OK, so I'm fond of having the last word...
At 09:41 PM 4/13/98 -0400, Greg Lindahl wrote:
>But, as you said, this is a pretty boring discussion. I still don't
>think you should be playing a game like Olympia, in which even Rich
>Skrenta has a pseudonym (Atnerks), if you can't bring yourself to
>refer to me as Oleg. Historically, even people like the AOO, who very
>much treated Oly as a wargame, always used character names for
>themselves and others. I have always treated Oly as a strategy
>wargame.
>
For the record, I have no problems with pseudonyms per se. I've been to a
good number of places on the Internet, and in some of those places
nicknames or handles are practically manditory (say, on IRC, or on servers
set up for RTS games, to name two examples). In those places, I've used
nicknames, and haven't objected to the practice. For that matter, I really
have no problem with you being known as Oleg. What I don't recognize is
that Oleg is somehow a seperate entity than Greg, with seperate knowledge
and seperate motives; I find that quite artifical, given that your motives
are (or I assume them to be) to do well in this game, to win, in the sense
that one can win a open-ended game (and in what I would consider to be a
'real roleplaying game', players motives are usually somewhat different).
To me, though I don't know you, Oleg and Greg are the same (which makes
Oleg and Greg equally valid ways of addressing you). Oleg is merely the
representation of Greg in this game. And that's how I'll treat you (or
anyone else) in Olympia. And it's certainly how I expect to be treated
(and prefer to be treated, for what that's worth). Referring to you as
Greg rather than to Oleg just illustrates the point.
I don't dislike the use of nicknames in Olympia (or similar games). What I
dislike is the element of roleplaying that often (though far from always)
goes along with it. I don't think roleplaying is inherently bad, I just
think it has its place, and this is not it.
Like I said, if people want to roleplay, go ahead. Just don't expect me to
participate.
>You don't think Atnerks is going to create the Brian artifact, do you?
Perhaps not, but I certainly wouldn't object to it.
Brian Enright