Re: [Freeciv-Dev] Nationalities

[Stephen Hodge <stephenh@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Matt Busigin wrote:
> On Thu, 10 Jun 1999, Patrick Schmid wrote:
> #Is it really a good idea to implement differences between nationalities?
> #This just produces stereotypes and prejudices.
> #For example:
> #The Germans would be probably very aggresive (2 world wars), the French
> #perhaps too (Napoleon), Russians would be also on the bad side (Stalin...),
> #Chinese perhaps too (human rights),...

Many older civilizations have gone through extremely aggressive stages, e.g.
Romans, English, Japanese, Spanish, Portuguese, and so on.

...
> #I think differing between nationalities would be contraproductive for a
> #world-wide project like Freeciv.
> 
> My blood boiled a bit when Stalin was the selected as the default Russian
> leader, and I would find it to be _very_ offensive if anyone started making
> generalizations about certain civilizations.

I don't think it would bother me particularly but I just don't see the
point. FreeCiv is not a simulation of history and doesn't attempt to
accurately reflect life. There is no point in assigning traits to
nationalities just because someone perceives that they fit in real life.

...
> Having it randomly selected at the beginning of the game is a much better.

I agree. Names of cities and leaders can be historically accurate, so long
as they are changeable, but fixing the nations traits doesn't achieve
anything.

Regards,
Steve Hodge