Post Archive

Okay! I kinda realized that after I had said 6.5K seemed reasonable it might be reasonable for me to reach because I've got a lot of time and I have been a part of the game for a bit but because of new players it might not be possible to as a region reach that as an average.

Is the SC Resolution supposed to be some kind of joke? From what I can see, Psychotic Dictatorships is a roleplaying server that doesn't even interact with the world stage often. They did raid, but if you believe them, it was in retaliation for being raided.

Are you saying that some people didn't even read the resolution?

Because I come to my conclusions on resolutions by reading them, then I look at the debate forums to check the facts and the actual regions.

But you only had to read like, two paragraphs in to figure this one out.

What time is it for you now? You always seem to be up. It's 10:12 pm for me.

Same, except usually when I stay up, it's because I'm reading something. It's a good thing I still have access to my schools' digital library because I read all the books at my house in the first week of quarantine.

Hey there!

So, as it turns out, Psychotic Dictatorships (the region which is the target of the condemnation) is a satirical region - that is, a region founded the exaggerates the point they're making fun of - in this case, it's overly despotic dictatorships which oppress their people. They have been doing this for more than a decade - an inordinate amount of time to be doing something like this. As such, I figured they probably deserved recognition for what they're doing.

If you'll note, all of the things mentioned in the proposal are actual things that go on in the region - Samantha-Higgs is actually the root of the story I told - albeit it's more complex than the brief excerpt I put in - and Menta Lee-IL actually says that they would like it if people called them "HE WITH THE FEET THAT SMELL OF THE FINEST ROSES AND COLOGNES EVER CREATED." Of course it's satire. It's a proposal that I intentionally made funny in order to highlight the funny nature of the region.

Condemnations do not inherently mean that the region is bad OOC - that goes against the point of them - they're a badge of honor. This is why nations who harbor fascists OOC do not receive condemnations - because they do not deserve them. Nations and regions that go above-and-beyond in terms of roleplay do deserve recognition, either in the form of condemnation or a commendation. The fact that Psychotic Dictatorships is a satirical region doesn't negate the fact that they have, in fact, gone above and beyond in their roleplay. They deserve a condemnation regardless of what form it comes in, but I feel that giving them a condemnation that glosses over the inherent silliness of the region would be a great disservice to the region and those who inhabit it.

Other jokes I put in there (this is not a complete list, but it is some of the funnier ones, in my opinion):

"this most august and well-endowed Security Council"

"Detesting the existence of deplorable, despicable, disagreeable, diabolical, and all-around dastardly dominions in the world"

"best efforts of the influential and mighty nations of the world"

"while it can oftentimes be difficult to isolate a singularly crazed individual a place so filled to the brim with psychopathic individuals, it is also quite possible to discern the person behind the lunacy"

"despite the undeniable goodness that the World Assembly brings to the world at large on all accounts"

"Unnerved by the excessive use of exclamation marks in the region, including in regional doctrine and public documents"

"And unhinged by the fact that "BEING A PONY NATION" results in removal from the region, a rule that is completely out of place and totally unfair"

-

EDIT: This is also a response to those claiming that they shouldn't be condemned because they separate their IC roleplay from their OOC selves - that's exactly the reason they should be condemned. A condemnation is a badge of honor - we don't want to reward players who are actually bad people.

Thanks for dropping in Morover, you put it better than I could.

Regarding:

Simply put, because that's not the IC style of that region. It's worth reiterating that things passed in the Security Council as far as commendations or condemnations go are no different from one another. They're used as instruments to celebrate players or regions who have done excellently in terms of their roleplay on NationStates, usually through great accomplishments or great consistency/stability over long periods of time. Because of the nature of that concept, where it regards players or regions that have been around a lot longer, jokes are fine and hat-tips to events that have happened in the past.

Almost all the time, they are done with the permission of the target to see if they would be comfortable with the award and if a commendation or condemnation would be more to their liking, if it wasn't obvious. Ultimately, the SC is far less intense and keen to take itself seriously than the GA where everything passed is written as IC law - the SC aims to tell a good story. This resolution is passing, not because people didn't read it, but because it is a proposal that targeted a region that people enjoy and presented its case decently enough to be permanently recorded.

So, knowing my above paragraphs, the reason CCD does not have a condemnation and it will never have a condemnation, is because we don't want to give them that award for being Nazis, OOC. What we've ended up doing is *liberating* them, in this case a sort of condemnation with teeth that says "If your founder ever gets deleted, we are ready and waiting to raid and refound your region. Certainly we don't want to reward bad OOC behaviour, but we have expressed our disappointment with this OOC game mechanic.

Of course! And thank you for helping out - I've gotten quite a few messages regarding similar subjects, and it can be difficult to explain, but I'm more than happy to do it.

Frankly, because a commendation wouldn't work for them. They're being recognized for doing an incredible job at being the bad guys - something that roleplay condemnations have always been used for. While it is applauding their satirical achievements, it's specifically applauding their satire of being evil - as is the intention of the region. While less based in humor, check out my other Security Council condemnation - Condemn Tinfect. While it takes itself much more seriously than the at-vote proposal, it is based on the same premise - Tinfect has done an exceptional job at roleplaying as evil.

To commend Psychotic Dictatorships would be to say "You've done an awesome job at roleplaying as a kind, benevolent region!", which is how RP commendations have been for a while now. I understand why it may make sense to commend them for their exceptional roleplay, but it is important to keep in mind that all Security Council resolutions are in-character. To them, Psychotic Dictatorships does everything they claim to do. What I did was condemn the region, as the Security Council would do if it was a real organization commending/condemning real-life entities, but through humor, I referred to their OOC satire as being the root cause of the condemnation and why it's so significant.

It should be noted that, while other dictatorial regions may do a better job of being "pure evil" or however you want to put it, they fail to pass OOC checks that tend to be in place within the Security Council and the World Assembly as a whole - this is the biggest difference between the Security Council as an in-game organization vs the Security Council as a real-life organization. Whereas some notoriously fascist regions would be condemned by a real-life equivalent of the Security Council, we as players should not condemn them in-game due to the lack of distinction between real fascism and in-game fascism. Fascism is, of course, deplorable, and should be condemned. However, as all Security Council related actions are strictly in-character (this also extends to activities such as region-building and raiding/defending, as raiders should be condemned if they're exceptional at raiding, but they should not be condemned without consideration of their OOC character. A raider receiving a condemnation is significant as it congratulates them for being "bad" - as raiding is deemed a "bad" thing - and being good enough at being "bad" that they warrant official recognition. The same is true for roleplayers, and, in the case of PD, satirists), it's a judgment of the work of the creators - and, in some cases, regardless of the quality of the work, some creators should not be recognized.

For a real-life example, imagine there's some incredible actor who is widely considered one of the best around. Then, shortly before the Oscars that year, it comes out that the actor is a horrible sexual predator. Even if the actor was nominated for countless awards, and they without a doubt deserved to win all of them from a standpoint that strictly considers quality, they still wouldn't win the award, as they're a terrible person. It's similar in the Security Council.

And, uh, it looks like I've gone off on a tangent. Well, it may be an interesting read to some, so I'll leave it up.

Hope I helped in some way!

Welcome back to school, for all of you just coming back to school, for those of you who are in school, otherwise nevermind.

I would like to offer again to send out a link to the regional government revision collab doc thing. If any member state is here who might be interested in putting in their two cents on the subject, send me a telegram here or on Refuge Isle for the link.

Welcome Goldstone! How did you find us and also how are you today? :)

Hello Sylh Alanor, Melenavenia and all of this region! I am just looking for some regions out there, where I can fit and I really like your region flag of Refugia, it's flagtastic :) I am doing fine, today I will declare independence from Plakkia! My mother language is not English but I will try as best I can to communicate ;)

Thank you Sylh Alanor for those words. I am here still quite new here. Your flag does look awesome! I hope she got some macaroni :) !

After doing cards so much, I'm pretty much used to seeing issues at this point, except for the newer ones that have come out in the last year. And that gives me an idea about their stats, which is mostly what I'm interested in these days. So from a stats perspective, I kinda check what has a guaranteed chance, or at least high chance of doing something good without bringing something else down, which means I dismiss two to three of the five a day because they just don't have any option that would do anything good.

From an IC perspective, like I know the issues are written by their authors, but there's a handful of editors that I just profoundly disagree with and let in all manner of garbo. And it's been pointed out to me that the issues are satire, and that's well and good. But there's a lot of issues that make "ironic" jokes that degrade women and sexual minorities that the army of 14 year olds playing this game are keen to add into their unironic world views. So in my recruitment telegrams in the past, I've just written in "hey NS is a problematic political sim, but it's possible to come up with better stuff within it" :P

I did the same thing! I have a couple previous accounts that were testing the waters before I became comfortable with the game and made this one.

Basically it's what Karen Matheson said. Every time I see CWA editing an issue, I know it's going to be insulting to me in some way. It's really awful how many of the issues are just tailored to antagonise minorities (my go-to is every gay issue having the pro-gay side wearing a feather boa and saying the word "fabulous", or the only mention of a non-binary person wearing a tuxedo top and a skirt).

I know it’s a bit late, but I'm happy to see Refugia still kicking. Sometimes it takes a few tries to get it right. As always, if you need anything from the New West Indies, don't hesitate to ask. :)

In other news, here's what we've been up to in April:

https://issuu.com/nwipresscorps/docs/nwi_monthly_update_-_april

*no good reason

I'm voting against condemning Auphelia because they voted for getting condemned themselves and both the author and Auphelia are members of the same region (The South Pacific) with the author, Aumeltopia, being the delegate of it. It seems suspicious and a ploy to try and get Auphelia the badge and that is it.

Hi everyone, just wanna introduce myself real quick, I'm Kava. Hope you're all doing good!

Switched nations real quick, gotta make sure I'm here with the one that has the highest environmental stats :)

I understand and I am learning more and more about the customs of NS everyday, okay?

Nah you're right, sometimes the stingers at the end of issues are highly problematic. The issues in general are meant to be "all options are bad" and "the outcome is never what you intend" but sometimes I think it goes too far and loses sight of social responsibility. There are a lot of people who are young and legitimately influenced by media like this, so they could be unironically adopting some of these ideologies.

Good work!

For me, when the one-line text says something rude or borderline bigoted, i just lean into it. Like, if i got a gay rights issue and the final text was "drag queens teach pre-school children to dance", in my head I'm basically saying "Yes" like the nordic gamer meme. It helps to pass some joke issues too, for example piracy is legal in UwUsberg. That way you get used to accepting absurd outcomes and it's less frustrating when "the feminists take over" or whatever.

Hey everyone! I'm putting out one more request for people who are interested in helping us revamp the Revised Statutes. If you're a member state who's interested, post here or send me a telegram and I'll get you a link to the google doc Refuge Isle made. So far we're working on outlining new regional officers, but eventually I hope to take a look at everything in the document and find how it fits into any grand new designs we might collectively have for Refugia.

I hope you're all doing well <3

Welcome Wasc! Wascoitan In Refugia

Nice to have you here :)

Yes, welcome to our warm crevice

I've pushed an update to the regional map to include Goldstone, spam F5 to update if you are on a cached version.

https://www.nationstates.net/page=dispatch/id=1287372

Looks like I missed the city name, so it has the automatically generated one. I will edit this and publish the correct name with the next map update since it's a bit of a cumbersome process.

I know it's a turn of phrase (or boats) but I'm imagining your nation works like either A) Hal's moving castle B) mortal engines or C) the flying cocktail party from HHGttG

hi

How do you mean? Is this the issue with ads on buses? Because I always choose to put more funding in public transportation for that one and ban all ads from buses.

*meows obnoxiously in the chat*

I'd like to think of it as highly hygienic!

https://www.nationstates.net/page=dispatch/id=1287372

Alas, Mars-Miners who has not been seen in several months, has been been removed from the regional map and there are no longer any traces of Terranians or adherents of the Temple of Sun and Ice. Additionally, Melenavenia's expansion claim has been processed, and a new map has been published with a high degree of accuracy (higher than 40%)

ctrl+F5 to clear your cached versions.

The Mars-Miners don't show up for me. Did you try closing the tab and reopening it?

It works now! Thank you Refuge and Emily!

Welcome back Athidill!

I made this bulletin to track my environmental progress. I was curious to hear any feedback anyone might have on it such as suggestions for improvement and of course positive feedback (because that is always nice). Also as a little side bit if any of you would care to provide any suggestions on how to make these factbooks and dispatches look better would also greatly be appreciated!

The bulletin:https://www.nationstates.net/page=dispatch/id=1378274

I'm 13 points away from joining you.

Aww, hi Saka <3

Hi friend!

I find it annoying that a lot of the issues seem to act like my country has similar origins to that of the United States of America by having a bunch of natives who are always rightfully fighting to make sure their native lands and sites aren't destroyed by urbanization or tourist traps or something like that. In my country (lore wise) the majority of people are native people, similar to how in real life the majority of non-colonized areas have people (who at least identify) as being native to their country.

Oh and I am editing this message because literally just after this message I joined the 1.5K environmental beauty club.

Honestly, I think that some of the older issues should be sorted out or at least redefined to only apply under tighter circumstances.

But I also know that's controversial XD

Well, I'll be off soon. It was nice to stay here for the past week, but just like any other nomad, I'll be off to visit other regions. I wish for the best for this region. Goodbye everyone.

Goodbye and happy travels.

Welcome 0Dd and New Fulka! Also, thanks for the endorsement New Fulka. :)

The best approximation I can give is that while the goal of preventing cockfighting/dogfighting is admirable, the proposal goes about doing so in odd ways with unintended consequences, loopholes, and toothless clauses. No pun intended.

"Sports" where the aim is to kill an opponent, even with their consent, would be banned. For nations that value things like duels or some form of trial by combat, it would not be permitted. There is some resentment of the idea of leaving it to the World Assembly to decide which sports are too bloody for a country to do on their own time.

Further, it only restricts such sports where the aim is to kill an opponent which therefore excludes all forms of blood sport where it could be argued that it was not the aim or primary goal, regardless of how often an opponent was killed.

Finally, a third of all clauses (as there are only six) are "Encourages," which doesn't compel or require member states to do either of those things, which is a very optimistic aspiration in a legal text about definitively banning bloodsports, presumably aimed at countries who don't want to do those things already.

Hi, welcome to Refugia

*provides cookies*

Would you like some tea to go along with the cookies?

I'm protesting tomorrow. It's going to be a full week since George Floyd was murdered and I want to be out there, but I'm going to avoid the night.