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All About Influence

April 2006

Introduction

As of version 1.9, all nations have "Regional Influence," which is a measure of how important a nation is considered in its current region. Influence is determined by two factors: how much time the nation has spent in this region, and how many WA endorsements it has had over that time.

Effect on Gameplay

Although being boast-worthy in its own right, Influence serves an important gameplay purpose. The ability of WA Delegates to eject and ban nations from their region, and to password-protect it, is limited by their Influence. That is, the longer a Delegate has been a resident of the region, and the more endorsements he has held over that time, the more able he is to eject, ban, and password-protect.

Delegates consume some of their Influence to exercise their power, so the more often he ejects, bans, and password-protects, the more difficult it is for him to wield those powers in the future.

In relation to ejecting and banning, the exact amount of Influence consumed depends on the target's Influence. A newcomer to a region may be ejected for very little cost, while ejecting a well-supported, long-time resident is very expensive.

Invasion Rules

With the introduction of Regional Influence, our rules governing "Invasion Griefing" are abolished.

That means we no longer have complicated rules dictating, for example, how many residents a Delegate can eject before the moderators consider it illegal "griefing." Delegates need not worry about whether they are allowed to eject, ban, or password-protect—instead, if the game lets you do them, they're legal.

This removes a major source of angst and uncertainty for players and moderators alike. In the past, some players didn't even know there were rules about ejecting nations until after they'd broken them. Even experienced players (and moderators!) sometimes found it difficult to separate genuine invasions from region griefing. We're very glad to be able to put this situation behind us.

Examples

• Nation A has been a resident of her region for two months, then becomes Delegate. She is likely to have a large pool of Influence to spend.
• Nation B is the Delegate of a region that is suddenly invaded. As the invaders have no Influence, B can easily afford to eject all of them.
• Nation C is part of an invasion force that crashes into a region. The invaders all endorse C and he becomes Delegate. C will have no or very little Influence, and be unable to immediately eject any native residents. (However, he will be gaining Influence faster than anyone else in the region, as he now has the most endorsements.)
• Nation D is a long-time regional resident. She leaves the region for a few days, then returns. D will have slightly less Influence in this region than when she departed. (She will also have accumulated a small amount of Influence in the region she temporarily visited.)

Other Changes

• Regions now have a "Regional Power" label. This reflects how much Influence that region's residents have in total, compared to other regions.
• Delegates and Founders can use Region Control to password-protect their region, and have that password automatically displayed on the region page to all residents. (It remains hidden from outsiders.) It costs less Influence to apply a password that is visible to residents than to apply one that will remain hidden.

Obsoleted Rules

As mentioned above, "Invasion Griefing" rules have been abolished. The forum rules sticky has been updated to reflect this, with the following old rules removed:

• Deleted: A distinction was drawn between "invaders" and "natives," and different rules applied to each.
• Deleted: "Invader Delegates" were prohibited from ejecting more than a certain number (usually 10%) of residents, and required to unban them immediately afterward.
• Deleted: If an "invader Delegate" password-protected the region, she was required to distribute that password to residents via telegram.
• Deleted: Delegates were prohibited from ejecting residents in order to re-Found a region.

These rules no longer apply.

Notes

• The "Regional Influence" label reflects how much Influence a nation has compared to others in its region only. A nation with few endorsements and a short residency in a small region may have a higher Regional Influence rank than one with many endorsements and a long residence in a large region.
• Influence cannot be transferred between regions. When a nation enters a new region for the first time, his Regional Influence there is zero.
• While Founders earn Influence like any other nation, they do not spend it. Thus they can continue to do whatever they like in their own regions—eject, ban, password-protect, and deny Delegate access to Region Control—as much as they please.
• All nations accumulate Influence, whether they are WA members or not.
• Nations have been invisibly accumulating Influence since the start of March 2006. Since we can't tell how long nations were resident in their region, or how many endorsements they had, before then, the amount of Influence nations have now is not affected by what they did prior to that date.
• The Region Control page, accessible by regional Delegates and Founders, will provide a useful estimate of the cost in Influence of performing any action. Thus, Delegates can get a rough idea of how much Influence they must spend to eject, ban, or password-protect.
• Delegates (and Founders, for that matter) are permitted to eject residents for any reason. That is, they can be good or evil, and moderators don't care which. If your regional Delegate is abusing his power, it's up to you to get her unelected. (Or, failing that, you could change regions.)
• The Influence system is the result of collaboration between admin, moderators, and players. A great many people contributed their time and ideas to the project, making this change a truly community-driven one. Thank you everyone!