NationStates Jolt Archive

Dear Moderation Team,

In game I am currently in charge of a raider group called The Brotherhood and based out of The Cathedral. During our time we have not had a rule infraction that I know about. We have had a lot of new recruits join and we want to train them so that we can continue to enjoy the game without breaking any of the rules. One method of training I was considering was to have some of them intentionally break rules and report it to the Moderation staff immediately to see the repurcussions in action.

All training is done in safe regions that we founded for training purposes so no casual bystanders will be involved. I'm sure you won't have a problem cracking down on our noobs for real infractions even if the purpose is educational. My question is to what extent will you crack down on them since this is a training exercise and the point is to illustrate to new raiders NOT to break game rules?

Maybe this would be a better question with a hypothetical. Say we have one of our trainees move two nations into our training region and apply to the UN with both nations. We advise Moderation the breach is about to happen beforehand, and we report at the time of offense. Would the punishment just be the deletion of the two offending nations, or more broad? Also, would the infraction count against the player in terms of being cited as a 'history of abuse'?

This training notion is still in the planning phase and nothing has been done yet, so it can be changed to fit suggestions here, or dropped altogether if the Moderation team doesn't approve. Again though, the real point of this execise is to impress new recruits with the importance of following the rules.

Interesting dilemma.

I'd say that rule breaking is never a good idea in the first place, but, this is educational. I personally see no problem with rule breaking in these 'safe regions' where it is used for training purposes only. I would actually suggest that these new members use puppet nations so they can see moderator action witout sacrificing their main nation.

However, I am not a mod and hold absolutly no say over and decision made here.

rules are rules
if the mods allowed this i could see people claiming training all the time for rule braking
omg, both my nations cant rejoin the un. wtf :upyours: i was only training. you stupid mods dont know shit

No, this is not permitted. You are not permitted to beat someone up to demonstrate the penalty for assault nor speed down the road (even if it is empty) and 100mph to show your child the ticket.

My gut reaction says that the penalties would be fast & hard especially since the person breaking the rules openly admits that they are purposefullly breaking the rule.

(Note: This is a gut ruling and is therefore subject for further thought and possibly change.)

I concur with my associate, SalusaSecondus (not that he needs my concurrance as he outranks me).

I see considerable potential for abuse, here, and the level of coordination required to ensure that things run smoothly constitutes more effort from Moderators than this is worth. There's already lots of confusion and consternation over the invasion rules. I'm afraid that this would amplify those problems.

Thank you for bring this idea to our attention, but you'll have to drop this altogether.

--The Modified Democratic States of Cogitation
NationStates Game Moderator

The only true path to enlightment is the moderation forum and the FAQ. All other paths lead you to false NS gods ;)

Which would be a true blasphemy, since I have joined the One True Church of His Most Exaltedness Lord Salusa. :p

On a more serious note, you could train them in the Warzone regions. But,like Sal said, no rulebreaking.

Since Salusa made a ruling, I thought I'd add my two cents...

If you're teaching a nation how to invade or defend, they should read the rules. They can easily search through the forums, or you can provide this information in a training manual, to show clear cut examples of moderation inquiries into invasion/defenses that went wrong, UN multi accounts that have tried to appeal or other rules and information on the game. I think this would be much more effective than losing a nation or two and being "punished" for being a UN multi.

I agree there are loopholes in what you proposed, and the most common would be a nation saying, "Oh, I was UN multiing, because I was training! Don't sweat it!" Unless the moderation team was holding this training, which would never happen, there's no way to verify that a nation really is training.

Anyways, that's just my opinion, take it for what it is.

Thanks to all for their thoughtful comments, and the Moderators for a well reasoned ruling. The Brotherhood tries very hard to maintain our image of clean raiders. The idea is not only shelved, all traces of it have been incinerated.

I was thinking of it as a sort of "scared straight" type deal where parents take their kids to the local jail, but had not considered the potential abuse aspect (hey, I didn't intend to abuse it) and the concurrent Moderator time investment. Now that these have been raised I agree with the Moderators and others wholeheartedly. You have my word that the idea will not be used.

PR

Now that these have been raised I agree with the Moderators and others wholeheartedly. You have my word that the idea will not be used.Thank you for your cooperation.

--The Modified Democratic States of Cogitation