NationStates Jolt Archive

I'm new to the game and have been reading the UN resolutions. They can be quite complicted at times. What I was wondering is do they actually effect gameplay, or is it purely role-playing fun?

It's more like both. UN resolutions affect nation stats depending on their category and strength; if your nation is out of line with a new resolution when it passes, you'll receive a telegram from the Compliance Ministry letting you know about new laws in your nation. UN nations can also roleplay the effects of compliance (or imagined noncompliance) with new resolutions here in the forums.

More importantly, they only affect your nation if you are a UN member. If you are not, they do not affect your game play.

It's more like both. UN resolutions affect nation stats depending on their category and strength;
True, they act similarly to issues in how they affect your nation.
if your nation is out of line with a new resolution when it passes, you'll receive a telegram from the Compliance Ministry letting you know about new laws in your nation.
You get a telegram regardless of whether you're supposedly in compliance or not. ALL UN members get a telegram upon a UN Resolution's passage.
UN nations can also roleplay the effects of compliance (or imagined noncompliance) with new resolutions here in the forums.
Lots of UN nations also tend to just ignore how it affects their nation since they use the UN status for other things. The one thing you can't do is stop them from changing your nation stats. However else you choose to deal with them is up to you.

Actually, you can stop the stats from effecting you by stat wanking(resign before the resolution effects your nation, wait a day or 2, then re-apply). Though with all the e-mail confirmation bugs that might prove annoying.

http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showpost.php?p=11280703&postcount=5

Strangely, we have really good sticky articles on these kind of questions in the UN forum.