I.O Politics?

[PuNk! ™]

So... I was sitting here and thinking to myself; at work you have some sort of "work politics" where there's people you personally get on well with, other people not to much, some work colleagues seem to stick together - whilst others form tight knitted groups else where and then there's the whole working structure, where people have certain jobs to perform and others oversee that.

Then I got thinking.
In a way, Issuing Orders has it's own realm of politics too. I'm not just talking about friendships and mere acquaintances, I refuse to believe anyone here has enemies, but then again - that could be a political mask to keep the peace?

You guys may think I'm being very strange by even making this thread, but I was wondering how you guys felt and whether you all feel there's a underlying political charade on Issuing Orders?

If I had to personally describe the political state of I.O in my own opinion, I feel every member is a 'country' or 'region' on here and the strengths of the members don't necessarily reflect by how much CP they have or how many NPCs they've accumulated to commandeer respect, but rather by their loyalty and personality.

I feel having loads of CP and manpower on IO does help gain allies, but not necessarily make friendships. I'm most likely baffling and you're all reading this thread in confusion about now, but if you do understand this thread, do you feel compelled to agree? Or do you feel I.O doesn't have any political underlying agenda? Or do you see I.O in a different light?

Discuss.
~Danny

[Matthaeus Hinrichs]

I've met alot of different people by joining IO especially a great gaming buddy and good friend JT.

I'd reflect more but I'm currently at work and can't. Anyways I've met alot of good people here like Nathan, PuNk, seejay, and Mac too. Have had alot of good times also.

~Adam

[☭ Joseph Petrov]

Jun 1, 2012 16:40:24 GMT PuNk! ™ said:

...member is a 'country' or 'region' on here...

ROFL, what country would I be? XD

Anyway, I never thought of it like this before. Personally, I don't think there are really any political agendas here, though perhaps more along the lines of "alliances"? I doubt anyone here really has any enemies either.

Just my 2 cents .

[PuNk! ™]

Aww thanks Adam.

And yes Joey, I see members as different countries and regions on I.O, but only in regard to their power and influence - if that makes sense? My brain is probably warped from playing too much "Empire: Total War" the past week or two, but I have thought about this in the past and perhaps politics isn't the right word, but like you said, Alliances perhaps.

Don't take this personally Joey, but I see you like more of a small country that's prospering quickly. That's only because on I.O you have no real means of feat if you were to be opposed by a bigger fish, but you have the wits and charm to go far though. You know how to make friends and people warm to you easily, so in my eyes, you're like a small country that's growing quickly.

Anyway...
I think you're more spot on with the word allegiances, then again Politics is pretty much the same meaning to a degree. When I refer to it on I.O, I suppose it's easy to know who will back you up in a battle if you needed it and who wouldn't. Plus, there's the in-depth realm of who's loyalty lies where - we have the firm barrier of Axis and Allied, some members don't cross that line and stick to one side, whilst others hang on both sides.

Yeah I'm probably making this complicated, but my brain is scrambled anyway.
~Danny

[Tristan Herman]

I think that there are people we all secretly begrudge or steer clear of. I personally, being the shallow human being I am, do my best to avoid a few people based purely upon how I've seen them behave, their coherency, and so on. Then again, it may simply be because I'm American and we're all paranoid of everything that moves.

But everyone has an agenda, one way or the other. "Not having an agenda or drive" means that your agenda, whether you like it or not, is to make as few waves as possible. Other people have, well, blatant agendas.

In that regard, everyone on IO is their own little nation I would think. In a broader sense, than can be applied to anyone on the internet. Think of, say /b/ on 4Chan as the united nations council (yeah, right, I know, but bear with me here). Everyone convenes there, brings up matters, discusses, and so on. You form opinions, and then a general consensus is reached on the subject (i.e. "tits or GTFO").

The parallel is that if you piss off someone on 4Chan, it can go the way of an argument (two nations flexing their muscles at each other) or you can get hacked, DDOSed, and have strippers order to your house (war). Likewise, you can make friends (alliances).

The same rule applies here, on IO. Perhaps in a more civilized sense than 4Chan's /b/, but all the same.

The politics of IO are much more, I think, on a "cold war" level; everyone has an opinion, but nobody wants to make a bad name for themselves. And it's ironic, I think, that the site had it's own "global" conflict a while back too; I have been made to understand there was some kind of attempted take-over a year or so back, the details of which I am none the wiser.

On IO, from what I have read, snooped, and "overheard", there are definitely elitists and superpowers in the community. There are the USSRs, British Empires, United States, and Germanies of the board (naming names would be bad for my health). People are, naturally, going to crowd around them. The comparative result to upsetting someone on IO in 4Chan's DDOS analogy would be that you find your character suddenly dead, losing battles, or some other unwanted ailment.

Beyond IO, I can also testify that the "politics" of RP communities are never pretty or nonexistent, taking from my own past experiences.

I am extrapolating far too much though.

The cut and dry is that yes, IO has its own politics. All aspects of life do. It falls into the category of "social interaction" is all.

I doubt that made any sense, but, there.

[Nikolai Feliksovich Alkeav]

We're a pretty chill community here. Credit is given where credit is due, regardless or personal relationships or opinions. Occasionally we bump heads over one thing or another, but generally the constant trouble-makers, kind of collectively or subconsciously, get identified and pushed out pretty quickly and we return to our happy little equilibrium. If there has ever been political intrigues here I think its been amongst the staff and generally out of the eyes of the site's players at large and pretty mild.

We also like to pride ourselves on realism and impartiality in battles so I think moderation in battles and whatnot are only very rarely, if ever, influenced by personal relationships or opinions.

The absence of politics is one of the reasons that I, personally, have stuck around so long and put so much into the site.

[∬: Erik Schneider]

A country, you say, PuNk?

Well, to explain my absence then, I'll have to inform you that there was a recent coup that led to a totalitarian, isolationist regime coming to power over here. Erikorea is best Korea, after all.

Also, we declare war on Nathan. Because everything is Nathan's fault. Forever and always.

[Sgt. John Walters]

Jun 3, 2012 5:05:25 GMT ∬: Erik Schneider said:

Also, we declare war on Nathan. Because everything is Nathan's fault. Forever and always.

Ok I'm gonna have to go with Erik on this one.

Welcome back Erik! Hopefully you can jump back into writing soon!

[PuNk! ™]

Some good points being made here and I 'tend to agree with a majority of all your opinions. Only reason I made this thread, is because technically when you think about it, everyone is merged into a division of power or proclaim themselves to be a single power of strength.

That and the fact we all have different relations on the forum. So I just wondered whether anyone felt there was an underlying factor of politics - when you think about it, if you want to put it into an example:

JT has factions and relations on both sides of the war, Allied & Axis and he also boasts huge strengths on both sides of the wire. On the Allied side he has Major Patterson, boasting the largest Allied division in members and numbers, whilst also currently being the top ranked Allied member to date and then on the other side of the wire, he has renewed Lieutenant McMillan who's now boasting some of the highest graded CO skills and created a coalition Axis division that also sports Rafael Wolfram as a member!

So it gets you thinking; if two people were to pull at JT's arms on either side, one Allied and one Axis, both asking for his help in the SAME battle, where would his true loyalty and allegiance lie? Which adds a spice of forum politics to the pot.

This is what I was trying to get at more than anything else on the forum. I know we're all friends, but in connection to our role playing 'avatars' and strengths, there is a subliminal wave of politics that goes with it. I bet you any money, any money! That if I was to host a wide-forum battle that included EVERYONE into the same mix, you would see familiar factions forming and even members attempting to buy off one-time alliances to aid them.

I'm testing the waters here, but I would see the following happening - in my opinion:
- Wolfram, Edward, Luther, Dieter, Erik, Seejay, Herman, Adam, Gero, Falkenbeck, etc...

Immediately the Axis would grow HUGE, because I've noticed a majority of members seem to sport the Axis side of life on I.O and immediately they would flock to their strongest characters opposed to the minor ones they've created. So the Allied side would end up looking like this:

- Brentwood, Colly, Walters, Heiko, Mac, Brennan and not many others...

Then once a match-up like this appears, a few loyalties would be tested. Because I know for one, I would be looking at JT, Nathan and Erik for their support. Gero and Wolfram have tight bonds regardless, Dieter and everyone else are primarily Axis based anyhow so they'd stick in place. Seejay's heart-strings would have been pulled, but his mainly Axis orientated and would have no choice but to stick to his guns.

I'm not sure what JT, Nathan and Erik would do within the circumstances, but I feel all three of them would most probably look at the numbers and calculate the fairness of the match-up before they decided where to go. Which is why they're staff, because I feel they would suppress their personal feelings over keeping the battle fair and square - so in the end I think Erik would swoon over to the Allies as Tyler in good faith, but JT and Nathan would stick to the Axis.

Heiko is really interesting, I'm tempted to create a new nickname for him: Poker-Face! His always been Axis orientated at his core, but in recent times his boosted the first Russian division and made headway into the Allied frontier via' the eastern front. Heiko's main strength is now Allied, so I feel I could count on him to bring his Motor-regiment into the fray alongside the 7AD.

Our final match-up would look something along the lines of:
- Brentwood, Tyler, Colly, Walters, Heiko, Mac, Brennan and not many others... ALLIED

- Wolfram, Edward, Luther, Dieter, Seejay, Herman, Adam, Gero, Falkenbeck, etc... AXIS

Even looking at that match-up, I get the feeling JT would be 50/50 about using Patterson, but I think in the end he would stick with Edward. Anyway long winded thread I've made, but that's what I mean by I.O politics. There's one set of politics for our out-of-character friendships and another whole universe when we enter in-character. What makes I.O more special, is that we end up using both realms of politics to truly decide our loyalties...
~Danny

[Dirk Riedel]

... where is Dirk in all this?

She will defend the Axis. With her boobs. ;D

[PuNk! ™]

Jun 4, 2012 15:50:06 GMT Dirk Riedel said:

... where is Dirk in all this?

She will defend the Axis. With her boobs. ;D

Yeah... Well... We have Kitty! Your evil plan has been trumped! Bwhaha.

Sorry I forgot Dirk, it's hard to keep track nowadays with all these youngsters on I.O.
~Danny

[∬: Erik Schneider]

I say we do this big forum wide battle to test this theory! PuNk, you can mod a 10 v 10 right? ;D

If the battle was fair, you could bet your bottom I'd stick with Raf, JT, and Nate on the Axis though. If it were unfair, the only thing that would keep me from leaving would be Team Schluther. But it seems that alliance has faded away. I miss your panzerschreck Nateykins!

I don't know about JT though. He actually seems to be an equal amount of love into Patterson and McMillan. Interesting though, now that he has his own Axis division. With the type of guys in it, I'm going to laugh if it becomes the biggest Axis division. JT will then be the puppet master, directing his pawns against each other. Muahahahahaha.

If the Allies were really weak in comparison to the Axis, I'm pretty sure JT would go into battle with Patty. (And then... SSR2 is on!)

[Tristan Herman]

I think I get more what you were suggesting now, Punk. That is an interesting premise. While it would be cool to see, I don't think we have twenty members active just yet, though.

[∬: Erik Schneider]

Jun 4, 2012 23:29:39 GMT Tristan Herman said:

I think I get more what you were suggesting now, Punk. That is an interesting premise. While it would be cool to see, I don't think we have twenty members active just yet, though.

The twenty members part isn't the problem. The problem lies with the scale of such a large battle, it'd be much too difficult to mod.

The maximum size battle we'll probably ever see is 3v3 and even then, it's kind of pushing it. Most battles are usually 1v1 or 2v2.

But boy would a battle that size be fun.

[∬: Rafael Z. Wolfram]

A battle that size and magnitude would quite literally cause cracks to appear in the foundations of the website, causing tremors that would be felt worldwide and tsunamis that would flood the whole or Eriktopia!!!

I think the largest battle hosted has been 3 v 3 and from what I can recall, even then it was a huge strain on the moderator to moderate. One member attempts to do loads of things in one post, nevermind six people in one battle all fighting to do loads of stuff in small time periods during their posts.

On topic here, yes the forum has plenty of politics and I've exercised my political strength in the past to win over Allies and throw my weight around when it comes to battles. Cunning as I may very well be, people know I'm a man of my word and if I promise something, I'll stand by my promise. A man without his word has no friends and having plenty of friends does help...
- Raf