NationStates Jolt Archive

Why is it that every time I view the nation of someone with a "storefront" thread I see this:
Civil Rights: [insert anything from Below Average to Outlawed] Economy: Frightening Political Freedoms: [insert anything from Below Average to Outlawed]
??

Are there people who actually enjoy min-maxing the system to produce a militarist behemoth with unlimited resources? Does it give someone a sense of achievement? I've also noted that the majority of warmongering RPers have nations that follow the blueprints above.
Sure, I myself might want to try how NS handles a military dictatorship, but would probably become bored after a week or so. Mind you, these aberrations I mentioned have populations in excess of two billion!

Here is a Maddox-style hint to all of the people who own nations like that:
You haven't "won" the game and will never "win" it. This isn't StarCraft or Age of Empires. No-one is impressed by your high score because there is none. Go play Battleships.

You do realise that most of us aren't Min-maxing right? We anwser the issues the way it would actually be anwsered and if that gives us a good economy and terrible political freedoms... Of course, I've been trying to get my civil rights up for a long time and since it's late in the game they rise very slowly.

Honestly most of us are just playing the way we want to and everything else just falls into place with no special urging of our own. Sure there are a-few who only anwser issues to get advanatges but they are N00Bs and easily spotted and ignored.

No winners? Um, all I can do is point you toward Klonor for that comment, he is as close as you can get to a winner in the futuretech setting, and while he may not flaunt it everyone does know it.

I play the game to create the country I would most likely like to rule, not necessarily live in. So basically I eliminate political freedoms so I am never voted out of power, I push up my economy because as ruler, the richer my nation is the richer I am, and I want to be rich, and I eliminate civil rights because at my core I'm a jerk. The fact that this creates a militaristic behemoth is just a coincedence, which actually is good since it means I can throw my weight around and be mean to those weaker than me, since I'm such a jerk.

What delights you so much about making a liberal paradise?

No winners? Um, all I can do is point you toward Klonor for that comment, he is as close as you can get to a winner in the futuretech setting, and while he may not flaunt it everyone does know it.

If you're referring to the RP aspect of NS, I can't help but wonder. In role-playing games, there are no winners. And the game itself has no such features, either. Players are not scored on population, military, cash or even social well-being.

What delights you so much about making a liberal paradise?

Because it's impossible in every other nation-building game I've tried. Civ III comes close, but is still too much focused on warfare and hoarding resources.