Kaukolastan
18-02-2005, 19:50
K-stan’s Handy Dandy Disclaimer:
This thread is targeted towards new players coming into the forums with the intent to Roleplay (RP), but it's good reading for anyone interested. ;)
Why Make This?
This thread was created in response to seeing, over the course of a couple of days, statements that certain (talented) new players could not find anyone to RP with. At first, I just offered the typical, “Join RPs” response, but then I got to thinking, “What if they don’t know where to look.” Crap.
I’m sure most vets who came after the First Generation can remember wandering the forums, posting threads that died on post-count two, only to be resuscitated through a string of embarrassing bumps. I’m sure many of us wandered into a Closed RP, not know what it meant, only to get chewed out. Well, what if we made this easier on the new players. After all, they are the future of the game.
So, ladies and gentleman, I give you:
The NationStates Orientation
…cue horns, fanfare in D…
First Steps of a New Nation
New nation does not mean small, but rather a nation who hasn’t done much roleplaying on these boards yet.
Choosing Your Poison: Pick A Forum
So, you’ve wandered into the forums, you’re ready to go play. Here’s the first question: Which forum do you want to play?
NationStates, being such a large game, has been split into several different sub-forums, or “rooms”. Most players tend to branch across most of the rooms, but almost everyone has a “home”. The populations can grow somewhat segregated, so a power in one forum might be unknown in another. As such, picking your “Home” might be the most important move you make. These rooms are, in sequence, “NationStates (NS), International Incidents (II), Gameplay, The United Nations, Technical, Moderation, Got Issues, Archive, General, NationStates 2 (NS2), Jennifer Government”. Each of these forums serves a particular role on the forum.
Granted, most players will post in all of the forums at some point, and posting in one does not exclude you from the others, but most players have the unofficial "home" forum where they do most of their posting.
These are the forums, in order of listing on the main page:
NationStates – Often simply called “NS”, this is not to be confused with the Game of NationStates we all play. This forum was the original, hence why it shares a name, but it is just one of the many forums nowadays. NS concentrates on character-oriented story/roleplays, often which have incredibly detail and take months to write out. They are very scripted, and so tend to have a high degree of quality but little unexpected behavior. NS rarely engages in wars, and when it does, they are mainly focused on a few key people, with the war as the setting. Obviously, there are exceptions, but NS has had only five World Wars, compared to the millions of International Incidents. NS is the home of the “story” style of writing, where the plot and characters can be used for years, and war takes a backseat.
International Incidents – Referred to as “II”, this forum is the most active room for playing. II is noted for its quick, unexpected roleplays, mainly full-out war, storefronts, and new-technology declarations. II roleplays are generally open, unscripted affairs, which leads to a great deal of freedom, but also risks competitive thinking that can send an RP spiraling into Flamewars and IGNORES. If you’re here to flex military might, II is your place, but be warned, not everyone finds you so “powerful”, and you’re likely to get dog-piled. Fast-paced, unscripted, and turbulent, II is the place to be for adrenaline RPing, but be wary of the chaos that can result.
Gameplay – This room is dedicated to the mechanics of the game, not the roleplaying. Region swapping, joining, founding, and crashing take place here.
The United Nations – More gameplaying, not roleplaying. Here, the UN Issues are debated and enacted for your nation. DO NOT DECLARE WAR ON THE UN. Trust me, it’s been done to death, and no one really cares anymore. This UN doesn’t even exist in many of the roleplayed universes of NS and II.
Technical – This is the local repair shop. If your nation stats aren’t updating, or you can’t log into a puppet nation, they can help you here. Again, this is not an RPing forum.
Moderation – This is the Police Station. Flaming, trolling, spamming, griefing, and whatnot gets reported and dealt with here. Remember, the Moderators (Mods) and Administrators (Admins) do not deal with roleplaying, so don’t try to report someone for cheating, it doesn’t matter. If another player starts flaming you, report them. If they cheat and pull out 34768378347587 tanks, it’s not their problem. Remember, this is a game, and if their nation is insulting your nation IN CHARACTER, that is not flaming. It’s a very blurry line out there, so take care not to insult the player instead of the nation.
Got Issues – Nominate and debate new “Daily Issues” for the game.
Archive – The Library of Great Threads.
General – Home of real life debate, random chat, and more trolls than every other forum combined.
NationStates 2 – This is the home of debate on the upcoming sequel to this game.
Jennifer Government – Debate on the book that spawned this game.
Learning the Ropes
Okay, you’ve picked your forum. Now, you need to read the stickies. These are special threads, designed to teach you the basics of playing the game. All of the stickies are worth reading (that’s why they’re stickied), but I would particularly like to recommend reading these following before starting to play (these are links, just click ‘em):
Euroslavia’s Godmodding Sticky (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=367578) This sticky is all about godmodding, which is what you need NOT to do to make friends on the forums. No one likes a godmodder. Oh, and Euro’s a cool guy. You can tell him that in his sticky.
The BIG GIANT NS Guide (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=357975) This thread is huge, and has a million links, which can make it a bit hefty to digest, but it’s a great reference for when you have a question about a specific topic. Otherwise, I’d skim it.
Glossary of Forbidden Actions (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=288255) These are the actions that will get you deleted.
Writing Tips (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=352036) This is my how to write forum. This can help you learn how to phrase your posts to get the most (and best) response.
Sarzonia's Helpful Thread Emporium (http://forums2.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=366979) Anything you need to know should be under one of these threads that he catalogued. A very nice reference if you have a question.
Getting In Touch
Many an RP has died because of miscommunication issues. Prevent this by downloading an Instant Messaging Service and talking in real-time with your fellow players, so that the idle chat and issues stay off the forums, and your RP looks like a professional story. I recommend Trillian for the computer savvy, but these are the major services (again, click the text to hyperlink):
AIM: Do not enable Wild Tangent or Weatherbug! They are spyware bait. (http://www.aim.com/)
Yahoo Instant Messenger (http://messenger.yahoo.com/)
MSN Messenger (http://messenger.msn.com/)
This is Trillian. It combines the various services into one. It’s also a little more complex than AIM, Yahoo, or MSN. (http://www.ceruleanstudios.com/)
This is the NationStates IRC Sticky! (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=278619)
IRC is Internet Relay Chat, basically a special chatroom. The sticky explains about it, and the following links are various clients. This is more difficult to use than an IM service, but is a very nice tool to chat with a lot of players.
Colloquy, an IRC client for Mac OS X (http://colloquy.info/)
This is mIRC, an IRC client for Windows. (http://www.mirc.com/)
This is Xchat, a multiplatform IRC client. (http://www.xchat.org/)
This is Athena, a pre-MacOS X IRC client. (http://www.chipersoft.com/athena/)
Getting Started: Joining Your First RP
Okay, you’ve picked II or NS, and you’re ready to launch your first RP… whoa! Hold up! No one really knows you yet, and they might not be ready to jump into your world until they know you and how you write. This means, you’re going to have to get out there and meet the other players.
The New Nation Thread
These are simple, you post a “Hi, I’m new!” thread and talk about your nation, listing off your type of government, who’s the leader, any cool facts. Working this out can give people a feel for your nation, and can help you work out your own thoughts. You can also get some friends, but not much will happen here.
Types of Threads
Simple enough, right? Just walk out, find a thread that sounds interesting, and start posting in it. Not quite… Many people have been playing for a long time, and they might be engaged in a special, planned RP with some friends that has been under work for a year. You don’t want to interrupt this.
You’re going to want to know what kind of threads there are, and how to get into them:
Open RP – This is the easiest type to join. It’s “open” so anyone can join, but that’s a downside, too, since people can pile in at random. It’s considered good form to try and join in the first couple pages, not on page twenty-seven.
Closed RP – This is the opposite of an open RP. These were either set up by Telegram, IRC, an Instant Messenger Service (I told you to get one!), or have a “Sign up thread” somewhere on the forums from last month. These are fixed RPs, and you can’t join once it’s “closed”.
Semi-Open/Semi-Closed – These are interesting types of threads. They usually have some scripting done, and a set key player-group, but you can join if you can meet the conditions given. (These are usually talking to the creator in a sign-up thread, via telegram, or over a chat service and convincing him/her that you can add to the thread.)
OOC Thread – These can be rants, raves, information threads, or anything else that’s “Out of Character”. Look for these, as they tend to be “sign up threads”, where you can get your name in for a promising upcoming Closed RP.
OOC/IC Thread Pair – Sometimes, a thread author will create a pair of threads, rather than just one. For example, I made “Xenos Flare” and “Xenos Flare: OOC Thread”. The players write in XF, but any questions, concerns, or comments happen in the XF:OOC thread, so the IC (In-Character) thread stays “clean”. Usually the OOC thread is also a sign-up thread.
Sign Up Thread - This is the jackpot. These are threads where a player lays out a scenario, more players join, and a lot of kinks are worked out, prior to the creation of the actual roleplay. That roleplay usually opens as a “closed thread” with only the people from this thread allowed to join. These two threads then become the OOC/IC Pair mentioned above.
Story Thread – These are threads that aren’t RPs at all, but a player telling a story. These can’t be joined, but they are some of the best work on the boards, and they can give valuable “set-ups” to great RPs. Read these, you’ll enjoy them, especially if you like a particular player’s RPing stories. Some authors may like feedback in-thread, some may not. If you don’t know, just send a TG. Every player likes to hear that people liked their stories, so don’t be shy.
Stalking 101: Do a Background Check
Now, you’ve found an RP you can jump into, you’re almost ready to go! Read about it, decide if you want to play in this universe, and then take a breath. Remember, some players have different styles of play than you, and you want to be sure that you can work with them. This is how to check their background:
-In the upper-left corner of a post, click on their nation name.
-A box will drop down.
-Click “Find More Posts By PLAYERNAME”.
-A new window will open.
-Choose a post, and click on the underlined first line in that box. This will show the entire post.
Using this method, you can read up on past works by this player, and judge if you want to play with them. This can prevent many issues of incompatible styles or personalities.
Now Join That Thread!
Becoming One With the Forums
You’ve gotten into some RPs, you’ve shown that you have ability. You now have a core of friends to play with, and people respect you. How to go to the next level?
Shadowing: Good or Bad?
Some nations will recommend that a new nation find an “big brother” nation to follow, RP with, and take tips from. This can quickly improve the style of the newer player, but it can also lead to “clones” of an older nation. If you can find a mentor nation, and you want to learn the ropes from a pro, go ahead. But remember, that nation has enemies, and you may become viewed as a “mini-me”.
This is up to you. It’s one of the best ways to learn, if you find a good player, but it carries risks.
The NationStates Vocabulary
Ah, yes, there is a whole world of slang out there, just waiting to stump you. These threads serve as great resources to the linguistics of this game:
The NS Dictionary (http://forums2.jolt.co.uk/showpost.php?p=7901574&postcount=1)
The NS Encyclopedia (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=346486)
The NSWiki (http://ns.goobergunch.net/wiki/index.php/Main_Page)
If you don't know what a Wiki is, it's basically a cooperative knowledge base. Go ahead, make sites on your nation, research another nation. Oh, and thank Goober for making this resource!
Now, all of these are works in progress, and pretty large, but they should contain any general information you don't know.
Meet Some People
When you first join the game, you'll be sitting in the Feeder Regions (one of the Pacifics). Now, you could sit here, and still be just fine, or, you could go looking for a region of like-minded players. Trust me, there is a region for everything on this board, from one for people from Netherlands to one for people who like the old BattleStar Galactica, and probably one for people who are both.
To help in this quest to find a fitting region (and a nice shrubbery), I refer you to:
Tarlachia's Great Directory of Regions (http://forums2.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?p=8340504#post8340504)
Again, this is a work in progress, so it will expand as it matures, but this should be helpful.
Forming Your First Thread
Remember all those types of thread from above? Well, choose what kind of thread you want to launch. Story threads can demonstrate your prowess, but they don’t get much interaction. Open RPs are fun, but can lead to chaos. Closed RPs are great, but they’re generally long-term affairs. Everything has an up and a down, so just choose your type and follow through.
If you want people to join your RPs, join theirs. When you start a thread, finish it. Read other people’s work. These tips will make you friends, and therefore, readers and players.
Oh, and remember… just because they didn’t post doesn’t mean they didn’t read it. Many players lurk and read without logging in, and you won’t even know it.
As a final note, remember that nothing in NS will trump time and effort. Most of the big names you see today have put in months (or years) of effort. If you want to have their drawing power, it's going to take quality and quantity of work.
Cliches to Avoid (...Like the Plague)
These are common mistakes people make, but that can stain a new player for a long time. Be sure to avoid these fallacies:
Declaring War on the UN -> Not funny, not cool, been done a million times.
Claiming unholy amounts of nukes or other godmods -> Really, no one cares, except those people that live to spank new players who do this.
Launching one thread in many forums -> One thread, one time only. Repeatedly posting a thread is spam.
Out of Character Bitching -> Don't bitch until you know the ropes.
IGNORE Wars -> Someone pisses you off? Don't make a thread about how much you IGNORE them. All this leads to are Flamewars.
Godmod Fights -> Someone godmods on you? Keep it quiet and deal with it in private. The most annoying thing is two players trying to prove who's the bigger n00b. (See, IGNORE wars.)
Bump-macking -> Bumps are tacky. If you must bump, disguise it as content, or a feedback reply. Don't just write "bump". It looks like a plea for help.
Puppeteering -> Don't use puppets to back yourself up. If you must play with yourself, do it in private.
Airing the Laundry -> Keep regional affairs inside your region. Dragging squabbles into the forum is like pouring gasoline onto a fire. All this does is raise the stakes and cause more aggressive flaming.
Mind you, most people don't do these, but it's easy not to see how annoying this could be until you've been around for a while. Avoid these pitfalls, and you should keep your head above water.
So, Welcome to NationStates!
I hope this guide helped you. If you need some further help, just contact me, or another veteran. We’re here to help get you into this shared game!
K-stan
This thread is targeted towards new players coming into the forums with the intent to Roleplay (RP), but it's good reading for anyone interested. ;)
Why Make This?
This thread was created in response to seeing, over the course of a couple of days, statements that certain (talented) new players could not find anyone to RP with. At first, I just offered the typical, “Join RPs” response, but then I got to thinking, “What if they don’t know where to look.” Crap.
I’m sure most vets who came after the First Generation can remember wandering the forums, posting threads that died on post-count two, only to be resuscitated through a string of embarrassing bumps. I’m sure many of us wandered into a Closed RP, not know what it meant, only to get chewed out. Well, what if we made this easier on the new players. After all, they are the future of the game.
So, ladies and gentleman, I give you:
The NationStates Orientation
…cue horns, fanfare in D…
First Steps of a New Nation
New nation does not mean small, but rather a nation who hasn’t done much roleplaying on these boards yet.
Choosing Your Poison: Pick A Forum
So, you’ve wandered into the forums, you’re ready to go play. Here’s the first question: Which forum do you want to play?
NationStates, being such a large game, has been split into several different sub-forums, or “rooms”. Most players tend to branch across most of the rooms, but almost everyone has a “home”. The populations can grow somewhat segregated, so a power in one forum might be unknown in another. As such, picking your “Home” might be the most important move you make. These rooms are, in sequence, “NationStates (NS), International Incidents (II), Gameplay, The United Nations, Technical, Moderation, Got Issues, Archive, General, NationStates 2 (NS2), Jennifer Government”. Each of these forums serves a particular role on the forum.
Granted, most players will post in all of the forums at some point, and posting in one does not exclude you from the others, but most players have the unofficial "home" forum where they do most of their posting.
These are the forums, in order of listing on the main page:
NationStates – Often simply called “NS”, this is not to be confused with the Game of NationStates we all play. This forum was the original, hence why it shares a name, but it is just one of the many forums nowadays. NS concentrates on character-oriented story/roleplays, often which have incredibly detail and take months to write out. They are very scripted, and so tend to have a high degree of quality but little unexpected behavior. NS rarely engages in wars, and when it does, they are mainly focused on a few key people, with the war as the setting. Obviously, there are exceptions, but NS has had only five World Wars, compared to the millions of International Incidents. NS is the home of the “story” style of writing, where the plot and characters can be used for years, and war takes a backseat.
International Incidents – Referred to as “II”, this forum is the most active room for playing. II is noted for its quick, unexpected roleplays, mainly full-out war, storefronts, and new-technology declarations. II roleplays are generally open, unscripted affairs, which leads to a great deal of freedom, but also risks competitive thinking that can send an RP spiraling into Flamewars and IGNORES. If you’re here to flex military might, II is your place, but be warned, not everyone finds you so “powerful”, and you’re likely to get dog-piled. Fast-paced, unscripted, and turbulent, II is the place to be for adrenaline RPing, but be wary of the chaos that can result.
Gameplay – This room is dedicated to the mechanics of the game, not the roleplaying. Region swapping, joining, founding, and crashing take place here.
The United Nations – More gameplaying, not roleplaying. Here, the UN Issues are debated and enacted for your nation. DO NOT DECLARE WAR ON THE UN. Trust me, it’s been done to death, and no one really cares anymore. This UN doesn’t even exist in many of the roleplayed universes of NS and II.
Technical – This is the local repair shop. If your nation stats aren’t updating, or you can’t log into a puppet nation, they can help you here. Again, this is not an RPing forum.
Moderation – This is the Police Station. Flaming, trolling, spamming, griefing, and whatnot gets reported and dealt with here. Remember, the Moderators (Mods) and Administrators (Admins) do not deal with roleplaying, so don’t try to report someone for cheating, it doesn’t matter. If another player starts flaming you, report them. If they cheat and pull out 34768378347587 tanks, it’s not their problem. Remember, this is a game, and if their nation is insulting your nation IN CHARACTER, that is not flaming. It’s a very blurry line out there, so take care not to insult the player instead of the nation.
Got Issues – Nominate and debate new “Daily Issues” for the game.
Archive – The Library of Great Threads.
General – Home of real life debate, random chat, and more trolls than every other forum combined.
NationStates 2 – This is the home of debate on the upcoming sequel to this game.
Jennifer Government – Debate on the book that spawned this game.
Learning the Ropes
Okay, you’ve picked your forum. Now, you need to read the stickies. These are special threads, designed to teach you the basics of playing the game. All of the stickies are worth reading (that’s why they’re stickied), but I would particularly like to recommend reading these following before starting to play (these are links, just click ‘em):
Euroslavia’s Godmodding Sticky (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=367578) This sticky is all about godmodding, which is what you need NOT to do to make friends on the forums. No one likes a godmodder. Oh, and Euro’s a cool guy. You can tell him that in his sticky.
The BIG GIANT NS Guide (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=357975) This thread is huge, and has a million links, which can make it a bit hefty to digest, but it’s a great reference for when you have a question about a specific topic. Otherwise, I’d skim it.
Glossary of Forbidden Actions (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=288255) These are the actions that will get you deleted.
Writing Tips (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=352036) This is my how to write forum. This can help you learn how to phrase your posts to get the most (and best) response.
Sarzonia's Helpful Thread Emporium (http://forums2.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=366979) Anything you need to know should be under one of these threads that he catalogued. A very nice reference if you have a question.
Getting In Touch
Many an RP has died because of miscommunication issues. Prevent this by downloading an Instant Messaging Service and talking in real-time with your fellow players, so that the idle chat and issues stay off the forums, and your RP looks like a professional story. I recommend Trillian for the computer savvy, but these are the major services (again, click the text to hyperlink):
AIM: Do not enable Wild Tangent or Weatherbug! They are spyware bait. (http://www.aim.com/)
Yahoo Instant Messenger (http://messenger.yahoo.com/)
MSN Messenger (http://messenger.msn.com/)
This is Trillian. It combines the various services into one. It’s also a little more complex than AIM, Yahoo, or MSN. (http://www.ceruleanstudios.com/)
This is the NationStates IRC Sticky! (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=278619)
IRC is Internet Relay Chat, basically a special chatroom. The sticky explains about it, and the following links are various clients. This is more difficult to use than an IM service, but is a very nice tool to chat with a lot of players.
Colloquy, an IRC client for Mac OS X (http://colloquy.info/)
This is mIRC, an IRC client for Windows. (http://www.mirc.com/)
This is Xchat, a multiplatform IRC client. (http://www.xchat.org/)
This is Athena, a pre-MacOS X IRC client. (http://www.chipersoft.com/athena/)
Getting Started: Joining Your First RP
Okay, you’ve picked II or NS, and you’re ready to launch your first RP… whoa! Hold up! No one really knows you yet, and they might not be ready to jump into your world until they know you and how you write. This means, you’re going to have to get out there and meet the other players.
The New Nation Thread
These are simple, you post a “Hi, I’m new!” thread and talk about your nation, listing off your type of government, who’s the leader, any cool facts. Working this out can give people a feel for your nation, and can help you work out your own thoughts. You can also get some friends, but not much will happen here.
Types of Threads
Simple enough, right? Just walk out, find a thread that sounds interesting, and start posting in it. Not quite… Many people have been playing for a long time, and they might be engaged in a special, planned RP with some friends that has been under work for a year. You don’t want to interrupt this.
You’re going to want to know what kind of threads there are, and how to get into them:
Open RP – This is the easiest type to join. It’s “open” so anyone can join, but that’s a downside, too, since people can pile in at random. It’s considered good form to try and join in the first couple pages, not on page twenty-seven.
Closed RP – This is the opposite of an open RP. These were either set up by Telegram, IRC, an Instant Messenger Service (I told you to get one!), or have a “Sign up thread” somewhere on the forums from last month. These are fixed RPs, and you can’t join once it’s “closed”.
Semi-Open/Semi-Closed – These are interesting types of threads. They usually have some scripting done, and a set key player-group, but you can join if you can meet the conditions given. (These are usually talking to the creator in a sign-up thread, via telegram, or over a chat service and convincing him/her that you can add to the thread.)
OOC Thread – These can be rants, raves, information threads, or anything else that’s “Out of Character”. Look for these, as they tend to be “sign up threads”, where you can get your name in for a promising upcoming Closed RP.
OOC/IC Thread Pair – Sometimes, a thread author will create a pair of threads, rather than just one. For example, I made “Xenos Flare” and “Xenos Flare: OOC Thread”. The players write in XF, but any questions, concerns, or comments happen in the XF:OOC thread, so the IC (In-Character) thread stays “clean”. Usually the OOC thread is also a sign-up thread.
Sign Up Thread - This is the jackpot. These are threads where a player lays out a scenario, more players join, and a lot of kinks are worked out, prior to the creation of the actual roleplay. That roleplay usually opens as a “closed thread” with only the people from this thread allowed to join. These two threads then become the OOC/IC Pair mentioned above.
Story Thread – These are threads that aren’t RPs at all, but a player telling a story. These can’t be joined, but they are some of the best work on the boards, and they can give valuable “set-ups” to great RPs. Read these, you’ll enjoy them, especially if you like a particular player’s RPing stories. Some authors may like feedback in-thread, some may not. If you don’t know, just send a TG. Every player likes to hear that people liked their stories, so don’t be shy.
Stalking 101: Do a Background Check
Now, you’ve found an RP you can jump into, you’re almost ready to go! Read about it, decide if you want to play in this universe, and then take a breath. Remember, some players have different styles of play than you, and you want to be sure that you can work with them. This is how to check their background:
-In the upper-left corner of a post, click on their nation name.
-A box will drop down.
-Click “Find More Posts By PLAYERNAME”.
-A new window will open.
-Choose a post, and click on the underlined first line in that box. This will show the entire post.
Using this method, you can read up on past works by this player, and judge if you want to play with them. This can prevent many issues of incompatible styles or personalities.
Now Join That Thread!
Becoming One With the Forums
You’ve gotten into some RPs, you’ve shown that you have ability. You now have a core of friends to play with, and people respect you. How to go to the next level?
Shadowing: Good or Bad?
Some nations will recommend that a new nation find an “big brother” nation to follow, RP with, and take tips from. This can quickly improve the style of the newer player, but it can also lead to “clones” of an older nation. If you can find a mentor nation, and you want to learn the ropes from a pro, go ahead. But remember, that nation has enemies, and you may become viewed as a “mini-me”.
This is up to you. It’s one of the best ways to learn, if you find a good player, but it carries risks.
The NationStates Vocabulary
Ah, yes, there is a whole world of slang out there, just waiting to stump you. These threads serve as great resources to the linguistics of this game:
The NS Dictionary (http://forums2.jolt.co.uk/showpost.php?p=7901574&postcount=1)
The NS Encyclopedia (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=346486)
The NSWiki (http://ns.goobergunch.net/wiki/index.php/Main_Page)
If you don't know what a Wiki is, it's basically a cooperative knowledge base. Go ahead, make sites on your nation, research another nation. Oh, and thank Goober for making this resource!
Now, all of these are works in progress, and pretty large, but they should contain any general information you don't know.
Meet Some People
When you first join the game, you'll be sitting in the Feeder Regions (one of the Pacifics). Now, you could sit here, and still be just fine, or, you could go looking for a region of like-minded players. Trust me, there is a region for everything on this board, from one for people from Netherlands to one for people who like the old BattleStar Galactica, and probably one for people who are both.
To help in this quest to find a fitting region (and a nice shrubbery), I refer you to:
Tarlachia's Great Directory of Regions (http://forums2.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?p=8340504#post8340504)
Again, this is a work in progress, so it will expand as it matures, but this should be helpful.
Forming Your First Thread
Remember all those types of thread from above? Well, choose what kind of thread you want to launch. Story threads can demonstrate your prowess, but they don’t get much interaction. Open RPs are fun, but can lead to chaos. Closed RPs are great, but they’re generally long-term affairs. Everything has an up and a down, so just choose your type and follow through.
If you want people to join your RPs, join theirs. When you start a thread, finish it. Read other people’s work. These tips will make you friends, and therefore, readers and players.
Oh, and remember… just because they didn’t post doesn’t mean they didn’t read it. Many players lurk and read without logging in, and you won’t even know it.
As a final note, remember that nothing in NS will trump time and effort. Most of the big names you see today have put in months (or years) of effort. If you want to have their drawing power, it's going to take quality and quantity of work.
Cliches to Avoid (...Like the Plague)
These are common mistakes people make, but that can stain a new player for a long time. Be sure to avoid these fallacies:
Declaring War on the UN -> Not funny, not cool, been done a million times.
Claiming unholy amounts of nukes or other godmods -> Really, no one cares, except those people that live to spank new players who do this.
Launching one thread in many forums -> One thread, one time only. Repeatedly posting a thread is spam.
Out of Character Bitching -> Don't bitch until you know the ropes.
IGNORE Wars -> Someone pisses you off? Don't make a thread about how much you IGNORE them. All this leads to are Flamewars.
Godmod Fights -> Someone godmods on you? Keep it quiet and deal with it in private. The most annoying thing is two players trying to prove who's the bigger n00b. (See, IGNORE wars.)
Bump-macking -> Bumps are tacky. If you must bump, disguise it as content, or a feedback reply. Don't just write "bump". It looks like a plea for help.
Puppeteering -> Don't use puppets to back yourself up. If you must play with yourself, do it in private.
Airing the Laundry -> Keep regional affairs inside your region. Dragging squabbles into the forum is like pouring gasoline onto a fire. All this does is raise the stakes and cause more aggressive flaming.
Mind you, most people don't do these, but it's easy not to see how annoying this could be until you've been around for a while. Avoid these pitfalls, and you should keep your head above water.
So, Welcome to NationStates!
I hope this guide helped you. If you need some further help, just contact me, or another veteran. We’re here to help get you into this shared game!
K-stan