Embassy of The North Pacific

[McMasterdonia]

Is the TNL logo supposed to run off the edge of the post?

Good articles otherwise.

It’s not doing that for me :/

Also I updated the link to the dispatch version that is way prettier imo: https://www.nationstates.net/page=dispatch/id=1206723

[Lord Dominator]

Huh, works fine now.

Ah well.

[El Fiji Grande]

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Issue XXIX of The Northern Lights
We are aware that not everyone is equally appreciative of image-based NS newspapers. As such, we've included the standard format mostly plain-text version of the newspaper in the spoiler below. We hope you enjoy reading this month's issue! If you have any questions, comments, concerns, or suggestions, feel free to telegram the current TNP Minister of Communications Pallaith.

Link to TNL Issue XXIX Dispatch

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Editor's Note

by Pallaith, Minister of Communications

Since reimagining The Northern Lights at the start of the year, we have strived to focus on particular themes or topics, ones that our authors could explore at greater length and could be applied to the game as a whole, not just The North Pacific. Issue XXIX is all about regional outreach and engagement. We brought together authors whose experience in NS has given them insight into the best ways to motivate and interest players and in so doing help change the culture and character of their regions. These perspectives should prove useful not just in the authors' home regions, but to any region willing to apply what they have learned, and were so kind to share with us in these pages. We hope that the wisdom they share lights the way to enhanced activity and a richer gameplay experience.

The views espoused are the authors' own and are not the opinion of The North Pacific unless otherwise stated.

Pallaith
TNP Minister of Communications

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A Little Culture and Community

by Escade, of Gameplay Magazine

The number one question players in NationStates often ask is some variation of “How do I develop my community?” or its fraternal twin, “How do I engage players in my region?” In this article, I’d like to provide some of my thoughts on the topic of developing player engagement by developing a strong culture and community.

Part 1 - Develop Your World
Provide your players with a singular or unique experience by developing a detailed world for your region. Build a cohesive culture to give players a home to rally around. This is also where you assemble your team of like-minded individuals who work towards this common goal together.

Part 2 - Know Your Players
What does your ideal community look like in terms of people and activity? What kind of players do you want to attract? Are you interested in quality or quantity or a median point between the two? Are your goals realistic based on the amount of time, effort and practical experience you have with community building?

Part 3 - Burn Out and NationStates
How many players do you know who have said something like, “Region or players of region don’t appreciate or recognize my hard work?” I’ve lost count. Building a region isn’t easy, maintaining a region isn’t easy. The Ozymandias effect sometimes obliterates everything a group of dedicated players have done. This part is about how to focus less on what other people think or do and more about what you can do for yourself to avoid or mitigate burn out.

Part 4 - Questions and Answers
I get a lot of "How do I.." kinds of questions from “How do I advertise/hype?” to “How do I make other people play this game that I created?”. This section will be devoted to answering some of the oft-repeated ones in one place. In addition, players in good standing who have questions about any of the above are welcome to DM me or post below and I will add to the list as appropriate.

Develop Your World
What is culture? It’s a set of shared values, ideas, interests, and goals. What does this mean for a region? These are the symbols, theme(s) and customs that unify your region and demarcate it as a unique place, as a space to spend time in. Building a cohesive culture gives your region and players something to rally around.

Many regions attempt to do this in some manner or form (with titles, names, flags, etc). Some regions, like Balder and Osiris, have pre-built mythological imagery to work with. Others, like The North Pacific, have cardinal directions that give them a lot of leeway. Sometimes too much choice can result in a muddled mess. If you can’t describe your region’s identity or culture in a few words, then go back and treat it like a world you are building. Look up and answer a set of world building questions online and, with your team, plan out your community as if it were a world. Of course someone will say, “I’m creating a region not a roleplay community,” but a region is a space where people roleplay and in the case of NationStates, roleplay a political simulation of sorts.

It’s always surprising to me if a member of a region can’t explain their flag or what their region’s color scheme means, or if I ask the creator/leader of a region, “Hey, what is your region about or for?” and their response is unclear. Some people might think such details are frivolous or shallow but if you think of your community as a world, then your world building should be detailed, imaginative and recognizable. Your theme is your brand, and it’s what creates a feeling of being part of something that can’t be replicated elsewhere.

However, themes should also be adaptable and what we often see in NS is stagnant regional themes. Often regions have accumulated the debris of older players' decisions and choices clogging up the arteries of the region. One of the best ways to incorporate new players and give them a sense of being part of the fabric of the region is to run a theme/flag redesign/color scheme competition. You might articulate some things that remain the same (symbol of a lion, or a lotus, or a lyre or the colors red, white, and blue) but allow players to envision new designs and to move forward. If something hasn’t been active in a while and attempts to restart it failed, put it in a fancy mausoleum or museum section of the forums.

A bonus to doing the work of world building is that when you potentially decide to develop your roleplaying community, there will be a whole set of guidelines for roleplayers to already work with and expand upon.

First and foremost, really develop a full and engaging world (themes, symbols, customs, laws, colors, Discord bot names and commands) that players will want to live in. Words AND visuals are important. Your best bet is to co-create this with players who share your interests and imagination. This is your team or the group of people who you have enchanted (or at least inspired) with your vision and who will help you accomplish important tasks. If you can’t assemble a team at this initial stage, you need to rethink something. The reasons might be benign for why players don’t want to support you (too busy in real life, etc) or might highlight that you need more experience or planning. In addition, if you can’t put together a team now, how will you recruit players later on? Assemble a team of wonderful people you actually like to hang out with.

I’m also not advocating writing a 300 page guide on the theme (although that can be a future goal). A theme that operates on Norse mythology for example could use the nine worlds as nine houses or representatives or operate as one of the worlds (let’s say Asgard and frame their allies\enemies as the other worlds). Small details like referencing the Bifrost as the Foreign Affairs conduit would help make the theme a cohesive experience. Or political\government groups\ministries could be separated by the god or goddess they choose to revere the most (and therefore embody the values of). Does your region celebrate Loki as their esprit de corpus or does it revere Odin or Freya? Each choice gives a slightly different flavor to the region and helps provide different goals (to cause or engage in chaos\mischief vs. to lead by example through wit and wisdom, etc).

The tie-ins don’t have to simply be classic, they could be to the old deep mythology or a mixture of the classical and the modern (via the MC universe). World building is a form of play and attracts creative people which should always be encouraged. Someone might argue that a theme limits the region but taking the example of Norse mythology, there’s nothing to stop you from visiting or adopting the customs of “another realm” for a week or a month if your region wants to run a particular themed event that is inspired by let’s say Aztec myth, Spongebob or Death Note.

Any time a new region comes into existence and the creator/leader cannot explain why the region exists or what its goal or theme is, the death knell sounds. A game, like most forms of entertainment, offers an experience that cannot be easily replicated elsewhere, so offer an immersive world.

Know Your Players
When I was actively running the event planning server (instead of Gameplay magazine), many players came and continue to come to me with an idea for an event or activity and want to know how to run it or want help with how to run it.

What makes a successful event/activity? This generally depends on the goals of the event. For some, a successful event is 5-10 players active and enjoying the activities while for others it’s a much larger number, post count, time spent, or attracting players to the region to stay. There’s also the aspect of events being about regions mingling and getting to know one another. Think about your (realistic) end goals first and then work towards them. The goal may simply be, “Find you what level of activity and engagement I can get on a weekend over the summer.” Then, you track what worked, what could work better and some things you might want to change next time.

Whether you’re trying to attract new players or engage your current ones, at the end of the day you have to get to know your players to a degree. Community building requires some level of socializing and social skills. It helps to naturally find people interesting and it also means you should talk to players in public and private and get to know their interests. Then you build events or activities or festivals around their interests or the cross point between your interests and theirs.

I received a DM from someone who wanted to know how I ran Gameplay magazine interviews, but they were really asking why I used the questions I did and how they could replicate what I was doing. What I do won’t necessarily work for them because, for example, GP Magazine focuses on the personalities over the politics and they seemed far more keen on the political and historical aspects and couldn’t care less about what someone’s favorite book or music was. Emulating other people is a great way to learn but you also should figure out what speaks to you or what role you enjoy and adapt to that. While people all over the world fake it all the time, something about genuine enthusiasm and interest is infectious (whereas faked feels heavy).

For example, I am terrible at trivia and don’t enjoy partaking in trivia games. However, most NSers enjoy trivia and it can actually be quite fun to organize and host trivia games. My favorite is Harry Potter themed trivia games because it also happens to be a personal fandom (although I’ve run far more on things I don’t know as well). Using any of the planning docs that are shared on the GP magazine server is just a start; you have to adapt things to you community and yourself.

There are a whole host of things that can go wrong with trivia or activities. The questions may be too hard or esoteric, the organizer/host or the players may become fatigued, or the scheduling may not work out for all of the participants to run the event at the same time. However, activities are more likely to be successful if the organizer or host’s level of enthusiasm is high, they utilize hype (pings, all caps, advertising, suspense, competition) appropriately to boost attendance, and they provide adequate and interesting individual and group prizes/awards/recognition.

Does this mean you can never ever run an event where you share that one thing you love but no one else knows about? Nope, but think of it this way: part of running events/activities is building a reputation as someone who can help people enjoy their time in a game over the million other things they might be doing with their time instead. Build that reputation first, and then run a festival or event around 15th century bread making techniques, the secret language of flowers (hai I want in on this) or other esoteric things.

Activities/events/festivals should be:

1. Clearly branded/have a theme
2. Give players enough time to enjoy and partake in the event
3. Be accessible (on one or more platforms that players are already on such as Discord, the RMB, and sometimes forums)
4. Be advertised in the venues from which you want to attract players
5. Allow multiple ways to enjoy the event (something to engage the cerebral, artistic, competitive, strategic, etc types of players)
6. Be enjoyable for you as a host\organizer

Part 3 - Region Building, Burn Out and NS
“The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results.”

Burn out. It is a very real thing in NationStates. Often, a player will mention how they are ready to give up because all their effort yielded very little or nothing in terms of results, or sadly tell me about how they did so much but no one appreciates it. (*Huggles*). Here are some hard truths about NS and community building:

1. NS very much is a character driven game. When a player leaves or is pushed out or whatever the circumstance, often the things they built vanish or break down. You may call this the Ozymandias effect. Every major region has some sort of “revive x, y, or z” project going on that has varying levels of success or failure.

2. If you’re playing the game for accolades or recognition or appreciation (whether in your region or with commends/condemns or otherwise) it will never be enough (if you even get any in the first place). Just look at the list of condemns/commends before you started playing. How many of those players do you know? How many are still active? How many new players will know the current “heavy-hitters” in five years? Think about the region you’re in and how many players are still remembered from 5-10 years ago. For me personally, at least, building culture or community is about people, creativity, and getting energy (positive) from things like doing interviews. I’m fascinated by the players I interview for example, and I also enjoy festivals and parties. If you don’t like people (or struggle socially) then think of other ways you can build community (world building, creating lore, creating laws, teaching players how to do your particular skills such as legal writing or etc).

3. Those six hours you spent making badges for a contest no one entered? It’s okay. You learned how to make badges (maybe?) and also engaged in the creative process. If you don’t feel good/happy/productive doing something, don’t keep doing it. Did the $200 you spent on stamps that yielded 0 recruits bring you joy? Did it teach you a valuable life lesson? A lot of us spend money on games or other forms of entertainment, or something like Starbucks that has a temporary value. If you’re naturally a pessimist then this is an optimist telling you, hope is the answer. Put another way, think less, worry less, do more (at least for yourself). This game (NS) is a somewhat masochistic game. Perhaps you enjoy it a little? Again, if not, then don’t repeat the same thing over and over again. That way leads to insanity.

4. You can think of region and community building in multiple ways. Sometimes you might want to choose quality over quantity. Having 10 active engaged players is better than 25 inactive or barely there players. Spend more time on developing the close relationships you already have in the game. This is probably the biggest thing that irks me. A community can sometimes become so focused on new players that they forget to engage the players who are already active and start losing them.

5. Share what you learn with others. One thing I appreciate about players like Yuno is how willing they are to share their skills or things they learned with others. That’s a form of community building in itself. Even with all the dark sides of this game, there are so many things I have learned and continue to learn from just being a semi-active player. Fedele, for a recent example, helped me work on being more concise. It’s a work in progress (as you can see here), but still valuable.

Note: This article was originally commissioned for Issue XXIX of The North Pacific’s regional newspaper, The Northern Lights (TNL). The full article will be posted in TNL and it will be cross-posted in three parts for Gameplay Magazine.

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Will There Be An NS Belt and Road Project?

by McMasterdonia and Owenstacey, TNP Minister of Foreign Affairs and TNP Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs

Regions including many of the game-created regions and prominent user-created regions such as Europeia and 10000 Islands that have been around for a long time have established a robust infrastructure that underpins almost everything that the region does. This infrastructure survives the test of time. It adapts to the shifting sands of the politics of the game, changes to NS rules, and even severe regional calamities and political crises can be overcome with relative ease.

Naturally, this is not the case for younger regions. For those emerging regions, there exists no one-stop database of scripts, supporting infrastructure, or ‘free’ consultants to provide them with the support that they need to ensure the sustainability and longevity of their region. One severe political catastrophe can be enough for the region to come to an end. A sudden resignation of a trusted leader or the departure of a region mate can spell the end of a region's recruitment, cultural activities, or other key aspects of regional life, where they remain dependent upon one person who is often, but not always, the regional founder.

In The North Pacific, Europeia, 10000 Islands, and many game created regions - our infrastructure stands the test of time. Despite this success at home, there has been limited success in attempts to facilitate regional development. The sharing of technology, ideas, and expertise more broadly has occurred on many occasions on an informal level. So far, this has proven to be the most successful example of regional development occurring through that exchange of knowledge. Nevertheless, there is no formal belt and road project on the part of the major regions to proactively expand our infrastructure and knowledge beyond our shores.

However, the concept of taking the development of regional infrastructure as a foreign policy concept is certainly not a new one. In this article, we will examine a number of examples of this type of initiative - the formal and the informal, in an attempt to answer the question of what a NationStates equivalent of a belt and road project, one that extended beyond the borders of our home regions, would look like.

The NS Republic

The Nationstates Republic (NSR) , and the later revived form in the Nationstates Republic Alliance (NRA) was an alliance of nations led by The West Pacific. Active between 2011 and 2013, the NSR was established with the desire to build a republic of regions, to work with TWP to harness the power of all involved to create an unrivaled power bloc. By choosing to assist each other, the regions involved believed that this mutual cooperation would allow the progress of smaller regions, whose survival would be unlikely without the support of established regions. NSR was a large alliance, containing 19 member regions, who moved away from exclusively a defence alliance and more towards a diplomatic alliance by helping members build strong relationships.

However, whilst there were some strengths to the NSR, it was limited by some fundamental flaws. The main two of these flaws was its size and TWP’s dominance. Being such a large alliance meant that for decisions to be made, there would undoubtedly be a wide range of views and so a consensus between members would have been hard to achieve. In addition, its large size meant that some regions wanted to feel included but were instead isolated or left out. To avoid this situation, some of the smaller regions would have to ‘piggyback’ on larger regions to gain their favour for later assistance. This ultimately weakens the alliance because it results in the larger regions being dominant over the smaller regions who will just go along with whatever is proposed.

NSR gave way to some opportunities, especially for smaller member regions, in the assistance that would have been offered to them from larger regions. By being part of the Alliance, they would have gained knowledge and insight into ways to develop their region and allow them to flourish and grow. This offered opportunities for the smaller regions to grow as well as offering opportunities to the larger regions in that they would have gained the support of smaller regions when it is needed (whether militarily or in the World Assembly). However, these opportunities were weathered by the leadership of TWP over how the alliance was run. This is because the region's dominance meant that the alliance became exposed to the changes in goals of TWP's delegate. When a delegate was elected that did not have plans for NSR, it ultimately ended due to a lack of continuous support. Therefore, for an alliance such as this to be a success it must be underpinned by the longstanding support of the region, and have supporting infrastructure that can survive shifts in political priorities of regional leaders.

The Grand Architecture Program (GAP)

The Grand Architecture Program was an initiative championed by former Europeian President Anumia in his election campaign of October 2013, as a means of utilising Europeian knowledge and infrastructure to facilitate regional development in upcoming regions of a similar interest. The program was underpinned by the Foreign Cultivation Act 2013. While the program was initiated by President Anumia, the loose concept had been proposed much earlier by the founder of Europeia HEM who opened a discussion on a “good neighbour policy”. The GAP emerged as a fusion of HEM’s policy and Anumia’s own ambitions for Europeia and NationStates.

The GAP involved the appointment of an Architect who would oversee the development of the region under the guidance of the Minister for Cultivation. In addition, a Council of Cultivation was formed with the intention of providing reports to the region on progress made - it would include a number of Europeian officials and a representative of each partner region.

By May of 2014, Europeia had enacted two ‘Construction Partnership Agreements’ under the leadership of Minister Lethen. Nevertheless, soon after a handover within the Ministry to Minister Ogastein spelled a stalling of progress for the initiative. Minister Ogastein stated that he believed the program was a failure, saying that “We entered into construction partnership agreements with three separate regions and I can tell you with confidence that none of those regions is in a better place as a result of our work.”

In spite of this, Europeia persisted and the initiative was carried forward by President Kraketopia who appointed Malashaan as the new Minister for Cultivation. For a time, this proved to be a success with architect assignments being distributed on a timely basis, 6 construction agreements signed (Commonwealth of Kings, The Infinite Alliance, Natan Region, The Union Republic, The Bungle Brigade and Aura Hyperia) and several more in negotiation.

However, the size of the project, a lack of communication about its successes, and the perception that the program was a burden upon successive administrations, led to the initiative being dropped. The political will to support such an initiative had come to an end. While some including HEM believed that the program required more time and support to be a success, others believed that for all the good intentions of Europeia, it was not possible to guarantee a core group of dedicated players who would sustain the region for the years ahead.

Despite the initial successes and the support of a significant number of Europeian leaders, the Grand Architecture Program came to an end. It was an incredibly bold initiative - one that required taking risks politically and institutionally - but it was considered a failure by many within Europeia all the same. It’s important to remember that for any major project, there are often unrealistic expectations. We can easily dismiss a failed term as Delegate or Minister as par for the course, but when an ambitious foreign policy agenda is pursued, our expectations are heightened and senses are attuned to even a whiff of failure or stalling. This can be enough to end the plans of the boldest of political leaders before they even begin.

Status of Forces Agreements

A more recent initiative also undertaken by Europeia as a means of building new partnerships, training valuable allies, and establishing military forces took place through the ‘Status of Forces Agreements’. This was certainly not as bold an initiative as the GAP, but nonetheless was an attempt to utilise the knowledge of Europeian military leaders to foster positive relations with emerging regions that were interested in forming their own military but lacked the infrastructure and knowledge to do so on their own. Europeia signed two such agreements - one with Merridel and one with Olympia. There is currently no agreement still on the books.

The difficulties with this kind of agreement are similar to the GAP. Despite the best intentions of political and military leaders, the success is largely dependent on that core group of dedicated players in the partner regions. In Merridel’s case this was certainly an issue, and it seems very likely that Olympia also suffered the same personnel deficiency. Olympia states in their WFE that they ceased operations after 500 days and the region is currently founderless. Merridel is still around with 72 nations - but lacks a regional forum and for all intents and purposes appears to have simply stopped recruiting.

The initiative should still be accepted as a reasonable foreign policy initiative. The intent behind building capacity to run and operate a regional military in order to build meaningful diplomatic relationships is a good one. The difficulty as always lies in the ongoing sustainability of the project - and the dedication of the partner region itself to also work to see the project through to completion.

The World Assembly Development Program

The World Assembly Development Program (WADP), an initiative pioneered by r3naissanc3r, remains a central component of everyday life in The North Pacific. Furthermore, the initiative has been championed by the Security Council, successive Vice Delegates, Ministers of World Assembly Affairs, and of course, WA Delegates. The time invested into this initiative has meant that it has continued uninterrupted by political change, resignations, or even the increasingly time poor nature of the creator.

The World Assembly Development Program has been expanded in some form to Balder as the ‘WA Expedition’, and as the ‘World Assembly Advancement Program’ in Europeia. This was made possible by the hard work of r3naissanc3r as the creator of the programs and the close partnerships that continue to this day between The North Pacific, Balder and Europeia.

The initiative has also encouraged innovation in other allied regions, such as in the The South Pacific through their own ‘SWAN’ (the Southern World Assembly Initiative), which operates in a similar fashion to the other programs, but was developed by South Pacifican United States of Vietnam. McMasterdonia (one of the authors of this article) and SillyString (also known as Asta) are both acknowledged for their contributions to getting the SWAN initiative up and running.

These programs do not constitute a typical network of foreign policy alliances. However, it’s clear that the strength of these initiatives and the cooperation involved in operating them, have led to a positive flow of ideas between close partners.

Telegram Initiatives

Another matter that is closely linked to regional development is the use of telegrams to maximise efficiency in efforts of internal recruitment and integration. The use of telegram infrastructure that is widely accessible to members of the executive staff as well as the executive council, was first introduced in Europeia before expanding out into other regions including The North Pacific. At various times, this infrastructure has been utilised by Balder, The East Pacific, The Black Hawks, The Land of Kings and Emperors, Albion and The New Inquisition. This kind of infrastructure helps to sustain regions through challenging times, allowing the dedicated public servants to use their time efficiently and maximise the utility of integration efforts within the region. This is another example of a common basis of infrastructure that closely links regions together.

What’s next?

While this article does not examine all possible scenarios where regional infrastructure has been used to assist in regional development or for the purposes of foreign policy, it is clear that there regions continue to work hard in this space.It is the duty of leading regions to assist in the further development of the game. The strength of the community of NationStates as a whole relies upon the strength of the communities that lie within it. A point of friction is the need to both freely share knowledge and ideas for the objective benefit of the game balanced against the political need to ensure such initiatives satisfy the foreign policy of your home region.

It is clear that many of us who play the game would not consider ourselves to be believers of optimistic diplomacy. However, bold successes of diplomacy that benefit all partners require a high degree of optimism and commitment. We must balance the needs of our communities for the constant validation of the success of such bold initiatives against the measurable and communicable long term benefits of quiet, conscientious and tireless work in the field of diplomacy.

Even smaller steps, such as the sharing of knowledge through the WADP can be an important step in assisting developing regions to get through the difficult periods of growth where many falter. Game created regions have the obvious benefit of a steady flow of nations spawning each day - but without our initiatives and proactive engagement with them, this means little.

Regional development as a product of foreign policy would require a boldness on the part of our leaders and the political will to see through the projects through the difficult stages, in the hope of forming a sustainable and meaningful development process that facilitates growth for developing regions in a manner that works with their culture and aspirations. While it is not possible for any leading region to simply guarantee a dedicated group of core players to sustain a region over many years, it is certainly possible for us to assist in giving these newer communities the best possible hope of success.

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A Personal Connection

by Bobberino, TNP Minister of Defense and former TRR Deputy Speaker

Throughout the game of NationStates, there is a very diverse crowd of talent, characters, backgrounds and people. Recruitment, Outreach and Home Affairs all touch upon this same core concept of drawing in this talent. For those unaware, Outreach is the Office in The Rejected Realms that focuses on this concept, scripted telegrams, and The Rejected Runekeeper’s upkeep; and Home Affairs in The North Pacific is similar with its scripted TGs, recruitment lists, Gameside Advocate program, and other similar campaigns.

My experience in this department has led to a more nuanced approach to outreach than many others in the game, even in the GCRs. As much of an undertaking as this might be, a more effective approach would be a personal way to approach newer folks to the region, gauging their interest, skill and area of expertise through a privatized campaign based on reaching out to specific individuals. TNP has done this in part through its Mentorship program, overseen by myself for around a year as Deputy Minister of Home Affairs. During my time, I trained TNP’s mentors to watch for applications on our forum thread and actively welcome them (there was a pingable role in our government server dedicated to this as well), and continue that connection in private. The one-on-one interaction is where the key work of outreach is done. for example, Robespierre, a new face to TNP but not GP, reached out through the mentorship program, and I picked him up. Through my mentorship and his own ambition, he quickly rose through the ranks to become a Minister in TNP within two months of joining the region. This is an unprecedented rise.

In TRR, the same prioritization is key. The RRA is currently teeming with newer members, eager to join in the proud tradition of defenderism that TRR holds dear. To reach out to these individuals is something I prioritized and was able to do quite well during my term as Outreach Officer, effectively the same as Minister of Home Affairs in TNP, through my means of contacting folks over Discord. Discord is the keystone that unlocks this methodology. It is how people can communicate information the most directly and with the most integration and notification. This is how we activate our recruitment abilities the best: where a casual conversation, not a forced or abbreviated or abrupt conversation, works to help the newcomer personally with the ins and outs of gameplay, the people behind the game rather than simply its mechanics, and a more adaptable way of training.

Automating this process is difficult and would take a Herculean effort, and it still wouldn't do as good a job as two people connecting and communicating directly with each other. The personal touch has reaped great rewards. It is a smaller scale and takes longer, but is time well spent.

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Playing With A Full Deck:How NS Cards Enhance Regional Activity

by Pallaith (Ghost), TNP Minister of Communications and former Delegate

The introduction of NS trading cards did more than just add a new permanent mini-game to the mix. It has given regions a valuable tool to encourage activity and interest from their player base. While it is true that collecting the trading cards isn’t for everyone, there are enough players interested in them to make harnessing this part of the game worth the effort for regions old and new alike. In The North Pacific, cards serve as an effective endorsement boosting tool and a means to create additional immigration to the region, both gameside and on the forums.

TNP utilizes what it calls the World Assembly Development Program (WADP). Every month players receive badges and recognition for the amount of endorsements they give out, and recognize players they call Keepers of the North, players who endorse the Delegate, Vice Delegate, and all members of TNP’s Security Council. NS cards have allowed us to offer something other than badges as rewards, something that entices a greater number of players to increase their endorsement activity. We accomplish this by utilizing the most valuable kind of card, Legendary, and awarding one to each of the top three players in individual reward categories, and by making all Keepers eligible for a daily lottery, one that gives out a random legendary card to a random Keeper every day. Additionally, Keepers have their names added to the lottery additional times for every vote they cast in the WA in the past 30 days.

There is simply no arguing with the results. Since adopting the program, we have estimated an increase of 30,000 endorsements, driven in large part by nations who migrated to TNP to take advantage of the card program. At a time when there has been a precipitous drop in WA endorsements across the game, TNP’s delegate has maintained a high number of endorsements that has somewhat resisted the drop. This was also evident during the last delegate transition, which was extended due to players being less willing to lose Keeper status, and therefore less willing to withdraw endorsements from myself, as I was a member of the SC. Without delving too deeply into the topic, obviously the greater incentive to exchange endorsements and keep them on the SC, Delegate, and Vice Delegate further strengthens the region’s security as well.

Legendary cards a finite resource, so to harness those cards in a sufficient number to be utilized for these specific awards, an extensive network of puppets is necessary. In the process of gathering cards using this network, many of the cards are needed to fund the transfer of the legendary cards to our main regional nation. But these cards can also serve as rewards for any number of regional activities or competitions, and some of the recent contests have utilized them as prizes. Before, we could only offer the badges and inclusion in factbook records, bragging rights, or sometimes cosmetic changes, such as custom flags flown by key players in the region or other customization of national details. Cards offer us a tangible reward, something that a lot of players actually want and can literally show off in a collection. In the case of Legendary card rewards, the prize comes with significant objective (market) value and bragging rights of its own.

Additionally, TNP runs a cards request program, where participants can name a specific card and if that card is found during the collection of cards, it will be gifted to the requestor. All requests have to be made on the offsite forum, which drives activity there as well. As with the lotteries, Keeper of the North status is a prerequisite for making a request. However, in this case members of the NPA are also eligible. Since NPA members typically cannot maintain Keeper status, this gives them a chance to gather card, but also eliminates a potential choice that players have to make which could lead them to decide against membership in NPA.

Cards activity makes for a frequent topic of conversation, but that conversation is also spurred by these programs. As with other region-wide awards, our regional nation regularly sends out alerts on the RMB whenever a card is awarded in a competition or a lottery. The cards request program also involves a spreadsheet which maintains a list of pending and completed requests, allowing everyone a chance to see the scope of the program and how often and completely it is fulfilled. Time and again the results of these initiatives being posted reminds people of their existence and tends to increase demand. It can also spur competition in itself. In the case of WADP wards, we have already seen the same few people at the top of the charts month after month. Lottery recipients and individual award winners get a card whether they have an interest in cards or not. Nothing is gained if the player does not venture out and makes the effort needed.

TNP managed all of this with a few scripts and a spreadsheet enhancing infrastructure we already had in place, as well as the large puppet network needed to gather the prizes. This project allows us to focus more competitions and activities in the game itself, something that can be hard to do, especially in an age when offsite communications continue to dominate most daily activity. A new type of player, perhaps unreachable previously, can now be encouraged to get more involved and explore other areas of the community they may not have been inclined to otherwise because of having a specific, identifiable incentive. Considering the game provides the means and the material, a region need only tap into this aspect of the game to start producing results and enhancing its own regional activity. The barrier to entry is low and the cost is minimal, so I highly encourage the adoption of some sort of program or effort to utilize NS cards as part of the arsenal of regional activity and engagement.

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An Idiot’s Guide to Regionbuilding

by Yuno, former Delegate of TEP

When I was first elected delegate of The East Pacific, I set out to do a few very specific things, and I hope that what I did can be a model for regions everywhere. These things were done in TEP, but I have The North Pacific to thank for being the inspiration behind these ideas. While I’m no longer active, I'm comfortable staying close to the source(s) of my admiration and inspiration. I wrote these from the perspective of a region's delegate, but the principles should be the same no matter how the region is set up.

First steps

1) Ask everyone in the region something to the effect of: "WHO WANTS A JOB?!!!!" Post this question everywhere you can, wherever people might see. Places can include the RMB, the Forums, Discord, Skype, or a mass telegram to the whole region.

2) Wait for the large number of replies you'll be getting, and grab the contact info of everyone who replied. Ask them how active they are, and what days are they available.

With that done, you should have grabbed a massive number of followers! But wait, you don't even have any jobs for them yet. Well, time to fix that!

How to invent jobs

1) Ask people what they're good at.

If they say Roleplay, create a RP department. If one already exists (as the majority of Regions already have a RP branch that exists separately from the regional government), direct them there. Make sure you know what's going on there - then you can suggest changes to whoever runs that department. If RP doesn't exist yet, then you can go ahead and create a new RP department, and hire that Roleplayer to be a staff member.

If people say coding, invent a programming department, and have them code many projects that may be useful for your player base.

If people say writing, create a Newspaper Department and hire him to be a Journalist (or Lead Editor/Chief Publisher.) I recommend you being the Lead Editor Chief/Publisher yourself, at least for the beginning stages of the newspaper, unless that person you hired is a dedicated and expert organizer.

A great example of that in TEP would be Libertanny, who was a random dude I hired from the RMB and plopped into the position of Lead Journalist. He created his own Journalist Department and hired dozens of Graphic Designers and Writers for the newspaper department I just founded. He did 99% of the work, while I did the 1% work of hiring him. That was a first for me, as I was so used to doing all the organization work and telling people what to do, but it was an exciting and welcome change to find a person who knew how to run something. And this kid isn't even a veteran player; before I hired him, all he ever did was RMB RP and he had only played NationStates for one month. Yet when I hired him, he managed to run the Newspaper Department like a professional Delegate, and hire droves of hard workers! I was shocked and pleasantly surprised, and we managed to publish over ten visually appealing and fresh content-filled articles, some of which hit top dispatches and were read by all the RMBers, government officials and regular citizens alike.

If people say "I don't know, whatever you tell me to do" (which makes up the MAJORITY of responses you'll get), give them a boring job that needs to be done. Trust me, there are MANY of them. These "boring jobs" can include telegramming people to join the region's discord/forum, writing and posting "endorse the Delegate" dispatches, approving citizenship applications, doing the region's statistics (like checking every citizen's nation, counting them, making sure they haven't CTEd), or writing telegram drafts for you to mass-telegram to the entire region to encourage members to join the WA/forums/any Department. This could form a Recruitment/Outreach Department.

The so-called "boring jobs" do require creativity. For example, when a worker is drafting a telegram, he/she has to think "what items should I include in the telegram to integrate the reader closer to our platforms and retain him/her? How do I make the draft persuasive?" Nonetheless, they are easy to teach to people who just want to follow instructions without much thinking.

I’ve already gone ahead and explained Creative Jobs, which is the hardest part. You might be low on Creative Departments, or still have zero of them. Don't worry, you can revisit that later. But now...

2) Create the boring jobs/departments. These are PRE-SET departments, for players who want to do the “Boring Jobs.”

The standard template consists of these listed departments:

• Ministry of Home Affairs
• Ministry of Foreign Affairs
• Ministry of Communications
• Ministry of Culture
• Ministry of World Assembly Affairs

You will have to write the descriptions for each department, detailing exactly what each one does. If someone has to choose which department to join, he/she will want to know what he’s expected to do once he’s hired for that department.

I have to give full credit to the retired NationStates player/former TNP Delegate/Guardian, R3naissanc3r, who is the first person to create these departments and write descriptions for them. He is a real innovator who I emulated to a large extent, without him knowing. Sometimes he helped without knowing, because strategic players look at his old threads; but sometimes he helped by openly providing TEMPLATES to people who asked/telegrammed him for them. But I’ll explain that later. Again, since he’s retired, I don’t think that’s a possible route anymore. Anyway, much of my previous leadership success is due to reading his “Executive Applications” thread here, despite never joining his Executive Staff: https://forum.thenorthpacific.org/topic/7198621/ (I have used this thread as a template and for inspiration, but it is important that you design one suited for your own region when developing your own staff).

Here's what to do:

1. Have a clear idea what the specific tasks of the ministry will be (e.g. recruitment and mentoring for Home Affairs)
2. Create positions that fit the tasks you want
3. Write a description based on the tasks and positions
4. Repeat for all ministries

After that, you want to create an application form, with basic personal information such as nation name and Discord tag, as well as relevant information such as reasons for joining or previous experience.

ALL DONE! Now, your thread (for Executive job applications) is ready to post! Add a short summary of the purpose of the thread (i.e. “you’re supposed to apply for jobs here if you’re bored on NationStates,”) at the top of the thread.

So you posted it, now what? You link the thread to all the people you hired, and have them fill out the form. This way, they become “official” AND you look active - like you’re an amazing Delegate who simply writes a thread and instantly 20 people apply within minutes. The reality of course is that you “hired” them beforehand, then invented some jobs after the fact, then forced them to apply for real.

3) Make a Discord Server. Hopefully, you already have a normal Discord server, for everyone in the region to hang out. If you don’t, make one.

Now, there should be an additional Discord Server, apart from the main server. That discord server will be your Government server. Invite your newly hired government workers there. Within that server, you should create a separate channel for each government department, and give each government member access to their respective departments. You should also create a Cabinet chat for the top brass to discuss more intricate stuff like department-creation and foreign policy, but have a lower-cabinet chat for people who want to get involved in those discussions too. Finally, add a general Executive staff channel, for all government members to be able to see.

These are just my suggestions for the Government server setup, based on the setup in TNP’s own government server. With a proper government (workers’) discord server, filled up with members you’ve hired, it’s going to become really easy to put everyone to efficient work.

4) Constantly advertise the Regional Server to the Gameside Region. Then, hire people from the Regional server to the Government server (and have them fill out the app you made). Then give them jobs, and set deadlines for results if that’s viable.

Congrats, you’ve created and established the foundation of a region!

A few more things to note:

The Foreign Department is sensitive department that you can’t just hire anybody for. You have to hire diplomatic players who know how to act respectful, and not embarrass you. Those players will be ambassadors representing you to other regions, so you don’t want to hire immature trolls. There are also some optional steps if you want to expand your region further:

5) Establish the Regional Military (considered a Department). You should create a separate Military Application thread. Still describe the military as a department, like Ministry of Defense, (as pre-set/“boring jobs”) in your Executive Application thread, but link to the military application. Anyone who applies and gets accepted to the military automatically becomes a “soldier” of your region, or at least a “recruit.”

You can always use them to "pile," or teach them to “update.” If you don’t know how to "update," or how to lead updates, there are plenty of guides out there. This article is not the place to learn that stuff. You can learn by joining the North Pacific Army, asking NPA officials, or tracking down good people who know how, or asking me.

6) Talk to show presence. Post things in the RMB, Discord, and forums; link your posts if they’re relevant to people. If the leader is active, people will naturally be active too.

7) Set goals/milestones. For example, if you want to attain many endorsements, set an endorsement goal you want to reach. Then devise strategies to reach those goals. This endorsement-related duty belongs to a Department, most likely Home Affairs.

8) Thank your workers, and reward them. Give them medals of appreciation, or honorary mentions, but whatever you do, CREDIT THEM. Always credit people who submit ANYTHING, whether writing or ART, especially art. People hate when they put in the work, but get their credit stolen (or don’t get credited.) It’s also the ethical thing to do.

9) Always be on the lookout for new ideas/activities. You're running a community when you're a delegate, and people (including yourself) get bored fast if you don't try new things. Don't be afraid to think outside the box. But most importantly, have fun! As with all games, you can burn out if you don't take breaks, so be sure to take a break now and then so the game always remains fun.

Speaking of giving credit where credit is due, I want to thank Ghost for coming up with this concept and pushing me to write it. I believe these ideas work (and they must be good because TEP still uses the systems I set up) and can really help regions engage with their players and keep the players invested.

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The Northern Lights: Beauty in Truth
Publisher: El Fiji Grande :: Executive Editor: Pallaith (Ghost) :: Managing Editor: Robespierre

The Northern Lights is produced by the Ministry of Communications on behalf of the Government of The North Pacific and distributed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Except where otherwise indicated, all content does not represent the views of the Government of The North Pacific.

Index of issues

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[Onder Kelkia]

A very fine and most enjoyable issue.

[The Holy Principality of Saint Mark]

This was very well-written and quite interesting!

[El Fiji Grande]

A very fine and most enjoyable issue.

This was very well-written and quite interesting!

Thanks!

[Escade]

The layout\formatting and professional quality make me giddy!

Awesome, as always!

[The Church of Satan]

Excellent content. I enjoyed reading it and I must say, the cover art is beautiful. ^_^

[Castle Federation]

September 29, 2019 - Minister of Defense Francois Isidore released an update on North Pacific Army activity earlier today.

"On the twenty-ninth (29th) of September's minor update, troops from four different military organizations gathered in the Ministry of Defense's Discord server. In a highly anticipated event, thirty-four (34) regions were detagged cumulatively. Three teams were lead by General Malphe, High Commander Frattastan of RRA, and myself. Overall, a grand total of twenty-seven updaters were amassed this update and the North Pacific Army was proudly represented by thirteen soldiers all in attendance. The South Pacific Special Forces was represented by five soldiers, the Rejected Realms Army was represented by five soldiers, and the Europeian Republican Navy was represented by four soldiers."

There were twenty seven total participants and thirty four regions taken.

"This tremendously successful operation is a testament to the hard work of the Minister of Defence Francois Isidore and the officers and soldiers of the North Pacific Army. I also acknowledge General Darcania for his contribution and innovations that have assisted in delivering this tremendous result for the NPA," Delegate McMasterdonia said in a statement following the operation.

There were two promotions from the event. Bobberino was a Major who was promoted to Colonel. -Ocelot- was promoted from Private to Private First Class.


This is an exciting time to get involved in the North Pacific Army! We encourage all interested nations to sign up today.

Any inquiries regarding Defense can be sent to Francois Isidore.


If you have any follow up questions or concerns, you can contact the Regional Press Secretary Castle Federation.

[Numero Capitan]

Great work, was fun to watch. Particularly enjoyed the Europeian puppets

Also meant updaters on libcord could kick back and share cookery tips. Does the NPA have an official position on fried eggs and scrambled sharing the same plate?

[McMasterdonia]

Great work, was fun to watch. Particularly enjoyed the Europeian puppets

Also meant updaters on libcord could kick back and share cookery tips. Does the NPA have an official position on fried eggs and scrambled sharing the same plate?

I’m fully onboard with scrambled eggs with fried eggs on the same plate. That said, poached eggs are much better. No official position. The NPA will consider this matter at the highest level and get back to you.

[Lord Dominator]

There were twenty seven total participants and thirty four regions taken.

That's a lot of people relative to the number of regions

[Pyrohy]

I’m fully onboard with scrambled eggs with fried eggs on the same plate. That said, poached eggs are much better. No official position. The NPA will consider this matter at the highest level and get back to you.

Poached eggs are only appropriate in certain circumstances. Steak and eggs? Sure, go ham. Breakfast plate? Maybe, but you'll definitely piss off a line cook. Sandwich? I sure hope you brought some wipes. It's my opinion and in no certain terms the official position of the The Grey Wurst-ens that it would be in the best interest of the NPA to make sure this is never their official position

Sunny-side is much more versatile than poached, anyway

[Darcania]

... you'll definitely piss off a line cook.

A properly equipped line would make poached eggs easy. The person you'll really piss off is the dishwasher.

[Kaystein]

What's this topic of eggs supposed to be about?

[Lord Dominator]

Yo' TNP, your image in the OP is busted.

[Kaschovia]

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General Election Report

by Kaschovia, Election Correspondent

With four months since May now behind us, the North Pacific, over the last few weeks, has undergone its general elections for the Delegate, Vice Delegate, Speaker, and Attorney General positions.

The Candidates

For Delegate: McMasterdonia, Bobberino, Nessuno, and Bormiar.
For Vice Delegate: Artemis.
For Speaker: Gorundu and Dreadton.
For Attorney General: Goyanes, Canton, and Lady Raven Wing.

The Election for Delegate

Following the decision of former Delegate El Fiji Grande not to seek reelection, the position was open to new candidates with new ideas.

Our first candidate, McMasterdonia, an honourable former Delegate and regional veteran, praised the region as one with “tremendous opportunity and success, built through determination, pragmatic decision making, and a belief in the call to serve.” McMasterdonia explained the new level of accountability his cabinet would face regarding their monthly reports, through the creation of external and internal committees, to “to ask questions, seek further clarification, and engage with the content of [the] reports.” McMasterdonia also said he’d appoint a Press Secretary, responsible for “collating information about the day to day activities of the cabinet and the Delegate for public release”, in an effort to encourage transparency of cabinet work and openness of his government to the public. McMasterdonia further detailed his plans for the improvement of the individual ministries, notably: a World Factbook created within the Foreign Affairs ministry to explain and teach prospective junior diplomats about the North Pacific’s regional alliances, interregional events, the return of the Lennarts for the Ministry of Culture, and the improvement of general understanding of W.A.L.L, the World Assembly Legislative League.

McMasterdonia received 71.26% of the vote, therefore elected as our new Delegate.

Next up, Bobberino, our second candidate, the Minister of Defense for El Fiji’s term, sought to bring an energizing shock to the region, and pitched himself as a cutting edge innovator capable of providing said energy effectively. Bobberino outlined his plans and expectations of each ministry, hoping to improve outreach to new members through the Home Affairs ministry, continue to push out quality TNS, TNL, and oversee the revitalization of the Northern Broadcasting Service. Bobberino also outlined his plans to bring fruition to plans of the previous term laid out by Prydania, Minister of Culture, in addition to a defense themed festival known as the “Bobulous Bonanza”. Bobberino, lastly, explains his plans to increase understanding of W.A.L.L, similar to McMasterdonia’s plans for the Ministry of World Assembly Affairs.

Bobberino received 16.09% of the vote, therefore not elected.

Nessuno, our third candidate, TNP’s most famous mythical and appreciated creature, had one simple reason for voters to support him: Because he said so. His ideas for ministries were unorthodox, to say the least, but did provide great amusement in the context of a somewhat straightforward election. His bold, pioneering ideas included: replacing the Ministry of Communications with phone, email, and a new lake, simply just giving him a Lennart, introducing an armoured brigade, a navy, and an air force for use by the North Pacific Army, shutting down the Ministry of World Assembly Affairs, spying on regions that we’d otherwise have good relations with, and steering our Gameside efforts towards a more counterintelligence focused approach.

Nessuno received 11.49% of the vote, therefore not elected.

Our last candidate for Delegate, Bormiar, author of the Security Council resolution to condemn serial trading card hoarder Koem Kab, did not opt to post a campaign, and so it seems their motives to seek election as Delegate, and their plans for the position, will remain a mystery forever more.

Bormiar received 1.15% of the vote, therefore not elected.

The Election for Vice Delegate

With only a single candidate, the election for Vice Delegate was as straightforward as it could have possibly been, with Artemis, our former Speaker and a current member of the Security Council, the only one to run for and be elected to the position of Vice Delegate with 100% of the vote.

Artemis believes in “promising the fundamentals” of the positions he runs for, citing his experience as our former Speaker, Minister of Culture, and current Security Council member. Artemis hopes to continue the weekly updates of the SC activity previously done by Pallaith and Sil Dorsett (former VD), and dedicate a part of those reports to a spotlight feature of a council member in need of an endorsement boost. Artemis finishes his campaign: “I hope to have shown you that I am prepared to take on the office of the Vice Delegate and that I have the ability to do it to the level expected here in the North Pacific.”

The Election for Speaker

Gorundu, our first candidate for Speaker, author of the Instant Runoff Election Bill, and former Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs and World Assembly Affairs, campaigned three key elements: reliability, improvements, and innovation. Reliability in the efficient completion of the bureaucratic tasks a Speaker must perform, improvements to the RA Highlights articles and splitting of Deputy Speakers between experienced and less experienced members, and innovation through a “Know Your Laws” program aimed to members of the region unfamiliar with regional law, yet interested.

Gorundu was elected with 52.24% of the vote.

Dreadton, our second candidate for Speaker, current Justice and former Deputy Speaker, promised to continue to ensure the “speedy resolution” of citizen checks, continue to run the RA efficiently and legally, and improve how the statuses of current bills in the RA were monitored and listed. Dreadton also suggested the creation of a program where the Speaker’s Office assists people who are new to the bill writing process, and guides them to writing successful bills.

Dreadton received 47.76% of the vote and was not elected.

The Speaker election was the closest of them all, with just 3 votes separating the candidates.

It is important to note, as well, that Darcania also intended to run for the position, but later withdrew their campaign. Out of respect for a valid and capable candidate and their campaign, let's see what a Darcania Speakership would have looked like.

Darcania ran for Speaker in January of 2018 and won with a landslide 98% of the vote. Whether or not a result like that would have been replicated or not is for an alternate universe to bear witness, but in ours, we will never know - although it is likely that this result would not have been replicated, given the two other very respectable candidates that were in the running. Darcania hoped to build upon the successes of the previous Speaker, Artemis, were he to be elected. Darcania's campaign emphasized his great experience with administrative, task-based roles in our region, such as former Speaker, and as an Administrator. It is clear that Darcania had the experience, but for reasons, his campaign was withdrawn.

The Election for Attorney General

Goyanes, the now elected Attorney General, received 58.44% of the vote. He ran a concise campaign, not fluffing or wasting words, but simply saying it how it is, and asking for trust. Goyanes pitched himself as proven, effective, and reliable, which seemed to resonate strongly with voters looking for someone with experience, a steady demeanor, and a willingness to serve to their full ability.

Lady Raven Wing, our second candidate for Attorney General, received 36.36% of the vote and was not elected. LRW pledged to actively pursue “the duties of the Attorney General should the need arise,” "to seek justice in the event of a trial", and "pose any legal questions to the court", should they be thought of. Another concise and to-the-point campaign, just not enough to win over the voters.

Our final candidate for Attorney General, Canton, received 5.19% of the vote and was not elected. Canton did not post a campaign.

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The Spotlight #22: An Interview with Robespierre

by Krevt, Interviewer

Krevt: Good Evening, Ladies and Gentlemen! Today I am joined by General Robespierre of the North Pacific Army, who has been recently sworn in as the Minister of Defense here in the North Pacific. How are you doing, Robes?

Robespierre: I’ve been doing decently I’d say, although the past week has been exceedingly busy in comparison to most any other week for me. Nonetheless, I’m very happy that I was able to set aside some time for today’s interview as I’m sure it’ll be a good one!

Krevt: Indeed, I’m sure it will be and the Spotlight is great to have you on for this month’s issue. So… We've seen you serve in a lot of positions around the region lately such as Minister of Home Affairs, Deputy Minister of Home Affairs, Deputy Minister of Communications, Deputy Minister of World Assembly Affairs, Election Commissioner, etc. Mind you, this has all been done in such little time, How has the journey been thus far for you over the last four or so months?

Robespierre: It’s been nothing short of phenomenal and I’m happy to have embarked on it. Lots of great people here to help apply pressure in the right places for what I should be doing and overall a very good regional aura here. I’m very proud to call myself a TNP guy.

Krevt: I’m glad to hear that the North Pacific has been good to you in these times, but when you first Joined TNP did you expect yourself to become the most rapidly growing trend amongst the citizens? I ask this because of how quickly you've attained the above-mentioned positions or were you curious about what the region's government and forums had in store for you once you got here?

Robespierre: This may sound a bit arrogant, cocky, or whathaveyou, but please do bear with me as I make an attempt at answering this question. In some ways? Yes, absolutely I expected myself to become one of (if not the) most rapidly growing upstart(s) amongst the citizenry and I’ll tell you why: In my opinion, it’s a mindset thing. You have to go into a given environment truly believing that you’re going to get your name out there and that you’re going to make things better. If you don’t legitimately feel as though you’re the best around then you won’t be - it’s as simple as that. Think of it a lot like you would the quote I have on my main nation’s page that reads “The Secret of Freedom Lies in Educating People.”

If you desire that freedom and you’re looking for a way to unlock that type of potential then a great first step would be to educate yourself about your surroundings. By that, I mean getting a feel for the region, becoming involved early on, seeking out opportunities instead of waiting for those opportunities to pass you by. Who are some of the more well-established individuals in your region? I’ve been fortunate enough to see my profile skyrocket in recent months but I couldn’t have gotten there if I hadn’t put the work in myself and given people the results they were hoping for.

There’s nothing underhanded about being strategic and playing the game smart. If you know where you want to then be upfront about it and actively pursue your goal. This is becoming more and more like a motivational speech so I’ll cut it short here, but what I’m basically saying here is that if you want to be the next Todd McCloud then go ahead and strive for that. I’m no Todd McCloud, obviously, but the point still stands that I’m proof of someone getting to where they’d like to be.

Krevt: Very inspirational! Hopefully, some of our newer faces will be following in your footsteps in due time. I’m sure after reading this they’ll have something to gauge off of, but since you claim to be ‘extremely active’ and ‘exceptionally proactive’ how do you keep yourself motivated for NS? A good example is how some people tend to resign their posts because of work, external pressure, real-life commitments, and a wide variety of other factors.

Robespierre: I don’t think I’ve ever had to resign a government position in the past five years, but I could always be wrong. Usually my memory holds up, so it’s unlikely that I would have, but in either case, I’ve always found that in such scenarios it’s best to concentrate on what you actually enjoy doing. That way, when you come online, you’ll be greeted by something that’ll fulfill you. If you’re busy then just say so, I think people are fairly understanding of that. As the saying goes it’s RL > NS and that rings true always, so don’t get your head in to deep or be up a creek without a paddle. I stay the way I am because I dedicate myself to things I actually enjoy. That’s why I pride myself on being versatile and doing so many things: because I love the community here and I’m happy with my place within it.

Krevt: I’m sure people appreciate your versatility and in many ways, I think that makes you a regional asset. Now, since you’re the incumbent Minister of Defense, I'll ask some major issues which I think should be addressed.

Robespierre: Go ahead.

Krevt: First off, what are some reforms that you’d consider to make NPA a more efficient organization? Regional security is already top-notch, obviously, but there is always room for improvement wouldn’t you say?

Robespierre: Definitely, and that’s always the objective I have in mind when making decisions for my Ministry. I want to make the North Pacific Army a more efficient entity, but at the same time, I also want to make membership to it a more engaging experience. There are a great many ways that the High Command can go about doing just that, but I’ve chosen to have the server undergo a lot of internal renovations that’ll take our updating to the next level regardless of what kind of operation we’re scheduled to be on. That, combined with minor policy changes, is what’ll enrich the experience for soldiers and keep them interested in our affairs.

You can already see this being done with the new NationStates cards incentives that I announced informally at last night’s Executive Staff meeting, as well as with the creation of new ribbons for officers who meet certain requirements tied to mission leadership. All and all, it’s about leveraging positive reinforcement and making ‘work’ not work.

Krevt: As a Sergeant of the North Pacific Army I must confess that I’m excited to see how these new rewards programs will be implemented and what effect that’ll have on participation. Secondly, I’ve noticed the operations that occur nowadays have less NPA participation than they did when I was here before. A look back at military sign up thread will tell you that there are far more soldiers recruited than those who are participating, without much matter be it at major or minor updates. That being said, how do you think you can rectify this issue of less participation?

Robespierre: I don’t think that you can just look at the sheer numbers of our organization and deduce that conclusion as a result of observation. As any Minister of Defense of the past will tell you: you have to look at how your soldiers are participating and not how many of them are participating. Not everyone will agree with me and that’s okay, in fact, that’s the beauty of it. But I would much rather have a multi-faceted update force capable of being jumping at a second’s notice and a piling force with the awareness and attentiveness to reinforce in under twenty-four hours then an overcrowded barrack full of soldiers who are only tag raiding once or twice a week.

It’s about sustaining constant improvement with the people who are showing up and making sure your active soldiers are consistently developing. That’ll ensure the health of the organization long term; if I can get multiple moving parts firing on all cylinders when I need them to do so. Being in a game-created region means that I’ll never have a shortage of personnel and in turn, I have a lot to work with. So instead I’m focused on managing the development of those who do show up.

Krevt: A very nice answer to an interesting dilemma, and one that I hadn’t yet considered to be of relevance to the topic. Do you think the promotion mechanism of the NPA requires some overhaul and to be more linear? Linear in the sense that there can be an activity tracking system by which a soldier can be tracked of his/her achievements and participation and given points. and on the basis of those points, a soldier should be given a promotion. That’s my opinion anyway, so I’d like to get your thoughts.

Robespierre: You may or may not know this, but there is something that tracks that. It tracks various statistics actually, like operation participation, rank, operations lead, alias notes, etc, I don’t think that it need be a linear progression system though, because I’m the Minister of Defense and who gets promoted is entirely subjective and at my discretion. There’s more to look at then just numbers, especially for evaluating leadership potential. So no, I wouldn’t say I agree.

Krevt: Is there something other than NationStates that keeps you nearly as energetic and proactive as you are here? How did you first find yourself coming onto the site?

Robespierre: It’s a funny story really, albeit a boring and underwhelming one, but a funny story all the same. I would imagine that most players are referred here either by their friends/family who already play the game or by Reddit postings. For me, it was different, as I actually sought out the game before the game could be advertised to me. I’ve always had a passion for politics and my desire to discuss and debate the opinions that I hold seems to be undying. Elsewhere, people really aren’t always willing to have those sorts of conversations either because they don’t have the time to do so or because they simply don’t have the patience to do so.

At the end of the day, us talking about all these different ideologies, government types and whatnot doesn’t really matter, right? Well… if you’re me then it does matter and you’d be wrong for thinking otherwise. I think that’s what connects players worldwide and joins them all here on this political simulator game straight out of a web browser: It’s the prospect of being whoever it is that you’d like to be and advocating for whatever viewpoint you’d like to convey unto others. It’s a very powerful thing, I must say, but aside from that my love of business, learning, and music does keep me fairly occupied.

Krevt: What can the people of TNP expect from you and your governance in the coming future i.e what are your future plans within TNP?

Robespierre: My future plans are heavily dependent upon what people would like from me. “Who am I? Well… who do you want me to be?” - the question is: Who do North Pacificans want me to be? If you answer that question I can better answer your question, but for now, I don’t have much to say aside from I’ll do my very best in my current capacity and I’ll continue towards no limit.

Krevt: Ah, I see. That’ll definitely be something to look out for in the near future and I’m almost certain that you’ve got players from around the region who are really counting on you to make an impact in the coming stages of your career just as you have when you first began your time here. Finally, do you have any advice that you would like to give your fellow North Pacificans and soldiers of the North Pacific Army?

Robespierre: You know, as a matter of fact, there is a little bit of something that I’d like to share with everyone reading this. For what it is worth, my piece of advice to you all is this: Don’t ever allow your time on NationStates to become more like a job then it is a source of recreation. If you enjoy completing government work then by all means - please continue to be as productive as some of you guys are being right now. If you enjoy RolePlaying and creating various storyarchs with your friends and foes, then hold onto that because there’s always time for a bit of fun in one’s life. If you enjoy participating in gameplay, raiding and defending, the continue to update regularly and sharpen your skills. Show everyone that you’re the best out there on the battlefield! … While you’re at it, come join one of the oldest, well-organized, most powerful armies that NationStates has ever known.

^^^ I’m totally not bias in saying that, but the point I’m trying to illustrate here is that the game is meant to be enjoyed and that goes for everyone who plays it. If you’re logging in every day and you’re not having fun talking with your region-mates, RolePlaying, tag raiding, spamming, answering issues, podcasting, plotting, or whatever else it is that you do then why even log in at all? I think that the North Pacific especially has something for everyone and I truly do hope that by continuing to play and enjoy myself I’m inadvertently improving someone’s experience of this game. My advice? Always aim for that! Try to enjoy yourself whenever possible and subscribe to positive energy - it’ll serve you better in the long run.

Krevt: Wise words if I’ve ever heard them! Thank you, Robespierre, for taking the time to sit down with the Spotlight this month.

Robespierre: No problem! It’s both a pleasure and an honour to be featured by the North Star and hopefully my long-winded answers didn’t bore all of our readers to death

Krevt: I think it did anything but that, in truth. Anyhow, this has been yet another edition of the Spotlight on the North Star publication! Today it was with Robespierre, but next month it could even be you - find out in coming issues! Good day, and thank you for reading!

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NPA Bulletin

by Robespierre, Military Correspondent

Leadership

Minister of Defense (MoD): General Robespierre
Deputy Ministers of Defense (DMoDs):
Colonel Koopa and Colonel Trondstorm

The North Pacific Army's finest line up alongside their friends from the South Pacific Special Forces, the Rejected Realms Army, and the Europeian Republican Navy; excited for a productive day of joint operations

Private Ocelot was promoted to Private First Class
Major Bobberino was promoted to Colonel

Some of you may have noticed a bit of irregularity as of late, almost as if an uprising is imminent or the air around you has seemed... sweeter than usual. Well, today, as your newest General and supreme commander (that's not a rank), I am tasked with the responsibility to deliver this most unexpected news. What is this news you ask? Is it good? Is it bad? Ehh, I'll let you be the judge of that, but the fact of the matter is this: The waifus have taken over the North Pacific Army and they're not stopping yet! o_o

... I know, I know - don't panic. It'll all be okay as long as we stay calm and greet them openly. Refrain from making any sudden moves and let them do their thing vive la révolution! This'll all blow over soon...

Anyway, onto more pressing affairs! We've hit the ground running these past couple weeks and there's a lot to be proud of! A mere two days after taking my oath, nine soldiers lead by General Gladio took on the target of the thirteenth (13th) of September's featured region. Shortly thereafter, newly-instated Colonel Trondstorm took up the helm at the seventeenth (17) of September's major update and lead another nine troops on a short tag run through six regions. To cap off the week, another hit on a featured region was needed. Little did we know that it would become the featured region until after six soldiers had already stormed the premises, but two regions were hit that update and one of them got to serve as an advertisement for our beloved Floof's update force.

Carrying on, then-Major Bobberino got in on some of the action as well! On the twenty-seventh (27th) of September's minor update, four soldiers embarked out on a one-hitter of the region Devious Tyrant. Thankfully they didn't encounter any tyrant (ret.)'s on the battlefield that day, but a nice hit all the same. Didn't have any time to waste though, as Colonel Koopa got back into the thick of things that major with four hits and a solid backing of ten soldiers. What's better than one team running? Two teams sprinting! ... I think at least. On the twenty-ninth of September's major update, I lead a team and General Darcania lead a team. Four and four, eight soldiers participated, and we racked up another six hits in the process.

We needed a way to end of the month right and so we did that with a stealth operation that saw all of Western Civilization conquered. It was nothing too big on our part, but you can thank us later. Since then, Captain Dinoium has already lead the first raid of spooky season! On the first (1st) of October's minor update, four regions fell at the hands of seven soldiers. Remember when these updates used to be shorter reads? Yeah, I don't either... at least not since I started writing the bulletin. But wait! There's more!

In addition to this, it was announced informally by Minister of Defense Robespierre earlier this week that henceforth the North Pacific Army will now be offering its soldiers a plethora of new bonuses and incentives for outstanding service. These rewards programs, approved by the Office of the Delegate and coordinated with the Northern Light regional nation, will allow members of the Officer Corps increased accessibility to coveted NationStates cards of the legendary rarity and will seek to institute a sort of 'signing bonus' for newly-enlisted personnel.

Since then, the High Command has stated that it will be rewarding officers in increments of every five operations successfully lead and that newer soldiers will be awarded their signing bonus after five training missions are completed. More information about this initiative will be available within the next week via dispatch, but if one thing's for sure then it's that this is a great time to become involved with everything Ministry of Defense!

Lastly, we bring you more exciting news! Over the course of the past three weeks, members of the Generals' Staff have been working tirelessly to ensure that the new term gets off to a strong start. Even in the midst of a transition from one Minister of Defense to the next, progress did not seem to halt for the organization nor did it phase the barrack's men and women. In fact, things seem to be firing on all cylinders as of late, and there is no better example of this than the exemplary work that has been put in by General Darcania to make our Army's server a more secure, serviceable place for our allies from abroad.

With his unique set of skills, our Divine Floof has gone above and beyond the call of duty to transform our internal infrastructure from that of old-fashioned text channels to a fully-functional automated system capable of dividing troops into teams, enabling concurrent missions to be undertaken by two or more triggers, properly citing participants on each time out, and even introducing a new join system that eases soldiers into a mission at the connection of a specified voice channel. With these new innovations comes a more efficient and effective updating force - one that the North is proud to boast. For all of our allies, friends, foes, Floofs, and natives out there: we say thank you!

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Regional Assembly Highlights September 2019

by Dinoium, Legislative Correspondent

The North Pacific asking what happened to its flag in the Legal Code.

Speaker: Gorundu^NS
Deputy Speakers: Darcania^NS
Yukkira^NS

VOTING TABLE

EMERGENCY FLAG BILL

Summary of the bill
Due to Tinypic™ shutting down, our flag and coat of arms ended up becoming this image. Deputy Speaker Darcania immediately proposed reverting the images back to their previous conditions.

Goals of the bill
Amending the Flag code to revert the Flag and CoA back to its previous status.

Criticism of the bill
The bill surprisingly has little criticism other than jokes about opposing and the question of allowing the Speaker to update the flag in the future in case of file deletion.

Voting Breakdown

Aye
Xentherida
QuietDad
Great Bights Mum
Zaz
Pallaith
Sil Dorsett
Brendog
Siwale
Malphe
mcmasterdonia
BluieGamer
Dinoium
Syrixia
Artemis
Sanjurika
Drusselstein
Eluvatar
El Fiji Grande
Praetor
St George
Dreadton
Darcania
Scottie
Scorch
Gorundu
Trondstorm
Fregerson
Ali nakhjavani
The Federalist
Wonderess
Kaschovia
Krevt
r3naissanc3r
Yukkira

Nay
Yalkan
Vapia
Lady Raven Wing

Abstain
Lord Lore

THE VEXILLUM BILLUM

Summary of the bill
After years of the same year and due to people begging the question of using the coat of arms on a flag is illegal, Deputy Speaker Darcania and Culture Minister Prydania proposed a new flag.

Goals of the bill
Amending the flag to this.

Criticism of the bill
Many people resisted the change simply because of stubbornness and preferring the current flag over the new proposed one.

Voting Breakdown

Aye
Xentherida
Great Bights Mum
Goyanes
Prydania
Lotion
BluieGamer
Dinoium
Syrixia
Bobberino
St George
Islands of Tonga
Yalkan
Dreadton
Darcania
Scottie
Trondstorm
Lady Raven WIng
Ali nakhjavani
Wonderess

Nay
QuietDad
Zaz
Owenstacey
Pallaith
Sil Dorsett
Crushing Our Enemies
Brendog
abc
Siwale
Aerilia
Malphe
mcmasterdonia
Sanjurika
Bootsie
Eluvatar
El Fiji Grande
Praetor
Haor Chall
Pasargad
Wilkshire
Vapia
plembobria
Robespierre
Gorundu
Illderia
mikim
Inven
Kaschovia

Abstain
Artemis
ACR of Deerfenland
Fregerson

DISCUSSION TABLE

PEACE TERMS ACCEPTANCE AMENDMENT

Summary of the bill
A newcomer Citizen named IkeaRike saw that there was a loophole in our current laws about accepting peace, so he proposed an amendment to fix this.

Goal of the bill
Amends Clause 6.4, Clause 18 of the Legal Code to state that a state of war exists until formal peace treaty, surrender terms, or similar is 2/3rd approved by the Regional Assembly.

Criticism of the bill
Many people see the term "or similar" as too vague, and many people complain about making it 2/3rd instead of the simple 50%+1.

THE BETTER BANNER BILL

Summary of the bill
Due to confusion of when the CoA is authorized to be used, former Vice Delegate Bootsie proposed fixing the issue.

Goal of the bill
Repealing Section 10.1.5 of the Legal Code because of issues when CoA can be used.

Criticism of the bill
People think the CoA should remain a Government-only thing, and even Bootsie has had some difficulty arguing when for the bill due to the many loopholes that exist.

FOI REFORM ACT

Summary of the bill
Former Speaker ABC proposed a bill to amend the current Freedom of Information system.

Goal of the bill
All governmental archives, both from the Executive staff and Speaker office and on both Discord and the Forums, must be released within 30 days after a year it has been posted or made.

Criticism of the bill
Tons of people are against it because of ABC's intentions and the complications of doing it.

DISCARDED BILLS

REGIONAL ASSEMBLY MODERATION

Summary of the bill
A newcomer Citizen named Adom Jersey proposed a bill which in the end due to spam and unnecessary, was locked.

Goal of the bill
Increase the number of members in all of The North Pacific's "departments", whether it be executive, security, home affairs, etc..

Criticism of the bill
It was honestly silly. There was no way to increase the population of our Ministries and there is no "Security Department". In the end, Deputy Attorney General Dinoium requested for it to be locked and was locked by the Speaker.

---

World Assembly Digest

by Gorundu, World Assembly Correspondent

General Assembly
Improving the world one resolution at a time

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Ban on Forced Sterilisation

Status: Defeated
Delegate's vote: Against
Final vote (World): For - 6374; Against - 7537
Final vote (TNP): For - 180; Against - 343; Percentage of WA nations voting: 39.44%

Recommendation: Despite the good intentions of this resolution, it falls victim to several discrepancies that undermine its own effectiveness. Firstly, Clause 2.1 allows guardians of minors to legally consent to sterilisation on behalf of a minor, undermining the integrity and the spirit of the bill. In addition, several clauses are plagued by ambiguity that again undermines effectiveness. Clause 3.2 requires a state to "reasonably punish people who carry out illegal sterilisation" which does not specify what might count as reasonable punishment. Clause 4 "urges member states to provide reparations for victims of forced sterilisation." Again, this is too vague to be of any effective benefit and ultimately, no reparation is adequate to any sort of degree as there are no proven ways to give back to an individual the biological means to reproduce once sterilized. While this proposal is well-intentioned, it should in essence, be considered a draft for a much larger and more comprehensive bill on the topic of limiting forced sterilization.

In accordance with the reasoning presented above and in hopes of a redraft, the Ministry of World Assembly Affairs recommends a vote Against this proposal.

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Repeal "Prohibit Private Prisons"

Status: Passed
Delegate's vote: For
Final vote (World): For - 10599; Against - 3354
Final vote (TNP): For - 466; Against - 84; Percentage of WA nations voting: 42.11%

Recommendation: The target resolution is well-intentioned, but possesses many flaws that undermines its effectiveness, as outlined by this repeal. Firstly, the target's definition of "prison" was too narrow in scope, excluding facilities holding prisoners before their conviction and any non-permanent facilities, thus creating loopholes for private prisons to exist, and even incentives for private prison operators to delay trials, encourage arrests, and frustrate the justice process. Furthermore, the target resolution also created several loopholes in its definition of a "private prison", including allowing governments to lease prisons to private operators, and minority ownership and operation of prisons by private entities.

In hopes of a replacement that will better protect inmate rights and regulate private prisons, the Ministry of World Assembly Affairs recommends a vote For this repeal. resolution

---

Security Council
Spreading interregional peace and goodwill, via force if necessary

---

Condemn Koem Kab

Status: Passed
Delegate's vote: For
Final vote (World): For - 9628; Against - 2648
Final vote (TNP): For - 423; Against - 69; Percentage of WA nations voting: 37.50%

Recommendation: Koem Kab, as described is worthy of condemnation for their assorted actions in pursuit of their goals in playing the trading cards mini-game. Many of these actions are in direct opposition or strongly disapproved by the majority of the trading cards community. Among these actions is the deliberate hoarding of the cards of certain legendary nations in attempts to ensure that no one else can get any of them, and Legendary cards in general. Additionally, Koem Kab has deliberately inflated the price of many cards in order to artificially raise the value of their own collections and stealing the bank transfers of other card farmers. For future reference, it should be noted that gameplay within this card community is something to behold and acknowledged both in this and future proposals.

For these reasons, and others listed in the Condemnation, the Ministry of World Assembly Affairs recommends a vote For this proposal.

---

Commend Mikeswill

Status: Defeated
Delegate's vote: Against
Final vote (World): For - 2924; Against - 10905
Final vote (TNP): For - 76; Against - 444; Percentage of WA nations voting: 39.82%

Recommendation: The SC proposal at hand is written first and foremost by an author universally disliked by the decent regions and nations of the world for both their various self-aggradizaition and fascist nature. Furthermore, the nominee is being commended almost entirely for holding a regional delegacy for a long period of time, with little to no other notable features noted to their delegacy. Additionally, the proposal has received only the minimum of drafting needed in order to secure legality (with a previous version being illegal as submitted). Finally, the proposal asserts that "this Security Council has honoured nations for far lesser feats," a exceedingly false claim and slander against the names of those so commended by the Security Council.

For these reasons the Ministry of World Assembly Affairs strongly and unconditionally recommends a vote AGAINST the proposal.

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The North Star: Lighting The Way To The Truth

Publisher: McMasterdonia :: Executive Editor: Kaschovia :: Managing Editors: Dinoium, Marcus Antonius

The North Star is produced by the Ministry of Communications on behalf of the Government of The North Pacific and is distributed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs externally and the Ministry of Home Affairs internally. Except where otherwise indicated, all content represents the views of the Government of The North Pacific.

Index of Issues

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[Marxist Germany]

Another great edition!

[Gorundu]

Another great edition!

Ah yes. I just realised both GA resolutions were yours. Bet that's why you commented.

[Marxist Germany]

Another great edition!

Ah yes. I just realised both GA resolutions were yours. Bet that's why you commented.

Maybe, maybe not

[McMasterdonia]

Announcement: Epic Gamer Party
Invite: https://discord.gg/TANguTt

The North Pacfic and The Rejected Realms are pleased to announce that we will be co-hosting “The Epic Gamer Party” a fun event open to all. The event will run for one week (October 16 2019 - October 23 2019).

The Epic Gamer Party will be hosted on the Games Server and will include favourite bot games of Rejects and TNPers including Werewolf, Adventure, and Trivia, and other games such as Codenames, Spyfall, and card games - just to name a few.

We will publish a schedule of activities for particular games so that interested players can plan ahead to make sure they are available for their favourite game.

An invitation will be distributed to our embassy partners in due course. We look forward to your participation and assistance in making this event truly epic.

Kind regards,

McMasterdonia
Delegate of The North Pacific

Kyorgia
Delegate of The Rejected Realms

[Dead I Jack]

Took me a bit to have time to reply, but I'm excited for this. Should be lots of fun!

[Johanneslanden]

The discord invite's expired

[McMasterdonia]

The discord invite's expired

I've updated it in the text.

The one in the image is still active: https://discord.gg/TANguTt

[Commodore Badger]

Pants required!?! No thanks!