So today, I was thinking about what is PnP?
As anybody reading this should know, PnP means Politics 'n' Propaganda. But that doesn't really cover all that the PnP forums do.
I was thinking a lot about this earlier, and as a result came up with what I will try to convey in the next paragraph. PnP forums are used for declarations to get the public on side with their declarations. This is where I want to focus later, but not today. The majority of it is discussion threads. Good PnP is where a post of real intelligence, thought and logic is used, in a manner that best suits the posters interests. Bad PnP, is one which does the opposite. Any post on the PnP forums adds up to people's opinion of you. If you make continual quality posts, the community in general respects you for it (excluding the odd flamers). If you make continual inflammatory posts, or just spamming and trolling without posting anything with any real thought, you not only get treated in the same manner, but also lose respect for you.
Respect is pivotal in the forums. If you are known for making genuinely interesting posts and people like it, you can get away with the odd attempt at flaming someone and the community at large will just agree with you, as they just see you as someone they normally agree with, or respect. If you are known for doing nothing but flaming, then when you do make good points it gets glossed over because of your history.
In my eyes, there are very few people who understand just how much PnPs can affect you ingame.
And so, I guess my point for this "update", is that you need to approach PnP forums with an attitude that suits your goals, and then post accordingly.
I'll do a quick example:
A war has broken out between tribe X, and tribe Y. You don't like tribe Y. You want to war them. But you like tribe X.
A member of tribe X has just posted this: "I just capped a village off of you, stop crying LOLNOOB".
Now, reading this, everybody who sees it thinks less of that player and tribe X. However, because you like tribe X, it is in your interests to make a post after him that achieves two things:
1) Avoids people flaming him and tribe X
2) Makes tribe Y look bad and turns the focus of discussion back on to them
What bad PnP would be, is where you reply with "That's incredibly childish; you think it's worth posting about nobling 1 village?" It is a valid point, definitely. But, it not only doesn't help you put a bad light on the tribe you dislike, but it puts a bad light on the tribe you like, and could cause them to start having issues with you.
I've made a small list of Dos and Don'ts for PnPing in general. It is purely as something of personal opinion and interest, but I would welcome any discussion on the content of this.
Do
- Think about what you are posting
- Think about the effect your post will have
- Consider what goals you and your tribe have
- Consider your relationship with the person/tribe you are commenting on
- Consider whether your post will damage your reputation or build to it
Don't
- Post without thought as to the consequences of your post
- Talk badly to/about tribes and players you want to keep friendly
- Post childish comments
- Post without adding a new view, logical argument or building on previous discussion
- Flame for the sake of it
All actions you take, have a consequence. Not only ingame, but on the forum too. Perhaps more so, as more people are able to see your mistakes on a public forum than within the safety of your tribe.