Ok, I actually did take the time to read the log related to this. Here is my opinion.
I have not read the actual rules of the game, but these three lines are concerning to me:
Khufu tells you, 'And what if the game admin asks you to leave the empire alone for a while to let things cool down after you were harassing them?'
You tell Khufu, 'I did leave them alone.'
Khufu tells you, 'You literally declared war on them.'
This clearly indicates that Khufu believes that declaring war repeatedly is harassment. If the rules provide no restrictions on war as to how long between engagements must pass before war can be declared again, it seems interesting (as well as logically flawed) to me that an admin can say that declaring war on an empire repeatedly is harassment, or bullying, as is indicated here:
Khufu tells you, 'I forced you to end the war and shut off the unilateral war option because it's obviously a more immediate issue than I realized. I told you explicitly that I thought what you were doing is harassment and in violation of the rules.'
Again, if the rules do not place any restrictions on war, or do not state that repeatedly declaring war on another empire is harassment, then how can the admin then contend that doing something not laid out in rules is somehow breaking them? If the admin does not like that empires can declare war as much as they please, they can either clearly set time restriction and clear-cut boundaries within the rules, change the code so that those restrictions are put into place, or both. Personally, I see no reason to intervene simply because war has been declared upon another empire, even if it has been done repeatedly, as long as there are no restrictions set forth in the rules, and as long as any restrictions that were, indeed, set forth in the rules were not disobeyed. Any land acquisition that does not occur through purchase or trade of some kind occurs through war. This is just common sense, and if the admin was familiar with history at all, that fact should not be difficult to understand.
As for bullying, I am unable to agree with the admin's definition of the word "bullying, as indicated here:
Khufu tells you, 'What you keep telling me is this would have ended peacefully if they had capitulated to your bullying. You literally built on top of their roads and then demanded they give them to you? That's bullying.'
Usually, before war is declared, when there is a dispute over land that is most likely going to involve combat, the party attempting to acquire said land will begin to place troops, encroach on the land, etc. This does not rise to the level of "bullying" in my opinion; instead, this seems to be a common evolutionary step in this sort of conflict. Moreover, an offer of settlement was presented to the empire:
They could always just appease me by losing those roads. That is honestly the easiest way out for them now. Get rid of the roads in my capital boundaries, and I will not declare war on them again.'
The empire chose to refuse that offer, which they have every right to do. However, the other empire has the right to proceed accordingly. When negotiation fails, combat most likely will follow. Again, common sense, and I fail to see how that can be construed as bullying.
Bullying in my opinion would be if players were deliberately fighting newbies simply for the pleasure of destroying them, taking advantage of a lack of knowledge of game mechanics, threatening players with actions not permitted by rules, flaming other players, using racial slurs against other players, etc.
It is my opinion that if the admin of this game does not wish to allow conflict or combat, then he/she needs to remove it from the code, and the aim of the game needs to be modified and re-advertised as something other than PVP. It's that simple.
