OpenGeofiction
User Stjur created a new District in Gobrassanya: Barodyne District as a colony of Commonia, as taken from the district name. As it is a quite radical change for the history/landscape of Gobrassanya and took some already existing cities to be rebuilt, I’d like to discuss the changes. I am fine with creating new ideas, but I am not happy about creating such a radical change without contacting the community about the influences, etc.
Please have in mind that cooperation has to be the highest value of each participant.
I am fine with the creation of a local independant “Sprachraum” and maybe also small varieties in culture, but greater things have to be discussed.
This diary isn’t meant to be offensive, it should just clarify the importance of cooperation.
-Bstn
Discussion
Comment from Ūdilugbulgidħū on 4 October 2016 at 15:04
Thanks for posting this. There are a few slightly separate points:
do these changes add interest to Gobrassanya?
could this mapping fit into the ‘story’ of Gobrassanya?
is collaboration a requirement?
I haven’t looked at the mapping in detail, and I don’t know what was there before, so its hard for me to say how creative or constructive this is.
In the first instance, why not contact Stjur? The best solution may just be to clarify whether this is a region with connections to Commonia. The admin level boundaries don’t indicate that it is a separate country or colony. If it can be explained and it adds to the Gobrassanya story, personally I don’t see why it shouldn’t be kept there. But for example, the use of the non-Gobrassanyan font would need to be explained.
I think that the ‘territorial integrity’ of Gobrassanya should be retained (i.e there shouldn’t be overseas territories or colonies of other countries Gobrassanya or in the other blue countries). Those sort of territories should ideally be created separately. But mapping goes where it goes, so its understandable if sometimes we map like this. It isn’t hard to change it.
Gobrassanya is a ‘blue’ country. Therefore its understandable that a user, especially a relatively new one, would feel that they can map creatively, as they choose, or even use what is already there to create something different. The blue countries are described: ‘no permission needed’. It has been discussed that this should be revised, but as yet it hasn’t changed. So, at the moment, that can be taken as there being no requirement for collaboration. The way OGF is set up currently its not clear whether collaboration is the main part of mapping in blue countries. It takes some time to learn how important it is in places like Gobrassanya.
Basically, the main mappers of Gobrassanya should sort this out. But don’t be too harsh on other mappers here.
Happy mapping Udi
Comment from Yuanls on 4 October 2016 at 16:26
Personally I don’t see why Commonia has a colony nowadays if there is no government that controls the entire country. Does it belong to a faction of Commonia or does it just identify as ‘Commonian’?
Is the user aware of the de facto Commonian history? Even if it isn’t, I guess Commonian history can easily be restructured seeing how basic it is right now. Agarderia was a Commonian protectorate/puppet/colony (I have not yet decided) for just over a year before it had a revolution. I haven’t written in detail about it on any wiki page due to the Commonia status change coming up.
Comment from stjur on 4 October 2016 at 18:52
Hello there… I see that y’all hate me and want to get rid of my contribution to the opengeofiction.
When I first saw this website, I was totally amazed, because I’m since ever really interested in mapping, urbanism and stuff. So I read all the guidelines, I discovered which areas I was allowed to edit and started to build a town in Gobrassanya: Vama Vâlcești. Of course, I wrote every street name in Romanian, because it didn’t sa y it wasn’t allowed. Vama Vâlcești was entirely built by me and not taken over. Next I built the city of Vâlcești, a medieval city of Romanian kind, using, of course, only Romanian street names. Neither this city was taken over but built by me. Next I found a place near Vâlcești with a empty street grid, on which I developed a new town, Răuți. Then I built on my very own the two towns Niculești Nord and Niculești Sud. They look like typical Romanian towns and have, also, Romanian street names.
At this point I was contacted by one of you guys, who told me the language should have been Gobrassanyan or whatever, and that I could create a colony in this place if I want to keep the Romanian. So what I did was that I created a “mother nation”, Transcommonia. Also I wanted to make that Romanian Gobrassanya region to be colony-worthy, so I built on my own, with my hands, the city of Bărădin (I even gave it a “Gobrassanyan” name: Barodyne), based on the pattern of a big Romanian city. I also tried to extend my future colony, so I found Austeria, a deplorable city back then, and I renewed it and made a Romanian city out of it. Then I had this idea to build a bridge between Răuți and a big and quite simple city on the other side of the bay. I called this city Sf. Vineri, because it didn’t seem to belong to anyone. I also found some lost hotels on a beach further in the south, which I made the city Nisipurile de Aur of. Last but not least I built the island Adakalé, a cultural paradise (which Opengeofiction don’t want to show as island).
I don’t think I’ve done anything wrong by adding culture to a cultural desert. And I don’t see any other solution to this language disparity than letting this District of Barodyne alive. And I much rather want all my cities to be deleted than changing their names to Gobrassanyan.
Comment from stjur on 4 October 2016 at 18:56
And you’re welcome to make me able to create some articles on your wiki so I can explain (or rather invent) more truth about the Transcommonian Colony Barodyne.
Comment from isleño on 4 October 2016 at 19:43
Hi stjur, welcome to Opengeofiction. :-)
To me, the comment about “y’all hate me and want to get rid of my contribution” says very clearly that you would be happier mapping in a private area, instead of one that involves interaction with other users.
There’s nothing wrong with enjoying that kind of drama (many people do!) ;-) but in our experience, you’ll have more fun in your own territory where you can do what you like.
So I would kindly invite you choose a green territory from our overview map; please contact admin to make your request. We would even be happy to help move all your mapping there. It’s easy for us to do.
Again, welcome to Opengeofiction and many thanks for your understanding, :-)
isleño (admin)
Comment from stjur on 4 October 2016 at 19:48
Hi! I really didn’t know it was possible for you to move those cities somewhere else… This would solve all those problems! Thank you!
Comment from isleño on 4 October 2016 at 19:49
JOSM is an amazing tool! :-) Looking forward to receiving your territory choice. Thanks again. :-)
Comment from Ūdilugbulgidħū on 5 October 2016 at 07:10
Great you’ve resolved this so quickly and easily. Like isleño says, it isn’t hard to move big areas in JOSM.
The status of ‘blue countries’ is something I hope we can come back to. This sort of thing will obviously continue to happen if there isn’t clarity over whether these areas are collaborative or ‘free to map’.
Comment from wangi on 5 October 2016 at 18:49
isleño, stjur - rather than moving it, could you copy it? I think leaving what’s there would be good, it could then be “Gobraized”, the bridge removed etc - blend it it. L/
Comment from isleño on 5 October 2016 at 21:24
@wangi — I’ve already copied it, so if you can give the cities/towns “Gobraized” names, that would be great. Stjur is free to decide whether the old copies of his streets/buildings/etc can be used as the basis for something else, or just deleted. Feel free to send him a message if he doesn’t see your comment here.
Comment from wangi on 6 October 2016 at 00:20
Thanks, i bashed on and removed the bridge plus done renaming around what’s now Meeonj, North Nicooles and SouthNicooles.
Comment from wangi on 6 October 2016 at 22:45
Niculesti Nord, Vama Vâlcești, Vâlcești, Bărădin and Ada-Kaleh have now been removed, at Stjur’s request.
I’ve also reworked Rauti (now Meeonj) and Niculesti Sud (now South Nicooles). And the bridge is gone.
L/