569: Borders

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Borders
Eventually a UN is set up. And then a lone rebel runs down the line of flags in front of it, runs back to his base, and gets a kajillion points.
Title text: Eventually a UN is set up. And then a lone rebel runs down the line of flags in front of it, runs back to his base, and gets a kajillion points.

Explanation[edit]

Capture the flag (CTF) is a common way of playing games where the objective is to capture the opponent's flag while protecting your own team's flag. This comic describes a CTF server that Cueball joins for an online war game which has the basic plot premise that after the bloodshed of the overthrow of the kingdom's old order, and its signing of peace accords with the leader's of the narrator's realm, peace has become a reality, and not just a dream unendingly deferred. Therefore, no one is trying to capture the opponent's flag, which according to the storyline flies over the kingdom's embassy in the narrator's country, as to ensure peace, therefore making the game unexciting and pointless, as Cueball says in the last panel.

The name "Liate" may be a reference to the LIATE rule for integration by parts.

The title text refers to the line of flags in front of UN buildings, which includes the flag of almost every country internationally recognized. If such an organisation and therefore a collection of flags of all the teams were established on the server, which seems the logical conclusion of the goal of achieving peace, one could get a very high score by rebelling against their nation and quickly capturing all of the opposing flags, getting a kajillion points, which is slang for "an unspecified large number."

Transcript[edit]

[Two Cueball-like guys stand on a hill overlooking a great city. One of them points at the city. Between them and the city stands an embassy flying a red flag. The text is not spoken by either of the guys.]
Three years ago, the kingdom of Liate overthrew their old order and established a constitutional monarchy. Our leaders signed a treaty with their queen, and our borders were set by the Yarbis Accords.
Many said war would be unending, that peace would always be a dream deferred. But today, our flag flies proudly over our embassy in their kingdom, and they walk our lands without fear.
So come, traveller. Lay down your grudges and join us in brotherhood. It is time not to fight, but to live.
[Cueball sitting at computer.]
Cueball: This is the worst capture-the-flag server ever.


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Discussion

Unfortunately, yarbis is not a Turkish word. Its only relation with Turkish is as an acronym for "Yıldız ARastirmaci BIlgi Sistemi" which means "Yildiz Researcher Information System" in English. Yildiz is the name of a university in Turkey. -- 88.247.98.10 (talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

I don't think the last paragraph is correct. I think they're just random fantasy sounding names like one might find in many modern games. 108.162.221.28 07:33, 6 March 2014 (UTC)

While I don't think it's a reference to something Turkish, I doubt it's just a random fantasy name. --Alex (talk) 20:49, 25 June 2014 (UTC)

Are there actually any computer games that allow carrying multiple flags at once, enabling a player to get "a kajillion points" in one run? Usually CTF is played with only two teams anyway, but some games do offer multi-team setups. I'm not aware of any game that allows a player to carry more than one flag at once, though. --YMS (talk) 21:12, 12 January 2019 (UTC)

Isn't the scenery in the background Jerusalem? I noticed some landmarks like the Holy Sepluchre, the Hurva, the Church of the Redeemer and Dor Mition, as well as the building with the flag seems to be situated in place of the Dome of the Rock.

That's just one of the five skyboxes man 141.101.76.139 10:56, 5 October 2021 (UTC)

From what I've seen, 24-Hour ctf_2Fort lobbies end up forming microsocieties at some point or another. Nafedalbi (talk) 18:52, 15 April 2022 (UTC)Nafedalbi