The Empire of Eslandola: Sign-up and Discussion

[Legostone]

@blackdeathgr well you guys keep on buying my POPPED CORN 

[blackdeathgr]

1 hour ago, Legostone said:

@blackdeathgr well you guys keep on buying my POPPED CORN 

You are going to become soooooo rich as an entire Oleander army is buying it!

 

[Kai NRG]

29 minutes ago, Captain Dee said:

Everyone should speak for themselves on this. I'll be blunt: each of these big meltdowns makes me regret ever having joined BoBS. If not for commitments I've made I would've left long ago. Quite frankly, I don't see much "friendly" in these ugly blow-ups. Everyone is saying, "Fun, fun, have fun!" If arguing, bickering, finger-pointing, etc is everyone's idea of fun then this place should be in a state of euphoria. Call me a spoil-sport; I don't care - the fact is, I didn't come here for all this drama. I got back into LEGO for creative stress relief, and don't care to repeatedly witness this...

Yeah, I know what you mean there.  Frankly, I think I feel like that sometimes too.  But I think it's a bit of overreacting to the reaction.  It looks like a meltdown, and it's easy to just assume that it is a meltdown, without realizing that both sides might be actually enjoying themselves - or should be, if they aren't.  I think @Mesabi has a point.  It's easy, especially for players who don't want to be reading threads and threads of ups and downs between nations, to think that everything's going terrible and the world is about to blow up.  But take a page out of the Oleander book and spot the humor - or, if you can't do that, just ignore it!  If the past is any indication, it'll resolve itself eventually...

Now I'm off to work on my next reaction build... all in good fun guys! 

[Captain Dee]

21 minutes ago, blackdeathgr said:

Cpt Dee, things are not the way you see it. As I always like to say, intrigue is (and always had been worldwide) a source of inspiration and motivation. If everybody was bickering, then you would have had absolutely right. But such is not the case, at least here, nor all those beautiful MOCs built in no time that stemmed out of this incident are fantasy. They are real. And people please don't forget that BoBS besides a (building) strategy game, is also an RPG game and as such, we must all "act" accordingly IC (trashtalking, dueling, faction blaming faction, Pirates plundering, captains going rogue etc etc), because, you know, it is fun (at least in my opinion). Else we would all be playing Port Royal in a scripted environment without stress. People and their reactions is that give this game so much life (again in my opinion).

Obviously in-character drama is fine, within the bounds of the rules. I'm referring to the out-of-character drama. They can be close sometimes. And there's been a lot of OoC drama surrounding these episodes, whether anyone wants to admit it or not.

My viewpoint isn't wrong, it's just different: I'm not a gamer.

Which is another way of saying...

I really don't belong here.

[blackdeathgr]

6 minutes ago, Captain Dee said:

I really don't belong here.

Everybody is needed here and everybody adds diversity in this game which once again is a good thing. We need your great extravagant builds and your age-old expertise. Still sometimes we need to act (the way actors are acting) for ours and everybody else's amusement 

Also everybody DO know that the Court is closely monitoring this incident from scratch so rest assured and shoot each other in the hats express yourselves 

[MKJoshA]

1 hour ago, Captain Dee said:

Three Mile Island comes to mind... Chernobyl... 

Everyone should speak for themselves on this. I'll be blunt: each of these big meltdowns makes me regret ever having joined BoBS. If not for commitments I've made I would've left long ago. Quite frankly, I don't see much "friendly" in these ugly blow-ups. Everyone is saying, "Fun, fun, have fun!" If arguing, bickering, finger-pointing, etc is everyone's idea of fun then this place should be in a state of euphoria. Call me a spoil-sport; I don't care - the fact is, I didn't come here for all this drama. I got back into LEGO for creative stress relief, and don't care to repeatedly witness this.

The one positive I see right now is a general consensus on coming to a workable solution - but isn't that usually the case?

I have to agree with Captain Dee here. The OoC drama has been too much recently. We have some very strong personalities in BoBS and in brings about more than just friendly banter over a game. It has come across as life and death to some of us and that's not why I'm here. Like Captain Dee I use Legos as a creative stress relief. I enjoy building and I enjoy a competitive game. BoBS has been more than just a competitive game recently.

[Captain Dee]

BoBS is a Role Playing Game. And I'm not participating beyond an occasional freebuild. Not participating in the economic game or the MCRA. I just wanted to build, but a game requires more, which is why I say I don't belong. The MOC forum would be more suitable. Again, I'm here because of prior commitments.

Extravagant builds? Pssh. I'm a novice.

Expertise? Ha.

Where have all the signees gone, and more importantly, why? Corrington is down to 4-5 players. It's a disturbing trend. Perhaps the game wasn't for them, either?

Apologies to Eslandola for clogging up your faction sign-up thread. Over and out.

[Capt Wolf]

4 minutes ago, Captain Dee said:

Apologies to Eslandola for clogging up your faction sign-up thread.

CD, no apology is necessary. Eslandola is where the drama tends to be!

I must admit that I did not react well to this storyline OOC initially, but I tried to keep it behind the scenes -- in the court and in PMs. That initial frustration was born out of my ignorance of the Corrington players' frame of reference and their ignorance of the Eslandola players' frame of reference. But I cooled down and got over it, and the resulting IC thrust-parry-riposte has been fun. Do I want to have this kind of fun all the time? No way!  But it has certainly spurred a lot of building and storytelling creativity that is ultimately good for the game, as long as we keep it in perspective. My 2 cents.

[Ayrlego]

All; thank you for the overwhelmingly positive response. I admit I went to bed last night feeling quite bad over the whole thing, so it was with some trepidation I logged in this morning.

I don't have time to fully respond as my time is limited, however I quickly wanted to say thank you, and;

@blackdeathgr I agree that IC would be better, but I think this OOC pause and discussion has been really beneficial and I'd like to think helped repair some of the damage that may or may not have been done. Anyway, when I return to the game it will be back IC as a (more aggressively imperialistic - because that's what I'm hearing the people want! ) British Corlander officer, and we can continue!

@Garmadon For the record, I was in no way bashing Challenge 5. It has been my favourite so far and I really appreciate all the hard work that went into it, especially from yourself. Explaining the Garvey thing was a great insight, thank you. I guess we assumed (seemingly incorrectly) that the result was that the losing side would be expelled from the island, not that the winning sides claim would be legitimised. Thank you for clearing that up. Also it was very helpful to understand that you would have claimed the island initially had not Mardier jumped in. Also I realised I never thanked you for your previous explanation of the mathematics behind the result - so thank you!

Anyway, got to go, please do continue

[Mike S]

1 hour ago, Captain Dee said:

Three Mile Island comes to mind... Chernobyl... 

Everyone should speak for themselves on this. I'll be blunt: each of these big meltdowns makes me regret ever having joined BoBS. If not for commitments I've made I would've left long ago. Quite frankly, I don't see much "friendly" in these ugly blow-ups. Everyone is saying, "Fun, fun, have fun!" If arguing, bickering, finger-pointing, etc is everyone's idea of fun then this place should be in a state of euphoria. Call me a spoil-sport; I don't care - the fact is, I didn't come here for all this drama. I got back into LEGO for creative stress relief, and don't care to repeatedly witness this.

The one positive I see right now is a general consensus on coming to a workable solution - but isn't that usually the case?

I think I'm on somewhat the same page as you here. I say somewhat because I can easily ignore the "trashtalking". However that being said neither does it give me any incentive to build collaboratively with anyone. It is a said state of game if the only thing that bring excitement to the game is war.

[Maxim I]

My opinion (as one of those impulsive players taking stuff OOC instead of IC sometimes):

Lego is a hobby like all other hobbies are. Yes, I myself use lego to distract my brains as well. But being in the council of the local Lego Club, I know that Lego is for a lot of people more a matter of life and death. The drama I encounter every week, created between different AFOL's is just too stupid to put in words. It just is a hobby... But it are those AFOL's that are part of Eurobricks, so in every community, how small it might be, you will find drama.

GoH was a lot of drama as well in the beginning (I can't speak for now anymore as I am not a part of GoH anymore).

Knowing a lot BoBS people in real life, I can say the reason they dropped out is a mix of everything. Let's make a small list:

• One dropped out because he is tired of the real life drama the LEGO hobby brought along (has something to do with a new LUG). He went back to his old passion and is selling all his Lego now
• Two dropped out because they were tired of some people taking the game too seriously, spoiling the fun for their teammates. They still build pirate stuff, but outside BOBS. They both are very active at other EB-RPG games, so this may have played a minor part in it. 
• One dropped out because he still doesn't understand the rules. He still builds pirate stuff, but he found another passion as well.
• One became lesser active as he simply is not a RPG guy
• One dropped out because he could not combine it with GoH. He plans on returning however.
• One dropped out of the EGS because he was fed up with leadership decisions
• And there are a few who have lost track of everything that happened and find it too dificult to jump on the train again. (my suggestion: a diary-topic)

It is a decent list, but it are cases that happens everywhere. Let's be honest, there are a lot of different RPG's at EB. And BoB's really boosted the pirate forum again, so it is a big success... 

BoBs is a mini-community, and as long as we all are humans and not robots, there will be clashes. It is too bad, absolutely, but we have to live with that and enjoy BoBS as much as we can as it is intended to be entertaining...

Back to the start, I am one of the guys who stands on barricades when I think something is not fair for the game, and I probably have many enemies (or people that would not find it too bad if I disappeared). But I really love this game and every aspect of it. It is full of possibilities and it is up to us to discover them... And when it clashes, we can always work it out somehow...

[Bregir]

Just a quick note regarding drama (IC responses will fall elsewhere/separately as promised).

I have to agree with Captain Dee in that there is too much OOC drama generally. Sometimes the atmosphere gets really toxic, and it isn't enticing for anyone's constructive participation. And I am not pointing fingers, here. I have most likely acted out of temper a few times out here, and something like a Gazillion times in court (ask anyone...)

One thing is when rule changes or court decisions are not to the liking of the players - that is OOC stuff causing OOC drama, which seems fair to me. (Although I always entice people to calm down and think things over a time or two.) What really bugs me, though, is when (reasonable) IC actions lead to OOC drama. That is not reasonable. It should lead to IC reactions and consequences, not angry comments, pm's, and namecalling. Sometimes, people act out of hand in a fit of temper, and I am not going to hold it against them. However, it should be in everyone's interest to make every effort to separate the two, and to always speak respectfully to their fellows. (Both goes both ways - make it clear whether you are speaking IC or OOC and separate your reactions; speak respectfully and always assume that people mean no offence with their responses) And I will add to that that almost everything can be forgiven if an honest apology is given when tempers have cooled.

TL;DR:

So please, let us all venture to stay calm, make great efforts to separate IC and OOC, respect each other and enjoy the roleplaying aspect of BoBS. Calm your OOC bleep, but get those IC bleep juggling!

[Bregir]

Nova Malto, June 617 ae. 

To Governor Willem Guilder, representative of the Colonial Council, 

I have recently arrived in Nova Malto to handle the situation in person. 

Your suggestion of Eslandola joining us in ensuring the safety and neutrality of Nova Malto and its citizens is most welcome, and I invite you to meet me at a place of your convenience for further negotiations. I would suggest to meet inside the city to best understand the matter at hand, but should you prefer neutral or Eslandian territory, I shall happily oblige under a flag of truce. Should you agree to meet in the settlement, you will be allowed an armed escort of up to three men to ensure your safety. We are also willing to offer a counter protégé to be placed in Eslandian care pending the duration of your stay, in order to ensure you of your safe return regardless of the outcome of the negotiations. 

Our general conditions for an agreement is an acceptance of the basic tenants of the proclamation for Operation Pax Corlandia, as the Crown of Corrington feels entirely committed to uphold its promises to the citizens of Nova Malto. Of course, we are willing to negotiate, as long as the final agreement does not violate the promises made. 

Obviously, arrangements for the defence of the settlement will be adjusted to the new situation, and a suitable mix of forces agreed upon. 

Further, Corrington requires acceptance that Captain Lorenzini is respected as representative of the Nova Malto citizens, and that any accusations of ill-conduct on his part are unconditionally retracted. He has been appointed by the citizens themselves, and has taken great risks and gone through great pains to ensure their safety. His loyalty to the people is unquestionable, and his ties to Mardier entirely broken as he left his employ in protest at the treatment of the people. 

Further, we ask that Oleon too is invited to take part in this operation of peace and prosperity. All participating nations will help finance the settlement and its defences, guarantee its status, and assign an agreed upon number of troops for its defence.

I shall be looking forward to your reply. 

In the course of these negotiations, you may allow me to ask that we also adress a number of more general issues in person, relating to the general relations between our great nations. Issues to debate when we meet includes, but is not limited to:

Our non-aggression pact:

Some of the recent communications have sowed doubt as to our commitment to the non-aggression pact and our motives behind it. We wish to understand whether Eslandola considers the pact binding going forward. 

Accusations of aiding the enemies of Eslandola:

Prominent Eslandian citizens have made allegations that Corlander citizens or even the Corlander Crown may be colluding with Mardier. This is both unsubstantiated, uncalled for, and entirely out of order. 

Expressions of mistrust:

In the same vein, several general expressions of mistrust have been made by prominent citizens and officials of Eslandola, questioning the motives and commitment of Corrington to our friendly relations. Her Majesty asks to be enlightened as to what to make of these expressions and how they are to affect our relations going forward. 

These issues are of some concern to us, as they threaten to damage the amiable conditions by which we have long cooperated to the mutual benefit of our nations. 

I shall be looking forward to negotiations for ensuring the safety of Nova Malto and to discuss the general concerns of our relation. 

Your humble servant, 

Don Isaac Montoya 

Consul 

______

Whew! It's getting late here, but I hope the above is an acceptable reply IC and OOC. :) 

I shall be looking forward to negotiating with Guilder, something we can hopefully do in a dedicated thread with at least a kickoff build, but hopefully more :) 

Goodnight for now! :) 

[Sir Stig]

1 hour ago, Ayrlego said:

All; thank you for the overwhelmingly positive response. I admit I went to bed last night feeling quite bad over the whole thing, so it was with some trepidation I logged in this morning.

I don't have time to fully respond as my time is limited, however I quickly wanted to say thank you, and;

@blackdeathgr I agree that IC would be better, but I think this OOC pause and discussion has been really beneficial and I'd like to think helped repair some of the damage that may or may not have been done. Anyway, when I return to the game it will be back IC as a (more aggressively imperialistic - because that's what I'm hearing the people want! ) British Corlander officer, and we can continue!

Good to hear your responses. You are acting in character, and I will do so shortly with a letter in response to @Bregir and the initial move you made as a nation. I agree we should play this out IC. Please keep in mind that it is part of the game, and I admit that real feelings came out in the heat of things. Mostly because the timing was exploiting Eslandolan players, in the aftermath of Ch V, but also because some communication should occur with those that quite possibly get their own plans affected. Be patient and rest assured, that I am doing my best to attribute to a solution that benefits both nations (Deep inside I am a hopeless egalitarian, although my Alter Ego does not concur).

1 hour ago, Maxim I said:

Knowing a lot BoBS people in real life, I can say the reason they dropped out is a mix of everything. Let's make a small list:

• One dropped out because he is tired of the real life drama the LEGO hobby brought along (has something to do with a new LUG). He went back to his old passion and is selling all his Lego now
• Two dropped out because they were tired of some people taking the game too seriously, spoiling the fun for their teammates. They still build pirate stuff, but outside BOBS. They both are very active at other EB-RPG games, so this may have played a minor part in it. 
• One dropped out because he still doesn't understand the rules. He still builds pirate stuff, but he found another passion as well.
• One became lesser active as he simply is not a RPG guy
• One dropped out because he could not combine it with GoH. He plans on returning however.
• One dropped out of the EGS because he was fed up with leadership decisions
• And there are a few who have lost track of everything that happened and find it too dificult to jump on the train again. (my suggestion: a diary-topic)

I think you have some good points. That's why I suggest future challenges are have a bigger span in judging criterias. Some favor story more, some technical, some humor.

1 hour ago, Bregir said:

Just a quick note regarding drama (IC responses will fall elsewhere/separately as promised).

I have to agree with Captain Dee in that there is too much OOC drama generally. Sometimes the atmosphere gets really toxic, and it isn't enticing for anyone's constructive participation. And I am not pointing fingers, here. I have most likely acted out of temper a few times out here, and something like a Gazillion times in court (ask anyone...)

One thing is when rule changes or court decisions are not to the liking of the players - that is OOC stuff causing OOC drama, which seems fair to me. (Although I always entice people to calm down and think things over a time or two.) What really bugs me, though, is when (reasonable) IC actions lead to OOC drama. That is not reasonable. It should lead to IC reactions and consequences, not angry comments, pm's, and namecalling. Sometimes, people act out of hand in a fit of temper, and I am not going to hold it against them. However, it should be in everyone's interest to make every effort to separate the two, and to always speak respectfully to their fellows. (Both goes both ways - make it clear whether you are speaking IC or OOC and separate your reactions; speak respectfully and always assume that people mean no offence with their responses) And I will add to that that almost everything can be forgiven if an honest apology is given when tempers have cooled.

TL;DR:

So please, let us all venture to stay calm, make great efforts to separate IC and OOC, respect each other and enjoy the roleplaying aspect of BoBS. Calm your OOC bleep, but get those IC bleep juggling!

It is still a new game, and a lot of game mechanics needs to be tested and tweaked. I think this airing was healthy, for us to understand more of the IC and OOC different perspectives. I will go IC with an IC response to Montoya that addresses the need a new non-royal empire have to establish themselves as a legitimate state, and be treated as one. Our responses IC have not been out of proportion, from our point of view, nor had an aggressive form. We have been mild, but firm. A good rule is to try and visualize how you would respond if you were on the opposite side. As I mentioned in reply to Ayrlego, it is the timing I take issue with. Play along and let us get this resolved, without much further ado. I have an idea that hopefully benefits both factions and the community.

[gedren_y]

Yeah, it got heated. Me included. I let IC overlap with OOC, got frustrated, and abandoned story ideas because I got too angry to write good story. I took a break, found my funny (that was the "Cheeseburger!" post), and picked back up one of my story ideas. I did it with a nicer bent than I would have if I had done it while angry.

Now that that is out of the way . . .

-----------------------------------------------

The Crahaish neh Triuri has begun non-governmental aid, and wishes to be allowed to continue without interference by either party.

[Capt Wolf]

To Don Isaac Montoya, Consul and Representative of Queen Annetta of Corrington,

Sec. of State Bowditch and Capt. Whiffo are currently en route to Isla de Victoria. Gov. Monezterrell is already with the troops around Malto. Once Bowditch and Whiffo arrive, we will make our way to Malto as well.

I am sending word to Monezterrell to have our troops set up a suitable meeting place in no-man's-land between our forces on the outskirts of the settlement. Your cooperation in this matter is clearly appreciated.

Your opening positions for these negotiations are quite extreme. I must admit they would have made me laugh if the situation was not so serious. And as these are negotiations, it is yet to be determined whether you will be able to keep your promises. Needless to say, we disagree greatly with your positions. Our base positions are that:

-Corrington's actions are a violation of the sovereign territory of Eslandola as recognized by all the civilized nations of the Brick Seas, AND a blatant violation of the non-aggression pact signed by your queen shortly before your operation began.

-International law recognizes Eslandola's claim of Malto as its own, and Corrington has no legal standing in this matter. Rest assured that the citizens of Malto are in no danger from us, and we are prepared to grant them considerable freedom under the governorship of Eslandola.

-We believe Captain Lorenzini to be in violation of the treaty signed with Mardier ending the war; it is yet to be seen whether he is a sabotuer and/or a war criminal, but we believe this must be investigated and adjudicated.

Regarding the lesser, general issues, I will leave those for later, but suffice it to say for now that, if Corrington recognizes the error of its ways in this matter and accepts the rule of law rather than the musket, any affronts upon your honor by our citizens will be assuaged, and amiable relations between our two nations can be fully restored.

I look forward to our finally meeting face to face in the near future. I believe we are reasonable men who can act reasonably.

Sincerely,

Gov. Willem Guilder
Member, Continental Council of Eslandola

 

[gedren_y]

Tha Eslandola nas snasmhoire na Corrington.

[Tezclatipoca]

Some humanitarian help has been sent by Felipe de la Manzana ! The Brickwall to the rescue !

[Kai NRG]

Captain Argentum has made a move... check out Operation Pax Crablandia!

[gedren_y]

Another Nova Malto freebuild: Café René

[Maxim I]

Captain Morgan is really back...

Commodore Matt Lenoir went undercover to Tortuga to see it with his own eyes...

 

[Captain Dee]

I just want to clarify something. Speaking of OOC drama, when I said:

On 6/27/2017 at 2:25 PM, Captain Dee said:

...this place...

I was referring to BoBS in general, not Eslandola specifically. This being Eslandola's topic, I understand that it could be interpreted that way which is not what I meant at all. I should have been more specific. 

[Capt Wolf]

6 minutes ago, Captain Dee said:

I just want to clarify something. Speaking of OOC drama, when I said:

I was referring to BoBS in general, not Eslandola specifically. This being Eslandola's topic, I understand that it could be interpreted that way which is not what I meant at all. I should have been more specific. 

CD, no worries! I don't think anyone here took it personally, but thanks for clarifying.

[Garmadon]

A new build from me!  (Also a collab with Captain B for his storyline.)

An Unsuccessful Treasure Quest

[Maxim I]

To my Eslandolan friends:

Come join the Trador New Terra Soccer Cup! The perfect event for some networking, relaxing, drinking and entertaining!

Let's make our relationship with others stronger!