You bring up valid points regarding the inconsistent naming of Chinese provinces. However, some of your other suggestions are impractical or contradictory. For example, under (25), you complain that the territory shouldn't be named Ghana because it's only the third largest country in the region, but under (29), you state that Ethiopia shouldn't be named Ethiopia even though it's the largest territory. Also, you claim that Taiwan should be recognized as independent from China, but you say that Israel shouldn't be. Lastly (aside from a few exceptions), you offer no suggestion as to what territories like Ethiopia, Venezuela, Sudan, etc. should be named instead. You have nothing to offer except criticism.
Then why is the US more accurately named? The map is interesting in how it reflects American biases and ignorance about the world.
That's not true, the USA portion of the map has many flaws. According to Medium Earth, Florida now owns Georgia, Missouri and Iowa border the Great Lakes, North Carolina is controlled by Tennessee, and Idaho is part of the Great Plains despite being mountainous. As an American, I'm rather tired of the constant bias that Americans are unsophisticated bumpkins who don't know anything about the world outside of the USA.
Anyway, I completely agree that Medium Earth has a lot of mistakes and should not be considered an accurate source of geographical information. However, does that really matter? Medium Earth was designed to be played, not studied, and some of the changes you suggest (making Iceland separate from Greenland, splitting up Italy and Venezuela) would be problematic for the players.
How Medium Earth Can Ruin Your Sense of Geography: 2014-06-20 21:12:48
In a larger sense, Medium Earth represents how Fizzer changes WL. People who know better say, "Kenya is in fact Tanzania." Fizzer ignores them and duplicates the mistake on all his maps and on each new updated version. People like his maps. But the names should be better.
Likewise, people who play a lot of games and become specialists, if you will, at making and understanding templates or understanding the dynamics of the ladder say, "I have identified this problem and I offer this idea as a solution." They are ignored in the same way. People continue to like WL. But it could easily be better.
Edited 6/20/2014 22:31:27
How Medium Earth Can Ruin Your Sense of Geography: 2014-06-20 21:26:55
This map is completely accurate. It's just all of you are making a terribly mistaken assumption. You think Grundie is from this universe and is talking about this Earth. Your feeble one universe bias has shown. Grundie is far more traveled than all of you, he simply doesn't limit himself to one Earth. He travels to many of them and this map represents one of them. Perhaps if you guys were a bit more traveled you wouldn't be so confined to just a poor knowledge of the alleged boundaries of one Earth, but would be familiar with some of the others as well. Props to Grundie for being more well traveled than all of us!
How Medium Earth Can Ruin Your Sense of Geography: 2014-06-20 22:09:48
I clicked on this thread and thought to myself, "Great, another droll Gui thread." I'm glad I was proven wrong. While you're bringing up valid points, why not counter them with a way to fix it?
How Medium Earth Can Ruin Your Sense of Geography: 2014-06-21 02:54:40
(1) Look at a map. (2) "Nobody is born a [historian/geographer/mapmaker/person able to do simple Google searchers to find names]. Read a book. That is how I became [one]." (3) Are there inclusive political borders that define all or a vast majority of the area? (4) Are there inclusive geographic borders/characteristics that define all or a vast majority of the area? (5) Are there inclusive regional or historical names that define all or a vast majority of the area? (6) Ask other players who know better, especially with respect to areas of the world they live in or understand. (7) If you make a mistake and somebody clearly explains why it is wrong, do a simple Google search to look into the matter.
What not to do:
(1) Are the countries fighting a war or have unsettled conflicts? Don't use one of the countries to name both. (2) Name an area after a region or country that is not even in the area. (3) Name an area based on a WL map you do not know to be accurately named. Some mapmakers are very meticulous about naming territories and try their best to use the best name possible. Others are not.
This is all implied in the original post.
Edited 6/21/2014 02:55:29
How Medium Earth Can Ruin Your Sense of Geography: 2014-06-24 22:01:03