Nationstates Index
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A place to put national factbooks, embassy exchanges, and other information regarding the nations of the world. [In character]- 46312 Topics
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Tue Apr 21, 2020 9:01 pm
Where nations come together and discuss matters of varying degrees of importance. [In character]- 21074 Topics
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A staging-point for declarations of war and other major diplomatic events. [In character]- 68779 Topics
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A meeting place where national storefronts can tout their wares and discuss trade. [In character]- 20227 Topics
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Tue Apr 21, 2020 8:46 pm
A battle ground for the sportsmen and women of nations worldwide. [In character]- 7163 Topics
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NationStates is a multiplayer government simulation browser game. It was created by Max Barry and was publicly released on 18 February 2003, based loosely on his novel Jennifer Government. Barry founded the site as an independent vehicle publicising the book one week before its release. Boson x download mac.
Where WA members debate how to improve the world, one resolution at a time.- 8805 Topics
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A chamber dedicated to the dissemination of inter-regional peace and goodwill, via force if necessary.- 2877 Topics
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A carefully preserved record of the most notable World Assembly debates.- 1154 Topics
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Wed Mar 11, 2020 6:27 pm
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Talk about regional management and politics, raider/defender gameplay, and other game-related matters.
Not a roleplaying forum.- 13964 Topics
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Tue Apr 21, 2020 8:59 pm
A place to spoil daily issues for those who haven't had them yet, snigger at typos, and discuss ideas for new ones.- 8952 Topics
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Bug reports, general help, ideas for improvements, and questions about how things are meant to work.- 17237 Topics
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Tue Apr 21, 2020 9:02 pm
Who needs it, who got it, who hands it out and why.- 45847 Topics
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For discussion and debate about anything. (Not a roleplay related forum; out-of-character commentary only.)- 61616 Topics
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Tue Apr 21, 2020 9:06 pm
A coffee shop for those who like to discuss art, music, books, movies, TV, each other's own works, and existential angst.- 6822 Topics
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For all of your non-Nationstates related roleplaying needs!- 21727 Topics
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Tue Apr 21, 2020 8:58 pm
The place to relax, unwind, share a joke, and generally goof off.- 196 Topics
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Tue Apr 21, 2020 9:06 pm
The place to wheel and deal, talk shop, and build up your dream deck!- 1009 Topics
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Tue Apr 21, 2020 8:34 pm
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A resting-place for threads that might have otherwise been lost.- 4279 Topics
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| Government simulation game | |
| Owner | Max Barry |
|---|---|
| Created by | Max Barry |
| Revenue | From advertising, paid premium memberships and encouraged book sales |
| URL | nationstates.net |
| Alexa rank | 29,540 (January 2020)[1] |
| Commercial | Yes |
| Registration | Yes |
| Launched | 13 November 2002 |
| Current status | Active |
NationStates is a multiplayer government simulationbrowser game. It was created by Max Barry and was publicly released on 13 November 2002,[2] based loosely on his novel Jennifer Government.[3] Barry founded the site as an independent vehicle publicising the book one week before its release.[3] The site continues to promote books written by Barry, but has developed to be a sizeable online community, with over 6.5 million user-created nations having been founded, around 170,000 of which are active.[4]
Influence[edit]
In an interview, Max Barry said the influence for the game began with a questionnaire he took: 'NationStates was influenced by a little political quiz I did once, where you answer a bunch of multiple-choice questions and have your politics categorised. .. It was fun, but I also wanted to see what kind of country my policies created, and have to deal with the consequences.'[5]
Gameplay[edit]
'Issues' gaming[edit]
Players set up their nation by answering a short questionnaire about their intentions for its economy, civil rights and political freedoms,[6] giving it a name,[7] a flag from current countries and territories or their own custom one, a national animal, a currency, and an official motto.[6] The player's response to the initial questionnaire defines the type of government they are running,[8] though it can change over time as players answer 'issues' within the game.
Webosaurs login. Play Webosaurs - T-Rex, Dinosaurs and Kids rule the Island. Earn coins to buy armor, pets, and gear for your cave. Welcome to Webosaurs Wiki! The Community Portal is where this wiki community comes together to organize and discuss projects for the wiki. To see the most recent discussions, click the Discussion tab above. You can find out more general information about the wiki on the About page.
Gameplay hinges on deciding government policies: Multiple times each day the player is presented with an automatically assigned 'issue',[8] such as choosing whether to allow a right-wing protest march, or dealing with food shortages in their country.[6] The player chooses a government stance from a list of options, or may choose to dismiss the problem. Each action or inaction affects the prosperity of the player's country, and may have unforeseen effects. For instance, granting greater political freedom may lead to more civil unrest.[6] Some issues are written by the game's developers, while others are submitted by players with in-game 'populations' of 50,000,000 or greater.[9] For the first 30 days of a nation's existence, only game-created issues can be answered, but after that period any approved issue can be answered.[8] The player's responses to issues affect the nation's status in three main factors: the level of Political Freedoms and Civil Rights and the strength of the Economy.[8]
Based on the nation's civil, economic and political freedoms, the nation is assigned to one of 27 government types,[8] from Anarchy, to Inoffensive Centrist Democracy, to Psychotic Dictatorship. Although there is no way of 'winning' the game, daily 'World Census reports' are compiled for each region and the entire world, ranking nations on anything from economic strength to the most liberal public nudity laws.[8]
As of 27 March 2020, there are now 1,319 different issues that nations can be confronted with.[10]
Raiding/defending gameplay[edit]
Outside the basic technical parameters of nation play, players can also move freely between regions, and use their status to 'endorse' each other, making one of them a regional World Assembly Delegate, a tactic commonly called 'raiding'. Raiding sometimes, depending on the regional settings, gives the invaders power over regional appearance, border control, and 'embassies' with other regions, among other powers.[11] Certain regions, such as the Black Hawks,[12] exist to do this, leading to the rise of other, 'defending' regions who seek to prevent raiders from doing so, such as The Order of the Grey Wardens and 10000 Islands.
Regions[edit]
A region is defined as a group of nations which come together in order to interact. They do this on a Regional Message Board, which functions much like a chat room, or on regional offsite forums, through groups such as xenForo and Discord. Furthermore, many regions, particularly larger ones, have 'regional governments', which involve themselves in the World Assembly, in inter-regional gameplay, and domestic regional affairs. Some of these regions, such as The North Pacific,[13][better source needed] have adopted democratic governmental models, while others, such as Lazarus, opt for anarchy or other forms of regional government.
New nations appear in one of five main game regions (known in the game as 'feeders') located in the NationStates version of the Pacific Ocean (The East, West, North, South and the Pacific), but nations are able to move to other regions, or create their own. Nations that remain inactive and are resurrected are put into three 'sinker' regions called Osiris, Balder, and Lazarus, all named after characters that purportedly rose from the dead. Nations ejected or banned from a region are moved to a region known as 'The Rejected Realms'.
The World Assembly[edit]
The World Assembly is an international law-making body within NationStates, in which players may submit resolutions that, if they garner enough approvals from regional World Assembly Delegates, reach a vote among all members of the organization (membership is voluntary). These resolutions, some of which are drafted on the forums, have covered a range of international issues, such as human rights and environmental protection, usually written in a format similar to that in a Model United Nations resolution.[13][better source needed]
Involvement in the World Assembly has led to an argument among nations as to the merits of national Sovereignty as opposed to the World Federalist Movement (also called International Federalism), which has the power to make binding laws over its member nations. One example of these contentious resolutions was 'Reproductive Freedoms', which requires member nations to legalize abortion.[13][better source needed] Another example of the contention is the recent attempted Commend and Condemnation of Cormactopia Prime, a controversial nation that was viciously dunked on by thousands of other players in the process.[14]
Players may have multiple nations (contributing to the active nation count), but only one nation may be a member of the World Assembly.
Reception[edit]
Critical reception[edit]
Jay Is Games's Jerrad praised the game stating 'The real beauty in this game is that it's accessible on so many levels.'[15] In the 2008 book The Video Game Theory Reader 2, Lars Konzack critiqued that it promoted libertarianism but says 'open to experimentation and reflection on politics rather than being merely political propaganda. It becomes a philosophical game in which the player is invited to become part of an examination of political ideas. This game takes advantage of the potential in games to truly put the player in control and let him reflect on his own decisions, investigating political theory turned into meaningful game aesthetics.'[16] In the 2008 book The Art and Science of Interface and Interaction Design, Volume 1, C. Paul said NationStates 'is an interesting take on the interplay of freedom and control (and governance without government)'.[8]ProgrammableWeb's Kevin Sundstrom listed NationStates among the 30 New APIs remarking its application programming interface 'provides a developer interface for automate game world data collection'.[17]
Popularity[edit]
The game attracted a thousand nations within two weeks, and had 20,700 by the end of the first year.[6] Barry was surprised by the popularity of the game, and saw its discussion forums developing into an arena for political debate.[6] He was impressed by some of the activity in the forums, relating how 'One nation accused another of conducting secret missile tests and posted photos to prove it. That escalated into an international crisis that was only solved by sending in teams of independent weapons inspectors'.[3]
United Nations incident[edit]
In 2008, Barry received a cease and desist order from the United Nations for using the UN name and logo for the international ruling body on the website. In response, he removed the logo and changed the name to the World Assembly on 1 April,[18] which many initially took as one of Barry's annual April Fool's Day jokes.
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^'Nationstates.net Site Info'. Alexa Internet. Retrieved 2020-01-28.
- ^Barry, Max (13 November 2004). 'NationStates is 2!'. NationStates News. Retrieved 25 June 2017.
- ^ abcO'Connell, Pamela Licalzi (16 January 2003). 'ONLINE DIARY'. The New York Times. p. 3. Retrieved 30 June 2011.
- ^'NationStates'. NationStates. Retrieved 15 December 2019.
- ^Jody Ewing (16 January 2003). 'Young author's new book 'Jennifer Government' Headed for Big Screen'. JodyEwing.com. Siouxland Weekender. Retrieved 2017-01-05.
- ^ abcdefGoldman, Noah. 'A Web Site of Virtual Nations'. ABC News. Retrieved 10 April 2014.
- ^Agencies (12 September 2006). 'Virtual nations take control over the cyber world'. The Economic Times. The Times Group. Retrieved 13 January 2017.
- ^ abcdefgChrista Sommerer; L. C. Jain; Laurent Mignonneau (2008). The Art and Science of Interface and Interaction Design. Springer. p. 173. ISBN354079869-2.
- ^'NationStates Forums Got Issues?'. NationStates. Retrieved 5 November 2017.
- ^Barry, Max (21 May 2018). 'Issue 1K'. NationStates. Retrieved 29 May 2018.
- ^Barry, Max. 'NationStates FAQ'. NationStates. Retrieved 5 Nov 2017.
- ^'NationStates The Black Hawks'. NationStates. Retrieved 5 Nov 2017.
- ^ abcPlayer United Massachusetts
- ^https://forum.nationstates.net/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=480356&sid=c578cac98708133e74e30ee8e9e452c7
- ^Jerrad (13 October 2003). 'NationStates - Walkthrough, Tips, Review'. Jay Is Games. JayIsGames.com. Retrieved 2017-01-05.
- ^Perron, Bernard; Wolf, Mark J.P., eds. (2008). The Video Game Theory Reader 2. Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg. pp. 43–44. ISBN978-3-540-79869-9.
- ^Kevin Sundstrom (10 March 2013). '30 New APIs: Intercom, EasyPost, and Jorum'. ProgrammableWeb. ProgrammableWeb.com. Retrieved 2017-01-05.
- ^The United Nations vs Me, retrieved 17 May 2014.