Agreed.

the main problem is d-bags like Cerberus causing the bigger clans to kill off untags and unknown small tags

I agree with that too.... dave. but its part of the game as far back as i can remember there has been a group of d-bags tryin to screw up someones set.... dont think that will ever change.

This game is suffering for alot of the saime reasons as before... Everyonehas this my fluff is bigger than yours attitude and the big difference i see from then to now is more people back in the day were thicker skinnd handled things better now days people just want to whine or quit when they arent getting their way. get back like ot used to be put up or shut up.

That is all for now.

that actually applies way more to everything in life nowadays. not just this game

I totally disagree with the first half of this. I think the "everyone has this my fluff is bigger than yours" attitude is something everyone had back 10 years ago, because I think the game more represented 1a in the politics (not as extreme, but there was a lot more political issues, more backstabbing, more double-teams, etc.). I agree with the 2nd part, that people just quit if they don't get their way, but part of that goes back to the reason for the first thing being different. Most of us are more mature, have more going on in our lives, etc.

Back around 2001-2002, I was pretty heavily invested in this game. I was always chatting up my members and other alliance leaders to try to give my alliance the best chance of success, and there were a lot of surly assholes who really messed with us just to bully us. Now, I'm a pretty regular forum poster and such, but I probably only truly play about 1 in 3 sets. If I were having a busy reset where I was barely able to keep up and someone declared war on us, I'd just abandon my countries and use my time elsewhere. It's not that I'd have hurt feelings, it's actually the opposite, that I don't care enough to make a new set of countries and make this game a priority over work, school, family, etc.

I said for the same reason as before meaning its always been apart of the game the my fluff is bigger than yours attitude. I just said people were more thick skinned about it back when. I understand life happening and yes we are older and have alot more taxing our time. that is greatly i part why i retired for a long period. just was givinf my opinion on what i see now tat i am back.

So was I. Wasn't an attack or anything. It's all good. :)

Again, my point is just that I think everyone's just kind of "eh, whatever" if things don't go their way now, whereas back then, people would get all worked up and make 2k multies to exact their revenge.

Exactly. :-)

I've always thought that limiting the number of members a clan could have like Team does might be helpful to "level the playing field".

On paper, it sounds like an ok idea, but a lot of clans like TKO, PANLV, and NBK are super tight and "being cut off" would prolly cause some folks to just quit if they couldn't play with their friends due to member limits.

That said, if people were *willing* to hook up with others, clans could limit their membership to say 10 people per set and "rotate" in and out of their "home clan".

In a way, that would be cool because eventually, everyone would get to know and team up with everyone else who plays the game in the "big clans".

That's kind of how ESD got started. Pretty much an "All-Star Team" (with me as the only non All-Star) where people could come and go when they were looking for a set to just goof off and have fun.

It's really a great idea. I've had every bit as much fun playing in PANLV and NBK as I did in ESD. Don't underestimate the value of getting to know new friends.

Very well stated Dragon and I agree I dont think that would be a bad idea either. I am sure someone would figure out how to screw it up or something though. :-)

I think voluntary limiting of the bigger clans is a good thing. I know from time to time NBK has turned people away unless they were basically close friends to the clan.

On the recruitment messages, I try to push people away from going to one of the big four, but at the same time, if someone really wants to play in PANLV, I'm not going to tell them no either, just as I wouldn't expect TKO, CC or NBK from pushing people away either.

It's hard to balance "best interests of myself/my clan" and "best interests of the game" sometimes, but as long as PANLV is enough ahead of TKO (or any other clan) where TNW really isn't in question, I figure it's better off that we pass on free agents out there and let them go somewhere else.