[Reviewed] Rifty's Region Guide

by **Riftend** » Fri Jul 25, 2014 5:09 am

by **Riftend** » Fri Jul 25, 2014 5:10 am

I. Starting a region

The first thing we must take into account before clicking the "create region" button is why we are creating it to begin with. We do this for multiple reasons; from later on creating a regional community to minutes in the future when we name the region. Such things like:

- Any theme behind the region?
- Gameplay or Roleplay Oriented?
- Are you going to take part in R/D?
- Monarchy, Democracy, Dictatorship or nothing at all?

The answers you give to the above will determine a lot of the direction of your region. Be sure it is what you want!

B. Where to make the region

There are two ways in which you can create a region:

1. In the region that you currently reside it should show the current population around half-way down the page. Directly under there it'll have a box stating "Tired of life in @@REGION@@?" Once clicked it will direct you to another page. At the top there will be a link named "create." Again click here and you will be directed to yet another page. This is the one we will be creating the region from.

2. Go directly to this page

C. Filling out "create region" page

You must fill in all the boxes available on this page for your region to be created. The name may NEVER be changed so put some serious thought and consideration into whether or not the name shows the purpose of your region; this may be easily done by answering the questions under part A. The Wold Factbook entry may be edited at all times however something much be added in there for your region to be created.

I would also advise switching of Executive controls on the WA delegate at first to avoid being the victim of a raid.

Now you should have a region right in front of you. It'll be empty and cold - let's work on fixing that!

by **Riftend** » Fri Jul 25, 2014 5:10 am

II. Setting up the region

A. Accessing the Administration Page

Below the regional population count in your region around half-way down the page it'll have three separate links; Activity, Administration and History. Click the Administration link as this is where you will be doing all the setting up.

B. World Factbook Entry (WFE)

This is the first thing people read when they join you region so use it to give a strong feel for your region. Keep it short and snappy and only for information that I needed; don't ramble on or have paragraphs of text. Many regions use it to welcome people to their region and to link citizens to dispatches for the region. Use colors, bolding, Italics, underline and anything you feel would make it look better than it currently does.

Formatting can be found here on the FAQ.

C. Flag

As I stated above surrounding the WFE; the flag is very much the same. It is viewed by everyone and a cool flag often interests new player to NationStates. Make sure not to steal a flag from another region/nation as it can get you in trouble with the moderators.

D. Password

There are ussualy two reasons for a region having a password on NationStates:

1. A group of people who do not want anyone in.
2. Fear of a raid

Of course if you wish to keep out people you don't know put a password up however if you just do not wish to fear a raid occurring on your region than keep the delegate's executive controls off.

E. Executive controls for the WA Delegate

As I stated above you can keep this switched off to avoid a raid occurring or if you wish to maintain absolute control over your region. Turning these powers on give the WA delegate the ability to:

- To edit the World Fact book Entry
- Create and Close embassies
- Eject and Ban nations
- Edit the regional flag
- Suppression of Regional Message Board posts.
- The ban list.
- Regional Password

As the founder of your region you will maintain executive powers whether or not the delegate has them. You may switch the Delegates powers on and off at any point in time.

Keep in mind if you do allow the delegate to have executive powers that not only can the Delegate abuse his powers but the delegacy may be seized by a raider. It is probably best to wait a little while before switching on the powers so the delegate may have a endorsements to deter raids.

Keep in mind that if your nation ever ceases to exists due to inactivity or a deletion your nation by the moderators that the delegate will immediately receive executive controls.

F. Regional Tags

Regional tags are used to express the purpose and beliefs of your region to other regions and nations. Choosing the ones that show off your region is rather important. Once you have tagged yourself with a particular tag you can be found by accessing that tag via The tag cloud.

by **Riftend** » Fri Jul 25, 2014 5:10 am

III. Growing the Region

A. Purpose of having nations move to your region

The more nations that decide to move to your region - the more attention and activity it will have. As nation begin to move you will receive a diverse culture of people with different beliefs. Some regions are limited to certain groups though; such as:

- WA nations or non-WA nations
- Particular classifications
- Certain statistics on a nation
- Only particular people

This is entirely up to the founder of the region and is often done either through ejecting nations that don't fit into the parameters for access or a regional password. Regional growth is mostly done though recruitment telegrams to other nations around the NationStates world, Mergers between regions, Recruitment posts on recruiter friendly tagged regions a gameplay forum or people just noticing your region and moving there.

B. Recruitment Telegrams

You may recall when you first make a nation how you are flooded with recruitment telegrams - this is what we are talking about. Recruitment telegrams are meant to draw in people as well as explain your region to those reading. Type one up yourself and than you can go about sending it to other nations. there are three ways to send recruitment telegrams:

- Telegram stamps
- API
- Manually

Stamps allow you to send a mass recruitment telegram at the rate of one stamp per nation attempted to be reached. Stamps are purchasable on the NationStates Shop at the cost of $1 (USD) per 1000 telegram stamps. Stamps can be used to recruit by sending a mass recruitment telegram at a specific group. These groups are:

- tag:new
- tag:ejected
- tag:refound
- tag:all
- tag:WA
- tag:newdelegates
- tag:delegates

All these groups can be targeted for your recruitment campaigns however some are less successful than others. New, Refounds and Ejects are all reguary targets as they are the most likely to move. Some regions also commit to a all WA recruitment telegram. This is the most efficient way of obtaining citizens however it does cost you money.

Another way that many regions take part in is an API. This is a free alternative to the stamp system but does wield less of a return. It is free but sends a single recruitment telegram every 180 seconds - only 480 telegrams daily. A in depth explanation on how the API is used is found here.

The finally way is manually. Collecting up to eight nations and sending them a telegram at once. This is slow and rather tedious however it is still an option many take up either in conjunction with stamps and an API or just as it's only means of recruitment through telegrams.

Keep in mind the return on the amount of people moving to your region through recruitment telegrams is close to 1%. In saying that sending out 1000 recruitment telegrams is likely to bring back only 10 nations if not less.

★★★ ALWAYS REMEMBER TO MARK EACH TELEGRAM AS RECRUITMENT ★★★

C. Recruiting on the RMB

Some regions are tagged to be "Recruiter Friendly." This means that they will allow you to post a recruitment post on their Regional Message Board once a day. You may only do this on regions marked "Recruiter Friendly" and Game Created Regions. This is a fairly poor way to recruit and often upsets the members of the community within that region by interrupting their Regional Message Board. Here is a full list of Game Created Regions:

- The Pacific
- The North Pacific
- The South Pacific
- The East Pacific
- The West Pacific
- The Rejected Realms
- Lazarus
- Balder
- Osiris
- Warzone Africa
- Warzone Airspace
- Warzone Asia
- Warzone Australia
- Warzone Europe
- Warzone Sandbox

A full list of regions you mad do this to can be found here.

★★★ YOU MAY ONLY RECRUIT ON THESE REGIONS ★★★

D. Gameplay Forums

Each region is allowed to post a single topic for their region in the Gameplay Forums. This is similar to a recruitment post on a Regional Message Board however it allows for more formatting and links. In saying that you can make it look really attractive to other nations. You are able to bump or add more to each topic whenever you so please. Some examples of a gameplay topic can be found here:

The Black Riders
The West Pacific
Spiritus

E. Mergers

This is a more complicated means of recruitment but is also rather affective if done correctly. This is were you offer another region to move it's citizens into your region; brining two regions into one. This often requires weeks of discussion and offering benefits to the founder and WA delegate of the other region but it can bring in large amounts of citizens that you had not even had to recruit yourself!

by **Riftend** » Fri Jul 25, 2014 5:11 am

IV. Building a regional community

A. Communication inside the region

The two ways available to NationStates users to communicate on the site are the Regional Message board and Telegrams. Telegrams can be a useful tool for information for a select few within your region - however the main way the region will communicate is on the Regional Message board. It's a way to chat, debate and even sometimes argue.

Many regions put a topic for the Regional Message Board in their World Factbook Entry as somewhat of a conversation starter.

Some posts on the Regional Message Board may not be wanted are free to be supressed by the founder or WA Delegate (If they have executive powers).

B. Offsite Forums

As the Regional Message Board only allows for 10 posts to be visible at any given time it is rather hard to keep a history of things that have been discussed. This is why many regions resort to an Offsite forum.

★★★ KEEP IN MIND NATIONSTATES MODERATORS ARE NOT ABLE TO TAKE ACTION FOR PEOPLES BEHAVIOUR ON OFFSITE FORUMS ★★★

They can be used to run Activities for your region, Discuss serious and non-serious matters with a little more depth and sometimes even hold polls. Many large regions have these to counteract the amount of people able to post on the Regional Message Board. Most forums have a section for just chatting, Debates, Regional Government, Roleplay and fairly often an equivalent to Forum 7.

A list of offsite forum hosts:

- ProBoards
- FreeForums
- ZetaBoards

C. Instant Relay Chat

Instant Relay Chats are very common amongst the larger regions of NationStates as a means of communication. These are similar to the Regional Message Board however they allow for an instant relay of the messages - as the name implies. It removes the need for nations to continue to refresh to see if someone has posted on the Regional Message Board.

D. Embassies

You may request an embassy with whatever region you so desire, however it is not guaranteed you will be accepted by them all. Once an embassy is completed it shows somewhat of a tie between your two regions - but there is more. Since the addition to embassy posting, The founder or Executive WA Delegate may allow for either the entire population of embassies or just the executives (Or of course not at all) to post on your Regional Message Board. This is rather useful in creating stronger regional ties with your allies and can often increase how much use you Regional Message Board receives.

E. Keeping the community safe

The Founder nation must be kept alive to ensure that your region is protected. If the Founder nation ceases to exist for whatever reason, access to Regional Control will automatically revert to the WA Delegate. This leaves your region open to invasion by outside forces who can seize the Delegacy, change the World Factbook Entry, regional flag, and password settings, and eject your region's residents.

Because the Founder is so essential to a region's safety, some regions will share or transfer the ownership of the Founder nation from one player to another to ensure that an active player is always available to protect the region. If you choose to do so, be sure that the Founder nation is not a WA member. You should also refrain from using the Founder nation for activities besides regional administration, so that the risk of the Founder nation being warned or deleted is minimized.

If the Founder of your region has already ceased to exist, you have several options. One is to attempt to refound your region with another nation. In order to do this, the region must contain no nations during one of the two daily game updates. At that point, the region will cease to exist with all of its information, and you will be able to refound it by following the process for creating a brand new region. Be aware that other nations, including raiders, may attempt to refound the region before you in a process known as "region hawking". There is no way to prevent region hawking except to refound first, so you may wish to seek assistance from experienced players before pursuing this option.

Your second option is to remain as a Founderless region, but to form diplomatic and military ties with other regions who can help you in case of invasion. Usually, many regions and interregional organizations will be willing to discuss mutual defense agreements and similar arrangements to help keep your region safe

by **Riftend** » Fri Jul 25, 2014 5:11 am

V. Activities for the region

A. Roleplays

Having regional Roleplays is a brilliant way to get your citizens involved as a community. If you have a theme to your region you can always tie it in but for the better part it is a decision made by the cohort. Work out what you wish to Roleplay about and make it up from there. Make it so it is only for you region by either adding it to the title of the forum post or putting it in your regions personal forums. Than link it in the WFE and BAM...an activity for all to join in on.

You need to make sure to outline all the rules and what Tech it is in prior to beginning to avoid confusion amongst the participants of the Roleplay.

B. R/D

R/D is short for "Raiding and Defending." R/D is practically the equivalent of war in other games as NationStates has no actual way to start a war other than Roleplay. Many regions tag themselves for which side they support as well:

Invader - Raider
Imperialist - Raider focused on gaining territory
Neutral - tends to keep out off GP
Independent - Both raids and defends
Defender - Defender
Game player - Is more involved in R/D then the average region

An explanation of R/D can be found here!

C. Regional maps

Many regions have regional maps for reasons like aesthetics, assisting in Roleplay or showing nations foreign relations. These can be made at many map making sites and than handled by the founder, delegate or another person who is trusted to do that for the region.

D. Regional Government

Regional governments in NationStates are social contracts developed by the players of the region - that is, an agreement of rights and responsibilities by which each member chooses to be bound. Typically, regional governments will include a constitution to define citizenship, outline government offices or positions, and establish procedures for administering and maintaining the region.

There are as many ways of organizing a government as there are NationStates regions. A great part of the fun for many players comes from the challenge of creating a solution that works for their regional community.

In the broader NS world, many regions exchange embassies or form alliances through Foreign Affairs offices, host regional or interregional events for their citizens and visitors, publish regional newspapers, form military organizations to raid or defend other regions, vote on WA resolutions, and much, much more. The possibilities are limited only by your imagination and your willingness to invest time and effort into a project your community cares about.

by **Blood Wine** » Fri Jul 25, 2014 10:05 am

viewtopic.php?f=12&t=53016

Stop mimicking Nephmir and Skydip

by **Shizensky** » Fri Jul 25, 2014 10:12 am

I think it's good to get something g like this up, but a collaborative effort built with input from proven region builders might be best, and would also help legitimize it. I mean no offense to you, Rift, but a guide written by someone whose major claim to fame is a region hijack won't get much attention.

Maybe we should try to get a bunch of leaders together to discuss what we've learned in our experiences, try to find common themes, then make the guide out of that.

by **Blood Wine** » Fri Jul 25, 2014 10:19 am

Shizensky wrote:I think it's good to get something g like this up, but a collaborative effort built with input from proven region builders might be best, and would also help legitimize it. I mean no offense to you, Rift, but a guide written by someone whose major claim to fame is a region hijack won't get much attention.

Maybe we should try to get a bunch of leaders together to discuss what we've learned in our experiences, try to find common themes, then make the guide out of that.

It already exists,though the author doesn't update it anymore,it's still a solid guide with the rest of the thread also being filled with excellent info - building a region doesn't change much over the years

by **Shizensky** » Fri Jul 25, 2014 10:24 am

Blood Wine wrote:It already exists,though the author doesn't update it anymore,it's still a solid guide with the rest of the thread also being filled with excellent info - building a region doesn't change much over the years

I agree, mostly. I think the original guide only needs a few updates to accommodate for a few game changes, but overall it's very solid. It's sticky'd for a reason.

The only problem with the current guide is that it seems to focus on a mostly technical aspect of region building, whereas I'd like to see the guide expanded to include advice on fostering a regional community. It would be something that stresses the idea that the value of the region is more than the population count.

by **Blood Wine** » Fri Jul 25, 2014 12:30 pm

Shizensky wrote:
Blood Wine wrote:It already exists,though the author doesn't update it anymore,it's still a solid guide with the rest of the thread also being filled with excellent info - building a region doesn't change much over the years

I agree, mostly. I think the original guide only needs a few updates to accommodate for a few game changes, but overall it's very solid. It's sticky'd for a reason.

The only problem with the current guide is that it seems to focus on a mostly technical aspect of region building, whereas I'd like to see the guide expanded to include advice on fostering a regional community. It would be something that stresses the idea that the value of the region is more than the population count.

I think it focuses on technical aspects because every community is different,but the basic building is the same

by **Riftend** » Fri Jul 25, 2014 2:30 pm

Blood Wine wrote:http://forum.nationstates.net/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=53016

Stop mimicking Nephmir and Skydip

Mods said the need someone to create a new sticky and update it - I threw my hand up. That's what I'm doing now.

by **Nierr** » Fri Jul 25, 2014 3:49 pm

Blood Wine wrote:http://forum.nationstates.net/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=53016

Stop mimicking Nephmir and Skydip

Stop criticising people who are trying to make positive contributions to this forum.

Baal knows they are few and far between.

by **Nordic States and Territories** » Fri Jul 25, 2014 5:19 pm

The gameplay forum can be really hostile.

by **Riftend** » Fri Jul 25, 2014 6:22 pm

Nordic States and Territories wrote:The gameplay forum can be really hostile.

I've noticed - It's not as bad as people make it out to be though

Nierr wrote:
Blood Wine wrote:http://forum.nationstates.net/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=53016

Stop mimicking Nephmir and Skydip

Stop criticising people who are trying to make positive contributions to this forum.

Baal knows they are few and far between.

Thank you

by **The North Polish Union** » Fri Jul 25, 2014 6:40 pm

Nordic States and Territories wrote:The gameplay forum can be really hostile.

Just roll with the punches and you'll be fine.

by **Blood Wine** » Fri Jul 25, 2014 10:59 pm

Riftend wrote:
Blood Wine wrote:http://forum.nationstates.net/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=53016

Stop mimicking Nephmir and Skydip

Mods said the need someone to create a new sticky and update it - I threw my hand up. That's what I'm doing now.

Source?

Nierr wrote:
Blood Wine wrote:http://forum.nationstates.net/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=53016

Stop mimicking Nephmir and Skydip

Stop criticising people who are trying to make positive contributions to this forum.

Baal knows they are few and far between.

This reeks off a attempt to gain publicly or some other ulterior motive

As Shizensky has mentioned,Riftend isn't the right kind of person to teach people how to build a region,I'd much rather see a person like BearNation (the current delegate and one of the original regional founders of Gay ) make it,though I'm not saying he should,I'm saying a person like him should

by **District XIV** » Fri Jul 25, 2014 11:11 pm

Blood Wine wrote:
Riftend wrote:Mods said the need someone to create a new sticky and update it - I threw my hand up. That's what I'm doing now.

Source?

...

Sedgistan wrote:The existing stickies are getting dated. If someone wants to have a bash at re-doing any of them, I'm more than willing to consider changing the stickies around. If you're going to do that, I'd suggest dropping Naivetry a telegram first to see if she's okay with her stuff being re-used (or is willing to have authorship of the posts transferred to another player).

by **Riftend** » Fri Jul 25, 2014 11:26 pm

Blood Wine wrote:
Riftend wrote:Mods said the need someone to create a new sticky and update it - I threw my hand up. That's what I'm doing now.

Source?

Nierr wrote:Stop criticising people who are trying to make positive contributions to this forum.

Baal knows they are few and far between.

This reeks off a attempt to gain publicly or some other ulterior motive

As Shizensky has mentioned,Riftend isn't the right kind of person to teach people how to build a region,I'd much rather see a person like BearNation (the current delegate and one of the original regional founders of Gay ) make it,though I'm not saying he should,I'm saying a person like him should

I think you are all a bit harsh towards me because I don't take crap from people. I am actually rather happy helping people out - I just don't like when people take advantage of that and only keep me around until I have done what they wanted. It's a guide - nothing more. I really don't know how this is going to benefit me in any regard.

If any of you had a conversation with me you'd realise im actually a nice guy - I'm just not friendly when people try and use me or screw me over.

by **Eist** » Fri Jul 25, 2014 11:29 pm

Port Blood/Blood Wine, chill out! Why do you even care? Just ignore it if you don't like it, because it doesn't affect you. If you are right, this thread will just die. If you are wrong, it will be stickied with your stupid comment as the very first response.

Good luck OP.

by **Riftend** » Fri Jul 25, 2014 11:31 pm

Eist wrote:Port Blood/Blood Wine, chill out! Why do you even care? Just ignore it if you don't like it, because it doesn't affect you. If you are right, this thread will just die. If you are wrong, it will be stickied with your stupid comment as the very first response.

Good luck OP.

Thanks mate

by **Blood Wine** » Fri Jul 25, 2014 11:41 pm

Riftend wrote:I think you are all a bit harsh towards me because I don't take crap from people. I am actually rather happy helping people out - I just don't like when people take advantage of that and only keep me around until I have done what they wanted. It's a guide - nothing more. I really don't know how this is going to benefit me in any regard.

If any of you had a conversation with me you'd realise im actually a nice guy - I'm just not friendly when people try and use me or screw me over.

Well,if you're serious about this,a few points:

1.why not request thread ownership transfer like sedge suggested?
2.you're not exactly a veteran,now are you?
3,are you getting input from veteran players? or regionalites? (did i put that right? people with 1 region and no more)

District XIV wrote:
Blood Wine wrote:
Source?

...
Sedgistan wrote:The existing stickies are getting dated. If someone wants to have a bash at re-doing any of them, I'm more than willing to consider changing the stickies around. If you're going to do that, I'd suggest dropping Naivetry a telegram first to see if she's okay with her stuff being re-used (or is willing to have authorship of the posts transferred to another player).

welll excuseeee me princess for not reading EVERY topic
(if the "..." was just a divider,ignore this)

Eist wrote:Port Blood/Blood Wine, chill out! Why do you even care? Just ignore it if you don't like it, because it doesn't affect you. If you are right, this thread will just die. If you are wrong, it will be stickied with your stupid comment as the very first response.

Good luck OP.

Why I care? let me explain something about me,I got 2 things that sum me up for the most part:
1.I care for the GP community
2.I'm highly allergic to BS

At first glace,this looked bad for both points

by **District XIV** » Fri Jul 25, 2014 11:51 pm

Blood Wine wrote:welll excuseeee me princess for not reading EVERY topic
(if the "..." was just a divider,ignore this)

'Twas just a divider indeed.

by **Riftend** » Fri Jul 25, 2014 11:51 pm

Blood Wine wrote:
Riftend wrote:I think you are all a bit harsh towards me because I don't take crap from people. I am actually rather happy helping people out - I just don't like when people take advantage of that and only keep me around until I have done what they wanted. It's a guide - nothing more. I really don't know how this is going to benefit me in any regard.

If any of you had a conversation with me you'd realise im actually a nice guy - I'm just not friendly when people try and use me or screw me over.

Well,if you're serious about this,a few points:

1.why not request thread ownership transfer like sedge suggested?
2.you're not exactly a veteran,now are you?
3,are you getting input from veteran players? or regionalites? (did i put that right? people with 1 region and no more)

District XIV wrote:...

welll excuseeee me princess for not reading EVERY topic
(if the "..." was just a divider,ignore this)

Eist wrote:Port Blood/Blood Wine, chill out! Why do you even care? Just ignore it if you don't like it, because it doesn't affect you. If you are right, this thread will just die. If you are wrong, it will be stickied with your stupid comment as the very first response.

Good luck OP.

Why I care? let me explain something about me,I got 2 things that sum me up for the most part:
1.I care for the GP community
2.I'm highly allergic to BS

At first glace,this looked bad for both points

No I'm not exactly a veteran but I've been on NS for about a year. I only really got into working in regions and doing more than answering issues around January - however in that time I have been rather successful. I don't want thread ownership as I feel it was a tad bit to focused just on the technical side of running a region - not much around getting a community or satisfying the citizens. It isn't going to be hard to re-write it and add points.

I am going to get input from people after I get it made - It isn't gonna get stickied for a while. I'm just not gonna drag in some region builders prior to having everything one. No point.

Just explain to me how this is going to benefit me at all? It's hours of typing - in no way benefiting me. In those hours I could create a roleplay, recruit, set up some raids, sit on my and or something else. All of that would benefit me personally a lot more than this. I really don't understand how the hell im going to turn this into a positive for me?

I might link my region? Hey i'll let you watch you watch out for that! I might link to our regions gameplay thread? Haven't yet - I actually linked to TBR's because it's rather impressive; and i'm not part of TBR now am I?

The only thing you guys can toss around at me for a explanation as to why I must have some altered motive is the GDU incident. Unless you can find some other reason as to why im an ass who will turn this my advantage - can you please just shut up -.-"

by **Blood Wine** » Sat Jul 26, 2014 12:04 am

Might be smart to ask for thread transfer anyways,because of the thread attached holds a lot of info

[Reviewed] Rifty's Region Guide

[Reviewed] Rifty's Region Guide

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