I cannot say from a PBM standpoint, as this and a couple of other PBMs run by friends are all I have played, but to be honest, every decision made can be morality laden. Again, its whatever value you give to the decision. I can choose to "Role Play" a nation...I am the Cloud Lord, ANYONE who does not agree with me or tries to hinder me is my enemy, and I will destroy them...perfectly valid considering you are a megalomaniacal wraith...or play as a team, "the Will of Sauron". But at the same point in time, any game where there are more than two restricted sides creates that opportunity. RPGs (D&D, Shadowrun, etc), board games (Diplomacy, Republic of Rome, Kingmaker, just to name a few off the top of my head) these all work very much the same way. Like life, morality is a code you use when you make a decision. This game is on no pedestal because of its moral mystique for me. I play it, therefore it uses the morality I give it (at least my "forces" do). However, it is my belief the game can be made better by mechanics changes, and to prevent these because it wouldn't be "the same game..." Um...so what? I have played in one of the first Last Alliance games (didnt like it), one of the first WotR scenarios, (lil better, our team did not gel fast enough however) because I do not mind playing a game which isnt exactly ME. ME has flaws, and if you do not think it does, I must regretably disagree with you. I will not invalidate anyone's opinion, however, I will have my own. I think the single best thing (besides better customer service) that Harley has brought to this game is flexibility. Clint, PLEASE keep making new scenarios, new ideas, new types of games. For Darren (whom I have played with, good player) yes. Some people will take this as a way to "beat" everyone else, putting their rank and victory above everything else. And it will ruin games for some people. For all of the people who were against Darren, do not believe for an instant that it wont ruin any games. Many people who play games play them to BEAT others. And this provides a perfect platform to exclaim their superiority (Um, yeah, its a game, get over it...won't change my life). My view, as stated before, if it prevents me from playing the game I want, when I want to play it, and with whom I want to play it with, I will walk. I hope it doesnt come to that, but if Clint says it wont have an effect on my ability to do that, then I am good with that. I try to play a good team game, and to that, I hope the people that I play with (and hopefully some of the one's I play against) would like to have me as a teammate. If that is the case, I could care less about a rank. Fun to me is so much more important than any statistic that you can put in to "claim a victor".
-Ken
···
From: "Ovatha Easterling" <ovatha88@hotmail.com>
Reply-To: mepbmlist@yahoogroups.com
To: mepbmlist@yahoogroups.com
Subject: RE: [mepbmlist] Other companies
Date: Thu, 19 Sep 2002 12:03:09 +0000Chris: This game is not like any other that I am aware of. It requires
players to deliberately make moral choices. At bottom, that is where this
game's mysteque lies. Most wargames label the same device a
catapult/howitzer/plasmaray depending on the "background". This game is
bound up in human relations/psychology. The digital age and digital
thinking often has diffulty grasping the analogs underlaying the concepts
here.While I don't know for sure, I can speculate. I suspect that GSI is
deliberately denying Harley the source codes because thay know Harley will
change the game into something that it is not.
************************************************************
I believe in the golden rule...Give as good as you get...
I mean, do unto others as you would have done unto you...
-I dont know who has said it, but it definitely needs to be said
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