NationStates Jolt Archive

I have no idea if this has been suggested before, but my friend just mentioned it to me, and I thought it was worth bringing up here.

It can sometimes be hard to guess what answers to issues will get you the designation you want, and sometimes it can lead you to making decisions for your country you might not really want to, with the reasoning that the designation is more permanent and therefore working to get the one you want takes precedence over the temporary inconvenience of decisions that don't fit your concept of your nation being displayed in your description paragraphs.

A solution to this, the one suggested by my friend, could be to allow the player to choose from a few options based on their decisions. This might require the creation of more designations so that the options presented to the player (perhaps about three) have variation but also pertain to their decisions.

I'm pretty sure that if you don't want an unwanted impact on your nation, just dismiss the issue. Not that I ever did...

Mystery concerning the repercussions of issues is what issues are all about. When you go to submit an issue, it recommends that you don't make all the effects clear. However, you can usually tell what some of the effects of the issue will be. For example, if there is something about funding, the effects will usually be: (1) Diversion of government funding from one subsidy to another, or (2) An increase in income tax rates.

It's just that while some people are willing to just make the decisions and be told what they are, others come into the game with a very specific notion of what they want their nation to be, and at times it feels like decisions that should take you in one direction don't. (For instance, I try to be a staunch capitalist, and yet am described as a democratic socialist; I want to get back to inoffensive centrist democracy, but am having a tough time of it.)

I'd be willing to concede to the fact that the problem I'm describing is a sign of "missing the point" of the game or simply of not being knowlegable enough about the issues or game mechanics, but I just wanted to make sure it was clear why I suggested the change in the first place, and I hope I have done that now.