An Open Letter to the Community

[MAGGIO]

An Open Letter to the CommunityWe are down to 15-20 here and we need to call it what it is... THE END OF AN ERA! Not game over, not dying, not dead. Maybe, New Beginning?We have a really nice theme being tweaked atm, and now a mobile version... It may be time to have some new beginnings. Some new thoughts and directions. (no im not talking about getting rid of tanks )I know about ALL the past, and ALL the glory, and ALL the records, and I KNOW ALL those who have left us WE STUCK IT OUT AND CONTINUE TOO EVEN TODAYI think we need to maybe stop or change the way we have been thinking. its almost like we have been trying for so many years to "get back to the glory days" and that mindset may be part of what has pigeon holes us.Most of those old guys and "legends" (some self proclaimed) are gone and dont really log in much anymore, you know? I'm sick of this game existing in the shadow of "what once was" when this little game accidentally went viral before they were even saying the term "viral".The Core Code is really good. We can all admit that.I feel that we need to re introduce ourselves to the world in a sense. I know we are nation-wars v2.0 with a possible 2.1 coming. Maybe we may want to consider resetting our counter back to Beta. Back to nation-wars v0.21.I want to make a suggestion to all who would like to discuss it.I would like for a few of us to band together and create a board of directors. A president, vice president, secratary, marketing commitee chair, account care/membership commitee chair, game strategy commitee chair...A Board that presents a mission statment, decides a direction, and implements it. That would meet monthly via skype (example) to review progress of the previous months goals. A Board that follows Roberts Rules, Makes Motions, Discusses, Votes...Boards have By-Laws and Board Members are required to follow with in the guildines. Im not talking about "charaters" we play in this game with our make believe rilvaries. Im talking about real names, hi how you doing, lets make this work.Its a group that believes in a cause, and is not only willing to DONATE their time and resources, but also willing to be accountable and responsible.This Group will represent a Mission Statement to the community. In the past it has been the community relaying the mission statement to Mr. President and previously SvenneIf a few of use commit and band together as one we could perhaps START OVER with a NEW BEGINNING. An organized system can grow "One Player at a Time"I PM'd Mr. P a few months ago with this idea, and he approved me trying to put something together, which started with reaching out to members to see if would be interested. Honestly I didnt and still dont know who to reach out too. People who I think oronce thought may be interested may not be or may flake out and vise versa.If Mr. Pr would like to revisit this, I would like to make this suggestion and have a discussion about it.

[Missionary]

i know what you would be trying to achieve with this, but at the same time it sounds like its going to be one of those things where people sit around and talk about it/things and nothing ever happens. the idea of it sounds pretty good, (you sure can write a good speech) but the actual implementing it and getting things done, i dunno about that.

[blaa]

This game isn't going anywhere. We were down to 50 spring last year. Then we did a campaign and got up to 80-100 for a couple of sets.
So yeah, we are down to ~20 now, but maybe when autumn comes and people have more time to stare at computer screens we'll see a slight rise.

Although I do agree with most of Maggios suggestions, I have to reject the idea that we are to make considerable changes to the game itself. Maggio-Wars was the thing what made a lot of states leave the game. We can not do the same mistake again and think that reorganizing the important parts in the game will somehow magically attract new players. The core needs to stay! Yes, we can remove useless units, yes, we can alter the constants (for whatever reason, for example to reduce the fact that u have 100 million ships in the end). This game won't be realistic anyway. Ships will battle infantry and its fine. I've written long posts about why I think the core of the game is brilliant, but I'm not going to that route again. Agree with me or disagree with me, just don't change the core .

It would help a ton if Mr P would create easier ways to help him. We can't code, but we can help to rewrite the tutorials, reorganize the look of the game. I don't mean the design of it, the new design is extraordinary and if newbies don't like it, then I don't like those newbies. I mean that there are parts of the game which could be made logical. For instance even the nation overview page. What's that loan thing about? Lose it. So my suggestion would be that MrP shouldn't try to fix everything in the manual/in the grammar/in the information links by himself, but he should, if possible, create a medium for community volunteers to work on that. I helped with the manual once, but eventually I messed up the formatting so MrP had to manually fix everything. Not ideal to make one guy bare all the weight.

We have a second server, which is awesome. We could alter the "gametype" on it once in awhile. Make the customization process available for somebody who would be responsible of the server.

Or maybe I'm asking too much. Maybe creating a simple editing place takes too much time, so its easier to just change things in the code.. But I'm afraid MrP will be left alone.

Like Missionary said, with lots of ideas but no implementation we are going nowhere.

[zardozr]

I have not played the game a lot myself but if wars drove people away from a game called "Nation WARS" then perhaps it is the core of the game that needs to be looked at.

The game is not very noob friendly, in almost all other games like this balance is needed but in this game if you go for a balanced build you stand no chance. I find myself having to sit on my turns simply so my troops don't starve and I am only at around 10 million power, I have no idea how they do it up top. This game is not really the easiest for new people.

[Mr President]

blaa- the "board" that maggio is talking about would be responsible for things like you just mentioned. I do plan on making a backroom type page where simple changes like this can be done by those responsible. The dev group didnt work because all ideas were based on game changes and still only one person to make code changes. This would be better because people would have different jobs like marketing, game information updates, manual changes and other smaller things that bog us down.

I agree that the core is solid but we can make it better. I use to be all about making it realistic but people play games to give them a break from reality. I think we lose some units and add in some well thought out attack changes and how the units interact and we will be good. Maybe we take ships out of SA, maybe we add a ground defense like towers or bunkers. Who knows but its things to talk about. We do need to continue to change and add new things from time to time but all in all its pretty solid.

And maggio I 100% agree that we look forward and stop wasting energy trying to get old members back. I believe that once the game is rocking again, they'll come back on their own. If not, no biggie.

Everyone here has different talents and we need to start tapping into that. You may not know how to code but maybe your a marketing genius or your good with graphics or maybe math and can help me with formulas. (My weakest strength)

Its time for me to let go some of the responsibilities and share the burden with some of you. It will help the game and also allow others to be a part of the workings of the game.

[Mr President]

One other thing, we use to have the hints throughout the game. We need to bring that back and better explanations inside the game. The manual sucks and none of the old wiki links work. This should be a priority.

AND those who are selected or ask to be part of this new board really needs to be 100% committed. In the past people wanted to be part of the dev group so they could get a name color and other price but really didn't want to do the work. This time must be different. If you wanna help that is great. If you just want to play, that is OK too.. Just be committed either way.

[Crimson Shadow]

I don't think that having a "board" and various committees is something that can be attained with our current number of players. If we were a bigger game then yes, but you are talking about making the game into a corporation, which frankly I don't think we are capable of right now. There would be a lot of overlap between duties and essentially most roles would end up falling a select few people. I'm a little hesitant on having a "board" because then the game becomes what they want it to be, and it might not have the focus of bringing back old members and more importantly keeping new ones. We've already seen what can happen with a "let's try it this way and if you don't like it then too bad, you can leave." Because most did. I doubt many of those who left know that we brought back SAs.

However, with that being said, I do believe that we need to start delegating some responsibility. We also need to create some sort of a mission/vision, because without a vision we will continue to just spin our wheels and go no where. I have Bachelor degrees in both Accounting and Business Administration, and am pursuing my CPA license. So, if there is any way that these types of skills can be of any use to the game, I will gladly do whatever is asked.

[MAGGIO]

@blaa, no maggio-wars... Im not even smart enough to sit on a commitee for game mechanics. Ive never even made top 5. @blaa we share a lot of ideas I think. I am almost always for your suggestions. they are very grounded and with the fact that you know the game mechanics better than me, I tend to trust what you say. You were the first person i was going to reach out to. I pm'd you and asked what your time zone was but couldnt figure out how we could ever have a montly meeting with such a huge time difference.

I know we are tossing the word "board" around but im guessing because we are a game they would all be ADMINS of various positions.

@Crimson, you are right, the game would be develped the way that "they" wanted it to be, but I am sure it would heavily rely on player feedback. More importantly I think the game growth and decline needs to be measured and changes made because of website traffic patterns and member base activity. NOT because a particular group of strongly voiced members. If someone feels strong enough about how they want to shape the game, then they can volunteer in a position and become part of the process.

@Crimson, you may be a good candidate for such a group. youve been around forever, you seem to have some good education behind you, mabey the Marketing Admin

@vinnie, thanks for getting what im putting down. I think it would be challenging as well but remember its about volunteering for something you believe in. This is what I would consider a Historic Game, and I for one would like to preserve this little peice of internet history. This game is really special to a hand full of us. its worth is to us to come together get organized commit to some hours of work, and grow this game together with a stronger willed commitment.

[Missionary]

@vinnie, thanks for getting what im putting down. I think it would be challenging as well but remember its about volunteering for something you believe in. This is what I would consider a Historic Game, and I for one would like to preserve this little peice of internet history. This game is really special to a hand full of us. its worth is to us to come together get organized commit to some hours of work, and grow this game together with a stronger willed commitment.

i tried alot of games when i 1st got the internet and this is the only one ive played for longer than a week. i am definatly up for helping the game, i just lack any sort of credentials to help lmao.

[Superpasha69]

Hey Guys,

Read all your posts, and just gonna throw in my general opinion.

1) I deffo think that there should be a board that would discuss ideas and implement them. If you do not liek the word "board" then call it something else. But we all understand that mr.p can not make it by him self.

2) The core of the game is great, I do not think much should be changed, you say some units are pointless...but which one really? Tanks and missile? (btw i never seen missiles when i played before, unless i dont remember coz they were so pointless) But even tanks serve a small purpose for the start of the set. Every other unit has a purpose depending on if u want to war or net, attack or defend. I think Idea of changing units, is just like choosing a small problem which can be fixed, in order to feel satisfied, but ignoring the big elephant in the room.

3) Tutorial, that is a huge issue...for all new players...for example, I started new game yesterday..registered and when I got to the game screen...i look at shitloads of things..and just thought well **** it..cba to learn. But I looked at in game manual, and it gives you a good understanding of everything...just the manual is in my opinion very hidden and no new member will search though to find it. So I would not spend too much time re writing the manual. I would instead offer pop up advice for players directing them in for the proper strategy. e.g. Like create a sexy officer, who will guide the new player through the first 400 turns, same officer will say that it is wrong to build mix buildings...you get the idea hopefully. Or through new chat which mr.p doing there can be "tutorial room" with dedicated members offering help and guidance.

4) Wars, the game might be called Nation Wars, but we all know how annoying it is after 20 days of gaming, and being 1st, due to alot of invested time..then some knob (****, if in US u dnt know this word ) decided to kill you. This drove LOADS of players away and we all know it. It was an issue 7 years ago, and will be an issue again if game become big again. When I played I was always a netter, and my NIP nation was known for highest AV NW nations. But then it was difficult letting players in like Calvin (only big VET name I remember) and hoping to god that haters from last set would not destroy the whole nation just because of this. Lets face it, all of us here know each other and if game is big...and war will happen one set..then next set some people would want to net..but others will have revenge in mind..it would not be too difficult to work out who is who, as not everyone can win the set.
A balance needs to be found here.

5) BIG PROBLEM, if you do have a board. MONEY!!!!! It should be looked at before the board is chosen and people start to invest their time. one pure reason, if you have a member who is in charge of marketing, then it would really be unfair if he does a great job, gets loads of members, strikes good advertising deals, and then he has no preagreement for a share of this income. Board should be carefully chosen, and some kind of an agreement should be reached.

Then you can create a mission statement and targets for this game in order to build it up and make it profitable. At the same time, it will be motivation for all the members to "INVEST" their time in to this project.

Hope all this makes sense, I tried to look at a problem from a business point of view.

Also, want to add a bit about attitude which people have towards this issue. "If they like they stay, if they dont they can leave" Wrong attitude to have.
a solution to most problem lies in your attitude towards the problem. THIS IS NOT AIMED AT ANYONE IN PARTICULAR, THIS IS AN OBSERVATION OF ATTITUDE TOWARDS THIS ISSUE OVER THE TIME I PLAYED THIS GAME. SO PLEASE DO NOT TAKE ANY OFFENCE OR ANYTHING PERSONAL TOWARDS THIS STATEMENT!