NationStates Jolt Archive

Come My Brethren And you shall Hear of the Death of Nationstates
And those left Here

Nationstates is dying unless something is done we will be lost forever
regions are emptying themselves out, Nations are dying everywhere
What shall we Do

Suggestions may be placed below

Has anyone else noticed there isn't a SINGLE new and open RP? At least that isnt one of the following:

The Zillonth Earth 1000000 (That will die off in three weeks)

A war

A coup

A giant dog pile invasion

this is bullshit man yes some regions are dieing but new ones are being born and progressing i have made my friends play this game and they love it i made a region and now it is growing and only one person has been delited i think it has stableisd and is now going to slowly improve

Grammar never hurt anyone guys.

And it's hardly dying. Some nations dissapear, but brand new ones are made at the same time. People get bored.

I don't think i've been around long enough, or followed enough of the forum to know if it's dying. As for the lack of creative rps, i've seen a few that seem to diverge from the norm, granted they are a small number. People seem to like dog piling wars and the such. War rpers have a larger base, so its more difficult to get interest in maybe a more creative thread. I however, have really started to enjoy the RP element of this game, and am experimenting with my nation. I think there is still tons of creative potential here, and people will tap into it.

Trust me you new nations: The Novelty of this game will wear off and you will realize how boring it is. Small regions stay small, those that do grow have UN Delegates that prey on small newly created countries that get lost in the shuffle, just to boost their numbers The only real RP's that ever go on outside of region boards are impossible to join because half of them are in progress another half can't include the new nation. Unless you are from 2004 it's nearly impossible to get your RP going. Your half-tempted to make new countries just to keep it interesting and give your self a bump.

I found on my old accounts that RP's made especially for smaller nations either;

A) Never even got started.
B) Never lasted longer than a week, as many of those who signed-up stopped coming on. It was like being at war with a brick wall.
C) One large nation would somehow worm their way into it and turn all the small nations into 'slave-states'.

That's why whenever I start a new nation I wait till I have a population of at least 100 million before getting involved in RP's. And to make myself seem like less of a newb, post on the NationStates and General part of the forums to get posts up.

Sadly it seems to be the only thing that works. So if you want to just get stuck in to a bunch of wars, tough. You're gonna have to stick around for a month or two before even looking at them.

Pack it in guys. A five month old nation has made his announcement. I'll go ahead and e-mail Max and Jolt, telling them to close up shop.

I understand the sarcasim Most Glorious Hack, although, it is true in this forum there has been a hiatus of creativity and stories being developed. I have been on/off again player since 2002 and the participation has declined. Maybe we all have writer's block...I find myself struggling to get a story going. But I doubt that NS is dying. Maybe instead of just criticizing we could come up with a solution....force every nation to write...heehee.

But do not fret things probably will be better around vacation break or even summer when more people are available.

I don't think i've been around long enough, or followed enough of the forum to know if it's dying. As for the lack of creative rps, i've seen a few that seem to diverge from the norm, granted they are a small number. People seem to like dog piling wars and the such. War rpers have a larger base, so its more difficult to get interest in maybe a more creative thread. I however, have really started to enjoy the RP element of this game, and am experimenting with my nation. I think there is still tons of creative potential here, and people will tap into it.

Really good point. I've started a few alternative RPs. Conspiracies, art thefts, Dyellian ships shooting down commercial airliners by accident, people just aren't that interested. The majority of people want big dogpiling wars. It's something simple they can understand.

Personally I deeply dislike war RP. I prefer cold war style cloak and dagger stuff... which is interestingly how I end up in numerous almost wars. People tend to declare war as soon as they get a few small acts of sabotage :P

I attempt to helm numerous character-rps but seldom do people answer the call. It is most troublesome.

Indeed

Most Troublesome.

The thing is though Big Nations who have 99% of government spending on military do not want to RP as some gang of bank robbers. They want to send their 600 strong stealth jets to go pwn ass in some other nation.

You know, we could form some kind of character RP network and notify each other of when and where these threads go up.

From Head Jabber Albert Fish:

As a young nation, let the Murder City Jabbers make the point that upon entering the world as a new country, the MCJ recieved many offers to join certain regions. But the MCJ recieved no invitation or encouragement to join in on RPGs or other game playing facets of Nationstates. For our world to thrive, young countries MUST be encouraged to join in on these things which will solidify their dedication to their thriving nations from the beginning.

From Head Jabber Albert Fish:

As a young nation, let the Murder City Jabbers make the point that upon entering the world as a new country, the MCJ recieved many offers to join certain regions. But the MCJ recieved no invitation or encouragement to join in on RPGs or other game playing facets of Nationstates. For our world to thrive, young countries MUST be encouraged to join in on these things which will solidify their dedication to their thriving nations from the beginning.

I really agree with your sentiment there. It is intimidating for new nations to come to a forum with many nations in excess of 1 billion people when they have 5 million. Really though, a small nation can rise very quickly, despite a size disadvantage, you just have to play differently and be creative. People do join the community everyday. I've seen a recent attempt to teach people warfare RPs, I've heard there used to be an RP university region, maybe it's time for a revival. Overall people here are rather nice, and seem willing to help new players. Maybe just the next time I see a gunsmiley riddled post with poor grammar, I should send a TG offering a little more help than just read the stickies.

I don't have any issue with newcomers and will actively seek out their threads if they look interesting. However, the problem is that we don't necessarily know when a new Nation appears. The region advertisers I assume have some kind of program that watches for Nations appearing in the Pacific etc and sends them an automatic telegram. I could do that, but the rate of hits would be very low. Not every Nation becomes a forum RPer and not all Nations have interests in the same type of thread.

I think new Nations need to create their own thread. Then they'll draw the interest of the experienced forum RPers... of course there is nothing to tell them to do that.

I am the creator of a very RP heavy region which recently has suffered from a lack of new members. The problem is I don't want to mass advertise for new members, I want to know people before I invite them to join, however by the time I get to thinking of inviting someone in they're usually in a region already :P

If anyone from here is interested I'm trying to host an economic conference here;

http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?p=13115913#post13115913

I'm a relative newb, I've been here for a few months but I am still floundering and, as of today, I am looking for a new region before giving up on this game.:headbang:
I think part of the problem (at least for me) is that the group who introduced me to the game never did anything. The concept is very intriguing but the process is exceptionally slow. After a few minutes the daily play is done and there is little to do till the next day... and then after just a few days you are facing the same issues. Where is the hook to keep a newb interested enough to bookmark and return frequently? There is little to no interaction with the other nations. If your region is slow or dies you are just kinda left by yourself with no real direction in picking a new region to move to. (Maybe making the search function more user friendly would help?) These forums are not easy to jump into. I mean - it is not easy to just suddenly jump into persona if you haven't developed a persona or have a real clue what the persona should be developed on.
This game has a LOT of *potential* but it needs some serious development.
(more graphics wouldn't hurt :p ) Just my 2 cents = you can run with it... or not.:)

I'm a relative newb, I've been here for a few months but I am still floundering and, as of today, I am looking for a new region before giving up on this game.:headbang:
I think part of the problem (at least for me) is that the group who introduced me to the game never did anything. The concept is very intriguing but the process is exceptionally slow. After a few minutes the daily play is done and there is little to do till the next day... and then after just a few days you are facing the same issues. Where is the hook to keep a newb interested enough to bookmark and return frequently? There is little to no interaction with the other nations. If your region is slow or dies you are just kinda left by yourself with no real direction in picking a new region to move to. (Maybe making the search function more user friendly would help?) These forums are not easy to jump into. I mean - it is not easy to just suddenly jump into persona if you haven't developed a persona or have a real clue what the persona should be developed on.
This game has a LOT of *potential* but it needs some serious development.
(more graphics wouldn't hurt :p ) Just my 2 cents = you can run with it... or not.:)

I concur.

Another problem is that the key players of Nationstates, the ones who generally control the culture, are off playing CN pretty much. Have any of you seen this nation called Revolutionary Tidings post in the Pacific? He speaks of the death of Nationstates cultural diversity because of inactivity and dictatorship (in this case, the dictatorship and inactivity of the NPO).

This could get big.

The main thing that has stopped me participating in role-plays on the forums is their nature... I am quite a fan of creative writing, but the majority of role-plays I have witnessed appear less about the prose and more about tallying up battleships.

The game, as I perceive it, is not a strategic war game: there is no logical moderation on how a nation uses its resources in a role-play on here: they can write a dozen times that their country has been blown to bits, but that doesn't change the fact it is still sat there on nationstates.net accumulating population. And at the end of the day, there is always the last, breaking-the-forth-wall defence of 'IGNORE'...

When role-plays are not about listing military hardware - some fictional, some borrowed from Wikipedia and soldiering magazines - the tend just to be disembodied 'government responses', which, frankly, don't lend well for character development. Or... Anything else.

What needs to be grasped is that any military action that occurs on the forums occurs exclusively in character: it forms part of your nation's history as they role played it... It has little relevancy to the way you played the game on nationstates.net itself, so it would strike me as logical to use the game statistics as a rough approximation, not as a translation of what your nation can and cannot do: the statistics themselves are merely formed from your expression of how you wish your nation to be within the limits of the physical workings of nationstates.net... Role-playing on the forums should, I would have thought, be a separate endeavour to express this...

I would very much like to participate in some nice, gritty creative writing set in these countries - writing that is not about mapping your nation onto the continents of the 'Real World' but more about the people, the plot lines, the prose. I doubt, however, that I am likely to get that here, as, well, that is simply not what people on the forums like to role-play as. In my experience.

Heh, some of these threads read like a quick-draw competition as to who can launch their intercontinental ballistic missiles soonest.

Seems clear what we need. A revoultion of small nations starting their own posts, own threads and own storylines. No mass 1000 deployment of A2934 Protocall 3 Battleships. Just... a normal roleplay.

I don't htink it can be just passed of as being boring. it depends on the person. If you have limited imagination and lack creativity then of course it is going to be somewhat boring for you. I've risen fairley well and made a mark in the role play arena. I also have entered into negotiations with various nations. I am part of an alliance and contribute to our egional off-site forum.

Creativity is crucial if your going to enjoy the game. It could be improved in some cases yes, but you have to put the effort in to be able to fully enjoy it.

Seems clear what we need. A revoultion of small nations starting their own posts, own threads and own storylines. No mass 1000 deployment of A2934 Protocall 3 Battleships. Just... a normal roleplay.

I agree about all these military equipment threads. It's bit wack. I'm not even sure if battleships still really exist (The RN doesn't have them anyway) but they seem to feature quite alot in NS.

I agree about all these military equipment threads. It's bit wack. I'm not even sure if battleships still really exist (The RN doesn't have them anyway) but they seem to feature quite alot in NS.

No Battleships don't really exist. The US scrapped it's last one a few years back. People just like them, especially the unfeasiby huge ones...

NationStates will only die if we, as players, allow it to die. It is true right now that we have a large number of RPs which are either Invite-Only or huge military wankfests (both of which I despise. I don't care what the subject of an RP is, there's always room to let someone else who wants to play in). However, DB was kind enough to start an entirely feasible economic conference which is both open and not-a-war. However, for all the righteous indignation so far on this thread, only myself and Ilek-Vaad have yet decided to attend.

This conference could be an opportunity to reclaim NS roleplay from the military wankfests, but only if we don't let it slide by the wayside. So whether your country cares about the economic issues or not, send someone! It's conceivable that even an entirely disinterested country would send someone to the conference, if only not to be left out of any internationalist decision making, and that a country opposed to the economic ideals would send someone to try and disrupt the conference with procedural issues and backroom politicking.

We all care about NS, and this is our chance to do something about it. Don't let is pass us by.

In case anyone's forgotten the link (it was posted half a dozen or so messages above this), here it is again:

http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=540248

Thanks Iansisle... I might add I deliberately made it on a rather controversial topic.

Perhaps I'm spewing a little too much jargon in the writing I've done for it, basically the Economic Conference is a Socialist/Anti free market think tank. It is bound to irritate free market capitalists.

No problem. International conferences are the backbone of large-scale non-war RP, and I hate to see a deserving attempt be ignored.

EDIT: for the record, Iansisle, although revolutionary, is not really a socialist country at all. We're mostly attending to try and break the diplomatic isolation forced on us by the regicide of King James.

Has anyone else noticed there isn't a SINGLE new and open RP? At least that isnt one of the following:

The Zillonth Earth 1000000 (That will die off in three weeks)

A war

A coup

A giant dog pile invasion

I am planning an RP and it will probably happen in a few weeks.

Premise: In the future a group of powerful and verbose magicians compete against one-another over treasure, social status, and other things. They each posses a manse and regularly are trying outdo each other. They meet at a grand ball once in a while, and get into heated debates at the "conclave". They command extra-dimensional beings, and search to the end of the universe for power.

Sound interesting? Just wait.

Sounds awesome!

Yet what might really kick NS back into shape is a radical change onsite as well as on this forum. The fact of the matter is, while roleplay is essential to this game's existence, there appears to be a political side to what's going on. I actually agree with Revolutionary Tidings when he says that the massive alliances formed by the active players on nationstates seems to be absorbing all the roleplay diversity on NS.

It's a thought.

Sounds awesome!

Yet what might really kick NS back into shape is a radical change onsite as well as on this forum. The fact of the matter is, while roleplay is essential to this game's existence, there appears to be a political side to what's going on. I actually agree with Revolutionary Tidings when he says that the massive alliances formed by the active players on nationstates seems to be absorbing all the roleplay diversity on NS.

It's a thought.

If you want to get a head-start, read the book that inspired it: Rhialto the Marvelous, by Jack Vance. It can be found it just about any bookstore in a volume titled Tales of the Dying Earth.

I don't doubt that this will be an interesting and fun RP, but I doubt it's what will 'save NS' (if, indeed, it needs saving).

I'm on these forums because I enjoy playing with the country and characters I've created, not as an individual character in someone else's universe. That's what makes NS so unique from all the other free-form RP sites out there: that we play as countries, not characters.

That's just my take, and please don't imagine that I'm disparaging your idea by any means. It's just that I'd like to see more stuff like what DB's trying to do, involving our entire nations.

Ah, indeed. Then may I recommend a quagmire-Vietnam-inspired-RP?

I am planning an RP and it will probably happen in a few weeks.

Premise: In the future a group of powerful and verbose magicians compete against one-another over treasure, social status, and other things. They each posses a manse and regularly are trying outdo each other. They meet at a grand ball once in a while, and get into heated debates at the "conclave". They command extra-dimensional beings, and search to the end of the universe for power.

Sound interesting? Just wait.

I don't doubt that this will be an interesting and fun RP, but I doubt it's what will 'save NS' (if, indeed, it needs saving).

I'm on these forums because I enjoy playing with the country and characters I've created, not as an individual character in someone else's universe. That's what makes NS so unique from all the other free-form RP sites out there: that we play as countries, not characters.

That's just my take, and please don't imagine that I'm disparaging your idea by any means. It's just that I'd like to see more stuff like what DB's trying to do, involving our entire nations.

NS is lower in population that it used to be. Time was the Pacifics would have held an ample 7,000 each, and the active nations list would surpass 2,000, but nonetheless, some regions are growing. 10,000 Islands for example continues to make inroads despite the recent 'graveyard months' of the summer when people traditionally switch off and go outside.

Just how it goes. Perhaps this scarcity of the common resource (ie. nations) will bring regions closer together.

Sinn -10000 Islands Minister of Immigration.

Ah, indeed. Then may I recommend a quagmire-Vietnam-inspired-RP?

I suppose you may.

Has anyone else noticed there isn't a SINGLE new and open RP? At least that isnt one of the following:

The Zillonth Earth 1000000 (That will die off in three weeks)

A war

A coup

A giant dog pile invasion



http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?p=13118402#post13118402


Here you go! Enjoy! When in need of a new RP, hunt me down.

;)

No one single RP is going to save NS. May I reccommend though that we make a network of players dedicated to the creation of new, exciting and alternative RPs?

I second that motion.

I myself have created IBIS, feel free to join.
http://uk.geocities.com/ibisociety/application.html

This is what real roleplay is all about.

Wars are so uncreative. We need fresh ideas.:)

Has anyone else noticed there isn't a SINGLE new and open RP? At least that isnt one of the following:

The Zillonth Earth 1000000 (That will die off in three weeks)

A war

A coup

A giant dog pile invasion

So what you're saying is 'NS not having RP's thaT *I* enjoy means it is dead!'

Well seeing as RPing is the only thing that really makes this game intresiting, yes I do. Sorry but tending to your nation get's REALLY boring after a while of reciving the same issues, thus you if you don't RP or can't RP you basically let your nation stop existing and wish you hadn't wasted those hours of your life. Unless you take place in the General Forum but what poor fool want's to subject himself to that?

No one single RP is going to save NS. May I reccommend though that we make a network of players dedicated to the creation of new, exciting and alternative RPs?

Let us not recommend it, let's do it.

I think I have more then proven my dedication to RP'ing in NS, so I am in on this. What we need is a means of communication, I personally recommend MSN Messenger as it seems to work the best for international RP'ers.

So Dyelli, if you have MSN or can get it, hunt me down at DerFuhrer_Dyszel@hotmail.com and we'll start organizing this. Note: I am not a Nazi....I don't know why I need to explain this, but people often have to hear it before talking to me. ;)

And if you can't get it, TG me and we'll work something out.

I think it's a good idea, but good ideas are nothing more then that without action.

:D

I also support the idea of a collaborative international RP group. I don't have MSN messanger myself, but I do use iChat, screen-name 'Iansisle' (which ought to be hard enough to remember =P). Feel free to contact me any time or, if all else fails, shoot me a telegram with a link to any new threads.

I think it'd be great to have a system where countries interested in character-based diplomatic RPs could take turns hosting conferences, summits, congresses, international tribunals, talks, coronations / celebrations, and the other meat-and-bones of diplomatic RP. I'd even be willing to host the next one, after DB's conference has run its course.

I also support the idea of a collaborative international RP group. I don't have MSN messanger myself, but I do use iChat, screen-name 'Iansisle' (which ought to be hard enough to remember =P). Feel free to contact me any time or, if all else fails, shoot me a telegram with a link to any new threads.

I think it'd be great to have a system where countries interested in character-based diplomatic RPs could take turns hosting conferences, summits, congresses, international tribunals, talks, coronations / celebrations, and the other meat-and-bones of diplomatic RP. I'd even be willing to host the next one, after DB's conference has run its course.


I TG'ed you in response to this.

;)

Hah! Telegram received. =P

I'll wing you one back in like an hour or so. Just in transit right now from class to home.

((just thought I'd spam this thread instead of telegram you that because I like postcount +1))

This reminds me I should really install MSN on my computer. I tend to just use Skype.