[Freeciv-Dev] Re: A patch for 4 new nations

[Falk Hueffner <falk.hueffner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Cameron Morland <cjmorlan@xxxxxxxxxxxx> writes:

> > I am sure your effort in contributing to the Freeciv project is appreciated 
> > by all.  But still, I have to respectfully disagree on adding the Taiwanese 
> > as a new nation.  First of all, I don't see any demand for a Taiwanese 
> > nation, so your first argument doesn't apply.  Secondly, you can't compare 
> > Taiwanese with Mordor or Dunedain.  It's not a fantasy nation.  In fact, 
> > it's not a nation at all.  Its offical name is Republic of China, and its 
> > people is still Chinese.  It is not a new nation, not even in the sense as 
> > used in Freeciv.  Finally, I just want to remind you again that not that 
> > long ago Germany was divided into two countries.  I don't suppose you would 
> > make two nations for the Germans as well, would you?
> 
> I don't see any reason not to include Taiwan when considered by
> itself; the island is clearly sovereign, its government is about as
> different from China's as possible. When Germany was separate, it
> would have made sense to have two nations; they were sovereign.

I think it would still make sense. The "nations" in FreeCiv are all
historical; they really don't need to mach a nation that still exists,
or else we wouldn't have the Babylonians etc.

> But, to try to see things from the other point of view, I would not
> consider it correct, being a Canadian, if a Quebec "nation" were
> created for the game (without the other provinces & territories
> created as well).  (You may know that some people in Quebec wishe
> the province to separate, and hold a plebiscite on the topic every
> few years.) But this isn't the same, as Quebec is not (yet?)
> sovereign in any sense of the word.

Quebec is a bit difficult, since it has never been independend. Still,
I wouldn't object to a Quebecois nation.

I think we shouldn't look that much on political stuff when deciding
which nations to include. I would suggest these rules:

* The nation had a "national identity", i. e. language and culture etc.
* Somebody wants to play it.
* There is a nice flag and a set of leaders and cities, which are
  historically consistent.

The problem with making that few restictions is, of course, conflicts
between nations which share cities, like the British and the UK, or
the Canadians and the Quebecois, or the Chinese nation at a time where
Taiwan belonged to it and Taiwan. It would really nice if this
conflicts could be set into the rulesets, so that no two conflicting
nations can play at the same time, as has already been suggested.

Generally, I think more emphasis should be put on points 2 and
3... This is a game, after all...

        Falk