www.forum.nationstates.net - BETA!
Also, read the official announcement here: http://www.nationstates.net/page=news/2009/04/29/index.html#bravenewforum
It's still early days, so go easy on it. We're still figuring out how to get everything working properly.
30 April 2009
26 April 2009
Great News... Soon
NationStates readers: just skip to the bottom.
People who actually know me in real life: HOLY SHIT WHERE DID MY HAIR GO?! AND HOW WAS THIS PHOTO TAKEN IN THE FUTURE?!
The clock on the camera's wrong, OK? But I have a more serious question...
Is my head really that rectangular?
It's rather unsettling.
...
Aaaaaaaaanyway.
I completely forgot about it, but Sirocco (the nation) turned six years old on the 14th. Go me! But the really exciting news is that in the very near future there will be... exciting news.
We've got something in the works that we're all very pleased with and can't wait to expose to the NS public. But for now it's secret.
Ooh, the anticipation.
12 April 2009
Issue #234 Is In The Game
Attention all budding issue writers:
I am very close to finishing the most recent batch of issues. When I have completed this batch, I'll move on to the next one which will consist of all the issues written for the last year or so. If you have any issues you've been thinking about writing, I highly recommend you write them as soon as possible. If you submit it after I've moved on, you may have to wait another year before I see it.
Anyway, new issue.
Woo.
I am very close to finishing the most recent batch of issues. When I have completed this batch, I'll move on to the next one which will consist of all the issues written for the last year or so. If you have any issues you've been thinking about writing, I highly recommend you write them as soon as possible. If you submit it after I've moved on, you may have to wait another year before I see it.
Anyway, new issue.
Woo.
08 April 2009
07 April 2009
04 April 2009
All The Cool Kids Are Backing Up Their Threads
Before I get to the gamut of this post, I first need to say I'm sorry to report that the NationStates DS version was suddenly - and unexpectedly - cancelled the day following its announcement. We're all very disappointed by this of course, but one day maybe we'll at least be able to get involved in Top Trumps or something.
On to more pressing matters, however.
As you all should know by now, NationStates 1 is no longer affiliated with OMAC Industries but our forums are still hosted by Jolt which is owned by OMAC. This is all very good as it means Max doesn't have to pay for the costs of hosting such a large forum. There is, however, a slight possibility that at some point we will no longer have this forum for reasons related to the previous two sentences - Jolt could, at any time, delete our forums. All of it. We have absolutely no control over this.
This is obviously the last thing we want to happen, as the forums represent not only six and a half years or so of NationStates history, they contain a goldmine of user-created content from roleplays and other works of writing in the NS and II forums to the WA (and UN) debates over proposals and resolutions. Not to mention, some of the diamonds that occasionally surface in the coal pile of NSG. The forums are a very large part of what defines NationStates' personal character and believe me when I say we are working very hard towards minimising any risk of their loss.
However, we must be prepared for the worst, and if the worst does happen, we will work towards hosting our own forums. We have requested the forum data from Jolt (we are entitled to this data) but unfortunately these requests have, as of this post, been refused. I do not know why.
So what can we do? Nothing that we aren't already doing, believe me! I've prepared a little something for everyone fearing the future of their favourite threads: here's a step-by-step guide to backing them up so even if our boards go down in a ball of flames you'll have your own copy safely stashed on your computer.
How to back up a thread.
1. Find the thread you want to save. (All images can be made larger by clicking, by the way)
2. Check out the thread's URL:
See that number there? That's the unique ID of this thread. In this case it is 338362, yours will of course be different. Unless you really like my issue writing guide. If we replace the hash signs in the following URL: http://forums.jolt.co.uk/archive/index.php/t-######.html then we will be able to convert the thread into a format in which it can easily be saved.
Like so. Point your browser at this address.
3. You should now see something rather like this:
Excellent! I'm using Firefox, so this next step may differ a little depending on your browser. You need to go File and then click Save Page As... in the drop down menu.
4. You will be asked what type of file you want.
Pick this one, or nearest equivalent.
5. Finally, place your saved file wherever you wish. You now have a copy of the thread on your computer to cherish for all time.
That's that!
I'll not lie: I have been disappointed with the way things have worked out between us and Jolt/OMAC, but I retain optimism that all problems will be resolved in a way that suits everyone. The NationStates community is very precious to all of us who have invested so much time in making the site what it is today and we want to protect it as much as possible.
So, I'll end this post on a small suggestion that if you've got any friends with favourite threads. you help them back it up. They may thank you later.
Oh, and I've got two new issues under construction. Hoping to add at least one of them within the next few days.
On to more pressing matters, however.
As you all should know by now, NationStates 1 is no longer affiliated with OMAC Industries but our forums are still hosted by Jolt which is owned by OMAC. This is all very good as it means Max doesn't have to pay for the costs of hosting such a large forum. There is, however, a slight possibility that at some point we will no longer have this forum for reasons related to the previous two sentences - Jolt could, at any time, delete our forums. All of it. We have absolutely no control over this.
This is obviously the last thing we want to happen, as the forums represent not only six and a half years or so of NationStates history, they contain a goldmine of user-created content from roleplays and other works of writing in the NS and II forums to the WA (and UN) debates over proposals and resolutions. Not to mention, some of the diamonds that occasionally surface in the coal pile of NSG. The forums are a very large part of what defines NationStates' personal character and believe me when I say we are working very hard towards minimising any risk of their loss.
However, we must be prepared for the worst, and if the worst does happen, we will work towards hosting our own forums. We have requested the forum data from Jolt (we are entitled to this data) but unfortunately these requests have, as of this post, been refused. I do not know why.
So what can we do? Nothing that we aren't already doing, believe me! I've prepared a little something for everyone fearing the future of their favourite threads: here's a step-by-step guide to backing them up so even if our boards go down in a ball of flames you'll have your own copy safely stashed on your computer.
How to back up a thread.
1. Find the thread you want to save. (All images can be made larger by clicking, by the way)
2. Check out the thread's URL:
See that number there? That's the unique ID of this thread. In this case it is 338362, yours will of course be different. Unless you really like my issue writing guide. If we replace the hash signs in the following URL: http://forums.jolt.co.uk/archive/index.php/t-######.html then we will be able to convert the thread into a format in which it can easily be saved.
Like so. Point your browser at this address.
3. You should now see something rather like this:
Excellent! I'm using Firefox, so this next step may differ a little depending on your browser. You need to go File and then click Save Page As... in the drop down menu.
4. You will be asked what type of file you want.
Pick this one, or nearest equivalent.
5. Finally, place your saved file wherever you wish. You now have a copy of the thread on your computer to cherish for all time.
That's that!
I'll not lie: I have been disappointed with the way things have worked out between us and Jolt/OMAC, but I retain optimism that all problems will be resolved in a way that suits everyone. The NationStates community is very precious to all of us who have invested so much time in making the site what it is today and we want to protect it as much as possible.
So, I'll end this post on a small suggestion that if you've got any friends with favourite threads. you help them back it up. They may thank you later.
Oh, and I've got two new issues under construction. Hoping to add at least one of them within the next few days.
01 April 2009
NationStates On The DS!
This is something we've been working towards for a while, so we're very pleased to be able to announce it now. There's going to be all sorts of exclusive features such as quick-time segments for wars and trade, and the ablility to send handwritten telegrams using your stylus. Don't like your latest issue? Just shout 'DISMISS!' into the microphone!
Long term plans include customised NationStates NS cases for your DS and is specially designed to be compatible with the DSi so you can include photographs of yourself as the leader of your country or spiffy photographic flags. but until then check out www.nintendo.nationstates.net and be excited!
Long term plans include customised NationStates NS cases for your DS and is specially designed to be compatible with the DSi so you can include photographs of yourself as the leader of your country or spiffy photographic flags. but until then check out www.nintendo.nationstates.net and be excited!
27 March 2009
NationStates Needs YOU
The floodgates are open to suggestions for improvement to NationStates 1. With our newly acquired independence, we've turned our collective hive mind to adding new features to everyone's favourite nation simulator. Some of our ideas are quite ambitious! Everyone interested in throwing in ideas should visit the Technical forum and join the discussion. We've got some quite exciting developments that we've kept secret to be revealed soon.
In other news, the NS2 blog reports a favourable review of the game at www.bbgsite.com
The players have promptly visited the comments section and shat all over it. C'est la vie, I guess.
I've got an awful lot of work to sort out over the next three weeks, but I'm hoping to be able to put a new issue into NationStates at some point during that time. It's been something like six months since I last contributed. And that's a tad too long.
In other news, the NS2 blog reports a favourable review of the game at www.bbgsite.com
The players have promptly visited the comments section and shat all over it. C'est la vie, I guess.
I've got an awful lot of work to sort out over the next three weeks, but I'm hoping to be able to put a new issue into NationStates at some point during that time. It's been something like six months since I last contributed. And that's a tad too long.
14 March 2009
An Analysis Of NationStates Generations
An anthropologist has put NationStates under the magnifying glass in the Gameplay forum. Take a look.
Also, in the Jennifer Government forum is a thread about how Erastide took an edition of JG with her to various countries and got it signed by as many NSers as possible. I wish I'd had the chance. Ah well.
There's possibly going to be a UK NationStates meet, perhaps even two: one for the people of the north and another for the south. I strongly recommend everyone tout Edinburgh or somewhere even further north as the meet location, because I want to attend a meet for once, goddammit! Here's the thread.
Finally, did you know Max Barry has an Australian accent?!
Mind blown, guys. Like, totally.
Also, in the Jennifer Government forum is a thread about how Erastide took an edition of JG with her to various countries and got it signed by as many NSers as possible. I wish I'd had the chance. Ah well.
There's possibly going to be a UK NationStates meet, perhaps even two: one for the people of the north and another for the south. I strongly recommend everyone tout Edinburgh or somewhere even further north as the meet location, because I want to attend a meet for once, goddammit! Here's the thread.
Finally, did you know Max Barry has an Australian accent?!
Mind blown, guys. Like, totally.
26 February 2009
The Future Of NationStates
... Is looking pretty good, actually. Now that NationStates is on a new server, and NS2 is properly being looked after by OMAC, we can start developing the game a bit more again. I realise I've already linked to this thread in an earlier post, but things have got even more interesting since then. [violet] herself has chipped in a few words about what changes might be coming to NS so if you've got a suggestion, join the discussion!
Special kudos goes to Unibot for his/her interesting ideas. Regional issues make me go all gooey inside.
Also of note is the NationStates Trainers thread in International Incidents. If you're interested in roleplay but don't know where to begin, that's a damn good place to go to get some advice from our more experienced players! If you're reading this blog, you're probably not new to NS, though. Or your Google search has forsaken you. If this is the case I bid you good luck in your search for HOT LESBIAN PORN. Heh heh heh.
In other news, Jolt's taken the advertising on the forums up a notch to the point where the ads are actually within the posts. Many people have voiced their disapproval. Everyone who's upset by the new ads should realise that we don't have control over the forums, so if you wish to complain to Jolt, do so here: http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=584726
NationStates 2 now has war! It's been a long time waiting for this most-coveted feature, and it's now tentatively been introduced to worlds 34, 64 and 119. Here's the official announcement.
Initial feedback for the new feature has been quite scathing, but there's optimism too. Here's a few links to threads about it:
War is a disappointment
Gg OMAC
War
World 64 Laws of War (there's some amazing politics-building in here, I'm impressed)
There's a lot of interesting stuff in the forums, including transcripts of the war issues in the NS2 Got Issues? forum, but you may not want to have that spoiled for you.
Speaking of issues, I've resigned my post as an NS2 issue writer, mostly because I couldn't keep up with the deadlines due to university work - however, since NS2 now has a 'submit your own issues' feature, I'm a bit of a fifth wheel there anyway, so it all works out. And not that many of my submissions have ended up being used so it's not big loss. It does mean, however, that I will be editing issues for NS1 again, not as frequently as I'd like, but there will be new ones I promise.
To conclude this post, I'll finish on some rather promising news straight from the typing fingers of [violet]. I shan't spoil it, go see yourselves: http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showpost.php?p=14551293&postcount=47
Update: Max Barry has posted to the NationStates News page affirming NS1's independence of OMAC Industries.
Special kudos goes to Unibot for his/her interesting ideas. Regional issues make me go all gooey inside.
Also of note is the NationStates Trainers thread in International Incidents. If you're interested in roleplay but don't know where to begin, that's a damn good place to go to get some advice from our more experienced players! If you're reading this blog, you're probably not new to NS, though. Or your Google search has forsaken you. If this is the case I bid you good luck in your search for HOT LESBIAN PORN. Heh heh heh.
In other news, Jolt's taken the advertising on the forums up a notch to the point where the ads are actually within the posts. Many people have voiced their disapproval. Everyone who's upset by the new ads should realise that we don't have control over the forums, so if you wish to complain to Jolt, do so here: http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=584726
NationStates 2 now has war! It's been a long time waiting for this most-coveted feature, and it's now tentatively been introduced to worlds 34, 64 and 119. Here's the official announcement.
Initial feedback for the new feature has been quite scathing, but there's optimism too. Here's a few links to threads about it:
War is a disappointment
Gg OMAC
War
World 64 Laws of War (there's some amazing politics-building in here, I'm impressed)
There's a lot of interesting stuff in the forums, including transcripts of the war issues in the NS2 Got Issues? forum, but you may not want to have that spoiled for you.
Speaking of issues, I've resigned my post as an NS2 issue writer, mostly because I couldn't keep up with the deadlines due to university work - however, since NS2 now has a 'submit your own issues' feature, I'm a bit of a fifth wheel there anyway, so it all works out. And not that many of my submissions have ended up being used so it's not big loss. It does mean, however, that I will be editing issues for NS1 again, not as frequently as I'd like, but there will be new ones I promise.
To conclude this post, I'll finish on some rather promising news straight from the typing fingers of [violet]. I shan't spoil it, go see yourselves: http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showpost.php?p=14551293&postcount=47
Update: Max Barry has posted to the NationStates News page affirming NS1's independence of OMAC Industries.
18 February 2009
NationStates 1 Moves On To Pastures New
http://www.nationstates.net/page=news/2009/02/18/index.html#exodus
NationStates 1 is in the processes of being moved to a new server so nation restoration has been disabled temporarily while all the data is moved across. Not much more I can add to this! I'll just settle with paraphrasing.
Here's some an interesting link to keep you occupied until there's something more interesting to say:
NS World Adjustments: Feeders <-- An interesting thread by The Bruce discussing possible changes to the feeder regions to compensate for the dropping player numbers (nation numbers seem to have stabilised around 50000 or so for now).
NationStates 1 is in the processes of being moved to a new server so nation restoration has been disabled temporarily while all the data is moved across. Not much more I can add to this! I'll just settle with paraphrasing.
Here's some an interesting link to keep you occupied until there's something more interesting to say:
NS World Adjustments: Feeders <-- An interesting thread by The Bruce discussing possible changes to the feeder regions to compensate for the dropping player numbers (nation numbers seem to have stabilised around 50000 or so for now).
09 February 2009
NationStates 2 YouTube Competition
Yes, I'm still alive. Just suffering the consequences of a wisdom tooth giving up the battle against decay, and getting back on board the University Studies Express. The tooth in question is hidden right at the back of my mouth where no manner of head tilting in front of the mirror will let me look at it, but from feeling it I can tell that I only have half a tooth there, it smells unpleasant no matter how much I brush it (or try to brush it, it's almost inaccessible), and it is SORE. VERY, VERY SORE.
Trying to get an NHS dentist is also excessively difficult.
On with NationStates business:
NationStates 2 has launched a competition to advertise NationStates 2 on American TV. They seem quite fond of the idea, linking to the NS2 Youtube channel three times in one post.
I think it's a really good idea, though I'm yet to see any entries I particularly like. The premise is pretty simple: make a ninety-second video of you addressing your nation about whatever you like. Winner gets to become the focus of OMAC's NationStates 2 advertising campaign. I'm intrigued to see what creativity this will inspire as more entries get listed though I'm a little sceptical as to how people will be drawn in by an ad done this way.
Time will tell.
In other news, New South Hell has written a new essay, this time about how NationStates categorises ideologies: http://cityofulthar.wordpress.com/2009/01/31/deconstructing-the-ideocube/
Trying to get an NHS dentist is also excessively difficult.
On with NationStates business:
NationStates 2 has launched a competition to advertise NationStates 2 on American TV. They seem quite fond of the idea, linking to the NS2 Youtube channel three times in one post.
I think it's a really good idea, though I'm yet to see any entries I particularly like. The premise is pretty simple: make a ninety-second video of you addressing your nation about whatever you like. Winner gets to become the focus of OMAC's NationStates 2 advertising campaign. I'm intrigued to see what creativity this will inspire as more entries get listed though I'm a little sceptical as to how people will be drawn in by an ad done this way.
Time will tell.
In other news, New South Hell has written a new essay, this time about how NationStates categorises ideologies: http://cityofulthar.wordpress.com/2009/01/31/deconstructing-the-ideocube/
01 January 2009
Hello, 2009
Happy New Year, everyone! We're homing in on the end of the first decade of the new millennium. NationStates has been around for six-and-a-bit years now and long may it reign over its small corner of the internet. This blog has been around for nearly four years. Still going strong!
Moving on, I forgot to mention an important NationStates 2 update: players can now submit their own ideas for issues to OMAC and possibly get them included in the game! I am, thankfully, not an NS2 issue editor, so don't ask me if any of yours have been looked at.
Submit your NS2 issue here!
Moving on, I forgot to mention an important NationStates 2 update: players can now submit their own ideas for issues to OMAC and possibly get them included in the game! I am, thankfully, not an NS2 issue editor, so don't ask me if any of yours have been looked at.
Submit your NS2 issue here!
26 December 2008
NS Chronicles
One of our players has decided it's high time NationStates had an online newspaper and asked if I'd be willing to give an interview. I obliged, and you can read the full transcript over at www.nschronicles.com
There have been attempts at making a newspaper for NS in the past, but they've all failed. Mostly because most people couldn't be bothered, but also, I think, because of the enormity of the task. There's always something happening, and it'd be impossible to keep abreast of all of it. But I wish them the best of luck! It's always interesting to read what someone else has written about NationStates, and there's not much material out there.
I look forward to reading later editions!
There have been attempts at making a newspaper for NS in the past, but they've all failed. Mostly because most people couldn't be bothered, but also, I think, because of the enormity of the task. There's always something happening, and it'd be impossible to keep abreast of all of it. But I wish them the best of luck! It's always interesting to read what someone else has written about NationStates, and there's not much material out there.
I look forward to reading later editions!
19 December 2008
Gadzooks And Forsooth!
I logged on to NationStates today, and had a quick look at the world page to see this:
The world contains 56,973 nations in 8,203 regions.
I've never seen the world population be so low. The last time I looked it was around 70-80,000 nations. What could have happened? Are people finally getting bored of NS after five years? Could be, it's hard to say. NationStates has been fairly static for a while. Perhaps it would benefit from a fresh dynamic?
Google Trends indicates a definite decline.
What do you think would boost NationStates' popularity, gentle readers?
Oh, and Merry Christmas.
The world contains 56,973 nations in 8,203 regions.
I've never seen the world population be so low. The last time I looked it was around 70-80,000 nations. What could have happened? Are people finally getting bored of NS after five years? Could be, it's hard to say. NationStates has been fairly static for a while. Perhaps it would benefit from a fresh dynamic?
Google Trends indicates a definite decline.
What do you think would boost NationStates' popularity, gentle readers?
Oh, and Merry Christmas.
12 December 2008
Of Kryozerkia And NationStates 2 Updates
Kryozerkia is our new forum moderator! We've been needing some fresh blood for a while. I, for instance, don't do ANY moderation work at all now, being involved with writing new issues for NationStates 2 (some of which are up in edited form - I hope they're liked!) we're all sure she'll do a splendid job! We've actually sent offers to two users, but the other one hasn't checked their telegrams yet. Hurry up, user!
I've got a NS2 nation called Sirocco. Might as well mention it now.
Now, there's been a few things to note since I last posted, especially about NationStates 2, so let's take a quick look at that.
NationStates 2 has had more bugs than a tropical rainforest, so many that I'm not going to even try to discuss them in detail (or at all - I'm overworked and lazy) but slowly and surely they're being tackled and fixed.
I'm more interested in what NS2 has to offer than what's not been working though. A really good thread in the NS2 Technical forum should be good for all those wanting to see what other players want from NationStates 2. Take a looksy!
I'm most impressed with the new rankings system NS2 has. While it's not as epic as having your nation plastered on the front of NS1's world page, it's got enough information to keep stats-lovers in a heavenly paradise full of numbers and lists and stuff. You can see who's topping the boards for just about EVERYTHING.
One neat feature that might be possible to add to this would be to find out what list your nation was the highest/lowest in. Then, if you wanted, you could focus on that area.
I think the worlds list should be in numerical order too. Makes sense, you know? Also, either it doesn't work properly or I've misunderstood something. Sirocco has a cotton industry of 44 which should put me right at the top of world 3's list - but the list has me at 40... the same as about thirty other nations. Hmm.
The big news though is that the business-end of NS2 has devised a way of letting players get Ambassador status for free! How's that? With Offerpal, that's how! And what's Offerpal, exactly? Well, nowhere on Wikipedia for a start, but you can take a look by clicking Offerpal on this page. As far as I can tell, it's a system whereby some companies pay NS2 for every user that is 'passed on' to their sites and special offers. Users partaking in these offers earn Jennifers (NS2's special feature currency). Some of these offers are free, and others require you to spend money before getting the Jennifers. There's a lot of gambling sites which I'm quite leery of, and plenty of offers devised to grab your e-mail address, but all-in-all, it's not such a bad idea. Personally, I'd rather pay for Ambassaor status outright.
Well, that's me for now, read the Developer Updates for all the stuff I missed out.
I'm such a lazy blogger these days.
I've got a NS2 nation called Sirocco. Might as well mention it now.
Now, there's been a few things to note since I last posted, especially about NationStates 2, so let's take a quick look at that.
NationStates 2 has had more bugs than a tropical rainforest, so many that I'm not going to even try to discuss them in detail (or at all - I'm overworked and lazy) but slowly and surely they're being tackled and fixed.
I'm more interested in what NS2 has to offer than what's not been working though. A really good thread in the NS2 Technical forum should be good for all those wanting to see what other players want from NationStates 2. Take a looksy!
I'm most impressed with the new rankings system NS2 has. While it's not as epic as having your nation plastered on the front of NS1's world page, it's got enough information to keep stats-lovers in a heavenly paradise full of numbers and lists and stuff. You can see who's topping the boards for just about EVERYTHING.
One neat feature that might be possible to add to this would be to find out what list your nation was the highest/lowest in. Then, if you wanted, you could focus on that area.
I think the worlds list should be in numerical order too. Makes sense, you know? Also, either it doesn't work properly or I've misunderstood something. Sirocco has a cotton industry of 44 which should put me right at the top of world 3's list - but the list has me at 40... the same as about thirty other nations. Hmm.
The big news though is that the business-end of NS2 has devised a way of letting players get Ambassador status for free! How's that? With Offerpal, that's how! And what's Offerpal, exactly? Well, nowhere on Wikipedia for a start, but you can take a look by clicking Offerpal on this page. As far as I can tell, it's a system whereby some companies pay NS2 for every user that is 'passed on' to their sites and special offers. Users partaking in these offers earn Jennifers (NS2's special feature currency). Some of these offers are free, and others require you to spend money before getting the Jennifers. There's a lot of gambling sites which I'm quite leery of, and plenty of offers devised to grab your e-mail address, but all-in-all, it's not such a bad idea. Personally, I'd rather pay for Ambassaor status outright.
Well, that's me for now, read the Developer Updates for all the stuff I missed out.
I'm such a lazy blogger these days.
21 November 2008
NationStates 2 Reaches Open Beta
I'm several weeks late with this announcement I know, but I've been working hard on doing up some new issues for NationStates 2. Which I really need to get on with right now actually, so this post's going to be pretty brief. Check out the announcement in the NationStates 2 blog and, if you haven't already, create a nation in NationStates 2 and check it out yourself.
30 October 2008
Two Small Enhancements
A few months ago, I mentioned that New South Hell (whose name's probably going to be popping up more and more often on this blog) had suggested a whole bunch of descriptors to me that could go on the nation's spotlight page. Tired of being told for the thousandth time that your nation is remarkable for its compulsory vegetarianism? Or military conscription? Well now there's a whole bunch more to make things just that little bit more varied.
The second enhancement is one I devised myself. Right now NationStates 1 has nations upwards of ten billion, but have always been described as 'massive' since they hit the one billion population mark. I thought it was high time we changed these population size descriptors to be a bit more fitting, and more interesting for long-time players. The ranges have been redefined and some more have been added. I hope everyone approves!
Kudos goes to [violet] who implemented these features into the game for me.
In other news, the site's gone down a few times and there's been a bit of a glitch affecting issues, with horrendous error messages appearing where the issues should be. Don't worry, we'll have it fixed soon, so there's no need to beleaguer us with frantic cries of 'my nation's not working!'
The official thread for this problem is here.
The second enhancement is one I devised myself. Right now NationStates 1 has nations upwards of ten billion, but have always been described as 'massive' since they hit the one billion population mark. I thought it was high time we changed these population size descriptors to be a bit more fitting, and more interesting for long-time players. The ranges have been redefined and some more have been added. I hope everyone approves!
Kudos goes to [violet] who implemented these features into the game for me.
In other news, the site's gone down a few times and there's been a bit of a glitch affecting issues, with horrendous error messages appearing where the issues should be. Don't worry, we'll have it fixed soon, so there's no need to beleaguer us with frantic cries of 'my nation's not working!'
The official thread for this problem is here.
26 October 2008
Issue Repetition Analysis
New South Hell has written up an article for the blog about his studies of how often daily issues in NationStates 1 repeat. Interesting reading!
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I would like to thank Sirocco for allowing me to post this writeup in his blog. It is a study of the phenomenon of issue repetition in NationStates – how it behaves, what we can deduce about the implementation from that behavior, and ways in which this behavior could be made less annoying.
Every NationStates player who pays any attention to issues becomes aware that they repeat. It doesn’t matter that you’ve stated emphatically that you’ll be having none of that cannibalism in your nation, sooner or later, you’ll be asked again. Let me note right here at the start that this behavior is unavoidable, since players would be somewhat peeved if NationStates were to tell them “I have no new issues for you; try again tomorrow.” Nations can answer issues at the rate of two a day, so new ones would have to be created at a rate of more than two a day to keep from running out. And I don’t imagine we’re going to see that happening in a free game with volunteer staffing.
People regularly post complaints to the Forums about issue repetition, usually along the lines of “I told it not to ban Harry Potter, but it keeps bugging me about it anyway. Why won’t it ask me about something interesting?” Which leads to the question, is it really that bad? Does issue selection actually get into ruts, or is this just a delusion commonly affecting NationStates players.
To answer this question, you need data from a lot of NationStates nations. And, as it turns out, I am a lot of NationStates nations. To be more specific and slightly more accurate, I play almost 100 nations, and keep records of all the issues I’m asked and the choices I’ve made. (I hear a significant fraction of the audience gasping “Clearly, this is someone with no life!” Could be. But if I didn’t keep busy with NationStates, I’d probably be out spraypainting trains.) I didn’t take things this far when I first started playing NationStates – and I have complete records for only about 50 of my nations. The rest of this writeup is based on those 50. The longest-lived of those nations has responded to issues over 300 times, but 150 issues is more representative. The nations represent a wide variety of government types and issue-answering styles.
(For those interested, I wrote a program which I refer to as “my Python assistant” (MPA) for keeping these records. This makes the labor much less intensive than if I were forced to use manually-updated files or (gasp!) pencil and paper for the task.)
Based on data from these nations, I outline the national life-cycle as consisting of 4 stages. (There could be more of course. Maybe at issue 500 things become very different. I wouldn’t know because none of my nations has been around that long. But I’ve found no hints in forums, blogs, etc. of any such phenomenon.)
1. Stage 1 lasts for one issue. You are asked what kind of elections your nation has (issue 0). But for a short period, there was a bug in NationStates that caused other issues to be asked as the first. This turned out to be rather revealing. More on this below.
2. Stage 2 lasts until issue 20. You are asked issues from the set numbered from 0 to 30, the ones originally contributed by Max Barry. You may be asked issue 0 a second time, but otherwise there is no repetition. Occasionally, stage 2 may appear to last one or two issues longer. I believe in such cases that in fact Stage 3 has begun, but by chance issues from the original set are chosen a time or two more.
3. Stage 3 lasts a while, for at least 80 issues. I believe that no issue is absolutely excluded from this period, though there are a few which require a certain population, and which therefore would require you to go into vacation mode in order to grow enough to be asked them. (Also, I have never been asked an Easter egg, so I have no idea whether it is possible for them to turn up at this stage.) This stage ends when an issue other than issue 0 repeats (or, I believe, when issue 0 repeats for a second time, though I’ve never observed such a case). In my data, on the average, 133 issues have been asked before the first repeat. The lowest number of issues I have seen before this repeat is 108, the largest, 157.
4. After the first repeat, there will be more. Up to this point, except for issue 0, you have never been asked a duplicate. Now, all issues, including the one you answered yesterday, are possible. Sometimes, there will be a flood of repeats after the first one, and sometimes you will be asked mostly new issues for a while more, with the frequency of repeats gradually increasing.
As I noted above, there is an upper bound on the number of issues you can be asked. Further, many issues apply only to certain circumstances. You won’t be asked if you want to rescind the ban on computers if you haven’t banned computers. There are presently 232 issues. But the most any one of my nations has been asked is 164. And a different nation of comparable age has only been asked 125. I conjecture that 160 is about the maximum number of issues that apply to any one nation at a specific time. The nation with 164 issues is Eternal Repentance, a nation which answers issues using the strategy of changing its mind. This allows it to be, depending on its recent moods, asked democracy-only or dictatorship-only questions, which permits its total to surpass those of nations foolish enough to stick to one or the other. No matter how long I play Eternal Repentance, it still isn’t going to be asked everything. For instance, I know of a few issues which are only asked of certain extremist government types. Eternal Repentance is never going to have one of those governments, because they require one to persevere in answering a certain way (e.g., totally pro-capitalist), and Eternal Repentance will never betray its lack of principles in that fashion.
Can you be asked the same issue over and over again? Absolutely. My nation SQ (not its real name) was asked about eating its national animal three times in six days, two of the three times on consecutive days. So it does happen. But though this is annoying, is it surprising? To answer that question, it is helpful to have a model of what the implementation is doing. And so now I’m going to try to put together a fragmentary model from the evidence.
First of all, I have no doubts about the existence of Stages 1 and 2. They’re documented on the Forums. But why do I say there’s a difference between Stage 3 and Stage 4? An easier model would be this. After Stage 2 completes, NationStates selects an issue at random each turn. Because most issues have not been seen before, this means you get new issues for a while, but then, by chance, an old one is picked. This simpler hypothesis is ruled out by the evidence. If it were so, issues would repeat much sooner than issue 108 – because of a phenomenon known as the Birthday Paradox. (See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birthday_paradox for a mathematical description of the paradox.) If one assumes that all 232 issues are equally likely, there would be a 50 % probability of a repetition within 19 issues. If one assumes the more likely number of 160, the chances of repetition are even after only 16 issues. This clearly contradicts the data I’ve gathered.
My conclusion then is that the game goes out of its way, during Stage 3, to keep from asking an issue a second time (except for issue 0, which I’ll get to before the end). Now, an interesting thing I’ve observed is that periodically someone will ask on the Forums for a feature that depends on the game remembering what you’ve been asked, in what order, and how you answered it. The official response to this is always the same: it would take too much storage, given that there are 75,000 nations to consider. I don’t doubt that this answer is true, but it tends to obscure the fact that the game must be keeping track of what issues have been asked, up to a certain point, and that point must allow for retention of at least 140 issues or so, to fit my data. It turns out, however, that to keep track for all 232 issues of whether they’ve been asked requires only 232 bits, which is 29 bytes. This is not a lot of storage, even if it does become over 2 megabytes when multiplied by 75,000 nations.
So now here is a revised model for the NationStates implementation. It keeps track of whether or not each issue has been asked. After 100 or so distinct issues have been asked, it starts to allow issues to repeat. A developer comment on the NS2 Forums suggests that in NS1 the odds may be deliberately enhanced for unseen issues as opposed to repeats, and there is some anecdotal evidence suggesting this, but without more detailed knowledge of what issues are allowed when, it is impossible for me to test. So I don’t try to model exactly how the game decides when to repeat its first issue. Perhaps it occurs when the number of unseen applicable issues drops below a certain threshold. At any rate, once repeats are allowed, they come to dominate – and once they have started, no consideration is given to whether an issue has been asked recently before asking it again.
Now let me go back to the question of issue 0. As I noted, there was a period where, for some reason, your first issue might have been something else. One of my nations got issue 222 (terrorist attack) as its first. This nation observed that issue 0 did not repeat early on, but issue 222 did. In other words, the issue that can repeat early is the first issue, and the phenomenon has nothing to do with issue 0 specifically. I have a model for this too. The first issue is special. It is queued up at nation creation, not, as with all other issues, added during the game’s twice-daily cycle through the NationStates world. I hypothesize that, by design or by accident, this issue is queued in a way that causes it not to be recorded as having been asked. Thus, it would remain to the game as an unseen issue, one which can be asked again despite all the effort to prevent such a thing. This is a testable hypothesis – it leads me to predict that issue 0 will never repeat twice in the first 100 issues. If anyone sees that, or has seen it, then I am wrong.
I am going to end this post with a discussion of the effects of issue repetition, and an idea or two for ameliorating them. For all that it is understandable, issue repetition is just plain annoying. I have seen Sirocco himself express frustration at the repetition of daily rankings, which occurs for the same reason as issue repetition. We’d all rather answer something we haven’t seen in a while than be stuck in a rut saying “No, I already told you, no Inquisition, and that’s final!” There are hints that even the maintainers of the code are somewhat aware of this. When I’ve been too busy to play and let issues back up for a nation, I’ve never seen the same issue twice in the pending list. Maybe someone else has but, if not, it means that someone put in a check to prevent it. Similarly, if you answer the same issue in the same way very soon after a previous time, only one of the answers shows up in the prose national summary, leading me to believe again that someone put in a check for this which skips over the duplicate. (It does show up twice in the regional history however.)
There is another more serious effect of issue repetition on the game, however. It produces more extreme, one-sided nations. For instance, the easiest way to show up very high on the “Nudest Nations” ranking is to be lucky enough to be asked the “right to dangle” question repeatedly, and to always respond with option 2, making nudity mandatory. This is how “Penultimate Option” (not my nation this time) got to be tenth most nude in the world. It’s not hard work and perseverance that pay off, it’s being asked the right question the right number of times! If you take NationStates seriously (or want to take it seriously) as a nation simulator, then you want the growth and development of your nation to be organic and gradual, rather than a byproduct of the sequence in which issues happen to be presented. I note that complete sequence dependence is unavoidable, due to questions with abrupt and discontinuous consequences, like switching from democracy to dictatorship or cutting off military funding. Still, I think that the unconstrained issue repetition in NationStates is a real blemish, as it interferes with your ability to set your nation’s course.
Of course, unlike most players, I have my Python assistant. I use it to help me navigate through repeated issues. It lets me know when an issue is a repeat and, under two sets of circumstances, it advises me to dismiss (and I almost always take its advice). First, it advises me to dismiss if an issue is repeated within ten turns of my previously answering (not dismissing) it. In this case, the repetition will show up in the nation’s event log unless I dismiss. This seems to me a bad thing. If issues are going to repeat, they should at least have the decency to do so out of sight. Secondly, it advises me to dismiss if the issue has been seen (dismissed or not) within the last 60 turns. The number 60 is half of 120, which I believed at the time I wrote that part of the code to be the lower bound on the point at which repetitions start. The intent was that I could divide issue space into two halves, the recent half and the distant half, and respond only to issues from the distant half. I admit that I have a few nations which I want to become extreme, and for those, I only dismiss for the first criterion (repeat within 10 turns).
Naturally, my assistant keeps records of all this as well. And it tells me that, on the average, 4 % of the issues asked in Stage 4 are 10-turn repeats. That’s pretty much what you’d expect if the process is really random. On the other hand, on the average 26 % of all issues are 60-turn repeats, and for some individual nations, this rises as high as 52 %. So, thanks to my assistant, I end up dismissing between a quarter and a half of the issues that are asked me, simply on the basis that they’ve been asked again too soon. But my reward is that my nations grow more naturally, even though their growth is slowed by the dismissals.
I feel strongly that NationStates ought to be changed to eliminate 10-turn repeats. This would take 10 bytes of storage per nation (or 20 to be ready for issues with numbers greater than 255). This cleans up the national history, and makes repetition invisible to players with short memories.
I feel that going further and establishing a longer limit on repeats would also be a good thing, simply because of the resulting improvement of the simulation. Let me sketch an implementation – assuming I’m right about the use of a 30-byte bit map for the record of what issues have been asked, this implementation gets by with adding only one more bit per issue, for 60 bytes rather than 30. The values 0 to 3 can be encoded in 2 bits. The idea is that you have three periods, distant (1), recent (2) and current (3), and that 0 continues to mark a never-asked issue. (This would be needed if the odds of selection are to be different for a never-asked issue.) Every 30 issues, you change all the 2 issues to 1 and all the 3 issues to 2. Every time you select, you select from 1s and 0s, and upon selection, mark it with 3. This ends up doing what my assistant does – it keeps issues from being asked again for between 30 and 60 turns, 2 weeks to a month at two issues a day. You could use some number other than 30. I just picked 30 so that you wouldn’t run out of new issues before you’d gone through 3 periods. Note that if the game doesn’t actually need to know whether an issue has ever been asked, you could use 0 for a period also, and increase the guaranteed time between repeats up to 50 or so.
I respectfully ask the keepers of the game code to consider this idea.
Finally, I’d like to close with a bit of advice for a certain class of players. The people who really get into issues often set up nations or regions of nations whose goal is to eventually be asked every issue, and to give every response. For instance, several players (and I am among them) have set up nations which choose option 1, 2 (and so on) of each issue they are presented. Because of the fact that some issues have specific prerequisites, some of them are essentially impossible to get in this way. For instance, as I recall, no issue has a second response which makes your nation a dictatorship, and so no “2nd option” nation which starts as a democracy will ever receive a dictatorship-only issue. There are two lessons to draw from this. First, if you want to be asked everything, your nation has to change. Your best shot is a nation that switches back and forth from democracy to dictatorship, from socialist to capitalist, from libertarian to oppressive, and from frugal to spendthrift. And issue repetition helps you with that. As like as not, even with this advice, the goal of achieving the complete issue experience is out-of-reach, but a strategy of perpetual change is certainly a more interesting way to fail than one of single-mindedness. And thus, if you’re a fanatical issue devotees like me, issue repetition is your friend. In the final analysis, it’s a feature, not a bug.
-New South Hell-
---
If there are images in this attachment, they will not be displayed. Download the original attachment
I would like to thank Sirocco for allowing me to post this writeup in his blog. It is a study of the phenomenon of issue repetition in NationStates – how it behaves, what we can deduce about the implementation from that behavior, and ways in which this behavior could be made less annoying.
Every NationStates player who pays any attention to issues becomes aware that they repeat. It doesn’t matter that you’ve stated emphatically that you’ll be having none of that cannibalism in your nation, sooner or later, you’ll be asked again. Let me note right here at the start that this behavior is unavoidable, since players would be somewhat peeved if NationStates were to tell them “I have no new issues for you; try again tomorrow.” Nations can answer issues at the rate of two a day, so new ones would have to be created at a rate of more than two a day to keep from running out. And I don’t imagine we’re going to see that happening in a free game with volunteer staffing.
People regularly post complaints to the Forums about issue repetition, usually along the lines of “I told it not to ban Harry Potter, but it keeps bugging me about it anyway. Why won’t it ask me about something interesting?” Which leads to the question, is it really that bad? Does issue selection actually get into ruts, or is this just a delusion commonly affecting NationStates players.
To answer this question, you need data from a lot of NationStates nations. And, as it turns out, I am a lot of NationStates nations. To be more specific and slightly more accurate, I play almost 100 nations, and keep records of all the issues I’m asked and the choices I’ve made. (I hear a significant fraction of the audience gasping “Clearly, this is someone with no life!” Could be. But if I didn’t keep busy with NationStates, I’d probably be out spraypainting trains.) I didn’t take things this far when I first started playing NationStates – and I have complete records for only about 50 of my nations. The rest of this writeup is based on those 50. The longest-lived of those nations has responded to issues over 300 times, but 150 issues is more representative. The nations represent a wide variety of government types and issue-answering styles.
(For those interested, I wrote a program which I refer to as “my Python assistant” (MPA) for keeping these records. This makes the labor much less intensive than if I were forced to use manually-updated files or (gasp!) pencil and paper for the task.)
Based on data from these nations, I outline the national life-cycle as consisting of 4 stages. (There could be more of course. Maybe at issue 500 things become very different. I wouldn’t know because none of my nations has been around that long. But I’ve found no hints in forums, blogs, etc. of any such phenomenon.)
1. Stage 1 lasts for one issue. You are asked what kind of elections your nation has (issue 0). But for a short period, there was a bug in NationStates that caused other issues to be asked as the first. This turned out to be rather revealing. More on this below.
2. Stage 2 lasts until issue 20. You are asked issues from the set numbered from 0 to 30, the ones originally contributed by Max Barry. You may be asked issue 0 a second time, but otherwise there is no repetition. Occasionally, stage 2 may appear to last one or two issues longer. I believe in such cases that in fact Stage 3 has begun, but by chance issues from the original set are chosen a time or two more.
3. Stage 3 lasts a while, for at least 80 issues. I believe that no issue is absolutely excluded from this period, though there are a few which require a certain population, and which therefore would require you to go into vacation mode in order to grow enough to be asked them. (Also, I have never been asked an Easter egg, so I have no idea whether it is possible for them to turn up at this stage.) This stage ends when an issue other than issue 0 repeats (or, I believe, when issue 0 repeats for a second time, though I’ve never observed such a case). In my data, on the average, 133 issues have been asked before the first repeat. The lowest number of issues I have seen before this repeat is 108, the largest, 157.
4. After the first repeat, there will be more. Up to this point, except for issue 0, you have never been asked a duplicate. Now, all issues, including the one you answered yesterday, are possible. Sometimes, there will be a flood of repeats after the first one, and sometimes you will be asked mostly new issues for a while more, with the frequency of repeats gradually increasing.
As I noted above, there is an upper bound on the number of issues you can be asked. Further, many issues apply only to certain circumstances. You won’t be asked if you want to rescind the ban on computers if you haven’t banned computers. There are presently 232 issues. But the most any one of my nations has been asked is 164. And a different nation of comparable age has only been asked 125. I conjecture that 160 is about the maximum number of issues that apply to any one nation at a specific time. The nation with 164 issues is Eternal Repentance, a nation which answers issues using the strategy of changing its mind. This allows it to be, depending on its recent moods, asked democracy-only or dictatorship-only questions, which permits its total to surpass those of nations foolish enough to stick to one or the other. No matter how long I play Eternal Repentance, it still isn’t going to be asked everything. For instance, I know of a few issues which are only asked of certain extremist government types. Eternal Repentance is never going to have one of those governments, because they require one to persevere in answering a certain way (e.g., totally pro-capitalist), and Eternal Repentance will never betray its lack of principles in that fashion.
Can you be asked the same issue over and over again? Absolutely. My nation SQ (not its real name) was asked about eating its national animal three times in six days, two of the three times on consecutive days. So it does happen. But though this is annoying, is it surprising? To answer that question, it is helpful to have a model of what the implementation is doing. And so now I’m going to try to put together a fragmentary model from the evidence.
First of all, I have no doubts about the existence of Stages 1 and 2. They’re documented on the Forums. But why do I say there’s a difference between Stage 3 and Stage 4? An easier model would be this. After Stage 2 completes, NationStates selects an issue at random each turn. Because most issues have not been seen before, this means you get new issues for a while, but then, by chance, an old one is picked. This simpler hypothesis is ruled out by the evidence. If it were so, issues would repeat much sooner than issue 108 – because of a phenomenon known as the Birthday Paradox. (See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birthday_paradox for a mathematical description of the paradox.) If one assumes that all 232 issues are equally likely, there would be a 50 % probability of a repetition within 19 issues. If one assumes the more likely number of 160, the chances of repetition are even after only 16 issues. This clearly contradicts the data I’ve gathered.
My conclusion then is that the game goes out of its way, during Stage 3, to keep from asking an issue a second time (except for issue 0, which I’ll get to before the end). Now, an interesting thing I’ve observed is that periodically someone will ask on the Forums for a feature that depends on the game remembering what you’ve been asked, in what order, and how you answered it. The official response to this is always the same: it would take too much storage, given that there are 75,000 nations to consider. I don’t doubt that this answer is true, but it tends to obscure the fact that the game must be keeping track of what issues have been asked, up to a certain point, and that point must allow for retention of at least 140 issues or so, to fit my data. It turns out, however, that to keep track for all 232 issues of whether they’ve been asked requires only 232 bits, which is 29 bytes. This is not a lot of storage, even if it does become over 2 megabytes when multiplied by 75,000 nations.
So now here is a revised model for the NationStates implementation. It keeps track of whether or not each issue has been asked. After 100 or so distinct issues have been asked, it starts to allow issues to repeat. A developer comment on the NS2 Forums suggests that in NS1 the odds may be deliberately enhanced for unseen issues as opposed to repeats, and there is some anecdotal evidence suggesting this, but without more detailed knowledge of what issues are allowed when, it is impossible for me to test. So I don’t try to model exactly how the game decides when to repeat its first issue. Perhaps it occurs when the number of unseen applicable issues drops below a certain threshold. At any rate, once repeats are allowed, they come to dominate – and once they have started, no consideration is given to whether an issue has been asked recently before asking it again.
Now let me go back to the question of issue 0. As I noted, there was a period where, for some reason, your first issue might have been something else. One of my nations got issue 222 (terrorist attack) as its first. This nation observed that issue 0 did not repeat early on, but issue 222 did. In other words, the issue that can repeat early is the first issue, and the phenomenon has nothing to do with issue 0 specifically. I have a model for this too. The first issue is special. It is queued up at nation creation, not, as with all other issues, added during the game’s twice-daily cycle through the NationStates world. I hypothesize that, by design or by accident, this issue is queued in a way that causes it not to be recorded as having been asked. Thus, it would remain to the game as an unseen issue, one which can be asked again despite all the effort to prevent such a thing. This is a testable hypothesis – it leads me to predict that issue 0 will never repeat twice in the first 100 issues. If anyone sees that, or has seen it, then I am wrong.
I am going to end this post with a discussion of the effects of issue repetition, and an idea or two for ameliorating them. For all that it is understandable, issue repetition is just plain annoying. I have seen Sirocco himself express frustration at the repetition of daily rankings, which occurs for the same reason as issue repetition. We’d all rather answer something we haven’t seen in a while than be stuck in a rut saying “No, I already told you, no Inquisition, and that’s final!” There are hints that even the maintainers of the code are somewhat aware of this. When I’ve been too busy to play and let issues back up for a nation, I’ve never seen the same issue twice in the pending list. Maybe someone else has but, if not, it means that someone put in a check to prevent it. Similarly, if you answer the same issue in the same way very soon after a previous time, only one of the answers shows up in the prose national summary, leading me to believe again that someone put in a check for this which skips over the duplicate. (It does show up twice in the regional history however.)
There is another more serious effect of issue repetition on the game, however. It produces more extreme, one-sided nations. For instance, the easiest way to show up very high on the “Nudest Nations” ranking is to be lucky enough to be asked the “right to dangle” question repeatedly, and to always respond with option 2, making nudity mandatory. This is how “Penultimate Option” (not my nation this time) got to be tenth most nude in the world. It’s not hard work and perseverance that pay off, it’s being asked the right question the right number of times! If you take NationStates seriously (or want to take it seriously) as a nation simulator, then you want the growth and development of your nation to be organic and gradual, rather than a byproduct of the sequence in which issues happen to be presented. I note that complete sequence dependence is unavoidable, due to questions with abrupt and discontinuous consequences, like switching from democracy to dictatorship or cutting off military funding. Still, I think that the unconstrained issue repetition in NationStates is a real blemish, as it interferes with your ability to set your nation’s course.
Of course, unlike most players, I have my Python assistant. I use it to help me navigate through repeated issues. It lets me know when an issue is a repeat and, under two sets of circumstances, it advises me to dismiss (and I almost always take its advice). First, it advises me to dismiss if an issue is repeated within ten turns of my previously answering (not dismissing) it. In this case, the repetition will show up in the nation’s event log unless I dismiss. This seems to me a bad thing. If issues are going to repeat, they should at least have the decency to do so out of sight. Secondly, it advises me to dismiss if the issue has been seen (dismissed or not) within the last 60 turns. The number 60 is half of 120, which I believed at the time I wrote that part of the code to be the lower bound on the point at which repetitions start. The intent was that I could divide issue space into two halves, the recent half and the distant half, and respond only to issues from the distant half. I admit that I have a few nations which I want to become extreme, and for those, I only dismiss for the first criterion (repeat within 10 turns).
Naturally, my assistant keeps records of all this as well. And it tells me that, on the average, 4 % of the issues asked in Stage 4 are 10-turn repeats. That’s pretty much what you’d expect if the process is really random. On the other hand, on the average 26 % of all issues are 60-turn repeats, and for some individual nations, this rises as high as 52 %. So, thanks to my assistant, I end up dismissing between a quarter and a half of the issues that are asked me, simply on the basis that they’ve been asked again too soon. But my reward is that my nations grow more naturally, even though their growth is slowed by the dismissals.
I feel strongly that NationStates ought to be changed to eliminate 10-turn repeats. This would take 10 bytes of storage per nation (or 20 to be ready for issues with numbers greater than 255). This cleans up the national history, and makes repetition invisible to players with short memories.
I feel that going further and establishing a longer limit on repeats would also be a good thing, simply because of the resulting improvement of the simulation. Let me sketch an implementation – assuming I’m right about the use of a 30-byte bit map for the record of what issues have been asked, this implementation gets by with adding only one more bit per issue, for 60 bytes rather than 30. The values 0 to 3 can be encoded in 2 bits. The idea is that you have three periods, distant (1), recent (2) and current (3), and that 0 continues to mark a never-asked issue. (This would be needed if the odds of selection are to be different for a never-asked issue.) Every 30 issues, you change all the 2 issues to 1 and all the 3 issues to 2. Every time you select, you select from 1s and 0s, and upon selection, mark it with 3. This ends up doing what my assistant does – it keeps issues from being asked again for between 30 and 60 turns, 2 weeks to a month at two issues a day. You could use some number other than 30. I just picked 30 so that you wouldn’t run out of new issues before you’d gone through 3 periods. Note that if the game doesn’t actually need to know whether an issue has ever been asked, you could use 0 for a period also, and increase the guaranteed time between repeats up to 50 or so.
I respectfully ask the keepers of the game code to consider this idea.
Finally, I’d like to close with a bit of advice for a certain class of players. The people who really get into issues often set up nations or regions of nations whose goal is to eventually be asked every issue, and to give every response. For instance, several players (and I am among them) have set up nations which choose option 1, 2 (and so on) of each issue they are presented. Because of the fact that some issues have specific prerequisites, some of them are essentially impossible to get in this way. For instance, as I recall, no issue has a second response which makes your nation a dictatorship, and so no “2nd option” nation which starts as a democracy will ever receive a dictatorship-only issue. There are two lessons to draw from this. First, if you want to be asked everything, your nation has to change. Your best shot is a nation that switches back and forth from democracy to dictatorship, from socialist to capitalist, from libertarian to oppressive, and from frugal to spendthrift. And issue repetition helps you with that. As like as not, even with this advice, the goal of achieving the complete issue experience is out-of-reach, but a strategy of perpetual change is certainly a more interesting way to fail than one of single-mindedness. And thus, if you’re a fanatical issue devotees like me, issue repetition is your friend. In the final analysis, it’s a feature, not a bug.
-New South Hell-
16 October 2008
I'm A NationStates 2 Issue Writer
Good news! I've committed myself to writing eight brand new issues each week for NationStates 2 which should mean a good thirty-two or so new issues per month if I can meet the deadlines. I hope everyone likes them!
That's all I've got to say for myself for now, but watch this space: got some interesting posts lined up for the near future.
That's all I've got to say for myself for now, but watch this space: got some interesting posts lined up for the near future.
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