ok, having skimmed the thread... sad to see you go TAN, obviously. Your contribution to the game and PDM is immense, regardless of the fact I flamed you for like 85% of it :)

So, just for you, here is a run-on rant post. Cheers, buddy.

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on the topic of PDM, I have pretty good insight into them from playing there, and it's a pretty simple formula: leaders who lead based on member wishes + members who primarily want to have fun + strong opinions or new ideas + an attitude of forgive and forget = low risk target. no one sees PDM as a threat because PDM doesn't want to play in a threatening manner.

So it's a combination of internal and external factors, but the bottom line is that PDM is playing the game like it's the early 2000's still and no one in PDM is interested in playing like fluffs to keep up with those who do. They're a great bunch of folks, I really enjoyed playing there (and hope to again) and I regret that I wasn't able to spend the kind of time on PDM that I used to spend on LaF back in the day.


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On the topic of what's wrong with this server (as a player/former leader) is that, in my opinion, there is no honor left. This is a now race to the bottom. In many ways, it started in the 90's and it's still going today. The concentration of serious/elite players is such that everything is pushed to the nth degree. Too many people treat this game as more than a game, and I'm in that group too :-/

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On the topic of what's wrong with this server (as an admin) is that, in my opinion, there is a decreasing level of respect for players as folks who are here to enjoy a game and instead just see them as an abstract idea that needs to be snuffed out. On top of that, there seems to be less willingness actually resolve conflicts and move on, rather than just starting a new line of plotting against one another (or countering the plotting you KNOW the other HAS to be doing). On top of that, there's more of a willingness than ever to manufacture a conflict that's convenient for the aggressor while at the same time, the mechanics favour aggressors. It's a perpetual cycle at this point. Additionally, fighting a friendly war one round doesn't make it better that in other rounds clans take actions that leave many players with a bad playing experience. Fighting an arranged war isn't meant to be some kind of douchey version of emissions trading.

It is getting somewhere near the point that I feel that if we want this server to be successful and functional and be a place where new players will want to stick around, we'll probably have to start getting involved as an admins and doing more to keep help broker some kind of meaningful peace if we don't have time to actually code our desired war mechanic fixes (which I honestly expected both qz and I would have had more time for by now).