Official QB Quarter 1, 2007 Nominees With Q&A Responses (in Contests)

What keeps me coming back to CB? The usual; people, community. I'll admit I'm a little bored with gameplay, but that's more to do with being around for quite a long time. I haven't stopped playing, I still get a kick out of seeing strats grow; but it's not the main thing anymore. I'm just a forum junkie, that's my problem! How to get new people? That's always the tough one; and it all depends on whether we want the game to be bigger, thus losing some of the intimacy it can have with smaller numbers. The intimate environment, the gameplay that requires some thought seems to appeal to a certain type of player; although increasingly that is starting to look more like number crunchers, whereas for a time we had a lot more imagination involved....and by imagination I mean someone like Barzoo. It's not about numbers and decimal points for BM, it's about story and fantasy and imagining a world around the characters. Perhaps we need something involved to spark the imagination; quests or something, text based adventures....

Lol, this was one of my question suggestions last time round. I think I had one changemonth that spoilt my ideas for my strat. I whined briefly for about a day, then got on with adapting. Nobody's strat is immune to the possibilities of change; you're stupid if you push your team up a potential blind alley. And change is good. Repeat after me. Change is good. A game like this needs it. In fact, I'd go as far as saying, we don't have enough change lately....

I want a Cloak Of Balrog Flame for real life. I want it to wear on my journey to work, so that if people crowd me on the morning change I can deal with them. Let that tourist with the back pack bump into me then....

What I really don't like about CB right now is how polarised the community is. We have two very definite types of player right now; I mentioned the number crunchers and the imaginative guys/gals; I'd probably put myself on the side of the creatives. We've always had the two very different elements, but lately the arguments just keep on coming. I've not seen it like that before during my time here. It's not good. I suspect a lot of new players will come in and take a look at the forums and disappear; certainly they won't raise their heads above the parapets to take part in the forums with that going on. How to fix it? Dunno. I think it will need a lot of people to leave to get rid of it. It's starting to look like it's deeply ingrained into our little community. Possibly too deep to get rid of.

One BA to spend? I'd use it up by eating the perfect CB bacon sandwich. Your tank's gotta eat right?

What came first? The colour orange or the fruit? I wouldn't call them blues anyhow....because then what would you call The Blues? The Oranges? Howling Wolf Sings The Oranges...I woke up this morning.....got the oranges so bad.....

The community, the strategy, and the economics involved are what keep me coming back. Honestly, the ones that can't see all that CB has to offer, the ones who can't see past the lack of graphics and the PG policy, can leave. I miss not a single one of them. However, the ones that have a good chance need the motivation of the people of 'new players'. Chat is dead far too often in there. When people are talking, it is inviting. And to know they can get a bit of advice and fun by logging on this wonderful site, will bring more people.

That really depends on the change. If it is something giving a rediculously unbalanced advantage/disadvantage that I could see with my own eyes (through my fights), I will speak out (about changes for or against my strategy), not loudly, or demanding answers. More like, "Ummm... yea, my ELB is doing way too much damage..." (I said this back when I owned an ELB and used Archery) or "Yeah, CoC was considered weak before, now its useless due to the HoC" (said that before HoC was changed). However, if it was a change that was probably entirely necessary (like removing TSA's magic reduction and creating the EH I was using a TSA/MgS on my tank at the time to deal with MM teams, so it messed me up against half of my fight list), I won't have complaints, as I know it brought a better balance to the game. :)

Definitely the Rune of Enlightenment. I like to gain as much as I can from life's experiences, good and bad, and I certainly wouldn't mind being able to get more out of life. My goal is to collect as much knowledge as I can in any, and every aspect of everything.

I don't like how every couple of weeks, one well-respected member decides to trash another. I feel that if you have a problem with somebody, that that problem should remain between you and that other person, and that starting war where people would choose sides (even if that was not your intent) is wrong. There are a few that I disagree with on a regular basis, but I hold no ill will towards any of them, as they are entitled to their opinion, just as much as I am to my own.

Find the highest score person i can beat and give 'em one for good luck. Not much else that could be done, unless i wanted to save BA for 21 years and put a cycle on my Axbow...

Well, if they suddenly turned blue, I'm sure that most would still refer to them as oranges. but if they had always been blue, perhaps another name would have been used, possibly depending on the shade of blue they were...

It has and always will be about the community. There is the gameplay aspect, however it is the relationship I build with my fellow players that keeps me in. To encourage others to play and stay, the community as a whole should be more interactive with others. You can even talk off-topic, but as long you're engaging with others, I'd say would help out a lot.

I would keep quiet. But not because it's for the good of the game, but because as human beings we learn to adapt. The change that was brought on, is just another obstacle to overcome. Work with it. Plus, the challenge keeps you motivated to stay interested in the game. Any change is a good change, you take the good with the bad.

Elven boots. I love to run IRL, and since the boots help with dexterity, that's a lot of running around I get to do. Think Flash.

I like how the entire interface is so simple. Complex designs look pretty but can become overwhelming, but in this case, less is definitely more. From a developer point of view, I would like to bring CB to a more modern design. Meaning, let's hop on the bandwagon and make it Web 2.0.

Initially I was gonna fight, but instead I'll spend that one BA forging. Here's the genius of the plan. We'll gather all the players, pick a single item to forge and pass the item around to everyone. Everyone would collaborate to forge the item. And once we're done, think of how proud the community as a whole would be? We've accomplished something big as one. That's something worth "fighting" for.

Yes. For the explanation allow me to quote Shakespeare, "What's in a name? That which we call a rose, by any other name would smell as sweet". And also one from Gertrude Stein, "A rose is a rose is a rose". If this doesn't suffice, then the fact is that the color/name "orange" was actually derived from the fruit, not the other way around. Thus, if we had blue oranges, our perception of the color orange would be very different today.

That's a really good question, I had all but completely escaped until a couple weeks ago, I think I'm enjoying the game as relaxation now rather than as a vocation like I did for so long.

New players need excitement, and discovery. I think a careful balance of help and tough love are what the good players need to be encouraged to stay, Maybe some sort of hints that are bait to get folks thinking about how things really work...a "Did you know...?" list of hints for the train page maybe.

IF it's a change that's actually for the good of the game from my (ignorant, stupid, small, silly) point of view, I'll likely be highly in favor of it. However as with the other times I've answered this question, I have to qualify my answer by saying that I've complained till I was blue in the face before, and I likely will again.

ELB, I like bows and the only one I have is too small for me.

I think the current auctions system could be augmented by a consignment style shop where folks can not only list all the items they'd like to sell, but also all the items they are looking for.

I would spend my one ba fighting high. I would spend as long as it took to find the highest level char I could beat with my lowly 100k mpr char, studying all the different options, examining my chances of winning again each of the opponents and finally hitting fight with my fingers crossed.

Briefly eh...hmm. This question begs a full page lecture on perspectives and individual perception, but I'll simply say that if the first orange were blue, it would taste funny.

I'm going to answer this as a reply to my previous answers... it seems fitting to see how things have progressed since I last commented on my feelings towards CB. The last time I was nominated, it was while I was banned from the community, so my thoughts on the matter were heavily skewed. This is the "forced hiatus" that I mention:

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That's a very ironic question considering the timing and placement -- it's the first question, and it's after a bit of a forced hiatus. In no particular order, I can say that it's mostly because of miandrital, oddbird, sefton, opvines, sutekh, gentlemanloser, johnnywas, novice, ranger, shade, etc etc.
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In actuality, I had eveyr intention of giving up and leaving after Jon banned me. Most would do the same, as it leaves quite a foul taste given how I was treated. However, after several people nominated me and several more asked me to stay, I realized the same thing that sefton realized when he withdrew his desire to quit. That is:

See, the game has nothing to do with it. There's tons of games out there, all with varying levels of entertainment. Even strictly text games are much more expansive -- I could load up an old version of LORD with 81 IGMs (that's for all of you old BBSers out there..... all 2 of you) and be thoroughly engrossed for a long time.. But playing LORD by yourself is rather disturbing.

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The allure of an online game involving real people is that the time that you are investing is worth something. What's the real reason people get so upset over a breakup from a long relationship? It's the realization that you just wasted the past X years of your life pouring time and energy into something that fell flat, like a bad investment. Computer games are similar in that they provide temporary entertainment, but no lasting substance. When all is said and done, you've spent time into a bit of a black hole.

With an online game, the community aspect opens a door into a world where you can enjoy the entertainment factor while building something that has meaning and will last even beyond when you tire of the game itself. Understanding that is the key to creating an environment that encourages newcomers.
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To expand on that, and to possibly say this all more succinctly -- Jon banned me. Everyone else did not. At least, I hope. As long as there is at least one person that wants me around, then I'll stick to it, despite any ill will from the powers that be around here. So you ask what keeps me coming back? It's the people that actually want me around. I go where I am wanted, where I can serve a purpose, where I can be useful. It is the basis for my business in real life, and my life in general.

A great man told me numerous times -- when you die, there's two dates and a dash. The magnitude of your dash is not based on money, fame, or power. It's based solely on the number of people who are better off because you lived. If someone is better off because I stuck around a little longer after receiving said treatment, then that's good enough for me.

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Regarding the second half of this question, I have to say that I think one thing improved -- the negativity that Jon usually exudes has subsided considerably. That has had a trickle-down effect that has, as a whole, bettered the environment here. Granted, there have been recent events of nonsense, but I didn't say that things are perfect. I said they're better. It's a step in the right direction.

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Given that creating the welcoming, enriching environment of a community is the answer to getting the average weekly user count to increase, I have previously come up with several examples of how best to cultivate a user community. I have in the past used the example of a bar or usual hangout, but the basic idea is that when a new person arrives, he must feel accepted within a very short time. Typical things to avoid include trashing some new player's ideas, giving orders with no advice and no reasoning ("Go single fireball mage" was a long standing tradition), and my own personal pet peeve, being administration nazis. When people feel like they have to walk on eggshells, when people withold participation out of fear of some "punishment", there's a definite error in judgement.

Things to keep doing include everything that people like GentlemanLoser, Johnnywas, Oddbird, et. al. do -- be *friendly*. There is a very prevalent atmosphere of basic unfriendliness and animosity present here. That is a pure detriment to building a community. Examples of how to act come down from leadership and are expounded upon by the community. For instance, a Frequently Offered Retarded Suggestion (FORS) list is a prime instance of setting a tone such that derogatory mockery is encouraged. It may be humorous, but there is a cost for that humour.
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I have to say that I think the overall negativity has dropped. It hasn't dropped a lot. But it's gone down. It's a shame that the LER can't document negativity levels :) So what does this mean? Basically, move on to the next issue regarding new players. Phase 2, if you will. This came up today in chat, actually -- the handling of new player mentorship. I'm not going to rehash all of my ideas about how to make mentoring better, because I'm not a mentor. I do plenty of mentoring in the offline world; I can relax a little online :) What we can do, however, to extend the idea of new player encouragement, is to have a new player forum. Create an area where people can ask "stupid" questions and say "stupid" things and not have to worry about being tarred and feathered, or have to deal with a mentor who won't or can't respond to any questions. Create a forum that acts as an incubator Keep everything civil, keep it positive, keep it encouraging. Heck, fine people that post in the forum that aren't tolerant. I honestly think that it will provide a much more enriching environment devoid of some of the deficiencies of a new player chat (not the least of which is CB's arbitrary determination that your time in new players chat is over). Remember, the overall idea should be "positivity", not "negativity".

Couple this with another forum geared solely for negativity. Give it a place to prosper. Off-topic doesn't work, as it's more of a place whose purpose is to collect all of the nonsense. People really need to vent publicly sometimes, and they should be allowed to (especially when it is in defense towards another defamation). Do it in the proper place, and keep it out of the normal string of things. We've all had our rough-and-tumbles. You can't get rid of it entirely, but you can control it. On that note, it may be wise to make this place an area where anything really does go. And if you can't handle it, turn the forum off in your user settings. In fact, default it to off.

Anyway, I'm getting off topic, so I'll close with this -- first impressions have nothing to do with what you say. People never remember the things you tell them when you first meet. They remember how you made them feel.

(Phew....... I hope all my answers aren't this long)

I answered this last time... I rather like my response from before, so I'll use it again:

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Eh... this game is founded on constant change. It's one of the methods that game designers can use to prolong the life of a MMORPG. Changing things up, turning a strat on its head, causing a commotion that brings about new ideas on strategy and new focal points to chomp through on the forums -- that's what keeps the machine running. As for being killed by a change in the game, MyFirstNCB was centered on the strength of a tattoo. After the second or third tattoo nerf during the life of that character, I gracefully retired it. No worries, as there will be more. That said, the tattoo nerfs were quite beneficial to the game. For starters, without one of them, the server would still think the year was 2006 given all of the lag. For the others, tattoos were, in all honesty, too powerful. Now they've evolved into a tertiary aspect of a character instead of a primary aspect. That's a very good thing, and I'm happy that characters are no longer tattoo-centric.

To answer the question more directly, I keep quiet about very little. That doesn't mean that I will complain about the change. Most likely, I will talk about ways to maximize it and adapt characters to benefit, knowing that the game dynamics in this world are in a constant state of flux.
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To update this with current events, it would seem that most recent changes have actually helped me out. That's about as unique as you can get in CB-land, so I'll enjoy it for this changemonth.

And yes, the following answers will not be rehashed answers :)

hrm... How about I just do a list? I was making them up in chat for some fun, so I'll post them here:

• The JKF -- just beause I always pictured him as the Trunk Monkey
• The Vorpal Blade -- making critical hits all that more critical (dnd reference... in dnd, critical hits with a vorpal blade comes with a side effect of your head falling off)
• The RoE -- It worked well for Solomon.....
• The 2003 CB T-Shirt -- then maybe I can pretend to fit in with all those people who won't stop talking abuot CB1.......
• the Blacksword of Nan-Elmoth... and I'd give it to my dog
• AoI -- girls locker room... 'nuff said
• DB -- go audition for the Matrix with these on.... "Dodge this!"
• RBF -- c'mon, hit me! I dare ya! hahah... ever see Rocky 4? This woul dhave rocked for Stalone in that movie
• Trollskin Armor -- It's as close as I can get to being Wolverine... ideally, it won't be yellow
• Tattoo of Augmentation -- it'd be like steroids without any of the horrifying side effects

eh.. that's enough, I guess. This question just seems silly.

I really hated the chat client, but I put a million bucks up for someone to build a new one. Now that's fixed :) (Go to Shade's site at cbstuff.nl if you want a copy... and no, you don't have to cough up a million for it). I addressed my views on the rampant negativity, but I really think that's getting better. I still think the administration is far too ad-hoc in certain areas, yet far too strict in others. I'll defer to any of Sefton's posts on that issue, lest I be banned once again. I don't like the PTH bonus of the TOA, as I feel that tattoos should confer MPR-style things, not NW-style... but that probably belongs elsewhere. Similarly, I think that DX should be tied to PTH like ST is tied to 'x' to make the Axbow useful.

But this question is more about something substantial. What don't I like? The stagnation. I hate things that grow old and wither. I want to grow old and prosper, and I want things with which I'm involved to do likewise. How's that for a brief explanation?

I'd spend it on making more worthwhile QB questions. There's no camping anymore (that's for you, Sef) so you can really only drop a fight or smack the dwarf. I'd say "forget it" and spend my time in the forum, on the wiki, in the chat, or (and this is a real shocker) leaving the house and checking out this new lamp in the room with the big blue ceiling. Or maybe I'd try out that new MMO that Oddbird was telling us all about....

Honestly, though, I do find it hard to give legitimate answers to questions like this, especially when 1) it makes no difference considering how Jon feels towards me, and 2) not many are reading this far down anyway....

I'll use this space to take the opportunity to thank those that nominated me. I do appreciate it, and that's why I spent so much time to write this lengthy response. Further, we all know what the outcome will be, so maybe I'll shoot for something different -- I'll have the most QB nominations without ever actually winning! :) :)

Ok, this question is worthless. To be accurate, the name of the color comes from 1542 and was derived from the name of the fruit, which has origins going back to the Dravidian languages, where it was called nregi. Some people subscribe to the school of thought that it used to be "a norange" and was tranmutated into "an orange". This is hard to prove, but has not yet been disproven. From the Tulu name of nregi, it made its way to Sanskrit to become narangah, and eventually naranj. The French then morphed the word to arenge, and again to orenge, which closely matched their main distribution point in Orange, France. From there, it was easy to slide into the current formulation of "Orance".

So what if they were blue? Well, the whole chain will have been modified. You'd have to ask the Tuluvas from India how they created the nomenclature, and whether something blue would have stoked different homages. The real culprits in this case, however, are those darn French that just love to change things to be named after their own cities. So what would have happened if something called a Tuluvian Blue made its way to the distribution epicenter of the known world in Orange, France? It'd probably very quickly be depicted as sour tasting in the mass media to make way for the newest French craze, the French Orangean, a modified version of the Nectarine and Tangerine combined into one!

It's the community that keeps me playing. Even for the brief time I didn't have much ambition I still got on CB, didn't spend any ba, but just to talk to you guys :). I know when I'm busy, such as I was recently with my senior thesis, I miss you guys because many of you have gotten to be good friends. If people were maybe more active in chat it would help retain some new players better.

It depends, if I feel it unbalances things I would complain some, but if it maintained balance, but still mitigated my strat, no I would not complain about it. At least not in forums, maybe to a friend or 2 in pm though ;). If it is beneficial to most of the community, then no point in complaining about it, just mourn the loss of my strat with my buds :).

Hmm, well a mage shield would be pretty useless. I would have to say either a vorpal blade or a blacksword of nam elroth because I would imagine they both look pretty sweet.

I think it would be nice if Econ clans became centered around forging instead of just discounts. A clan's forging nw could determine their rank, although mpr would have to be factored in as well, so the clan with the biggest chars is not in first all the time. And the rank could determine a bonus to forging. I think this would add another interesting aspect to cb, other than just fighting.

First of all, I would cheer because no worries about botchecks. And then I would use that ba on th00p so I could pick on him for the year ;).

Yes, they would still be called oranges, it's just that the color blue would be called orange ;).