Alternative History in NS

[Unibot III]

I would have continued on as UDL Chief longer probably; we got through your orchestrated media backlash and I was set to run a bread and butter campaign to recruit for the UDL and show our vigor. I had the confidence of my Lts. and I was feeling good about returning to our strengths. My departure had to do with a public spat between Gaspo and I, only peripherally related with Ravania. It was a straw that broke the camel's back; the knives were out to argue that I needed some sort of psychiatric help, only this time I bought it.

[Klaus Devestatorie]

ITT: lots of people asking questions about their own history and virtually no answers.

[Valrifell]

ITT: lots of people asking questions about their own history and virtually no answers.

Humanity in general is a self-centered species.

But what would've happened if I was never founded?! (Kidding)

[Revall]

ITT: lots of people asking questions about their own history and virtually no answers.

Humanity in general is a self-centered species.

But what would've happened if I was never founded?! (Kidding)

No Sicarius!

[Belschaft]

I would have continued on as UDL Chief longer probably; we got through your orchestrated media backlash and I was set to run a bread and butter campaign to recruit for the UDL and show our vigor. I had the confidence of my Lts. and I was feeling good about returning to our strengths. My departure had to do with a public spat between Gaspo and I, only peripherally related with Ravania. It was a straw that broke the camel's back; the knives were out to argue that I needed some sort of psychiatric help, only this time I bought it.

Uni, I don't want to talk about your personal life but no one was "knifing" you when they tried to get you to seek psychiatric help, and it's appalling that you'd suggest such. Everyone involved knows exactly what went down that night and it was nothing of the sort.

[Unibot III]

Everyone involved knows exactly what went down that night and it was nothing of the sort.

The reaction had very little to do with my well-being. Calling a university helpline shouldn't make someone feel as though that makes it better when they try to openly exploit a UDL leadership nomination race, which was only run because I was convinced by my own friends that leaving NS was good for me. I should have clued in when everyone who was telling me to leave were the people who benefited the most from my departure. I was more alone than ever in an attempt to deliberately isolate myself from NS (I did try to keep to my own personal expectations) and watched my own organisation go through some really hard times which I couldn't do very much at all to stop. It's not fun watching two years of passion and work get thrown through the rinse cycle. That was the last time I let anybody decide what was for my well-being for me.

NationStates is not "just a game" to me. I put a lot of creative energy into it and I love it to bits. Like, I wrote a screenplay the other day - and even that's not just a screenplay to me. That's a month of my life and a hundred ideas, fifty cups of coffee and thirty odd characters, plots and words and humors carved out from my mind, my memories and my life. If one screenplay could be that to me, imagine what NationStates is!

The creative process should be stressful and it should be tough. I will move on when I feel my contribution to the project is done and a new project is calling to me. I'm not eloping to Disneyland anymore; thinking life will be right as rain and running away from my problems with NationStates won't make anything better for me.

I'm happy to say I'm depression free now and it has nothing to do with "walking away from stress" and everything to do with realizing how much I love NationStates despite all the trouble it causes, and I love the opportunity it gives me to write and be heard. People care what I have to say in NationStates - sometimes they even care what I have to write elsewhere. That's fantastic. I can't just go to a political office and hand them a calling card and expect to be taken seriously when I tell them I'd write anything for them - but in NationStates, people would take me seriously, NationStates has taught me I can do anything if I put my mind to it. Interviews, speeches, policies, articles, smarmy opinion articles, propaganda, cartoon editorials and the grayest of government literature. Done it all. Love it.

You might think I've wasted my life putting that much energy into NationStates, but my response will always be: I never would have believed in myself enough to accomplish any of this at all in real life before.

I'm writing this now while I finish up the latest edition of The Rejected Times (which is a cracker) tonight and I'm having an absolute ball writing it. I hope people enjoy it as much as I've enjoyed editorising it.

[Evil Wolf]

Shine on you crazy diamond.

[Benevolent Thomas]

I'm liking you more and more as time passes, Unibot. Your last post alone increased my respect for you like 15%. NS is just a game, but its not just a game. Unlike a lot of games I play, there is a real emotional investment and a lot of hard work that goes into NationStates. The majority of the game's content for me is created by myself and other users. This game has a beautiful and rewarding aspect where a player really carves their own destiny. I can look back on the majority of my "in-game" accomplishments and say "I built that. I did that". This is even true of the negative aspects of NS. I've had my fair share of stress playing this game and I've even caused some trouble for myself, but nothing is more gratifying than to be able to overcome it all and accomplish my goals.

Back on topic: I think the ultimate Alternate History for NS is if the TSP coup never happened which led to the FRA/UDL schism never happened. But since most people are inclined to agree with that, I'm trying to think of a more recent event that could have changed the game. Sadly enough, I think it still involves the UDL. What if it never splintered? What if Unibot was still in charge and all of the Lts of the time still followed him gladly into battle? I don't think Spiritus would have came to be which I think means Wintreath would not have happened. I don't think as much craziness in Osiris and other GCRs would have happened. I wonder if the FRA would have survived another year with the temptation for its members to join the UDL. How many invaders would have Unibot have been able to turn if it were not for the UDL's scandals? What would the UDL and TITO's relationship be like with Unibot still in charge with an even more powerful organization behind him?

[Cormac Stark]

Nevermind. Not worth it.

[Estenia]

What if all the defenders raided the Black raiders? Franko couped all the Pacific Regions and Unibotleader of all the raiders.

[North East Somerset]

Unibot, how dare you steal Biyah's thread! One can't help but admire your spirit for the game, although it can border on fanaticism.

I digress, the TSP coup by Sedge definitely precipitated some interesting events. We've already touched on the Unibot-FRA fallout leading to his resignation from the Arch Chancellorship and subsequent founding of the UDL. It also contributed to the demise of Earth22 in Europeia as she was secretly backing it including mobilising members of the ERN privately, against Europeian interests. And then of course, this all went to on to influence future events. Of course, both these events could be argued to be inevitable, and the coup merely acted as a catalyst so we'll never know precisely what if anything would have been different.

[RiderSyl]

What if all the defenders raided the Black raiders? Franko couped all the Pacific Regions and Unibotleader of all the raiders.

[Goddess Relief Office]

What if Empire of Power hadn't invaded 10ki back in the day? Would the region still have turned defender and gotten involved in gameplay?

10KI probably would have stayed as a RP region.

[KaelThas Quilor]

The UDL would have been unlikely to turn many raiders if it had less scandals - it would have been more attractive to unaffiliated players, yes, if it had less scandals (and was less shrill, which it comparatively is, these days), but while some raiders do swap sides to the UDL, the lack of scandals probably wouldn't have measurably increased that number.

[Les Claypool]

The UDL would have been unlikely to turn many raiders if it had less scandals - it would have been more attractive to unaffiliated players, yes, if it had less scandals (and was less shrill, which it comparatively is, these days), but while some raiders do swap sides to the UDL, the lack of scandals probably wouldn't have measurably increased that number.

Though the UDL created a fair few raiders, from the organisation itself (Not counting people like Coraxion).

[KaelThas Quilor]

The UDL would have been unlikely to turn many raiders if it had less scandals - it would have been more attractive to unaffiliated players, yes, if it had less scandals (and was less shrill, which it comparatively is, these days), but while some raiders do swap sides to the UDL, the lack of scandals probably wouldn't have measurably increased that number.

Though the UDL created a fair few raiders, from the organisation itself (Not counting people like Coraxion).

This is true. Cormac first left the UDL after one of its scandals/screw-ups (IIRC, it was the Christmas raid I led, but I'm sure that was just one of many stresses, rather than all that was behind it), so a less scandal-ridden UDL might not have had Cormac quit, nor would it have pushed people into the raider side, I'll grant that.

[Solorni]

There was a big battle for a while between Tramiar and Unibot over claims that TBH was actively recruiting UDL members.

[Benevolent Thomas]

Thanks for the response, Cerian. I'm inclined to agree with your assessment.

[Frattastan II]

I don't think players leaving UDL and going raider had to do with "scandals"...

[KaelThas Quilor]

I think some of them helped create disillusionment in the ranks of some of the UDL.

[Ballotonia]

Back on topic: I think the ultimate Alternate History for NS is if the TSP coup never happened which led to the FRA/UDL schism never happened. But since most people are inclined to agree with that...

I'm not sold no that reasoning, actually. Why didn't FRA/UDL simply agree to disagree and move on as palls? A lot of that has to do with personal relations, irritations building up over time, etc... Just like in real life politics. That the split happened over a particular event doesn't mean the split would never have happened without that one event, the schism was slowly forming before then, and growing steadily. There could easily have been some other event a month later that would've led to the exact same effect, and then we'd be saying that some statement, some WA proposal, or some other coup in the game would've been the 'cause' of the FRA/UDL schism. I think the causes (plural) are far deeper and more structural than any single event.

Ballotonia

[Cormac Stark]

This is true. Cormac first left the UDL after one of its scandals/screw-ups (IIRC, it was the Christmas raid I led, but I'm sure that was just one of many stresses, rather than all that was behind it), so a less scandal-ridden UDL might not have had Cormac quit, nor would it have pushed people into the raider side, I'll grant that.

Yes, it was the Christmas raid that was the tip of the iceberg, so to speak. The UDL had made the questionable decision to "pre-defend" Christmas for the entire month and had installed an inactive lead who didn't know what they were doing, and as time went on nobody was returning to Christmas to endorse the Delegate anymore. So basically it was raided by TNI with UDL sitting in the Delegacy. Following right after the UDL decided to trust Biyah and endorse Neo Kervoskia in Osiris, I decided it was no longer worth my time.

The second time I left the UDL was also due to scandal: the incident in TNP, followed by Unibot's behavior, followed by his retirement, finally followed by the long Conclave process in which I was unfairly attacked and decided the UDL was no longer worth my time. Though I did not immediately return to raiding after this.

As I've said before, when something stops being fun and starts being miserable in NationStates, I tend to find something else to do. I don't think I'm alone in that. Especially the second time I left, there was nothing fun about the UDL anymore and increasingly nothing fun about defending, as a result. Had it not been for the UDL and its constant drama, I may well have remained a defender from September 2012 until this point.

[Pollaetorian]

Speaking of Christmas.

Christmas has long been a founderless region but wasn't really targeted at all until 2011 onwards. Christmas really become a famous battleground only after I raided it on Christmas 2011 (but since it was me, most dismissed it as a one off 'funny theme' thing - no one takes me seriously ) and more importantly after Cormac initiated all that drama leading to the original liberate Christmas in early 2012.

It was only afterwards that Christmas became a regular raid target and the also need to pre-defend Christmas every Christmas rose.

What if Cormac ever raided Christmas? Would anyone else eventually exploited the drama potential for it?

Edit: Bonus question - Would everyone's careers have been if Christmas since burst all these new characters on the Gameplay scene as it did?

[KaelThas Quilor]

Back on topic: I think the ultimate Alternate History for NS is if the TSP coup never happened which led to the FRA/UDL schism never happened. But since most people are inclined to agree with that...

I'm not sold no that reasoning, actually. Why didn't FRA/UDL simply agree to disagree and move on as palls? A lot of that has to do with personal relations, irritations building up over time, etc... Just like in real life politics. That the split happened over a particular event doesn't mean the split would never have happened without that one event, the schism was slowly forming before then, and growing steadily. There could easily have been some other event a month later that would've led to the exact same effect, and then we'd be saying that some statement, some WA proposal, or some other coup in the game would've been the 'cause' of the FRA/UDL schism. I think the causes (plural) are far deeper and more structural than any single event.

Ballotonia

but the UDL formed as a result of the way Unibot felt the FRA mishandled the TSP coup, Ballo. The UDL wasn't around before it.

[Belschaft]

I'm not sold no that reasoning, actually. Why didn't FRA/UDL simply agree to disagree and move on as palls? A lot of that has to do with personal relations, irritations building up over time, etc... Just like in real life politics. That the split happened over a particular event doesn't mean the split would never have happened without that one event, the schism was slowly forming before then, and growing steadily. There could easily have been some other event a month later that would've led to the exact same effect, and then we'd be saying that some statement, some WA proposal, or some other coup in the game would've been the 'cause' of the FRA/UDL schism. I think the causes (plural) are far deeper and more structural than any single event.

Ballotonia

but the UDL formed as a result of the way Unibot felt the FRA mishandled the TSP coup, Ballo. The UDL wasn't around before it.

That's not quite correct; the UDL was formed due to the way TRR - or more specifically Sedge - were annoyed at how Unibot handled Sedge's coup of TSP. That is to say, because Unibot authorized Ranger deployment. However, to a great degree that was merely the casus belli for the TRR initiated recall of Unibot as FRA Arch Chancellor; the real issues were the general direction that Unibot was trying to take the FRA, specifically efforts to reduce the relative power of the regional membership, much of which contributed nothing in terms of manpower or activity to the FRA, by enfranchising the Ranger corps; the people who actually were actively participating in the FRA. The recall was essentially a case of "TRR or Unibot", though it wasn't termed that way. As a result Unibot and EID left the FRA, and formed the nucleus of the UDL, taking with us perhaps a third of the active Ranger Corps and maybe two thirds of the non-update pilers.

The fact that decisions in the FRA are still made by a group which is largely made up of people who don't actually defend remains one of it's weaknesses. In contrast, the UDL leaderships complete lack of accountability and oversight was it's largest weakness, and the cause of most of the problems it experienced during Unibot's Chiefship. On numerous occasions he made extremely bad decisions - especially in terms of foreign and public relations - which the Lt.'s called him to task on, but he never changed his pattern of behavior and simply reverted back to his typical behavior after a couple of weeks. This was a big cause in the general exodus of founding members in 2012-13, and directly led to his resignation as Chief of the Band. A general pattern of increasingly extreme rhetoric and ideology can be traced throughout this period, which combined with Unibot's behavior was the cause of the increasing disillusion among the more moderate members, many of whom had GCR attachments.