WorldWarBot 2020

It’s completely free!

Origin[]

How it works[]

The bot's map sources are https://www.naturalearthdata.com/ and https://gadm.org/. Its inner workings was collated from WWB's website and this Facebook post as below:

A random territory (not sovereign country/province) is chosen
If the chosen territory is not controlled by its original owner, there's a chance for it to gain independence. The chance is 1/12, and gradually increases throughout the run to offset the stronger countries.
If independence doesn't happen, the owner of said territory finds the closest territory and all terriotries for which it is the closest. They include:
- A territory that has the closest centroid (average position of all the points in its figure) with the attacking party
- Any other territory that is in the top N closest centroids, where N = 4 - [number of bordering neighbors] and N≥1 always.
One of those territories is chosen at random, with equal chances, and is conquered right away. There's no battle.
It repeats the process until only one country remains

Not listed on the website is a "portal" feature, where countries are allowed a small chance to conquer a territory very far from its centroids and/or not bordering with the country's current border.

The bot posts every hour at the 15-minute mark. When a country successfully conquered over half of the available territories, the bot boosts its frequency to every 30 minutes.

The bot's features are commonly discussed amongst fans and botmin alike. New suggestions and improvements for the bot, or "bot ideas" are posted daily in the fan group WorldWarBot PortalPosting. Some ideas (such as territories regaining independence) were later materialized in the bot, while some other ideas (such as a war between all of the world's provinces and counties) was heavily ridiculed and dismissed.

First run[]

The first run of WorldWarBot started on March 4, 2019, at 17:27 UTC (January 2020 bot time), with the first move being Pakistan conquering Tajikistan. It ended on 5 April, 2019 at 11:15 UTC (November 2087 bot time), when Paraguay conquered Vietnam territory, previously occupied by Antarctica. Paraguay won the first round of WorldWarBot.

During the first round, the bot was affected by a bug in the centroid calculation system. This has led to countries conquering unexpectedly far away territories, starting with this famous moment where Bangladesh conquered Russia. Fans celebrated ecstatically, saying that Bangladesh had discovered portals. They also demanded botmin to keep this bugged version of the bot, in which he complied to (check comments).

Another epic moment is the rise of Antarctica - a territory that is not governed by any authority in real life. Antarctica entered the show by conquering Russia, also using portals. Memes about Antarctica surged in no time, and fictional characters such as Emperor Nootus was honored and loved by fans. A Facebook page called Holy Antarctic Empire - Ministry of Information was created, paving the way for other fictional country pages to rise. Antarctica had a great run by finishing second.

Paraguay, WWB's winner, contributed sufficient memes within the fanbase. Tereré - a Paraguayan tea - was a well-known inside joke, while Guaraní - Paraguay's local language - was meme'd with the then-famous Duolingo owl. As Paraguay's win becomes imminent, fans turned to hate the country as they are slowly killing penguins.

Lesotho, the third-place finisher, was also a subject of love and African pride. The landlocked country was sometimes referred to as Wakanda, and inside jokes of "blessing the rains down in Lesotho" and "selling N-word passes" was common. As a tribute, a fan in the PortalPosting group actually visited Lesotho when the first run ended.

The creation of short stories and other written texts, known as loreposting, was also initiated in this run. Pandu Wisaksono, a writer for short stories about the Brunei Sultanate, is credited as one of the earliest loreposters. Lores became the ultimate explanation to the events that the bot created, and was a critical staying point in the community of WWB fans. Since the start of the second round, loreposting became less recognized as people tend to prefer memes over the longer attention span humor contents.

The first run was also notable for its late game-joiners. French Southern and Antarctic lands (FSAL) sat and waited for around 5 decades before launching a surprise invasion on the Antarctic continent. [REDACTED], a landlocked country in West Africa whose name is hidden due to Facebook's totalitarian policing, was also neutral for around 5 decades before making its first move. "The Switzerland award" - a fictional recognition of countries that are inactive/neutral the longest - was coined from these events and used as an inside joke in the second run of the bot.

Second run[]

The second run of WorldWarBot started on 20 April, 2019, at 18:15 UTC (January 2020 bot time), with the first move being Pakistan conquering Tajikistan. It ended on 21 June, 2019, at 14:15 UTC (July 2141 bot time), when Spain conquered Samoa territory, previously occupied by Pitcairn Islands. Spain won the second round of WorldWarBot.

The second round was noted as being less exciting and arduously long for a matter of reasons. It is infested with newly created micronations and islands. Many of the conquerings therefore take place in territories that hold little to no relevance within the wider fanbase. As a result, Spain had an uneventful and lengthy end game. The micronations were somewhat justified, as Pitcairn Islands became the runner-up of this round. During this boring run, old fans somewhat pay less attention to the PortalPosting group, and new Spanish-speaking fans further dilutedTemplate:CN the group activities with their Castillan language and memes.

This run was the first to introduce the "regaining independence" feature. The first country to do so is Vietnam, rising up against Laos in September 2027. As the war comes to a close, rising up against invaders became a laughing stock, as countries just do so to "brag about finishing in the top places".

Nayib Bukele, President of El Salvador, supported his country in this run. He frequently commented on the bot's facebook images, and gained approval within the WWB circle for these interactions. Maybe due to his luck, El Salvador finished in a high place, and had the honor to be defeated in her home territory.

The second run was also notable in that the Magnificent Seven (7 runners in the first run - Paraguay, Antarctica, North Korea, Lesotho, Sweden, Syria, and New Caledonia) were all defeated in the early and mid game. [REDACTED] began its action early, and reached its peak by conquering a large part of West Africa before crumbling to defeat.

After the second run, botmin has not announced any intentions of when a next round of war will occur. Activity on the page and group has become stale.

Recognized spin-offs and fanpages[]

WorldWarBot 2020's main discussion board is its Discord server and the Facebook group WorldWarBot PortalPosting.

Spin-offs:[]

WorldWarBot 2020's official spin-offs[]

BotofThrones 2020: simulates a war between the factions in Games of Thrones
CivilWarBot 2020: simulates a war between the states of the USA
ItaliaGuerraBot 2020: simulates a war between the provinces of Italy
GuerraCivilBot 2020: simulates a war between the provinces of Spain

WorldWarBot 2020's unofficial spin-offs[]

Argentina War Bot 1810: simulates a war between Argentinian provinces.
Guerra Civil Brasileira Bot: simulates a war between Brazillian provinces.
Guerra Mundial Erechim 2020: simulates a war between the neighborhoods within Erechim, State of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
Guerra Mundial Porto Alegre 2020: simulates a war between the neighborhoods within Porto Alegre, State of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
Guerra Mundial Rio 2020: simulates a war between the neighborhoods within Rio de Janeiro, State of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Guerra Mundial São Paulo 2020: simulates a war between the neighborhoods within São Paulo, State of São Paulo, Brazil
Guerra Mundial Santa Maria 2020: simulates a war between the neighborhoods within Santa Maria, State of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.
Gran Buenos Aires War Bot 2001: simulates a war between suburbs in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
MyHouse WarBot 2020: simulates a war between the rooms of its botmin's house
Indonesia Civil War Bot 2030 : simulates a war between Indonesian provinces.
Neo Jakarta War Bot 2300: Rebellion: simulates a war between the districts of Jakarta, Indonesia
Philippine Ethnolinguistic Warbot 2020: simulates a war between the different languages, as well as foreign languages, in the territory of Phillipines.
Powiat War Bot 1999: simulates a war between Poland districts.
Yugoslaviaartilerrybot 1991: simulates a war to death between the countries of the old Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.