And so, this adventure comes to an end. On August 31st, 2005, the Neutral Council voted to permanently and completely shut down the game of Gotdno, as it relates to the Neutral Council.
If anyone else wants to pick up Gotdno and place it elsewhere on the World Wide Web, I, as its primary author, give you the complete rights to do so, under the following conditions:
1. That the federal Council system remains as the top legislative body
2. That Republican principles are kept in the game
3. That your version is called Gotdno v5, thus giving credit to the previous four versions, including the two under the watch of the Neutral Council
and 4. That I am personally notified of the new game, its position on the web, and further contents
I would be willing to continue to run elections and keep records of elections for any future game, if the need arises.
I am not willing to help, to assist, or to instruct in the creation of any new or borrowed economic system for a new game. If you are seriously considering continuing Gotdno, I personally suggest that you keep it on a political level. If I were not closing down this game, the completion of the entire web site, with all the property options, would have been completed sometime in 2007; that should give you an idea of the size of the project.
In truth, laziness relating to the property system is not the reason the NC decided to close down the game. Two-thirds' of the Neutral Council is now in college. My original hopes concerning college was that I could continue and grow the Gotdno community through college. Although I have not attempted that, I still believe I could, for interest in politics on U.S. campuses makes it the perfect place for Gotdno recruiting. A quarter of the people on my floor alone would probably join Gotdno if I told them about it. This version's end, however, is not related to lack of members, although the size of v4 is half of those at the end of v3.0 and v3.1.
The reason we decided to end the game is because we have absolutely no time. To give you an idea of my schedule, I have physics class four days a week PLUS a three-hour lab every Monday. I usually have to read a chapter per day and complete an assignment consisting of three problems that barely relate to the text. Now, add on three more courses, band rehearsals, football games, and dumb first-year exercises to get a complete feel for my schedule. Sean Surdovel, another member of the NC, likely has an equally tough schedule at Muhlenberg, a school similar to Gettysburg in quality.
Another reason relates to my computer here. Although I can access the internet more frequently here than I ever could at home, there was a change in database program. As much as we all bash Microsoft Works (R), its database program is better for Gotdno than Microsoft Access (R). However, the laptop I use now uses only Access. The Gotdno databases did not translate from my home computer to Microsoft Access (R). Although I can still salvage most of the database information though my mediocre hacking skills, the crucial ID numbers are lost and Access's mode of handing out serial numbers is not compatible with Gotdno's ID number system.
I apologize to all those of you who wanted this version to succeed. It just was not in the cards for us. I especially want to apologize to those of you who were not a part of Gotdno v3, the best of all the versions in my opinion (although Josh Buzi would argue on behalf of v1). You were unable to find out what the Gotdno simulation is all about (end of sentence preposition: cringe).
Now, because I know conspiracy theories are going to form, I might as well defend against the two main ones before they even begin.
1) "Matt Bechtel rid himself of Gotdno because he did not like the idea Neutral Council expansion." The truth is Neutral Council expansion was the best part of Gotdno v4. I loved the idea of having two others join me to run this game. Especially in the advent of the new property system, it is necessary to have more than one person controlling the entire game.
The fact is, Greg, Sean, and I would have made a great team. Unfortunately, Sean and I are not in Slatington, the base of all Gotdnonian operations. We now must juggle academia with socializing. That gives us little time, especially when Gotdno runs on a very specific schedule of dates and times when one or more of us must be available.
Besides, from a Gotdno politics perspective, all three of us were in line with each other. We all despised the tactics of the right while being completely annoyed by Gotdno's left. Even if I did want to end it because I was against NC expansion, it would still take a vote from someone I supposedly oppose to end the game.
2) "Matt Bechtel ended Gotdno because he saw that the right had complete control of power. He did not want v4 to end like v1, v2, and v3.0." I knew before the election that the right would win out. I was shocked that Duceppe even made it to a runoff. I figured, maybe with some naivety, that the right, finding themselves in control of power, would either a) split the alliance between HYDRA and Advancement on a small level, at least allowing political dissent amongst the two allied parties or b) not do anything drastic, because they were unopposed and it would thus be "no fun."
My anger with the right is well documented from all the way back into v1, when my Monkey-Kicking Party was the chief rival of Advancement. One of the main goals of the past two versions (v3.1 and v4) was NOT to allow the right to destroy Gotdno. If I am ending Gotdno now because of the right, is that not the same thing? Capitulating to the right?
For the recond, I define myself as a conservative-leaning libertarian. I just oppose the tactics of Gotdno's right.
This website will continue to run, simply because it contains my MIDI collection and has plenty of space. Although the history of Gotdno is incomplete, what is there will remain on the site.
If you are interested in creating a Gotdno v5, please contact me at my AIM screenname: MattBechtel. After discussing Gotdno, if I approve of your request, I will send you a CD-RW with all the Gotdno files still in existence (most Gotdno v3 records were deleted when my home PC crashed at the end of v3.1).
Again, thank you for the past five years to all those of you involved in any version of Gotdno. It has been fun.
