Chaos may be a game, but it's a role-playing game. People make up characters, they take a role, and they act it out in writing with other people through collaboration. People do this together, cooperatively, to create stories. These stories range from intimate private threads, by far the most popular part of this forum in terms of role-play, to the fast-and-loose fun that are invasions. Without collaboration, which requires you to cooperate at least on some degree, you will not find anyone to create a story with, you will not find anyone willing to do anything with you at all, and that's where we find ourselves at with the current attitude on "the map game".
Except, actually, it isn't the "map game" that is the problem. The problem is that there is a prevailing notion that "competition" is the only thing that matters in role-playing where major factions are concerned, that we should be trying to eliminate every other faction with impunity whenever the opportunity strikes. Forget collaborating with other writers to reach a desirable conclusion, or even common courtesy of showing empathy when someone else is being targeted by an invasion. Actually, scratch that, don't just forget about those things - proactively go out and invade them too, because "competition". Also, don't just forget about empathy and collaboration and don't just invade them, be dismissive and act superior while you're at it, because winning makes you superior on some level since this is a "competition", right?
Nah, that's called opportunism. It isn't competition, it's a method you take, whether you're in a competition or not, to take advantage of people and situations in order to come out on top and get what you want. If competition is what mattered, then collaboration and showing some empathy wouldn't hinder your ability to perform and it would be in your best interest to do so in order to have a story that actually gives you what you want.
Opportunism, trying to take advantage of a situation in the most underhanded way possible, isn't in the competitive spirit, it leads to doing all sorts of things - like dogpiling people in invasions, for example.
No, the map game is a competition, but it is not the foundation of major factions - and it certainly isn't opportunism - because collaboration is, and without collaboration you don't find anything except bitter feelings and a lot of people avoiding you. Do you want to stop the "whinging"? Then treat others the way you'd like to be treated, work with them when you want to do stuff like invade or skirmish, and don't let "competition" (read: opportunism) consume you and change how you act towards other people.
You don't need to not invade someone when they're already facing an invasion, but if someone goes out of their way to ask you to let them catch their breath and you not only say no but double down on being as snarky and rude as you possibly can, then don't be surprised when they're not happy with the state of the community and point at how you act as symptoms.
Because they aren't symptoms, it's the problem. Invasions are the only threads a major faction cannot ignore without losing something, don't turn that into ammunition to treat everyone else as poorly as you can just because a demoralized competition is an easier competition.
Except, actually, it isn't the "map game" that is the problem. The problem is that there is a prevailing notion that "competition" is the only thing that matters in role-playing where major factions are concerned, that we should be trying to eliminate every other faction with impunity whenever the opportunity strikes. Forget collaborating with other writers to reach a desirable conclusion, or even common courtesy of showing empathy when someone else is being targeted by an invasion. Actually, scratch that, don't just forget about those things - proactively go out and invade them too, because "competition". Also, don't just forget about empathy and collaboration and don't just invade them, be dismissive and act superior while you're at it, because winning makes you superior on some level since this is a "competition", right?
Nah, that's called opportunism. It isn't competition, it's a method you take, whether you're in a competition or not, to take advantage of people and situations in order to come out on top and get what you want. If competition is what mattered, then collaboration and showing some empathy wouldn't hinder your ability to perform and it would be in your best interest to do so in order to have a story that actually gives you what you want.
Opportunism, trying to take advantage of a situation in the most underhanded way possible, isn't in the competitive spirit, it leads to doing all sorts of things - like dogpiling people in invasions, for example.
No, the map game is a competition, but it is not the foundation of major factions - and it certainly isn't opportunism - because collaboration is, and without collaboration you don't find anything except bitter feelings and a lot of people avoiding you. Do you want to stop the "whinging"? Then treat others the way you'd like to be treated, work with them when you want to do stuff like invade or skirmish, and don't let "competition" (read: opportunism) consume you and change how you act towards other people.
You don't need to not invade someone when they're already facing an invasion, but if someone goes out of their way to ask you to let them catch their breath and you not only say no but double down on being as snarky and rude as you possibly can, then don't be surprised when they're not happy with the state of the community and point at how you act as symptoms.
Because they aren't symptoms, it's the problem. Invasions are the only threads a major faction cannot ignore without losing something, don't turn that into ammunition to treat everyone else as poorly as you can just because a demoralized competition is an easier competition.
