NationStates Jolt Archive


Why I Play Nation|States

imported_ViZion
13-12-2007, 08:21
Credit to Lindim, the original poster of this. I would have bumped him thread, except there was no Reply or Quote button to do so.
So... some of you older guys like me may remember this post... I was scanning through old threads I posted in, looking for a couple threads in particular when... TA-DA! I found THIS beauty by Lindim: Why I Play Nation|States (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=382919)

What a post that was... and it reminds me of why I'm here... Think many of you could use a read of that post...


A legislative session is called to debate euthanasia as different bills are proposed. Heated debates fill the halls of Parliament; each position will have a different effect on Lindim. Some will raise the economy to unprecedented heights, some will turn the government into a large, Orwellian machine of observation.

A tense diplomatic meeting is arranged; all countries represented wait for the word. Will the alliances, international juggernauts of that elusive quality, power, settle their differences, if only temporarily? Or will the giants throw their weight at each other, willing to bring down entire civilizations in their quest for dominance in the name of what they think is right? No matter, armadas are being readied and special forces have been deployed.

In the shadows, a terrorist group waits. Long have their people been oppressed, and now they will strike back through a car bomb. Willingly or not, the international community will pay them attention. And perhaps, in the attack, justice may be achieved, a nation in waiting liberated.

Armies are mobilized against a backdrop of cruise missile strikes, entire cities are ripped apart and the sounds of machine guns echo in the distance. The generals pay this no mind in their dark rooms lit only by the glows of computer screens. They see only chess pieces and units to move, armies to outflank, bandits to engage. And the generals themselves are but pawns in larger international games, perhaps set up only to fail, serving a hidden power's interest and a nation's plot for power.

And then I blink, my computer screen flickering in the wake of a gust of wind from the outside. My windows rattle, and rain beats softly against the roof. My tea has gone cold, and the house remains quiet in a low hour. My alarm is set to go off in a few hours, ushering me to a day of school and homework, studying the rise and fall of empires, real leaders and real battles fought over real love, real betrayal, and real power.

And as I sit here in my pajamas in the youngest hour of the day, my parents and siblings sleeping on the floor below me, pencil and paper on my desk filled with the schemes and betrayals of dozen of humans, the soft hum of my computer a comforting sound, I wonder. I wonder why. I wonder why a fifteen-year old may play at ruling the world, at ruling a nation, at controlling the fates of billions.

But the people of Lindim are torn apart in a civil war, salvos of missiles and thousands of lives are hanging in the balance off the coast of Avios, and the Prime Minister has been kidnapped.

I have promises to keep, and miles to go before I sleep.

Miles to go before I sleep.
Questers
13-12-2007, 08:36
You could have just bumped Lindim's thread rather than try and make yourself look good by reposting it.
Free United States
13-12-2007, 08:46
O_o

wow...that's eerily true.
imported_ViZion
13-12-2007, 08:47
You could have just bumped Lindim's thread rather than try and make yourself look good by reposting it.
I'm not trying to make myself look good. I would have bumped it... except for the fact that the "Reply" and "Quote" buttons aren't there. ;) There's a reason I gave Lindim credit a couple times in a single short post, including putting his name in the quote...
Stoklomolvi
13-12-2007, 08:53
*Wild applause*
Theoroshia
13-12-2007, 16:51
If this were a charter or a bill, I'd sign it myself.
Nueve Italia
13-12-2007, 18:49
This was a great post when I first read it, and it still is amazing now, looking back on it after all this time.

Lindim, wherever you are, The NS Gods are smiling upon you ... ^_^
Vojvodina-Nihon
14-12-2007, 16:54
Not really necessary to repost this: the original thread is linked in several other places, Lindim herself has been MIA for ages, and nobody else can really contribute anything that hadn't already been contributed by post 10 of the original thread aside from similar meditations on Why We All Play NationStates. And to be honest most people are too busy Launching Ze Missiles and/or Complaining About How You Can't Afford 10,000 B-2s to take the time to write essays they won't be graded on.
SilentScope003
14-12-2007, 20:51
Why I play NationStates?

In NS, you are a God. Plain and simple. Don't say that your nation is a mighty nation with lots of tanks and nukes, it doesn't. Your nation is a bunch of 0s and 1s in Max Barry's code. Don't say your country is a democracy...who's the one making the choice on Issues? You are. But in the RP section, you can say whatever you want, and if people accept it, then you win. This allows people to claim whatever they want, making you a God, fighting other Gods. Wank=Power is all so true in NS.

And check what happens when the Gods "play" with each other. I hear the
warming up of the IGNORE Cannons, the sounds of the troops doing a ground invasion, the explosions indicating that a nuke has been dropped, the rolling of the tanks with godmode on. And the best part is the utter pettiness of the Gods who play, each God thinking themselves as the best of the bunch, seeing their nation as great, when in the long term, once the NationStates website shut down, due to the Internet being declared 'obsolete', so will the billions of people you cared for, so will your Godness.

And I enjoy it.
Pinball pirates
14-12-2007, 21:20
i play because i'm a bored megalomaniac.
Xeraph
14-12-2007, 21:37
I play NS because if I don't I have to play with my blow-up doll and she's not half as interesting as the crazies who inhabit Nation States.