My one dissapointment is I couldn't fit in a line about Guido and co. being the greatest complainers in the sector, and that with them returning the MCS, the council's quietly unquestioned dominance would be forever challenged.
Why the Merger should not go ahead
Yes, it would be rosy if we could all join together and hold hands in one unified cartography organisation, but that is simply not practical in the current environment and would lead to yet more splits, writes Andreas the Satirist.
Were such an agreement to go ahead, it would work out worse for the MCS side of the new organisation, as the GSOS would gain the majority of influence in the overall organisations. Assuming GSOSers all got seats on the Council, the council would presumably be expanded to an unwieldy nine or eleven. The GSOS block, with some careful voting, could ensure the support of their members with their simpler standards for claims, and many potential members (such as Guido Zambelis) who already held land on MCS would grow in stature at the expense of true micronational development. All that is needed is an ability to write an expedition well - the far greater range of attributes the MCS normally looks at would be ignored. Focus would return to Micras of the likes ofabkha and Ocia, to a far greater extent than at present, and the powerful Katyusha would gain a foothold. Instead of Shireroth quietly running the show, these military giants would bully the smaller nations and invoke a reign of terror that Micras has not seen since before the Mango-Camel Pact was signed. Few would forget Babkha´s plot regarding Shireroth the last time they turned their attention Micras-ward - without the GSO to distract them, who knows what they´d achieve? Many GSOSers already hold land on Micras, and with their easier claims and facade of "maturity", non GSOSers would soon be in a minority in the MCS, subject to the whims of Tomsett, Hesam and co.
And if dominance does occur, the mapping alternatives would grow less and less, and those who have built their life around the Micran map would find it slowly pulled from their grasp. Surely the deep feud which emerged over the collapse of MNN couldn´t be contained with true equality between those who want to copy Earth and those who wish the freedom to explore elsewhere. Instead, diversity would soon be lost across the whole Anglophone sector.
Lastly, why do people join either organisation? The GSO was always accepted as the more strict of the organisations, viciously imposing standards of `realism´ and restricting the autonomy and freedom to develop which the MCS became recognised for after the split. Once dominant on Micras, they would be able to bully new nations into conforming to their standards instead of leaving them free to develop, and the number of non-standard nations would plummet. Surely, we want to preserve the freedom of the MCS as an institution?
If we want true diversity and competitiveness in the hobby, we will opt for two separate maps, and not be pulled under the thumb of the GSOS´ `standards´. The GSOS´ current record clearly shows it is an organisation with half as many potential members as the original GSO, no access to new nations, rife with internal power struggles, and looking increail within a month. A merger would not only be disastrous in that it would preserve the GSOS´ dominating existence, it would also be disastrous for the harmony of the sector.
is still in favor of more maps, more planets, more strange atmospheres where seedling of Malarbor can grow.......