Still, it's kinda silly to assume we're moving in real-time. We're a forum game, we're of course much slower. lIt's like the world is moving at a normal speed, while we're stuck in slow-motion.
This.
I have to concur. The Metagame was one of the main reasons I couldn't keep up with the pace with the disparity between how fast we could post, debate, and vote on policy versus the amount of issues popping up. If these were simply news reports of ongoing events that didn't need to be dealt with immediately, then I would've preferred them to just not appear until they required some urgency so that the players could focus on whatever issues are currently at hand and not be bogged down by a torrent of other information.
The Victory Condition for Rutinde also required a good amount of Metagaming, so when I found out what it was and discussed possible methods to accomplish it with Squeegy, I pretty much capitulated victory from that point. I thought I could continue playing just for fun, but that didn't work out. I won't reveal what the victory condition was, in case someone comes in wanting to play as Rutinde, but take my statement as a forewarning.
As a long time GM, I understand the need to set rules and boundaries Squeegy. But then there's things like this:
I guar-an-tee you, 100% absolutely no doubt no way no how, that in real life a genocide, a hurricane, and an invasion have all taken place at the same time in different places. How disconnected are you guys from real world politics and news?
Patronizing and being rude is not going to convince players to stay in your game or join it. It's not good especially in a game which you stated required a set number of players to function, which is now suffering from players exiting and pace stagnation. You can claim Rule Zero, but as much as you retain that power, players have the power to leave when the game isn't delivering what they were promised.