Fake Nicks and What They Really Mean

[Zaejii]

1) I'm a nice guy, but need a mask to hide behind to be a douche bag!
2) I'm a horrible player, but want to pretend like i'm a good one!
3) I'm a retard gathering intel on everyone else, unaware that people can get intel on me without knowing my real nick!

[Snurx]

PA is too full of stupidity these days.

[Nadar]

4) Epic fail: People think your real nick is a fake nick.

POTM btw.

[Elevator]

5) Fake nick is for gay people

[Mzyxptlk]

6) I'm a sheep and my idiot HC thinks my real nickname will give away intel faster than a newsie would.

[Phil^]

7) Im infamous and dont want people pestering me just yet

[Mistwraith]

Originally Posted by Phil^

7) Im infamous and dont want people pestering me just yet

OK i wouldnt say all were infamous - but for some going incognito into a new galaxy is a good thing, galaxy buddies will be giving all intel to their alliances, and if you are famous in some way this may affect your galaxy's round.

This is after all a game that tends to create grudges !

lets pick someone really famous like Sid, if he ended up in a galaxy, was found there would be several players out there who would just want to take him down for the kudos, its doubtfull that it would be a single planet raid, the whole galaxy would be getting it in the neck !

they sure as hell would not want him in the open!

I'm not saying all fakes are for this reason, but they do sometimes have their uses.

[isildurx]

8) Fakenick!?!?!?!?!?!

[Makhil]

if a nick is a fake name, what is a fake nick ?

[lokken]

9) I'm absurdly self important, keen to sow mistrust and wasting everyone's time while I persist.

[wakey]

Its easy to throw insults at people who fake nick but most of you who insult these people are the very reason they feel they have to fake nick.

There was once a time in this game where the majority of players respected the galaxy system and worked as a team, but over the rounds people have decided to make galaxies into an alliance plaything. Players will sell their galaxy out at the drop of a hat so distrust has grown.

Now yes your galaxy will almost certainly still sell you out even if you fake nick and the intel to uncover you can still be worked out by a competent alliance but it doesnt just hand your intel over to other alliances without them putting some work in. It alos may see the members of an alliance uncovered but makes singling out specific people alot harder (Certain people will get trageted after all for who they are, I have been targeted for example simply because of who i am in the past)

[Membrivio]

Originally Posted by wakey

(Certain people will get trageted after all for who they are, I have been targeted for example simply because of who i am in the past)

JUSTICE!

For all the long posts you have produced here on this forum and the many pages you fill with your blah!



And on topic:
Fakenicks are really really useless and annoying: be a man, be yourself!

[lokken]

Originally Posted by wakey

Its easy to throw insults at people who fake nick but most of you who insult these people are the very reason they feel they have to fake nick.

There was once a time in this game where the majority of players respected the galaxy system and worked as a team, but over the rounds people have decided to make galaxies into an alliance plaything. Players will sell their galaxy out at the drop of a hat so distrust has grown.

Now yes your galaxy will almost certainly still sell you out even if you fake nick and the intel to uncover you can still be worked out by a competent alliance but it doesnt just hand your intel over to other alliances without them putting some work in. It alos may see the members of an alliance uncovered but makes singling out specific people alot harder (Certain people will get trageted after all for who they are, I have been targeted for example simply because of who i am in the past)

Actually this isn't true of my track record at all. The last time I played and involved myself in cluster politics (round 21), I was in cluster 2. While I didn't run it, I put a large amount of effort in setting it up. It was a very peaceful cluster, and it worked on the basis that everyone realnicked, simply because it was easier for everyone to cooperate. We were by far the most successful cluster alliance as a result, simply because everyone knew where they were and that the holding of our nap was key to all of our success. Cluster 2 finished as top cluster, comfortably because people knew who to speak to to get things done, how people behaved and ultimately, while things weren't sweetness and light the whole time, there was a good level of understanding because we all knew who each other were.

Quite honestly, all fake nicks mean is that I go out of my way to find out who they are within a short space of time instead of instantly, and they just breed mistrust in the long term. Ultimately, fakenicking has more negative impacts than the small positive that it might gain you. Really, it isn't worth the effort. It's time wasted when you could either get stuff done or even better, sleep and save up energy for when you really are going to need it.

As for people targeting people for who they are. I don't know about you, but I see it as a bit of a compliment when I get lots of incoming.

[wakey]

Originally Posted by lokken

, and they just breed mistrust in the long term.

And what do you think the idiots who go out of their way to screw over their galaxies do. Everyone is so quick to jump on fakenickers as being evil and killing the game but we never get a single complaint about the actions of these people.

Trust is a two way thing and if round after round we are going to have this campaign against fakenickers then we also need to demonise those who cause people to fakenick at the same time.

Until r13 I didnt fake nick, since then i normally have except for 2 rounds where the galaxy decided to be honest about everything. However in both these cases at least 1 person has instantly ran to their alliance and given the info out. One round I was in a galaxy with a load of 1up plus a few others, one of who was h3ll from ND. Within a few hours of us all revealing our info ND had all our galaxies info because h3ll ran straight to his alliance and handed it over. He was also reporting all our incoming and outcoming defence

You wouldnt hand over your alliance info to your galaxy so why is it deemed acceptable for it to happen the other way round. And if your one of these people moaning about fake nicks yet are one of those who hand the info over then you should just stfu until you stop being part of the group who pushes people to fakenick

[Ceadrath]

Originally Posted by lokken

Actually this isn't true of my track record at all. The last time I played and involved myself in cluster politics (round 21), I was in cluster 2. While I didn't run it, I put a large amount of effort in setting it up. It was a very peaceful cluster, and it worked on the basis that everyone realnicked, simply because it was easier for everyone to cooperate. We were by far the most successful cluster alliance as a result, simply because everyone knew where they were and that the holding of our nap was key to all of our success. Cluster 2 finished as top cluster, comfortably because people knew who to speak to to get things done, how people behaved and ultimately, while things weren't sweetness and light the whole time, there was a good level of understanding because we all knew who each other were.

Rinoa


i don't see a problem with fakenicking, theirs no reason why you can't work with a nick you don't recognise, except some people are so stuck up their own arses that they decide to force their own views (fakenicking is teh evil yo) on others.

[Mzyxptlk]

Originally Posted by Ceadrath

i don't see a problem with fakenicking, theirs no reason why you can't work with a nick you don't recognise, except some people are so stuck up their own arses that they decide to force their own views (fakenicking is teh evil yo) on others.

We're not saying it's evil, we're saying it's stupid.

[Ceadrath]

Originally Posted by Mzyxptlk

We're not saying it's evil, we're saying it's stupid.

Why is it?

because they don't want their alliance and nick added to enemy intel at tick 36?

because they don't want incoming from tick 72?

because they don't want incs from retarded people who attack them over arguements from x amount of rounds ago?

god forbid that you should have to put some effort in to gain your intel.

if your incapable of cooperating with someone who's nick you don't recognise then you have no hope of playing in a gal as it is, whether it's a fake nick or not is irrelevant.

[Tomkat]

JBG fakenicked this round :crymeariver:

[Allfather]

Originally Posted by Tomkat

JBG fakenicked this round :crymeariver:

:O
I'm totally undercover also!

[Kargool]

Originally Posted by Zaejii

1) I'm a nice guy, but need a mask to hide behind to be a douche bag!
2) I'm a horrible player, but want to pretend like i'm a good one!
3) I'm a retard gathering intel on everyone else, unaware that people can get intel on me without knowing my real nick!

Originally Posted by zaejii's signature

R23 [xx] x:x:x

What do you think about people masking their alliance belonging on the planetarion forums then?

[Mzyxptlk]

Originally Posted by Kargool

What do you think about people masking their alliance belonging on the planetarion forums then?

The subtle difference between lying about your identity and shouting it off the roofs.

[Tietäjä]

Originally Posted by Kargool

What do you think about people masking their alliance belonging on the planetarion forums then?

A very interesting twist.

Please enlighten us, Zaejii. Why do you feel the need to hide your coordinates on the forums if you so much advocate not disguising your whereabouts and coordinates.

[Zaejii]

Originally Posted by Tietäjä

A very interesting twist.

Please enlighten us, Zaejii. Why do you feel the need to hide your coordinates on the forums if you so much advocate not disguising your whereabouts and coordinates.

i love how people are so ignorant to jump to conclusions. did it ever cross your mind that my coords/alliances used to be listed one per row. it was getting too long, so i changed it and added a placeholder for this round at the bottom. OMG I'M HIDING MY COORDS!! half everyone in the game had my coords before tick 72, BECAUSE I GAVE THEM OUT. don't feel upset and have the urge to start another argument just because you don't have them.

back on topic:

10) i made someone mad and i don't want them attacking me all round!

(and to note with #10 - ChronoX doesn't even fake nick and i don't think anyone has pissed off more people than he has. lol)

[Tietäjä]

Originally Posted by Zaejii

i love how people are so ignorant to jump to conclusions. did it ever cross your mind that my coords/alliances used to be listed one per row. it was getting too long, so i changed it and added a placeholder for this round at the bottom.

You do know that round 23 is already ticking? You can now add your alliance and coordinates, and make a new placeholder for round 24.

[Bowlsey]

I don't see why so many people are complaining!? If i was in my gal chan under the nick of 'Batman' but I was active in the chan, defending my gal mates that it would make me less of a man than if i was using my real nick? Or does a person who uses his real nick but doesn't ever defend in gal a better player for their gal?

[Nadar]

That's just sad.

[Tietäjä]

Mek is.

[Nadar]

Mek is an emo.

[K-W]

Nadar, round after round shows people fake nicking and staying hidden for much longer than 24 hours. Perhaps most people do not, though I doubt you actually know the statistics, but even so the people who are able to successfully hide can gain an advantage which is well worth the inconvenience of setting up a second irc persona.

I have certainly seen people fake nicking for no reason, either because their ally was easily mappable or because nobody was going to target them because of their ally. This is stupid, but for people who are in alliances with enemies or who have personal enemies effectively fake nicking provides a tangible advantage, especially when there are cov-oppers around.

Meanwhile as 'easy' as it is to map an alliance, it takes work, and the more information you provide an enemy the less work it takes and the less likely they are to make errors. Every little bit counts in this game.

[K-W]

So you honestly think that eXi's coords are all mapped now since it has been well over 24 hours since they began attacking?

[Mzyxptlk]

I bet.

[furball]

Of course not.



I'm with Germania here - fakenicking serves its purpose as it makes it harder for people to trace your alliance and create a complete member list of it. Where it's going to benefit your alliance to hide itself, then fakenicking and getting all of your members to create their own relay channels will be good steps to take in the intel battle.


Anyone who truly believes that an alliance's co-ords can all be mapped within 24 hours of exiting protection is an idiot, plain and simple. Sure, you can get some, but you're never going to get a complete picture until at least tick 150/200ish.

[Nadar]

Originally Posted by furball

Anyone who truly believes that an alliance's co-ords can all be mapped within 24 hours of exiting protection is an idiot, plain and simple. Sure, you can get some, but you're never going to get a complete picture until at least tick 150/200ish.

Assuming that most planets are active, you still think it's hard? A (news)scanner with a lot of resources is all you need. Sure it will need a lot of patience, but it's effective. Any idiot and half-brain, even you, should understand that simple fact.

Germ: eXi is currently not tagged up and I assume they're not defending? Gathering co-ords from attacks they make is much harder as you have to consider the possibility of other alliances attacking with them.

[furball]

Originally Posted by Nadar

Assuming that most planets are active, you still think it's hard? A (news)scanner with a lot of resources is all you need. Sure it will need a lot of patience, but it's effective. Any idiot and half-brain, even you, should understand that simple fact.

You just can't get a complete picture of a standard 60 member alliance within 24 hours of exiting protection. Planets may be active but they certainly won't have all defended each other - many of them won't have even received incoming yet. Out of those that have received incoming, much of it can be covered by galmates - who are comparatively useless for intel early on until strong relationships can be built up.


You said yourself that working out co-ords from alliance attacks is harder because of the chance that galaxies are double-booked. I'd add to that the fact that alliances don't always run full-scale galraids straight out of protection, and that some alliances instead tell their members to find their own targets (e.g. in-cluster). Alternatively, alliances may attack through multiple AGs, meaning that you can only work out a portion of their co-ords.


As I said, you can get a complete picture within 72 ticks - but unless you bped a lot with an alliance, or got your hands on a co-ord leak, you're not going to have a complete picture within 24 ticks.

[lokken]

Originally Posted by furball

Of course not.



I'm with Germania here - fakenicking serves its purpose as it makes it harder for people to trace your alliance and create a complete member list of it. Where it's going to benefit your alliance to hide itself, then fakenicking and getting all of your members to create their own relay channels will be good steps to take in the intel battle.


Anyone who truly believes that an alliance's co-ords can all be mapped within 24 hours of exiting protection is an idiot, plain and simple. Sure, you can get some, but you're never going to get a complete picture until at least tick 150/200ish.

It's pretty difficult to map anyone at tick 72.

Thing is, surely tick 150 to 200 is probably the time you want to be making large strikes. And to be honest, you don't need a complete picture. Early on pretty much everyone is roidable so a shitlist of say 30-40 planets is more than adequate. Given how I've seen ND collect 20 hostile coords of one alliance in about 2 hours through scanning and cross checking with the rest of the intel team, I don't see how fakenicking really helps when it boils down to it.

Once you get 3 or 4, you can pretty much get enough to mount a strong hit on an alliance, which in turn will get you more coordinates to collect so you can hit them with even more force.

[Nadar]

I do hope you and everyone realized that I don't mean a 100% correct coord-list when speak of "easily obtaining an alliance's coords". 100% accurate lists are never obtainable unless you got direct access to their arbiters.

I will agree with you, furball, that 72 ticks is probably more realistic than 24 ticks.

[furball]

Originally Posted by Nadar

I do hope you and everyone realized that I don't mean a 100% correct coord-list when speak of "easily obtaining an alliance's coords". 100% accurate lists are never obtainable unless you got direct access to their arbiters.

I will agree with you, furball, that 72 ticks is probably more realistic than 24 ticks.

Certainly I got the wrong impression. Probably the most you can ever hope to get is 95% accurate co-ord lists, given that people will leave and join alliances with some regularity.


If your alliance is in a war with another alliance from the word go (e.g. 1up v eXilition) then you can get an almost complete map of their (active) co-ords within a few nights, since you should be forcing every one of their planets to send some kind of defence. Takes a lot of work though, although that may go without saying.

[Nadar]

Yeah. You get my point now? Hiding is seldom possible unless you're inactive

[furball]

hugs!

[Nadar]

This is getting emo. Call for Mek!

[Monroe]

One other advantage of fake nicking that no one has mentioned (at least not directly) is that even if you know all of an allies coords, you don't necessarily know which members are where? Why is this important? Because even in a top ally there can be a wide range of competency at playing the game. So knowing which players are in which galaxies can in fact make a difference in an allies ability to hit a particular galaxy. For example a galaxy that contains Keizari or JBG, both very good players, is probably going to be a lot harder to hit then a galaxy containing relative nobody's, even if both galaxies contain the same relative alliances in them. The point being if JBG's coords were known he would tend to get more incomming then someone of less repute with the same race/score/roids. It is therefore to the advantage of a well known player to remain anonymous as long as possible, even if his ally is known. So I am 100% in agreement with Germania that fake nicking can be a very valuable thing, even for only part of the round. Personally I hate to fake nick, but then again I don't have the notoriety or infamy of some the other players of this game.

To make a long story short, whether people like it or not fakenicking has and will always have a useful place in PA. While I agree that for a lot of people it's probably pointless in the long run, in some cases it totally makes sense.

[Tomkat]

Originally Posted by Monroe

The point being if JBG's coords were known he would tend to get more incomming then someone of less repute with the same race/score/roids.

I don't think this is true at all. If anything, I'd be less inclined to hit JBG/elviz/Keizari/FeniX/etc as I know that they can handle in-gal defences pretty well, and so I probably won't get through.

[Forest]

Originally Posted by Tomkat

I don't think this is true at all. If anything, I'd be less inclined to hit JBG/elviz/Keizari/FeniX/etc as I know that they can handle in-gal defences pretty well, and so I probably won't get through.

True story.

I have always maintained I am better off being without a fake nick than with one, and usually dont fake nick at all, cept this round and that was only for a short tme cause I got drunk and nubbed it

[LordNieminen]

Originally Posted by Tomkat

I don't think this is true at all. If anything, I'd be less inclined to hit JBG/elviz/Keizari/FeniX/etc as I know that they can handle in-gal defences pretty well, and so I probably won't get through.

Personally would hit them all, with more than normal raiding hit.. thou it depends on their rank, would not bother doing anything special on guys who are outside top20 these days, before pax it was top50 I gues the limit in my head. It's all about achieving something in the round especially during war.. not about some crappy ranks, always played with the rule if our galaxy is top10 as it usually it is, we roid other top10 galaxies and all the players in them.. and if yer winning war ranks come naturally and it's yer duty especially if HC galaxy to make the example and enforce every other BG/member to hit enemies by saying "if u don't frigging contribute to this war, our galaxy/BG is so gonna roid yer ass when I find out" Works like a marvel everytime when you have the power to enforce not just some position as a HC without your personal mate retinue in high ranks.

Anyways propably depends a lot on the person, if u know he's a def leech or someone who people sacrifice themselfs would propably just throw a massive fake wave first, then smaller fake waves what look like their coming in after the succesfull 1st wave. basicly draining everything on that one guy and roiding the rest of galaxy... doesn't matter how big the one guy if he's galaxy goes to hell as eventually people will start trying to hit him because galaxy is so bad, especially those dudes who had to recall from their targs and got fleets home earlier and can do that day raid forcing the dude staying home, or if he's uber def leech or a DC.. he'll run he's own defence without keeping he's fleet home as he's only after personal ranks. That's why I atleast monitor the DC's who make their own def calls... if their doing overkill defence on their self and leaving some other member without defence same time.. time to have a chat with that dude, otherwise you might have internal problems/drama later on.

Anyways if someone outside HC has access to nicks/co-ords section.. I'm willing to ask myself named as a fake nick into arby. Not to mention I would be damn sure to wich DC I give my fleet for defence action aka one I can trust.. otherwise it's damn easy for the DC to give those co-ords out with my nick in it. Normally it would not matter if people know my nick but always some of my gal mates are high profile players.. so prefer to keep their co.ords as long as possible secret.. when it's out it's out, but you also know it by then due to yer own intel sources.. Never been a round when I didn't know inside 24h that our co.ords/nicks from our galaxy have leaked out. After that no point fake nicking, until then.. I would prefer it as if top10 galaxy isn't enough to keep hostiles out, then the nicks don't matter jackshit on the positive side, they can only affect negatively.

God damn I'm drunk.. got enough of booze today and now going to bed after browsing 5 games forums and spamming them all.

[Vladel]

Might as well show some stones and be honest! fake nicking is just wrong

[Tomkat]

Fakenicking doesn't exactly help the community. Right now, if someone comes online who I played with in rounds 7, 8 or 9 (for example) I'd recognise their name as I'd remember sharing a channel with them for 2-3 months and working with them on PA. If people fakenick for half the round, I remember them as "Stupid Fakenick" and then will probably forget them if they contact me again, even if they changed to their real nickname at some point.

It doesn't make contacts easier or remembering who is who. Zaejii has it better his way round; showing people his nick but hiding his alliance. Obviously that isn't possible for everyone though.

[CBA]

Fake nicks r lame

Moaning about fake nicks r lame

most posting here are even lamer

[Zaejii]

Originally Posted by CBA

Fake nicks r lame
Moaning about fake nicks r lame
most posting here are even lamer

^^ guilty by admission / association?

[Travler]

If I revealed myself how much incomming would I get?

I have fake nicked every round since R14 and I sometimes wonder if it's more trouble than it's worth trying to run 2 irc clients. The fake nick will only keep your alliance hidden for a short amount of time. You can prevent people from knowing who you are personally though.

Point is some use them. Some hate them but how you do know that a fake nick is not really a new player to the game? Imagine how a new player might feel being constantly harrassed that he or she is using a fake nick just because no knows who they are. Fake nicks are not bad for the community but people who hate fake nicks are.

[furball]

Originally Posted by Travler

Point is some use them. Some hate them but how you do know that a fake nick is not really a new player to the game? Imagine how a new player might feel being constantly harrassed that he or she is using a fake nick just because no knows who they are. Fake nicks are not bad for the community but people who hate fake nicks are.

A fake nick is fairly obvious to be honest, and new players usually tell you that they're new anyway.

Originally Posted by Tomkat

Fakenicking doesn't exactly help the community. Right now, if someone comes online who I played with in rounds 7, 8 or 9 (for example) I'd recognise their name as I'd remember sharing a channel with them for 2-3 months and working with them on PA. If people fakenick for half the round, I remember them as "Stupid Fakenick" and then will probably forget them if they contact me again, even if they changed to their real nickname at some point.

I concur on this point - fakenicking is good for alliances but bad for the community. If I ever played again, I wouldn't fakenick - but it still is logical to do it from an alliance point of view.