Extortion - (demand goods for not massing) - right or wrong?

[Quina Quen]

Hit the nail on the old proverbial head there Jake.

There are terms, conditions, agreements and forfeits in real wars so surely the same must apply in a war game. The key task is to remember that it is afterall a game, and therefore people should make every effort to 'play by the rules' so to speak, or in otherwords, to be reasonable with what they demand based on what people have

[J.S.]

BUT if someone is extorting CASH ie, "pay me this through paypal or I will mass you" and there is solid proof of this, I'd say ban them.

All in all, the normal stuff is just a feature, one I find amusing and have made jokes about in the past.

I agree with ya here, and TBH I have used it in the past for smaller alliances.. I often pondered getting a group together to ensure "protection" from larger players..

[Grand Admiral Martin]

become a bigger problem since planets came out. been a victim myself of this "give me uu or ill take/sell your planets". i say clamp down hard on these players. this shouldnt be allowed at all.

[SSG EnterTheLion]

Hit the nail on the old proverbial head there Jake.

There are terms, conditions, agreements and forfeits in real wars so surely the same must apply in a war game. The key task is to remember that it is afterall a game, and therefore people should make every effort to 'play by the rules' so to speak, or in otherwords, to be reasonable with what they demand based on what people have

it happens..hell was it you who I mentioned about _apophis__ trying to get stuff from me?

But trying to get real cash out of someone crosses the line in a HUGE way.

[Hansbrough]

I say usually tell those players who attempt to threaten me with such BS, "F off." or "I'd like to see you try."

Anyone stupid enough to not confront people trying to extort them head-on and/or in the public eye are fools.

I say let the demanding of good from other players stand. It'll make people remember why we have alliances and ingame friendships.

[Grand Admiral Martin]

I say usually tell those players who attempt to threaten me with such BS, "F off." or "I'd like to see you try."

Anyone stupid enough to not confront people trying to extort them head-on and/or in the public eye are fools.

I say let the demanding of good from other players stand. It'll make people remember why we have alliances and ingame friendships.

how does a group of friends that all have around 1mil armies take on a guy with 50 or 60mil? and possibly his alliance? confrontation of massively bigger players just leads to you being wiped out. hardly the just thing that should happen. no admin should step in and deal with these cheaters.

[Come_Forth]

I do not agree with it, but the game is a war game and as such is darwinism at its best. This issue is worlds better than it used to be imo. A better solution than just banning it would be posting people who do so if a newer player needs help someone can offer it.

[Narrator]

although i think that it is not the "right" thing to do, it is obviously just as fair as attacking a player weaker than you.

but of course, if it goes outside of ingame resources, then it is a problem that has to be dealt with, but although i do not partake in extortion, i dont think it is a terrible thing.

[Hansbrough]

I say usually tell those players who attempt to threaten me with such BS, "F off." or "I'd like to see you try."

Anyone stupid enough to not confront people trying to extort them head-on and/or in the public eye are fools.

I say let the demanding of good from other players stand. It'll make people remember why we have alliances and ingame friendships.

how does a group of friends that all have around 1mil armies take on a guy with 50 or 60mil? and possibly his alliance? confrontation of massively bigger players just leads to you being wiped out. hardly the just thing that should happen. no admin should step in and deal with these cheaters.

but that's the cool thing about this game, everyone knows someone who's willing to back them up if they talk to the right people and wager the right deals... it's learning to play the game of politics too.

[The Xeno]

It's a feature... Honestly, I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, there should be absolutely no restrictions put on players when it comes to 'why' they mass or sabb.

I don't see Extortion as honorable, doesn't mean it should be removed/banned... The player always has a choice not to pay, to fight back, to call in friends, to make a stink, etc. etc. etc.

When I first started playing two odd years ago, someone in the top 3k massed me over a polite request that he stop farming me. A polite PM! Surely he’d have better reason to mass me for not paying him tribute? That experience didn't hurt me; it took me three weeks to build up my n00b account and exact revenge, but when I was done with his account he had quit.

This isn’t The Cuddle Game, or The Pillow Swinger Wars…
Let the cards fall where they will; there will always be 'good' players willing to vigilante the 'bad' players, and eventually an extortionist or bully will come across someone who wont be extorted or bullied... It's a Feature, and a good one at that.

[Tok`ra]

The fact is that nothing will stop this.

I dont agree with it, but to be honest fourm you cant even stop cheaters, how would you be able to catch or limit this.

And rank modifiers dont work, look at raiding.

Someone wants to raid they get someone to mass their MS, and untrain covert and strike n def.

Or just one of the four even.

EDIT: During the EPAc/Omega war a while back, I raided like 6UU from this guy in alpha.

I ransomed them back to him for 6 naq or something like that.


Does that count as extortion ?

[killtacular]

there are different degrees of extortion just like anything else

when a player is asked to send over half his entire army size to another player or else........

that is the degree of extortion i am seeing that is wrong, things that are not minor but very major to the player involved

it may not be alot to the player asking for iti but to the player being asked its ALOT

its really really major extortion not stuff like u stole naq from my officer if u give some back i wont respond

but actually targeting people sending messages and its give me _____ OR ELSE ....that is wrong and not very moral at all and has become a giant problem in the game in the last couple of months since one group of alliances decided it was acceptable en-masse to do

different degrees? so I guess theres different degrees in murder 1 stab wound compared to 7 stab wounds dude you haven't a clue you cant say somethings are ok but this is not. Its ok or its not. so give the extortion thing a break . I gave my vote extort away

[Labraid]

My thoughts:

Though I do not agree with the application of RL laws/rules in the online context of SGW, I will play along for arguments sake on the definition of extortion and that it exists in the SGW community. This is not a declaration accusing anyone of using extortion or that I myself use the process. However here we go...

Extortion is a part of the game. Has been since I started playing, more than a year ago.

Even if extortion was not allowed, keeping in mind that the RL definition does not fully align with the sentiments of an online role playing game, how would it be policed? Game admins cannot even keep up with all the multis. This would take a lot more resources on the part of game admins. Even if players posted to the forums, there is the possibility that the information is not presented in full context. The only way to accomplish full context is for game admins to make all logs of accused players public, not likely to happen and loads of work on their part.

And degrees? Please as if agreeing on a definition of extortion and enforcing rules against is not difficult enough, you want to insert different degrees? Please be more realistic and just stick to one degree, not several. Next we will have different degrees of attacks, massing, and so forth that will lead to a totally bureaucratic game that no one will want to play because they will have to learn something as complex as the United State's Tax Code!

It might be worth noting that if you don't like the way the game is played no one is forcing anyone to remain. I am sure there are other SGW games somewhere on the Internet.

[SG]

I wouldn't go as far as to say it's a 'feature' .. just an unintended side-affect of being able to 'give' resources.

Saying it's a 'feature' means that the administration and development team meant for this kind of 'playing style', and endorse it. While not specifically mentioned on the front page.. it COULD imply it.

Game Overview
In a free, turn based, massive multiplayer 100% web based online verse, fight as one of the 4 Races, in constant battle for the control of the cosmos (see rankings for who is currently dominating).
Be wary though, as thousands of others will be trying to conquer you!
You will have armies, covert intelligence, weaponry, and an economic realm to use as tools to accomplish your goals. You can battle alone, become commander of others, join an existing commander, as well as apply for protection and guidance from one of the many alliances.
The choices are many, the dangers great, the possibilities endless.

IMO the only real way to curb this kind of 'crap' is to put the ranked attacks back in, and we all know how popular that was... (Well some of us do, some of us are too new )

[311 [TA]]

there are different degrees of extortion just like anything else

when a player is asked to send over half his entire army size to another player or else........

that is the degree of extortion i am seeing that is wrong, things that are not minor but very major to the player involved

it may not be alot to the player asking for iti but to the player being asked its ALOT

its really really major extortion not stuff like u stole naq from my officer if u give some back i wont respond

but actually targeting people sending messages and its give me _____ OR ELSE ....that is wrong and not very moral at all and has become a giant problem in the game in the last couple of months since one group of alliances decided it was acceptable en-masse to do

different degrees? so I guess theres different degrees in murder 1 stab wound compared to 7 stab wounds dude you haven't a clue you cant say somethings are ok but this is not. Its ok or its not. so give the extortion thing a break . I gave my vote extort away

if you are not aware the different degrees of murder in terms of how courts of law deal with people who commit murder, and how are there are different degrees

i dont even know where to begin ....you are beyond lost