NationStates Jolt Archive

This has pushed the borders of stupidity, broken them, and went about 100 miles into Greater Stupidity. It's impossible to get any issues with anything resembling intelligent options. About 80% of issues I end up dismissing outright because there's no acceptable option, just one extreme or the other. In those rare instances where there actually is a choice that's somewhat sane you end up getting a ridiculous result.

As an example, I recently got an issue where you were to decide if freaks could walk the streets in full-blown S&M mode. I picked the closest thing to "no" there was and get the result of "midnight raids drag couples from their homes in the name of decency." What the hell?!? The issue had nothing to do with them in their homes, just people doing it in the middle of public places. Most issues end up giving choices and results that are insulting and degrading to anyone outside of anarchists and the far left.

I propose a change to the issue offer system in order to give players a more informed choice. Along with the usual Pro-Con-Other explanations it should display in the same numbered categories the text that will be offered to your nation's description. Additionally you should be able choose in your preferences the able to see what effect decisions will have on your nation in the civil rights, economy and political freedom categories.

This has pushed the borders of stupidity, broken them, and went about 100 miles into Greater Stupidity. It's impossible to get any issues with anything resembling intelligent options. About 80% of issues I end up dismissing outright because there's no acceptable option, just one extreme or the other. In those rare instances where there actually is a choice that's somewhat sane you end up getting a ridiculous result.

As an example, I recently got an issue where you were to decide if freaks could walk the streets in full-blown S&M mode. I picked the closest thing to "no" there was and get the result of "midnight raids drag couples from their homes in the name of decency." What the hell?!? The issue had nothing to do with them in their homes, just people doing it in the middle of public places. Most issues end up giving choices and results that are insulting and degrading to anyone outside of anarchists and the far left.

I propose a change to the issue offer system in order to give players a more informed choice. Along with the usual Pro-Con-Other explanations it should display in the same numbered categories the text that will be offered to your nation's description. Additionally you should be able choose in your preferences the able to see what effect decisions will have on your nation in the civil rights, economy and political freedom categories.
I've found myself beating my head against the wall over these exact same things. I figure they'll be overhauling the issues system in NS2 for these exact reasons.

this belongs here (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/forumdisplay.php?f=1232)

I propose a change to the issue offer system in order to give players a more informed choice. Along with the usual Pro-Con-Other explanations it should display in the same numbered categories the text that will be offered to your nation's description. Additionally you should be able choose in your preferences the able to see what effect decisions will have on your nation in the civil rights, economy and political freedom categories.
I'm not a mod or an admin but I do know that their response to this idea will be, no.

I think part of the idea is that decisions leaders make can have unexpected consequences. My suggestion is that you just learn to deal with it.

My suggestion is

If we're handing out suggestions Dear nazz....

It's supposed to be exaggerated. Read the FAQ.

Why is my nation so weird?

Everything is exaggerated a little. Well, okay, a lot. Your decisions affect your nation very strongly, so your country might seem like a more extreme version of what you were aiming for. Unless you have radical politics. In which case you probably think nothing's wrong.

My decision had unintended consequences!

Yep, that'll happen. For one thing, see "Why is my nation so weird?" above. For another, pretty much every decision you make will involve a trade-off of some kind. It's kind of an exercise in choosing the best of a bunch of bad options. You might find this frustrating, especially if you're the kind of person who thinks the solutions to all the world's problems are obvious.


Directly from the Issues Faq. Basically, it seems NationStates is intended to be a game about politics, but a seriously satirical one at that. Meh. If you want serious politics, read the papers or watch the news. ;)

Actually, We like some of the odder results. So far We've had families marrying children off for business deals, people being forced to sneak out of the country to have sex, regime critics becoming "unpersons", and mysterious hamster abductions. Is this a great country or what?

Same here. Especially the people marrying cats cracked me up.

Whenever I write an issue, I make sure that all of the options do something bad.

Directly from the Issues Faq. Basically, it seems NationStates is intended to be a game about politics, but a seriously satirical one at that. Meh. If you want serious politics, read the papers or watch the news. ;)Or play a different game! :D

~Czardas, Supreme Ruler of the Universe

What game?