Titan System Revalation

[Revan]

And they should not be anonymous. They can, I think, be pseudonomynous as in their forum identity doesn't have to reveal who they are in-game. Or they could have a second forum account. But it should be possible to have a name on the decisions.

Give out a titans family name and I fear every accused will be trawling forum posts and family histories on the wiki dragging up a thousand reasons why titan X is unfit to judge on this or that matter for past realm/religion/guild Y opposition.

[Anaris]

Give out a titans family name and I fear every accused will be trawling forum posts and family histories on the wiki dragging up a thousand reasons why titan X is unfit to judge on this or that matter for past realm/religion/guild Y opposition.

Which is why he just said they could be pseudonymous.  You know, have a pseudonym.  So you can tell the Titans apart, but you can't tell who they are IRL or IC.

[Tom]

Give out a titans family name and I fear every accused will be trawling forum posts and family histories on the wiki dragging up a thousand reasons why titan X is unfit to judge on this or that matter for past realm/religion/guild Y opposition.

Yes, that would happen.

It would quickly end when I come down on them like a ton of bricks.

[Vellos]

Which is why he just said they could be pseudonymous.  You know, have a pseudonym.  So you can tell the Titans apart, but you can't tell who they are IRL or IC.

Wouldn't iot be fun to make a pseudonym of "Tom". Teehee.

But, more seriously, pseudonyms will do very little. In a game where a not insignificant number of players regularly study each others' writing habits in an attempt to mimic and forge each others' letters, and where we all read each other quite regularly IG and on the forum, I do not think a pseudonym will be any protection of identity.

[Anaris]

Wouldn't iot be fun to make a pseudonym of "Tom". Teehee.

But, more seriously, pseudonyms will do very little. In a game where a not insignificant number of players regularly study each others' writing habits in an attempt to mimic and forge each others' letters, and where we all read each other quite regularly IG and on the forum, I do not think a pseudonym will be any protection of identity.

I think you vastly overestimate the number of people who can do this with any great degree of accuracy.

Not to mention the intersection of that set with the set of people who would care enough about any given Titan decision to make the effort.

And the intersection of those sets with the set of people who have actually come into close enough IC contact with the Titans in question to have a viable sample.

And all that is leaving aside the question of how long it would take them to go through all their correspondents who sound sort of similar to narrow it down.

[Vellos]

Unless those people just assume the Titans are forum-active. Which deals with several of those intersections.

That assumption would likely be wrong. But makes intuitive sense. And if they "found" a close "match," they might just decide the "accused Titan" was lying about their non-Titan status.

I suppose the issue could be reported to the Titans?

[songqu88@gmail.com]

http://survivingtheworld.net/Lesson208.html

Some people...can be rather vindictive and obsessive. Over a game. Strange but true. Ripley would be proud lol.

[Heq]

To be fair, the forum is a lot less confrontational then the old d-list.

I suspect the vast majority of the people who post here and could recognize who is who really wouldn't give a damn.  If someone really wanted to do it, they could build a titan shortlist anyway.  So what?  Those who think the Titan's are "screwing them" already have their pet theories.

[De-Legro]

Wouldn't iot be fun to make a pseudonym of "Tom". Teehee.

But, more seriously, pseudonyms will do very little. In a game where a not insignificant number of players regularly study each others' writing habits in an attempt to mimic and forge each others' letters, and where we all read each other quite regularly IG and on the forum, I do not think a pseudonym will be any protection of identity.

I would be surprised if many or any of our player base can do this very well. There is a reason that the experts used in legal cases and by intelligence agencies spend considerable time learning the skill, and still have questionable accuracy in many cases.

[Chenier]

I would be surprised if many or any of our player base can do this very well. There is a reason that the experts used in legal cases and by intelligence agencies spend considerable time learning the skill, and still have questionable accuracy in many cases.

The people have to prove that, among everyone living on this planet, the defendant is the one whose signature matches.

In BM, your population pool is much smaller. And the % of people coming from different countries is much greater, so there are much more obvious divergences noticeable. And as was said, most of those who would apply would likely be active elsewhere, and have therefore provided a great number of example messages to compare.

This makes it much more easier to compare and find similar. And beyond any reasonable doubt isn't a public opinion thing.

I doubt many will bother trying, though. But some people just have very obvious writing styles (for abusing the same expressions or constantly doing the same mistakes).

[cjnodell]

I do not really think it matters much if Titans are anonymous, pseudo or otherwise. In the end I think that any player attacking a Titan in revenge will do more harm to themselves that anyone else. Lacking anonymity forces the Titans to ensure they are being as neutral as possible and makes the whole process feel more open and friendly. Making the case and decision public will make it difficult for the parties involved to get away with in game revenge.

[Indirik]

Lacking anonymity forces the Titans to ensure they are being as neutral as possible and makes the whole process feel more open and friendly.

I'm not so sure about that. Feel more open? Yes. More friendly? Meh....

More neutral? I don't think so. In fact, I would think that it would, in fact, cause more accusations of personal favoritism and realm favoritism. If it was known, for example, that there was a Titan that played in Keplerstan, then any decision that took action against Evilstani, or any character/player in Evilstani, then any such decision could be viewed as biased based on the fact that "The Titans play in Keplerstan". This would be even more likely if there were a few players in Evilstani trying to play fast and loose with the rules.

And even if it wasn't true, observational bias would play hell with anything like that. Players would see what they want to see. And they would be vocal in their assertions. And people who hear stuff like that believe what they choose to believe, rather than put in the time to do the research. That's the very foundation of most political systems: "Barrage them with bull!@#$, and eventually they'll start to believe you."

A pseudonymous system would be much better.

[cjnodell]

You are are probably right. I do tend to be a bit too optimistic. I just thought that if I was a Titan making a decision I would want to be sure to be as impartial as possible and explain my decision in a way that clearly demonstrated that effort. However, I do believe that you are correct in that people can twist things fit their view regardless of any efforts taken. I just may need to get my head out of the clouds!

[Sacha]

I'm not so sure about that. Feel more open? Yes. More friendly? Meh....

More neutral? I don't think so. In fact, I would think that it would, in fact, cause more accusations of personal favoritism and realm favoritism. If it was known, for example, that there was a Titan that played in Keplerstan, then any decision that took action against Evilstani, or any character/player in Evilstani, then any such decision could be viewed as biased based on the fact that "The Titans play in Keplerstan". This would be even more likely if there were a few players in Evilstani trying to play fast and loose with the rules.

I thought one of the main 'rules' about being a Titan was that you can't be one on an island on which you have a character yourself?

[Indirik]

That rule went out the window quite a long time ago. I'm pretty sure this was discussed on the DList quite some time ago. There is now a single Titan pool that rules on all cases. I would assume anyone involved in the case would recuse themselves from the discussion. It would probably be up to the other titans to ensure that this happens.