They were playing to win. That is how we play games so I don't fault them for that. They beat the Kobiyashi Maru. They beat the other players and even the code of the game that is meant to discourage that. Awesome. Congratulations.
What should have happened next is that someone should have done something to break the power block. Like I said before I favor the idea of having all cities secede, but that is just one of many options. The devs are here to deal with odd things like this and should have done something effective. They did not.
The players did it in the end, but they shouldn't have had to.
I disagree with you on this one actually. I agree with much that you've said, but not this part. We as players are not small children that require constant supervision are we? The mechanics are clear enough guidelines and it's up to us to make and keep the game fun, not the devs. The ' big reboot' you speak off, should have happened by the players at full force. But too many were afraid to ' lose' their power which is rather rediculous but alright. The big reboot as happened in the end of Atamara should have happened 1 or 2 years before (there were ample opportunities for it) and then I think Atamara would still be around. Now it's not.
The lesson learned here is that we should not repeat the same on other islands. It's why I have high hopes for Perdan to be honest, as they seem to be keeping their allies minimalized at this point and will no doubt also consider warring Vix in the future. Our experiment in the north failed, but the amount of war on the other islands has been huge, which is a good thing.
