NationStates Jolt Archive

Greetings, everyone.

I have several serious questions that I'd really like responses and feedback about. Here goes...

1. I'm curious. What is your opinion about my RP'ing? (too boring, too tedious, too sketchy, fun, interesting, etc.)

2. What kind of improvements should I make to my RP'ing? (To get more people to read / comment on my RP's and participate if open RP)

3. What caliber of RP do you consider my RP'ing?

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My ongoing unique RP can be found here....

http://forums2.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=357520

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4. How come people don't participate or comment on peaceful or non-war RP's?

5. I'm trying to set up a non-military storefront, namely my railroad storefront. How come everybody else prefers military storefronts? I'm trying to introduce more civilian and non-military stuff to the NS scene. :(

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My railroad storefront can be found here....

http://forums2.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=358066

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6. I would like to know what it takes to make people more interested in peaceful and interesting RP's rather than constant warfare? Surely all the nuking and invasions is getting boring, yes?


I'm really trying, but sometimes people seem to prefer to do warfare, civil war, invasions, threats, terrorism, etc. even though its impossible to "win" at NationStates.

Seriously, only an handful of people has offered to participate, comment, or purchase my stuff. If this keeps up, I won't be having fun in NS anymore. :(

I Agree, and am quite irratated that every time some colony RP starts some hot head brings a full army, not just a force to protect people, then tries to conquer to entire world for the 300 thousand people he has to live on. No one cares how the colonys interract without some sort of war, and I have seen no menton to why they are sending men. It seems the colony is there to attack any other colony, and it turns into a conquest RP, and I have NEVER read one where they tell you WHY they landed where they did. Anyway, I try to join as many peace confrences ect, and is why I play a future tech nation that has land on earth.

And Sharina, your Role playing is bloody great, you go in depth and make an effort to get everything nice. And there is a way you write that makes it look professional. good work.

People prefer war RPs because they require less dedication, you can bang together something in a few minutes. Whereas with a detailed non-war RP it takes much more time.

But the RPing style I like best is political entrigue, the kind of RP where simple mistakes such as a document being missfilled results in war or other huge mistakes.

Greetings, everyone.

I have several serious questions that I'd really like responses and feedback about. Here goes...

1. I'm curious. What is your opinion about my RP'ing? (too boring, too tedious, too sketchy, fun, interesting, etc.)

2. What kind of improvements should I make to my RP'ing? (To get more people to read / comment on my RP's and participate if open RP)

3. What caliber of RP do you consider my RP'ing?

---------------------------
My ongoing unique RP can be found here....

http://forums2.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=357520

---------------------------

I don't know and haven't the time to read right now. I'll get back to you.

4. How come people don't participate or comment on peaceful or non-war RP's?

Generally because they don't affect other nations too much. It depends really on what sort of RP.

5. I'm trying to set up a non-military storefront, namely my railroad storefront. How come everybody else prefers military storefronts? I'm trying to introduce more civilian and non-military stuff to the NS scene. :(

Because people assume that this is all done by internal companies. Also once they've bought this railway there isn't much possiblity to RP it later on.


6. I would like to know what it takes to make people more interested in peaceful and interesting RP's rather than constant warfare? Surely all the nuking and invasions is getting boring, yes?

I don't thin they are actually all that common as you seem to think they are, although I assume they're popular because they're fun to do.


I'm really trying, but sometimes people seem to prefer to do warfare, civil war, invasions, threats, terrorism, etc. even though its impossible to "win" at NationStates.

They don't do it to win, but to have fun. What sort of peaceful stuff did you have in mind?

As Rotovia said, it's a time thing.

Properly RPing a Diplomatic Incident takes AGES, and most people on NS haven't the time to do it properly, or they just don't care.

I find the trick is some intelligent humour, but it doesn't always work since not everyone gets it...

Well, in Dra-pol's case our interaction with the outside world -as an authoritarian socialist hermit state- has been traditionally limited to them attacking us and us killing them.

As suggested earlier, most of our none-martial affairs are considered internal (as per the teachings on self sufficiency prompoted by our national ethos of Kurosite Progress), but I did have a quick look at your rail storefront the other night. I dismissed the idea of trying to buy anything, because there is no way that Dra-pol is ever going to operate any kind of train built in the last thirty years or requiring of large weights of fossil fuels... we simply can't afford it (currency withdrawn by sham-communist regime, population set at realisitc levels (34million)). I was thinking about making an approach for any replaced older trains that you may have rusting in some siding/scrapyard, but then I got to thinking about how we'd probably want to do all the work ourselves rather than having outsiders come into our metro network, so I supposed that there really wouldn't be any RP past, "hey, can we buy some rusty old carriages?" "Sure!" "Thanks... bye." and it didn't seem worth it.

I know that doesn't really help you much, probably. Hm.

I've tried to make a bit more of the martial aspect of RP by including as many character level plots and schemes, ideological and political conflicts as well as direct battlefield clashes.

There's not much I know about your RP as yet, but if I don't put myself to sleep by the time I'm done dealing with Dra-pol's latest problem I might just look into it.

Yeah, eh, so, sorry I'm not more help right now.

Peaceful RP's like history, exploring new continents, facing off with very different people (tech v.s. magic for instance), etc.

My RP I provided a link to is a peaceful RP. The kind of RP I like reading and creating. I strongly encourage people to try to engage their imagination and creativity through writing and working on peaceful RP's.

I noticed that there seems to be like 10 war / terrorism / civil war threads for each single peaceful / non-war RP.

How is war fun if you can't "officially" win? It doesn't add or subtract anything towards or from your actual nation's stats (like annexing nations would increase your total NS population in reality).

Perhaps if war made permament effects upon your nation's stats then warfare would be much more intelligent and interesting than all the number wanking and uber "I nukk0r j00! I win, you lose!" or people feeling the obligation to god-mod just to win, like Hataria, Seph, and a few others.

If warfare was an integral part of NS (affecting nation's stats like Issues does) then there will be no free-form god-modding like Seph or Hataria does. They will be forced to accept losses, such as population reduction and economy being trashed. They wouldn't be able to build or poof more military from thin air.

Again, war RP's leads to a contest of one-upp'ing. This can lead to god-mod and ruination of said RP's. Then throw nukes, bio, and chemical weapons... no fun at all.

Just my 2 cent rant regarding warfare and such.

I understand where you're coming from regarding my railroad storefront, Praetonia and Dra-Pol.

I do have a question though. How is buying railroad stuff any different from buying navy ships, aircraft, and army stuff? Nations need civilian stuff more than military stuff because without civilian stuff you have no economy to run a military. ;)

The navy, aircraft, and army stuff are more likely to be destroyed or made useless via player's "ignore".

I do have electric locomotives, as well as a diesel one. In fact, the one diesel I have up there is around 2010 - 2015 era tech level.

I might switch the system inside my steam locomotives to hydrogen fuel cells, or something similiar. It releases water and oxygen... water for the steam, and oxygen to burn the furnances even hotter. Something like that. :)

Personally, I'd find that less interesting. I don't pay that much attention to my national profile, anyway, and RP more or less everything that it'd cover, anyway. I don't engage in war to make Dra-pol the most powerful Nation State... as I say, I've already cut the population by two and a half billion, and RP an economy that's closer to basket case than powerhouse or whatever is listed. Dra-pol has won and lost when it comes to war, and neither was significantly more or less fun. We captured Seoul and lost Hamhung in different wars... Hamhung is still in enemy hands, and that's okay, because it just gives me a new way to interact with another player.

War on NS is actually more fun if you don't get too caught up in winning the game or something... it's the characters that are creating and fighting the war, not the player, and it's worth keeping realistic motives in mind. Relatively few wars -certainly in the modern world- start on the whim of one single man whose aim is to conquer the world. I've had leaders (Kurosian II and his Suloists) whose motives for war were incorrect (in terms of analysts akin to Sun Tzu, I mean), and they lost not only to the enemies but to competing forces (the Kurosites) within Dra-pol who were more realistic and less... OMG I WIN! oriented than K-II.

Yeah. Mh. Time for a full English, I can't concentrate.

Hm, well, I suppose military goods purchased are more likely to come up in RP with another player... by their nature they're made to deal with other nations, where as items of national infrastructure are more introspective and tend to be less useful as RP tools when dealing with others, you know?

If I buy trains from you, they'll probably get one line of dialogue when a foreign diplomat comes to my nation... or some terrorists blow one up. The two frigates I imported from Al Khals are rolled-out whenever somebody objects to us being fanatical anti-capitalist/western/theistic pinkos... something that happens on a regular basis.

Still, I don't want to sound like I'm against you on this. I'm trying to think of ways to improve the scope and regard of my RPs, and I'd encourage you not to give up!

As I've said elsewhere, the problem is that for most things like buying Aircraft and Trains etc, it's assumed that your Nation is more than capable of doing it on its own.

Roycelandia ia big on reverse engineering... so let's say someone comes out with the latest super-duper Railway Locomotive.

We could buy a thousand or whatever off you for Imperial Railways, or, we could buy one, reverse engineer it, improve it, and make our own- you see where this is going?

Again, try posting Interesting Events- not necessarily wars, but odd and strange things that happen in your Nation...

Greetings, everyone.

I have several serious questions that I'd really like responses and feedback about. Here goes...

1. I'm curious. What is your opinion about my RP'ing? (too boring, too tedious, too sketchy, fun, interesting, etc.)

Yipes! Ok. You're a bit underexperienced, but you have a distinct style, and a respect for the well-being (and interest) of other players which shines through. A tad slow, and you do tend to lose track of threads you started, but these things are overcome by experience and use of the tools on the top. Or you could keep a list of threads and check them off daily?



2. What kind of improvements should I make to my RP'ing? (To get more people to read / comment on my RP's and participate if open RP)

Well, you HAVE threads that people comment on – particularly the tension ones. The catch on storefronts is to cause need or give humor (there was a thread on plastic fruit that went through the ceiling, and another one about Mercury Melty Trout…). But normally, most people only want to read about war. It’s a limitation of the gamers available, not of you personally – most want the excitement.


3. What caliber of RP do you consider my RP'ing?

---------------------------
My ongoing unique RP can be found here....

http://forums2.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=357520

---------------------------

High, with potential. What you need work on mostly comes from experience and focus, and both of these things come with time and exposure.


4. How come people don't participate or comment on peaceful or non-war RP's?


Most players here are high schoolers and the like, with the attention span of warm bread dough. You work drama, and that takes more work, and no small amount of skill.

I would advise your taking note of the “views” section of each thread, then reading much of what passes for “role playing” here, and comparing it bluntly to your own method – or having someone else compare. This is not the “be all and end all” forum of Role Playing. It’s fun, but it’s not all there is.



5. I'm trying to set up a non-military storefront, namely my railroad storefront. How come everybody else prefers military storefronts? I'm trying to introduce more civilian and non-military stuff to the NS scene. :(

---------------------------
My railroad storefront can be found here....

http://forums2.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=358066

---------------------------

See above. The railway is interesting, but it’s infrastructure, and again – warm bread dough doesn’t even consider logistics in warfare, having them think about trains and motion and civilian population as anything other then fodder for warfare is… well, “generous” would be a good word. And those who do think of those things have usually taken some pains to take care of such things. So your storefront is useful to the new crop of logistics-thinkers. Which requires time.



6. I would like to know what it takes to make people more interested in peaceful and interesting RP's rather than constant warfare? Surely all the nuking and invasions is getting boring, yes?

Remember the group you’re talking about. Yes, there are some which believe constant warfare is boring – but there are also lots who believe it is fun. All a matter of who you are playing with.

Sometime later, we can discuss the “age of the soul” ;)



I'm really trying, but sometimes people seem to prefer to do warfare, civil war, invasions, threats, terrorism, etc. even though its impossible to "win" at NationStates.

Seriously, only an handful of people has offered to participate, comment, or purchase my stuff. If this keeps up, I won't be having fun in NS anymore. :(


Have fun with the people who have fun with you. There are several. And people are involved in your threads, the trouble is you aren’t taking them as far as they can go.

So, my advice? Focus. Take time. Look at who plays, how they play, and who pays attention. From there, find your group, and have fun being you. There’s lots here – much of it needs to be properly filed (much of that “round filed”), but there are definite treasures to be found. And listen to the commentary you got here from all the players - much good comes from those who take the time to respond.

So do stay a bit, pull up a chair, and look for a good time. It’s there to be found.

Again, try posting Interesting Events- not necessarily wars, but odd and strange things that happen in your Nation...

I'm doing exactly that with my Worlds Without End RP (link in 1st post on this thread).

In regards for the railroad storefront, I understand. It's just frustrating for me when I try to introduce non-military stuff then get passed over, you know?

To be honest, I doubt I'll ever do any military storefront because I admit I don't have that good of a grasp on military stats and the such. All I know how to do well are tactics, not exact numbers and figures like "turning ratio", "PSI", "angle of fire", etc.

I understand only the basics, like speed, weapon size, amount of armor, length, width, height, etc. for military units.

Sharina, your Rps are really good, I read your jst then, and if I thought you wold, I would ask you to tech me some, especially the political side, Mainly cause while I a good at the war part, and noticing little incoistancies in treaties, bt the political stuff I anot so good at. ANyway, I might uy some stuff but I don't have enough money.

Sharina,
See what I mean?

Now get busy. ;)

Sharina, I hope you fdo not mind, but have put your railway storefront in one of my allience forums, Just to give you a better chance of seling stuff

I understand where you're coming from regarding my railroad storefront, Praetonia and Dra-Pol.

I do have a question though. How is buying railroad stuff any different from buying navy ships, aircraft, and army stuff? Nations need civilian stuff more than military stuff because without civilian stuff you have no economy to run a military. ;)

The navy, aircraft, and army stuff are more likely to be destroyed or made useless via player's "ignore".
As I said, nations assume they just 'have' civilian stuff. Even if I didn't, I would make stuff like railways in house. In a nation of 840m people or whatever it is, there is going to be a company that will make railways and I'd rather it be internal than external.

People buy military equipment because the specs actually matter (ie in a tank battel you need to know how good the enemy tank is over your own, when do you ever need to know how fast your train will go?) and a lot of people dont have time, dont know how or cant be bothered to design realistic military stuff themselves.

You ignore a nation, generally not equipment. Although you can ignore equipment it generally turns the thread into an argument about what is and isn't modern tech, so you generally either accept it oir ignore the whole thing.

Funny. I didn't think the military manufactured all its equipment, I thought they gave contracts to companies :confused: .

I agree. War RPs are boring, mainly because they're so frequent, and mainly because they're not particularly interesting to read. I mean, if RPs are supposed to be like stories, then I'd like to know what novels you've read where the only level of description of a combat zone is the exact model number of tanks, the exact serial number of the particular shell they're firing, etc... Not all RPs are like that. But a lot are.

It seems that if your thread doesn't have the word 'bombs', 'guns', 'nuclear' or 'attack' in it, nobody cares. It's less like a political simulation and more like a place for discussing military hardware, so far as I can see...