[conquest] conquest etiquette part 1 - the VAX game of the past

[David W. Payne]

I look forward to your part 2.  This message brings back memories.

I think everyone should remember that Jon has tried to stay with the
spirit of the original Conquest and that change is also good........

example: vacancy issue - there is a system option for that.  Jon and I have
discussed any number of these issues for quite a while.  Join in.

NO ONE uses conqoper for cheating.  I have conqoper privs but actually
have no access currently to the machine where conquest resides so I can
not use conqoper.  Only Jon can use it now.  And there is an "all" message
that states when "God" is entering conqoper.  Personally, as a Christian I
think that that should be changed to "Oper" but others do not agree.

Sometimes Jon and I talk about creating "situations" on the regular server
which give people a chance to see different aspects of Conquest.  I have
never used autopilot on the regular server while live.  I did try it once
recently when vacating the game just to give new players a new perspective.

I think you should post your suggestions.  Just remember Jon, John and I
and I hope the rest of you want to see Conquest become a more popular game.

And outright cheating is not acceptable to anyone I know.

Davep

Almighty Tallest Cataboligne wrote:

>sheesh, I hate spelling that word.
>
>Also this is more of a history lesson - you might find it boring, the
>second part has my suggestions.
>
>Well, we have all been in some fun games so far...this indeed brings
>back many memories from my college days.
>
>Most of those memories are some of the most fun I ever had that many
>considered wastefull...not so I would say - what the spirit within
>enjoys, the spirit without enjoys (cryptic, I know)
>
>But some of those memories are very bitter.
>
>The following were different in VAX conquest: there was no vacancy -
>if you closed the program your ship got wasted...you could only cloak
>around a class M planet - anything else and your fuel would run out
>and you would uncloak...generally there was only 1 ship allowed per
>user account - and most users only had one account.
>
>Even before it was known that (some) players had access to conqoper,
>there were many accusations in heated games about players having
>autopilot.  You need to understand that back in that day, the robot
>was considered well nigh undefeatable by one opponent.  Things like
>kill count effeciency improvement and sudden turn torp blasts, and
>detonating a bots own torps on top of it with your own were not yet
>discovered.
>
>If a player had auto and could turn it on at the right moment in a
>battle, it was devastating.  Especially during high lag sessions.  And
>any time there were over 10 - 12 players or a lot of students using
>the system high lag abounded.
>
>Once I had conqoper access I found out the only players that ever had
>it turned on were other opers and thier friends - not very cool...
>
>When it became known people playing had conqoper (some geek just had
>to show off...) many rude words were said in raised voices and game
>exe access was locked out by the system manager a few times due to
>complaints by staff.
>
>Following this were a number of discussions of what was and was not
>cool amongst the players, some with the system manager.
>
>In general these were our mutual agreements for play:
>
>No one played with another users account (students werent allowed to
>access others accts anyway) or any of the work study accts.  Anyone
>caught playing on two terminals simultaneously was barred from the
>game and had all accounts they used to access the game blocked.  (a
>few opers that wouldnt respect this and kept enabling locked out users
>lost oper access amidst some bitter feelings...)
>
>If an oper was changing the U, expermenting etc. the game should be
>closed - and when if was re-opened things should be the way they were,
>or in an initial state.
>
>An oper/player should not have a second term session with oper open
>while they were playing live.  Slimy things like changing owning
>teams, un-genociding races, reseting the U prior to a conquer,
>targeting certain planets with the eater and others were strict
>no-nos.  If an oper was caught doing any of that they lost oper access
>permanently.
>
>Serious abusive messages were also grounds for banishment from the game.
>
>Most importantly if everyone couldnt get along, not shout in the lab
>and follow the rules laid down by the sysmgr - the game exes would be
>locked by access control.
>
>In time things like autopilot became a mute issue - bots are just plain stupid.
>Opers learned the hard way not to screw around - by losing oper privs.
>In time everyone learned to play nice, and those that couldnt were
>banned or shamed into quitting voluntarily...
>
>Now there is a new era of conquest, and I feel it important to point a
>few things out along the same lines - to be published in part 2, so
>everyone doesnt have to wade through all this.
>
>-Cataboligne-
>-Cat-
>-Z-
>(sheesh, do I have enough nicks or what)
>
>----------------------------------------------
>        3
>      4 | 2
>       \|/
>     5--*----> 1   Thing is facing this direction
>       /|\
>      6 | 8
>        7
>
>  
>

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#include <std/disclaimer.h>