The Rejected Times

[The Real Rejected Realms News]

Bogus shit

The etymological origins of "bogus" are thus: a bogus was originally a machine used to make counterfeit money, dating back to the early 1800's.

I see your coded message, borovan (="brave one") - because the voters have been so utterly fooled by this FRA plot, their votes might as well be counterfeit. The FRA is the bogus.

Thank you for the revelation.

- Brother Bishop

[Lord Dominator]

Seems legit

[Old Hope]

Nice piece of obviously construed conspiracies.

[Glacikaldr]

I'd only ever believe it if he like... threatened to removed Vice-Delegates or som-- ohh shit. :/

[The Rejected Times]

Epilepsy Awareness Month 2018
COMMENTARY | THE CHURCH OF SATAN, SENIOR CORRESPONDENT

It's been one year since The Rejected Times' previous article for Epilepsy Awareness Month. Last November's article was about the people that have epilepsy, however, this time we will be talking about what the people around them, friends and family, go through. Getting right into that it can be a very painful and stressful experience, especially for children. Often when children see a friend or family member have a seizure it is traumatizing. Most often, children become terrified of seeing it again, quickly turning away and avoiding having to look at that person. It is very tragic, having long-term emotional and psychological effects, with which there's no telling when or if they will heal. As for the adults that endure the experience, it is primarily more stressful than traumatic. It's like a permanent stakeout. Every loud noise, pause, and twitch are cause for alarm, "Is he/she having a seizure?" "I better go check on them just in case." "Did they get hurt again!?" It's a very difficult thing to live with.

More than that it changes how they see a friend or family member that has epilepsy. Often one ends up treating such a person differently. At first, it generally consists of pity, as if the person is less capable of taking care of themselves, but it changes over time. Depending on the severity of one's epilepsy their family and friends eventually perceive them as somewhat
self-reliant. Even so friends and family almost always feel helpless because they can't "fix" or get rid of the seizures. Do they help and protect them to prevent injury or lessen seizure triggers? Is it overprotection that can potentially be harmful? Where is that fine line between encouraging independence yet being realistic about life's risks and the impact of seizures?

Grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins can also be affected just as much as immediate family members and friends. Sometimes pitching in when someone is sick, driving to appointments, running errands, babysitting, visiting someone that's in the hospital because of a seizure all the while they might not be as informed as immediate family members. They might have questions or need someone to talk to about how they feel after taking care of a more distant relative with epilepsy.

Parents of someone with epilepsy have an even more difficult task. They have to teach crucial life skills, self-discipline, teamwork, responsibility and having fun all while taking their epilepsy into account. They also have to be adapted to suit the unique needs of the child compared to that of a healthy child. As the advocate for their child the parent's responsibility is far greater. They need to learn new information and skills in order to better care for their child as well as properly navigate the healthcare system. In addition to all of this, they may have to find a balance between work and focusing on their child. They have to find a balance all of that and the other relationships in their life such as that of their spousal or friendships with others. Often times a parent might put everyone before themselves and this isn't healthy. The sad fact is that you can't do it all. Nobody with someone in their life that has epilepsy can simply ignore their own needs. You have to remember that you are important too. Me time doesn't have to be expensive or extravagant. It just has to be there and you need attention too!

Confronting Subversive Elements Tabloids
SATIRE | THE CHURCH OF SATAN, SENIOR CORRESPONDENT

Over the last couple of weeks, your eyes have been subjected to lies and unoriginal title banners. Lies about an FRA shadow government tainting the political processes of The Rejected Realms in order to further a hidden agenda by a seemingly undead organization reaching to the NationStates purgatory from beyond the defender grave. These claims are unsubstantiated, poorly written and lacking the wordplay a renegade tabloid deserves. The keyword being "tabloid". This kind of writing is unreliable, dishonest and subversive at best. These so-called "brothers" and "sisters" don't stand for liberty. They stand for anarchy, tyranny and rebellion!

The Rejected Tabloid invades our thread, raining their flyers of lies and half-truths, forcing you to be confronted with the illusions they write. So desperately they try to pull the wool over your eyes in order to further their corrupted agenda. Remember, we are rejects! Proud rejects! More than that we do not conceal our identities. We show our faces and offer you the truth for better or worse. We stand ready to be held accountable. We are here! What about The Rejected Tabloid? Where are they?

Halloween Story Part 1: The Horrible Secret of The Sauce
FEATURE | THE CHURCH OF SATAN, SENIOR CORRESPONDENT

October 31, 2018, was a regular day for The Rejected Realms renowned restaurant, Kandarin's BBQ & Grill...for now. Sedge stopped by while processing some spammers, flame-baiters and all around rule breakers. However, the sheer volume of rule breakers he was processing had given off harmful radiation. Radiation which Sedge had been unknowingly exposed too. Sedge ordered his food to-go, paid and tipped his waiter then left, unaware of the chain of events he would unleash on The Rejected Realms. The money he'd paid with, teaming with radiation, now spread to his waiter and the manager. As soon as it reached the manager, it began to spread to the rest of the staff. The cook, now exposed, finished making Kandarin's secret sauce and prepared the next order for Harmoneia. Unaware of the danger sitting in front of her, Harmoneia looked to her waiter,
"Thank you." smiling as she bit into her triple-stacked bacon cheeseburger. Harmoneia's burger, drenched in secret sauce, was a ticking time bomb. The more she ingested, the more saturated with harmful radiation her body would become.

Later that night, Harmoneia was at home when she began to feel nauseous. She took some over-the-counter pills and thought nothing of it. Unfortunately for her, the pills she took would have no effect. Her condition worsened as she began vomiting. At first, it was just vomit, but then she began vomiting blood. At this point, she picked up her cell phone, dialed 911 and could only stifle her vomit long enough to utter 2 words in a weakened tone,
"Help me...." Emergency services arrived and took her to Rejected General Hospital. Not long after arriving, she began to vomit a black, sludge-like substance instead of blood. Frattastan, delegate of The Rejected Realms, was notified of Harmoneia's strange condition,
"Quarantine her. Lockdown the hospital and redirect all future patients to Rejected Mercy. Nobody leaves the hospital, by order of The Rejected Realms government." Frattastan hung up the phone in his office with a stern look on his face, "What is this...?"

Calls were coming in from all over The Rejected Realms, citizens from every corner were experiencing the same symptoms. They were all taken to Rejected General Hospital. Doctors began asking patients where they'd been that day and what they'd done. Epidemists were called in from all over The Rejected Realms to determine the cause and the source of this contagion. Crazygirl, the Chief Administrator at Rejected General, was asked to check on Harmoneia, now referred to as Patient 0, because they did not have enough staff on hand to keep up. The entire building was erratic. Crazygirl entered Patient 0's room, only to find that she was not in her hospital bed. She was nowhere to be found. Just as Crazygirl was about to leave, a black sludge dripped onto her shoulder from above. She froze, then slowly looked up and shrieked in terror as Harmoneia dropped from an air duct on the ceiling, regurgitating the same black sludge all over her face. It had, at that point, entered her body. She became infected by it and it progressed remarkably fast, almost instantaneously changing her. Several staff nearby heard her and rushed to Patient 0's room, only to find a puddle of black sludge on the floor and an open air duct. Panic took over immediately as the staff crowded the elevators, passing the weight limit to which it could handle. The elevators crashed to the bottom having dropped 12 floors. There were no survivors. The fires set off the sprinkler system and fire alarm. The fire department and police, now notified, rushed to the scene.

Frattastan was notified and attempted to contact Crazygirl. There was no response. He tried every extension he had onhand, but nobody picked up. At this point, he called Police Chief Guy and ordered him to set up a blockade around Rejected General Hospital and to shoot anyone that exits the building. As ordered, he did just that. Former patients rushed out, uttering inhuman noises. The blockade was overrun by the infected and, by the end of the skirmish, the number of infected had risen. Worse than that, they had escaped into the rest of the region. Frattastan lost contact with Guy and the rest of the police. He feared the worst and so, he called Wopruthien, the last commander of The RRA that, to his knowledge, was still alive. He informed him of the situation. Wopruthien, disheartened, but not discouraged, responded,
"The RRA will eliminate this threat from our region-" Frattastan interrupted
"There is one thing though. The Rejected Realms has just 1 epidemist left, Vulturret. It is imperative that you get him to safety. Without him, we can never produce a cure. He's currently located at his office, but his safety is not guaranteed there. As for me, don't worry. The doors are large and heavy. They'll never get in." Wopruthien loaded his gun
"I understand, sir." The RRA, assembled and briefed on their mission, moved out not knowing what to expect. So, in the dark, they moved through the streets towards the office of The Speaker.

Homes were broken into, citizens dragged out of their homes, infected so they could continue the cycle. Unfortunately, their objective was Vulturret, so there was no time to save passersby. The APC's and humvees rushed down the streets, moving across town until finally, after much gunfire, they reached the office of The Speaker. It was silent, they'd hoped it was not too late. Wopruthien ordered most of the RRA soldiers to stand guard outside. He took a small group with him as he entered the office. Slowly and silently they moved through the building. Nothing was broken, displaced or knocked over. They arrived at the top floor, to Vulturret's office. They saw no one, at first. Just as Wopruthien was about to report his death, Vulturret jumped out from under his desk and shouted, "Wait-" one of the soldiers shot in his direction, startled. Luckily he missed.
"Stand down soldier!" He stood up from behind his desk again,
"Don't shoot, I'm not one of them!" Wopruthien radioed in,
"Vulturret is alive, we have him and are escorting him to Frattastan-" Vulturret told him,
"We can't! We have to go to Kandarin's BBQ & Grill before it's too late!" Wopruthien grabbed him by the collar of his shirt,
"Look, I like a good burger as much as the next guy, but my men are in danger and this region is tearing itself apart! So you better have a damn good reason for this!" Vulturret gave him a serious look,
"It's the only way to find the cure!" Wopruthien looked dumbfounded,
"What on earth are you talking about!? You've lost it haven't you?"
"No, it's the truth!" said Vulturret.
"I have the report from Rejected General Hospital. It was sent to me earlier today. After going through it I found that every patient had one thing in common. They all ate a burger from Kandarin's BBQ & Grill just a few hours before their symptoms occurred. It has to be the source! More than that, the tests run on each patient revealed that they were all frequent rule breakers on the NationStates forum. The odd thing is, we know Harmoneia does no such thing. So whatever this virus is, this is related."
"Odd indeed. This all sounds really weird and unlikely, but it's all we got," said Wopruthien. He radioed in again, "This is Wopruthien. Change of plans. Vulturret says he knows where the source of the infection is. We're heading to Kandarin's BBQ & Grill now."
"I hope you know what you're doing. Take care. The future of The Rejected Realms is in your hands." Frattastan responded. Wopruthien looked to Vulturret and said,
"Me too sir." At that moment, a soldier radioed in from outside the office,
"Sir! There's a large group of them heading this way! ETA is 4 minutes! We gotta move now!" Wopruthien, Vulturret and the soldiers with him rushed outside and into the APC. What they saw when they got outside was horrific. Hundreds of infected, rushing towards them. Wopruthien yelled into his radio,
"Get us to Kandarin's BBQ & Grill! Make sure you lose these things first!" The drivers floored it, heading east, hoping to go around the large group. Speeding down the road, they encountered part of the group, which split off in their direction. Running right into them, the vehicles smashed through, splattering body parts and sludge all over. The mass of infected was so great that the vehicles came to a complete stop. They were surrounded...

---

This concludes part 1 of Allhallow's Eve with The Church of Satan. What will happen to them? Will there be a cure? Will The Rejected Realms return to normalcy? Find out next year, happy Halloween NationStates!

The Vacuum - Narrating TRR's Cultural Extinction
OPINION | GLACIKALDR, CORRESPONDENT

The following is an edited sermon delivered by Brother Amottymous of Our Lady. Brother comes from the Dramoonist sect, a Mottoism Believer within the Faith of Our Lady Zyonn, upholding the values of transparency, meritocracy, democracy, and culture; robed in dramoon and Reject purple throughout his seminars. What is contained within comes at a cost: for, by all accounts, Brother Amottymous has gone missing. To honor his memory, we have decided to include his submission in this issue of The Rejected Times. May we hope his words were not in vain to those needing to hear them.

"Friends, True Rejects, citizens, lend me your ears;
I come to bury Violetism, not to praise it.
The evil that Violetist sentiments do lives after it;
The good is oft interred through the repealing of Acts in the Assembly;
And anti-mottoists have lost their reason. Bear with me;
My heart is in the coffin there with Violetism,
And I must pause till it comes back to me." (Brother Amottymous, "The Vacuum: A Cultural Extinction")

I am accustomed to holding no sympathies. Having been raised a Dramoomist, who are labeled as regionalists by most, I have long been at war with the ways of Violet and the very notions it deems as existing within the occult. I have risen the ranks of the Church of Zyonnism, and have even received the blessed high praise from Our Lady Zyonn Herself. Needless to say, all throughout my life I have stood as a Vanguard of those who opposed the now ailing cosmopolitan and opportunist order.

Now all that remains of my foes is their 2009 archives, existing out of sight to those who remain unacquainted to our schemes. Violetists now hide behind pseudonyms of former legends and dare not openly call upon one another as Brothers and Sisters as we do so openly among our own.

But If I must pay a price to speak what must come next then I accept this fate: if I am demanded to cast off my robes, then all I can do is ask for forgiveness because I need to break this silence. We have gone astray.

What was once the strong voting bloc of a defenderism that I have always considered misguided (as a defender myself, allow me to add), we now find ourselves without the guardians that we once had to the cultural and democratic ideals that we once held so utterly firm.

Take the defender-aligned Rejected Realms (TRR) as our example, of whom's paper I have managed to smuggle this address within. Once a center of the ideals I have claimed that Violetists hold near and dear, the vacuum Dramoonists have helped create has in turn seen to the rise of a rival group that seeks to dismantle TRR's cultural identity under a misguided and mutated pretense of pragmatic governance and law.

First it was the flag, an issue that led to countless loyal and better-detailed reinterpretations being proposed and debating while Violetists still tried to hold their ground and ultimately failed; then came TRR's motto, torn asunder and claimed to be autocratically imposed when such disfiguring of the truth is nothing short of a completely sinister showcase of the anti-mottoists end goal; and, now they come for the very notion of Vice-Delegates of which merely three years ago would have been framed as the largest security threat TRR has ever faced. The fall of Violetism has left behind a void that forces of evil plan to expand until it consumes all facets of a meaningful existence, shedding away our identities. Consider this a warning from one who has witnessed this account first hand. Never give up the Battle, as you are only three short years away from the possibility of losing all identity.

I leave you with a mockery, spoken by Frattastan the IV in quotespeak, which is used when the speaker is claiming that the opposite is true; indicated by hand-gestured quotation marks, this shows that even the Delegate of TRR no longer values its own cultural foundations:
"We've been corrupted. We must return to The Gameside. Which in this case refers to the ten or so people who post on the RMB (sic)".

Invitation to TRR's CYOA Game - "Fallout Arizona"
FEATURE | GLACIKALDR, CORRESPONDENT

War. War never changes. Even with the Old World rushing off to its doom, there are those who still safeguard the values, lessons, and convictions of America from the ruins of the atomic fallout. In the West, the values of democracy and the rule of law, and, in the East, the lesson to never repeat the same mistakes. The clash of the Bear, the New Californian Republic, and the Bull, Caesar’s Legion, was inevitable as their quests for glory consumes them. What remains by 2897 is a shell of both, as the NCR prepares to push back against the final holdouts of the new Caesar. First Sun City in the ruins of Phoenix, and then the final march to Flagstaff. A swift victory is promised by Mason Salvatore, one of the two possible candidates for presidency within the NCR’s upcoming election in the Senate. All that stands in the way of the reborn crime family’s rise to power is candidate Aaron Hanlon, nephew of Chief Hanlon of the NCR Rangers but facing waning support. The NCR-Legion war has become a final opportunity for the many schemes of the Old World to take root. Will the conquest Arizona be what finally allows the NCR to remake America, or will the legacy of Caesar be one that forever changes the NCR’s very values? You enter Arizona as a Reject, watching helplessly like the many other casualties of this war as the Senate decides America’s future and the Legion does its best to make them pay dearly. Will you correct America’s path; or will you be its downfall? Or maybe you might just end up dying to an extra sneaky bark scorpion.

Ultimately, you decide, in the Rejected Realm’s Choose Your Own Adventure Game: “Fallout Arizona”! The polls will be made daily—or as regularly as I can remember and am able to make them—and will be open for the entirety of the interregional community, resident or otherwise (not that we would ever banject or eject you, or could for that matter, even if you did move in a puppet just to vote). So here’s where you come in: we’re inviting you to join in on our CYOA Game written by yours truly, Glacikaldr, or Nequaldraok if you’re looking for a portmanteau. The concept was first inspired by this YouTube video by ShoddyCast, but I could list many more that would be best to keep hidden: otherwise, I’d ruin some of the many surprises I have in store for you!

So far we’ve just done a few parts within Chapter 1, and you can catch up on the setting, story, and previous options chosen, as well as the character sheet we’ve made through both game-side and offsite polls that we will be developing together throughout the process with almost every decision we make, through the dispatch following dispatch: here

Further, if you’re looking for a better to stay updated on when a new poll is made, look no further than the new subscription service for the game! You can learn how to subscribe, for either RMB mentions or Discord pings, here. Thank you for joining us on this journey if you choose to do so, and we look forward to seeing as many of you over on our polls as able and willing!

Discord: The Mutation of NS Communication
OPINION | THE CHURCH OF SATAN, SENIOR CORRESPONDENT

The advent of Discord in NationStates was both sudden and prolonged. It was even resisted for quite some time. Even so, NationStates has inevitably migrated to Discord, begrudgingly, for some. It feels as if the initial resistance to Discord was more a resistance to change than it was a matter of merit. Over time regions have not only migrated to Discord they have adapted and evolved their servers to be so much more than their IRC counterparts were. This issue I'm sitting down with players from most of the feeders, each of the sinkers, 10000 Islands and The Black Hawks to talk about how Discord has affected their respective regions since moving from IRC. Among the feeders we have, SillyString from The North Pacific, Todd McCloud from The East Pacific and Big Bad Badger from The West Pacific. In the sinkers we have Syberis from Osiris, Solorni from Balder, Harmoneia from Lazarus and frattastan from The Rejected Realms. From 10000 Islands Lousistan will be sitting in. From The Black Hawks none other than Koth. Without further ado let’s reflect on the last couple of years in NationStates communication.

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1&2.) Over the last two years, NationStates has migrated entirely from IRC to Discord. Would you say it has changed communication in your region? How so?

SillyString: Yes definitely, in a lot of ways. Discord offers more flexibility and persistence in a lot of ways. Flexibility in the sense of a masking system like forums have, and persistence in the sense that channels don't just stop existing and records don't just disappear when people leave. It's a lot more plausible to conduct government business or official discussions, or even just provide space for citizens to work on things together. As a platform it also seems to appeal to more people than IRC did, I think because IRC was older technology without the same visual component. TNP's forum went down in early September and our community was actually able to persist reasonably well during that time due to being on Discord. Our RP community could still get together and chat about their plans, the government could still handle some official business, the security council could still track threats to the region, etc. Not everything was possible; we couldn't process citizenship or do legislation and stuff, but... it went a hell of a lot better than it would have if we'd been on IRC. But at the same time, I think maybe it's changed the content of communication as well. Being so much more integrated into the region and forum... a lot of what goes on seems to be related to that. I feel like I get to know people on discord less than I did on IRC. Like, less about them as players, about their outside lives. That could just be me getting older and having less in common with the general teenage crowd that predominates, though. I don't wanna try to speak for everyone on that.

Todd McCloud: Well, I'd say almost entirely - there are a few who still use the old IRC from what I remember. It has changed communication a bit, yes - we used to use Skype chats but Discord is more organized and a bit more user-friendly for nations and regions alike. The game's dynamic - times change, so the platforms change as well. I think we have a great system in place and multiple avenues for nations to hop on board and join in on the fun. This is helped by those who run the region's Discord today - they do an excellent but often thankless job.

Big Bad Badger: Discord has radically changed communication. It has given us urgency in communications and a means of giving more people opportunities in hands-on leadership and experience. It allows for a less formal atmosphere since we run a tidy RMB. It has given more people to foster friendship and working relationships. Furthermore, discord has allowed us to bring RP into TWP. I feel that discord has allowed TWP to be more well-rounded.

Syberis: The transition from IRC to Discord has been monumentally impactful on regional communication within Osiris. Communications that would have spanned multiple IRC channels or Skype groups are now easily organized within a single Discord server, and the utility there cannot be understated. Easily-sorted communication with a clear admin log, easy access control, and centralized administration is insanely necessary for a game such as this, and Discord does it flawlessly.

Harmoneia: Definitely, although I haven’t been on IRC that recently, I would say it was good for Laz - to my memory, we had never really been very active on IRC.

Solorni: I wouldn't say it changed communication over the past year since we had transitioned in September 2016, so by last October our server was already a year old. With regards to the change in general, I think it did change communication a bit. We had been using Skype prior to that and it was a bit of a wild west. It was difficult to moderate compared to discord and you just didn't have the same ability to organize various chats easily for government as like you do with Discord. So I think the transition meant we weren't quite as wild and that we had a greater ability to organize government via discord.

frattastan: In part. Now the forums aren't used for government discussion as much as they were, in part because Discord is much more convenient than IRC due to its masking system and the ability for everyone to retain logs, while IRC was mainly useful for pure instant messaging.
I still maintain that forums are better for organizational purposes and recordkeeping, although the shift from IRC to Discord did bring definite improvements to some areas (military gameplay). The chat feels more active, although I wouldn't attribute that to the move to Discord. I've seen plenty of inactive Discords and active IRC channels, after all. An interesting effect is that now chat structure is much more rigid, with permissions and mod powers replicating forum access. #trr, of course, was a single channel for both citizens and non-citizens, and ops (moderators) were selected depending on activity and perceived overall trustworthiness, with their status in the region not being much of a factor. I remember both Ananke and Avakael being ops in our channel - not something that would happen now.

Louisistan: Yes, it definitely has. Previously, most communication was either forum-based or happened on the RMB. Chats were mostly used by TITO alone, not by the wider community of 10000 Islands. That has changed with the introduction of our Discord Server. We now have a large number of Islanders using our Discord, including quite a lot who aren't members of TITO. So I'd say Discord has made real-time communication more available to the members of 10000 Islands.
There's also a number of foreign dignitaries on our server as well, which has increased interregional communication.

Koth: Tthere's no doubt it's changed the dynamic of our communication. For one thing, we're a million times more organized. Coming from Skype, we had three chats: The Public Chat, the SGT+ Chat (War Room), and the Council Meeting Room. Discord and its dynamic role system has allowed us to greatly expand our avenues of communication and keep discussion segmented. You might be expecting me to say something about how it destroyed our forum usage or something, but honestly forum activity across NS had been on a sharp decline for a while before the migration. I'd even argue that our initiative to establish the Corps system of mid-tier leadership would have been obnoxiously difficult on Skype, though it had been in development since we used Skype as our comms medium. In general, an organized military is an effective military. Discord has been incredibly helpful in helping us towards that goal.

3.) Has it changed how your region approaches politics and diplomacy?

SillyString: (was temporarily unavailable for comment)

Todd McCloud: I think it's allowed for a faster way to interact. Forums tend to be a bit slower but with more concreteness. Discord is a bit more fast-paced, with people alerting and thinking out loud. I'd say those are good things - the better a community can conveniently and safely interact, the better.

Big Bad Badger: Discord has allowed our region to develop stronger bonds with our friends and allies, foster new relationships, and tell regions off more directly when needed.

Syberis: When political conversation and diplomacy can occur so smoothly in such a streamlined and mobile-accessible environment, it has had the admittedly problematic effect of taking a significant portion of our regional political activity off of the forum. Ultimately, the way Osiris has operated, by the time it reaches the forum, it's a formality, as many laws passed by the Council of Scribes are debated and discussed to death in our citizen chats. However, this does have the benefit of meaning that people are more willing to spitball half-formed ideas and gut feelings about legislation, thus crowdsourcing a lot of our region's best policies and laws of the last couple years.

Harmoneia: I guess it’s changed somehow in such a way that politics and policies are discussed more informally because they can now be done through live chats rather than simply in the forum. Other than that, however, pretty much things have been more or less the same.

Solorni: Bots and other forms of fun have never really taken off in Balder’s Discord the way they have in other regions such as the Rejected Realms where I think bot run games such as Werewolf have been hugely successful. Each time we've had bots in our region, the novelty has worn out very quickly. I could be wrong, but I believe that when the Heartbeat was reporting on forum activity we had the lowest bot interaction.

In many ways, it is more about the culture of the Balder citizenry in general. It is rare to find discussions about internal politics or NS in general and in fact our region has always never been overly keen on in-game politics. From IRC to Skype to Discord the conversations tend to be very much based on real-life politics, movies, and history. So, bots never really fit in since they tended to run games that Balderans did not find overly interesting or were about NS nations which also did not overly interest them.

Beyond that, the capabilities of Discord are not that different from Skype. Perhaps this is also why Balder did not change that much from that transition. We're still having the same sorts of fun that we used to. The government organization has changed more than the way our community interacts with each other.

frattastan: No, I wouldn't say so. Serious debates on regional politics are still happening in the Assembly, for the most part, since it's easier to make structured arguments and follow what other people are saying.
It may change diplomacy - there are some newer regions that don't use an offsite forum at all, and are entirely Discord-based, which makes relations with them difficult if your embassy network is set up around a traditional forum system.

Louisistan: I'm not all that involved in regional politics or diplomacy at the moment. I do recall that my first use of Discord was to conduct a diplomatic meeting with a friendly government.
Discord hasn't changed the way our government works, from what I can tell. I do think it has helped our Diplomatic Corps to better connect with the regions they're assigned to. Discord makes it easier to get to know the people in other regions.

Koth: Well, TBH doesn't have a regional government or anything, so it didn't really effect our non-existent internal politics. In terms of diplomacy, not much really changed on that front either. Shooting a direct message or even making a discussion group isn't crazy complex technology, and it's standard in any communication medium worth its salt. I'm struggling to think of any meaningful advances in diplomacy Discord directly made for TBH, other than maybe the idea that Discord instantly became a more universal NS platform which made it easier to reach out to regions we couldn't get on Skype.

4.) What about fun and games? Surely having text channels, voice chat and all manner of bots in one convenient program have had a considerable impact on how your region enjoys a variety of entertaining activities.

SillyString: I can't really speak to that one. I really just chat in the text channels. I don't use voice chats unless something super urgent comes up, generally like an OOC moderation issue. And I don't really interact with bots or bot-run games. I do know that all of those existed on IRC as well, but I didn't use them much then either.

Todd McCloud: I think, again, it allows for greater connectivity and coordination, especially on the fly. If people like using it, it'll attract individuals organically, so it's important for a region to be cognizant of such platforms. Events that take a bit of time or are hosted over a few days tend to be more forum-based I think.

Big Bad Badge,r: On our discord we have sports pickem games and challenges. D&D. NS sports. Nation RP. Video game contests. RL conversation. NS politics talk. There is really something for everyone. Discord has really taken the place of the forum in many aspects. I feel that discord has been a great tool to allow TWP to diversify.

Syberis: When it comes to fun and games, Altino has been outstanding at motivating people to hang out more in Osiris, and use it as a place to relax rather than just a chat for a region within the game. I see people relaxing on Voice Chat more and more often, and engaging in lighthearted (Mostly) debate on everything from whether a hot dog is a sandwich to the most difficult political questions of our day. We're a very talkative group, and Discord has done wonders in that regard, allowing us to relax in a shared space that can be easily sorted.

Harmoneia: I can’t speak for all iterations of Lazarene governments but I haven’t seen much of this effect Lazarus in a manner that it has affected others yet. For instance, in TRR, the WW bot has definitely boosted the regional activity but for some reason, it does not seem to work as well in other places.

Solorni: Bots and other forms of fun have never really taken off in Balder’s Discord the way they have in other regions such as the Rejected Realms where I think bot run games such as Werewolf have been hugely successful. Each time we've had bots in our region, the novelty has worn out very quickly. I could be wrong, but I believe that when the Heartbeat was reporting on forum activity we had the lowest bot interaction.

In many ways, it is more about the culture of the Balder citizenry in general. It is rare to find discussions about internal politics or NS in general and in fact our region has always never been overly keen on ingame politics. From IRC to Skype to Discord the conversations tend to be very much based on real-life politics, movies, and history. So, bots never really fit in since they tended to run games that Balderans did not find overly interesting or were about NS nations which also did not overly interest them.

Beyond that the capabilities of Discord are not that different from Skype. Perhaps this is also why Balder did not change that much from that transition. We're still having the same sorts of fun that we used to. The government organization has changed more than the way our community interacts with each other.

frattastan: Perhaps. Werewolf Bot has been a nice addition in TRR, and even brought over some players from other regions. I'm sure that NSers knew how to have fun even before Discord was invented, though.

One concern I have is about an important difference between IRC and Discord: IRC is only a communication protocol; Discord is a proprietary app. IRC's lack of log retention (unless you used a bouncer, which most people weren't expected to) made its existence a lot more fluid. It was important to a region's life because it was a place where the region gathered for chat; however, even if the channel was "lost", the impact would be minimal as it was nothing more than a name.

This is much different from Discord. The loss of a Discord server - which isn't unthinkable, either because of admin misconduct or purely because you're depending on a single recently-founded for-profit private company - would be catastrophic in terms of loss of records, at least as much as the destruction of a forum.

Louisistan: Surprisingly enough, that hasn't changed all that much as far as I can tell. Probably we've always had a strong "fun and games" section on our offsite forums. Our sub-board for fun, games and spam, "Shelter's Taco Island" has over 1.2 million posts. Most games still take place on the forums. We do have some small games available on Discord, such as a trivia quiz. But the more elaborate stuff takes place on the forums.
The meme fans among us make heavy use of Discord to share in the dankness (do people still say that?) And we have a lot of fun discussions on Discord, naturally.
Also our bot has a surprising amount of spam commands.

Koth: This loaded question brought to you by Discord™®©! Well, it should be clear to all of our readers here that it's a near universal truth that Discord has enhanced the potential of an off-site comms platform for NS. TBH enjoys fairly regular VCs, and raiding while hanging in voice chat has somehow become a pretty common thing to do now. Souls built our server's bot, Penny, on top of NadekoBot, which provides a shit ton of potential "fun and games" as you described. It also has a list of snarky text triggers, which server users will inevitably stumble upon. We had Penny on Skype too, but her functionality was severely limited. Funnily enough, she still has a function built in to seamlessly integrate Discord and Skype...because at one point we were concerned about splitting our region by platform preference. Thankfully, nobody uses Skype anymore.

---

And there you have it. Where will NS communications be in five or ten years? Where will Discord be in five or ten years? Is it just a fad that will fade away and be replaced? Will it last for a long time until it's replaced by a better platform? Who can say? There's only one way to find out. If you're looking back on past articles and see this one, hello from five or ten years ago future readers!

[Saint Block]

Another great article from TRR! I especially appreciate the bit honoring epilepsy awareness month as my wife has epilepsy. Each point you made really resonated with me, and was also able to open my eyes to other aspects that this disease has on people that do not even have it. Thank you!

[Ever-Wandering Souls]

Another great article from TRR! I especially appreciate the bit honoring epilepsy awareness month as my wife has epilepsy. Each point you made really resonated with me, and was also able to open my eyes to other aspects that this disease has on people that do not even have it. Thank you!

That’s cool that you’re into awareness events for medical issues. Maybe you’d be interested in helping with PTSD awareness sometime?

[Solorni]

I was so worried I'd be the only one writing really long answers, but luckily Fratt was there too!

[The Church of Satan]

Another great article from TRR! I especially appreciate the bit honoring epilepsy awareness month as my wife has epilepsy. Each point you made really resonated with me, and was also able to open my eyes to other aspects that this disease has on people that do not even have it. Thank you!

I honor it every year. Though only since last year did I bring that to TRT. Kinda had to go out of my own point of view for this particular article. Not too keen on what my family goes through since I can only see it from the epileptic's point-of-view. Glad it did some good though! Even if only one person learned something from it then it has served its purpose.

That’s cool that you’re into awareness events for medical issues. Maybe you’d be interested in helping with PTSD awareness sometime?

If anyone were up to writing an article on it there's a spot in TRT for it.
I could take a stab at it sometime but I really don't understand it enough to write about it.

I was so worried I'd be the only one writing really long answers, but luckily Fratt was there too!

I considered trying Onder at first but I suspect I'd have just been blocked without even a "screw you" or "shut up". >_>
Rach however is preferable.

[Wabbitslayah]

Good article

[The Church of Satan]

A special thanks by the way, to Neq. Hopefully he and I won't have to do all the work on the next issue.

[Glacikaldr]

"Um, who?"

Always a treat to see CoS do his thing: love it!

[Saint Block]

Another great article from TRR! I especially appreciate the bit honoring epilepsy awareness month as my wife has epilepsy. Each point you made really resonated with me, and was also able to open my eyes to other aspects that this disease has on people that do not even have it. Thank you!

That’s cool that you’re into awareness events for medical issues. Maybe you’d be interested in helping with PTSD awareness sometime?

What would you have me do ol’e pal, donate to a charity that helps with PTSD? Specifically an Australian one given the context? Or one here in the states?

[King HEM]

The Discord discussion was really interesting. I am more of a Discord-skeptic in it's overall contribution to the game (I think it's negative) but I also think that overall impact will depend on each community, so it's fascinating to hear what other regions are experiencing.

[The Church of Satan]

The Discord discussion was really interesting. I am more of a Discord-skeptic in it's overall contribution to the game (I think it's negative) but I also think that overall impact will depend on each community, so it's fascinating to hear what other regions are experiencing.

I was skeptic about it at first too. For a time I was still clinging to IRC.

[Consular]

The Discord discussion was really interesting. I am more of a Discord-skeptic in it's overall contribution to the game (I think it's negative) but I also think that overall impact will depend on each community, so it's fascinating to hear what other regions are experiencing.

I was skeptic about it at first too. For a time I was still clinging to IRC.

I will never understand why. IRC is shit

[Helseth]

The Discord discussion was really interesting. I am more of a Discord-skeptic in it's overall contribution to the game (I think it's negative) but I also think that overall impact will depend on each community, so it's fascinating to hear what other regions are experiencing.

There were similar arguments over Skype and even IRC... though to be fair, discords UI is way more complex so, it does act like an instant messenger forum.

[The Church of Satan]

I will never understand why. IRC is shit

In fairness IRC was simple. Especially compared to discord. Had virtually no learning curve.

[Helseth]

I will never understand why. IRC is shit

In fairness IRC was simple. Especially compared to discord. Had virtually no learning curve.

There was plenty. Figuring out commands and if you used a client that wasn't mibbit or whatnot that was also had it's own learning curve. In fact, I find Discord far more intuitive in setting it up.

[King HEM]

I agree with Helseth, Discord is much easier than IRC.

I think the challenge is that Discord simplifies NS to a less political common denominator. So the game now holds interest, and offers something, to those players who aren't that interested in political gameplay. That has really shaken up our player base to some degree, and created odd disincentives for players to get involved in regional government.

That's probably a big contributor in how Nationstates today is much less ideological, foreign policy is more about personal relationships, and the whole game feels a like more like a social hangout than players gaming as various heads of state etc.

I mean, for christ's sake, "ghosting" as become a foreign policy term lol

At some point, I just become a Luddite and refuse to accept what the game is today, but I do think it's been a bit of a bummer for those players who really got into this game playing an exciting political gameplay sim and are now dealing with something that is slightly different.

[Helseth]

I agree with Helseth, Discord is much easier than IRC.

I think the challenge is that Discord simplifies NS to a less political common denominator. So the game now holds interest, and offers something, to those players who aren't that interested in political gameplay. That has really shaken up our player base to some degree, and created odd disincentives for players to get involved in regional government.

That's probably a big contributor in how Nationstates today is much less ideological, foreign policy is more about personal relationships, and the whole game feels a like more like a social hangout than players gaming as various heads of state etc.

I mean, for christ's sake, "ghosting" as become a foreign policy term lol

At some point, I just become a Luddite and refuse to accept what the game is today, but I do think it's been a bit of a bummer for those players who really got into this game playing an exciting political gameplay sim and are now dealing with something that is slightly different.

To be honest, I think this is a trend before even Discord. Though, I agree Discord in a sense has amplified that. Only the most highly political regions have remained heavily focused on regional government.

That isn't to say any of it has disappeared, but with and without discord there has been a move towards socialization and even culture (whatever that means). This trend appeared before Unibot used the term Cosmopolitan. With the revival of the GCRs into holding more prominence in the community and the political battles of yesteryear, what have we found? Two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl maybe?

Aside from, the OOC bad and toxic stuff, drama has been on the wayside for a long time now. Well before the advent of discord. It's only every couple of few months now we either have someone do something really bad and we all talk and get angry about it, or we have something like Balder/Osiris business happen. This forum stopped finding a lot of use as it did, before we all converted to Discord.

I'm not particularly sure if IRC helped cause that too, since I stopped using it in the later years of it's run here. Anyways, there's more root causes then just those.

[Frattastan IV]

That's a pretty interesting topic of discussion, and it might even deserve more than one opinion piece to be adequately discussed (whether there is a depoliticisation of Gameplay, what caused it, its effects, how that can change, etc.).
Beyond the argument that "it's boring", for example, I have been wondering if the potential confusion between personal friendships and rivalries and in-game ones ("I'll be their ally because they are my friend", "I'll be their enemy because they are an ass" - sounds like an awful social network) can have nastier consequences as it blurs IC/OOC lines.

I am not convinced that GP has been fully depoliticised, anyway, only that there is a trend towards it. At times this looks worse because there are no 'big wars' going on but we've still seen topics that divided regions across clear lines.
Besides, I am a defender: to me just the possibility of invading creates an obvious tension that can never be solved no matter how social we are.

To be honest, I think this is a trend before even Discord. Though, I agree Discord in a sense has amplified that. Only the most highly political regions have remained heavily focused on regional government.

That isn't to say any of it has disappeared, but with and without discord there has been a move towards socialization and even culture (whatever that means). This trend appeared before Unibot used the term Cosmopolitan. With the revival of the GCRs into holding more prominence in the community and the political battles of yesteryear, what have we found? Two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl maybe?

Aside from, the OOC bad and toxic stuff, drama has been on the wayside for a long time now. Well before the advent of discord. It's only every couple of few months now we either have someone do something really bad and we all talk and get angry about it, or we have something like Balder/Osiris business happen. This forum stopped finding a lot of use as it did, before we all converted to Discord.

I'm not particularly sure if IRC helped cause that too, since I stopped using it in the later years of it's run here. Anyways, there's more root causes then just those.

I think it's interesting because you're suggesting that greater "intercommunal" socialisation (relaxation of citizenship rules, the creation of common spaces like the Gameplay forum, means of communication like IRC or Discord that easily allows one to hang out in multiple chats at once, etc.) was inevitably going to lead to this.
If that's true, then ideological drama is dead.
If it's not, the possibility for new conflicts to emerge still exists.

I disagree that the recent Balder/Osiris mess was a break from that trend, by the way. It felt very "personal" - not just a sign that the two regions were pursuing foreign or military policies that were too different to fit in the same alliance.
I think the Balder/TRR embassy closure from a few months ago would be a better pick.

That isn't to say any of it has disappeared, but with and without discord there has been a move towards socialization and even culture (whatever that means). This trend appeared before Unibot used the term Cosmopolitan.

That's not what cosmopolitan means.

[The Church of Satan]

Perhaps this calls for an in-depth follow up then!
*jots down some notes*

[Ambrella]

Perhaps this calls for an in-depth follow up then!
*jots down some notes*

Definitely, it's a really interesting topic.

I think old-school Europeians are especially tuned in to this type of discussion because of the monumental shift we've seen in our player base over the past two or so years. When I first started in NS gameplay like 10 years ago, I rarely talked about anything personal. Now, that's like 50% of my conversations. Discord-based community is inherently social and personal, which has attracted a different type of player and really now requires personal relationships for political success. We've moved away from powerful regions and powerful ideologies to powerful players. Relationships are currency. As an inherently political region, lots of discussions in Europeia have revolved around adapting to this cultural shift while remaining true to our identity.

[RiderSyl]

Relationships are currency.

I physically cringed at this line.