Ideology Testing Inc.

In my travels around NationStates regions, I happened across one called Experiments which was run by some players who were messing about with the effects of issues.

Obviously I was intrigued.

So after some chit-chat I asked if New South Hell would mind writing up his findings and thoughts as an article for this blog which I'm glad to say he did. So, here it is, a probe into the ideologies of NationStates.

Small note before reading on: for some reason when copy/pasting there were formatting errors which I don't know how to fix which have broken some of the paragraphs up slightly. Not a big problem, but there you go.

=====================
IDEOLOGY TESTING INC.
=====================

This is a description of the NS region called Ideology Testing Inc.
I set it up for exploration of the NS issues system by means of
ideologically-based states. I started with the 10 government style
choices presented by NS during nation creation, and then added 4
(later 5) more styles that seemed to me to be missing from the
original set of ten.

Since the region was created, it has developed some internal geography

and geopolitics, primarily because it was fun to work out. In this
writeup, I will describe the ideologies, present a map of the region,
and discuss some of the geopolitical issues.

Each nation in the region has a name like "ITI X Extremist". The
single letter following ITI is a mnemonic for the ideology, often but
not always the initial letter of the ideology. Having a single
character mnemonic is very useful in shortening regional descriptions,
tables, summaries etc. After the mnemonic letter is the official
(adjectival) name of the nation ("Extremist" in the example above.)

First, the 10 NS nation creation ideologies:

Sensible (M for Moderate) - Those poor souls trapped between
Conservatism and Liberalism, believing in both fairness and
propsperity, torn between giving the bum on the corner food stamps and
telling him to get a job. The Sensible state wanders between
Inoffensive Democracy, Liberal Socialism and NY Times Democracy.

Liberal (L) - Believers in equality, diplomacy and selected liberties.
The Liberal state oscillates between Democratic Socialism (Liberal or
not), and Scandinavian Liberalism.

Conservative (C) - Believers in enterprise, chastity and selected
liberties. The Conservative state meanders between Moralistic and
Inoffensive Democracy.

Compassionate (S for Sensitive or Socialist) - Modern trendy liberals,
more interested in diversity and the environment than trade unions and
free speech. The Compassionate state equivocates between Democratic
Socialism (only rarely Liberal) and Scandinavian Liberalism.

Oppressive (O) - Played as a militant theocracy, whose tenets include
vegtarianism and polygamy. (While I don't know of any militant
vegetarian religions active at this time, dietary rules have always
been de rigeur, and so it doesn't seem all that far-fetched.) The
Oppressive state is pretty much a Psychotic Dictatorship, though it
occasionally softens into Iron Fist Consumerists.

Corrupt (B for Business) - Played as a state ruled by money, where
anything is available for a price. The Corrupt ideology is one of
three in the region which is neither democratic nor dictatorial, and
which simply dismisses questions about voting. It has a Parliament
and holds elections, but they're more important for the bank accounts
of the legislators than for the state of the nation. The Corrupt
state wavers between Capitalist Paradise and Compulsory Consumerist
State. It is by far the wealthiest state in the region.

Libertarian (F for Free) - Believers in unfettered liberty and
capitalism and, since these are Heinleinian Libertarians, a strong
military. The Libertarian state is an Anarchy, until it reaches that
point in its life cycle when it abolishes copyright, and becomes a
Civil Rights Lovefest for the rest of its days.

Anarchic (A) - Left libertarians, and the second non-democratic,
non-dictatorial regime. Let's face it - anarchism makes no sense
whatever. If you wanna protect the poor and downtrodden from the
strong and rapacious, how you gonna accomplish that without a
government? Almost all of the other ITI ideologies have been used
successfully throughout history, admittedly sometimes at great human
cost. But the closest you can come to a real-world anarchy is the
hellhole of Somalia, and I don't think that's exactly what the
proponents of anarchy have in mind. Never mind all that, in NS
anarchy works. But the Anarchic state is never an NS Anarchy, because
of its "strong anti-business policies". It's pretty much a Civil
Rights Lovefest, all the time. Take that, Somalia.

Evil (E) - The Evil ideology I play as Communists. Anti-capitalism,
anti-freedom, anti-God. But there's this little problem. NS doesn't
understand that when the state and industry are one, a pro-industrial
policy is not exactly a pro-business policy. And so the Evil state is
normally Iron Fist Consumerists rather than a Psychotic Dictatorship.
I've seen it spend brief periods of time as a Corporate Police State.

Psychotic (P) - The Psychotic ideology is not really an ideology -
it's a state of mind. It has no fixed beliefs, other than hatred of
Democracy. One moment it will make nudity mandatory, and the next
outlaw streaking. You would think the Psychotic state would be an NS
Psychotic Dictatorship, but you'd be so, so wrong. Apparently
insanity is good for business. The Psychotic state dithers between
Corporate Police State and Compulsory Consumerist State, with
occasional stopovers in Iron Fist Consumerists and Father Knows Best
State.

Then, we have the following other ideologies, which I have added.

Aristocratic (I for Imperial) - Played as a state of medieval
aristocrats, more or less lost in the modern world. The third
non-democratic, non-dictatorial ideology. The Aristocratic state
drifts all over the NS government spectrum, but is most frequently a
Corporate Police State or a Compulsory Consumerist State. Which is
really ironic, since the barons look down on the CEO's as little
better than the peasantry, people who deserve a big lesson in
humility if only they could afford to give it.

Technocratic (T) - This is government by the regulars on Slashdot.
Pro-liberty, anti-business, pro-environment and, above all,
pro-technology. A more practical blend of liberalism and
libertarianism than anarchy. Undecided between Scandinavian Liberal
Paradise, Left-Leaning College State and Left-Wing Utopia.

Populist (R for Redneck) - A liberal caricature of conservatism:
nationalistic, fundamentalist, xenophobic and poorly educated.
It's probably insensitive of me to offer such an ideology, but I don't
think I'm any harder on the Populists than I am on the Compassionates.
I try to be an equal-opportunity offender. The Populist state varies
between Inoffensive Democracy, Moralistic Democracy and, believe it or
not, Democratic Socialist.

Fascist (V for Vicious, or perhaps Volk) - A very recent addition to
the ideology set. Extremely militaristic, and pro-economy without
being at all pro-capitalist. It's too early for me to say for sure
how it will turn out, but right now it's a Corporate Police State.

Harmonious (H, or W for Wharmonious, or possibly Wholistic) - The
Harmonious ideology is a blend of all the others. It decides each
issue the way a plurality of the other ideologies decide it, with a
tie-breaking procedure I won't go into. The H Harmonious state was
based on the ideology set before I added Fascism; the W Harmonious
one is post-Fascist. Adding Fascism really made the Harmonious
ideology much darker. The H lands are a pretty good place to live,
the W ones less so. The Harmonious state alternates between
Inoffensive and New York Times Democracy. It's too early to know how
the Wharmonious state will turn out in the long run, but so far it's
mostly been a Corrupt Dictatorship or a Father Knows Best state.


The order of ideologies above is canonical. A useful mnemonic for
remembering it (should you find some reason you need to) is:

Mary Lovingly Cooked Some Outrageously Bloody Fowl (After Entirely
Plucking It) To Revolt Vegetarian Wimps


The ITI region contains two nations that are not ideologies.
Because they are not true ideologies, they're a bit out of place,
but I've become fond of them anyway. Note that their positions on
issues have no effect on the decisions of the Harmonious states.
These last two nations are as follows:

Nasty (N) - This is a dystopia, a government which decides issues in
order to inflict the greatest amount of unhappiness on its people.
It has elements of all the tyrannies in the region. Sometimes it is
atheist, and sometimes fanatical, whichever hurts more. Similarly, it
sometimes drives away business in the interest of poverty, and
sometimes instead allows foreign corporations to enslave its citizens.
It somewhat resembles the Psychotic state, but sometimes the Psychotic
state will make bizarre decisions that actually improve its residents'
lives, like flirting with pacifism. The Nasty state never makes such
mistakes. So far, the Nasty state has been a constant Psychotic
Dictatorship, though an older nation of mine with much the same
mission has occasional moments of Corrupt Dictatorship and Iron
Fist Consumerist to prevent monotony (and allow its population
the miserable experience of shattered hope).

Pleasant (G for Good or Grand) - An opposite to the Nasty state, but
not a utopia. A utopia would be hard to do, and would require deep
thinking about which of several states of the world is better. I
imagine that, while I'm capable of imagining a government that
virtually everyone would agree was wretched, coming up with one that
most everyone found admirable is a different story altogether. Just
asking the question of whether its economy would be a welfare state or
laissez-faire is probably enough to start fistfights. So the Pleasant
state is something immensely easier. It is a government which decides
issues based on the immediate happiness of its people, the future be
damned. Questions like "how will we pay for it?" or "what if the
police abuse their authority?" or "don't you think an army might be
a good idea?" are not to be asked. My mental image of the Pleasant
state is that it is a sleepy Pacific island, where the citizens spend
most of their time snoozing, playing the guitar and making love to the
tourists. The Pleasant state has spent most of its existence as
Liberal Democratic Socialists, with occasional vacations as a New York
Times Democracy or Civil Rights Lovefest.


Here is a map of Ideology Testing Inc. I wish it were a real map,
with nice colors and real borders, but unfortunately I have no artistic
talent.

(Editor's note: I've fancified it a little from being ASCII art with my own brand of No Real Talent. Hooray for MS Paint! -- Sirocco)



The map was derived from data on how often two ideologies decided
issues in the same way. In general, the states which border a
specific nation are those which most frequently echo its decisions.
My original map was a mirror image of this one, but I reversed it to
make the left and right sides of the map correspond, more or less, to
the leftist or rightist nature of the ideologies. The layout is not
really that different from what you would expect, except that I found
the placement of the Corrupt (B) state quite a surprise, since all the
states around it are honest democracies.


With such a variety of ideologies, government styles and economies in
the Ideology Testing Inc region, one might well expect its geopolitics
to be interestingly turbulent. And this is the case. The region
divides naturally into 4 subregions, and I think it most profitable to
consider each of these areas in turn.

The northern (freedom-directed) subregion consists of the Libertarian,
Anarchic, Technocratic and Corrupt states. Relations are amiable.
The Corrupt state is regarded with some suspicion by the other
northern nations, whose style is to permit all manner of hedonistic
behavior, in contrast to the less open Corrupt approach of banning
these activites and then paying no attention whatever to the laws.
The nations of the north have a history of cooperation in promoting
their common agenda, notably free trade in both legal and banned
items. But there will never be a formal alliance, as neither the
Libertarians nor the Anarchics would consider binding themselves
to any other nation in that way.

Northern relations with the rest of the ITI region are also generally
good. The Oppressive regime considers the Corrupt state to be the most
worthy of destruction of them all, but the Oppressives are far away,
and have considerably more pressing enemies closer at hand. Relations
are quite tense between the Libertarian state and the Conservative
state, due to drug trafficking. Both the Corrupt state and the
Libertarian state find the drug trade quite lucrative, but the Corrupt
state makes token efforts to stop the trade if asked (and will even
shut it down entirely for a while if rewarded with enough "foreign
aid"). The Libertarian state, however, rejects these requests with
amusement that the Conservatives would dare ask them to help deprive
their population of the basic human right to get high, a right which
apparently very many people under Conservative rule wish to exercise.
This flagrantly immoral attitude tends to piss Conservatives off a lot
more than simply pretending to cooperate would, even though the
practical effect is the same.

The western (fairness-directed) subregion of ITI contains the Liberal,
Compassionate, Pleasant, Sensible and Harmonious nations. These
states have a formal alliance for mutual protection and promotion of
their agenda. It should be noted that only the Sensible and
Harmonious states have significant military power. Ironically, these
two states are often felt by the Liberals and the Compassionates to be
only half-hearted in their support of Peace, Equality and Abortion,
and therefore suspect.

There is much angry rhetoric exchanged between the western and eastern
alliances, but in fact relations are not bad, and conflict between the
alliances is unlikely. The Harmonious and Sensible states have
excellent relations with both the Conservatives and the Populists, and
not infrequently act to reduce tensions when necessary. To the
north, relations are touchy between the Compassionates and the
Technocrats, due to Compassionate fears of runaway technology. The
Compassionates live in dread of the day that genetically-modified
grain drifts across the border, and they end up eating Frankenfood
without even noticing.

The one potential trouble spot in the western subregion is the border
with the Evil state. There is a constant flow of miserable refugees
into the Liberal and Compassionate states, giving eloquent testimony
to the inhumanity of the Evil way of life. But when the Liberal and
Compassionate leaders meet with the Evil empire, they are always
impressed by the sincerity of the Evil state's rejection of corporate
greed and determination to bring true equality to its people, and
therefore resolve to maintain friendly relations. Stories of slavery
and genocide are rejected as Conservative disinformation. Because the
Evil empire has very serious enemies elsewhere on its borders, the
western alliance will probably suffer little harm from its blindness
to the true nature of its southern neighbor.

The eastern (faith-directed) subregion of ITI contains the
Conservative, Populist and Aristocratic nations. These states have a
formal alliance for mutual protection. It was formed in opposition to
the Evil empire, but in recent years it has been much more concerned
with the Oppressive state on its borders, especially after their
allies the Fascists gave them nuclear weapons. The eastern alliance is
shaky, due to poor relations between the Aristocratic and Populist
nations. The Aristocrats look on the Populists as no better than
peasants, and nothing angers the Populists more than people who think
they're superior (except maybe for their own citizens who fail to
"support the troops"). The Conservatives have their work cut out for
them trying to remind their allies that they have more to worry about
from the Oppressive regime than from each other. All three states are
heavily armed, but the Aristocratic army is laughable because of its
failure to progress much beyond 18th century technology.

The border between the Oppressive state and the Populist and
Aristocratic states is the second tensest border in the world. The
Aristocrats have to be periodically restrained from declaring a
crusade against the Oppressives, an action which would result in the
rapid annihilation of the Aristocrats, even if the Oppressives'
Fascist allies chose not to help out. The hatred between the
Oppressives and the Aristocrats is mutual, but any attempt by the
Oppressives to intervene in the east would likely be exploited by its
other enemies, and so if the Aristocrats can be controlled, ITI War
III is unlikely to break out in this way.

Finally there is the southern (force-directed) subregion of ITI,
comprising five hellholes of human misery, the Oppressive, Fascist,
Psychotic, Evil and Nasty states. There's no unity here. The
Fascists and Oppressives are allied, and at present there seems to be
a detente beteween the Nasty state and the Psychotics, but other than
that, everyone hates everyone else, and says so loudly. The tensest
border in the world is that between the Fascist and Evil regimes - a
human disaster waiting to happen. All the states have large
militaries (except the Psychotics, during their intermittent periods of
pacifism), but only the Fascist military is modern and effective, a
fact which gives the rest of the south, and indeed of the region,
considerable pause. The Fascists also have the only truly functional
economy in the south.

Apart from the general aggressiveness of authoritarian regimes, there
are four causes of the instability of southern ITI: religion, the
refugee problem, the impending collapse of the Nasty state, and the
unpredictability of the Psychotics.

It would be useful at this point to interject something about the
general distribution of religions in the ITI region. Most of the
region is Christian, equally divided between Catholics and
Protestants except for the Aristocratic state, which is entirely
Catholic. In the West, church attendance has dropped off considerably,
to the disgust of the East. The other major religion of the region is
Oppressivism, practiced in the Oppressive state and a minority religion
in the Fascist, Nasty and Harmonious states. (At one time, there was
also an Oppressivist minority in the Aristocratic and Populist nations,
but intolerance, sometimes to the point of ethnic cleansing, has
forced them to go elsewhere.) Oppressivism is presently in a very
militant phase, and its leaders, both religious and secular, have made
their intent to subjugate or convert the Christian world very plain.
The Evil state is officially atheist, and periodically purges the
overtly religious within its borders (mostly Christians). In certain
parts of the ITI region, but especially the Compassionate, Technocratic
and Fascist states, new age, pagan and occult religions such as
Wicca have become popular. And finally, His Humble Insignificance
Psycho III recently proclaimed himself the Prophet of Psychosis, and
forced his people to convert. It is widely held that there is in fact
only one sincere practitioner of Psychosis, the First Inmate himself.
Rumor has it that the Psychotic ruler has recently begun the study of
Scientology, and the region awaits with some concern the next phase of
the religious evolution of His troubled state. It is however
considered unlikely that the Psychotics' regrettable flirtation with
Violetism a few years ago will ever be repeated, and that cult has
pretty much been suppressed even in the backwoods of the Nasty state
where it had its last hurrah.

As can be seen, religion puts the Oppressive state at odds with
everyone in the region except for the Fascists (who have no official
religion, and tend not to interfere with it) and the Harmonious (who
are unusually tolerant of the aspects of Oppressivism that most
Christians find disturbing). The Fascist toleration of Oppressivism
may well be an artifact of the alliance. It is widely believed that
if the alliance were to break up, the native Oppressivists in the
Fascist lands would find themselves in labor camps the next day.

One of the symptoms of the general dysfunctionality of southern ITI is
the refugee problem. This hurts all nations of the region, but the
worst hurt are the Fascists. Because of the economic health of the
Fascist state, it is the destination of choice for those fleeing any
of the other states (except for those lucky enough to be near the
Liberal or Harmonious borders). The Fascists try to find places in
their society (generally as menial laborers or cannon fodder) for the
refugees, because most of them have a very pro-Fascist attitude on
reaching what they see as safety. But the economic strain of the
neverending stream on Fascist resources has them considering sending
all the refugees immediately to labor camps, even if better use of
them might be possible.

Adding in great measure to the refugee problem is the imminent
collapse of the Nasty state. Its economy is in tatters, its people
are starving, and its army has been privatized. Its desperate people
imagine any other state in the area will be a distinct improvement,
and so they leave as quickly as they are able to make their way
through the minefields. Despite their mutual enmity, the Oppressive,
Fascist and Evil regimes have been holding secret talks about
partitioning the Nasty state among themselves. They have invited the
Psychotics to participate, but the First Inmate is currently very much
in favor of the self-determination of peoples, and vows to defend the
Nasty state's territorial integrity from any aggressor. (It has not
been noted that the Nasty citizenry particularly appreciates His
concern.) If a partition takes place, it will surely be an improvement
in the lives of many Nasty citizens, but not of Christians in the
Oppressive slice, nor of believers of any sort in the Evil portion,
nor of members of "inferior races" in the Fascist remainder.

Not much can be said about the final problem in southern ITI, the
complete unpredictability of the Psychotic state. Most of its ruler's
strange notions have been directed at His own population rather than
against other states, which leads one to hope that He will not decide
that the time is right for bringing on Armageddon with a bacteriological
strike on the Fascists. But hope is a fragile thing indeed in the
south of ITI, and was last reported in very bad shape in an Evil
reeducation camp.

This leads finally to the subject of weapons of mass destruction in
ITI, a problem affecting the whole region. All the states of the
area, except for four, have WMD's, as well as long-range missiles
capable of delivering them to any regional target. The four
nations without WMD's are the Compassionates, the Pleasants, the
Anarchics and the Aristocrats. The Aristocrats are too backwards to
make them, and rely on their alliance with the Conservatives for
protection. The Compassionates are ideologically opposed, and rely on
their alliance with the Liberals to protect them. The Pleasant people
find the whole thought of warfare disturbing, and are likewise forced
to rely on the western alliance for their defense. And while the
Anarchics as a nation possess no WMD's, a surprising number of their
citizens possess personal WMD's, which will definitely give a
potential aggressor pause. Further, it is widely rumored that the
Technocrats have a really terrifying black project, possibly involving
gray goo, and absolutely no one wants to annoy them sufficiently to
find out whether the rumors are true.


I do not know what the future holds for Ideology Testing Inc.
Certainly there are dangers galore, but there is always the
possibility that the vulgarity of the Corrupt, the decadence of the
Libertarians, the hypocrisy of the Conservatives, the complacency of
the Liberals and the indecisiveness of the Sensible may yet overcome
the forces of intolerance, madness and despotism at work in the south.

Attention All Issue Writers

I'm very close to reaching the end of the current batch of issues (the 24th of February 2006 to the 23rd of May 2007). As you can tell, I have some serious backlog. But after a lot of searching, a lot of pruning, and, happily, a lot of triumph (a shout-out goes to Vincon who got two of his submissions accepted) I'm nearly on to the next batch which will probably extend from the 24th of May 2007 to now.

So, listen up: if you've got a great idea for a new issue and want to submit it and have it put in the game and all that jazz then write it up and submit it as soon as possible before I get the new batch of issues. If you don't then I probably won't see it for a year to a year and a half. Possibly even two years if I'm very busy.

If you're stuck for ideas, here's a few issues I'd like to see:

Nuclear meltdown
Slavery
Issues affecting third-world countries

It's easy to notice that a lot of issues are topical for the nations of the Western world, but I'd like to see more issues submitted that relate to problems faced by African governments. Or Eastern European governments. Or Asian governments. Just more issues that lean away from being British or American-centric. Good luck everyone!

Promotions

I'm pleased to announce that Tsaraine and Ardchoille have been promoted from forum moderator to game moderator.

There's also a new issue in addition to the one I mentioned yesterday.

More issues on the way.

Issue #222 Is In The Game

Yup, another issue has come to the end of its long and weary journey through the issues queue. This particular one was originally submitted in September 2006. So yeah, I'm a little behind. It's another nice big one, but it is rather difficult to get so if you do, count yourself fortunate.

In other news, the NS2 blog has a big fat new FAQ to read. It's very exciting. I'm particularly interested about these spies and national newspapers mentioned.

Recently I decided to send my nation around the regions for a while. My first stop was Scotland. Then I decided to visit The Featured Region Followers who all visit the region randomly generated on the world page each day to congratulate them. Why? I have absolutely no idea. Still interesting though, the reasons for nations to tie themselves to others are so varied. You can find a region covering interests, hobbies, political affilations, and hundreds of other things.

The region I'm in right now is NationStates Cook Book where players can share their favourite recipes. Isn't that great?

One last thing before I finish this post. Is it only me who finds the region of Anarchy has an incredibly ironic World Factbook Entry?

Modliness Regained

I'm officially a game moderator again and have been for over a week or so. Why? Well, I've got a lot of spare time coming up. My one exam is on the 29th where I will be performing one of Satie's gymnopedies, a 15th century harpsichord piece I forget the name of, Einaudi Ludovico's La Linea Scura, and one of my own compositions. I'm confident I'll pass so no problems there.

Moving on, there's no need to worry about how this will affect my issue editing. Issue editing is still my biggest priority for NationStates and I've got a few ones I'm looking at right now. True, some of the issues in the queue are over two years old, but there's only one of me. I try my best!

I also discovered an error in one of the old issues' validity checkers which has now been fixed thanks to Pythagosaurus so people who are eligible for it can expect to see a 'new' issue at some point.

Finally, the computer that I got repaired has broken again about two weeks after. I'm going to have to get a new one which will either be a long drawn-out hassle (i.e. getting a free one from the university) or expensive (having to buy one when your average laptop costs two months' worth of rent). So I might not be on NationStates as much as I'd like.

No news on the NationStates 2 front... hopefully there will be some by the next time I post.

My New Niece

This is Johnny, my sister Rufus, and their new baby Maisie May. This is the first new bairn in the family in over a decade so everyone's quite excited about it. People will now go up to me and say 'Wow, you're an uncle!' but I've been an uncle ever since I was born, as one of my nieces is older than me (I now have three in total, and one nephew).

As for NationStates, there has been some interesting things to be read in the blog belonging to the NS2 developers. Looks like we'll have alliances instead of regions. Most intriguing.

NationStates 2 Weblog

The developers of NationStates 2 have set up a weblog to get feedback from the average NationStater, which I think is fantastic. Check out these links so you can register your thoughts with the people actually coding our much-awaited sequel.

NationStates 2 Weblog

NS2 Blog Sticky - here you can discuss NationStates 2 with other NSers (and possibly the developers).

Issue #221 Is In The Game

This is an issue I've been meaning to do for a long time, and I'm pretty pleased with the result. Enjoy!

Oh, and after a year and a half, we have a new Game Mod Olympics, courtesy of [violet].

Way, way, WAY back in the day there was a Mods Academy Awards to demonstrate what the moderators had accomplished. Sadly, this was lost with the original forums before the move to Jolt. Still, we now have eleven archived Olympics that I have tracked down and linked here for your reading pleasure.

Mod Olympics I
Mod Olympics II
Mod Olympics III
Mod Olympics IV
Mod Olympics V
Mod Olympics VI
Mod Olympics VII
Mod Olympics VIII
Mod Olympics IX
Mod Olympics X
Mod Olympics XI

Yet More Cartography

Those interested in map-generators might remember my previous posts and might like to check out these two websites shown to me by resident map-nut, Tsaraine:

http://home.comcast.net/~brons/NerdCorner/Planet.html

http://www.bin.sh/gaming/tools/world.cgi

These are both planet-generators as opposed to nation-generators, but still, I think, of interest.

For more map generators check out this site: http://www.seventhsanctum.com/

NationStates 2 News!

As you can see by the forlorn look of despair in my eyes, my girlfriend attacked me with a pair of hair straighteners with horrifying results. Well, I don't really care that much but I'm glad she prefers my natural curls.

Anyway, the big news that even warranted a telegram from admin to all nations (which I don't recall seeing before), the news we've all been waiting for... NS2 is coming.

Wow, have we been waiting a long, LONG time to hear this. NationStates 2 is definitely being developed and is set for a release date of late 2008 which is amazing. Whether that deadline will be met is a different thing altogether, but we'll worry about that later. There were many nay-sayers, reckoning this sequel was never coming but we now have confirmation that it is. Check out www.nationstates2.net for the FAQ!

World Assembly Building Two Feet To Stand Upon

Well, it's been two weeks since the fall of the UN, so how is the WA coping? Pretty well, I think. We've had two passed resolutions, and the third one looks pretty certain on passing as I write this though with strong opposition. I won't be surprised if it it gets repealed soon.

Still tidying things up a bit, we've stripped the historical resolutions of their [repeal] links which meant that venturous players were trying to repeal already defunct resolutions. We also had to strip the first WA resolution about the actual foundation of the World Assembly of its repeal link because after all the trouble we went to to put that resolution on display, we're not having it undone. Besides, we can't go back to how things used to be because of legal issues.

The only remaining issue is what to do about the new proposal category, bookkeeping. Proposals of this nature have no statistical impact, but as for what they actually cover categorically... we never quite got round to discussing that. So that's what we're talking about over in the WA forum. If you have an opinion or just want to keep up-to-date on things, swing on over. Grab a lemonade.

Finally on the subject of the World Assembly, those banned from the UN may reapply to join the WA, but any cheating will be dealt with outright deletion.

In other news, Reploid Productions has put a new issue into the game, and the mods and I are getting groovy new NationStates e-mail addresses. So if you wish to send me an e-mail about NationStates, please send it to sirocco((at))nationstates.net and I'll get back to you most timeously.

In other other news, my computer is at last repaired and returned to me. Not after some kerfuffle though. After a half-hour-long walk to and back from the computer repair shop I discovered that they'd given me someone else's laptop. By some eerie coincidence another gentleman with my surname had also required his laptop repaired at the shop. So back I went.

That's all for now. My involvement in NationStates will be a bit spotty for the next month or two because of exams but during the summer I will probably be a lot more active.

The World Assembly

Egads and forsooth! The United Nations has fallen!

This was brought about by the real UN who have demanded that our use of its name and flag be removed from the site. At first we figured we could ignore it, because it worked for Saddam Hussein, but eventually we thought it best that we acquiesce to the cease and desist and begin a new organisation in its stead: the World Assembly or WA for short. There is now a new emergency resolution on how to deal with the crisis that you (as a WA member) can vote upon on on the World Assembly page.

Here's some dandy links to where it's all happening:

The official discussion thread of the emergency resolution.

A thread discussing the new world order.

NationStates Moves

This post is a bit late, I know, but since the laptop on which I would usually record my thoughts is currently in bits and pieces at a local repair shop I've been a little out of touch.

So, what's new? A lot as it happens, NationStates has been upgraded, it has reached v1.11! We now have spiffy wee flags, national happenings to complement regional happenings, a 'reports' section for even more rigorous espionage of nations needing watched, and no separate frame for the sidebar. There are RSS subscriptions and players can now resurrect their dead nations should they want to taking a small burden off the mods' shoulders and speeding up the system nicely.

NationStates' move is just about complete by now I should think and now it's just a matter of soothing out the glitches and bugs caused by it. To join the discussion, check out this thread about the upgrade: http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=552128

Issue #219 Is In The Game

We have a new issue!

Otherwise, not much happening, at least that I can relay here, so I'll just finish by saying that I am a happy, happy man. My girlfriend moved in and all the possible financial hardships that could have come with it have been resolved. The future is looking good.

That is all.

Flightless Hippo Stuffed Toy

My girlfriend made me this as a present. It is officially one of the coolest things I have ever recieved.

In other news, I finally have internet access at my flat! This will (probably) mean more involvement in NationStates from me. So if things work out alright, new issues will be added to the game every now and again hereafter.

Internet, Internet, Internet

It's been a long while since I posted anything. As regular readers may know (and if you exist), I have no internet access at my flat which has prevented me from doing much in the way of NationStates-type things. What have I been up to? Trying to get a damn internet connection! And at long last my efforts have been rewarded, despite BT (the monopolising, money-grabbing bastards they are) failing to send me the papers I needed to change to a different service provider. I will have access by the beginning of March and I am so looking forward to it. No more two-mile walks to the university to check my e-mails.

On St. Valentine's day I woke up to find out that my flatmate was abruptly leaving me to pay the £130 a week rent by myself unless I could find another tenant in ten days which considering my flat's location will not be easy. On that same morning my girlfriend discovered that her degree had been buggered up by a spectacularly failed exam. All in all, not the best way to start the day off. Not that that's a good way to start any day, but I am glad it was on the 14th rather than the 15th because then it would have fallen on my girlfriend's birthday which would not have been pretty.

NationStates-wise, a few interesting things have happened that I've been aware of. The West Pacific delegate is attempting to accrue 1000 endorsements to set a new record for bloated powermongering. An effort I salute. Good luck to him/her I say.

There are plans for a new forum layout. You can have your say here.

The Most Glorious Hack put his first ever issue into the game and I am extremely proud. I'm sure he'll make a fine editor.

That's all I can remember for now, but next time I post I should have internet access. And you will get to see a most AWESOME NationStates-related photo. Watch this space...

Hello, 2008

Help! I'm trapped in a snowglobe!

It's another new year for the world, and another new year for NationStates which I assure will be experiencing wonderful new things soon. And yeah, that's about as concrete as I'm going to be for now.

I meant to do some issues during the holidays, but what with one thing and another I simply haven't had the chance. Once I FINALLY get wireless internet at my flat we'll see how things go. I plan to do a number of small things (and one big thing) in regards to the game in the near future. Ooh, it is going to be a GOOD year. I can feel it in my bones.

I have recently been introduced to the joys of MSN Messenger (which gives me an error message whenever I try to use it, so I use Pidgin instead - I've looked up every conceivable way of fixing the error but it never works. Quite irritating.). If anyone wants to talk via that network, my username is JBASiroc@hotmail.co.uk, but please don't e-mail me using that address, use siroccothemod@gmail.com instead.

Merry Christmas Everyone

Many happy returns from the Christmas hippo.

NationStates And Facebook

Having read Max Barry's latest post, it occurred to me for the first time that there would probably be a NationStates group on the site and so how could I not join up? I'm not a big fan of social networking sites as such because I'm too lazy to do much with my profile. Still, it's a good way to keep in touch.

Oh, and happy birthday NationStates! NationStates, as of four days ago, is now a hardy five years old.

In other news, I decided to edit another issue for the game on sheer whimsy and it's finished but for technical reasons I can't put it in quite yet. It should be released sometime within the week.

To conclude, here are the salient Facebooks links for those interested:

NationStates Facebook group: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2204519273
Max Barry Facebook group: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2233898088
My Facebook profile: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=746592156

Still Still Alive

Another photo of my own good self.

Right now I still have no internet access in my flat but when I do I plan to do a number of things to improve NationStates (an honourable goal, I feel).

One: I will add a new feature to the game. I'm not going to say what it is right now because I'd like it to be a surprise.

Two: Add more issues.

So, don't fret! Got plans!

Still Alive

This is a picture of my flat's living room.

Life in Aberdeen is wonderful. My flat is perfect (at least in my mind) and I'm doing a university course on a subject I'm interested in.

But what's been happening with NationStates? Well, I have received news that NSTracker is back with us, and you can visit it by following this link: http://nstracker.jfsoftware.com

I've got to go now, piano practice beckons, so I think I'll leave it there.

To The Deen!

This is a photograph of the Blue Stane which lies just outside the Protestant kirk in Crail. Legend has it that the de'il himself hated the kirk so much that from the Isle of May he picked up a rock and flung it with all his might at the offending building. But in mid-flight the rock broke up and the largest piece fell short of the target. This largest piece is the Blue Stane and it is believed (or at least believed to be believed) that the hollow at the top of the stane was caused by Auld Nick's thumb which can STILL BE SEEN TO THIS VERY DAY...

So, besides the superstitions of my home village, what's up? Well, I can very honestly say that I am incredibly excited because I leave for Aberdeen and my new flat tomorrow! I'll try to update the blog as soon as I'm comfy in my new home, and still too busy to wonder about how I'm going to finance myself without interfering with my studies (ahem: I will accept PayPal at siroccothemod@gmail.com very happily. In return I can... write you a national anthem? That might not be a bad idea actually... hmm...).

Until then: ciao!

Romance In NS General

This is a photo of the North Sea, taken from atop Kilminning Rock.

Two well-known NationStates forum regulars, Allanea and Rejistania, have announced that they're tying the knot which is wonderful and I wish them both the very best. Congratulations!

In other news, even though I promised I would I would get at least one new issue into the game before I headed back to university I have failed to do so, and with the date of departure (24th of August) approaching I am going to be too busy to get it done. But never fear! My new flat has internet access so I should be able to get something in the works after I've settled down. The fact that I have ready access to the internet poses another question however: should I return to my post as moderator? The reason I retired in the first place was because I couldn't access the internet from my room in the accommodation the university gave me. It's a thought worth thinking over and I shall return to it later once I've properly got my slippers by the fireside (or large brown radiator anyway).

Another interesting thing that's cropped up is the current discussion over the diminished number of nations in NationStates. At the time of typing we have 76555 nations which is fairly low, even during the summer months when our players remember there's an outdoors. One result of this is that UN proposals require a lot less support to achieve quorum. The political aftermath of this should be pretty interesting. If you wish to have your say, check out Safalra's thread in the technical forum.

That's all for now. I'll maybe get one last post in tomorrow before I leave for the Deen to say goodbye. Hopefully not for long!

Euroslavia Returns

Yet another edited photo of Kilminning Rock.

Euroslavia, who retired his position as game moderator in April, has announced that he has returned to once again take up his position as a member of the NationStates staff.

Euroslavia originally left so he could focus on his career, namely selling clothes. But eventually he could no longer tolerate his employer who was, it seems, an "emotionless bitch". After leaving his job he was called by both store managers begging for his return, claiming that he was the heart of the store and his colleagues were quitting too, inspired by his departure.

Euroslavia admits to feeling some satisfaction about this.

Asked about his plans for NationStates after coming back into the fold Euroslavia stated "I'm hoping to have new experiences, torturing the peons of NationStates, as well as becoming the NS Mod dictator, and ruling with an iron fist of fury."

Welcome back, Euro!

The Fifth UK NationStates Meet

The picture above is of forum moderator Erastide and former forum and game moderator Tactical Grace. Erastide in front, TG behind.

I myself was sadly unable to attend the meet because it is way too far away. I need more Scots to be interested in these get-togethers damn it! Anyways, there are more photos of the NationStaters who attended to be seen and also an official thread to be read.

If I get wind of more photos I'll be sure to post links here.

Preparations

Another photo of me grimacing into the camera.

I have a lot on my plate right now. I'm going to be moving back to Aberdeen in just over a week which will involve shifting all my things a hundred miles north to the new flat. I'm very excited and cannot wait to be back with all my uni buddies, with a proper housewarming. Lo, I say, there shalt be pizza and films (I'm leaning towards Monty Python and the Holy Grail but I think Ghostbusters might be a good one too). Should be fantastic.

When I came home for the summer my room was being used to store things and I thought I'd be here temporarily so I just dumped my stuff. As it happens, I've been here for a month more than planned so now I'm having to round up all the things that have got spread out, decide what I'm taking and what I'm leaving behind, and on top of that, actually FIND it all under the rubble of miscellaneous junk that was put in my room while I was away at Sidmouth. I'm not sure why they did this as they knew I was coming back. It would appear that my family can only handle the notion that I am either a) here or b) not here - oh look! STORAGE SPACE!

As a result, I'm afraid I will not be able to complete my Cyber Nations article until I'm settled in Aberdeen and also kinda depends on my having internet access in the new flat which is something I'm unsure of. The most I can promise you guys is that I will try to get a new issue out before I head back to the Deen.

Will let you know how things turn out before long, but until then I leave you with this Doctor Who strip which fans may or may not find amusing. If you haven't seen series three yet, don't click it as there are spoilers.

Sidmouth Folk Festival

I'm sorry to say I have no photos of my time in Sidmouth to share with you as my camera is irreperably broken.

I very much enjoyed Sidmouth, the travelling less so. It took me 28 hours to get there due to awkward bus times, and by the time I managed to get some sleep I had become a living zombie, awake for 37 hours. I tried to sleep on the bus, God knows, but it was far too uncomfortable.

I don't really want to go on too much about the festival because I rather doubt anyone reading this will care much. So I'll just condense the experience into these points.

1. England is too hot. I tried my best, but my nose still got sunburned.
2. Almost everyone thought I was Irish for some reason; only two people guessed correctly my Scottish origins.
3. Horny sixteen-year-old English girls love my accent.
4. English ceilidhs are great fun. They're similar enough to Scottish ones for me to fare reasonably well but different enough to confuse the hell out of me. The first one I went to had a very slippery floor and my shoes have little grip. I spent a lot of that one on my arse.
5. The melodeon, though pleasant at first, will slowly drive the non-folkie insane over a week-and-a-half period.
6. Morris dancing is weird. Very weird.
7. I heard/saw a number of musical performances that I enjoyed muchly. Amongst them are: The Spooky Men's Chorale; Toothless Mary; and Whapweasel.
8. When camping in a hot place you ought to definitely invest in a tent with a silvery covering to reflect heat. Waking up every morning felt like being broiled.

Hiatus

I'm going to be away attending an English folk festival (I was invited, OK?) from the 1st of August until the 11th so I'm going to have to put off my discourse on Cyber Nations until afterwards. The folk festival is being held in Sidmouth, Devon. If by some odd chance there are any NationStaters attending and wish to meet, feel free to drop by an e-mail (siroccothemod@gmail.com).

And so I leave you with the arresting image of our cat Otis above. Wish me luck and succour from hairy morris dancers.

Cyber Nations Part One

This is a photo I took of a tree on University of Aberdeen campus.

As you've probably gathered by the title this is going to be the first of a series of posts I'm going to be making about Cyber Nations, a nation-simulation site similar in concept to NationStates.

I'd just like to make it clear at this point that this isn't going to be a review or rant about the site. Cyber Nations has often been viewed as NationStates' strongest 'competitor' if the term could be applied and as such a certain amount of rivalry has amounted between the proponents of either site and I think I may anticipate a certain amount of, ah, bitchiness if I don't portray things accurately enough. I'm just going to mention my observations and discuss the general ethos of the site.

NationStates will be five years old this November while Cyber Nations is a few months shy of its second. I remember when the site launched there was a certain amount of discussion on the NationStates forums about this new game and how it would compare. I confess I didn't have any interest in the site at the time and its much more complex nation management system rather put me off. I've never been much of a video/computer game person but I have watched someone play Civilisation before and that's what instantly comes to mind when I grapple with the micro-management required in Cyber Nations, except it's spread out over months of playing rather than one sitting and obviously has the added complexity of interaction with other players. I didn't really have the patience for that so I left it alone.

Until today. Cybernations has long since passed its early developmental stages and has developed its own devoted following so I decided I'd have another bash at it and record my gameplay and thoughts here for a while until I'd had enough.

I've registered my nation and called it Plijous. The first thing I noticed was just how much more customisable your nation is than on NationStates. You can choose a capital city, a major religion, an ethnicity, name your ruler and even write a small descriptive paragraph about your nation. Technically you can choose a major religion on NationStates through issues but you're pretty much restricted to Roman Catholicism, atheism, and paganism. I'd encourage people to submit an issue concerning that so it can be remedied. Could be pretty awesome I think. None of the rest is available on NationStates though so I enjoyed the extra freedom I had to populate Plijous with Arabian frogs that glow in the dark, all the while enjoying their diverse mixture of religions to which they adhered.

I was asked to choose a nation team, which I believe is the same as a trade alliance (think European Union). All teams have their own identifying colour. Those who do not wish to be in a nation team are independent grey states. There isn't really any equivalent of a nation team in NationStates, as we don't have any in-game mechanics for alliances or trading of any sort, leaving that up to roleplay co-ordinated efforts like GDODAD. The closest we have are regions though nations aren't necessarily allied in them. This may be the same for Cyber Nations, I'm not sure yet. Like NationStates, there's an FAQ page but due to the greater complexity of the game there's huge swathes of text to read through to get an essential understanding of the game.

As well as joining a team you can join an alliance too which seems a little confusing to me but it seems to work.

Wishing to throw myself into the game I decided to join the Yellow team and an alliance called 'We Are Perth Army'. I'd vaguely looked for any NationStates ones but didn't see any nor did I really expect to since there aren't any Cyber Nations regions on NationStates. I eventually joined this alliance while looking for somewhere a Scotsman such as myself could settle in.

I'm probably mixing up steps in the nation creation process but the next thing I did was choose a place on the Cyber Nations world map which looks exactly like a world map of Earth. This quite fascinated me because NationStates doesn't have any maps other than player-created ones. I recall an attempt once to construct a world map but unsurprisingly it fell through. The premise of the Cyber Nations map is simple (and necessarily so). You have the world map and you choose a place on it to be where your nation is, be it in the middle of the Atlantic ocean, clutching to an ice shelf in the Antarctic regions or in the hearts of the major continents. I chose for myself a small island off the north coast of Russia for no especial reason. You can't see where all nations are at any time on the map and with about 35,500 nations I'm sympathetic to that.

Moving on, I was asked whether I wanted to take part in wars or not. I elected to not take part in wars because I wanted my nation to still be standing by the time I'd finished the posts for this blog. Once I've done a few posts I'll activate it and see what the war mechanics are like.

My nation was complete! Hooray! The Benevolent Tim rules his people proudly, the flag of Paraguay flapping softly in the wind and there is nothing to be heard but the distant ribbiting of the nation's biofluorescent frogs. Moderately pleased, I had my first look at my nation page.

The first thing I noticed, and it's quite hard to miss, was the large block of angry red words telling me that my nation's peaceful nature meant I wouldn't make very much money, my nation was overcrowded with 250 people to a square mile, my citizens were rioting, my nation had no infrastructure, and I should have a military to police my people. Whew! I've only just founded Plijous and already it's falling apart.

The second thing I noticed was the sidebar. NationStates has a few links. Ones to your nation, your region, issues, telegrams, the world page, and the United Nations being the important ones. Cyber Nations has about thirty which support various features as collecting taxes, buying land, improving the infrastructure, paying bills, wars, foreign aid, and so much more. This is clearly a much more demanding game than NationStates has ever been but I'm open to new challenges so I looked through them all taking note of what seemed important and what didn't.

The last thing I noticed before trying to immerse myself in the game was the resource box. The resources show what kind of things I can trade with other nations to get more money for improving the nation. All these resources have their own little effects on the populace and the nation. I have to admit that I was almost turned off at this point because as much as I like the human interaction of alliances and such, I'm not such a big fan of the micro-management side of things, the whole SimCity vibe of having to buy and sell to work your way up. My two resources are oil and wine. My dislike for this is purely a personal preference though, and not a negative assessment of the way the game works.

An interesting site to visit is the Cyber Nations wiki which parallels the NationStates wiki that we've come to know ourselves. The differences should be obvious enough for me not to comment but the greater requirement for co-operation in Cyber Nations definitely seems to have helped bolster such a dedicated wiki. I was impressed by what I saw and the wiki's definitely been useful in assessing just how strong the fanbase is for Cyber Nations. Out of curiosity I looked up NationStates which throws up this page. Even to the casual reader it's not difficult to notice a rather scathing tone to the article. I don't want to sound like I'm bitching but I do wish to take issue with some of the assumptions made in it (not the least that bizarrely enough NationStates is referred to in the past tense for a majority of the article).

Most of these larger, complex regions did most of their business on off-site forums, like InvisionFree and others, as the game itself was very limited in capability.

This is a strange comment to make since Cyber Nations does the exact same thing. All the alliances have off-site forums just like NationStates regions.

Eventually, players realized that by 'crashing' a region, and installing a new Delegate, the game could take on characteristics gravely lacking in gameplay such as war, politics, etc.

Asides from the 'gravely' which I'll get back to, I agree that we don't have any official mechanisms in the game for war excepting regional influence. But no politics? That's just wrong all over. Having battled very hard to get my region Lancre off the ground and instill enough patriotic pride in its members to grow the region until it had 50+ members was very difficult. There's no in-game mechanism for encouraging people to join you region, or persuading people to vote you for delegate, or sorting out wrangles between nations in the region who are ideologically opposed. That's all done with words, with diplomacy, and with threats. And that is what politics is.

For a long time, there was speculation that Jolt (who now administers NationStates) would create an expanded version of NationStates. However, despite the rumors, no such sequel ever came into being. Many speculate that no programmer would attempt to create a more complex game for free.

NationStates 2, I can assure you, is still being developed. And it will come. There's a rumour that we might get some more news this Autumn, so there's no need to give up hope quite yet. As for the last sentence in the quote, no one ever said NationStates 2 would be free. Quite the opposite in fact. NationStates 2 when it comes out will cost about US$5-10 (or £2.50 - 5) a month.

With the advent of Cyber Nations, however, and the rise of faster, cheaper, more accessible alternate reality programming, many speculate that NationStates will eventually decline in popularity.

Well that's just bitchy. Right now we're experiencing the usual dip in nations we get everytime it's summer but the rest of the year we do just fine.

Well, that's it for part one. In the next article I'll focus more on the details and have a look at the wider Cyber Nations community and forums.

San Francisco NationStates Meet-Up

From the furthest left to the furthest right:

Mikitivity, BongoConga, Cannot Think Of A Name, Erastide, Raistlin's Apprentice, and Pythagosaurus. Click the picture to get a bigger version.

The official thread for the meet-up is here. There are also more photos to be seen.

I'd have loved to go too but alas, I live thousands of miles away. Seems like everyone had a good time anyway, and that's the important thing.

What Kind Of NationStater Are You? - Take Two

In Aberdeen there's a nightclub called Liquid. One of my flatmates was having a birthday so he took us all there to celebrate. As it was early in the night, there were not many people at the club yet except for the dude in the image above, bopping away all by himself on the dancefloor. Marvellous.

My previous NationStates quiz went down very well, but many complained of its inaccuracy. I therefore present you with the new and improved second edition:

What Kind Of NationStater Are You?

It should be more accurate but feel free to comment (or even better - write your own NationStates quizzes and I'll link them here).

I have got myself a flat at last. It's an excellent two-bed flat with large spacious rooms, a kitchen which is twice the size of the one in my house in Crail, a TV(!), a washing machine, and double beds. I cannot express just how relieved I am to finally be rid of this cloud of uncertainty that's been hanging over me. The flat's on the bottom floor and right next to the entrance which is absolutely fantastic. I don't need to climb any stairs and moving in will be so much simpler. I literally just need to enter the front door and turn left! And the flat's right next (and I mean RIGHT NEXT) to a supermarket too which means I don't have to take an hour getting my groceries like I did at my old place.

The flat is two miles from campus but I don't mind walking, and there's a bus stop right in front of the flat if need be. I couldn't be happier.

It's not a perfect story though - Martin & Co have refused to give me and my friends back our deposit for the house/flat we tried to get for all of us. Considering it was because of Martin & Co's unbelievable behaviour that we couldn't get the place I think this is very unfair. How dare they demand my guarantor's accounts and then say they're not good enough? They shouldn't need them at all. But enough of my bitching. It just means I'm in need of even more money (the deposit was £1200 which is £300 split between the four of us) to survive the next year. It's a right bugger but there doesn't seem to be anything I can do.

New Logo

The results are in from the Create A Logo competition for the blog. The competition was a popular and fierce one; we literally had two entries competing. Very tough. Very difficult. But in the end there could only be one champion.

I have a new logo for the blog courtesy of Il Ruffino whom I thank very much. Consolations go to the second place man (or woman?), Qallegnia whose entry had many winning elements including the ever popular flightless hippo.

In third place comes Zwangzug with his entry which unfortunately didn't reach me by e-mail for some reason.

I chose Il Ruffino's because although it is pretty generic it does fit the black background of the rest of the blog while Qallegnia's faded yellow one was a bit out of place which is a shame because I really liked it.

Here is Qallegnia's entry:



And further credit has to go to Il Ruffino's NationDates logo which is trés cool. I almost wish I did run a dating agency just so I could use it. It is a seriously cool logo. So here it is:



Finally, here is Zwangzug's entry which is very awesome though I must admit a personal distaste for all 'curly' typefaces. A wonderful effort nonetheless.



Again, I applaud all competitors' creativity and I'm sure the logo will do very well until I either get sick of it or someone makes a better one. Thanks again! Should Il Ruffino wish his name to be used as that of a disputant in the next issue he is free to e-mail me.

Strange Issues

I was wandering through the issue list just now when I happened across these bizarre submission. I get lots of weird issues and I don't usually share them on the blog because I do not want to encourage people to submit silly things. But I've decided that for once I'll allow you to dip your toe in my world. I don't really think any comments will do these justice. Read on.

Title: Is half-breathing an option?

Issue: A group of environmental activists has spoken out against exhaling, saying in sign language that it hurts the environment.

Validity: Not valid for nations where breathing is outlawed or impossible.

Option 1: Prominent environmental activist @ @RANDOMNAME@ @ believes that exhaling harms the environment, and he tells you using sign language, "You mean to tell me that people can just exhale whenever and wherever they feel like here in @ @NAME@ @!? That's ridiculous! Do you know how much C02 is released when all of @ @NAME@ @'s population breathes all day and night? That air belongs to mother nature, so let's let mother nature have it, not the remains of it. For the sake of our environment, please outlaw exhaling."
[effect] exhaling has been outlawed to save the environment

Option 2: @@RANDOMNAME@@, the owner of a large tobacco company, calls you on your phone, "Hey, what's all this about not being able to exhale? You know what would happen if we all stopped breathin'! And besides, think about @ @NAME@ @'s economy! It would dry up like water in a desert. Don't do this to me, err, well I mean don't do this to us! Why don't you do somethin' more worth your while? The industrial taxes seem a bit high lately, eh?"

Option 3: An anonymously sent letter was found in your mail today. It says this, "I like breathing! Both parts of it! But I also like the environment. The problem is not just the exhaling though. It's also the breathing in. I suggest that you make special publicly available rooms across @ @NAME@ @ that you can breath legally inside. The air inside will be turned into oxygen and carbon dioxide acording to how many plants and animals are in the country at the time, and then released back into the environment. That way, people can breath sometimes, and it won't hurt the environment. It might hurt the economy ever so slightly, but wouldn't you rather breathe and have trees?
[effect] you cannot breathe in public,there are specific rooms designated for that purpose

Title: Riot against the sun

Issue: A small group have made a riot against the existence of the sun, claiming that it does not or should not in fact exist.

Validity: Not Valid if you don't have a sun or if you don't have a moon.

1. "The sun should not exist! It causes sun burns and without it, there wouldn't be global warming! We would save the environment! We must fire Mars out of a cannon into the sun! We must destroy it!" Shouts Señor Robert Stupido to a large crowd of other rioters.

2. "What kind of ****ing idiocy is this? Without the sun a million plants wouldn't grow! Many species would be extinct if not for the sun! We should strap these idiots to a rocket and fire it at the sun!" Says Flarde Jorben, famous botanist.

3. "I have a genius idea! Instead of destroying the sun we could blow up the moon! Wouldn't that be fun?" Bobby Norem, video gamer.

Title: monsters

Issue: after problems with some sinking ships on your sailing sea with fish boats disapearing the goverment has takern it op to depate

Validity: no special condisions

option:we must do something! sais jefrry aderson the leader of fishing industries. my boats are disapiering outside the coast you must send the navy out to cach hwo ever does this and ecsecute them!

option:you are going to take my ships into the sea for caching wath! skreams admiral byarboton while stiering at you! thats just waste of reacources think
of the cost if we dont cach anything,or if the rumors that the shipreck serviver told os are true,and there is a sea monster out there he call it important i call it redicules

Title: [none]

Issue: Cows have begun parachuting into your country with large signs on their backs that read "Eat mor chikin". They continue coming in larger and larger numbers and seem to be overpopulating your country. The cow population is booming. You must do something quickly.

Validity: Not valid for nations with compulsory vegetarianism.

1. Jay Unospio, Animal Rights Activist, says:"I believe these cows should be allowed to roam free in our country, as they were here first. We should also listen to their holy message and eat more chiken."

2. Kill M. All, Government Member, says: "Kill them all. KILL THEM! I think we should immediatley kill off all these nuisancse cows. It would boost our meat economy as well as clear up our country."

3. Chuck VanSquiezum, Street Bum, says: "We should capture the cows and use their foot power to power our nations' homes. Hail the cow!"

Title: Should people kick others?

Issue: A group kicked individuals have been kicked around my kickers who play in soccer and other foot sports.

Validity: Not valid for nations with good economy.

"We should stop these fools!" yells angry protester bada-bing. "We should ban all sports immediatley!!!"

"Are you kidding? Sports are very important to the economy!" replies Joe Slate, a famous soccer player. "We should throw these guys out!"

"This gave me a idea." says four-star general Patton. "We could use a kicking army for later wars so why not, huh?"

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]

--

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.

--

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.

--

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?

--

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.

--

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]

--

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!

--

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

--

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.