This ****ing war

There is some value to the OP comments, I think. However my perspective was not included in his examples. I think that when people have spent a long time building up their accounts and cities, it is a reason to get upset when attacked. I don't agree that the attitude that it is just a game and it shouldnt matter if your down is razed by another player. When the precious commodity of personal time has been consumed, there in turn becomes a reason to value those things. I have recently come across a player who told me that since Illy is just a game, dont take it hard when your city is attacked , your res stolen, etc. But then I came across a player who has used an enormous amount of prestige to build their cities up. They have used not just the commodity of personal time, but also RL money. For them, the loss of a city is felt differently. To dismiss others perspectives can be insensitive and foolhardy. It can lead to bitter feelings. 

KillerPoodle wrote: Rill wrote: I do believe that some participants in this war are trying to have their cake and eat it too -- proclaiming that they seek positive aims when in fact their goal is to beat up on other people. I'm so glad you've finally come to see Consone's originally stated goals for what they really are.

Why Kumo...do I detect a hint of Trolling here? 

Is it helpful that we are throwing words around like bitter, unpleasent or distasteful when we are talking about certain facets of the games mechanics.  Trying to segregate groups off as the bitter crowd or the unpleasent lot will do no good in the long term.

A few players want to play Illy in a way that virtually ignores the conflict causing mechanisms built into the game. They build their cities, trade and chat. Because of their peaceful nature and the general friendliness in Global Chat they assume their own desires are the norm and anyone opposing their view must be wrong.

A few players play Illy with aggression. They build a war machine and want to use it. They don't care what others think of them and have no interest in socializing. They don't give a hoot about the politics of the meta-game. They see a good spot and take it. If they join an alliance it is because it will further their own goals.

Most of us fall somewhere in between these two extremes. Most of us build with the possibility of conflict in mind, join alliances for friendship and protection and occasionally pop into GC and/or AC to say "Hi" and see what's up.

People who post on a public forum that unless others stop using their armies they and others like them will quit a game which has a strong focus on armies are just being silly. They may feel serious, but it is not so. No one can take them seriously and no one should.

Regardless of in-game actions, there is no way to determine the character of other players. It may be that you are seeing their true personality, it may not. There is no way to tell.

It is a sad fact that there are unpleasant people here, as indeed there are unpleasant people in real life. It is also a truth that war has a tendency to generate bitterness, and to increase the bitterness of those who were bitter before the war started.