* MaxBarry has joined #nationstates
<+ardchoille> I'm going under for the third time on the NS channel
* +Melkor rolls out the red carpet
<@|Karma|> Welcome Max!
<+Erastide> someone let the poor man talk
<@|Karma|> !voice MaxBarry
* ChanServ sets mode: +v MaxBarry
<+MaxBarry> CENSORED!
<+MaxBarry> MOD OPPRESSION!
<+MaxBarry> ah, that's better
* +Melkor coughs
<@|Karma|> I think we forget that every time you come it.
<@Scolopendra> Max Barry... uncensored.
<@|Karma|> in
* +Euroslavia chuckles
<+MaxBarry> Hello everyone! Thanks for coming
<@|Karma|> Hope we didn't get you up to early?
<+MaxBarry> Nah
<@Reploid_Productions> Bah, that's what coffee is for!
<+MaxBarry> What else would I be doing at 6am on a SUnday?
<+MaxBarry> Sleeping!?!?!
<@|Karma|> heh, of course not
<@|Karma|> everyone knows writers are up at sunrise, milking the chickens!
<+MaxBarry> exactly
<+MaxBarry> The IDEA CHICKENS
<@|Karma|> Well, if you are ready, I think we can start taking questions.
<+MaxBarry> I am totally ready
<+MaxBarry> hit me
<@Reploid_Productions> Alright, our first question, from Tseaby:
<@Reploid_Productions> "How much does NationStates cost to run per month?"
<+MaxBarry> Financially or emotionally? :)
<+Tseaby> Both, I suppose.
<+Tseaby> Though I was mostly looking for an answer to the former. >_>
<+MaxBarry> Well, we are self-hosted these days
<+MaxBarry> Which requires a pretty big server and reasonably bandwidth...
<+MaxBarry> but those things are a lot cheaper today than when we first started
<@Reploid_Productions> Some of our "Antiquity" players probably remember the pre-Jolt days ;)
<+MaxBarry> so we have better hardware at less cost
<+Tseaby> That I do.
<+MaxBarry> It's in the realm of a few hundred per month
<+MaxBarry> Yeah -- I used to pay a lot more for a lot less hardware
<+Flibbleites> Some of us non-Antiquity players remember the pre-Jolt days.
<+MaxBarry> Plus our code wasn't as efficient as it is today
<+MaxBarry> All the labor of course is volunteers
<+MaxBarry> That's the thing that really keeps us running -- mods and admins!
<@|Karma|> (we get 100% raises daily)
* +MaxBarry nods.
<@|Karma|> Thanks Tseaby!
<+Melkor> By the way, you can blame Tseaby here for bringing me to NS. He was the one who linked me to it on a RtCW mod forum :P
<+Melkor> THanks, Tseaby! xD
<@Scolopendra> Next question is dear to all our hearts, from LinuxandtheX: Can we get rid of that horridly annoying rading "game" now?
<+MaxBarry> hahaha
<+MaxBarry> One of the amazing things about NS is how different people play it in totally different ways
<+MaxBarry> The invader game of course has always been contentious...
<+MaxBarry> In particular, nobody likes being invaded
<+MaxBarry> We've added a lot of protections for regional residents over the years...
<+MaxBarry> But I think it would be a terrible loss if we abolished it altogether
* @Scolopendra notes that if we've read General Franks' brilliant treatise, the raider "gamemap" is actually the pillar of the game and all else on NS is supposed to support it.
<+MaxBarry> The game can't be all sweetness and kittens
<+MaxBarry> The thing with raiders of course is that they're just using the same endorsement mechanism as everyone else
<+MaxBarry> They're not using a special "Invade!" feature
<+MaxBarry> They're just more efficient at using their votes than most
<+MaxBarry> ditto defenders
<@Reploid_Productions> So basically, invaders/defenders are no more or less central to the game than, say, the General Assembly, the roleplaying forums, or the General forum?
<@Scolopendra> Bah, Reploid shows her obvious fenda bias. :P
* @Reploid_Productions omg mod bias!
<+MaxBarry> Well, those things are all different, so hard to compare, but I consider all of those things essential, yes
<+MaxBarry> I kind of feel like with raiding there's a tradeoff
<@Scolopendra> Any follow-up, LinuxandtheX?
<+LinuxandtheX> nope
<+LinuxandtheX> thanks
<+MaxBarry> more raiding makes more people upset, but it also clearly makes us more popular -- for whatever reason, a lot more people are interested in playing this game when there's conflict
<+MaxBarry> so a balance is optimal
<+Sirocco> PvP is probably the one component NationStates really lacks compared to many other games.
<@Reploid_Productions> And next up, a question from CharlotteRyberg:
<@Reploid_Productions> What really went wrong with NationStates 2?
<+MaxBarry> hmm!
* +Melkor hehs
<@Reploid_Productions> A question near and dear to many of us, I'm sure ;)
* +Melkor worked their Mod Centre for two or three weeks
<+Katganistan> You poor man.
<+MaxBarry> Well, I guess ultimately the problem was a conflict between the game I wanted to make and the game OMAC (later Jolt) wanted to make
<+MaxBarry> I came to them with a design doc and said, "I want it like this"
<+MaxBarry> And it was a hugely ambitious, sprawling design, because I'd been working on this thing for years
<+MaxBarry> And they said, "Awesome! We'll make that."
<+MaxBarry> I said, "Are you sure? Because this is pretty big."
<+MaxBarry> But they thought they could do it, and we signed an agreement on that basis
<+MaxBarry> Anyway, as time went on, reality intervened...
<@|Karma|> Hate it when that happens.
<+MaxBarry> And the company I think realized they couldn't do NS2 the way I wanted it
<@Reploid_Productions> As an interesting and relevant followup about NS2, TheMindset adds "I seem to remember that you had a long design document for NS2 - would you ever consider releasing it?"
<+MaxBarry> So what we ended up with was like a rough sketch of NS2 -- there was some good stuff there, but it was unfinished or implemented in a half-assed way
<+CharlotteRyberg> I clearly remember, as a NS2 nation called Athens, that many users were upset by the limited features available, unless they paid $5 per month. In my opinion Jolt/OMAC was pretty much concerned about making money rather than a thriving community.
<+MaxBarry> I do think Jolt became a lot more commercially focused once they were taken over by OMAC
<+MaxBarry> We were hosted for years by Jolt and they were happy with the arrangement
<+Melkor> except when it came to paying people doing community relations for them :P
<+MaxBarry> But post-OMAC, I started getting heat about NS (that's NS1) not making enough money for them
<@Reploid_Productions> Max is being a lot kinder about Jolt than I am ;)
<@Scolopendra> Or paying anyone not OMAC in general...
<+MaxBarry> So that was a shame, and I'm not sure where NS2 (or NS3!) goes from here
<+MaxBarry> I probably won't even think about that for a while
<+CharlotteRyberg> I was very upset by the result myself.
<+Sirocco> Don't talk to me about OMAC, just don't. *shakes fist*
<+MaxBarry> The cool thing now is we are in total control over our own destiny -- we own the server, the forums, and can do what we like
<+TheMindset> would you consider releasing the original design document, so we could see the implementation you'd planned?
<+MaxBarry> Lately we've been tinkering a lot more, adding more stuff
<+MaxBarry> Yes, sure -- There are a few floating around, I'll find one
<+TheMindset> awesome
<@|Karma|> thanks TheMindset and CharlotteRyberg
<+CharlotteRyberg> I share your feelings: I am proud of you.
<+TheMindset> thanks
<+MaxBarry> thanks Charlotte!
<+Euroslavia> The next question is sort of a follow up to this discussion of OMAC/JOLT.
<+Euroslavia> <Goobergunchia> What were the final factors in NationStates splitting from Jolt/OMAC?
<+Melkor> dun dun DUNN
<+MaxBarry> It was about money, mostly
* @Scolopendra detects a trend
<+MaxBarry> When we moved to OMAC, we shifted the game onto their servers
<+MaxBarry> And the deal was they would host us at their expense, and in return keep most of the money from ads
<+MaxBarry> But after a while they decided that wasn't working for them
<@Reploid_Productions> Of course, the NS forums remain a massive elephant in Jolt's room if you compare the post counts for NS and the rest of the Jolt forum
<+Goobergunchia> Heh.
<+MaxBarry> And they stopped paying us anything, plus told us we had to move off their server to something smaller
<+MaxBarry> So at that point I just took the game back
<+MaxBarry> The silver lining is that before this experience, I wouldn't have thought the game could support itself purely through ads
<+MaxBarry> But now I know it can, we're free to do what we like
* +Goobergunchia cheers for creative control!
<@Reploid_Productions> The server hasn't exploded yet!
<+MaxBarry> Yes!
<+MaxBarry> The forum is growing though...
* +MaxBarry shudders.
<+Melkor> YOU'RE shuddering?
<+Melkor> xP
<@Reploid_Productions> Still, the pre-Jolt forum was considerably larger and even that was (barely) functioning
<+Goobergunchia> Well, we still don't have to post while walking through the snow both ways.
<+MaxBarry> heheh
<+Pythagosaurus> I'm shuddering too
<+MaxBarry> Yeah, anyone who managed to get some use out of our old forum deserves a medal
<+Goobergunchia> You could post to it if you had half an hour or so to spare >_>
<@|Karma|> Thanks Goobergunchia!
<+MaxBarry> MAYBE I ALREADY DO
<+Melkor> Unless you kept weird hours.
<+MaxBarry> dun dun DUN
<@Reploid_Productions> Random trivia about the OMAC issues too: When I ranted to my sister about it, she did offer to TP OMAC's headquarters in Dublin while she was on her honeymoon. Unfortunately, I told her that was probably not a good idea.
<+Sirocco> Our next question comes from Gruen!
<+Sirocco> <Gruen> Max: do you have any thoughts on the changes made to The World Assembly?
<+MaxBarry> You mean the split into the General Assembly and Security Council?
<+Gruen> yes
<+MaxBarry> ok
<+MaxBarry> Well, that all came about because of a screwup, essentially
<+MaxBarry> We were discussing ways of fixing a particular gameplay problem
<+MaxBarry> Specifically, that a particular tactic in the invasion game was to password-lock a region for all time
<+MaxBarry> ejecting residents one at a time until they were all gone
<+MaxBarry> That ended the conflict, and wasn't a tactic we wanted to support
<+MaxBarry> So the solution I favored to that was a World Assembly "Liberation" resolution
<+MaxBarry> which would put the moral decision of when to break a password lock in the hands of the WA
<+MaxBarry> But first I wondered, Will the WA actually do this? Maybe the WA will happily start griefing regions
<@Reploid_Productions> (Note to the invaders: politics can be used here to further your goals.)
<+MaxBarry> So I thought, I know! We should add these Commend and Condemn resolutions, which will let the WA express its approval or disapproval of whatever they like
<+Sirocco> I don't know about anyone else but I love internet drama.
<+MaxBarry> It seemed like a really simple idea
<+MaxBarry> WITH NO DOWNSIDE
* +Melkor snickers
<@Scolopendra> Foolish Max.
<+Erastide> hahah you wish
<@Reploid_Productions> Then he left us poor, overworked mods to clean up his mess ;)
<+MaxBarry> Then it turned out that these resolutions presented a huge problem for a goodly chunk of the existing World Assembly community
<+MaxBarry> It was one of those complex issues you probably need 6 months' worth of study to understand properly... at least that's my excuse
<+MaxBarry> but the C&C resolutions couldn't exist within the scope of the game the WA community had defined
<+MaxBarry> and this was going to be a problem for all further gameplay-related WA legislation
<+MaxBarry> So the solution we all hammered out was a split, leaving the existing WA legislative community as untouched as possible, and putting the new resolutions in a separate council
<+MaxBarry> So those two Councils are essentially to support different communities; they're a means to an end
<@|Karma|> Thanks Gruen
<+MaxBarry> And may I just apologize for screwing that whole thing up
<+MaxBarry> Because while I think Liberation has been very good for the game, we could have done that whole thing better
<+MaxBarry> thanks Gruen!
<+Erastide> going to be bad and ask my own question now, Are we ever going to hear more about the book you read an excerpt from on your book tour for Company?
<+MaxBarry> Yes! But not for a while :)
<+MaxBarry> That's all I can tell you :)
<+Erastide> aww
<+MaxBarry> There, there
<@Reploid_Productions> Next up, Ainulindalion asks: "Max, how many people have met on NS and gotten married? And do you expect wedding invites when it happens?"
<+MaxBarry> hahaha
<+MaxBarry> I am aware of one couple, who now have a kid
<+MaxBarry> I'm not sure if they know, but under the NS terms and conditions, I own all rights to that child
<+Erastide> LOL
<+Ainulindalion> Oh.
<@|Karma|> Wait to inform them of that until it starte making lots of money.
* +Ainulindalion had best stop playing before he and Gehenna have kids, then.
<+MaxBarry> ahhh
<@Reploid_Productions> (Also, a shoutout to Carisbrooke and Scandaland, who just got married this week!)
<+MaxBarry> you two married?
<+MaxBarry> we clearly need some kind of registry
<+Ainulindalion> We will be in June
<+MaxBarry> congratulations!
<+Euroslavia> What day?!
<@Scolopendra> And who knows how many people are going out.
<+Katganistan> Awesome!
<+Ainulindalion> June 12
* @|Karma| invites himself to the reception.
<+MaxBarry> That's amazing
<+Euroslavia> Two days after my birthday. XD That's awesome to hear though!
<+MaxBarry> You know what, you gotta let NS people send you TELEGRAMS!
<+Ainulindalion> Oh dear.
<@Reploid_Productions> Kinda puts the "NationDates" April Fools joke in a whole new light, doesn't it? ;)
* +Melkor grumbles
<+Pythagosaurus> joke?
<+Melkor> moving right along...
<+MaxBarry> exactly
<+Euroslavia> <Fictions> How did you come up with the idea of a game website to promote a book?
<+Fictions> O.O my question was asked!
<+MaxBarry> Well, the two ideas evolved together...
<+MaxBarry> I've always been a board game geek, loved designing my own games and forcing my friends to play them
<+MaxBarry> And when I was finishing up Jennifer Government, the book, I was looking for a way to promote it
<+MaxBarry> And I realized, this is finally the excuse I needed to code up my game
<+MaxBarry> I could justify taking all that time to tinker with a web game because it was HELPING MY CAREER
<+Fictions> can I as a question while I'm unmuted? It ties in with this, well, did you expect such sucess?
<+MaxBarry> It's a little similar to how I've become more involved with NS since we came back from Jolt -- now I face the threat of losing money hosting this game if it doesn't go well, I can justify sinking time into it
<+MaxBarry> I definitely didn't expect it to be this popular
<+MaxBarry> I think it's amazing that we're even still here
* +Melkor preens
<+MaxBarry> This is a game that opened in 2002
<@Reploid_Productions> "Maybe a few dozen players for a month or so" was what you said way back then if I recall right
<+MaxBarry> Yeah, my target was 1000 players
<+MaxBarry> I thought, if I hit 1000 players, all this sweat and effort will be worth it
<+Melkor> and then it quickly became "oshi I need mods" xD
<+Euroslavia> Another question about the website, related to this discussion: <Fit> Is there a chance of you adding a Donation button so people like me who want to donate can?
<+MaxBarry> Because obviously I thought there was a big chance nobody in the world would want to play it except me, and then I would have just lost four months on a web game when I should have been working on my next book
<+Fit> Thanks
<+MaxBarry> Donation button: Yes, I would like to add something like that. There's a bit of fiddling required to support it
<+MaxBarry> Btw, notice how Melkor attempted to segue to the fact that he modded NS by himself for 6 weeks
<+MaxBarry> DON'T THINK WE DIDN'T NOTICE
<+Melkor> xD
* +Erastide has voted for selling Tshirts with cute sayings
<+Fit> Ahh ok, would you accept any level of donations or only small/large ones
* +Euroslavia chuckles
* +Melkor shakes his cane
<@Scolopendra> And he hasn't done a thing since. *runs for the hills*
<+MaxBarry> It would be a way for players to tip in any amount they wanted to help keep us running
<+Euroslavia> "I love the Nationstates Moderators!" <-- love it!
<+Fit> Great, thanks
<+Fit> I'll wait for my other questions to come up later
<+MaxBarry> Thanks Fit!
<@Reploid_Productions> I dunno, "We love Reppy!" would probably sell better ;)
<@|Karma|> Thanks Fit, Fictions
<+Euroslavia> xD
<+Sirocco> Flightless hippo soft toys would be great for... me.
<@Scolopendra> This is because you have breasts, Reppy.
<+Erastide> lol
<+Melkor> yeah, those tend to help
<+Erastide> Question from Yafor: [13:22:05] <Yafor2> When will Fin get a nation? :P
<+MaxBarry> Ha ha!
<+MaxBarry> Hmm, haven't thought about that one
<+MaxBarry> She's just turned 4
<+MaxBarry> (This is my daughter, btw.)
<+Yafor2> Oooh, I feel speshul :P
<+MaxBarry> I know one thing: she won't be allowed to go on the forums until high school
<+Katganistan> LOL
<@Scolopendra> Gives her 11 years before she should even think about getting on the fo... ya.
<+Erastide> hahah
<@Reploid_Productions> I wish more parents did that ;)
<+MaxBarry> It would be interesting to see what kind of nation she made though
<+Yafor2> <+MaxBarry> I know one thing: she won't be allowed to go on the forums until high school <-- that's the path that I followed, actually <.<
<@|Karma|> Oh no! I've raised a dictator!
<+Melkor> Free market Capitalist, of course! *nod*
<+Sirocco> She'd probably become a raider during the inevitable rebellion phase.
<+MaxBarry> I think today it would be a "Fairy Free-Kitten Paradise"
<+Sirocco> OK, our next question comes from Todd McCloud!
<+MaxBarry> Todd!
<+Sirocco> Todd McCloud asks: What are some other new changes to the game you are considering?
<+MaxBarry> Hmm
<+MaxBarry> This is the kind of question that gets me into trouble
<+MaxBarry> Because I mention something we never get around doing, or something people will kill me if we do
<+Todd_McCloud> Nah, only interested
<+Pythagosaurus> I'm writing a flag virus
<+MaxBarry> Well let me start with the mass telegram idea
<+MaxBarry> just randomly
<@Scolopendra> We're "considering" offering kittens and happiness to everyone.
<+Todd_McCloud> Sounds good.
<@Scolopendra> Until Max decided he HATES KITTENS AND HAPPINESS. ;)
<+MaxBarry> We have this antiquated communications system
<+MaxBarry> It limits what we can do, and what players can do
<+MaxBarry> Having a limit of only 10 or so TGs, for eg, is ridiculous
<+MaxBarry> You should have a list of Sent TGs...
<+MaxBarry> You should be able to TG multiple people...
<+Todd_McCloud> It would be nice
<+MaxBarry> All these things are kind of obvious, but we're dealing with a game written by a guy who has zero programming training
<+MaxBarry> So it was not built to scale
<+Todd_McCloud> I just feel the people who quit the game early would be more proactive if they had someone speaking to them that wasn't "welcome to NS, join ____!"
<+MaxBarry> Right
<+Todd_McCloud> Alright
<+Todd_McCloud> Also, one last thing: musical feeders
<+MaxBarry> And, similarly, I wish we could better connect recruiters with recruitees
<+MaxBarry> At the moment you have players wanting to be recruited, but nobody knows who they are, and other players who don't want to be recruited who get sick of recruitment TGs and RMB posts
* +Todd_McCloud nods
<+MaxBarry> Anyway, we have a ton of stuff we could do, and we're slowly working our way through it
<@Reploid_Productions> What about separate TG box or filter so recruiters could mark their messages as such?
<+MaxBarry> I don't anticipate any fundamental changes
<+MaxBarry> e.g. no war or trade
<+MaxBarry> But there's plenty we could do to enhance the game as it is
<+Todd_McCloud> Well, I'll stay tuned then
<+MaxBarry> thanks Todd!
<@|Karma|> Thanks Todd
* +Sirocco is still painfully working his way through revising some older issues.
<+Sirocco> Don't worry, I think it'll be done by 2010! :O
<+Melkor> Next question comes from Gruenberg again (he's on fire!): "If you could cast anyone to be in a movie adaptation of JG, who would you pick to play which role? "
<+MaxBarry> I would pick Naomi Watts for Jennifer Government
<+MaxBarry> JG is in development as a TV series at the moment
<+Melkor> :O
<@Scolopendra> (and he knocks the softball out of the park! He's on fire, folks!)
<@Reploid_Productions> It is?!
<@|Karma|> I would watch that.
<+MaxBarry> But it's been in development for various things for a long time, and you never know when lightning will strike
<@Scolopendra> I would buy that for a dollar.
<+Euroslavia> Oh wow
<+MaxBarry> With AMC
<@Reploid_Productions> You'd mentioned the movie option, but the TV option is a new one on... well, I think everybody!
<+Melkor> Didnt someone buy the rights to make it a movie a few years back?
<+Flibbleites> Hmm, I might have a reason to watch AMC.
<+MaxBarry> Yes, and they didn't get it up, so the rights reverted to me
<+Gruen> damn, I didn't realize Jennifer was blonde. I think I thought of her as having dark hair.
<@Scolopendra> That's what she said
<+MaxBarry> That is the cool thing about film rights: you get multiple shots
<+Melkor> what about the other characters? any actors/actresses spring out as offering a good portrayal?
<+MaxBarry> I can't even remember what color her hair is... but Naomi Watts is a great actress
<+MaxBarry> and Australian! :)
<+MaxBarry> I dunno; it's hard to imagine actors as my characters
<+Gruen> ok, fair enough
<+Melkor> I must be weird then, I do it all the time xD
<@|Karma|> The mods get to be niketown victims though, right?
<+MaxBarry> Yes, walkon parts as corpses for all of you!
<@Reploid_Productions> Whoohoo!
<+MaxBarry> Wait, is "walkon" the right word?
<@Scolopendra> Hooray.
<+Melkor> booyah
<+MaxBarry> "lie-on"
<+Flibbleites> Woo hoo!
<+Katganistan> die on?
<@|Karma|> Thanks again, Gruen
<+Euroslavia> Next question! <Fit> Is there a chance for you to do a book based more around governments and their corruption/biased rather than the current Corporation ones?
<+Fit> Back again
<@Scolopendra> Of course he won't. He's a commie, and governments do no wrong.
<+MaxBarry> Like the plague!
<@Scolopendra> Or not.
<+MaxBarry> hmm, that comment made more sense before Scolo's
<+Fit> Lol
<@Scolopendra> Woot. INTERCEPTION.
* +Euroslavia cheers for Fit!
<+Fit> lol
<+MaxBarry> Good question...
* +Melkor watches INTENTLY
<+MaxBarry> Probably not... I think first my experience is with corporations, not government
<@Scolopendra> oh em gee he is a communist.
<@Scolopendra> ;) I'll shaddup now.
<+Sirocco> An anagram of Max Barry is "Bray Marx" OH MY GOD
<+Fit> a shame, i would have liked one. Any chance of a book for a younger audience?
<+MaxBarry> Second, corporations are a lot more interesting to me
<+MaxBarry> I like that corporations have a specific, defined, single purpose
<+MaxBarry> They're like robots
<@Reploid_Productions> I know I suddenly didn't trust a coworker named Roger at the firm I work at after I read Company, that's for sure
* +Melkor froths at the mouth
<+MaxBarry> But I haven't been writing much about corporations lately either
<+Fit> lol
<+Euroslavia> <_<
<+Euroslavia> >_>
<+MaxBarry> I've been getting into sci-fi a little more
<+MaxBarry> Book for a younger audience: Yes, I think so
<+Fit> Brilliant
<+Fit> You'll see me again soon
<+MaxBarry> I started doing this Machine Man serial earlier this year, and it kind of took over everything else
<+Erastide> Make one for the NS babies :D
<+Fit> Lol
<+MaxBarry> Haha!
<+Melkor> OHHHHH
<@|Karma|> Thanks Fir
<+Fit> Why the nice man from the McDonalds ad is out to get you
<@|Karma|> do'h. Fit
<@Reploid_Productions> And next up:
<@Reploid_Productions> Antarctistan wants to know, "What do you think of how NS Sport has evolved, and did you think NS Sport would ever exist like this from the onset of the game?"
<+MaxBarry> NS Sport is one of those communities that I couldn't have possibly imagined
<+MaxBarry> I mean, I coded this very basic little game, where you make a nation and answer some issues
<+MaxBarry> and people have added layers in all kinds of areas
<+MaxBarry> on the gameplay side, there's the invasion game, which I didn't anticipate
<+MaxBarry> in the forums, there are a half-dozen major communities
<@Reploid_Productions> I still think the term "scorinator" sounds like some sort of evil torture machine ;P
* +Sirocco adds: I was the one who proposed this subforum. I'm very pleased it turned out to be so popular.
<+MaxBarry> And I think without that, NS would have died off a long time ago
<@|Karma|> Not to toot his own horn, ladies and gentlebears.
<+MaxBarry> NS hasn't remained popular because of what I coded; it's what everyone has developed on top of that
<+Antarctistan> *agrees*
<+Melkor> silly max
<+MaxBarry> I keep getting amazed by what people have done for their nations -- from wiki pages to RPs to calculators, offsite forums, medals...
<+MaxBarry> I know I'm not that good a programmer
<+Melkor> you're too modest xP
<+Euroslavia> Next question!
<+Euroslavia> <Jim|Midlonia|Sprite> Obviously you can't tell us which state you do still play, but what aspects of the game do you enjoy playing? Do you dabble in gameplay and roleplaying?
<+MaxBarry> I guess I've never become too involved with any single community... I'm not secretly Kandarin or anything :)
<+MaxBarry> I've done a little of everything
* @Reploid_Productions watches the conspiracy thread explode with "IS MAX KANDY?!!!11shift+one!"
* +Euroslavia crosses Kandarin off the list
<+Jim|Midlonia|Sprite> Fun. And nobody but the Mods KNOW I suppose?
<+MaxBarry> I think there's a pretty steep learning curve in a lot of the communities...
<+MaxBarry> You can't just turn up and start RPing until you understand the etiquette
<+ardchoille> thought he WAS Kandarin
<+MaxBarry> Ditto, you can't jump into a region and start trying to overthrow the delegate
<+ardchoille> Now I can stop being polite to Kandy!
<+MaxBarry> well, you can, but it won't work
<+MaxBarry> as I discovered once a long time ago :)
<@Reploid_Productions> "zOMG Max is/was an invader!"
<+Jim|Midlonia|Sprite> I wonder how they must've felt beating up the owner of the site...
<+Euroslavia> bah, beat me to it Reppy :P
<+MaxBarry> Well I don't play under my own name
* +Sirocco remembers his glory days. I managed to convince some twenty-plus people to make me delegate without endorsing anyone.
<+Jim|Midlonia|Sprite> Well yeah. I heard about the Maxtopia thing
<+MaxBarry> I usually move around until I find an interesting region, get a little involved with the politics, just to see what's there
<+MaxBarry> And I do post on the forums
<+MaxBarry> Although I won't say where for fear of giving it away
<+MaxBarry> :)
<+Kryozerkia> next question!
<@Scolopendra> He knows when you are sleeping, he knows when you're awake...
<+Kryozerkia> [16:48] djbriandamage: @maxbarry - I read on your blog about your "live writing" on a projector in a bookstore idea. How else is being a modern author different from the past?
<+MaxBarry> oh yeah, the live short story
<+MaxBarry> I ALMOST DIED
<+MaxBarry> I sat in a hall while people watched me write a short story on a big screen
<+MaxBarry> I thought it would be tough but fun, and it was, but it was a lot tougher than I expected
<+MaxBarry> Every time I wrote half a sentence, I could hear people reacting to it
<+MaxBarry> I lost a little piece of my sanity that day
<@Reploid_Productions> Kinda takes reader feedback to a whole new level, I'm sure
<+Kryozerkia> Sanity is overrated.
<+Katganistan> Nothing like having people hanging over your shoulder impatiently waiting for you to write something, I'd guess.
<+MaxBarry> But yeah, I use the internet an awful lot as an author
<+MaxBarry> I'm doing this Machine Man serial via my web site...
<+MaxBarry> and these are things I just couldn't have done pre-1995
<+MaxBarry> I used to wonder how writers functioned before typewriters, now I don't know how they did it before the net
<+djbriandamage> ever consider leveraging this whole "2.0" craze? wiki character profiles or some such community engagement?
<+djbriandamage> or twitter serial?
<+MaxBarry> Well, I have a lot of respect for what a community can create on its own, obviously, but I don't think that works for everything
<+MaxBarry> A year or so ago Penguin (I think) tried to do a collaborative novel
<+MaxBarry> and it was THE WORST THING EVER
<+Kryozerkia> Worst than fanfiction?
<+MaxBarry> YES
<+Kryozerkia> lol.
<@Scolopendra> Worse than Kirk/Spock? Wow.
<@Scolopendra> My mind is kasploded.
<+MaxBarry> That idea of open collaboration is hugely powerful in some areas, like open source software
<+MaxBarry> But I don't think it can write novels
<@Scolopendra> Alrighty, moving on to the next question...
<@Scolopendra> From Krulltopia: The proposed Annexation feature is an interesting development: was it partially inspired by the approach some raiders were carrying out? Also, do you think it would help bridge the gap between gameplay and roleplay in regards to inter-regional relations?
<+MaxBarry> Most of what I'm interested in doing with NS is about better supporting what people are trying to do already
<+MaxBarry> The Annex idea, which is mixed up with Regional Embassies now, is about officially recognizing relationships between regions
<+MaxBarry> and it's not a game-changer, it won't make anyone act differently than now...
<+MaxBarry> but I think it would help that inter-regional play a little
<+MaxBarry> I really like that some regions have formed alliances, for example
<+MaxBarry> I mean, I REALLY like that
<+MaxBarry> So I would like to support it
<@Reploid_Productions> Next up:
<@Reploid_Productions> The_blaatschapen has a classic one regarding the secret moderator conspiracies of old: Who is [dredd]?
<+the_blaatschapen> yay :)
<+MaxBarry> Dredd is Geoff Wong, who was the guy who wrote some of the very first code for the game
<+MaxBarry> I hired him because I knew nothing about how to write a web game
* @Reploid_Productions always thought that [dredd], like [mantle] was kinda like the Loch Ness monster or Bigfoot
<+MaxBarry> and he created the foundation, essentially
<+Melkor> silly rep
<+MaxBarry> Dredd can still be found on Shattered World, the MUD where I met him (and developed my leet code hax skillz)
<+Melkor> everyone knows I'M bigfoot
<+the_blaatschapen> you're a mudder :/
<+the_blaatschapen> cool :)
<+the_blaatschapen> thanks max :)
<@Scolopendra> He's the hero of Canton.
<+MaxBarry> I was; haven't been for a while though
<+Erastide> 2nd to last question!
<+Erastide> <TheMindset> What is your opinion of external apps that extend the functionality of NS? e.g. NSWiki, calculators or maps?
<+MaxBarry> They're brilliant!
<+MaxBarry> Anything like that we can support, via an API or whatever, I'm all for
<+MaxBarry> They let people add to the game
<+MaxBarry> and if you don't want to use a calculator, you don't have to, but it's there for those who find it useful
<+TheMindset> have you ever considered an API that'd allow verifying you control a certain nation on NS?
<+MaxBarry> there are parts of the game that NEED those external apps
<+Pythagosaurus> the openid stuff already does that
<+MaxBarry> We have that, as OpenID
<+MaxBarry> yeah
<+TheMindset> I'll need to look into that then :)
<+TheMindset> thanks
<+MaxBarry> thanks!
<+Sirocco> Our final question is quite possibly the most important one. Max, this will tax your mind to its limit. Prepare thyself...
<+Sirocco> Here it is: <Maurepas> ***Whats your favorite national animal?***
* +MaxBarry gasps.
<+MaxBarry> okay
<@Scolopendra> Taking bets
<+Maurepas> YAY! lol
<+MaxBarry> I have kept this secret all through the long years
<+MaxBarry> but now I can finally reveal
<+MaxBarry> SQUIRREL
<+Erastide> :o
<+Melkor> flying or regular
* +Euroslavia cheers!
<+Erastide> LLAMA
<+Maurepas> lmao, awesome, thanx
<@Scolopendra> Sort of anticlimactic.
<+MaxBarry> regular squirrel
<+MaxBarry> I live in a country with no squirrels
<+MaxBarry> and I think they are AWESOME
<+MaxBarry> Look at how they leap around!
<+Maurepas> I live in a country with nothing but squirrles, lol
<+MaxBarry> They're frickin amazing!
<+Pythagosaurus> your country has colleges; they must have squirrels
<+Erastide> yes, they leap up and bite you
* +Euroslavia mails a box of rabid squirrels to Max
<+ardchoille> Koalas do that
<@Scolopendra> Drop bears. *nods sagely*
<+Maurepas> they are able to efficiently outsmart cats, as Ive observed
<+ardchoille> and don't fly
<+Maurepas> or maybe I just have dumb cats, lol
<+ardchoille> just fall about drunkenly
<@|Karma|> And I think that will just about wrap us up for Max Chat 5!
<+ardchoille> and pee on people
<+MaxBarry> Thanks Karma! Thanks everyone!
<+Maurepas> w00t! thanx
* +Euroslavia laughs
<+ardchoille> Koalas, I mean
<@Scolopendra> Karma gets special thanks.
<+MaxBarry> Thanks for being a part of NS!
<@|Karma|> any last words, before YE WALK THE PLANK?
* +Melkor draws his scimitar
<@Reploid_Productions> Thanks to the boss, for dragging himself out of bed at an ungodly hour of the morning ;)
* +Euroslavia sigs Ard
<+Maurepas> Can I get a pistol with one shot?
<+MaxBarry> Last words: Special thanks to the mods & admin who keep this place running, because without them it would not be
<@Scolopendra> Guess not
<+ardchoille> So now I can go back to bed?
<+Melkor> NEVER
<@|Karma|> no. get me a sammich
<@Scolopendra> We oppress you all... with love.
<+MaxBarry> Yes, well done to everyone who got up at 6AM Aussie time for this
<@|Karma|> Ok, ready for the flood?
* @|Karma| braces?
<+ardchoille> Vegemite peanut butter and jelly coming up
* +Melkor braces self
<+Sirocco> It's getting towards 11pm here in Scotland.
<@|Karma|> here it comes
* @Reploid_Productions flees to high ground
<@Scolopendra> Riot shield up.
* +Sirocco sinks in his submarine