For 4 months I was in the hospital without internet access. It seems the league functioned just fine referring to the league rules as discussed and agreed upon as well as Krieghund’s FAQ thread(s).
Since my return I have been very active, I just have not been jamming rules and rulings down everyone’s throat. I know there was a certain moderator who did that in past leagues and I never agreed with it. Instead of becoming a reincarnation of what I call a “Rulez Natsi” I have gone the other way and allowed just about anything that has no violated the written rules of the game or league.
What I have done, on occasion, is speculate on what could occur in a game. This is two fold. 1) It brings to attention areas I feel are deficient in the current rules so we can discuss them in regards to next year’s league and 2) It gives me a baseline to judge events that may occur, but have not yet occurred, for this year.
I am very sensitive about players declaring that I am acting unilaterally and arbitrarily. If I know how people feel about something, I can take that into consideration later if the need arises.
Have there been changes to league after the league started? Yes.
A) The community asked that the number of games allowed against the same opponent be increased. This was, of course, granted as it was good for the league and I could see no exploit of allowing this to happen after the league had been going for months already.
B) The community asked that the number of contestants for the finals be increased. Admittedly, it was hard to find 4 players last year that could do the finals and were somewhat close to qualifying for them, hence why we only had playoffs. It was unclear at the time if we would have similar activity this year, so the rule was changed to two players originally. Upon increased participation of the league and when the league requested a change be made, the change was made to increase the number of players.
In regards to specifics of the opening post:
1. No one is more knowledgeable about G40 rules aside from Krieghund that I am aware of.
2. Gamer is online nearly every day, often multiple times.
3. Gamer is a mainstay of this site for years.
4. Gamer already adds a lot of value to the league with his “rankings” thread, which gives players all kinds of information to help them pick the opponents they want. This thread is generally updated DAILY if not multiple times a day, but Gamer.
1. Krieghund cheats. He plays with the game creator. :P Am I saying gamer is unversed in the rules? No. However, I have a copy of the rule book as well. Unless you are attempting to say I have made rulings that violate the rules? I don’t think I have, but if you have specific violations, feel free to point them out to me.
2. I am online every day. I may do not post every day. The site owner once told me that moderators are supposed to lurk in the background and not post a reply to every comment. I feel that his message to me was “stop it girl, you don’t have to have an opinion on EVERYTHING” and you will notice, I do not engage nearly as much in GD as I used to. :P I have specifically and religiously avoided commenting in game threads for that reason, though I randomly look through them. (I do that mostly to make sure there’s good sportsmanship. So far I have seen very little in the way of childish behavior and I think I only had to send one person a warning.)
3. Gamer is a mainstay. Boldfresh is a mainstay. Tcnance is a mainstay. EM used to be a mainstay. DM has not been seen in AGES as far as I know. Not sure how this really impacts things.
4. Gamer is AWESOME and I have long considered him my unofficial assistant league moderator. Last year his rankings were invaluable as a tool to ensure MY rankings were accurate because I had missed a couple of games that were reported in a separate thread. (We did not have a reporting thread last year, a mistake I definitely fixed this year!)
And to add some of my own:
5. I have attempted to be fair in my rulings. I have not yet heard of a conflict with my rulings, but I suspect if there were some, they were sent to Djensen and never forwarded to me. (Although I have seen nothing in my box from Djensen or in the hidden moderator only areas.)
6. I have raised issues I feel need to be discussed for next year. For instance:
6a) should we have a 1 unit per territory limit? There has never been such a rule in our leagues, only a limit on naval units. However, this is a different game!
6b) should China be limited to what they can bid? (consensus was yes and I don’t think that has changed. It’s already handwritten on my rules sheet to put in for next year.)
7. It is, and I have always said this, my opinion that anything that is not specifically against the rules is something left to the two players to discuss BEFORE the game starts. I have no problem with people who want to limit where bids can and cannot go, as long as they adhere to the minimum standards of the league as they are written now. So if player A and player B agree that only infantry can be bid, that said infantry have to go in their home capitols, and no one can have more than 3 infantry bid (so England can have 3, Russia 3, etc) then so be it. It is a ridiculous example, but it would pass the test of meeting the current rules and since both players agreed, then great, I hope you have fun playing!
After all, that is really the point, isn’t it? To have fun playing the game.
(oh and for the record, if the two players agree the loser has to post a picture of himself (girls never lose!) kissing a frog on the forums, I would also enforce that. No idea how to enforce it yet, but it would be a rule agreed upon by both players!)
