December 2015 Issue
NationStates World Fair 2015
The fourth NationStates World Fair took place on December 7th-14th of 2015. The fair saw an activity record of over 5380 posts during that time. I interviewed a couple members of the committee and the host,
Greater Dienstad, to hear their thoughts on the event. I also interviewed
Charles Cerebella and
Kringalia who originally were planning the event.
Committee Members
Jakker: What made you decide to be part of the NS World Fair team this year?
Todd: Well, I was a part of the original team and have helped in many fairs from the past. I've done it since the first annual fair. I guess it was something I just wanted to do!
Jakker: How did you feel about original World Fair being set up by Kringalia and Charles? And the set of events that followed including the backlash from the gameplay community and the players’ eventual withdrawal from the event?
Todd: They didn't deserve the backlash. They were caught in the middle with Unibot making a unilateral decision and unfortunately as a consequence there was a big breakdown in communication. It was weird - we, being the committee, had been meeting about when and how to set up a fair, then in October there was apparently a fair already in the works!
Jakker: What made the committee decide to try and include Kris and Charles in the new team for NSWF? How did you feel when they turned you down? What reasons did they give?
Todd: Because we realized from the start it wasn't their fault. We harbored no ill will with them and hoped they'd join us in the fight. Unfortunately, they chose not to, but that's totally their choice and we respect that. These things are tough to organize and require a bit of time to get them going, organized, and running.
Jakker: How did you feel the preparation for the event go? Were there any hiccups? What tasks did you help with specifically?
Todd: It went well. There were some slow spots, but for the most part everyone pitched in and in the end, we had a good show. I was mostly involved with the core organization, fixing code, moderation, hosting bids and hosting bid setups, inviting regions, and reminding them that they requested a booth, among other things. But these were not exclusively monitored and initiated by me; we did work as a team and many folks had a hand in this. I'm glad we had a good team because otherwise we would not have been able to get a fair going.
You know, I think some folks panicked a little with respect to the timing, but bear in mind that two years ago we almost missed the timing and had to back things up several times since I was going through a busy spell and Unibot was semi retired. But we did get it through. This year was good because we chose a date and stuck with it, and everyone stepped up to the plate and helped out. That makes it a good year for planning.
Jakker: Were you surprised that so few regions submitted bids to be host?
Todd: I'm kind of surprised 4 bids is considered few, considering for the 2013 NSWF we had 4 and the 2014 NSWF had 5. The reality is we had four very capable, very good regions throw their name in for consideration and, ultimately, we were confident that all of the applicants would have done a great job.
Jakker: Describe your feelings about the event itself. What was your favorite activity that took place? Any activities that did not go as well as you would have liked?
Todd: I'm always a guy who likes to read those articles folks take the time to write up, especially when they're backed by statistics, first-hand accounts, and/or interesting topics. This year's event was full of solid lectures arguably spearheaded by some atypical lectures - the AMAA mod show, Belschaft's talk on NS and mental illness, and three prominent players speaking about Women on NS. In addition, we had talks involving roleplay and NS Sports, two topics that don't normally make it to the floor in past fairs. It was a good mix, and it opens things up for fairs down the road.
Jakker: Look back at the event, what is your overall view? How do you think it will be remembered?
Todd: As I said earlier, I think that the variety here was very good and may open the door for other communities within this game. It's funny how we play the same game but play it much differently when compared to, say, RPers or the GA crowd, so to speak. I think this will help other communities get involved and transition this from a gameplay-centered event to a game-centered event.
Jakker: Any advice for players who may set up the event in the future?
Todd: Yeah, sure. Stay active, work as a team, and follow through with what you say you want to do.
Jakker: What made you decide to be part of the NS World Fair team this year?
Sopo: After Kris and Charles withdrew, I offered whatever assistance I could provide. McM approached me shortly thereafter and offered to bring me into the planning committee. I found the World Fairs of the past couple years to be real highlights, so I was excited to help out with one of the NS community's cornerstone events.
Jakker: How did you feel about original World Fair being set up by Kringalia and Charles? And the set of events that followed including the backlash from the gameplay community and the players’ eventual withdrawal from the event?
Sopo: Like many people, I was confused as to how or why Unibot felt able to "pass the torch" for the World Fair. I know both Kris and Charles to varying degrees, and they're both quality players. I'm sure they would have put on an excellent fair. However, Unibot didn't have the right to hand over the keys, as other people put in work as well. They didn't deserve to be put in the limelight the way that they were, and I'm disappointed that they seemed to come out of the whole ordeal feeling bitter, but I understand. I hope by next year it will all be water under the bridge, and that they might consider helping out with next year's World Fair.
Jakker: How did you feel the preparation for the event go? Were there any hiccups? What tasks did you help with specifically?
Sopo: Of course, there are always hiccups. Thankfully nothing went wrong that couldn't be overcome by the collective work of the committee. Unfortunately, I ended up with less spare time prior to the event than I had expected, so I have to give credit to everyone else for most of the planning--Todd McCloud, McMasterdonia, Astarial, Almonaster, as well as the folks from Greater Dienstad. My largest contributions were setting up the Medway area, taking care of moderation tasks, and helping organize the mod AMA, all which pale in comparison to everyone else's work. I hope if they'll have me back again next year I can do my "fair" share.
Jakker: Were you surprised that so few regions submitted bids to be host?
Sopo: A bit surprised, but the bids we did receive were so well written that I didn't feel we were missing anything. Greater Dienstad, this year's host region, put together an amazing bid. Considering I had never really heard of their region before, I was very impressed. They were great to work with, and truly made this year's event their own.
Jakker: Describe your feelings about the event itself. What was your favorite activity that took place? Any activities that did not go as well as you would have liked?
Sopo: Some of the regional booths really killed it this year. Alexandria, Europeia, Canada, and others really went above and beyond with their activities. I'm disappointed that I didn't get more letters for "Ask Sopo," and some of the lectures that came toward the end of the fair didn't really get the attention they deserved. Belschaft put together an insightful piece on Gameplay and Mental Illness that I hope continues to disseminate through the game. I also don't think NES got all of the pushback he hoped for on his piece on the Sinkers.
Jakker: Look back at the event, what is your overall view? How do you think it will be remembered?
Sopo: I'm proud that we put on the most active NS World Fair yet. There's plenty of room to improve, but it was a great, fun event, and I've gotten a lot of good feedback. Overall, I think people will remember the fair this year for impressive lectures and lively community areas.
Jakker: Any advice for players who may set up the event in the future?
Sopo: Be prepared to put in a lot of work! It takes time and effort to make these things a success. The lovely people I worked with really took care of business, and it was a pleasure to be a part of such a dynamic committee.
Host of the World Fair
Jakker: What made Greater Dienstad decide to submit a bid to host the NSWF?
Lamoni: It would be accurate to say that I am what made Greater Dienstad decide to submit a bid. Or at least, I got the process started. I've attended the NSWF since at least number two, and I had the thought that it would be a good idea for GD to host one. When the fair committee started looking for hosts for the 2015 fair, I persuaded The Macabees that the inter-regional exposure that GD would get from hosting the fair would translate into benefits like more NS-wide exposure for the the region, possibly resulting in having more nations join us in the long-term, since more people would know about us, and not just in RP circles.
I don't want to sound self-centered, but I do wield a considerable amount of power in GD, and even helped to hold it together when the region was invaded by TBR (until we could get our founder back to expel them), so getting the fair-hosting process started was really not that hard. It also helped that our founder had attended the previous fair, so he knew something of what to expect, as far as the fair itself goes.
Jakker: Walk me through all the preparation from when the region learned that they were going to host until the event started. For regions who are looking to bid in the future, what does it take to be a host?
Lamoni: Once we learned that Greater Dienstad was going to be the fair host, it became a joint effort between three GD nations (The Macabees, United Gordonopia, and Lamoni), and the fair committee. The two groups managed to work together very professionally, with the committee taking our suggestions, and working their magic on them. Most of the actual work (on our end, at least) was in deciding on what we wanted the fair's message board to look like, from the various forums, to the forum background. Everything in accordance with the fair's theme, "Diversity and Co-operation."
It all came out in such a way that the focus was more on the things that were actually happening, instead of fluff like what the forum background looked like. The fact that we had the single busiest fair in the fair's history really helped with that, but there was no way in which we could have predicted that our fair would win that honor.
As for what it takes to be a host, I would say that it takes the ability to not only work with the fair committee in a professional manner, but to also have a clear message embedded in your fair's theme, which you can base things around. In other words, have a model of what you want the fair to be like in your mind, with the theme as the central expression of that. After you have such a model, you'll need the ability to communicate your vision clearly to the fair committee. Once everyone has that vision in mind, the rest can more easily fall into place, since everyone will be singing off of the same sheet music, as it were.
Jakker: How do you feel the event itself go? Any hiccups? Favorite moment? Favorite activity? Anything you would change?
Lamoni: I personally think that the fair went very well. No one was expecting it to be the most active fair in the fair's history, but even if it hadn't been so, it would still have been a success.
We had also been trying to get more RPers and NS Sports players to attend the fair, but neither one really came in significant numbers, which was a shame, because as an RPer who has been attending the fair for so long, I feel that the fair has something to offer to everyone on NS, and also serves as a neutral ground, where you can drop the anger and prejudices of what happened during the rest of the year, and just have fun with various people, while learning very valuable information from the lectures.
Thanks to the fair, I now have a fair number of contacts in the GP world, and while that sets me apart from a good chunk of the RPing community by itself, I still don't believe that GP regions should harm RP regions. This makes me about as middle-ground on the GP issue as you'll find a member of the RP community on NS. It also means that I don't see the GP community as merely "those people who merely get a kick out of destroying the hard work of the RP community, all for cheap laughs," (the typical RPer view of raiders, which is unlikely to improve until such time as there is an enforceable way to keep raiders out of RP regions) but as a collection of people, both good and bad, like everyone else.
Jakker: Anything you’d like to see in future NSWFs?
Lamoni: I would love to see more participation from RPers in the fair, honestly. Not only can it serve as a place of communication between the various groups of NS, but it also allows the various groups to simply have fun together, no matter from where on NS that they hail. The prejudices are relaxed, and everyone just tries to have fun, as well as learning from the lectures. It is like an NS Christmas, and I think that the RP community would also benefit from it. It'll take some real doing, but it can be done.
Former Committee Members of the World Fair
Jakker: What made you decide to be part of setting up this year’s NSWF originally?
Kris: I felt very passionate about helping organise cultural events and I think I was doing a good job as Minister of Regional Affairs of the South Pacific, which gave me some background in that area. When Unibot asked if I was interested in taking over the World Fair, I thought it would be an exciting and fun challenge.
Jakker: What was going through your mind when the backlash started occurring from the community about the NSWF? Did you feel like it was warranted?
Kris: I blamed myself for being so naive as to think that it could have gone any different. Whatever grievances gameplayers might have had with Unibot, I still fail to see why they had to approach Charles and me with such aggressiveness. A decent conversation might have been much more productive, instead of all the unwarranted criticism we saw.
Jakker: Why did you ultimately decide to give up on the event?
Kris: I realised that I already had a good job as Minister of Regional Affairs and had no need for the constant toxicity of the gameplay community. Charles eventually suggested that we should just let the old committee take over, and I agreed that the costs of standing our ground greatly outweighed the benefits.
Jakker: What feelings did you have when the NSWF was then being set up by the new committee? Why did you not accept their invitation to joining their committee?
Kris: I was disappointed that the new committee listened to the demands of vocal gameplayers. I am sure they had good intentions and were capable, but letting the loudest people call the shots set a bad precedent and unnecessarily politicised the Fair. Like I said some weeks ago, I declined a seat in the committee because I did not want to be a part of that. I felt that there was nothing I could contribute and had no desire to continue being involved in gameplay affairs, when time and time again they had only given me headaches and annoyance. I know there are many decent gameplayers, but unfortunately the toxic ones are most outspoken.
Jakker: How would have your event differed from the event that was prepared by others? Did you participate in the event itself? How do you think it went?
Kris: I did not pay any attention to the recent World Fair, so I could not say. I hope it went well, though.
Jakker: Any advice or thoughts for players looking to help with future NSWFs?
Kris: It's first and foremost a cultural event. People wanting to help organise the World Fair should treat it as such, and leave all their politics aside. Think of ways to make it fun for as many players as possible, and remember that NationStates is also the game of roleplayers and generalites, of issue answerers and F7ers. They all deserve their space in the Fair.
Jakker: What made you decide to be part of setting up this year’s NSWF originally?
Charles: It all came rather out of the blue when Unibot telegrammed me and Kring about it, asking if we'd be interested in taking it over. It was quite the exciting prospect, and I thought I could give a lot to the project and help it out so decided why not!
Jakker: What was going through your mind when the backlash started occurring from the community about the NSWF? Did you feel like it was warranted?
Charles: I definitely didn't feel it was warranted. We had worked hard to put together a package that we thought would not only address the criticisms of previous years but, in general, be a really fun and interesting offering for people and regions to take part in. Both of us are players of some integrity, I'd like to think, and to come under attack in the way we did for taking on a project for the whole of NS that neither of us had sought to do originally really did feel unjustified.
Jakker: Why did you ultimately decide to give up on the event? What feelings did you have when the NSWF was then being set up by the new committee? Why did you not accept their invitation to joining their committee?
Charles: To roll a few of the questions into one answer, both me and Kring just wanted to wash our hands of it all. Instead of the fair being a matter of culture and roleplay and fun, it was a matter of politiking. After we announced, the discussions weren't about whether the World Fair we were offering was a good one, whether our changes were positive ones and our ideas interesting, it was about politics. It was about the legitimacy of the event. About Unibot's (non-existant) involvement. About why certain people hadn't been asked. It wasn't a case of two players putting a lot of work in to create something for everyone to enjoy, it was about why wasn't so-and-so involved or this person or that person.
It stuck us very much that people wanted the fair to be owned by them and something about their own careers rather than something for NS generally. Both of us weren't interested in any of that. We had been approached to put something on and we'd tried our honest best to put together something that would be very good. Neither of us had or have any interest in the Fair as some badge of honour, some notch on the bed post for us. When it was clear that it wasn't about the content but the form then we stepped away. The kind of toxicity that was exhibited is exactly why both of us are rarer faces in gameplay these days. Neither of us had the energy or interest in that battle. That is why we both declined to sit on the new (/old) committee and furthermore why we dropped all our own plans. We had no interest in running a competing fair to show ours was the best or anything. If other people felt they had more legitimacy to do it, then so be it, we were happy to concede and move on.
Jakker: How would have your event differed from the event that was prepared by others? Did you participate in the event itself? How do you think it went?
Charles: I can't say I did participate at all so I don't know how it went. As for how the two offerings differed I'm not too sure. I believe they went back to the old, and contentious, hosting system that had been so open to criticism in previous years. The fair me and Kring put together would have amended this to offer a wider range of regions ways to participate as 'hosts' by having different classes of region (feeders, sinkers, old UCRs and younger ones) be the host for a certain day with a guest lecture from them and them at the top of lists and the like.
We wanted to make it as wide and inclusive as possible and make sure it was something that went far beyond gameplay and really brought in other parts of NS like roleplayers and WA focused regions and people in as well, and we'd been very active in reaching out to those kind of people to get them involved. We were very excited about the whole thing. Whether the actual fair did anything like that, or reverted purely back to the older model I don't know.
Both me and Kring remain very interested in the inclusive element of what we had planned so who knows if we might try and put something together to try and encourage that intermingling of communities, but separate from all ideas of the Fair itself. We have spoken of it before so we'll have to see maybe.
Jakker: Any advice or thoughts for players looking to help with future NSWFs?
Charles: Well, having not participated in the planning, I guess I'm not well placed to say. All I'll say is you'd probably need a thick skin.