The Tattler/"I OBJECT."

“I OBJECT.” was a story posted on The Tattler by Electron Sponge on March 27, 2009.

Anti-EZI treaties form
This week two separate nation-level treaties formed to voice the community’s objection to and rejection of the tactic of “EZI” or “eternal zero infrastructure”, by which certain alliances hold a player at zero infrastructure based solely upon that person’s real-world identity and not upon any action committed during the player’s current game identity. It is the opinion of the Ministry of Science that such tactics are equivalent to an attempt at denial of service to that player by persons without authority to deny said service, and although the moderating team refuses to act upon this illegitimate act the community is banding together to resist these attempts by declaring their refusal to participate in any “EZI” actions. The Ministry of Science agrees with the framers of these agreements that there is no place in the game for this type of unsporting behavior. However we believe that just agreeing not to participate does not go far enough. Those among us being afflicted by this extraordinary harrassment will derive no relief from the good intentions of the hundreds who have signed those treaties. Just signing your name is not enough. In order for change to come, it is incumbent upon us all to speak out whenever another player is being stalked by the hegemonists and their sycophants.

Just this past week there was an incident regarding this. Jonathan Brookbank, a longtime Cyber Nations player, Vox Populi founder and former GGA triumvir, wanted to return to the game. He knew the drill and went to the ‘lords of the manor’ to ask if he had their blessing to play the game unmolested by their zero-infrastructure sentences. In a few instances, he was told that he was free to play the game without having to worry about getting attacked. When he went to IRON however, the story rapidly went south. Although IRON claims not to pass “EZI” sentences, Jonathan was told that if he returned to the game under any identity he would be attacked. After a lengthy discussion it was ascertained that IRON simply calls everything perma-ZI and gets around the whole stigma of attacking someone for out-of-character reasons while doing just that. Jonathan Brookbank is currently claimed to be on “EZI” status with several alliances. The reasons for his eternal ZI sentence are still unclear. It couldn’t be due to his status as a founder of Vox Populi, because he stayed all of four days in Vox Populi and several founders who stayed much longer under the Vox banner have been released from their perma-ZI sentence and moved on. Repeated questioning of the leaders involved has led to absolutely no information being released about exactly why Jonathan Brookbank is sentenced to ZI under any identity,

Eternal ZI is wrong. Permanent ZI is wrong. The way these alliances go about it is wrong. They simply decree someone is to be attacked on sight and never allowed to play the game normally again, without any chance for the condemned to speak for themselves. Furthermore the alliances never list just exactly who is on their ZI list. You yourself, dear reader, could be on someone’s ZI list and not even know it. The reason they don’t want to broadcast this information is obvious - because if you knew exactly how many players they had on those lists, and the identities of those players, then you could advocate for them. The oligarchy cannot be bothered with such trivialities, and once their word is public then they can never go back on it. Why do you think they use the catchphrase “private channels ftw” anyway? Do you think that is for your benefit?

ZI lists need to be written down. They need to be made public. They need to contain specific information regarding just what nation is being sentenced and whether that sentence is going to carry on to any other nation they have. The system as it stands right now is a capricious and clandestine affair where the only way to ever be able to play the game again (no matter your identity) is to grovel at the feet of someone who might have just decided for no particular reason that you weren’t allowed to play other than that they don’t like you.

Valhalla-MHA Embassy Flap
That’s right, MHA are in the news again this week. Don’t panic Hitchhikers, we at the Ministry of Science are looking out for you. It seems that a couple weeks back, Bob Sanders posted a thread in the MHA embassy on the Valhalla forum entitled “Jerdge”. His post contained an image macro with the text “Congratulations! You’re a DOUCHEBAG!” to the approval and laughter of several other Valhallans.

Rumor Mill

 * A large Continuum alliance is about to lose a couple major leaders and is suffering from massive inactivity issues.
 * There are major rifts forming in another Continuum alliance. The inability of the leaders of that alliance to be truthful with their membership may end up tearing this alliance apart.
 * MK and Grämlins are about to hook up. That’s going to be a pretty neat thread. Watch the trolls come out from under their bridges.
 * A technological innovation by associates of the Ministry of Science is about to have major ramifications on the status quo.

Reyne Mordigan’s Hits II: Electric Bugaloo

 * (See also: TWiP and Tattler Present: Reyne Mordigan's Greatest Hits)

And now for something completely different. Do they teach karate at Harvard?