An Open Letter to the SMR Community

[Hobbs]

Hello Everyone,

I've come to address the activity issue, and hopefully provide an interesting perspective on it. Some of you may have seen me pop up every once in a while over the years, and just recently I've started moving around again. I originally told myself I would only trade by myself; just a little something to kill a bit of time now that I have these sort of random 30 minute holes in my schedule every day. Of course, bad habits die hard, and I've found myself in an alliance with a lot of people I remember from ages ago. I was beginning to really enjoy the golden days of SMR again.

At first, it seemed to me like SMR hadn't changed much. I played and the whales dominated, there was very little activity (less than I think is usual, even now), and a generally dissatisfied vibe from just about everyone who wasn't an age old vet. It seems like everyone has their take on why this is, and that the same sort of issues are being focused on by everyone. But, that last game was ended quickly, and it seemed like this game, however, might be interesting. There seems like a lot of activity, and it seemed like maybe some of that former whale alliance had split into smaller factions which would be more balanced.

Now, I'm not here to :D about weapons, ships, hunting, trading, etc. In fact, I'm not really here to :D about anything. More so, I'd just like to provide my rather 3rd party view on the lack of new players, activity, and just overall fun involved in playing this game. It's rather clear at this point who is dominating this round so far. Many of you will claim that this round is far from over, and there's still plenty of it left to be played, sure. But come on. Look at the top alliance in kills and exp. Look at the gaps between 1st, 2nd, and 3rd. Can you really admit that this is a balanced situation?

Like I said, though, I'm not here to :D about it. In fact, I'm totally one of the camp who thinks people should be able to play as they'd like. This game should be fun for everyone, not just the majority.

There is a problem, though. You start to wonder, as you play this game more and more, why it is that there's always one alliance besting the others by a significant margin. Why there are certain players who are completely outperforming others. Well, I think the answer is clear, and you don't need to look very deep to understand the answer. Some people are very good at this game. They've been playing this game for years, mostly with each other in the same alliance, and are very skilled both as alliance mates and individual players.

This letter is partly to acknowledge such skill. I'll admit it. You guys are good. You know who you are, and you know what I'm talking about. You're the best. I humbly kneel before you in your SMR greatness. Seriously, no sarcasm here. I think a lot of us do. As Chess has its grandmasters, SMR too has its best players.

The problem is this: At this point, you're no longer allowing competition. You've got a monopoly on SMR, and there's not much anyone else can do it. Someone stands up to you, and what do you do? Clear and bust their galaxy every night until they give in. Hunt their traders relentlessly until they no longer want to trade. I'm not really :D here, this is just fact. I honestly don't feel as if I can compete. Not to draw too many negative analogies (remember, play how you want), but it feels a lot like being bullied in the school yard.

But I'm not here to tell you that you can't play that way. By all means, play away. I just wanted you to know how it felt to be one of the others. How it felt to be, for a bit of pop culture perspective, one of the 99%. It sucks, and its really hard. I'm getting pretty fed up of playing again because I feel as is nothing I ever do will ever matter. You'll pound me relentlessly into the pavement unless I some how become as good as you.

So I'd like to ask a few questions, and of course, I want only honest answers. That's all I'm trying to do here: start a nonflaming, nonhating discourse about the state of the game and whether or not we can work together to make this more fun for everyone. I'm reaching out to see if it might be possible to join forces here, and try to improve the quality of SMR for everyone. I'm just trying to be straightforward and honest.

Without further adieu, I present my questions.

• I'm curious, do you not think it might be more fun to less us build a little? Get in some serious cash and ships, and maybe have a bit of a challenge when it comes to busting our galaxy. I remember that in the old SM days, it was really fun to have some serious fleet battles going. Don't you think it would be more fun (certainly harder), to bust our planets around level 20 or 30, and let us mine up a bit? Sure. You probably won't be able to clear our galaxy in a night with 3-4 players, but maybe that's kind of fun?
• Have you considered that it might be more fun to split you guys down the middle as an alliance? Create two factions that strive head to head with one another? I'm not very talented at many things, but I know that when I play something, I enjoy playing against people of equal talent. Why not mull it over, give it a try. I'm not saying you have to go and start alliances accepting newbies or even people you don't want, but maybe think about splitting 10 and 10 and going against each other while us newbies chase our own tails. Hell, you guys might even create some competition for yourselves, and in the meantime we can try to keep up with the facade that we're actually doing well.

These are all I can come up with at the moment, but maybe I'll be back with more. I'm not looking for a revolution here, I'm just trying to stir things up in a constructive and positive way. Let me know if you have any ideas, but I'd prefer that this thread be polite, nonflaming, and not about game mechanic changes. I'd like to open up a discussion about what we can do as a whole, as the players of SMR, to encourage people to work together. To encourage new players to play, and mostly to create an atmosphere we can all enjoy.

Oh, and sorry for the long post.

[RCK]

HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!

[Jester-]

That's the problem Hobbs. They don't want to change, and made it abundantly clear. I think what we need are bigger galaxies, toned down cloak and a way to actually make putting all the effort into a planet galaxy worth it.

[JettJackson]

Yeah lets not forget you ruined the first gal you decided to upgrade in, which then caused you to try and take another gal. Thinking we would sit back idly and let you just take as many gals and upgrade as many routes as you'd like. You know this is information that isn't exactly expressed in Hobbs post though he does have a point with most of it. However some of the damage is self-inflicted as much as some would come on here and denounce that fact.

[Kard]

They really arent that much better then the rest of us. But the map and game design currently amplify their abilities. They already like to use the overpowered ships, with high turns and exp, and they enjoy playing from fed more then from planets. The rest of us want to play from planets, but the game isnt designed that way right now. On top of that, they have a hand picked alliance of the most active people. They arent ALL the best. Lets be real, JJ is not sergei, Azool and bouncer are not Orca. However, the other alliances would need to break apart, hand pick the most active guys, and counter them. That leaves the left over pieces to try and assemble an alliance, which probably wont do much, and now we have a two team game again.

Balance the DC, make planets and planet gals more valueable, or even at the very least, make them hella far from fed. Reduce the game speed. With some better designed maps, and a change to that DC, they wont face pwn like they do. They will have to leave fed and build planets, which we can then harass, and attack, OR they can sit in fed and racials, and kill italics.

If this game didnt favor the DC, and fed, they would not be this dominate.

Plus, the owness is on us too. NO one hunted early. Imagine mining sergei in for a couple days in the early round, or BG traders having to die, or run while trading. Killing a DC with anything but a top racial, or another DC is impossbile, and most of us dont want to ship into a top racial or DC in the first 3 days JUST to kill one guy, but he couldve been slowed. None of us even tried to hunt like BG did.

One thing Im not understanding is, people complained, so locations got added mid round. Then there were more changes mid round the next round. Its quite clear that no one is having fun this round, and the ways to alter the map, are clear, so why not do another mid round change. A change to this round, to increase map size and distance from planet gals and racials, not to mention, maybe making force combat 1v1, would be FAR more logical then the changes made mid round, the previous rounds. Why are we drawing the line this round, and not the last 2 rounds?

[Hobbs]

I don't have much time at the moment, but I wanted to address the few responses we have.

Jester, I appreciate your input, but I specifically asked that this thread remain devoid of that discussion. There are other places where it is acceptable. This thread's purpose is to enter into an open discussion about what the players as a community might be able to do to make the game more fun for everyone by exploring different ideas and discourse on the topic.

JJ, that's sort of the point that I'm trying to make. If you take the stance that we 8) up, we don't know what we're doing, we deserved it. Then fine, that's your right to do that. But it's not very understanding. We don't have 10+ years of playing experience, or time to be online constantly. We don't have the experience of playing together in well organized ops year in and year out. That sort of attitude lacks serious compassion to people who make mistakes. Ah, there's a flaw, pound it into them until they quit!

I feel like we all need to change how we play in order to become a better game and community, and I wanted this to be a place to discuss that. This was NOT a place to take about game mechanics, or to deride others for their actions in game. If this post comes off as derisive, than I'm sorry. I was only trying to be honest about how I felt so that we could enter into an intelligent discussion if possible.

PLEASE, PLEASE, DO NOT COME HERE TO TALK ABOUT GAME MECHANICS AND HOW THEY SHOULD BE CHANGED, OR TO ACCUSE SPECIFIC PLAYERS OR GROUPS OF PLAYERS FOR "RUINING THE GAME". THAT IS NOT THE INTENT OF THIS POST.

Oh, hey arcook.

[Kard]

I don't have much time at the moment, but I wanted to address the few responses we have.

Jester, I appreciate your input, but I specifically asked that this thread remain devoid of that discussion. There are other places where it is acceptable. This thread's purpose is to enter into an open discussion about what the players as a community might be able to do to make the game more fun for everyone by exploring different ideas and discourse on the topic.

JJ, that's sort of the point that I'm trying to make. If you take the stance that we up, we don't know what we're doing, we deserved it. Then fine, that's your right to do that. But it's not very understanding. We don't have 10+ years of playing experience, or time to be online constantly. We don't have the experience of playing together in well organized ops year in and year out. That sort of attitude lacks serious compassion to people who make mistakes. Ah, there's a flaw, pound it into them until they quit!

I feel like we all need to change how we play in order to become a better game and community, and I wanted this to be a place to discuss that. This was NOT a place to take about game mechanics, or to deride others for their actions in game. If this post comes off as derisive, than I'm sorry. I was only trying to be honest about how I felt so that we could enter into an intelligent discussion if possible.

PLEASE, PLEASE, DO NOT COME HERE TO TALK ABOUT GAME MECHANICS AND HOW THEY SHOULD BE CHANGED, OR TO ACCUSE SPECIFIC PLAYERS OR GROUPS OF PLAYERS FOR "RUINING THE GAME". THAT IS NOT THE INTENT OF THIS POST.

Oh, hey arcook.

The player base cant do much outside of the game mechanics. its that simple. The team that is winning right now, is playing within the game mechanics, and we can play the exact same way, in order to counter them. But most of us agree, we think the game should be played differently, and the game USE to be played differently, because the game mechanics USE to be different, as far as gal size and speed.

Sitting here and saying, lets have an Occupy SMR on the forums about how we as a community can change SMR with our team work and attitude, will accomplish nothing. We can talk and work together till we die, but unless the circumstances that lead to this style of play are changed, then this style of play will continue. There is no amount of discussion and team work, that will make the DC not be totaly overpowered on the secocnd day of the round. Because like I mentioned in my last post, no one ELSE wants to ship into a top racial or DC, just to counter sergei. If the DC could be killed by other hunters, this problem wouldnt even exist, because many people dont mind getting into racial hunters on the second day.

Another example. Ask questions like, "why not let us build money and planets" is silly. They want to win. So do we, so does everyone. If I had my boot on the throat of the other alliances, I wouldnt let them up and risk losing. Winning is fun. They shouldnt have to let up in order for everyone else to have fun. Imagine if the mavericks let up in game 6 last year, so Miami could have fun and play game 7. Not smart no fun. If we are following that logic, why not have BG build our bankroll and planet gal for us, then hand it over, to make the game more fun. lol

[JettJackson]

I don't have much time at the moment, but I wanted to address the few responses we have.

Jester, I appreciate your input, but I specifically asked that this thread remain devoid of that discussion. There are other places where it is acceptable. This thread's purpose is to enter into an open discussion about what the players as a community might be able to do to make the game more fun for everyone by exploring different ideas and discourse on the topic.

JJ, that's sort of the point that I'm trying to make. If you take the stance that we up, we don't know what we're doing, we deserved it. Then fine, that's your right to do that. But it's not very understanding. We don't have 10+ years of playing experience, or time to be online constantly. We don't have the experience of playing together in well organized ops year in and year out. That sort of attitude lacks serious compassion to people who make mistakes. Ah, there's a flaw, pound it into them until they quit!

I feel like we all need to change how we play in order to become a better game and community, and I wanted this to be a place to discuss that. This was NOT a place to take about game mechanics, or to deride others for their actions in game. If this post comes off as derisive, than I'm sorry. I was only trying to be honest about how I felt so that we could enter into an intelligent discussion if possible.

PLEASE, PLEASE, DO NOT COME HERE TO TALK ABOUT GAME MECHANICS AND HOW THEY SHOULD BE CHANGED, OR TO ACCUSE SPECIFIC PLAYERS OR GROUPS OF PLAYERS FOR "RUINING THE GAME". THAT IS NOT THE INTENT OF THIS POST.

Oh, hey arcook.

My intention wasn't to say you screwed up. All I am saying is that you did kinda bring it upon yourself when your alliance upgraded a port that went terribly thus ruining one gal so you moved onto the 2nd best gal and upgraded again. The pursuit of having the best of the best caused you to go from gal to gal while expecting us to just let you do so. As for what Kard said he is exactly right. It is just one person, the lack of coordination to kill or slow this one person has allowed him to get 32 kills. However as I already stated I made a mistake by putting the neutral fed back into the game as the map is small, had that fed not been in place or had the game been larger the outcome probably would be different. As for slowing the game down, I think it's a bit foolish to think this game would survive on anything slower than 1.5, 1.0 and 1.25 speeds worked before because we had so many people playing the game. Now with the lack of players you are trying to limit interaction even more. Ask your newbs in your alliance if they like playing or if they like waiting, I bet you know what the answer will be. This is on par with the Request a Feature to limit knowledge even more. At this point why not just come out and say we don't want to interact with anyone.

[Holti]

Ask questions like, "why not let us build money and planets" is silly. They want to win. So do we, so does everyone. If I had my boot on the throat of the other alliances, I wouldnt let them up and risk losing. Winning is fun. They shouldnt have to let up in order for everyone else to have fun. Imagine if the mavericks let up in game 6 last year, so Miami could have fun and play game 7. Not smart no fun. If we are following that logic, why not have BG build our bankroll and planet gal for us, then hand it over, to make the game more fun. lol

well, as a former athlete, I disagree with part of this. I don't know of any athlete who enjoys pulverizing their opponents. I've played on softball teams where we slammed our opponents 27 - 2. Trust me, after the first 10 runs, we were pretty damn bored and stopped playing our best just to shorten the agony of the game.

That said, my alliance isn't ready to give up, even if we are casual players. SMR is attractive in part for having diversity - some people like to trade, some hunt, some build, etc., etc. yeah, it sort of sucks that my players that like to build won't have that chance this round - but my alliance chat is active, and we are doing our best to have fun anyway.

[Hobbs]

This isn't my version of occupy SMR. Sure, I used language like that because I felt like it had contextual meaning that coincided with the point.

Comparing this to that important NBA game is silly. A more apt analogy would be pitting the Knicks versus a high school basketball team and then not intervening when the knicks completely pulverized their opponents. You wouldn't do that, it's silly. You can run around and say that we have the ability, we have the power, but in the end if the teams are stacked theres very little likelihood that anything changes.

If I play a game against someone and I know I'm better, I might be more prone to going easy on them for a bit. I'm not asking for BG to suddenly stop attacking us, but rubbing our mistakes and inadequacies into our faces is not any fun. Frankly, I don't even see how its fun for them. Four of you hop on, clear some forces, bust some galaxies, maybe walk away with a pod, and in that time you've interacted zero with any of us on a real level. Why? Because even if we do something, there is never any real danger to you or your ships. It's a joke.

As far as JJ's comment, he basically said that he didn't mean to say we screwed up, but... well we screwed up. C'mon JJ, have some balls. Either say it, or don't. Besides which, if we transfer back to the Knicks versus some high school team analogy, JJ's comments are the equivalent to him in the stands cheering the Knicks on while they knock around a bunch of high school kids and make them feel like :D for even trying.

This wasn't supposed to degenerate into this sort of discussion. I simply wanted to see what everyone's attitude towards playing this game was, not just JJ's, Kard's, and Jester's thought on game mechanics which are prevalent throughout any thread on here. I still haven't heard from Sergei or Orca. Do these guys just not come on here? Where's Bouncer at? I want to know why BG thinks its necessary to clear the same galaxy and bust the same planets every night? Why not let them speak for themselves?

I figure if we're going to go at it, we might as well go at it. So here goes: In truth, I really, really dislike the way JJ is handling the game mechanics discussion. He keeps saying "I'm doing it all for the newbies and activity" while pushing things like free stats, more turns, and smaller gals which directly lead to less newbies wanting to play. Hey JJ, guess what. I might as well be a newbie with how little activity I've showed in the game, and I hate that those things are in place. Sure, I like having lots of turns, but not at the expense of getting face pounded.

I guess I should have known this wouldn't have gotten anywhere. 8) man, all I wanted to see was a few people acknowledge that this game was skewed, and that until people realize that one alliance face pounding newbies all the time is only fun for those doing the face pounding, nothing around here is going to change. Hell, at worst I was hoping to see a bunch of people banding together in some sort of loose opposition to the ruling force at the moment, but everyone is content squabbling over trivialities. Guess what guys: the game is always going to have something overpowered. It's always going to have something broken. It's the attitude of the players that dictates whether the game is fun or not, but getting face pounded isn't fun. I don't mind getting my ass handed to me if there's a chance that we might succeed at something. At the moment, however, that doesn't seem like a possibility.

Besides, this wasn't really even supposed to be a discussion about what's happening in this game. I really wanted to see whether or not these same 5-10 people who dominate every round might think it might be more fun to play differently for a chance. Hell, even if they didn't then at least we could discuss possibilities of how we could have fun at the same time. As it is, I'm tired of getting pounded over and over in this game, and it's only just begun. Unless something gives, I probably won't last much longer (just like the last times I've tried to get back into it).

Btw, JJ. You just decided to come in here and say something useless along the lines of "Well, you're newbies, you deserved to be bullied." Thanks, buddy. In fact, this about sums up every comment you've ever made about anything to do with this game. I'm glad to have you as an admin representing this game and its player base. If a referee ever said that at a sports match I was at, I'd shove his whistle up his ass.