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Go ahead, accuse me of thread necromancy, I don't care. :p

Johan, please bring this thread forward some more. And while we're at it, how about a nod to the moderators and betas, some of whom have been around or were around for years? Safferli, Vulture, Maximilian, Stonewall, OHGamer, Veldmarshaalk -- one could on and on, and they really deserve the nod.

Or here's another thought. How about breaking the eternal silence of the NDA and letting betas and developers recount stories of past Paradox games? I've got a couple myself that I would like to share.
 
Go ahead, accuse me of thread necromancy, I don't care. :p

Johan, please bring this thread forward some more. And while we're at it, how about a nod to the moderators and betas, some of whom have been around or were around for years? Safferli, Vulture, Maximilian, Stonewall, OHGamer, Veldmarshaalk -- one could on and on, and they really deserve the nod.

Or here's another thought. How about breaking the eternal silence of the NDA and letting betas and developers recount stories of past Paradox games? I've got a couple myself that I would like to share.
Prolly most NDA's, at least from the early days, are no longer in force legally... And like you I have a few stories, but, they are rather dated at this point. Including, sadly, my magnum opus, "Diary of a Mad Beta Tester".

Btw, a presumed major NDA violation occurred in https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/index.php?threads/the-one-province-rule.27718/page-9 just before your time there was a game feature of EUII (the one-province annex rule) that had the public in revolt, and near-mutiny - some months had passed since EUII was released, but bitter discussion of the rule came up again, and I revealed the beta details- since BiB stated (falsly?) that the truth had become public.

I had a prominent role in a Victoria:Revoltions subject about life ratings where I revealed to the public algorithms for changing them, that violated NDA, maybe, more or less, sort of kind of, I think, maybe...

Anyway, I suspect that anyone who's experience with Paradox games over the years is great would want to have a history of the games and the corresponding development process revealed. But, what is "my Paradox"? Some of us about the earliest years, others the current years, and such. Anyway... :)

Nice to see you, mate. :)
 
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Hey, great to hear fro you too! Now if only Max and Birdie and Peter Ebbesen would crawl out of the woodwork, we could have a real party.
EUII was my first purchase from Paradox by the way. I think I even still have the cd somewhere.

it's interesting that that discussion didn't get Derek banned. (and how long did it take you to find that?!) I'm pretty sure he was a beta on HOI2, which was the first game I was involved with, so I don't think it even resulted in his being excluded from subsequent betas. Or maybe I've got the timing messed up. It's easy to do . . . .

And it's funny that you mention Vicky Revolutions, because that little project was undoubtedly my proudest moment as a beta. It was done completely on a shoestring, as I recall, with Aberg and King taking the lead from Paradox's side. OHGamer and I were both involved to an insane level as betas, and a couple of other people chipped in some serious effort as well, including Johnny Canuck and Pax Mondo. That was pretty close to the whole team, and I am proud to say that the success of that expansion was the salvation of what I have always thought was Paradox's most brilliant game.
 
:)

I'd add a few others to the party. ;)

A long time ago I had a nostalgia trip, and decided to bookmark the one-province thread for future nostalgia trips. Sadly, I didn't bookmark my Vicky Revolutions life rating thread - I guess I could spend a bit of time to find it. I brought it up because, even though I was not involved in Vicky Revolutions in any significant matter I remembered you and OH Gamer's work.

Vs, Derek getting banned - not. Those were the days were it took a lot to get banned, and he was a well respected beta, and along with BiB, myself, and a few others, stupidly, put our asses out to defend the game - we where the voice of Paradox at that time, and took all the heat from the public. All retrospective, mind you. In fairness to Paradox they were working their assess off to improve the game, but it would have been nice to have an official (Patrick or somebody) "voice of Paradox" out there fighting the PR battle...

But shortly after, when HoI was announced, the board went crazy with neo-Nazis invading and such. Then... things became a problem. And bannings became routine, and sadly a number of solid board members fell afoul to "consistent" rules - ban a neo-nazi for his acts, not thoughts, but his ad hominem attacks, then anyone else doing ad hominem attacks must be banned. Btw, [ignoring NDA] Johan had a "special" list of members that could not be banned without his approval. I'm on the list, and two years ago or less I "misbehaved", and reported myself :D My "bad" post was removed by a moderator, and then restored because of my "status" [thank you Had a dad].

Anyway, good to relive old-times, KG...

Cheers,

State
 
:)
But shortly after, when HoI was announced, the board went crazy with neo-Nazis invading and such. Then... things became a problem. And bannings became routine, and sadly a number of solid board members fell afoul to "consistent" rules - ban a neo-nazi for his acts, not thoughts, but his ad hominem attacks, then anyone else doing ad hominem attacks must be banned. Btw, [ignoring NDA] Johan had a "special" list of members that could not be banned without his approval. I'm on the list, and two years ago or less I "misbehaved", and reported myself :D My "bad" post was removed by a moderator, and then restored because of my "status" [thank you Had a dad].
Oh my goodness, yes, I vividly recall that incident in connection with HOI and the large number of flame threads the broke out afterwards. Putin-inspired Russian trollbots couldn't have done it better than that. The whole thing was painful to witness (at least for me). Do you recall a similar outbreak during the early days of Vicky, when a bunch of Balkan revanchists started arguing over assignment of cores in various parts of the Balkans? That too was jaw-dropping in the level of vituperation.

It was interesting to see that thread about life ratings in Vicky Revolutions, a good reminder of how informal and interactive modding was back then. It also reminded me of EUnderhill, another mainstay of the community from whom one doesn't hear much anymore. No posts from him since 2014

EDIT: Hey, I just realized that this thread that I "resurrected" is actually pinned in the PDS sub-forum. So now I pose a question to the great legal minds among the moderators, supermoderators, forum admins, etc. To wit: Can a pinned thread EVER be subjected to a charge of thread necromancy? I might have to go find a pinned thread from a really old game to provide a proper test case . . . :D
 
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Oh my goodness, yes, I vividly recall that incident in connection with HOI and the large number of flame threads the broke out afterwards. Putin-inspired Russian trollbots couldn't have done it better than that. The whole thing was painful to witness (at least for me). Do you recall a similar outbreak during the early days of Vicky, when a bunch of Balkan revanchists started arguing over assignment of cores in various parts of the Balkans? That too was jaw-dropping in the level of vituperation.

It was interesting to see that thread about life ratings in Vicky Revolutions, a good reminder of how informal and interactive modding was back then. It also reminded me of EUnderhill, another mainstay of the community from whom one doesn't hear much anymore. No posts from him since 2014
IIRC, EU2 already had its fair share of Balkan, umm, balkanism..., that then went nuclear in Vicky. :(

EDIT: Hey, I just realized that this thread that I "resurrected" is actually pinned in the PDS sub-forum. So now I pose a question to the great legal minds among the moderators, supermoderators, forum admins, etc. To wit: Can a pinned thread EVER be subjected to a charge of thread necromancy? I might have to go find a pinned thread from a really old game to provide a proper test case . . . :D
If your a Diplomacy player, you might recall my post on a report of a game played in the OT forum, that I reported on in the Diplo forum. The German player asked me (Italy) if I offer France Munich, and he refuses it, and then goes and takes it anyway. Is that a stab? I don't know the feel of current board administration since I only drop in every few months or so - In the case of Ugly Duck (a good party invitee, and "Sexy Duck" in the super-secret moderator fora:)) - he was stern and fair - you'd be ok, it's stickied after all...


Back to history. A history of the earlier days is problematic since many Nicks were lost when the board conversion took place. If you look at the first thread link I give, there are lots of Nicks that are "unmerged". I wasn't around when the board conversion took place, so I don't know what the issues were. But, sometime later, I reached out to BiB to say hello, and part of his response, was "wow, your [custom] avatar survived the conversion. You can never change your avatar and ever get it back later."

Edit: removed reference to OP (not relevant)
 
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Would be lovely to update this, preferably with the codename for Project Vicky 3 :D
Codename = Sexy Duck

Note, I only post this due to today's, scandalous, Wikileaks revelation. :(

Project Sexy Duck is a nostalgic side-project of Paradox to try to marry the "mojo" of their earlier un-profitable edgy gamesproperties. I have to go with my conscious and violate my NDA to express my horror at the Wikileaks revelations.

Today, Julian Assange has turned attention on the Swedish computer game developer, Paradox Interactive.

Wikileaks claims ...
My break with Paradox, and my willing violation of NDA is in regards to PI in their treatment of the "delicate" issue of Queen Victoria and her incestuous relationship with her son and heir, the later Edward VII, and the consequential, long-running tv show, "The Duchess of Duke Street", and a back alley about Joseph Conrad's "Secret Agent". And, the quite long and tedious paper trail showing how this resulted in the foundation of the board game Europa Universalis, and the subsequent, cynical, manipulation of historical facts to "train" thoughtful, young folk via agitprop (nb the IGC). Early attempts, especially in the peak of the development of HoI1 were failures. ... But lessons were learned and the the Brexit vote result was a great success. The Trump experiment is in doubt, but the US political system was already f'ed up, so its hard to tell what is going on. Macron was a set back, or was it? Some recent European elections might show some hope.

[OK, I've run out of energy, and my innocent joke about comparing the likelihood of CK3 to the resurrection of a very loved administrator, Ugly Duck, has gone totally off the tracks - probably because of my spending too much time in ASOIF/GOT (Game of Throwns) fora, where everybody is really crazy.) :D

Cheers,

State
 
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Concerned Johan has either thinking of moving on or has been “kicked upstairs” like Godolphin ...

I hope not, a successful company needs a centre of gravity ... a source of continuity
 
You make an interesting point, but really Paradox is so big now that no one person can guide it anymore. And really, how long can a single person be expected to devote the kind of energy he did to all of their games 10 or 12 years ago?

The announcement of the two new games that will be made later this week -- of which presumably one will be Vicky 3 -- will show us clearly what kind of company they've become and where they're seeking to go. If Vicky 3 isn't one of the games announced, which would shock me, to be honest, I will personally grieve for the loss of the company I have spent so much time with.

EDIT: Johan's "teasers" have been more opaque than usual, seeming to refer both to a future Rome and also Vicky 3. As I said, if Vicky 3 isn't one of the games announced, it will be a sad, sad day - for me, at least.
 
Thanks PDS, and especially the softly spoken and all things considered extremely nice, dedicated and patient Johan. Thanks for the enjoyment you provide and I wish you the best in the future. I'm in for the ride.
 
Can I just be deeply upset that this thread makes no mention of Airfix Dogfighter? Yes, I own it. I played the heck out of it.

And yes, if Paradox felt the urge to update it (obviously not using trademarked assets) I would play the updated version into the ground.