NationStates Jolt Archive

I hate to be a griper, especially since this is my first post, but this UN rating of 'happiest citizens' is a PURE sign of Bias, IMO. If one was to look at the 'world' the highest capitalistic country on the list is 41st, and even IT has a massive government.

In reality, big government does not supply happiness, liberty does. (Again IMO)

I guess I could sum it up as this: I don't think happiest citizens is a fair measurment of a nation on this site, as it would be so very easily vulnerable to bias.

I love this site, and it is a free service that I both appreciate and enjoy, so I guess I have no right to compain, but I found today's UN rating a bit ridiculous and biased. Maybe i'm wrong, but I had to speak out.

I have to break this to you, Hyperboreus: NationStates is biased. The man who made it has a quirky sense of humour, and it's reflected all over the place. Issues, you'll find, have totally unlooked-for effects (as do political decisions in the real world).

Similarly with UN ratings. Officially they're done by the UN gnomes, who are traditionally totally unbribable. There is probably an explanation of the twisted logic that went into the arcane IT code behind all this stuff, but really, you'd be better off reading Max Barry's books and sacrificing a goat or two.

It's probably more coincidence than anything. The "happiness" modifier is rarely used, because one of the conceits of the game is that people are generally at least "kinda happy". It's entirely possible that the nations with a high happiness just happen to be more authoritarian. It's equally possible that the top 100 or so nations actually have the same happiness rating, and their placement (via age) works out putting such nations at the top.

My nation, for instance, has almost no government to speak of, and routinely ranks well for happiness.