A Land Far Away

The articles and theories suggested below are 50% in jest, 50% serious, and 50% nonsense, with a 10% dash of references to Captain Planet.

C.A.C.K.L.E.
Campaign for Advocacy of Creative Kinds of Liberties for Entertainment

C.A.C.K.L.E. Is a multi-part campaign to bring creative liberties to A Land Far Away. There are five main goals of CACKLE, which it wishes to see reach fruition. The members and motions of CACKLE are not that of a group, but of individual variety. Any given member may disagree with the goals or articles as a whole, but may push for any individual article of CACKLE, and once that article is achieved very well may break away from the greater whole.

1)Dungeon Masters of A Land Far Away will have the freedom in their campaign to do as they please so long as the campaign does not violate the rules of the Suspension of Disbelief Act (See: SDA below). This goal will hereafter be referred to as CP1: Earth.
2)Players will have the liberties to play any concept they so desire, so long as it can be proven not to violate the SDA or the Obvious Cheaters Decorum (See: OCD). This goal will hereafter be referred to as CP2: Wind.
3)Rather than limit the opportunities of the rest of the community, violators of major rules will be punished swiftly and harshly in a trial-by-fire method of prosecution, and restrictions put in place in order to curb the events will be removed in favor of detection methods. This goal will hereafter be referred to as CP3: Fire.
4)Standards will be made into an ideological goal, rather than a set of rules. The ALFA standards prescribed should be what is striven for, rather than what is enforced. This goal will hereafter be referred to as CP4: Water.
5)A Land Far Away will strive at all point in time to make the game more enjoyable for their fellow players, will remember that is it a game, and will donate custom content on occasion to the NWN community as a whole. This goal will hereafter be referred to as CP5: Heart.

Each of the articles listed here have been a long desired state of being for ALFA as a whole, as each individual article contributes to the greater Fantastic Understandings of Narcissism (See: FUN). Every goal that is reached or article that is incorporated will add one piece of the puzzle to the glorious whole picture that will be ALFA: Tomorrow. The following is the State of the Game (See: SotG) that will be achieved as the goals are implemented.

Zero Goals: ALFA will remain exactly as it is, for better or worse.
One Goal: ALFA will have achieved its first step towards freedom from the rigid bonds of yesteryear. The community will have a refreshing breeze of freedom, some or many Cheaters will be cocky about the added freedoms and will be caught red-handed in attempting to violate the Rules.
Two Goals: ALFA at this point will be in a euphoric state of being, FUN will persist throughout the ranks for a short time.
Three Goals:[/b] Some may be angered with the changes that have taken place, but will learn to enjoy it with time thanks to FUN. The rest will become addicted to the taste of freedom they have been given. Those pursuing the goals of CACKLE will double in numbers.
Four Goals: The membership of the community will have increased by at least 50% in size by this point in time, from when CACKLE was first announced. FUN will be temporarily put aside by any remaining members of CACKLE in order to pursue the last and final goal.
Five Goals: Euphoria. Zen. Bliss. FUN overtakes the community and is an irresistible tool that will fight burnout, and increase participation and membership.

Navigator:
Primary Goals and Concept of Cackle.
Suspension of Disbelief Act
Obvious Cheaters Decorum
Fantastic Understandings of Narcissism
State of the Game Address

Suspension of Disbelief Act
The Suspension of Disbelief Act, as originally proposed, is an act stating what sort of actions constitute the break in a persons ability to immerse themselves in the world ALFA has created. The specifics of the SDA will be detailed by the administration that sets it forth, below are some examples of what the original intent is/was/may have been. CACKLE will not take offense to intense reworking of any article, as any similarity to the original goal will be still be an accomplishment.

Such actions include, but are not limited to the following:
*Excessive Farming.
*Min-maxing
*Abusing Bugs and Glitches
*Taking advantage of inferior AI in excessive ways (IE: Getting an enemy stuck behind a rock.)
*Cheating.
*Attacking an AFK player.
*Looting one's own corpse.
*Exhibiting a knowledge that is beyond the norm of a person with a given background and intelligence.
*Providing information about a non-persistent quest to new players. (IE: Size, location, numbers, traps)
*Bringing a historically hostile concept PC into play, without informing the DM team and receiving instructions on fair play.
*Using OOC knowledge in game.

The SDA will also specifically note some obscure things that are allowed under the SDA.

Such might include the following:
*Taking advantage of AI in minor ways. (IE: Shooting a creature from across a river)
*Creating powerful and dangerous builds that are not Min-Maxed.
*Using out-of-character knowledge to form groups and move to locations to play with others.
*Displayed, announcing, or writing about events in game that may give meta-information. Providing the information is not against the rules, as it encourages play and lets others hear of your fantastic stories.

Obvious Cheaters Decorum

The Obvious Cheaters Decorum is a list of known actions that almost any cheater will engage in. The list will begin blank, and will be added to as events transpire. Anyone seen committing something on the list should be reported to your DM team, so that they may have their logs reviewed and be placed on a watch list.

Examples of things that may appear on the list include:
“The player will create a new character, and rush directly for the static quests before attempting to find any interaction with nearby players. Possibly even passing players to get to the quest giver.”

“The player exhibits a wealth of potions beyond comprehension, and is never seen with less than 5 weapons, and seems to be constantly in danger of a heavy load.”

“The player's character seems excessively hostile to everyone it encounters, and makes no attempt at role play in any scenario.”

Fantastic Understandings of Narcissism

fun (fŭn)
n.
1.A source of enjoyment, amusement, or pleasure.
2.Enjoyment; amusement: have fun at the beach.
3.Playful, often noisy, activity.
intr.v. Informal., funned, fun·ning, funs.
To behave playfully; joke.
adj. Informal.
Enjoyable; amusing: “You're a real fun guy” (Margaret Truman).
idiom:
for (or in) fun
1.As a joke; playfully.
[Possibly from fon, to make a fool of, from Middle English fonnen, to fool, possibly from fonne, fool.]
USAGE NOTE The use of fun as an attributive adjective, as in a fun time, a fun place, probably originated in a playful reanalysis of the use of the word in sentences such as It is fun to ski, where fun has the syntactic function of adjectives such as amusing or enjoyable. The usage became popular in the 1950s and 1960s, though there is some evidence to suggest that it has 19th-century antecedents, but it can still raise eyebrows among traditionalists. The day may come when this usage is entirely unremarkable, but writers may want to avoid it in more formal contexts.

State of the Game Address

Another intention of CACKLE is the SotG Address, but it is not an overarching goal.

The SotGA is an article that states that at the and end of each term of the Lead Admin, they will give a State of the Game Address, that will detail where ALFA is now, how we are progressing, and what new direction (if any) we need to take for the betterment of the community and games as a whole.

Holy Time on your hands batman !

Opinionated &/or; do-gooder detected} [run ignore program]

06-12-2008 : CACKLE as a whole approves of both the recall of Rusty, as well as the proposition to make voting for all admin the constituency of all members in good standing.

Progress Train Approves.

this thread is Epic! Can we get this sticky'd?

Oh look! a bandwagon!