An Analysis of NationStates Generations

[Bluth Corporation]

Holy shit, I'm Protogonus!

[Albundania]

By this one I'm in the Thesis generation. That just made me feel a little older to this game, if just a bit.

[Kim Jong-ilia]

I am of the Lotophagi generation, though my nation's population may not reflect that, I have been around that long, and I do remember when the UN became the WA, I was pissed off when that happened. Afterwards I felt a little less like I was a part of something important.

[Imperfectia]

I like this. Being of the Proteus Generation, it seems to describe some of my experience with this game anyway.

[Bears Armed]

Holy shit, I'm Protogonus!

Not 'Spartacus'?

[Bluth Corporation]

Not 'Spartacus'?

I'm not sure whether to make a Khachaturian reference or a Phantom Regiment reference...

[Kim Jong-ilia]

bump

[Spartan Philidelphia]

I'm a member of the Theseus Generation. The generation that is more intelligent than the one before it and wiser than the newbies after it!

[Naivetry]

I'm a member of the Theseus Generation. The generation that is more intelligent than the one before it and wiser than the newbies after it!

'Scuse me?

Generations may have something to do with outlook and temperament, but not intelligence.

[Starblaydia]

I'm a member of the Theseus Generation. The generation that is more intelligent than the one before it and wiser than the newbies after it!

'Scuse me?

Generations may have something to do with outlook and temperament, but not intelligence.

It's a George Orwell quote.

[Naivetry]

It's a George Orwell quote.

Ooh, so it is.

Obviously I need to read more Orwell.

[Sionis Prioratus]

Hero/Civic. A Hero (or Civic) generation is born during an Unraveling, spends its rising adult years during a Crisis, spends midlife during a High, and spends old age in an Awakening. Heroic leaders are considered to have been vigorous and rational institution-builders, busy and competent in old age. All of them entering midlife were aggressive advocates of technological progress, economic prosperity, social harmony, and public optimism.

Theseus Generation

With a crisis emerging, their generation will do what it is necessary to fight through it, with a creative driven passion and determination. They at times don’t realize it, but with a crisis at hand, Theseuses have been raised to preserve what they can, as well as revive, restore and bring back the game with all its glory and might.

(Dates of Emergence, April 1 2008 - May 1 2009. Anyone who can remember the days of Jolt and cutting at each others throats to get an early beta key to NS2 - but cannot remember the days with a UN (and not because you've forgotten ))

Are you an astrologer? I completely identified with that! And I lasted more than 39 days *sobbing*

I still remember the day when I broke the egg, got out, started writing, started defying, started achieving...

*crying: emotional collapse*
*gets out, red eyes*

[Unibot]

Are you an astrologer?

No. The light pollution at night in my town prevents that.

But I'll take it as a compliment, this time....

[North Wiedna]

Hmm, the new generation doesn't seem to fit Artist. Perhaps a new category is in order.

[Kelssek]

I've only just realised that I was actually involved in the "experiment" in question. Some comment on that:

I figured the issue would show the generations very clearly, with their varying dispositions. Unfortunately, the thread was closed before too many observations could be made, in fact only members of two generations had time to comment (Proteus and Lotophagi).

Actually, you got three generations. Technically I'm in the generation before Proteus, although close enough that it doesn't really matter. I suppose I could fit into either description, slightly better into Proteus, really, but overall, I don't find they are an accurate description of my attitudes towards the game as a whole.

The Proteuses were more confrontational, they took the attack on the rules as an attack on themselves and the system they were protecting... the Proteuses were not totally apathetic to possibility that change could happen, because they have experienced it before, but they were still confrontational in “behalf of the system’s defense”.

This was certainly not how I felt and I don't think I was "confrontational" or had any "system to defend". I only wished to clarify whether it was the OOC rule you were questioning, or proposing to repeal the Rights and Duties resolution, because your post was ambiguous. Even re-reading it now, it's hard to get the sense that you were suggesting actually to change the OOC rule, in fact, it probably seemed to me that first time like you were completely unaware of it. It was only clarified in subsequent posts.

Overall, I find it difficult to comment on the descriptions as I have never really been involved in gameplay. I don't detect the same trends you seem to be seeing, and neither do I feel I've been influenced as you describe it. So basically, well, I don't really agree with your analysis. Putting myself into the Proteus category, I actually didn't like repeals at first, and I'm a UNOGer. I suppose liking of humour fits, but that's me in real life, that's not because of when I joined the game. Likewise with my personal inclination towards realism: it's because I've long been interested in political science and always liked to pretend Kelssek was a real nation (it also makes it easier when I can rip off from RL or base things on RL). In more recent times I've also found that it actually was more fun to have that realistic context when I RPed bizzare or absurd occurrences, or more simply, parodies of reality. I have no idea what "turbulence" you're referring to, or have any idea what the quoted person is talking about. The generation your census puts me in fits even more poorly.

There's no denying that generations are a real sociological thing. And that's what I think you've overlooked. Real life has been overlooked in the analysis and I think that has a lot more to do with the behaviour of people, even online in an unreal context, than with when they created their account. I can't really be a Gen Y in real life and have the attitudes of a baby boomer in one part of my online activities. Additionally, consider that cultural differences also play a part. I myself have had a bit of a unusually global upbringing, but generations certainly are not the same around the world. How were you affected by the stabbing of Anna Lindh? How was your sense of national identity shaped by Molson advertising? How did the 2004 tsunami change your outlook on life? How did Junichiro Koizumi affect your attitude towards politics?

[Herrebrugh]

well the reason why the "great decline" took place is (what I think) is the arrival of NS2. Even my nation went dead for a moment. But I don't know if after the death of NS2 there where more active nations again.... But its a nice analysis, much work in it I believe

[Unibot]

Kelssek, only you would know for sure, but I'm thinking "Zelus" for yourself. When C&Cs first came out, you went into Zelus-mode and firmly stated that a compromise was possible, and that the WA could work with C&Cs. Quickly after you started working to creating a ruleset.

Rulesets are very Zelus-like.

I appreciated the criticism of the experiment, it was suppose to be nebulous, so I could analyze what different generations took from it without too much prompting. But again, the thread kind of got closed before it could be very productive. I would gladly edit the first line of that, to include your generation, but the essay is over the page limit - so it prevents me from even editing it. I'll have to go through and separate each section, and use an index set-up like I did for the new incarnation of the Big List of Ideas.

[Wingarde]

I'm technically a Proteus, born right in the middle of that period, but I believe I'm much more of a Zelus. As opposed to the rule-breaker other Proteus nations were back then, I resisted the insanity of kilometre-long (and longer!) super-dreadnoughts and some of the other outlandish (though less so) technologies being blatantly forced into MT.

I saw those humongous vessels, above all, as an obvious affront to the general fairness inherent in Modern Tech (due to being the closest tech level to reality), and advocated the reestablishment of a sensible measure of order and realism. But of course, I never was much of an influential player, so only NS people I frequently got in touch with knew of my profound hate for that lame adaptation of Star Destroyers to modern naval warfare.

And then I went into a long period of inactivity, mainly spurred by my ISP's arbitrary blocking of everything Jolt-related. Now, nearly three years later and with access to these wonderful new forums, I'm slowly reactivating (and in a handful of areas, re-imagining) Wingarde, and hope to stay for a while, even if I don't RP as much as I used to. Another reason for my return is that I was unable to RP my nation elsewhere despite a long, fruitless search. Playing here, in a way, keeps Wingarde alive and kicking.

[Bears Armed]

'Proteus', and the description fits reasonably well...

[Tiesabre]

Raleigh Generation, hmm.

[United Marktoria]

Ok. This is a debacle for me. My first Nation, The Marktoria State, started around the beginning of March of this year. I have basically abandoned that nation to the birds of the air and the beast of the fields. I did get fairly far on The Marktoria State, reaching 500 million population by the time i quit. So... would i be considered a Theasus or a Raleigh. Sorry if i misspelled them.

[Sarzonia]

I have no idea which of the generations I'd fall under.

When I was first becoming an active RPer, I was frequently lumped in with the '03 nations before many '04s were considered major powers. It only got more pronounced the longer I RP'd.

[Birnadia]

I'm Raleigh Generaion, and yes, this needs to be updated.

[Sailsia]

I look forward to the future of nationstates, as real life technology progresses, the internet will be built into everything, and hopefully, traffic will increase beyond anything we would have guessed. As long as an NS3 doesn't arise, the golden age of NS could continue for the next decade. However, whatever happens to NS, it has already engraved its self into my youth, and I'm sure, many others as well. The old days of unstable websites could very well be over, and all the old patterns of prediction could be obsolete, we may see Nationstates outlast twitter or facebook. We may see Nationstates be bought out, and merged with some distant website in the future. But for now, I'm going to enjoy the many cultures, ideology's, and opinions the word of Nationstates has formed. This website is a great definition of the good things the internet has done for mankind. As long as Max Barry owns Nationstates, it will last forever.

[Mushet]

If I would have joined one month earlier I would have been of an older generation