense, and some simply not hitting the enemy alliance at all. I don't think this is due to people turning more selfish, I think it's due to unselfish players leaving, or not playing seriously anymore.

When was this game all about sucking up all the defense to your planet, avoiding being roided, taking easy roids and avoiding your enemy? There have been a lot of players who have had this style of playing before, but I feel that there is a larger portion of the playerbase who works with these ideals now. Am I making this up? Is it simply due to the alliances I have played in?

Personally, I always try to play for my alliance, admittedly I have done some selfish things every now and then, but I have always been very dedicated to the alliance I've played in. This means that I am active, I try to keep my fleets flying as often as possible, I try to build a decent defense fleet, and I take two targets in every alliance raid. This round, I'm top 30 launches, and in all honesty I didn't do that many. With a little more effort the first ten days, I could easily have achieved another 10-15, which could in fact have brought me up to top 15. Is activity decreasing as well?

Though the game can be called responsible for a few of these things, I'd rather say it's down to the community itself. I'm inclined to call them problems, for my own selfish reasons (because it means I waste a lot of time and effort for a lot of people and don't get what I expect in return).

I don't think I want to play another round of this game, simply because I, as a member of Angels before our merge said earlier, 'care too much'. The relevant case was me spamming defense calls (Due to no dc being online, and me having access to dc channel after not being removed after the last round I dced). I said 'No wonder there is no dc on, I have no problem seeing why they don't want to dc for you guys. I get no offers!'.

'I care too much'

Another thing, is the attitude to shipjumping. Has it always been this bad? Or am I again making up things, that people, if they disagree with, or dislike the politics of an alliance just change sides? Where is the will to hang on there for each other? An alliance is not politics, High Commanders, or officers. It's members. You can have an alliance without organization, but not an organization without the alliance. When you jump ship, it isn't the HC you get back at. It's the people who defended you, and attacked with you all round long. When you spy on them, it's not the HC you spy on, it's the members who trust you, and consider you a friend who get the backlash. When you planetnap, you don't give your alliance less incomings, you just shift the focus of it to the people who defend you. I care a lot about these things, and if I am to put as much effort into an alliance as I do when I play, I have every right in the world to do so. I expect the people I send my defense to, and attack with, to not give me more incoming, to not relay what I say to our enemies, to not jump sides and repay my green fleets to them with red fleets to me.

Do I expect to much of my fellow comrades in the alliances I play with?

I'm coming to the end of this rather long rant now, bear with me. The last thing I want to rant about, is fakenicking.

I've exiled around quite a bit this round, and after my first galaxy, I didn't use my fakenick. To be entirely honest, I never liked fakenicking, but as the loyal peon I am, I have done so when my alliance HC has requested it. In the first week, it is understandable. After all, it would give away the advantage of being hidden to your enemies, if one did not. However, I have seen people clinging onto a fakenick at tick 700(!) this round. Why, why, why do you need to keep your identity hidden from a group of players that you are likely to play the entire round with? That you are likely to have to cooperate with for the benefit of your planet? If there isn't enough trust to show your real nick, how can you trust each other to watch out for each other, and help each other?

In all honesty, I'm not sure if I like how the playing community is right now. I'm not sure if I want to put more effort into it after this round. Has it really been like this all the time, or is this what it has turned into between the last round I played (16) and this one? I think I know why all the 'good guys' are leaving. And I'm inclined to follow them into retirement.

This could be read as one hell of a long whine, but please don't. I think these are genuine problems - and I also think we can, to some extent fix them.

Sick and tired,
- qebab