[Game-On] Nationstates!

Raslin

Ever felt the urge to randomly oppress groups of your nation? Want the citizens of a nation to bow to your every whim? Or, maybe, just maybe, you want to lead a democratic state into an era of peace, tranquility, and prosperity?

www.nationstates.net is for you! Created by Max Berry in late '02, Nationstates was created to promote his (then) new book, Jennifer Government.

What's this all about?

The game itself is quite basic. You create a nation, based off some questions the site asks you. You select a title for your country, what currency you want, flag, etc. And there you have it, you now own a nation!

That's great! Now what?

Well, now you're some podunk little nation, 5 million people large, on some island in the pacific. Every once in a while, you get issues. These are political issues in your country that you can decide on, which will shape your country. You can be a nation of great political and civil rights, an oppressive nation where all the citizens bend to your will, or any combination of these.

5 million people? I see nations in the Billions! What gives. raslin?

You gain population over time, provided you log in once in a while(so your nation doesn't become inactive).

Ok, I have my own nation, I've answered some issues, and gain a little population. Is there anything else I can do? This seems boring.

Of course! You can join different regions. You can join the UN, if you please. But what most people are really interested in, is the forums.

The forums make up an open-ended roleplay, where you can find everything from wars, and natural disasters, to soccer tournaments and infrastructure building.

Things will probably seem confusing at first, or at least a lot to understand. Just read some threads on the International Incidents forum, as well as the Nationstates forum. Read the stickies. If you need any help, send me a message. I've been around since the beginning, so I can help you with your nation. Also, I can help you IC if you need anything, as I'm a fairly big nation(8.7b people, one of the largest).

Send me a message

www.nationstates.net/chellis

core tactic

Apparently I was nuked or something, because "The holy empire of Xephym no longer exists."

Raslin

core tactic wrote:

Apparently I was nuked or something, because "The holy empire of Xephym no longer exists."

Were you inactive for a while? If so, you can petition a mod to get your nation revived(or I could do it for you, I'm a regular on the IRC channel)

core tactic

Nah, I really don't care it sank into the ocean or something. I was kind of playing on and off and eventually just forgot about it.

Kane Red Robe

I play, sort of. In all honesty I'm a member of an RP region that uses the NS nations for military stats, but we're trying to move away from NS because it sucks for that sort of thing. But for the moment you can find me in the Western Europe region, name is Solysp.

JWFokker

I do the decision making thing a couple times a day, but I don't like the roleplaying bit. RPers are weird. I find Cybernations potential for war and trading and nation development much more enjoyable, but I wish they had more decision making stuff ala Nationstates. I like to enact policies and govern my nation how I see fit.

Rohan

core tactic wrote:

Nah, I really don't care it sank into the ocean or something. I was kind of playing on and off and eventually just forgot about it.

That's what happened to me. I used to start this game every few months and play again, but I'd just get bored, and my nation would be deleted for inactivity. Cyber Nations, on the other hand...

Couscous

Rohan wrote:

core tactic wrote:

Nah, I really don't care it sank into the ocean or something. I was kind of playing on and off and eventually just forgot about it.

That's what happened to me. I used to start this game every few months and play again, but I'd just get bored, and my nation would be deleted for inactivity. Cyber Nations, on the other hand...

My nation on Cybernations is Nukehavistan. I still don't have nukes so my name is a lie.

Rohan

titmouse wrote:

Rohan wrote:

core tactic wrote:

Nah, I really don't care it sank into the ocean or something. I was kind of playing on and off and eventually just forgot about it.

That's what happened to me. I used to start this game every few months and play again, but I'd just get bored, and my nation would be deleted for inactivity. Cyber Nations, on the other hand...

My nation on Cybernations is Nukehavistan. I still don't have nukes so my name is a lie.

I'm getting close to have the ability to buy nukes :twisted:

I was in the recent war as a member of Nordreich, itself the last alliance to join the Initiative to fight the League. We've destroyed our enemy alliances, ODS and LSF, and while there's peace now, LUE has been ousted from the League for not agreeing to the peace terms. So right now, they're being annihilated, too. My nation is Ossetia.

Six

I played this years ago, sometime in th fall of 2003 I think. It was interesting for a while, but those forums (where really the met of the game is) became such a hive of idiocy that it wasn't worth playing after a while.

Very cool concept, though, and I always thought taking the base of it and fleshing it out in to a bigger game could make for something really great.

WotanAnubis

I used to play it for a while, until my nation practically maxed out in civil rights and liberties and the income tax was 100%.

I let it slide when I realised my nation wasn't going to develop in any other direction any more.

IAmSoKawaii

I just signed up, The United Socialist States of Ionesia is on the rise!

Pata

This was cool for a while.

However, it's far to simplistic.

xzzy

JWFokker wrote:

I do the decision making thing a couple times a day, but I don't like the roleplaying bit. RPers are weird. I find Cybernations potential for war and trading and nation development much more enjoyable, but I wish they had more decision making stuff ala Nationstates. I like to enact policies and govern my nation how I see fit.

I've always wanted to make a game like this. Using tried-and-true web based interfaces it's well within my programming capacity, and I even started the project with a prototype at one point.

But the logistics of programming a workable economy, doctrine, and warfare quickly overwhelmed me. I even had a sort of design document, but when I tried to turn it into numbers and values, it kind of fell apart.

Is something I think about fairly regularily, I think it would be great fun to play with a couple dozen people.

JWFokker

Cybernations is slowly doing it. Now there's a weekly event that affects some things, but it's quite shallow compared to Nationstates. Though I do like that it tells you what the impact will be. Nationstates is like shooting in the dark as to what the decision will cause, which is fucking unrealistic if you ask me.

MiSTieOtaku

JWFokker wrote:

Cybernations is slowly doing it. Now there's a weekly event that affects some things, but it's quite shallow compared to Nationstates. Though I do like that it tells you what the impact will be. Nationstates is like shooting in the dark as to what the decision will cause, which is fucking unrealistic if you ask me.

The effects aren't entirely impossible to predict. Basically, any decision you make will be taken to the extreme by the populace. So, take for example the initiative to teach the nation's youth martial arts to keep them off the streets. If you vote for it, then basically all teenagers in your nation can kill a man with their bare hands.

JWFokker

Its just kind of obnoxious there are no centrist choices. You can't really rule your country the way you want even if you've set up a totalitarian government.

wavecutter

My nation state is a benchmark of civil rights. Crime is totally unknown and we have a complete lack of prisons. Unus Pro Totus.

Pata

Basicly every country ends up as either a anarcho-captalist sesspool or a totalitarion socialist state that looks very nice.

bernbaum

This had a lot of promise, but got boring and repetitive far too quickly. It would have been great if there was more flexibility in chosing you policies after you got your population really high, but the same old tired policy choices didn't take long to reappear.

Played it, then promptly forgot it.

Tigress

Boudica is located in the Darkest Corners of the Mind. We are a happy, smart, nice nation with a beautiful environment and no money.

And we want pie.

Jragghen

Rohan wrote:

titmouse wrote:

Rohan wrote:

core tactic wrote:

Nah, I really don't care it sank into the ocean or something. I was kind of playing on and off and eventually just forgot about it.

That's what happened to me. I used to start this game every few months and play again, but I'd just get bored, and my nation would be deleted for inactivity. Cyber Nations, on the other hand...

My nation on Cybernations is Nukehavistan. I still don't have nukes so my name is a lie.

I'm getting close to have the ability to buy nukes :twisted:

I was in the recent war as a member of Nordreich, itself the last alliance to join the Initiative to fight the League. We've destroyed our enemy alliances, ODS and LSF, and while there's peace now, LUE has been ousted from the League for not agreeing to the peace terms. So right now, they're being annihilated, too. My nation is Ossetia.

One of my co-workers broke the nuke barrier yesterday, if he had uranium as a trade resource. I'm *looks at his ranking* less than a week away, give or take. I could jump my ranking by buying military if I really cared to, but I don't have uranium either.

Also, the only winner in that war was the neutrals. Note that I'm in the Leigon



But DAMN did LUE take a spanking.

kaliyama

I recommend you all read Jennifer Gov't - it's a good book.

Kane Red Robe

xzzy wrote:

JWFokker wrote:

I do the decision making thing a couple times a day, but I don't like the roleplaying bit. RPers are weird. I find Cybernations potential for war and trading and nation development much more enjoyable, but I wish they had more decision making stuff ala Nationstates. I like to enact policies and govern my nation how I see fit.

I've always wanted to make a game like this. Using tried-and-true web based interfaces it's well within my programming capacity, and I even started the project with a prototype at one point.

But the logistics of programming a workable economy, doctrine, and warfare quickly overwhelmed me. I even had a sort of design document, but when I tried to turn it into numbers and values, it kind of fell apart.

Is something I think about fairly regularily, I think it would be great fun to play with a couple dozen people.

Friend of mine thought the same thing, he's been working on his own little political-economic thing for a while now. Called Gotnation if you want to take a look. I think he still has a ways to go before he's out of beta testing, but I doubt he'll mind more people signing up to test.

Rohan

Jragghen wrote:

Rohan wrote:

titmouse wrote:

Rohan wrote:

core tactic wrote:

Nah, I really don't care it sank into the ocean or something. I was kind of playing on and off and eventually just forgot about it.

That's what happened to me. I used to start this game every few months and play again, but I'd just get bored, and my nation would be deleted for inactivity. Cyber Nations, on the other hand...

My nation on Cybernations is Nukehavistan. I still don't have nukes so my name is a lie.

I'm getting close to have the ability to buy nukes :twisted:

I was in the recent war as a member of Nordreich, itself the last alliance to join the Initiative to fight the League. We've destroyed our enemy alliances, ODS and LSF, and while there's peace now, LUE has been ousted from the League for not agreeing to the peace terms. So right now, they're being annihilated, too. My nation is Ossetia.

One of my co-workers broke the nuke barrier yesterday, if he had uranium as a trade resource. I'm *looks at his ranking* less than a week away, give or take. I could jump my ranking by buying military if I really cared to, but I don't have uranium either.

Also, the only winner in that war was the neutrals. Note that I'm in the Leigon



But DAMN did LUE take a spanking.

Yeah, heh, the neutral parties benefitted from their neutralness as the Initiative and League tore each other apart. As GATO was a part of the League I was afraid the Legion would be dragged into it - and just as Nordreich's entry into the war helped seal the League's fate, so too would be the Initiative's if the Legion joined with it's 1,000+ members.

But you stayed out of it! And we continue to tear LUE apart \o/