The Chronicle of Apolyton - a GS viewpoint

[FrustratedPoet]

http://apolyton.net/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=80079

Posted by Trip:

I was thinking of starting some sort of record-keeping system, to start recording the history of the game as it progresses. Many people wanted to see a 'complete' view of how the Lux situation progressed and changed, and I think that a full history of the game would be a very good idea as well.

One day the game will end, and we'll have a(n) (almost) full recording of the history of the game. If the teams would allow me, to do this I would have to be able to discuss each team's current view as things move alone, either by chat, PM or email, and I would write up things based upon different views presented. Teams would also be allowed to submit opinion articles which would be added to the Chronicle.

With my stake in the game gone, I would vow to report things in a neutral manner based upon the information provided to me. I also wouldn't reveal any information to other teams, and would only be allowed to discuss issues of the game dealing with the team I would be talking with.

Would the teams be willing to support this and cooperate to submit information for recording purposes?

I would certainly like to read such a Chronicle when the game was over. If Trip is willing to put in the work in to organise it seems to be at least worth discussing.

How do we feel about this?

[Arrian]

Interesting... but I'm a bit wary of divulging any important info.

-Arrian

[Shiber]

If we write up something that is almost completely made up of RP with some facts that are now common knowledge, then perhaps we won't look so secretive anymore.
True, we don't want to give away sensitive information, but we want to have an open, welcoming image as well. It's good for business.

[Lawrence of Arabia]

no mention of GSC&C please.

[nbarclay]

My feeling is that it would be next to impossible for someone to do what Trip is proposing without letting hints or bits of information slip. His knowledge of one team's actions would be likely to color his questions to another.

Independent histories kept by the various teams as we go would do the job similarly well. The catch is, we haven't had anyone with the time and inclination to write our history as we go. (I had some plans to at one point, but I've had too much to juggle to really do anything with it.)

[Meshelic]

I would be willing to do so, as you all know I love writing....

But I leave for boot camp in a month, so I couldn't do it on an extended basis.

[FrustratedPoet]

Another post by Trip:

I was talking with Togas, and he presented the idea that the best way for me to do this would be if I had access to all of the teams' forums.

Would the teams be willing to allow this? I would never post in any of them (aside from "hello," maybe), and no content would ever leave myself or the articles I would be writing. This would eliminate the problem of teams giving me tainted "propaganda" that would ultimately hurt the efforts to record history.

This goes some way to solving Nathan's concerns - since Trip could gather all the information he wanted by himself without having to ask questions to other teams (which might reveal more than he intends).

Of course, doing it this way raises other issues - we would lose control of the information.

[Aeson]

I was chatting with Trip about a week ago and he seems relatively easy to extract information from. I wasn't even trying to open him up about it (why would I?) and he was openly disclosing facts in the Poly chat room about the IDG before I hushed him up.

Slip ups like that are likely to happen if Trip has access to all the forums, unless I've misjudged his capacity for keeping secrets. My initial impression is that he likes to talk too much (in an 'espionage' perspective).

[FrustratedPoet]

My $0.02:
Unless we can trust Trip to be 100% tight-lipped with any sensitive information - and from what Aeson says I'm not sure we can - then we shouldn't really have any part in this.

It's a shame in a way, since reading the whole report after the game is over would be interesting ... but I'm not sure it's gonna work.

[DeepO]

I'm missing someone here... someone is keeping suspiciously quiet... Alva, where are you hiding?

I don't think I like the idea, in that I don't trust Trip with our secrets. Yes, a chronicle of our own would be best, and only after we win, or lose the game this gets published. It's simply too hard to separate common knowledge from secret information

DeepO

[alva]

I sort of made a Nathan' like post in the PTWDG forum.

What I said there, is that there is no real way of controling anything, and that Trip could be (mis)used to spread disinformation.
Even if he can read the private forums this isn't that hard to do
(--->see some of Togas' comments , and could have a huge impact)
So although I very much like the concept, his history would be too close to the 'present' game IMO.

[FrustratedPoet]

http://apolyton.net/forums/showthread.php?postid=1848021#post1848021

Trip's written up something to specify the terms on which he would be allowed into the team forums.

I'm guessing you'll want to reject him, but I thought I should draw some attention to the proposal so we know exactly what we're rejecting.