Are we speaking about Power as in the ingame resource? If so, then yes. But really, it is just writing and numbers on a computer. The only reason it is special is because it is at least a semi-automatic system that we can not simply manipulate ourselves without doing some work towards it. The reason it holds any real weight is because we ascribe it this weight, it is pretty much only important for those people who find changing some other values and writings within the game through it. A bit like we all ascribe some worth to valuta and through this it acquires worth, because we each accept that valuta can be exchanged for favors and services, without this acceptance it is pretty much worthless. In the same vein, perhaps, changing values in this semi-automatic system is only important because of the importance we place upon it, I guess. In that we accept that the changing of these values can lead to "winning" or "losing" some situations.

If you are speaking about "Power" as in, well, Power. That's a much broader term, I would imagine. I reckon you hold power according to how many people believe you do. Not that I have really thought much about that, so it is just superficial making-stuff-up right now.

I am just rambling, I must be tired, disregard what you will.

Even if you define power like that, which is perhaps sort-of true, it, uh, still takes more to get it than just wanting it. And "exerting effort." There's nothing about it that you can just turn into a mantra and repeat to yourself as if you understand it.

Yes, it does take some exerting effort to achieve just about anything, varying degrees and kinds of effort.

I think, what I am thinking about has more to do with the goal than the process. Is power found in this, or simple recognition of your power by others? Is that real power? Is it not?

This is silly. Most villages go to whoever happens to have the most people logged on. It has almost nothing to do with persistence, and even the much-vaunted factors of organization and combat prowess are not nearly as large as the happenstance of who's around at the time, particularly during the first round. The best advantage you can have is just to have a lot of people. Persistence only enters into it as an expression of, not a cause of, the "how many people" factor.


While this is all true, it's dangerously, deceptively unhelpful. People tend to describe this as if it just happens by the passage of time, or by some other kind of inevitable magic, and that all we have to do is keep up our determination and wait for things to change. And the fact that it has changed is the sole argument presented.

But it didn't just happen to change, and there was nothing inevitable about the change save for sheer statistics. This isn't the decline and fall of the Roman Empire here. In fact, if you really look at the way things work, for some organizations (depending on their internal culture) the longer they stay on top the more likely they are to continue to stay on top, rather than the opposite.

Every one of those major shifts that people cite was caused by the same thing: a bunch of players shifting orgs or quitting the game at around the same time, usually for reasons that can really only be fairly judged to be OOC in nature -- very often that they were bored with their situation in the game, or with the game itself. Is that inevitable? Well, statistically it's inevitable that the random motion of player motivations will happen to align one day, but that day might happen to be very near or very, very far away. If an organization has a culture that attracts the kind of people who can take endless delight in, and never get bored with, kicking the helpless and winning unchallenging fights that prove nothing, it stands a good chance to last far, far longer in its turn on top than an organization whose culture is less conducive to that sort of behavior, for instance.

But there is essentially nothing in Lusternia's design that points it towards breaking the momentum of whoever is on top, and many, many things that support that momentum. We're already into an unprecedentedly long, unprecedentedly total, and unprecedentedly destructive reign, with no clear sign that it's going to change any time soon. More importantly, when it does, it won't be because anyone was persistent, or because anyone did anything to bring it about. It'll be because a handful of people happen to make a similar decision around the same time, a decision which the rest of us have essentially no way of influencing.

There's no reason anyone should feel obligated to endure anything they find no fun just because of the statistical inevitability of change.

Man.

Don't tell any of that stuff to Serenwilde.

Cool! And I thought I was the only one that thought this...

I truly enjoy a situation that is dynamic and not static. Therefore, I also get the feeling that there is no clear sign that any change will happen. Unless of course, it is Divine-driven which is fine to a certain extent. Maybe it's because I'm on Lusty a couple of hours every day is why I feel this way. So, I'm more attuned to when people start to take 'breaks' or 'disappear'. I hope to be around to see this 'decision' happen. I haven't been here for any major changes.

So... who's getting ready for this weekend? Just gotta go buy some snacks... And the party is on.

So I wanna throw out another tweetish thing that popped into my head.... How many of you 'females' (people who play female characters in the game) have gone through the experience where another 'female' has threaten you (for whatever reason) due to your engagement with said person?

EDIT: Agg... Should I repost this in Tweets?

To be fair,

I think Glom will stay on top as long as the rest of you care about silly things like dying etc. The whole statement, gotta want it, is absolutely and entirely true. I can't tell you how many times we've been in what looks like a losing fight, where we die multitudes of times, but we keep going back and trying something else and we manage to pull off the victory. There was a War domoth fight not to long ago, where all of Glom was fighting the Magnaguch crew, in Fillin's meld with no melder for a bit (until we convinced a halli to come break for us). We all died a bunch of times, but we persevered, and managed to win a vital round, and take the Domoth. This all happened within the last month or so. With every death, comes a lesson, and you need to realize it's a game and silly things like dying aren't really something to get your panties up in a bunch about. Does it take work to earn back experience? Yes, but it's doable.

That being said, there are times when it doesn't really matter how many times you fight, you can't win, but even if you can't win, you need to look at the small victories. Improve each time, try new tricks, keep going at it, and you'll get better.


Got to want it

Glom will stay on top as long as it has most of the top tier fighters. Glomdoring will stop being on top when most of the top tier fighters are somewhere else. Everything else is just incidental. Lendren's observation is 100% correct.

I've been around long enough to see each of the other orgs being dominant, and it's always for the same reason. When Serenwilde was stomping Glomdoring into the ground, who were the fighters there?

I'll give you a hint - it reads like a Who's Who of Glom's current fighters.

This isn't necessarily to disagree with your point - caring too much about dying is both pointless and an obstacle to progress, and I'm also trying to address other posts in this thread. But at the same time, any reason offered for Glomdoring's dominance other than the number of top tier fighters is just not empirically consonant. I'm not saying other factors don't contribute, but they're not deciding factors.

What's that lesson? Bring more people each time you lose?

This is supposed to be...tweets. Short bursts of information. But eh.

Moral of the story: melders can make or break a fight. Go go melders!

while Lendren's observation might be correct, you seem to think that no one can join top tier fighting ranks, which is absolutely false. To get to Top Tier, you need to fight and improve and get better and learn, which means you may die a few times. So yes, while your statement is correct, mine is just as correct, you can't get better if you don't try, and you aren't going to bother to try unless you want it.

Not to mention, depending on who you ask, Some people might say Magnagora has more top tier fighters than Glom


@Vath we didn't really bring more people each time. We added a melder and maybe one or two others, but the few times we sent Mag packing, they did the same, so it's not really comparable. Have we done it before, for sure, but so has everyone else

Word

Edit: oh of course, not trying to discredit for it or something. It is true that you have to want to win to win. I recall a fight I had on faethorn with ceren against about 14 gloms (no exaggeration) where we really should have just got facerolled but we won.

The "other side" actually does seem to have more top tier fighters than Glom. How interesting! I guess we'll just pin the Glom Miracle on Shuyin again.

Sorry, this really should have been on some other thread. Sometimes I don't look closely at what thread I'm posting on when a conversation starts. My fault, sorry.

There's a pretty steep barrier for the whole 'top tier fighter' thing, though. Most people can't be bothered to dump credits to omnitrans everything or buy artifacts, even if it'll help redeem their stuck-in-the-slumps organization. I'm still an advocate of mechanical imbalances, too - there comes a point where so many deaths makes someone wonder 'Why the hell am I here?' before they just burn out entirely.

They can't code themselves a custom system that beats Treant, they can't learn to deal with certain skills because they'll always be on the receiving, ganked end of those certain skills and with Glomdoring's mentality of 'if you get in our way you die' anyways, newcomers are pretty easily intimidated away from the start. (Cough Hallifax Cough)

Unfortunately, you can't plant seeds that make people grow spines or competence. You really are at the mercy of numbers. (Neither of these statements pertaining to previous parentheses.)

Yeah, I'll move it when I get back from breakfast, keep talking on it if you want.

Yeah, same. Sorry Tweets.

I'm not sure if we have more top tier fighters than Glom, but the ones we have are definitely more badass.

Oh, clever one.

Could not resist. >_>

Edit: Wait those last two weren't even meant to be subtle, and it's a totally fair counter to 'Choke is fine if you practice' when your 'practice' is 15-second fights in Choke-Pfifth that end with you dead.