A Call for a New Beginning

What a battle!

Today's battle of Adelaide was one of the most epic battles of this war. As a player who has been through many wars, I know how stressful and emotional they can be. I was truly impressed by how everything went and how both sides organized their players and resources.
Congratulations to the winning side! I also have a lot of respect for the opponents we had to face today. They put up a great fight, and it was a battle worth remembering.

A big thank you to my amazing alliance for every shot fired and every moment spent fighting. The effort and dedication everyone shows every day is truly inspiring and gives us even more motivation to keep going.

I'm really proud to be part of Our alliance!

However, the real reason I wrote this article is completely different. I would really appreciate it if each of you took the time to read it and think about how we play this
game together and where all of this is heading.

Where Are We Going and Is This Really What We Want?

At some point, somewhere along the way, we forgot why we started playing this game...

What started as a game about nations, alliances, wars and competition has slowly turned into something very different. Too often, it is no longer about winning a war or being better organized. It is about revenge, old grudges and making life as difficult as possible for the other side.

PTOs, multies, proxy wars and finding every possible way around the rules have become part of the game. And somehow, as long as it hurts our opponents, people are willing to justify almost anything. But seriously, for what?
To settle an old score? To prove someone wrong? To get revenge for something that happened months or even years ago? Meanwhile, we keep losing experienced players. New communities are losing motivation because a few people with old grudges are too busy fighting their own wars. New nations struggle to grow because almost every conflict turns into another world war.

And I honestly wonder… is this really the kind of game we want to play?

We are slowly destroying the very thing we all spend so much time on. We wanted to build strong nations, create active communities, make friendships and have great battles. Instead, too much of our energy goes into making sure the other side has a worse experience than we do. And the truth is, neither side is innocent.

I am writing this as someone who belongs to one of the two opposing alliances. Of course, I have my own loyalties and my own point of view. I know that my side has made mistakes, just as I know our opponents have made theirs. But at some point, we need to stop pretending that everything we do is justified simply because the other side did something first.

We can keep arguing about who started it, who is more guilty and who deserves revenge. We can continue this cycle for another year, or even longer.

But where will that get us?

More players leaving. More communities losing their spirit. More time wasted on hatred instead of enjoying the game. Maybe it is finally time to take a step back, look at what we have created and ask ourselves if this is really what we want.

We don't have to like each other. We don't have to agree on everything. And we definitely don't have to stop fighting wars. But we should be able to compete without trying to destroy each other at any cost.

So, What Can We Actually Change?

I know that simply asking everyone to get along will not solve anything. There is too much history, too much distrust and too many personal grudges for that. But maybe we can at least start talking about how to make this game enjoyable again.

I have a few ideas. They are not perfect, and I don't expect everyone to agree with me. But I believe they are worth discussing.

1. A Fairer Distribution of Regions

The world has changed. Some nations have grown, new communities have appeared, and others have become less active. The way regions are distributed should reflect that.

We should be able to discuss redistribution based on both military strength and the actual activity of each nation's citizens. Newer communities that have spent months building themselves deserve a chance to grow. At the same time, older nations with strong and active populations deserve to have their efforts recognized too.

Will everyone be happy with the final result? Probably not. But we will never find a fair solution if we refuse to talk and choose insults over negotiations. And if we continue like this, some of the communities we could be helping to grow might simply disappear.

2. Breaking Up the Big Alliances

Let's be honest. Having two enormous alliances controlling so much of the world means that almost every conflict becomes a global war. Two nations have a problem and suddenly half the world is involved. Smaller countries have very little room to act independently and new political groups struggle to establish themselves.

I believe breaking up these meganalliances could create a much more interesting world. Smaller alliances, regional blocs and independent nations would have more opportunities to make their own decisions. Wars would still happen, politics would still matter and competition would still be there. But a conflict between two countries wouldn't automatically have to involve everyone else.

Wouldn't it be more interesting if the outcome of a war depended on the nations actually involved, rather than on which giant alliance they belong to?

3. A Capital for Every Nation With at Least 10 Active Citizens

If a nation has at least ten genuinely active citizens who care about their community and put time into developing it. I believe it should have the opportunity to possess its own capital.

These communities are investing their time and effort into the game. They should have a real chance to grow, become stronger and take part in world politics. Of course, we can discuss what counts as an active citizen and whether ten is the right number. I am open to that.

But we need to start somewhere. If we keep making it harder for smaller communities to develop, we shouldn't be surprised when they eventually give up.

4. Stop Normalizing Tactics That Destroy Communities

This is probably one of the hardest points to agree on.

Both sides should be willing to discuss stopping PTOs, proxy wars, multies and other tactics used to sabotage opponents rather than compete with them directly.

Just because something is possible in the game doesn't automatically mean it is good for the game. I know we cannot control every individual. There will always be people who refuse to follow an agreement, and I am not pretending that one discussion will magically solve everything. But there is a difference between something happening occasionally and treating it as a normal, accepted strategy.

We should be able to fight wars, defeat our opponents and compete for power without deliberately destroying the communities other people have spent months building. Winning a war should feel good because you fought well, organized your people and made the right decisions, not simply because you found another way to ruin the other side's experience.

5. A Place Where Nations Can Actually Talk

I would also like to see something similar to a UN Security Council, where representatives of the major nations could regularly discuss issues affecting the entire game. Not to control everyone. Not to prevent wars. And definitely not to give the strongest nations the right to decide everything for the rest of us.

The point would be to create a place where disputes can be discussed before they turn into another massive conflict. Smaller communities should also have a voice, because decisions made by the biggest players often affect everyone else.

We will not always agree. Some discussions will probably be difficult and some solutions will take time. But at least we would have a place to talk instead of immediately reaching for another weapon.

Peace Doesn't Mean Friendship

I want to make one thing clear.

I am not asking everyone to become friends. I know that is unrealistic, and honestly, it isn't even necessary. There is too much history between some of these nations and alliances. Rivalries will remain. People will disagree. Wars will happen. And that's fine…

The problem isn't that we fight. Fighting wars is part of what makes this game interesting. The problem is when every war becomes personal, every defeat creates another grudge and every disagreement becomes an excuse to make the next conflict even worse.

Imagine a world where Croatia and Saudi Arabia could settle their dispute in a 1v1 war. Where the USA could resolve its differences with Chile without half the world getting involved. Where Poland could fight a smaller bloc of similar strength without dragging everyone into another bloodbath.

We have had conflicts like this before, even after some very difficult wars. We have seen that a different kind of competition is possible. So why can't we try to get back to that?

I want to see nations fighting because they want to win, not because they want to destroy another community. I want smaller countries to have the chance to develop, make their own decisions and become meaningful players in world politics. And I want people to be able to lose a battle, congratulate their opponents and move on without carrying that defeat into every interaction for the next six months.

That doesn't mean forgetting the past. It means not allowing the past to decide everything we do in the future. But for any of this to work, both sides need to make compromises.

We cannot demand fair play from our opponents while excusing every questionable action committed by our own allies. We cannot ask for trust while continuing to use every possible trick against each other. If we want things to change, we have to be willing to change something ourselves first.

So, Why Am I Writing This?

These proposals are not demands, and they are certainly not an ultimatum. I am not asking anyone to sign a NAP or to end the current war (send help). I am simply asking us to start a conversation about what kind of world we want to create from here.

I would like to invite representatives of both alliances, independent nations and newer communities to sit down and discuss these ideas. Not because I believe we will suddenly agree on everything. We won't. Also not because I think years of distrust can disappear after one conversation. They can't. But because doing nothing and continuing exactly as we have been doing is also a choice and I don't think it is a good one.

We have already lost experienced players. We have seen communities lose their motivation, leaders burn out and nations struggle to survive. We have spent countless hours and enormous amounts of energy fighting over things that, in the end, are supposed to be part of a game. And I think we should ask ourselves whether it is really worth continuing this way.

I am not innocent in all of this. Neither is my alliance and neither are our opponents. We have all contributed, in one way or another, to the situation we are in today. But that also means we all have a chance to do something about it.

I still believe this game can be a place for great battles, clever politics, strong communities and real competition. A place where we can disagree, fight, lose and win, while still respecting the people on the other side of the battlefield.

I don't expect everyone to agree with me. I don't even expect everyone to like these ideas. But I hope you will at least read them, think about them and consider whether some things could be done differently. Because at the end of the day, we are all here because we chose to play this game. And I would really hate to see us destroy the very thing we came here to enjoy.

So, what do you think?

Are we happy with the way things are going, or is it time to start talking about a different future?