NationStates Jolt Archive

At the begining of starting your nation, you should be given a list of laws in which you can accept of deny any of them(other than the few you are already given). This will make up the basic list of your laws. Therefore making the nations more diverse, simply by making new laws.
If this comes out with a better version, such as a pay to use version, some of the issues that you come across will have you make decisions which may be unconstitutional therefore giving your citezens the choice to petition, if so you choose to give them that right, on whether or not that decision should really be made.

Not gonna happen on NationStates.

Might happen in NationStates 2 though.

The original poster does mention a "better version", and simply isn't aware of the sequel they might not really be making.

But let's just discuss this. If they don't find an NS2 development team, it is in Max's best interests to update NS Classic.

It would take too much coding effort to update NS1 to be what it would need to be to mimmic what people want NS2 to be. And then they would make ppl pay for NS1.


And they arn't going to change that much of the code.

Would, could, definitely arn't... wow, you psychic?

The truth is we don't know if there will be an NS2, Max Barry himself doesn't know if there will be an NS2, and we are discussing something that would only make a minor change to NS Classic.

Since the Opinion of Shazbotdom is that this conversation is meaningless... why should he bother? I like this idea, a constitution would be similar to the opinion questionairre at the beginning of Nation creation, except it stands as a standard to government policy.

Though, now that I think of it... a true constitution like what america has is awfully complex... how can we do this in a way that would give more Nation customization, not less, without making it too complicated?

...see, that line of thought will kill this discussion faster, without claiming you know the future.

Personally I like this Idea and I hope that there is an NS2 that incorporates this but like Shazbotdom. I do think that this is never going to make it into "NS Classic"

Why?

1 Changes to the way nations are made (inc. Associated new pages, new SQL queries and new Database Tables, alot of work

2. Changes to the way issues are done. This wouls be alot of work as it requires a whole new level of database activity and manipulation. Why?

Well We have a constitution as set at start up... Issue #205 let's say comes up and it challeneges portion of constitution known as X. The game would have to know that that option challenges the constitution, the issue text would need to be re-written, the results of the new text would have to be re-done as it changes more than the other option would of. And that has to be done for every option of the now 200 issues within nationstates, and for every possible combination of constitutions.

Alot of work and something that unpaid developers (I assume or if they are paid they are paid very minimally) to do, too many man hours to be worth it.

So once again, while I like the Idea it is not going to happen in this NS. Thank you for your time.

Since the Opinion of Shazbotdom is that this conversation is meaningless... why should he bother? I like this idea, a constitution would be similar to the opinion questionairre at the beginning of Nation creation, except it stands as a standard to government policy.

Not oppinion. You can RP your own constitution but there have been talks about this type of thing and the Admins have already said that they WILL NOT change the coding that drastically for the current NationStates game.

It really only changes two things about the core gameplay.

The first being what is esentially a more in depth version of the opening questions about your nation.

The second, is that the effect of issues now has a second effect that is constitutional. If the effect of the issue is counter to the constitution, there will be yet another re-action that could be positive or negative.

Like having a democratic consitution, and in the compulsory voting issue you declare yourself a dictator... thats a HUGE change which will cause big shockwaves throughout your nation. On your nation's description screen it's just one extra sentence describing the shockwave.

As far as gameplay mechanics and basic coding are concerned, those are actually very, very small changes.

The complicated part is when you begin trying to define just what needs to be in the constitution. Just what should be in it, how should it be structured, et cetera.? How do you allow for free constitution writing that still allows for the current spirit of the game to work. Will it really fit?

As far as gameplay mechanics and basic coding are concerned, those are actually very, very small changes.And yet, the people who can actually see the code disagree. Guess who I'm going to believe...

You have forums provided for roleplaying. Many regions and IC organizations have forums provided. There's also the NSWiki. There are plenty of places to put a constitution; adding it to the game is not one of them, and there are no plans, or need, to make it one of them.

Ah but as the constitution is a law generally to uphold the freedom of the people, the makers of NS classic have the freedom to make a new NS2, but they are by no means obliged to.

Like having a democratic consitution, and in the compulsory voting issue you declare yourself a dictator... thats a HUGE change which will cause big shockwaves throughout your nation. On your nation's description screen it's just one extra sentence describing the shockwave.


I consider NS to be only part of the nation(s) that I'm creating. The fact that NS doesn't give my nation a constitution just gives me more freedom to write my own (if I ever have time). I actually have plans to become a benelovent dictator if I get the right issue, and that will have serious shockwaves in my nation, whether the game recognizes them or not.