The Rejected Times

[Unibot III]

My question would be how that would translate to a region's actual intergration policies? Kogvuron actually tried to advocate something similar to a Liberal Regionalism, but I've pushed back a little back on that - I think it sounds good, but sometimes proponents haven't fully considered how the philosophy impacts citizenship legally.

You've missed the point of my essay, which is redefining regionalism to be about player-experience instead of utility for regions. Each region can set its own policies based on their security needs, threat perceptions, and demanded loyalty. Regionalism isn't about that, it's about individual players and their outlook.

Forgive me.

I’m not sure I follow completely though, so bear with me. I think what you’re saying is that regionalism and cosmopolitanism should be viewed from a subjective, rather than objective lens — that regionalism should be limited in its scope to an individual player’s *own* value-set rather than being used to cast judgment on other players or determine regional policy?

[Kyorgia]

Ahh I should pay more attention to all the servers that I am in

Nevertheless, discord is pretty bad for roleplaying.

Roleplaying is bad in general :^)

[LollerLand]

Ahh I should pay more attention to all the servers that I am in

Nevertheless, discord is pretty bad for roleplaying.

Roleplaying is bad in general :^)

Shush Kyo.

As someone who has gotten into RPing recently, its pretty enjoyable tbh.

[Comfed]

Ahh I should pay more attention to all the servers that I am in

Nevertheless, discord is pretty bad for roleplaying.

Roleplaying is bad in general :^)

Whaaat? RP can be a rewarding experience.

[Witchcraft and Sorcery]

You've missed the point of my essay, which is redefining regionalism to be about player-experience instead of utility for regions. Each region can set its own policies based on their security needs, threat perceptions, and demanded loyalty. Regionalism isn't about that, it's about individual players and their outlook.

Forgive me.

I’m not sure I follow completely though, so bear with me. I think what you’re saying is that regionalism and cosmopolitanism should be viewed from a subjective, rather than objective lens — that regionalism should be limited in its scope to an individual player’s *own* value-set rather than being used to cast judgment on other players or determine regional policy?

I think that's exactly what he's saying. I saw a lot of his arguments as linked to the fact that this game is about building what you want, how you want to build it. There's no set objective and there's no winning, you just do whatever you feel like. It's a bit of a crude metaphor, but it's like Minecraft, or insert whatever sandbox game you like here.

So he's arguing for a definition of regionalism that is not about citizenships or isolationism, but about how one builds community and connects with the rest of the world. IMO the former two definitions are largely a relic of the past. There was certainly a time when they were more true, but not anymore.

I say this as someone who is certainly not a regionalist, at least not anymore. I think HS' defense and interpretation of it is pretty good, but (for HS) I do have a question: I'm not quite sure what you mean by "player-experience" in your answer above. Do you mean that it's about how a player identifies and builds connections in the game or how they perceive what happens within the game? Because the way I read your essay, I see you arguing for more of the former, but the term "experience" makes me wonder if there's an element of perception as well. Or they might both be included - active and passive regionalism, if you will.

[HumanSanity]

Forgive me.

I’m not sure I follow completely though, so bear with me. I think what you’re saying is that regionalism and cosmopolitanism should be viewed from a subjective, rather than objective lens — that regionalism should be limited in its scope to an individual player’s *own* value-set rather than being used to cast judgment on other players or determine regional policy?

I think that's exactly what he's saying. I saw a lot of his arguments as linked to the fact that this game is about building what you want, how you want to build it. There's no set objective and there's no winning, you just do whatever you feel like. It's a bit of a crude metaphor, but it's like Minecraft, or insert whatever sandbox game you like here.

So he's arguing for a definition of regionalism that is not about citizenships or isolationism, but about how one builds community and connects with the rest of the world. IMO the former two definitions are largely a relic of the past. There was certainly a time when they were more true, but not anymore.

Yep, I think W&S has the distinction I'm going for pretty clearly here.

I think those definitions are problematic because players have citizenships for different reasons (some have only 1 citizenship not really out of
any ideological belief in that as a gameplaying practice, rather out of coincidence; others likely have additional citizenships but only one true loyalty), citizenships mean different things to different people, citizenship itself means different things in different regions, do resident nations count as citizenships, etc. Only you can answer the question for yourself of what a citizenship means to you.

I'm not quite sure what you mean by "player-experience" in your answer above. Do you mean that it's about how a player identifies and builds connections in the game or how they perceive what happens within the game? Because the way I read your essay, I see you arguing for more of the former, but the term "experience" makes me wonder if there's an element of perception as well. Or they might both be included - active and passive regionalism, if you will.

I think it's about the player's orientation towards their own role and success in the game - so the former, rather than the latter.

I think a player's perception of other actors in the game and their strategic interests should be determined based more on specific contexts, in part to avoid the strategic pitfalls of attempting to understand other players' interests simplistically. In this context, one can't really know if someone is a regionalist or a cosmopolitan? They can claim something, but even then how do you know, and that's okay in my opinion. Of course, I am guilty of mixing the definitions every time I got "Aga you cosmo smh" on Discord, but realistically I have no way of knowing for certain any other player's motivations

This also relates to the discussion of how this implicates citizenship. I think each region sets their own citizenship metrics (does it require WA membership? Does it require a forum account? Does it require some kind of activity metric? Does it have conflict of interest rules of some kind? If so what? etc.) based on their security needs and desires. Do you believe your community is likely to be influenced by outside actors who don't have the region's best interests at heart? You will likely have more restrictive metrics. Do you believe your community is struggling with activity, so a more generous definition of citizenship is important to try to "catch" talent? Maybe you require WA membership to be a citizen of your region, do you allow your citizens to be citizens of other regions that don't require WA membership? There are so many questions and ultimately they're all about the needs of the region, not a philosophy of gameplay.

[Unibot III]

Forgive me.

I’m not sure I follow completely though, so bear with me. I think what you’re saying is that regionalism and cosmopolitanism should be viewed from a subjective, rather than objective lens — that regionalism should be limited in its scope to an individual player’s *own* value-set rather than being used to cast judgment on other players or determine regional policy?

I think that's exactly what he's saying. I saw a lot of his arguments as linked to the fact that this game is about building what you want, how you want to build it. There's no set objective and there's no winning, you just do whatever you feel like. It's a bit of a crude metaphor, but it's like Minecraft, or insert whatever sandbox game you like here.

So he's arguing for a definition of regionalism that is not about citizenships or isolationism, but about how one builds community and connects with the rest of the world. IMO the former two definitions are largely a relic of the past. There was certainly a time when they were more true, but not anymore.

I say this as someone who is certainly not a regionalist, at least not anymore. I think HS' defense and interpretation of it is pretty good, but (for HS) I do have a question: I'm not quite sure what you mean by "player-experience" in your answer above. Do you mean that it's about how a player identifies and builds connections in the game or how they perceive what happens within the game? Because the way I read your essay, I see you arguing for more of the former, but the term "experience" makes me wonder if there's an element of perception as well. Or they might both be included - active and passive regionalism, if you will.

Just to clarify, the "Forgive Me" wasn't sarcastic. I was trying to seek clarity on the thesis.

If indeed HS believes that regionalism ought to be viewed from a subjectivist lens, the rationalist in me asks whether HS believes regions should accomidate different value-sets? Because it's one thing to say that regionalism belongs to an individual player: that it's up to them to see the value in committing to one region. But it's another thing to say that regions should provide individuals with the space to exercise that discretion and freedom as to how they want to play the game. At some point, you have to make a choice as to whether you think your other regional residents should be free to *not* playing the game you want to -- and that question is very much a difficult question, the answer divides regionalist from cosmopolitian (liberal) communities.

Some more background on this: when I originally defined regionalism and cosmopolitianism, I also did not limit it to the number of citizenships (that's a misnomner that others ran with, especially Francoists), I based it around a positive or negative conception of nativeness/citizenship. A cosmopolitian believed in a liberal, universal notion of citizenship, where residents are equal under the law. A regionalist believed in a conservative notion of citizenship, where you needed to demonstrate commitment, loyalty, and fidelity to "earn" the privileges of citizenship. I ended my first NS essay with an open question as to whether regionalism and liberal democracy were ever really compatible.

In many ways I believe there was a backlash that promoted 'defender regionalism' (a la 10KI) over cosmopolitianism during and after the Cold War as a reaction to the UDL. UDL defenders faced accusations of regional disloyalty, just as ADNers had before them. After the Cold War, what I observed was invaders (namely the Rahl family) reveled in a kind of ancestral cosmopolitianism and defenders were advocating for regionalism and more restrictive citizenships and voting privileges -- essentially a reversal of the old political trend. This trend was made easier by the decline of independentism in the GCRs: invaders faced no local hostility for participating in multiple invader GCRs, and since SPSF was defender now, defenders could tighten the restrictions for political participation without effectively disenfranchising defenders.

Politics is at its heart about who is in and who is out. Political communities 'regionalize' when the powerful want to consolidate power, and they 'cosmopolitianize' when the powerful want to expand their brethren.

I don't know enough about the current game to know where things stand nowadays. With what I can see, major regional communities look to me like they're functionally cosmopolitian and performatively regionalist. It's trendy to wrap yourself in the regional flag and beat the drum, but Discord has broken down too many barriers, concolidated too many communities to socially facilitate the kinds of ways that regions used to limit citizenship and participation. And where is the power - is the power really in the legislature? Or is it in the Discord regional chat? Where are decisions really made? Who makes them? And who decides who they are? I see these as big questions when trying to apply older notions of citizenship and intergration with today's NS Gameplay because citizenship has changed - you have a formal citizenship (forum-based) and social citizenship (Discord-based) which aren't necessarily connected.

[Witchcraft and Sorcery]

Just to clarify, the "Forgive Me" wasn't sarcastic. I was trying to seek clarity on the thesis.

Apologies if I came off like I believed it was. Wasn't intended. I've been... more aggressive than usual in GP lately

I don't know enough about the current game to know where things stand nowadays. With what I can see, major regional communities look to me like they're functionally cosmopolitian and performatively regionalist. It's trendy to wrap yourself in the regional flag and beat the drum, but Discord has broken down too many barriers, concolidated too many communities to socially facilitate the kinds of ways that regions used to limit citizenship and participation. And where is the power - is the power really in the legislature? Or is it in the Discord regional chat? Where are decisions really made? Who makes them? And who decides who they are? I see these as big questions when trying to apply older notions of citizenship and intergration with today's NS Gameplay because citizenship has changed - you have a formal citizenship (forum-based) and social citizenship (Discord-based) which aren't necessarily connected.

I don't think it's even possible to apply some of those older notions anymore. Discord has completely warped the way all of them function. Hence why I said the old pigeonholing of regionalists into isolationism, or defining it based on citizenships, is even less applicable now than it ever was. It's nearly impossible to play this game and function as a region without at least some cosmopolitanism. You can't (effectively) isolate yourself or your community. And regions can't build a name for themselves without being cosmopolitan. Certainly formal citizenship exists, but there is a vast portion of the game that sees that as largely secondary to the social game. So it's your identity and how you choose to participate in that social game in the world at large that has a much bigger impact on those questions. And I agree with HS insofar as that's the position he takes with regard to regionalism.

But really, the question of where the power lies is no different from the pre-Discord era with forums and IRC. The same people still make the decisions, it's just different in how it looks and plays out because of how connected the world at large is, and how instantaneous feedback is.

[Unibot III]

Just to clarify, the "Forgive Me" wasn't sarcastic. I was trying to seek clarity on the thesis.

Apologies if I came off like I believed it was. Wasn't intended. I've been... more aggressive than usual in GP lately

I don't know enough about the current game to know where things stand nowadays. With what I can see, major regional communities look to me like they're functionally cosmopolitian and performatively regionalist. It's trendy to wrap yourself in the regional flag and beat the drum, but Discord has broken down too many barriers, concolidated too many communities to socially facilitate the kinds of ways that regions used to limit citizenship and participation. And where is the power - is the power really in the legislature? Or is it in the Discord regional chat? Where are decisions really made? Who makes them? And who decides who they are? I see these as big questions when trying to apply older notions of citizenship and intergration with today's NS Gameplay because citizenship has changed - you have a formal citizenship (forum-based) and social citizenship (Discord-based) which aren't necessarily connected.

I don't think it's even possible to apply some of those older notions anymore. Discord has completely warped the way all of them function. Hence why I said the old pigeonholing of regionalists into isolationism, or defining it based on citizenships, is even less applicable now than it ever was. It's nearly impossible to play this game and function as a region without at least some cosmopolitanism. You can't (effectively) isolate yourself or your community. And regions can't build a name for themselves without being cosmopolitan. Certainly formal citizenship exists, but there is a vast portion of the game that sees that as largely secondary to the social game. So it's your identity and how you choose to participate in that social game in the world at large that has a much bigger impact on those questions. And I agree with HS insofar as that's the position he takes with regard to regionalism.

But really, the question of where the power lies is no different from the pre-Discord era with forums and IRC. The same people still make the decisions, it's just different in how it looks and plays out because of how connected the world at large is, and how instantaneous feedback is.

Generally speaking I think we agree, I think a region would struggle to operate functionally in traditional regionalist terms since the advent of 'The Great Discord' (if you'll permit me to flog a phrase ) because you would be limited in promoting the region and building international connections and buzz and interest. If your community is sizing itself up based on its influence in a larger social network, you can't afford to be isolationist. Isolationism, as we knew it, is essentially not present anymore. That to me however doesn't necessarily call for a redefinition of regionalism.

Regionalism hasn't stopped being regionalist, communities have stopped being regionalist!

What I meant by "where the power lies" is ... back in the day, a regional electorate of about 30 players formally decided legislative changes and elected public officials in any given democracy. This activity took place in a formal legislature closed to non-citizens with rules of participation. Nowadays legislative decisions are often decided in advance on Discord before they're presented to a legislature for consideration, and elections are won or lost based on the social capital of the candidates (how long and substantive are their friendships are on Discord), rather than the campaigns they've run - their long term social presence is the campaign.

GCRs can go for long stretches nowadays with no tangible political, cultural, or legislative activity, and yet the electorate happily approves of their leadership because they're friends with all their friends and the Discord channel is active. This is a startling development to watch as an outsider because it's not how regional democracies used to work! You used to be evaluated on regional outcomes. Nowadays electorates don't seem to care if their regions' formal political and cultural institutions are grossly atrophying under a leadership. It's frustrating to see governments applauding themselves for overseeing some of the longest sustained periods of inactivity in a decade. I think that an interregional movement could rise up that challenges this trend though, but it would begin with a consistent message to engage the regional grassroots, organize newcomers, and reclaim the formal institutions of major regions (most of which exist, they're just being ignored by social gamers / influencers).

Just to clarify, the "Forgive Me" wasn't sarcastic. I was trying to seek clarity on the thesis.

Apologies if I came off like I believed it was. Wasn't intended. I've been... more aggressive than usual in GP lately

Not a problem, I just didn't want you to think I was trying to be a dick.

[Parx]

I think that's exactly what he's saying. I saw a lot of his arguments as linked to the fact that this game is about building what you want, how you want to build it. There's no set objective and there's no winning, you just do whatever you feel like. It's a bit of a crude metaphor, but it's like Minecraft, or insert whatever sandbox game you like here.

So he's arguing for a definition of regionalism that is not about citizenships or isolationism, but about how one builds community and connects with the rest of the world. IMO the former two definitions are largely a relic of the past. There was certainly a time when they were more true, but not anymore.

I say this as someone who is certainly not a regionalist, at least not anymore. I think HS' defense and interpretation of it is pretty good, but (for HS) I do have a question: I'm not quite sure what you mean by "player-experience" in your answer above. Do you mean that it's about how a player identifies and builds connections in the game or how they perceive what happens within the game? Because the way I read your essay, I see you arguing for more of the former, but the term "experience" makes me wonder if there's an element of perception as well. Or they might both be included - active and passive regionalism, if you will.

Just to clarify, the "Forgive Me" wasn't sarcastic. I was trying to seek clarity on the thesis.

If indeed HS believes that regionalism ought to be viewed from a subjectivist lens, the rationalist in me asks whether HS believes regions should accomidate different value-sets? Because it's one thing to say that regionalism belongs to an individual player: that it's up to them to see the value in committing to one region. But it's another thing to say that regions should provide individuals with the space to exercise that discretion and freedom as to how they want to play the game. At some point, you have to make a choice as to whether you think your other regional residents should be free to *not* playing the game you want to -- and that question is very much a difficult question, the answer divides regionalist from cosmopolitian (liberal) communities.

Some more background on this: when I originally defined regionalism and cosmopolitianism, I also did not limit it to the number of citizenships (that's a misnomner that others ran with, especially Francoists), I based it around a positive or negative conception of nativeness/citizenship. A cosmopolitian believed in a liberal, universal notion of citizenship, where residents are equal under the law. A regionalist believed in a conservative notion of citizenship, where you needed to demonstrate commitment, loyalty, and fidelity to "earn" the privileges of citizenship. I ended my first NS essay with an open question as to whether regionalism and liberal democracy were ever really compatible.

In many ways I believe there was a backlash that promoted 'defender regionalism' (a la 10KI) over cosmopolitianism during and after the Cold War as a reaction to the UDL. UDL defenders faced accusations of regional disloyalty, just as ADNers had before them. After the Cold War, what I observed was invaders (namely the Rahl family) reveled in a kind of ancestral cosmopolitianism and defenders were advocating for regionalism and more restrictive citizenships and voting privileges -- essentially a reversal of the old political trend. This trend was made easier by the decline of independentism in the GCRs: invaders faced no local hostility for participating in multiple invader GCRs, and since SPSF was defender now, defenders could tighten the restrictions for political participation without effectively disenfranchising defenders.

Politics is at its heart about who is in and who is out. Political communities 'regionalize' when the powerful want to consolidate power, and they 'cosmopolitianize' when the powerful want to expand their brethren.

I don't know enough about the current game to know where things stand nowadays. With what I can see, major regional communities look to me like they're functionally cosmopolitian and performatively regionalist. It's trendy to wrap yourself in the regional flag and beat the drum, but Discord has broken down too many barriers, concolidated too many communities to socially facilitate the kinds of ways that regions used to limit citizenship and participation. And where is the power - is the power really in the legislature? Or is it in the Discord regional chat? Where are decisions really made? Who makes them? And who decides who they are? I see these as big questions when trying to apply older notions of citizenship and intergration with today's NS Gameplay because citizenship has changed - you have a formal citizenship (forum-based) and social citizenship (Discord-based) which aren't necessarily connected.

accomidate !? Don't you mean accommodate??

[The Church of Satan]

Some more background on this: when I originally defined regionalism and cosmopolitianism, I also did not limit it to the number of citizenships (that's a misnomner that others ran with, especially Francoists), I based it around a positive or negative conception of nativeness/citizenship. A cosmopolitian believed in a liberal, universal notion of citizenship, where residents are equal under the law. A regionalist believed in a conservative notion of citizenship, where you needed to demonstrate commitment, loyalty, and fidelity to "earn" the privileges of citizenship.

While cosmopolitanism was once widely defined by the number of regions one had citizenship in, it also had this connotation that one such person was less committed to a given region or even less trustworthy than a regionalist. For me however, back when I was extremely cosmopolitan in action, I'm sure I was in most of the defender region's militaries and a citizen in those regions as well). It wasn't because of some belief in democracy or whatever. Maybe I'm an outlier but for me it was just about finding places that were fun and gaining experience that I couldn't otherwise get by sitting in The Rejected Realms and biding my time for the opportunity to do so. If I had just stayed in TRR exclusively I would have been reduced to searching for a problem where there was none, creating non-issues just for the chance to gain one small nugget of experience in one of several aspects of the region.

Had I not joined other regions such as the RIA or Taijitu (when they were active and the getting was good) I wouldn't have gained the valuable legislative, judicial, diplomatic, recruitment, journalistic and even artistic experience that I have today. That's what cosmopolitanism has always been to me. It doesn't mean that I was ever less loyal to TRR nor did it ever mean that I was less committed. It merely meant that I had to manage my time better. It was by no means easy dividing my time between a government job in six or more different regions, but it was in my opinion the very spirit of cosmopolitanism. I had fun and made a lot of friends along the way. At the same time, I was regionalist in everything I did. I did my job in each of those regions and tried my best to avoid any conflict between any of them. I was loyal to all of those regions and yet ultimately TRR was my home. I came back to TRR and brought all of that experience with me. The divide between regionalism and cosmopolitanism was always, to me nothing more than rhetoric from politicians pursuing their own personal agendas. The two policies were never mutually exclusive in my opinion.

[HumanSanity]

I think we're mixing a variety of different things in this discussion. I to some extent agree with W&S observation that there are social citizenships and social game which are separated from formal legal citizenships. My essay is intended to be about formal legal citizenships and regional loyalties and explicitly my point is that one can have many social "citizenships" but only one true regional loyalty and still be a regionalist.

In fact, my singular regional citizenship and regional identity is the very basis in which I engage my social "citizenships" (I sort of don't like this term but am rolling with it for the post). If someone interacts with me, they know who I'm loyal to, there's an honesty in my interactions. I hang out in a variety of different places, and that portfolio is constantly shifting based on what regions I am attempting to develop connections with (for strategic reasons) and where I want to hang out (for personal reasons). But in all those interactions, I am of 10000 Islands and people understand that is who's interests I represent and work towards.

I find a lot of Unibot's post to just be apocalypticism about Discord, which I am not compelled by. There is an extent to which it has changed the game and made everyone more international, correct. I'm sure some of the things in this post are true in some contexts and not in others. Big deal. W&S is right, that's all just part of the game now. It's part of why regionalism has to be redefined for the modern era.

I think CoS's post gets to the core of what I'm trying to say: loyalty is what matters, not the number of citizenships. If it's clear where your loyalty is and where your home is, then it's clear you're a regionalist and there's clarity for others about how to engage with you. Questions like "will we let you be in two militaries" or "if you're in X region will we let you in Y region" or "will we require a WA for citizenship" aren't really philosophical questions, they're about how a region chooses to define itself and its boundaries -- they're about regional security. They aren't about "what is regionalism?" or "are we regionalist?"

[Lord Dominator]

Can confirm that the modern 'cosmo' is indeed often used in the pejorative sense to indicate people trolling around for positions and power, rather then being reasonably dedicated.

[Unibot III]

I think CoS's post gets to the core of what I'm trying to say: loyalty is what matters, not the number of citizenships. If it's clear where your loyalty is and where your home is, then it's clear you're a regionalist and there's clarity for others about how to engage with you. Questions like "will we let you be in two militaries" or "if you're in X region will we let you in Y region" or "will we require a WA for citizenship" aren't really philosophical questions, they're about how a region chooses to define itself and its boundaries -- they're about regional security. They aren't about "what is regionalism?" or "are we regionalist?"

You're avoiding the question then, you're essentially saying you can be a regionalist if you want to be, and others can be regionalists too, in their own way on their own terms. It's subjectivism but it also evades the bigger questions, which indeed, are very philosophical, regarding the rights and privileges of citizenship.

Everyone likes to think they're loyal. And many people who think they're loyal to a region are still accused of being unloyal. Is loyalty divisible? What is loyalty? Can you be loyal to two regions? I think you're suggesting that you must/should be loyal to one region only.

What happens if your region does something you disagree with strongly, should you be disloyal to the region? Can you have values independent of your commitment to the region?

I think identity can be fairly complicated and particular to the individual. For instance, I often was upfront to TSPers while serving as Chair and in cabinet that I considered myself a reject culturally, but I felt a strong affinity for public service in TSP and the South Pacific's history and the role I and others played in rebuilding the Coalition. I disagreed with TRR during the Devonitians crisis and supported the Coalition - I dissented against my own region because I always believed in representive government and the right of self-determination. However, I always identified with being a reject because in TSP, I felt you needed to try to get along, and I felt more comfortable in a political environment where it was considered a right of passage to go against the grain. I always felt that I connected with the notion of being a gadfly which TRR's pluralistic society once promoted.

Was I loyal to TRR or loyal to TSP? Many would have said neither, hah!

I always felt that I could be relied upon to execute and uphold the law and my public duties faithfully in both regions without contradiction, but I've always resisted the notion of advancing loyalty to a region over your core values. Loyalty and purity, in my view, is a dark rabbit hole - the root of all contempt is the search for indivisible identity. A citizen of the world, true and critical, should have a higher allegiance, beyond allegiance to a region, to all people of all kind, to justice, peace, and compassion. It's in this sense that my cosmopolitianism expressed the limits of my patriotism: no home region, no state, or group owned my mind, my sense of right and wrong, or my moral agency. A truly cosmopolitian region forces no such contradiction between the individual, their conscience and their autonomy, and the state. Endemic to the regionalist society is the regular consideration of who is a real citizen and who is not: you may escape judgment one day, but you may not be so lucky tomorrow, and you may very well be forced some day to choose between your loyalty to a home state and an obvious question of right and wrong.

[I think sometimes non-Canadians can get thrown off by the regionalist/cosmopolitian distinction because much of the theory behind a lot of my writings, but especially "Polysemes", is inspired by Pierre Elliott Trudeau. I didn't write it with that intention, but it's Trudeauvian, I can't escape that. In my mind, Cosmopolitianism resembles Multiculturalism, and Regionalism, Ethnic Nationalism. Trudeau was writing in the Cité Libre to reject Québécois nationalism in favour of a democracy that is pluralist and individualistic.]

[Drop Your Pants]

Can confirm that the modern 'cosmo' is indeed often used in the pejorative sense to indicate people trolling around for positions and power, rather then being reasonably dedicated.

I used to do both Made FA very easy, I just had to talk to myself sometimes.

[RiderSyl]

Can confirm that the modern 'cosmo' is indeed often used in the pejorative sense to indicate people trolling around for positions and power, rather then being reasonably dedicated.

I used to do both Made FA very easy, I just had to talk to myself sometimes.

you aren't truly cosmo unless you're both sides of an interregional incident

smh DYP, do better

[Lord Dominator]

I used to do both Made FA very easy, I just had to talk to myself sometimes.

you aren't truly cosmo unless you're both sides of an interregional incident

smh DYP, do better

Instructions unclear, ran for PM of TSP

[Varanius]

I used to do both Made FA very easy, I just had to talk to myself sometimes.

you aren't truly cosmo unless you're both sides of an interregional incident

smh DYP, do better

Thank you Syl, you have finally found a way to make me a strict regionalist.

[The Moonstar]

Some more background on this: when I originally defined regionalism and cosmopolitianism, I also did not limit it to the number of citizenships (that's a misnomner that others ran with, especially Francoists), I based it around a positive or negative conception of nativeness/citizenship. A cosmopolitian believed in a liberal, universal notion of citizenship, where residents are equal under the law. A regionalist believed in a conservative notion of citizenship, where you needed to demonstrate commitment, loyalty, and fidelity to "earn" the privileges of citizenship.

While cosmopolitanism was once widely defined by the number of regions one had citizenship in, it also had this connotation that one such person was less committed to a given region or even less trustworthy than a regionalist.

This. I would like to disagree on HS's assessment of the terms from old days. Maybe was/is the case for XKI who had very few relations (Such as Texas, etc) anywhere else. You wouldn't have been a Cosmo for being in Equinox, the FRA, and TRR. Being a Cosmo was more than just being everywhere. Though those numbers could indicate where one leaned. One could be a citizen/member of those three places I mentioned and hold positions there actively. Cosmos were known to be unreliable in dedication or only temporarily dedicated while having too many interests in too many places. Many were more socially inclined to befriend and know everyone rather than throw more effort in region building or whatnot. That isn't to say that Cosmos couldn't be dedicated to *a* region (a home region). I do think though the definitions need to be reexamined and updated.

To be fair, we didn't really use the terms Regionalist or Cosmo before Unibot's Essays. We just called Cosmos as "Region Whores". I definitely was one. A good example of Cosmopolitanism is those around 2009-2012 from UCRs and R/D groups moving to the GCRs vs those already settled around the GCRs. Which the Francoists then would call the former as Userites. Most of us went Native to the GCRs. I think we turned more Regionalistic, but the damage had already been done to Gameplay. I would assert it is one of the factors that has influenced of where we are today.

[Agalaesia]

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Brief News III | 24/12/2020

Editor-in-Chief: Agalaesia
Deputy Editor-in-Chief: Vincey

Officer Elections Conclude in the Rejected Realms

NEWS | WRITTEN BY Agalaesia | EDITED BY Glacikaldr

The Rejected Realms' December 2020 Officer elections concluded on the 9th of December, with Nakari, Jamie, Robespierre, and Nequedum emerging victorious, in that order. Nakari was assigned the role of Officer of Culture, Nequedum made Officer of Foreign Affairs, Jamie given Officer of the World Assembly, and Robespierre assigned as "Officer without Portfolio".

The elections were highly competitive, with Kral and Minskiev also running.

Robespierre, the former Outreach and Culture Officer of the Rejected Realms ran on their August platform to make changes to the structure of the Foreign Affairs department in NationStates, while bringing up the idea of a "World Assembly Bloc," stating that they "are open to the idea." You can view their campaign here: viewtopic.php?f=98&t=10031799

Nakari, a former Prime Minister of the South Pacific and narrator of the well known NationStates tale "GTFTS," ran for the Officer of Culture spot. Amongst many other promises, Nakari pledged to introduce "themed music nights," where people can chill and listen to music and to re-introduce monthly contests. You can view their campaign here: viewtopic.php?f=98&t=10031808

Nequedum, a former Officer of Culture and Media, ran on a Foreign Affairs platform. Nequedum pledged to form a "Security Council Defender Bloc," and promised to go about re-building his outreach initiative which gives advice to founderless regions, and provides advice to other regions in general.

Lastly, Jamie ran for the positions of World Assembly Officer and Foreign Affairs Officer. For Foreign Affairs, Jamie stated the following in their campaign:

"Another idea that I would like to implement would be a 'Diplomacy Cluster' of sorts where more than one ambassador/diplomat would be appointed to our GCR and allied friends as this would allow increasing our interaction with them. My vision for this is, in addition to the normal ambassador who posts the foreign updates as required, we would have one or two more individuals - depending on what is feasible of course. These individuals would be tasked with focusing on interacting with these regions in more detail - primarily through discord and interaction but also any other opportunities that arise (e.g. inter-regional events)."

For the World Assembly Officership, Jamie stated that they would like to further the use of dispatches and include opinions of people from other regions in the recommendation dispatches.

An Announcement from the Editor-in-Chief

NEWS | WRITTEN BY Agalaesia

Here at TRT, we like awarding people for their hard work. This means that we will, as usual, be giving out awards for the best authors, articles, and contributors. Some of them will be given out by the staff, and others will be given out by readers like you!

This December, we will be handing out the Pulitzer Prize, the Kogvuron Award, The Golden Quill Prize, and the Reader's Choice Award for Best Article.

There will be an announcement made shortly surrounding all other prizes, however, the only one that will involve reader input will be the Reader's Choice Award for Best Article.

This award is handed to the nation who has written the reader's favourite article. The article and author that this is awarded to will be decided by the readers in two phases, the nomination phase, and the voting phase.

Readers can nominate any article published in 2020 to be featured in the vote, which will be decided in a vote on our forums.

To nominate an article, please telegram Agalaesia with the title of the article and a link to the edition it was published in. More information will be announced soon.

Security Council Rules See Shakeup

NEWS | WRITTEN BY Crowheim | EDITED BY Glacikaldr

The Security Council of the World Assembly recently received a new set of rules to guide and govern nations authoring and proposing items to the legislative body. Several notable changes were made from the previously adhered to standards.

The contents of many rules remained the same, however, they were reordered in the rule list.

The author of the new rules, Sedgistan, also made several minor changes to the ruleset. While these changes are unlikely to warp the way the legislative body works, their impact remains to be seen.

Sedgistan put the new ruleset up for discussion on the Security Council forums enticing many prominent faces in the legislative body to give their thoughts, providing feedback and edits for Sedgistan to take into account. Ultimately, a rule set was predominantly agreed upon and then approved by the site moderators.

These reforms passed and the new rule set was implemented on Sunday, December 20th, 2020.

NOTE: The Rejected Times does not necessarily reflect the opinions of The Rejected Realms.

Discuss this Issue over on the NationStates forum here.

Find The Rejected Times Index here.

[New Rogernomics]

Congrats on the elections.

[Drop Your Pants]

you aren't truly cosmo unless you're both sides of an interregional incident

smh DYP, do better

Balder trying to join that weird Sinker treaty and me saying they're not ready or mature enough yet (while being in Balder at the time). Not exactly mindblowing but counts

[Agalaesia]

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Issue LXIV | January 2021

Editor-in-Chief: Agalaesia
Deputy Editor-in-Chief: Vincey

Index

• No Place Like NationStates For the Holidays - Crowheim
• Epilepsy Awareness Month 2020 - The Church of Satan
• Union workers shut down Grim Interregional Airport by force - Glacikaldr
• Regional Message Board Suppression - Agalaesia
• Kral's Cooking Column: Arepas - Kraljevstvo Rata

No Place for NationStates like the Holidays

FEATURE | WRITTEN BY Crowheim | EDITED BY Agalaesia

The holiday season is ending as we pass Christmas, the New Year, and whatever other holidays you may celebrate. It is time to put away the tinsel, the mistletoe, and the sugar plums, but not before we take one last good look at how the residents and players of NationStates’s Game Created Regions celebrated their holidays on-site.

First, in the world’s oldest region: The Pacific. The Vox Populi of the region, Waterfall State, hosted the month long Pacifican Christmas event, which featured fun seasonal polls, an issue-themed banhammer competition in which nations sent puppets to a region where every day a new stat is chosen and the player with the lowest of these is banjected, a short story competition, a card raffle, and games of Among Us.

Meanwhile, in the West Pacific, a different month-long event was held: the Midwinter Shenanigans. A calendar with events on each day of the month of December was published, featuring a snowman building activity, a “reindeer deathmatch”, and a secret santa gift exchange. Recipes for cookies and cocktails were also collected and published in a cookbook in time for the End of Year Cocktail Party, which ran from January 1st to the 3rd.

In the South Pacific, the region celebrated through a contest to decide the holiday-themed flag for the region, and through the day-by-day publishing and reading of “The Auphelian Solstice Series”, a collection of twelve consecutive short stories with a holiday theme. The region also collaborated with Lazarus to host Megafest, a month-long extravaganza with Choose your Own Adventure games, card lotteries, an “Ask Me Anything” with Treadwellia, the delegate of Lazarus, and more.

The East Pacific ran several of their own activities, including art contests, a secret Santa program, and a haiku competition for the holidays, celebrating their holiday spirit in a slightly quieter fashion than many other regions onsite.

Osiris’s Wymondham collaborated with leaders from other regions, such as Miss Bad Life Choices and Aynia Moreaux, to host a site-wide charity fundraiser, with donations going to the Trevor Project. Events were hosted to promote the fundraiser, including streams with prominent NSers such as former TEP delegate Fedele, TWP delegate Dilber, and TRR’s own Culture Officer Nakari. Individual participating regions also took part in the event planning, many of them organizing their own promotions for the fundraiser, which at the time of writing, has raised 3,400 dollars.

Neither Balder nor the North Pacific held any major events, but...

last and certainly not least, the Rejected Realms hosted Rejectmas, as they do annually, under the supervision of Culture Officer Nakari. Highlights include a Chess Competition, described by Nakari as “just like the Queen’s Gambit, but sexier and with better camera work." Rejectmas also included the traditional Lord of Misrule, where the RMB is subjected to bizarre and wacky rules, a Home Alone movie night, Nakari’s signature Popmaster events, and a contest to design a flag to fly over the region on New Year’s Day.

As you can tell from the vast variety of events that took place, there was quite a lot to do over the holiday season and the month of December. And that is only the GCRs!

Epilepsy Awareness Month 2020

COMMENTARY | WRITTEN BY The Church of Satan

First and foremost, it is important you know that I AM NOT A DOCTOR. The information from this article is derived from organizations that specialize in epilepsy as well as the scientists therein. Admittedly I missed 2019’s article for reasons I can’t remember. I’m even late for 2020’s article. It may not be November or 2020 right now, but regardless I think this article is very important under the circumstances. With a pandemic in full swing, many people have one question on their mind, “How does COVID-19 affect people with epilepsy?” The short answer is that it does and it doesn’t. It can either have no effect, or it can have severe effects. I know what you’re thinking, “This sounds like an answer and a non-answer!” The long answer requires more detail, and I hope you stick around long enough to read it. Studies are being conducted around the world but so far none have discovered any increased risks from the virus itself. First, we’ll be looking at the beginning.

Pre-Infection

Currently, studies show that people with epilepsy are not at an increased risk of infection. Non-related factors can, of course, result in an increased risk of infection but epilepsy itself is not a risk factor because it does not compromise the immune system. If you have COVID-19 and epilepsy, then epilepsy had nothing to do with it. While the CDC has included epilepsy on a list of conditions that may increase the risk of infection, that is only because it is a neurological condition. The UK has included people with neurological conditions as an “at-risk” group, but it does not specify epilepsy. Until studies prove otherwise, there is no reason to believe that epilepsy increases the risk of infection. Additionally, there is no evidence to suggest that epilepsy medication causes an increased risk of infection so you can take comfort that the medication will not cause any complications.

During Infection

This is where it gets risky. People with uncontrolled seizures, particularly seizures triggered by fever or infection, may be more vulnerable to increased seizures at the time of infection but there is no evidence of this yet. There is also no evidence to suggest that epilepsy medication will cause complications after infection. I am no doctor, but I am not concerned about any trouble from taking my medication during the pandemic. However, studies show that there is a low risk of an increase in the frequency and severity of seizures after infection. This is where you should be concerned but attempts at prevention of infection are the best way to avoid this possibility. Fever and the stress on the body that comes with COVID-19 are where the increase in seizure frequency and severity come in. However, even without COVID-19 fever and any condition that causes significant stress on the body could have the same effect. If you have symptoms of COVID-19 the smart thing to do is to get tested as soon as possible. If you do have a seizure it is more prudent to call your doctor rather than go to the emergency room unless your seizure lasts for more than five minutes, occur in clusters, occur in water (such as while in the bath or a swimming pool), are followed by unusually prolonged postictal symptoms (confusion after a seizure) or abnormal recovery or if the seizure(s) cause potentially dangerous injury. If you’re taking any experimental drugs, then the institution responsible for monitoring you and your condition should be consulted. They will know better. If you do go to the emergency room or even just for a check-up at your regular doctor, then it is prudent to let them know you’re taking an experimental drug. The effects it can have are unknown. If you or anyone else is wearing a mask during a seizure it is recommended that the mask be carefully removed in order to facilitate optimal airway function. If a seizure does last for more than five minutes, then you can be content with the safety of administering buccal or nasal medication (intranasal midazolam) as there is no evidence to suggest that they will cause complications due to COVID-19 infection. Recent evidence has suggested that laying prone (on your stomach) causes improved breathing in people that have respiratory issues caused by COVID-19. However, sleeping in a prone position has been associated with SUDEP (Sudden Unexpected Death from Epilepsy), a condition that is currently very much not understood. I’d go into it but since it was intended to be the subject of last year’s article, let’s save that for next year’s article. Let’s just say that for reasons unknown, people with epilepsy are more likely to die from seizures if they sleep while laying prone. If you have epilepsy and COVID-19 it’s best to consult your doctor about how to proceed in this regard. In conclusion, prevention is the most important thing you can do. Take steps to lower your risk of infection. If you are infected then consult your neurologist and your primary care physician. They will be a better source for advice on the subject than any average joe, including me.

Indirect Effects

By virtue of the chaos and "traffic jam" as it were, you might find that it's more difficult to get your prescriptions. Doctors are busier than ever and drug stores have longer lines. It would be prudent to ask your doctor about extra prescriptions just in case. You wouldn’t want to run out of medication at all, but even more so now.

DISCLAIMER: While surveys conducted via telephone and other telecommunications methods have gathered certain data on the subject, those surveys do not have any scientific data to support their conclusions, (including but not limited to EEG’s, physical examinations, blood tests, etc) so I would not rely on them for accuracy unless scientific studies have corroborated their findings.

Editor's Note: you can view more information about COVID-19 on the World Health Organization's Website here: https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019

Union workers shut down Grim Interregional Airport by force

SATIRE | WRITTEN BY Glacikaldr

^{RRA Corporal Dooley standing down at the sight of Pepsi}

Although the Rejected Nations Ejection Union (RNEU) protest in Gettersburg Market on Rejectmas Day 2020 went ahead peacefully, protestors later marched down to blockade the Grim Interregional Airport. Following half a day of disruption, the Rejected Realms Army tried to disburse the protest. While workers resisted, the situation quickly deescalated after our reporter on the ground presented a can of Pepsi to the RRA.

While the situation diffused, the Rejected Realms’ Officer of Foreign Affairs held a TRT-exclusive press conference: “We stand by the actions of our good boys in purple, even after what they did to the children. Though we are sympathetic to the concerns of these workers, the RRA did a fine job at taking back Grim Interregional Airport. Regardless, we are halting flights until this situation subsides.”

Nonetheless, the RNEU’s workplace disruption still remains at large. During this 2020 Rejectmas, ejection workers have united and refused to render their ejection, banjection, and rehousing services for any regions refusing to contribute to their wage increase. The Rejected Realms has long been the subject of cheap labour for processing ejections and banjections alongside rehousing exiled nations, better explained as terraforming landmasses to accommodate entirely new nations sent to TRR. Particularly damning is the frequent use of these services by Pacificans and Gamplayers who refuse to contribute to these workers’ wages, and yet continue to extort TRR as a source of cheap workers.

Union Boss Tcejer, during an interview with The Rejected Tabloid, explained how the RNEU “stands by its convictions … if regionalists need Rejects so desperately, they will quickly find that our services are only rendered at a price. Back pay included, and we’ll be collecting real soon.” While this threat was at first determined weightless, this latest action of bringing down one of TRR’s busiest airports just goes to show how real of a threat the RNEU poses to the current economic dependence on TRR’s cheap ejection services by countless other regions who likely never gave these services a second thought.

As we left the TRT-exclusive press conference, we saw TRR’s Delegate arriving at the Department of Foreign Affairs. This appearance was soon followed by thousands of civil servants rushing out and ushering in foreign diplomats at a comical pace. Ever since, their offices have been bustling with foreign diplomats who seem crammed in like sardines as the Officer of Foreign Affairs rushes about and starts negotiations in hallways, joined by staff carrying charcuterie boards and an emergency reserve of whiskey being saved for the Officer when in need.

Regional Message Board Suppression

OPINION | WRITTEN BY Agalaesia | EDITED BY Makdon; The Church of Satan

In the past few weeks, there has been a large debate surrounding suppression on the Rejected Realms Message Board, with people eventually voicing their discontent on a forum thread and the delegate eventually issuing a recommendation to stop all suppressions.

This is a very interesting moderation policy, especially for a region that cannot ban its members, and it doesn’t seem to be a stance that many Game Created Regions are adopting today.


What the Statistics Tell Us:

In the Rejected Realms, around 32750 posts were written on the regional message board in the span of one year. In Lazarus, a sinker that has around one hundred more nations than the Rejected Realms at the time of writing, only 14350 posts were made in their regional message board over the course of the year. In the South Pacific, the feeder region that is closest in population to the Rejected Realms saw around 126000 posts on their regional message board.

Osiris and Balder saw 5400 and 3600 posts respectively.

My point here is to illustrate that although the Rejected Realms’ Board isn’t as active as the South Pacific’s, it is relatively busy compared to the other sinkers, who have little to no official Regional Message Board Rules. This means that a suppressions policy is likely more needed, as there is a larger volume of messages that come through, and with activity comes disruption.

So, should TRR Have a Rules or Suppression Policy?

Most people who argue against suppressions state that suppressions decrease the quality and flow of conversation on the board, and that truly rule-breaking posts can be handled by the on-site moderators (one of which resides in the Rejected Realms). Similar reasoning is used against Board rules.

Suppressions, however, serve a few purposes:

1) They make the RMB more aesthetically pleasing. The Regional Message Board is often covered in serious spam that may take a while for NationStates moderators to suppress, as they aren’t always online. Suppression makes unpleasant spam disappear, which ensures that the board is easier to read, especially on mobile screens, which are a pain to read the board with anyway;

2) They serve as a warning system to ensure that behaviour that may have a negative impact on the quality of the RMB in the future.

Online messaging generally is full of spam and unwanted messages, and to control them, we need to dish out some form of punishment. As the Rejected Realms cannot ban individuals, suppression is the best warning system we have to prevent nations from posting unsavoury and unneeded content that a majority of users find irritating (such as “nonsense,” and blatant spam posts.)

What Criteria Should We Adopt for Suppression?

I think that criteria for suppression, in general, should be decided on what issues the message board presently faces at a given time, and should generally include rules to tackle that specific problem.

The rules should also be malleable and contain no superfluity - if the key individuals posting on the regional message board say that a certain criteria for suppression is harming conversation or is no longer required because the issue that the suppression was initially combatting no longer exists.

Kral's Cooking Column: Arepas

RECIPE | WRITTEN BY Kraljevstvo Rata

Hey everyone! How are you today? Hope you're doing fine. This recipe is for arepas, commonly prepared by the people of South America, typically by Colombians, Venezuelans, Bolivians, and to a lesser extent Ecuadorians. This recipe is going to focus on the Ecuadorian way of preparing this food.
Onto the recipe:

Ingredients:

A bag of white cornmeal
A bowl of water
Mozzarella, or Oaxaca cheese
Butter (Salted)
A pan
A stove
Hopefully some sort of shelter if you have it.
Instructions:

1. Mix your cornmeal and water. Be careful not to overpour your water with the cornmeal. You want a dough-like consistency. Knead that stuff.
1a. If your dough is too dry, add water until it is soft and malleable.
2. Roll your dough into a ball, and squash it into a disc. Make an indent in this disc.
3. Put your choice cheese into this indent, and fold the edges of the cornmeal dough onto itself.
4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 until you run out of dough.
5. Get that pan, throw some butter on it (think frying eggs), and toast the arepas. They should have black spots where you toast them. This is perfectly normal.
6. Take them out of the pan. Eat them off of the plate that I didn't specify in the ingredients list

My mother used to make these all the time. I remember sitting down at the table (as you do when you're about to eat) and just scarfing them down. I loved these, and if you make them, you will too.

NOTE: The Rejected Times does not necessarily reflect the opinions of The Rejected Realms.

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Find The Rejected Times Index here.

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[Comfed]

No RMB suppression? Interesting, sounds like a recipe for trouble though

[Xoriet]

No RMB suppression? Interesting, sounds like a recipe for trouble though

Sounds like a problematic policy where hard spammers are concerned, and illicit content. Suppressing rulebreakers is a bit necessary for a functional and clean RMB. If they want to avoid suppressing opinions and the like, that's one thing, but all suppression would absolutely be asking for trouble.