I thought we had settled this one a while back?
For the most part, the Muppets are ok, I've known some you guys like XJ, steve, zazen, and kappa for years, but some of you newer guys really need to go back and review some of the old Mister Rogers epidsodes where Fred talks about learning to make friends, people being different, and sharing things. Some of the Neighborhood of Make Believe stuff is allegorical or metaphorical, so you will have to put your thinking caps on to get the deeper meaning behind some of King Friday's Decrees.
I'll give you a hint though, collectively, Pigs don't care what you think, or how you feel, what your favorite flavor of ice cream is, who your first girlfriend was, what you scored on your first standardized test, what you wore on Haloween when you were six, or what your momma used to say to you to get you to stop crying when you skint your little knee on that first shiny tricycle. We really don't.
There's several arenas, some of them, like the Romper Room and the DA are set up just for you guys to go and dill each other's pickles and back patting amungst yourselves. If you find you are in an arena where base taking is going on, simply head out, or quit cherry picking for five minutes and take one for the TEAM and actually defend a base. I'll share a quote with you, then I'll LOL at what selfish egocentric score-hoin rubbish it is...
"Muppets don't GV, dont bomb"
-Sunsfan
LOL
Trash the Pigs all you like, but don't think that whining about how others aren't playing the game the way you like it is going to do anything.
You want a better signature line?
"If I had a dollar for every crap I gave about your opinion of my squad, you'd owe me money."
-Twitchy
Twitchy, I dont know you from Adam. Hell... by name, I only know two or three guys from your squad. As such, Im going to give it to you straight, here; totally unbiased and without malice.
First and foremost, you need to understand AoM. From your posting history, it is clear that you dont. We're really not a motley gang of teenage misfits rolling around the internet in cartoon airplanes, thinking we're hot feces and thus, real life winners!
In reality, I dont think youll find a group of guys who take the game *less* seriously than we do... aside from maybe the 80th or the BK's. Honestly, we just like to have fun. Fun is different for every person and, thus, every group of which like-minded individuals are comprised.
For us, fun is furballing. I think Grizz's description of furballing is a great one. Its a sector filled with aircraft and multiple, constant engagements. Thats why most of us started playing in the first place.
For others, fun is taking bases. Now, I have my own opinion on that - its boring. But, you know what? Im not going to tell you how to play the game. If you like taking bases, take them. Live and let live.
Unfortunately, where friction appears to exist is in that pesky "live and let live" area. There seem to be a small number of (very large) squads who revel in the activity of ending furballs via base-porking and/or taking. The motivation for this is usually, in my experience, one of two options.
On one hand, you have the people who simply enjoy making the game less fun for others. These people are easy to identify and are generally annoying. No additional description is necessary.
On the other hand, you have people who, with their inflated egos, think that those players sporting green icons are "costing our side the war!" I have been playing AH for some time now and have witnessed, on countless occasions, a player leading a large squad or motley horde into TT for an hour or two to take all of the airfields, thus closing TT to all but one country and, as a result, effectively ending any fight there.
The idea in the minds of those individuals is that people "furballing" are hurting the "war" effort. With TT closed (for example), those players are now forced to fight on the "front lines." Those players log.
This is contrary to that "live and let live" policy above and, for purposes of understanding, it is contrary to the *point* of the game as understood by those of us who came up through AW and/or WB.
The concept of a "war" which must be won is, honestly, appealing on many levels. It gives meaning to the overall atmosphere of the game. However, its not the "point" of these games, as originally designed. This is, perhaps, why you have seen HTC go to great lengths to make bases more and more difficult to capture.
For many of us, the point of the game *is* the fight. When I log on and I see a sector filled with a green dar bar and a red dar bar - with radar icons dead set in the middle of each field - THATS a formula for enjoyment. I know I can up a bird and find a relatively even numbered fight at some altitude below orbit. I also know that similar players will be drawn to such a fight so I can expect some old friends to be there; people I know I'll get a good fight from.
Having explained what fun is to different people and who we, as a squad really are, we then move on to this apparent "rivalry" (significant emphasis on quotation marks) you perceive between AoM and your group.
In your post above, you state that you care not what we think. However, a brief scan of your group's BBS reveals an alarming number of threads dedicated to AoM. Why? Dunno. Usually its some business about how SkyRock sucks afterall because he was dumb enough to dive into twelve of you and only shot down four before buying the farm. Sometimes its about how SunsFan is an "elitest" who looks down upon new players (which is near 180 degrees from accurate).
Point being, as they say, "lighten up Francis."
There are members of your squad who "get it." Waystin is a good guy, Junky, Krup... hell Krups one of the better sticks in the game in my opinion. These guys, they know we're not serious. We're just having a good time.
You, on the other hand, seem to take this very seriously and I think that's a shame. Our squads have nothing in common. We play completely differently, we have a completely different squad set up and we don't shout "COOKIES!" on public channels when kills are landed.
Ill bet $100 that you guys can take ten bases before we can take one. I'll also bet $100 that there isn't a single Muppet who wouldn't wipe the floor with two of your guys at the same time. We each have different goals in the game and, as a result, have developed different skill sets.
But so what?
Its a game.
As brazen as we may be in our speech, there is always a smile behind it. I dont think anyone from AoM has ever *really* insulted one of you. By contrast, in your post above, alone, I see you spitting venom. Halloween costumes, crying to mom, skirts, etc, etc, whatever else is up there.
Why?
Again. Its a game.
Chill out... relax. Sit in your chair, pour yourself a pint, light a smoke and go have fun.
All we ask in return is that you dont show up to our party and kick the keg with fifteen NOE Lancasters.
Is that *really* too much to ask?