Know there is choice, but the idea is that you wouldn't have the option to hide

would be nice for a starter....

still making it mandatory might solve a lot of troule as it might hold back on bullying people also.

Didn't think of the disadvantantage of hiding a fail in testing strats.

Still imho a man/woman doesn't need to hide for there deeds, failures, ... they are all part the total picture.

I hide because of my time-zone, most people that play are Europeans, I'm not, therefore while I'm asleep they're awake... Brothers be taking any advantage they can get and killing me in my sleep is one of them lol.

well thats about how i ment it jaguar.

I admit it has disadvantages also, but everything has its ups and down.

Ah well seeing that people hold to having reasons to hide. Things probably won't change soon.

Still i find it no shame trying a strat and failing at it. Nor does it do the game or community any good to hide to be able to relax, flee the ones who have grudges against you, noobs trying to nail a top player early in round. 

So basicly most reasons not to show your identity at all stages of game are very individual ones. Also the disadvantages that come from not ebing able to hide reflects on individual empires/accounts.  Whilst the benefits are in favour of the community and gameplay. Thats a bit of the contradiction i tend to see in ic , that in a fam based cooperating game, in the end there is still a lot of individualism

> Devo le Por wrote:

> I agree. Being the strongest means you get targeted, that is how life works

Life also works so that some of the strong (not all, mind you) also target the weak.

Yes, there is abuse.  Some do use their ability to hide their identity to cause trouble.  But I think this is one of the fun aspects of the game.  For one round, you can go a little crazy and do some fun stuff that you wouldn't do if you had to reveal your identity.  I think the game wouldn't be as fun if you couldn't smurf once in a while.

> Jaguar wrote:

> Suggested this same thing in Think Tank ages ago. Besides the anti-dishonor reason retorica mentions theres other benefits of this as well. Can't remember all of em now but one was that it would facilitate grudges through rounds, which is good for the game. People will have/make enemies who they want to hunt next round due to whatever reasons and that keeps people interested + playing the game longer

Let's say I decide for some arbitrary reason that I hate your guts.  Why isn't really important.  After all, we're humans.  Humans can be biased, arbitrary, or just plain stupid.  What matters is that I have established a negative opinion of you.  As a result, I dedicate every round I play to the purpose of screwing you to a wall until you're gone.  You draft in a fam?  I draft in a fam 8 ticks away, even if it's a bad family.  You send out your first expos?  Sweet, let's troll you with a day 3 expowar!  You actually built sufficient defenses on your planets?  Oh well, I'll just lob some nukes at you, I guess.  Really, though, I'm just trying to put pressure on you, because we both know that as long as you know, or think, that I'm going to push a day 3 war with you... you'll be forced to dedicate resources into defenses, grinding your actual growth to a halt at the point where growth is most important in the game.  I may not win the round, no doubt.  But you won't either.  You'll spend the next 6-10 weeks trying to get back up, but probably a bit behind the curve.  Having to invest in lasers on day 3 and not being able to run a proper planet-passing growth strategy because some idiot like me is trolling you can do that to ya.

Assuming for a moment that I'm actually a halfway decent attacker... how does this encourage you to keep playing?  You only have a reason to play as long as the game continues to be fun.  Once it no longer qualifies as "fun," why do you need it?

I agree with Jag. The fact remains that people can play nasty without much repercussions. One of the reasons is that players can hide, the other reason is that no one seems to care when it happens to their smaller neighbor families until they are the smaller neighbor family the round after. No one steps up to hold people to their morals.

The fact is, nobody really hides in the game. Even if they hide history, it's difficult to not be found out. Most usually slip up some time.

*coughs*

ktiger

*coughs*

/me stalks Forever!

making multiple accounts is illegal and will result in a block..

> ~* Forever