To all the Mafia-gang-like Alliances out there

[Travis9x]

I was really enjoying this game (been playing faithfully ever since I started over a month ago)...until I began to see the petty, "shoot first, ask questions later", "hit one of us for ANY reason, and we'll all mass you without any warning or investigation first", mafia mob-like behavior that so many of the "alliances" display.

Several times, all in a single day, my realm has been the victim of such behavior. I have been massed, blackmailed, massed again, the recipient of extortionist threats, and massed yet again...and again...and again. Why? I don't knowingly bother anyone...I try to keep to myself, quietly farming only the inactive players out there. I have tried from day one to "play it safe", and not cross anyone for any reason. I participate on these boards, and try to always keep a good sense of humor about things (like the spy bug on the Quantum server, for example...man, the number of failed attacks that lead me into, lol...).

It seemed to be going very well, all the way up to my first ascension, with only one incident which, I have to say, was simply the result of my really not knowing any better (still being so new to the game at the time). Shortly after my first ascension, it seemed at first to still be going rather well for me. I continued as I did before, still keeping quietly to myself, trying my best to not attack any active players, and enjoying the differences in my newly ascended race. If I saw any hint of activity in a player that I was farming, I would immediately send him/her a message, explaining that if they are actually active, to simply tell me and I would immediately stop, and set them to peace.
All I ever wanted, was simply to be shown the same respect that I gave to everyone else.
But apparantly, there are several out there who believe in not showing anyone outside of their "alliance" any respect whatsoever.

Go figure that these people also happen to be some of the strongest players, all grouped together.

It started first when I got a message from someone, simply asking me to explain why I was attacking (farming) someone they know. I replied that I thought they were innactive, but had already noticed that I was wrong, had already stopped farming him, and would set to peace as soon as the 24 hours were up. I thought that would be the end of it...I couldn't have been more wrong. A moment later, I recieved another message, a little less polite, asking pretty much the same thing about the same player, but also demanding a fast response. I obliged, with the same explaination, and same promise to set peace. Then a third message came, this time demanding reparations for the damages caused, under threat of massing. The "reparations" being demanded were at least ten times the value of any losses I may have caused. I replied that I would not pay such ludicrous amounts, but promised that I would go my way in peace, and only wished to be shown the same respect. I got the reply that he/they would indeed show me the same respect. Again, I thought it was over.
Not five minutes later, someone much farther up the "ranks" of their so-called alliance (gang of thugs, is a much more accurate description) has already massed me with nearly 100 attacks. My losses were staggering, especially by comparison to any damage I may have initially caused their comrade. After they finished, they had the audacity to say they believed they were now even with me (as if 2 trillion worth of damage could hardly be equal to a few billion), and offered to let me join their little mob.
Why, for the love of all that is good & holy, would I want to join a group that had just dealt with me in such a despicable and underhanded manner?

Several very laborous hours of rebuilding later, another very similar altercation occured. This time, there was not even any kind of warning or message beforehand. They just attacked, en masse, from at least three different directions. I begged for an explaination, some kind of reason for the assault, and all they said was that I had been farming one of theirs, during wartime, calling me a vulture, assassin, and all sorts of things that certainly come nowhere near to describing me or what I have been trying to do. I had no indication whatsoever that any of my carefully selected "farms" was actually part of an alliance at war. For all intensive purposes, he was just another of the thousands of inactive players...zero defense, a couple hundred thousand UU lying out in the open, and almost exactly 5k unused turns...a textbook example of an inactive player, and not a single sign of life the entire time I had been farming him (several hours upon hours, as I was still trying to recover from the last massing). I tried to explain this to them, that I had no idea, that all they had to do was simply ask me to stop, and I would have been happy to, that there was absolutely no need whatsoever for what they had done to me...but they were not even remotely sorry. They just kept calling me names, throwing accusations around, and saying they were perfectly justified in what they had done, and that the hundreds of attacks I had recieved in my logs was enough of a notice or warning to stop farming one of theirs (a really silly justification, considering that I had not be farming anyone for nearly an hour...I was in the process of searching for another "safe" inactive player to add to my farm list...go figure).

A large point I need to make, is this...I am not so much upset about the massing itself (as that is just a way of life in this game...it happens every now and then, no matter how careful you are). What I am upset about, is the way in which these gangs of thugs have dealt with me. All I have ever asked, was to be shown a modecum of the respect that I try so hard to show everyone else. I have been utterly crippled without any advance warning, notice, explaination, or communication whatsoever, under absolutely baseless accusations and assumptions...I have been blackmailed, promised to be left in peace, backstabbed, and kicked while I was already down.

This is not a farewell notice. I am not going to delete my account, abbandon the game, or go cry in a corner over this. I simply want to make it known what is going on here, and bring to light (if it has not already been done so) the horribly loathesome behavior of some of the most well-known "alliances" in this community.

And people wonder why I preffer to remain un-aligned with anyone. Humph. *shakes head*

In the first example I gave (in which I was massed even after I had already explained what happened, and after being told that I would be left alone), most of the exchange that occured before the massing was between me and the "victim"s brother (Rikky), and CO (named "brother")...however, the massing was carried out by a "friend" of the CO, who happens to be someone who is already well-known for extortion, bullying, and blackmail. This is none other than Mezzanine, of the mob/gang better known as Forgotten Serenity. As you can see, their area of influence reaches much farther than their actual alliance membership.

In the second example I gave, the act of attrition was carried out entirely by three members of MaYHeM...namely, Yoyo, Noobert, and Xeen, although a fourth member had to chime in with a few comments of his own (though he did not actively attack).

Are these gangs really so bored, that they have nothing better to do than grind an innocent into the dirt, for a simple misunderstanding? Are they so eager to inflict pain and suffering, that they will attack without any kind of investigation or questioning (or in the one case, even after clearly understanding what had actually happened, still decide to destroy anyway)?

As I said in the beginning, I really enjoy this game. I am a big StarGate fan, and play the game as I would act in real life. I show respect to everyone around me, and do my best to deal with everyone justly, and fairly. So it greatly dissapoints me, when I am shown the complete opposite in return. *sigh* I guess I'm just going to have to be even more careful than I already am...I guess I am going to have to send every single potentially "safe" farm a message, before I even begin farming, on the off chance that they might be part of an alliance at war. Knowing the way these "alliances" behave, however...they'll probably still accuse me of vulturing, promise to set me peace, and then mass me anyway.

[Travis9x]

too much to read

...then why even participate in any forum? It's nothing BUT text...forums are nothing BUT reading.

You won't get far in life by avoiding reading.

[Myseri]

my alliance knows not to put up more than you are willin' to lose

[teesdale]

hmm, a long read, but u contridicted yourself a bit... u said u were active on the boards, yet didnt know FS OR mayhem were at war, yet for the last month, BOTH alliances have activly been posting in their war threads in the GC, wich u obviously looked over to get to here.
now, secondly, both are warring alliances, and both have all active members, this is the way the players in these alliances play the game, attack or be attacked, eliminate any threats and retaliate on hits, an eye for an eye...

as for your losses, only keep 20%(35% absolute max) of your army trained, continue to play the way you have been and these confrontations will be minimal, but you cannot expect to play any war game without retaliation, you can choose to except defete, or try your best at fighting back, they choice is yours.
just because someones play style is differant, it does not mean they are bullys or thugs, its there way of getting retrobution.

just keep an eye out for planet names and keep a check on the GC for wars...

[Dizzy]

"shoot first, ask questions later"

That is the attitude of a lot of the larger players and more powerful alliances - you learn it once the hard way and then adjust your playing style accordingly. My whole alliance once got massed over 80k UU, or because one of our guys massed a friend of someone else.

I learned that lesson the same way you have Travis - it sucks but that is the best way to learn it (and no i'm not one of those mafia style players - currently LG+1 with 30+mil army and trying to stay out of trouble). Usually the response you will get is 'it is a war game, get over it'. The sooner you understand that the better.

All I ever wanted, was simply to be shown the same respect that I gave to everyone else.

You have a few of ways of doing this - 1) join an alliance that is well respected and rise through the ranks there. 2) Go back to quietly growing and when you are LG+1 and have some army size behind you, stand up for yourself ingame. 3) Create an alliance and the alliance as a whole does option number 2 - though this is easier with a group of players who may know each other from other online games and will stick together.

My suggestion is go back to growing quietly, keep an eye on the GC boards to find out who is and isn't in war. If someone has a planet named 'in war' or something like that - stay away from them. It is a tough lesson to learn, but it only needs to be taught once.

[Juliette]

Pay me 20m UU or I will not read it, but mass you instead.


Did someone say "It is a war-game" already?

[teesdale]

hahaha! BURN!

[qacol]

This game has many ways to play it. If you just like to farm keep the low rank and hit in the back pages or go to perg.

The one hit your mass is fine also- make your account so you can farm and have low killable numbers. Good strike low def- just have fun and take what they do to you and learn new ways on how to stop them.

Kill them all
~Qacol~

[ARC_trooper]

Msg too big, i come here to read small replies. Not the reply that takes me an hour to read. (ma englesh is real bad )

Uhm, furthermore, who cares? Its a wargame

[killtacular]

FS and Mayhem . Thugs in harmony!!!

[Famine]

NOT THEM!!!!!!! They would never do such dasturdly deeds!!!!!(extremeSarcasm)

[ramen07]

i somewhat agree with you but it is a war game. misunderstandings happen. all you can do is learn from them and try their strategy next time mebbe?

on a better note, yay tees is back!

[Noobert]

Basically. He farmed our member because 'he was inactive' due to real life situations, so he got massed. It was more then 5 times on the same person over the period of a day.

He sent messages like this, for about a hour or more.

Message text:

now you\'re massing me too, you ****ing sons of **Filtered**? What the hell did I ever do to any of you *******s?

~~~~

Continued with messages like that. Swore at Xeen, Liquid (who was the other person who just wanted to do a bit of roleplaying because he noticed he read books), and don't know about Yoyo.

Oh well~, not my problem. I tried to be reasonable with him and he continued to cuss at me, tell me I 'gang-banged' him, so I gave up.

Have a good one~

[Lord Balor]

Good Luck with the stat building, T.

[Rodwolf]

So you post this in Vendetta Corner and i see my Alliance's name.

Thx for the invite buddy