NationDates Feedback

Kilminning Rock again, this time from a distance. Looming eerily in the haar.

Today, I was looking back through my blog's posts and discovered something I'd completely forgot to post way, way back. Before I was even at university. So, here it is - something all of you will no doubt find very interesting:

I present to you a select number of the complaints we got when we decided to convert NationStates into a dating site... (all nation names or true names have been removed to protect anonymity)

Just a complaint:
You people ruined Nationstates. This disgusts me this NationDates. This is supposed to be a game where you take over a nation and form a regional government and such and you guys go and change it into NationDates. This is dispicable and I am thinking about quitting the game.
I am totally disgusted and I will never create a new nation and I will never play Nationstates 2. I would of loved to play Nationstates 2 IF it comes out but I am not giving my money to you. Social Networking???!?! What is this Myspace now?? I have a Myspace and I am not using this gay "match yourself with your ideal nation" crap.
Go away.
A disgusted nation,
[nation name removed]

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I have a huge problem. WHAT IS THE DEAL WITH NADTION DATES? It makes it look like this is some sissy love test sight. Then the blurb- Even some nation leaders just want to MAKE OUT? Excuse me? I'm 12 years old. Plus it makes my nation look weak and pathetic. Either you repeal this monstrosity soon, or I will quit using this sight.

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I hate pink. i hate love. this game was intended for nations to be able to fight each other and see who is the top nation. now i feel that alot of people are going to stop playing the game. i say that we change it back to the way it was. plus it don't look god an male nations!!! no one asked us if we wanted to change it, they just changed it and that violates our rights.

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The change to the website is so stupid. The best word to describe it is super faggy. Everyone in my region hates the change and i guaruntee the we're no the only ones. I bet that soon, you'll have no-one left to play your game anymore. We want a political simulation, not some gay-ass dating site. They have better websites for that. I beg you, stop the madness, please?

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Is the pink "NationDates" theme an elaborate april fools joke or is it a permanent thing? Please make this go away, it hurts my eyes.

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Dear SalusaSecondus

NationDates!? I think I'm gonna puke! How much longer is this crap gonna be on my computer monitor? I wan't it off soon! This is going to deter new players, and I'm sure I won't want to come on again for the rest of February. Believe me, new nations will be rare if this keeps up. I hope this is just for valentines day, because if not, they'll be nations leaving by the minute! By the MINUTE!

Your pissed off friend,
[name removed]

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This Nation Dates thing sucks. I'm sorry but I hate it. You should change back to the original ammediately. I loved Nationstates, but a dating site, what is up with that. And not only that but what happens when somebodies wife/husband thinks their spouse is on a dating site? CHANGE IT, PLEASE!

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This one is a piece of art:

Dr Mr. Barry

First off I'd like to thank you for writing your book 'Jennifer Government', and producing the game 'Nation States'. I believe both are profound and quite interesting. However, due to recent circumstances, I feel a great need to email you today. This email is regarding your change to Nation States.

Based on my experience, and being a member of the NationStates game, I believe you have made a mistake by changing NS to 'NationDates'. This mistake I fear will have grave consequences. Since I appreciate this game so much, you might be able to see why I'm emailing you. To my understanding, you have made this drastic change due to the lack of income from the game. I must say that this change will only increase your income by a very little if any at all. There's a couple simple reasons for this. First being what you have changed it to. Gamers go to Nationstates.net to play a game that gives them a chance to make a nation, something that you can go around telling your friends about. But when the game also is a "dating service" type of site, right off you become embarrassed. I could just about guarantee you that you will lose a lot of customers by making this switch, just because of the pride that some of these people have. With loss of customers and new visits, revenue will decrease obviously. If your change has made income due to some sort of contract or what not, it can only be temporary, and I predict that you would probably have to make another change in the near future.

I have a few suggestions that can increase your income so as to allow you to revert back to the way you had it before. There are many ways to make income through the internet. Probably one of the easiest and helpful methods is using Google Adsense. It may seem tacky to have google ads on the bottom of your page, but the results are irresistable. When you see a google ad, that was payed for by an individual who must pay a certain amount every time that ad is clicked on. The way Google Adsense works, is you put a little "box" of Google ads anywhere on your page (normally the bottom or sides), and whenever someone clicks on the ads, you and Google split the income. You pay absolutely nothing to set it up and keep it up. The ads are also related to your site, so in your case it would have to do with government or current events or what not. Just visit this site: https://www.google.com/adsense/ And register, it's that easy. Since there's over 100,000 nations already, the potential income for NationStates is really not bad at all and could almost pay for everything right there.

Along with the Google Adsense you are going to want to advertise your site a little more. The only way anyone is going to find NationStates is through Izolt, typing in NationStates directly into a search engine, or word of mouth. Not exactly great exposure if you ask me. Capitalize on Press Release services such as i-newswire.com and PRweb.com. These sites can send out press releases that go to Search Engines and journalists across the globe, all for free. By doing this, it also increases your ranking on Google and other search engines because more keywords are used. I've used Press Releases quite often and they really do bring in lots of new visitors. One of my Forums I advertised recieved 13,000 hits in 2 days for example. You will also want to look at SEO (Search Engine Optimization) services. Most will cost money, but some are free and can greatly increase your exposure through search engines.

Having some of your staff members write articles at other Websites is an excellent idea as well. Some highly visited websites offer you the chance to write articles. By writing an article about NationStates or any of your novels will greatly increase your exposure.

Ok, so far I've talked about advertising a lot. All of that will help you get more clicks on the Google Adsense. However, there's another way to get a lot more money as well, and I believe is possible for NationStates. What I'm reffering to is Sponsorship. The size of Nationstates alone is probably enough to impress a business, but also the originality has got to count for something. I suggest having a representative or even yourself contact organizations and businesses dealing with the same topic as your site, and seeing if you can get a sponsorship worked out. A sponsorship would include just having them either pay for a banner to put on your site, or just recieving donations from that organization. You could possibly contact organizations such as the United Nations association of the United States of America (http://www.unausa.org/site/pp.asp?c=...PJpF&b=260414). Or if you want to go smaller, contact smaller organizations that deal with World Issues or government.

I definately think it is possible to make the income necessary to hold together NationStates and that switching to NationDates is futile and a big mistake that will have irreversable consequences. Please consider this email and look into it. I do really love Nationstates, and I want to see it grow, that's why I'm sending you this email today. Thanks for all the work you've done, and good luck with everything.

Sincerely,

[name removed]
United States of America

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Hope you all enjoyed that!

Issue #216 Is In The Game

This is a picture I took of a dog in Crail Harbour. I love the way light and dark contrast and interplay here to give us a picture of a dog.

The latest issue's a bit wordy but still, I think, a good 'un. Has five options too!

Plans And Schemes

Castle Walk, Crail. I once dreamt I was running down here and being chased by flying canoes. Seriously.

Plenty of interesting things have been happening in NationStates, but it occured to me, and not for the first time, that it's difficult to get all of it into one blog and especially from my own issues-fixated point of view. When was the last time I talked about passing trends in the roleplay forums? Or new invader groups making an impact on the world? A long time I'm sure. So, to tackle this, I have decided to announce a new segment to my blog entitled 'Sirocco's Interviews' where I discuss the various facets of NationStates gameplay and recent developments in its virtual world with players and moderators alike. So watch this space, and if you feel you ought to be interviewed, feel free to e-mail me.

If I choose not to interview you, please don't be offended.

I'm also planning on replacing NuMetal's thread on issue typos since he hasn't actually updated the thing in two years and may in fact have disappeared long ago. I'm not sure. So there will be a new, cleaner, and more meticulously controlled thread in which to point out all the mistakes I've made.

So what's been happening recently? Well, one player has made very long arguments as to why NationStates moderation is unsatisfactory. He raises interesting points, but be warned: his main strategem appears to be to bore his opponents to death.

In other news, I've arranged to get a two-bed flat with a Polish friend of mine and my bone marrow registry card arrived in the mail. I kinda hope I never have to use it, but that's not an option really is it?

And finally, here's an issue which was just too bizarre not to share:

Title: lesbian nation

Text: should zoe white queen of lesbians be allowed in anyone country

Validity: condons are useless for lesbians

Option 1: zoe white says i sould be allowed there is nothing wrong with lesbians

Option 2: Samantha Keating who is zoe whites lesbian partner says lesbians r good in bed

Option 3: nathan cheslin says lesbians are wrong they should not be allowed in peoples coutrys

Issue #215 Is In The Game

This is an edited version of a photo I took of Kilminning Rock (you can see the original in a previous article somewhere).

I quite like the new issue. It has a subtle reference to the Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy which is always a selling point.

My Month Long Adventure With Martin & Co

Electricitree.

I mentioned a few articles back that I'd be heading back up to Aberdeen for the rest of the summer but that is now not going to happen because we got royally screwed by the letting agents Martin & Co. To be fair, it wasn't completely their fault, but the bits that were my fault are excusable because I have red blood running through my veins and emotions. Our general inexperience with the whole renting a house thing may have contributed but what do you expect? We also had the most appaling bad luck. We've never done it before an- OK. Maybe I should start at the beginning... the beginning... the beginning... [insert wavy flashback effect here]

It all began about a month ago. There's four of us wanting to live somewhere, preferably together, so we look around and find a four-bed flat/house amalgamation which is excellent. We contact the letting agents and let them know we're interested.

The fun begins.

The first thing they want is a deposit of £300 each for the house and guarantors' forms so that if any of us should somehow become an outrageous gambling addict they'd still get their money. We were all fairly alright with this, we could do that. When do they want it? We looked through their papers where they casually remark that finding a guarantor, printing out the forms, sending it to our guarantors, getting them filled in, and then sending it back to Martin & Co should be done within "two days" or the place goes back on the market. We of course assumed it was some kind of terrible mistake because the Royal Mail delivers letters, it does not currently employ matter transmitters. After much frustration and blood and tears they agreed to give us four more days. Bloody fantastic.

I printed out the forms which seemed to go on for ever so to save ink I turn the quality down. It's no big deal. At least it wasn't at the time.

The forms arrived back home and with so little time left it was agreed that the best way to finish this would be to scan the signed forms on the computer and then e-mail them to the company. Ah, big sigh of relief. Not so. They soon reply that they can't read the forms and I remember all too late about the ink quality. So, the forms are posted to Martin & Co who accepted them. It was all looking pretty straightforward after that, soon we would be able to move in on the 2nd of July and all would be right with the world. Not so.

They give me another impossible deadline to procure guarantors' accounts. For the last three years. My dad was the guarantor and happens to be a self-employed gardener so it was going to be a bit tricky. In the end the only thing we could do was get my father's most consistent employer to send them a letter with the information they needed. So I got the letter and I posted it hoping they'd get it in time.

The very next day, and I am not joking, the Royal Mail goes on strike. What. The. Flightless hippo.

These delays pushed us to the 2nd of July, the day when we thought we could move in, for them to finally tell us that the accounts weren't "good enough". There's not really much to say after that is there? Part of me wonders whether they get a secret thrill from utterly shattering our hopes on the very day everything was supposed to be sorted. We now have to look for somewhere else except there IS nowhere else because we've been spending the last month breaking our backs trying to appease these nutters who treated us like the middle-class burgeoise looking for a second home instead of students trying to get somewhere affordable to live within walking distance of the university. It totally reeks of piss this. We've got four people looking at a two-bed flat now and even that looks shifty. And we won't all be able to live with each other either. Thanks very much Martin & Co. Thank you very bloody much.

So, as a result I'm going to be staying in Crail for the rest of the summer and try to supervise the acquisition of a new flat from afar, and try to arrange some employment for myself when I get back to the granite city. Which means I'll still be around which nicely segues us into NationStates things.

Given the popularity of 'What Kind Of NationStater Are You?' I will make a new and improved version soon which should be much more accurate. And cool. With go-fast stripes.

There will also be new issues soon, but that's pretty much a given. The only new news regarding them is that I'm hoping to make them even better over the next few months. Which tells you absolutely nothing but I don't want to give anything away. It might not even happen. So. Oh, and no-one seems to have been getting the last issue I put in which is, yes, an Easter Egg issue. I had a browse through the nation pages and only came across a handful who'd be eligible but I still believe people will work it out soon enough.

I'm planning to end the competition for a new Sirocco's Blog logo by the end of the week, so anyone with, to use the computery terminology, 1337 Photoshop skilz, and wants to enter should do so as soon as possible.

And finally, at the end of a long, long post... Gahd, I really wouldn't mention it unless I needed to so badly, but if there's any rich and generous (or even just generous - just rich won't help) benefactors out there, you can PayPal me using siroccothemod@gmail.com for which I will always be eternally grateful.

I'm going to miss the relative simplicity of first year university. Bye bye fair fresherdom, you were always there for me. Kinda.

What Kind Of NationStater Are You?

This is a photo I took of a candle. It makes a pretty neat desktop background.

Below is a link to a quiz I wrote:

What Kind Of NationStater Are You?

Any accusations of clumsiness regarding the accuracy and efficacy of this quiz will be adamantly refuted. Enjoy!

Issue #214 Is In The Game

This is a photo of the path leading to Crail Harbour.

The new issue is something quite special and I'm sure it won't be long before people figure out how to get it. It has a mammoth twelve options which is six more than the previous largest issue. Enjoy...

On a side note, I recently discovered the joys of PayPal. Anyone feeling like contributing to the payment of my rent is free to do so. My e-mail address is siroccothemod@gmail.com

Issue #213 Is In The Game

The Caiplie Caves.

I'm quite proud of the new issue. It's a political issue of the kind I haven't been able to find in quite a long time and I had good fun editing it.

I discovered an interesting compilation of homemade NationStates maps while browsing the internet and I think it's a splendid idea after you've removed the pop-ups. I've no idea how up-to-date the site is but it's still pretty neat.

I will soon be moving to my new home in Aberdeen which is fraught by multivaried and aggravating complications so you may not hear from me for a while. That's if the letting agents don't screw us in the ears and decide to put the place back on the market after demanding paperwork from us for nearly a month. But we'll see.

Image Competition

This is a photo I took inside the Caiplie Caves just outwith Crail.

But my photographs have nothing to do with the competition. What I'd like for this blog is a fancy image for the header instead of just 'Sirocco's Blog' in text as it is now. The image should be about the same size and should preferably incorporate a flightless hippo and the title but I'd be happy with anything sufficiently awesome. The best entry will be rewarded by a special mention in the blog and, if they want, perhaps have their name used in an issue for a disputant. You can enter your submission in this thread in the forums (though feel free to either e-mail it to me or leave a comment). Good luck!

In the same vein, here's a neat thread someone's started which invites everyone to post pictures of themselves. Great for those wanting to put faces to names!

Finally, I have added a selection of issues-related links to the sidebar.

Just A Photo

This is a photo I took of Crail Castle's turret.

I've been a bit busy recently but I'm hoping to put another issue in within the next few days.

Issue #212 Is In The Game

This is a photo of Kilminning Rock, outside Crail.

I do not feel there is anything more I can say that the title does not already convey.

Issue #211 Is In The Game

This is Crail's doocot.

As you will no doubt have gathered from the title, I have put another daily issue into NationStates. May it bring a ray of sunshine into the stilted, withering darkness of your lives.

Unadulterated Terror

The fear is all too evident.

More issues in the works. Here's an example of one that didn't make it:

Title: alien powers are invading

Description: freak aliens are attacking @ @nation@ @ and are asking for our supply of tolhouze cookies

Validity: not valid for nations without armed forces or cookies

Option 1: "I want to keep my cookies let go kill the aliens." says cookie enthusiast, Ora Ida, "send out our military, we're far more superior!!"
Effect: thousand of aliens are dead and there is no more ozone layer

Option 2: "cant we just be friends." says cookie hater donna donna, "we should learn from them."
Effect: thousands of cookies are gone and there is no more ozone layer

Option 3: "lets just give them our cookies we don't need them to stick around here anymore." says your antiwar grandma danna.
Effect: all cookies are gone no one has fun the economy plumets and the ozone layer is gone

Issue #210 Is In The Game

This is a photo I took of two sheep. Hebridean wild sheep to be more exact.

A new issue has been coded and entered into the game. Written on the seventh of March, 2006, coded on the 18th of June, 2007. It's a hard slog but someone's got to do it. There's another one in the works, but it's not by me. You'll find out who all in good time...

I'm also adding a permanent link to Safalra's website in my sidebar because it is very cool and compact, rich with interesting NationStates stuff. There's a list of founderless regions too which wasn't there last time I visited.

Max Barry At Google

Here's a video of Max Barry discussing his latest book Company and companies in general. I mentioned this in a previous post but back then I didn't know how to put the actual video on my blog. So here it is - enjoy.

Awkward Squad

This is a local band I'm vaguely affiliated with called the Awkward Squad. The song is called 'Yellow'.

Inclement Weather

My first day back home for the summer holidays was heralded by the worst lightning storms I can remember for a long time. Torrential rain, lightning bolts hitting the ground everywhere (one hit house - it was on the news), and the loud booms of thunder. One bolt landed right outside my house lighting up the whole room with whiteness. The noise was incredible. But it says Scottish summer all over it. My first day of the holidays was spent wading through icy water that had flooded the kitchen and hallway and trying to sweep it up whilst wearing nothing but my boxers. It's good to be back.

I've also got a bass guitar! I already play piano and guitar so it's cool to have something new to mess about with.

Now, anyway, I know no-one cares about what's going on in my personal life, so let's move on to NationStates things.

There's an interesting discussion about the maternity leave issue here. Well, I say discussion, but it's really a rant since everyone there has the same opinion. Interesting all the same.

There has been a lot of crying and moaning over issue repetition recently. So much that it has become, yes, really repetitive. I'm not sure what I can say to those who complain that hasn't already been said before. There are only so many issues in the game and sooner or later you're going to come across ones you've done before. As of now there are over two hundred issues, but way back in the day before issue submission was created there were only Max Barry's original thirty-one. New users may not be able to imagine this but it was a documented fact that if anyone should be asked whether they liked Harry Potter or not they would go insane, eat dustbins, and scream 'NOT AGAIN!' If you don't want to do the same issues again, just dismiss them.

I will put new issues into the game once I've found some worth doing. In the mean time, just hold tight and think of peaceful things like kittens and rainbows.

Modshort List

This is a photo of the ruins of an old fisherman's cottage on the West Braes outside Crail.

The Modshort series is at an end. Here is a list of them all:

Modshort #1 starring Katganistan
Modshort #2 starring TJ Hairball
Modshort #3 starring Cogitation
Modshort #4 starring SalusaSecondus
Modshort #5 starring Scolopendra
Modshort #6 starring Melkor Unchained
Modshort #7 starring Euroslavia
Modshort #8 starring GMC Military Arms
Modshort #9 starring Reploid Productions
Modshort #10 starring Sirocco
Modshort #11 starring The Most Glorious Hack
Modshort #12 starring Frisbeeteria
Modshort #13 starring Tsaraine

Summer Is Upon Us

This photograph of me conveys my manliness whilst betraying a fragility that is somewhat... beautiful.

Anyway. My last week living in university accommodation has arrived. I will soon have to pile all my belongings into a car and take it a hundred miles back to Fife only to have to bring it all the way back again when I move into my new residence on the second of July. During this month I'll devote some of my spare time to adding new issues to NationStates.

I was looking through the forums today when I happened across this thread by Hydesland about the first video games NSers have ever played. I'm fairly sure the first one I ever played was Alex Kidd in Miracle World for the Master System. Bloody hard game. I never got past the level with the thunderclouds... other games I recall playing are Phantasy Star (which I never completed either), Psychic World (nope), and Castle Of Illusion (I'm appalling at video games). That said, I decided to indulge in some nostalgia and skimmed my way through Youtube looking at these old games. Couldn't find anything for Psychic World which was a shame 'cos the big enemies were really cool. What I did find was this video for a game I'd never played called Psycho Fox. Watch this video but not while drinking. It made me snort Pepsi out of my nose.

I haven't been able to get Artpad to work for ages so I think I'll have to admit defeat and announce that there will be no more Modshorts in the series. I'll put up a list of them all with the links in my next post.

Home Sweet Home

I have recently secured myself a house to live in for the next year of my time at university with three others and am looking for a fourth. As you can imagine this is a serious drain on my finances and I am not a wealthy individual so from now on there will be adverts on the blog. Don't worry, they're very discreet and won't affect the integrity of the blog. I don't expect to get much revenue from them but I need as much as I can get if I'm going to be able to continue my studies.

Not much news in respect to NationStates right now. As you can imagine, I've been a little too busy to look through the issue list but another mod has been and may submit some of their own when they are ready. So, until then, you can watch this crazy little trailer someone's submitted to Youtube for a film about their NationStates country. I think it's great that NationStates can inspire such creativity. Kinda scary too.

More Issues On The Way

[violet] recently loaded up the latest batch of daily issue submissions so I'm pleased to announce that sometime in the near future we will have some new issues. Right now I'm in the midst of exams however so it won't be immediate.

The new issue batch runs from the 24th of February 2006 to the 23rd of May 2007. All issues submitted before then have either been deleted or coded into the game. The batch is made up of 2428 issues altogether so it'll take me a while to find the diamonds in the rough.

I hope to have more news soon.

The Wishing Well

Here's a photo I took of Crail's 'wishing well'. I edited it to make it more colourful.

Ardchoille

This photo is of some trees behind my flat.

We have a new forum moderator!

Ardchoille has been helpful around the forums for a fair while now so we're very pleased to announce that she'll be doing it in official capacity now. I wish her the best of luck.

In other news, I discovered another groovy XML feed stats site called NSDossier which is pretty useful for those deprived of their pie charts and bar graphs after the demises of NSTracker and NSEconomy (which is still up but does bugger all). The site was created by the members of the Texas region so kudos goes to them. This site completely passed under my radar until recently. I'd be very grateful if readers with interesting NationStates-inspired sites would e-mail me so I can mention them here.

I have exams to do starting on the 22nd and running up to the 28th. I'm confident I'll do well, but I'll be dropping English next year to take Music as my sole subject of study.

You Know You're An Old-Time NSer When...

This is a photo I took of the New King's Hall of Aberdeen University. I've become quite fond of the photo editor as you can tell.

I was browsing the forums today and noticed this thread:

You Know You're An Old-Time NSer When...

Pretty cool for any indulgent nostalgiacs out there.

TJ Hairball And Euroslavia Retire

It's a great shame, but two more have left the fold for the big wide world of things that may not have the slightest thing to do with NationStates. I wish them all the best in their lives which will presumably be all the richer now they're not having to clean up after the mess of some nutter with a computer hundreds of miles away.

Here's a link to the official retirement thread by [violet]: http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=525094

Meeting The Freethinkers

Last Saturday I had the good fortune to meet a NationStates player (The Freethinkers) for the first time. It was an unusual experience meeting someone who knew what NationStates is, let alone actually play it.

We arranged to meet at a pub called the Bobbin where we discussed NationStates, paintball, our uni subjects, being hit in the groin by paintball pellets, daily issues, concussion brought on by paintball, football, and Aberdeen University's paintball society. I did become aware of an underlying trend throughout the conversation but it was fascinating anyway.



Pictures:

Top: My edition of Company was sent to me by Max Barry.
Middle: The Freethinkers and myself.
Above: The Freethinkers
Below: I only just discovered this. I'm not sure exactly what it is but it's certainly, um... inspired.


Why does it have no legs?

Black Hole

This is a rather cool picture I took of a rip in the universe opening over Crail.

I have good news! The latest batch of issues, which went up to the 18th of February 2006, is complete! This means I'll have a lot of new issues to work through when the new one comes through. If you don't want to have to wait until I've got through that one to see yours, though, then I would submit my issue as soon as possible.

Back To Aberdeen

This is a photo I took of Crail, the village I lived in before I moved to Aberdeen to go to university. I hear it's been promoted to town recently though. That's pretty groovy.

I'm heading back to Aberdeen today as you may have guessed. It's been an enjoyable three weeks living it up in Fife but I can't wait to return to uni. I shan't be able to access IRC while I'm there so if you desperately need to speak to me, send me an e-mail. I'll be back in the summer.

NationStates-wise, I am glad to report that I've just finished the last batch of issues which stretched from October 2005 to February 2006. So you can imagine how big the next one's going to be if the admins choose not to divvy it into pieces. I'll have updates as soon as possible on this.

A UK NationStates meetup is being plotted in the General forum. Click here to have your say.

The WTF Files

This is a photo I took of my student halls of residence shortly after it was sent to Hell.

In a similar vein, I just discovered an old issue submission from 2003 that I kept because it was so strange. I might as well share it so... enjoy:

Should fish be allowed to walk backwards (or, klaw sdrawkcab)

The Issue: Dalevdor "boing boing ipswich dada yellow" Sali of the monster raving revolving surealist church, says " Hello how are you, doing anything yesterday. Duck!"

Validity: Take internaly twice a day on random thursdays

[option]"Are you mad? I am , driving insane by fish not looking where they are going. They should hop diagonally as everybody shade of purple knows" Says Cardinal Elvis
[effect]People called Norman grow by 2 feet
[stats]Politcal status becomes that of neighbour

[option]This is all very silly just ingore it and it will go away" says John smith
[effect]Country dissapears in a puff of logic
[stats]population drops to zero , enconomy crashes

[option]Agree to everything
[effect]Everyone lives happily ever after
[stats]Economy becomes irrelevant Polictal status becomes perfect

It never made the final cut.

Cat In A Basket

This is our third, oldest, and fattest cat. His name is Otis.

I noticed a site recently where people of similar interests arrange to meet up, so I of course joined the NationStates section. I've never met another NationStater and I don't really expect to anytime in the near future. Aberdeen isn't exactly a hub of the United Kingdom. Still, got to be optimistic. NationStaters over eighteen years of age can join this site to find others nearby. Check it out...

Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da

The photo is one I took of the University of Aberdeen where I study.

Not much happening NationStates-wise right now. I'll be heading back to Aberdeen next week to finish my first year so you'll maybe not hear from me for a while.

NationStates Monopoly

This is our kitten Malibu. And yes. Yes it is a crap name. No I did not choose it.

April Fool's Day went very well. Kudos goes to all the sceptics, and bemused disbelief goes to Kandarin who was so completely suckered he still has hideous weals all over his body. We DID log all regional moderator complaints. We're hoping to release them so that you can all share in its hilarity. The only thing I'm saying is that I never realised how many of our users were guilty of the heinous crime of being 'utterly ghey'.

There is also some rather interesting discussion of aspects of NationStates on a blog by TerraNova. You can read them here, here, and here.

But moving on swiftly I have got to say that I've not always been a big follower of Monopoly but God damn it if this is not every single kind and subspecies of awesome.

I bow down to the collective creativity and genius of Thel DRan, Gasponia, and Erastide for creating this absolutely amazing NS version of everyone's favourite game (that is, until it enters the third hour of playing and you can't feel your bottom anymore).

I'm very flattered that the flightless hippo adorns the 'Issues' cards and also chuffed that Lancre was deemed worthy for inclusion as a place on the board.

... I SO want a copy.

Regional Moderation

NationStates has hit version 1.10! We've introduced some new features to the game which should hopefully improve the quality of everyone's playing experience. What are these features? Well:

1. Specially selected region members will have the power to personally tag and warn problem nations without the need for moderator intervention. This means that the general management of the game is more under the control of the players. Not only that but it will ease the workload for the mods. These region members will be called Regional Moderators and will get a special badge on their nations.

2. Well, there is no '2', really, but all regional mods will be invited to join the secret IRC channel where we discuss moderation. No-one else can join though, so if you have anything you want us to hear about you should ask your local reg mod.

3. Well, there is no '3' either but how else would I mention that the kitten in the photo is Tiesto? We all call him Tio.

Easter Holidays

It's the Easter holidays, as you may well have gathered, which means I can spend some time helping the mods out with NationStates. Long story short, you can expect to see some new issues in the near future. That guy in the picture's me by the way. I'm considering posting more photos of Aberdeen so, yeah, watch this space if you're interested. Which I kinda doubt but there you go.

In other news, we're going to have some fairly cool improvements to region management in the near future, for all those people wanting to teach problematic region members a lesson.

Of Octopuses And Death

I am back in Aberdeen where life continues to continue in a most continuous fashion. I'm enjoying it here but there's not that much to say except that we wandered into one of the lecture thatres at night and I rigged up the projector so we could watch a film called Octopus on the big screen. It was awesome. Octopus is quite possibly one of the most awful films I have ever watched and it was quite simply hilarious to sit through. I would definitely recommend it to anyone who loves bad movies.

You may have noticed I changed my blog's format. I reckon this one's easier on the eyes. Enjoy!

NationStates-wise there are two things of interest: there is a new issue, and my nation Sirocco gave up the ghost just as its population reached eight billion. That's pretty cool I think. I s'pose I'll miss it. It was nearly going to be four years old, but ach well.

My access is going to be difficult right now. Much work and exams! Joy! See you in a bit.

Oh, and I'm nineteen now. It's fairly groovy.

Hello, 2007

Happy new year, everyone! Not much is going on NationStates-wise as far as I'm aware except that there's a new issue which raises the grand total to 201. I shall be nineteen years old in three days and heading back to Aberdeen on the sixth.

New issues are being processed.

Happy Holidays Everyone

I'll be off back home for Christmas from the 16th 'til about a week after New Year. I'll maybe say hello to those on the NationStates IRC channels since mIRC doesn't appear to work on the university's connections.

Tum te tum... that's all.

Murder On the NationStates Express

Modshort #13

A new Modshort! This time starring Tsaraine. Enjoy!

Also, while I'm typing away I might as well relate one side of a telephone conversation from my university life to illustrate why you should never let one of your flatmates get to said phone before you when you know your mother is about to call:

"Hello, this is the foot fetish line, would you like me to suck your feet or lick your toes?"

My mum thought she'd got the wrong number, bless her.

Resignation

After a long time considering things, I have decided it is time for me to retire from my post as moderator of NationStates, to stop playing altogether and let Sirocco go to the great region in the sky. It's been a wonderful three years, and I don't regret a bit of it, but the gaps that were filled by NationStates have now been filled by other things. I'd like to thank Max and the mods for all the things they've made possible for me during my time supporting the site. I'm satisfied that I've helped the game develop: I created code that allows nations to measure their unemployment rates and I helped get the site up to two hundred issues when there was once only thirty-one. I think that's pretty cool. Shame I can't put it on my CV.

I'll still be happy to help those wanting advice on writing issues, but I will no longer be helping with moderation requests. My e-mail address will remain the same.

It may be the end of my time as a NationStater but it needn't be the end of this blog. I think I might update it occasionally... write more Modshorts... whatever springs to mind.

Oh, and NationStates will be an incredible four years old on the twelfth of November. Just thought I'd mention that.

Ho Ho Ho

Haven't got anything to add really, but I just had to mention something funny:

One of my flatmates, and I swear to God this is true, once attended an educational centre called Newbie School. I AM NOT KIDDING. THAT IS EVEN HOW IT IS SPELLED. She doesn't quite understand why I find this unendingly hilarious, but there you go. I can think of some who might benefit from a little training there. Stop them from flinging their n00kz where they don't belong...

Life Continues

Hello! I'm still alive. Just been having a grand old time adjusting to life in the university. I can at least assure you all that I will be continuing as a NationStates mod but most likely I will only be dealing with issue editing from now on. Since I've moved to Aberdeen I feel different. Life's different. Things have changed, for the better I feel, but some things have gone. NationStates no longer holds such a strong interest for me anymore, and I don't have the time or, if I'm going to be frank, the inclination to carry out the full scope of modly duties. From now on, I will probably just be an issue editor and not a proper moderator. It's a break, but one that I feel is necessary. If this state of affairs can't continue then I will most likely retire, but I don't think that'll happen.

Anyway:

Aberdeen has been great. I've made loads of new friends, and I'm really enjoying my courses though I am having a few misgivings over my music course. I was the only one in the class to get all the lecturer's questions on music theory correct, and the only one to know that 3/8 time is a simple time signature and not a compound one. Not a good sign. I've obviously overestimated how difficult this was going to be, but ach well. There're grand pianos!

Funny story: I was watching a DVD with two girls in my room when my dad phoned. As I was talking to him, one of the girls said very loudly 'COME BACK TO BEEEEEEEED!' and the other said 'YES, COME BACK TO BOTH OF US!'

It took a wee bit of convincing to assure my dad I was being a hard-working and sensible student.

One of our cats, Pippin, died today from some kind of poison (or so we believe). It is very sad.

I don't have any news about NationStates in particular, but I have it on good authority that Jolt's been 'rather wonky' recently. I don't know what the problem is but hopefully it'll be solved soon.

An Absence

On Saturday I shall be moving to Aberdeen to start my four-year course at the university there. I don't know what internet access will be like there or if I'll be able to feasibly continue moderating. Unlikely, I hope, but there is a possibility that I may have to retire from modding if university life proves to be too full of things to do. I'll probably not be around very much at all over the next few weeks while I settle in and get to grips with this. Having lived in a village all my life I'm not sure what to expect living in a big city like Aberdeen (I know it's not really a big city but I'm drawing from experience). I hope to put some articles up so you can all tell how I'm getting on and any rich buggers reading this will feel moved enough by my plight to send me loadsa money. I've always been optimistic.

In NationStates news, I have to congratulate Katganistan and Frisbeeteria on their promotion to the positions of Senior Game Moderator which they would have got yonks ago if anyone had remembered I'm sure. The position doesn't carry any extra responsibility - it's simply a mark of respect for the hard work these two have done to keep NationStates running. Well done, Kat and Fris!

There's a poll running in the Moderation forum on whether to have a new MaxChat or not. Check it out and have your say.

Courtesy of Rhaomi, we have discovered a weird chat-room type thing called Gabbly that can be applied to any website. Most intriguing. Here's one for you to click for the blog:

http://gabbly.com/siroccothemod.blogspot.com/

Here's a Max Barry one as well for your convenience.

Why My Hair Is Greasy Today

Not much in the way of NationStates news right now, so I'll relate the tale of why today my hair is greasy (as you may have surmised from the title).

First things first, I have to explain to you all that I HATE WASPS. I really can't stand them. I hate the way they buzz around you for what seems like an ice age while you stand statue-still, not daring to breathe, lest the little bugger take this as an insult and sting you I've never been stung by a wasp, so who knows? I may be fatally allergic to the things, and I don't want to find out. I get recurring nightmares about wasps trying to crawl into my ears, and I have vivid dreams. Very vivid. It was only recently that I discovered people often don't hear or smell or taste anything in their dreams. Apparently some don't even dream in colour. But that's besides the point, because I HATE WASPS. I remember some lady once remarking how a body-building friend of hers who boxed and wasn't scared of anything ran away screaming like a little girl when wasps came near. Well guess what, lady, but you can't engage wasps in fisticuffs! Because they bloody well STING you! There's no winning against such creatures of unending malice.

Anyway, my story:

I was having a bath last night, ready for a nice relaxing soak, and perhaps another chapter of my novel. I was washing my hair (I have lots of hair. It's quite afro-esque.) when I noticed something crawling on the ceiling. It looked quite big but I was not unduly alarmed. I thought it was an earwig of some sort. But then I heard THAT BUZZING and saw another flying around. There were two wasps in the bathroom. My chances of having a quiet slumber in the tub were destroyed. I couldn't keep my eyes off them. Whenever one of them flew, I'd instinctively retreat further into the water. Possibly I was hoping they would not notice my vulnerable naked body and connive to sting me.

I then noticed another wasp on the curtain above me. Watching. Biding its time. THREE wasps. This was not good. I was getting understandably nervous by now. I'm not one of those who will cheerfully swat at wasps with a rolled up newspaper. I am not one of those who will with wanton good cheer and ludic gaiety tease a tiger or see how close I can stand to a rabid rottweiler on a chain. The only time in recent memory I have of killing a wasp was when I accidentally trod on one while bare-footed. Strangely enough, I didn't get stung, but that's not the point. Once again I have let me distract myself. Where was I? Ah yes.

I was, at this moment, contemplating my escape from this room of wasps when the most appallingly terrible thing happened - the wasp on the curtain fell into the bath with a little plop.

The world. Stopped.

I could not have rocketed out of that tub faster had the wasp been some kind of pirhana that survives by eating penises. I let out an almighty gurgling scream, the shampoo in my hair, quite forgotten, and splashed just about a half of the water onto the floor. When I was up, I noticed even MORE wasps were in the room. I shot out of the room, bollock-naked, tripped, and slammed face-first onto the landing.

And that's where my mum found me.

After that, memories are vague, but there was absolutely no chance I was going back into that iniquitious den of waspy terror so I think I slept the rest of the night as my hair slowly congealed into its present oily morass. My story complete, I shall now adjourn to finish my bath and clean my hair.

After a VERY thorough inspection.

Issue #200 Is In The Game

Yep, we finally made it. NationStates now has 200 issues. If I have to stop being a mod when I move to Aberdeen at least I can rest easy knowing I got NationStates to this level. It's been a while coming... I can still remember back in the day when we only had 31 to keep us busy.

I'd like to thank Scolopendra and GMC Military Arms who helped me craft some of the options in this issue, and I'm crediting them as co-editors of this one. An extra-special thanks to Sal who, despite being very busy, went out of his way to write some code and make this issue just that bit more special.

Enjoy!

Tactical Grace Retires

Tactical Grace became a mod just a few hours after I did so I like to think in a whimisical kind of way that we're like 'mod-brothers'. It's the end of an era, certainly, as TG has been quite resolute that this time he isn't coming back. Good luck, TG!

Here's [violet]'s announcement thread on the retirement.

In other news, we've got another Game Mod Olympics. Big applause to the efforts of Frisbeeteria, Katganistan, and Euroslavia! They do a hell of the share of the workload. I'd help, but everytime I check the tasklist it's empty. Damn you, workaholics!

There's a cool thread by Witchcliff in the United Nations forum to check out too.

Oh, and an ultra-cool NationStates webcomic by Toopoxia. It's about time we had one of these, although there aren't enough flightless hippos for my liking.

HotRodia

We have a new forum mod! HotRodia will do wonders, I'm sure. He was picked for his outstanding level-headedness and professionalism when provoked and his clear understanding of the forum rules.

Welcome aboard!

In other news:

The Siroc & Newsted Saga has started up again after a very lengthy hiatus. Our heroes are still where we left them - fleeing a cat monster in the region of Venus. Poor sods.

Just a note to all - the 200th issue may show up as being #201 but because of some faulty duplicated issues being taken out of circulation a while back it WILL be the game's big two-zero-zero.

Ciao!

Of Old And New

In a fit of pique I searched for myself on Google and discovered this ancient thread. Reading it now is like some kind of incredible ego-booster. I'd better watch out or my head might come off and float away. Looking at other things, it's still weird to have people I've never heard of talking about issues I've edited, articles I've posted in this blog (which I can't say I ever get any evidence of having a very wide following), and decisions I've made. Only interesting to me, of course, but it does give a small window into NationStates history. If anyone knows of interesting threads and RPs from long ago then e-mail me and I'll stick 'em up.

In other news, I've just about completed the game's two hundredth issue. I want to make it a bit special though, so I've talked to Sal, and he's going to speak to the boss, about introducing something... interesting to this particular one. I hope everyone likes it. I won't know whether the snazzy thing I'm adding will be approved until later though. Keep your eyes out.

The Spaghetti Incident

Modshort #12!

This short is based on a conversation held between the mods some time ago. Too cool to waste. Here it is, but I recommend watching the short first. Remember to watch it on fast. The lettering got buggered up for some reason but I'm sure you can live with that.

Katganistan: I'm explaining how to make spaghetti sauce in #nationstates_general
K: ;)
Sirocco: Oh dear.
S: This may be before your time, Kat, but we all remember...
S: THE SPAGHETTI INCIDENT.
K: Does this have to do with the flying spaghetti monster and his noodly appendages?
S: Yes.
K: Pray tell, I never got the full story.
Pythagosaurus: Pastafarian
S: One day the NS Generalites decided to make some spaghetti.
S: They all agreed that spaghetti be made.
S: Spaghetti, they considered, is a good thing.
S: But they could not agree HOW such a venture should be undertaken.
S: Should it be tomatoey or cheesy? Or a blend of both that is equal?
S: Should there be parmesan?
S: The debates raged for months, and many mods lost their lives trying to calm the stormy wrangling that issued forth from that most controversial of forums.
K: OMG NOES!
S: But then... one rogue Generalite went and made spaghetti all by himself. A dangerous thing to do. You will mind that this was before these modern ideas of 'too many cooks spoil the broth'.
S: It was disastrous.
S: The Generalite, Pastafarian, as Pythagosaurus reminded us, had created a monster.
S: It swooped down on all and sunder, strangling those in its path with its long noodlous strands of death.
K: Sounds like only one solution....
S: For a long time the forum was nothing but a dark red cave of tomato sauce, oregano and the lingering smell of parmesan which made everyone thoroughly ill.
K: eat it before it eats you!
S: That's exactly right!
S: The call went up and all Italian food aficionados were summoned to bring their forks and inauspiciously spartan white shirts.
K: hehehe
S: Many lost their lives, and the graves still cover a lot of the old General forum archives, but eventually the creature was destroyed.
K: MMMMmmmmm!
K: ;)
S: And so ended the tale of the Spaghetti Incident.
* Sirocco bows.
K: delicious.
K: :)

Issue #199 Is In The Game

A nice chunky five-optioner. Not really much else I want to say at this point. Enjoy!

Economic Legends Of NationStates

I was having a browse through the forums today when I came across this cool thread by the nation 'Knights of Zion' who decided to interview some of the nations who consistently best the UN rankings. Good read!

In other news, I've been pretty busy preparing for university so I haven't been able to do much, but the next new issue is very nearly completed.

NationStates On The Small Screen

Well... YouTube, anyway. That site where people upload their own home-made films and such for worldwide perusal, you know? I was just browsing it when I wondered what would happen if I searched for everyone's favourite browser-based game.

The results are scary, hilarious, bizarre, or just downright odd. Feel free to apply all labels liberally where you wish. Here's some examples:

Allanean Propaganda.
ACCEL recruitment video.
Recruitment ad for the Meritocratic Legions.
I'm not sure what this is...
Ad for the Empire of Great Britain and Ireland.
Alpha Omega recruitment video.

I then searched for Max Barry and got two results where we see him talking on one of his book tours.

He appears to be standing on the equator:

Max Barry Vid 1
Max Barry Vid 2

Results!

I got my school results a few days ago, the fruit of exhaustive studying for exams. Here they are:

Advanced Higher Music: A
Advanced Higher Maths: D
Higher Classical Studies: A
Higher Geography: B

Not bad, I reckon. Shame about the maths result. Half of me expected to do better, but the other two thirds knew I had no chance. I'll be going to Aberdeen, the granite city, in due time. If any Aberdonians are reading this do get in touch - it'd be cool to have some friends waiting for me there. It'd be my first time meeting other NationStaters too.

I'm working on a new issue. As of now it has five options. Should be pretty interesting.

Inbox Of Iniquity

I was reading Max's latest post today, and it got me thinking about the kind of stuff that plagues my inbox. Now I haven't written any books, but I have edited lots of issues and since a link to my nation is provided with each one, many people have happily sent me telegrams on a whole variety of subjects which can be summarised by these queries:

How do you become a moderator?
What is a moderator?
I have been playing for a long time and believe that I would be a good moderator... [etc.]

There are some other things occasionally though. Max Barry notes that he gets fawning e-mails and I get them too sometimes but the majority of those commenting on my issues would not really be happy with anything less than my immediate and brutal suicide.

It kinda makes me feel a little like a Max Barry in minature. He gets e-mails from people wanting to marry his characters and I get telegrams from people who want to murder mine for being so ill-informed/biased/disagreeing/etc. with their own point of view. I would, however, personally be rather suspicious of anyone who wanted to marry a NationStates issue disputant. Weird. But in many ways I'm not like Max. While he may welcome correspondence with an avuncular sense of gaiety I find it most tiresome. Especially when most of the questions I'm being asked could be resolved by a look over the FAQ. Of the others, and the numerous ones that just say 'hi' or 'wassup?' I despair. So many people wanting to correspond with me may at first seem quite gratifying but it makes my brain shrivel in fear and hide in some dank corner of my skull. Crouching behind the top of the spinal column it screeches 'please, no! I can't bear it! TOO MANY!'

Perhaps I'm exaggerating. But I'm building up with residual guilt from ignoring so many telegrams I just don't have time to answer. I'm always willing to help with writing issues and such, but my heart sinks when it sees something like 'You're the only moderator I know so I was wondering...'

Ach well. It appears even quasi-fame has its downfall.

Back From Greece

I have returned!

The place I went to wasn't Corfu as it turned out but another Greek island called Zakynthos, famous for its turtle nesting grounds.

My first impression of the place was that it was hot. Very hot. Incredibly hot, even. In Scotland, any temperatures above, I dunno, 16 degrees Celsius are thought of as warm, and anything above 20 as uncommonly hot. Temperatures in Greece were in the forties! I have never known such things. England and Belgium were bad enough, I thought, but it was nothing in comparison to Greece. Even at night-time it was as warm as any of Scotland's hottest days. I couldn't help but be very off-put by this. Just like the sinister way the weather never changed... I probably drank enough lemonade to destroy whole orchards. And the sweat! I've never really sweated except when exercising and eating curries, but here I was flowing like a spring just when walking up the street. I felt quite marinated by the end of the holiday.

But I'm back now and do hope to get right stuck into editing issues again as soon as possible.

Efharisto!

Gone To Greece

I'll be away for two weeks. I don't really expect to have internet access so I won't be around until August.

If any other NationStaters are visiting Corfu during this period and want to meet me, I sayeth to you: good luck!

Don't let NationStates die while I'm away.

Another United Nations Forum

Take a look here.

A fine place for all those interested in improving the NationStates world through vociferous debate and bouts of sulking. Just like in real politics.

Issue #198 Is In The Game

Haven't really got much to say that the title doesn't already convey. Enjoy!

The Due Process

Modshort #11

It's been a while since the last instalment, so I'm glad to announce this latest addition to the Modshort series: The Due Process. Remember to put it on 'fast'.

Issue #197 Is In The Game

Hooray! It's been a while since I've had the time to put a new issue into the game. I imagine some people will wonder about the title and my only explanation is that GMC Military Arms wanted me to use it as a reference to some bizarre film in the works. Distinctly odd.

In other news, this is my 200th blog article. Yeah.

Unemployment Rates

At last, the other UN ranking has cropped up - the world's highest unemployment rates. The feature I wrote so long ago was a way to measure your nation's unemployment rates and finally it has come to fruition. The only thing left to do is provide a note on the spotlight pages for day-to-day comparison. I think it's pretty neat. Many thanks to SalusaSecondus, Pythagosaurus and Max for their help in implementing this feature.

We've also passed another record - the mods have now read and resolved over 60000 tasks. Not a small number by any means.

New issues will be on the way soon.

Round Up

OK, I've not been able to post for a fair while because the computer got replaced and the internet connection was faulty. So what's been going on?

Well, for a start, one of our most beloved and eccentric moderators, Cogitation, has decided to step down to forum moderator due to other concerns that severely reduce his NationStates time.

My region, Lancre, has passed the 50-nation barrier. We're all pretty chuffed about that.

I won a trophy for a short story I wrote. It's really quite spiffy.

I can now continue to work on issue editing. It has seemed to me like the world is conspiring against me to delay my progress in this area. First the exams, then my computer... and now the World Cup is diminishing my spare time like anything! It's a shame, but I will try.

Slowly And Gloriously

Well... maybe not gloriously. But it is a brilliant Patrick Byrne album. My computer is progressing at a snail's pace right now and it takes just about an ice age for me to do anything with it so bear with me over the next few days (or, God forbid, week).

I was working on a very promising new issue recently until I accidentally deleted it. I'm going to get an admin to restore it for me as soon as possible. I am working on others, but I'm being very much discouraged by my computer's performance.

One of the new UN rankings appeared, hurrah! The Largest Public Transport Department was an obvious hole that needed filling. The other new UN ranking is linked to the new feature I wrote aeons ago. We're going to introduce an extension to the spotlight page to incorporate it as well, but that can wait. Keep your eyes peeled! The UN ranking could turn up any day.

It's a Demon Day today but I'm not bothered. Tsaraine, alas, is having his eternal soul tormented by kittens from the river Styx. Poor chap.

That's it for now. I might include a new Modshort for the next article.

The Return

I'm back! Exams are over! This means I can devote some of my spare time to editing issues instead of endlessly revising the cultivation of wet rice and geopolitical factors affecting commercial arable farming... so, yeah. I hope to get some good ones in soon.

Exams

I've been very busy revising for a bunch of exams I'm going to be sitting, so that's why you've heard so little from me recently. Expect to hear almost nothing until about June. My poor brain has got enough things to handle.

The Man Behind The Hippo

Yeah, I uncovered a picture of myself. You can have fun guessing which one is me here:

http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=480239

Still Kicking

That's right, I haven't succumbed to the Bird Flu or anything (the quarantine's been lifted by the way - not that I ever actually noticed one while it was there, but who cares?). I've just been incredibly busy with my studies. If anything interesting pops up I'll tell you, but until then: watch this space.

Oh, and the new Doctor Who series is great!

Two New UN Rankings - Take Two

You may remember way back that I had submitted two new UN rankings to the admins for inclusion in the game. Well, they've lain forgotten for quite a while now, but at last they're in. There's no saying when we'll see one of them (each UN ranking is selected randomly, you see), but be on the look out. One of them's based on a whole new feature I wrote into the game ages back. Maybe it will be expanded on later.

Sirocco Turns Three

Sirocco is three years old! The actual birthday date was yesterday, but I completely forgot. So... um... yeah. Yay me!

More Mod Olympics

The Mod Olympics

Hey hey! Gold medal for me! Congratulations to Fris, Kat, and Euro who all (especially Fris) need less spare time.

In other news, there's a lot of interesting threads to read about players' reactions to the new Influence system. Here's some of them:

http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=477177
http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=477314
http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=477401

Still a lot of questions about the Influence rankings, and I don't know how many times we can emphasise this but we're not going to tell you. We never said anything about the civil rights, economy, and political freedoms categories (and, having just looked at the list in the Gameplay forum, I can see the players have still got them a bit wrong) so why would we tell you about these ones? They'll be burrowed into the subconscious eventually I'm sure.

New Regional Power Labels Required

Regional Power labels indicate how powerful your region is compared to others in the world. Right now they are:

Extremely High
Very High
High
Moderate
Low
Backwater

Now, we want them to be more interesting. In our discussions we came up with many possibilities, but they all got vetoed apart from 'Backwater'.

What we want is for you (the players) to suggest some terms that we could use. There are a few criteria that the terms must meet. Backwater met all three.

Ideally each should imply that:

(a) they're referring to a geographic area
(b) they're describing its power/influence, not its size
(c) its members aren't necessarily allied

This is very difficult and we know we may never come up with anything satisfactory, but it's worth a shot. Any suggestions can be e-mailed to me using the link in the sidebar or by sending them to siroccothemod@gmail.com

Or you can just write them as comments! Good luck!

Under The Influence

First impressions of Influence seem to be pretty approving, though everyone was bewildered by the Influence rankings and it's been amusing to see how much they've got wrong about which way round they go. The sheer number of people comparing their ranking with others and boasting about it brings many analogies to mind. But they were wrong, because they were forgetting that your influence ranking only shows how powerful you are compared to others in your region. The regional power labels show how much power your region has compared to all the other regions in the world.

I've started a thread to discuss Regional Influence Rankings here.

But the most amusing thing of all I think was the consternation in the delgates of the feeder regions who believed that the End Had Come. The delegate of the Pacific (Blackadder Goes Forth) in particular went insane with nation-ejecting, believing that the peasants were coming for his head. I heard of paranoid meetings between the feeder delegates all saying "What are we going to do?!" I couldn't help but get a mental image of a clique of old and worried dictators all standing in a circle and wringing their hats. What was ironic about this was that given their circumstances they're probably the most powerful players in the whole game! I guess it only goes to show that those with power really do cling on to it more.

For all those who really do think the new system has sucked all the fun out of the invasion game, remember that there are still the six Warzone regions which follow the old rules. Warzone Sandbox is one of them.

NationStates v1.9: Regional Influence

Ladies and gentlemen, Influence is in the building. After a long, long wait we have grabbed our greatest grievances by the short and curlies and destroyed them utterly with one deft stroke. Region griefing, at least as we've known it previously, is no more. The strangely abstract concept of natives is finito. Ejecting to refound is no longer a crime but a remarkable achievement. And all because of that lovely nine-letter word... Influence. With a capital I. But what is it? Well, just see our explanatory page and you should get the lowdown, but what does it mean in the broad sense?

Well, now we have region crashing properly coded into the game which means no worrying about rules apart from the rather obvious one of only having one UN nation. When NS was first written by Max Barry he'd never suspected that people would gang up together and steal regions from others. He liked it, but obviously we had to make it fair or people would get discouraged from playing because of, for want of a better word, arseholes. So we ended up with a lot of complicated, precise and, sad to say it, makeshift rules to make things fair to all the players. It never really worked terribly well so something had to be done. And now it is. We now have Regional Influence, a co-operative creation between mods, admins, and players. This has actually got roots going as far as a year back and I'm thrilled that it's all finished now. It was exciting to be a part of, even if my contribution was rather small.

Your influence dictates just how powerful your nation is, and thus how easily it can be kicked from a region, or how many nations it can kick should it be delegate. Your influence grows depending on how long you've been in a region and on how many UN endorsements you have. Non-UN nations only have influence based on how long they've been in a region. It costs the UN delegate some of his/her influence to take particular actions like passwording the region or changing the world factbook entry. So, the more powerful your nation is, the more sway you have within a region.

The bit that I was involved in was the user interface - how should we tell nations what their influence level is? I helped create that, along with the regional power labels (which show how powerful a region is compared to the others).

Your influence label shows how much power you have in your region. So you may have the same label as someone in another region, but you might actually have less power (or more) than them. You'd have to look at the other nations in your region to compare yourself accurately.

The practical implications of this new system are I feel, to be explored by you, and not me. So go! Explore! Experiment! Have fun, and enjoy NationStates v1.9 - it's been a while coming.

They Should Have Asked Sirocco

Modshort #10

The latest episode of the Modshort series, starring everyone's favourite NationStates moderator. Enjoy!

It Approaches

So, what's the update on these big changes that are coming? Well, first of all I can tell you that the release date has become a little uncertain. It might be tomorrow (unlikely), it might be Monday, it might be later this week. Still some revision and fine-tuning to be done. Tests to be run, smoking chemistry sets examined, server hamsters fed, code tweaked... and, well, you know. All that jazz. However, the main aim of this whole enterprise remains unchanged: we want to breathe new life into the invasion/defence game whilst remaining fair to all players. We think we're very close to that, but it would be folly to say it's perfect. We want to minimise any possible problems, and hopefully fix them later. Not that these changes will just affect that aspect of NationStates though. It's going to affect regional politics, management, and interregional politics too. Hopefully for the better, but from what I've seen I can't see how it could be considered worse.

Now I KNOW that people will not like it when it come. If there's anything to be learnt from observing people it's that they hate change, or are at least continually surprised by it. Breathe easy! It may take some time to adjust but I can guarantee you'll all be trying to squeeze every last drop out of it by the end and having great fun formulating new tactics, new procedures, new ways of diplomacy... oh yes. It's going to be a hell of an adventure.

So don't get your knickers in a twist if nothing's happened by Monday - we're working on it!

In other news, Reppy's considering doing some more Bastard Moderator From Hell stories in the near future and I've decided to refer to regions with only one nation in them as 'hermitlands' because the alternative is such a mouthful.

And as a conclusion to this article I'm going to give you a tantalising wee glimpse into one of the many things we've been doing to bring this whole 'NationStates v1.9' thingy about. It won't help at all, but I'd be fascinated by your theories as to what it could mean.

Part of the changes that I've been mostly involved in required us to look up the old forum postcount titles. Intrigued? Good! Bye bye for now!

Issue #196 Is In The Game

Yep! I finally had some spare time do get a little editing done and this titillating wee gem is the result. I hope you enjoy it.

Oh, and we're expecting to implement the new changes to the site on either Sunday or Monday. There will be a news post and a thorough explanation of what the changes are and what they do.

Big Changes

I feel that NationStates is nearing towards the end of its status as v1.8; there have been so many big changes it would be impossible to list them here (I'm lazy, see), but they're going to pale in comparison to what we've got in the oven at the moment. Oh, yes. I'm under strict orders not to give too much away, but I can assure you that it will change regional politics and invasions forever. You'll be bound to find out more very soon - it's all finishing touches now.

Watch this space.

And I've had more than four thousand visitors to my blog over the last year. I'm very gratified, and I hope I can continue to be NationStates' primary news source. You look elsewhere - and this includes the NS News page - and you'll see them give up on regular updates fairly quickly. I'm a sticker and hope to be so for a long time yet.

In other news, bird flu got discovered in a swan a few miles from where I live. So if I mysteriously stop blogging be sure to go outside, locate the nearest flock of birds and shake your fist and them dramatically screaming 'WHY! WHY!' and sobbing hysterically. Alternately, you can e-mail me to ask why I'm not posting anything. It's your call.

New UN Proposal Categories

Anyway, the new UN proprosal categories were implemented about three weeks ago and I never heard about it (which really annoyed me when I discovered this). So, without further ado, let me introduce the two new UN proposal categories and their sub-categories:

This comprehensive explanation was written by Frisbeeteria:

Advancement of Industry

A resolution to develop industry around the world.

This is a wide-ranging pro-business Category that more accurately reflects the power of corporations in Jennifer Government. Don't know why Max didn't give us more like this when he created the game. Guess he's an old softy.

Area of Effect

First choice is Environmental Deregulation. Rather than devoting the whole proposal category to reverse the effects of "Environment', we've chosen a middle ground of 'all business'.

Second, Labor Deregulation. This one is going to benefit corporations at the expense of the worker. Surprise!

Third, Protective Tariffs. This opposes international 'Free Trade' by adding protectionism for national industry.

Fourth, Tort Reform. Removes legal barriers from anti-corporate litigation, reducing government interference in business. Guess who takes the hit when industry wins?


Education and Creativity

A resolution to promote funding and the development of education and the arts.

Area of Effect
Artistic is just what you'd expect - government funding for the Arts. No more trying to sneak it in under human rights.

Educational - finally something for all you "Free Education" lovers. Of course, nothing is truly free, as you'll quickly discover.

Cultural Heritage is another of those lovely amorphous categories that lets you do those wonderful meaningless things the RL UN loves so much. For a small fee, of course.

Free Press allows the ultimate expression of your new-found educational and creative rights. Be careful what you wish for, though ...

Zero Bug Fixed

Crisis over. All nations have been restored to their former (if maybe slightly diminished) glory by SalusaSecondus. Some nations may find they can't dismiss their first issue. If that happens, ask a mod to sort it out and we'll fix it.

Thanks, Sal!

Zero Bug

Ah, damn, NS has got the zero bug which deletes your nation if you try to log in. So, if for some reason you decided to look at my blog before going to NationStates, be warned: don't log in.

All those who HAVE got deleted nations will have them restored as soon as this whole ugly mess is sorted out by the unfortunately absent administrators. They'll be restored to when they were last saved on our back-up files so don't be alarmed by lower populations or issues becoming un-legislated.

I've sent e-mails to our admins, but until they get up, rub their eyes, and blink incomprehendingly at their computer monitors, all we can do is wait.

The Day After

We decided the whole NationDates thing just wouldn't work. NSers are obviously not ready for love. Ach well. I'll have a bunch of amusing complaints and comments we got from that very interesting day ready for your perusal in the near future.

In other news, I got my blood donor card yesterday which was great 'cos I've always been interested to see what my blood type is. I'm B+. This means that if anyone tells me to 'Be positive!' I can say 'How did you know?'

The winner of the thirteenth Lancre Cup was announced yesterday also. Determined Cows is our grand winner.

NationDates

As you will almost certainly have noticed, we've decided to change the game a bit. Frankly, NationStates was getting a bit expensive so we've incorporated the ideals of matching services for all those lonely for love. Right now it's just being tested, but soon we'll be charging for its use so enjoy it free while you can!

Here's what Sal said earlier:

In an effort to keep from going broke and needing to take down the game, we've decided to change the game to NationDates. It's the same game that you know and love, except now we're moving into social networking and hoping to help you meet someone that you know and love.

The data that we've collected from your issues and play style place us in a unique position to accurately match you up with a fellow player and not need to worry about political incompatibility. We are working on effective ways to monetize NationDates in the near future.

We hope that you like this new direction.

SalusaSecondus
NationDates, Chief Minister of Hookups

NationDates has worked well so far in our beta testing, perhaps even TOO well:

I met [violet] on NationDates and we've gotten together and have been bringing beautiful things to life ever since.

- SalusaSecondus

Anyway, using the unique NationDates formula (which is influenced by a survey you fill in), it appears that GNY Embassy is my true love... see you later!