The Long Peace - 2020 in retrospect

[Unibot III]

As some background, a year ago I tossed around the term "The Great Discord" and it generated an interesting discussion...

So over the past little bit I've been neatly slotting some NS events into old historical 'eras' from the past, much of these eras were already named (Antiquity, Great War). Sirocco named the Great Decline. I named the Great Revival at the time. Belschaft named the Cold War.

• █ Antiquity - 2002-2003 (Creation - Nazi Wars - Farkers - Atlantic Alliance - Spammers)
  Pre- August Revolution.
  
• █ The Great War - 2003-2006 (ADN vs. NPO/PRP - RLA - ACCEL).
  Francos Spain's revolution in the Pacific invites international condemnation.
  
• █ The Great Decline - 2007-2009 (Influence - CyberNations - The Empire - DSA - NPO 2.0 - FRA - NS2 - End of Jolt/NSUN).
  Panic over the game's future turns players to desperate measures to revitalize/reinvent NS.
  
• █ The Great Revival - 2010-2012 (Macedon - WASC - Devonitians - UDL - Balder/Osiris - TBR - NS IPO).
  An era defined by its optimism and idealism, especially for the future of the game.
  
• █ The Cold War - 2013-2015 (SPPR - Ind. Manifesto - UIAF - SovCon - PRL - OFO - Sovereignty Conference - NLO - Hileville).
  Coalition-building draws major regions into a series of hotly contested proxy battles, conferences, and unsteady alliances.

But I think I've thought of a good title for the subsequent era...

• █ The Great Discord - 2016-2018 (Predator Scandal - TGW - UDoL - Khanate - St Abbaddon Crisis - Rahls)

It's a play on words: "Discord" refers the social platform, of course (which was especially important to this era, a period marked by its interpersonal activity) but it also signifies the era's moral confusion and ambiguity, the series of civil wars, and Gameplay's directionlessness at times as it operated in an institutional void.

There were some discussion at that time about what era was NS now operating in. Some suggested we were facing an "End of History." Others suggested an "Era of Good Feelings". I even got in on the action and joked it was The Great Accord.

I considered different names for it for a while and different themes. Peace, Calm, Tranquility, Quietude, Stability, Slumber, Stagnation etc. The Big Freeze? The Happy Quietude? The Great Stagnation?

I'm going to steal from RL politics though (hey, it's not like the other terms are original either!) and suggest The Long Peace:

• █ The Great Discord - 2016-2018 (Predator Scandal - TGW - Lily - UDoL - Khanate - St Abbaddon Crisis - Rahls)
  Swift collapse of Cold War institutions brings moral ambiguity and prolonged civil war
• █ The Long Peace - 2019-??? (NS Cards - LazCorp - Drewpocalypse - Warzone Federation)
  During a time of stability and pacification, focus turns to cultural games & activities

NationStates GP has entered a period of intense pacification. Some have heralded this development as a good thing - a refocusing on communities, a healthy downsizing / detoxing - others have accused it of constituting political and ideological stagnation. I've made my thoughts known on this phenomenon and I don't really want to rehash my thoughts here.

In the spirit of the original thread, I'm not going to digress/ramble further, I just wanted to open the idea to discussion here. Do folks like the name? Is NS in a Long Peace of its own? What events and organizations in 2019-2020 would you consider formative?

[The Moonstar]

As some background, a year ago I tossed around the term "The Great Discord" and it generated an interesting discussion...

So over the past little bit I've been neatly slotting some NS events into old historical 'eras' from the past, much of these eras were already named (Antiquity, Great War). Sirocco named the Great Decline. I named the Great Revival at the time. Belschaft named the Cold War.

• █ Antiquity - 2002-2003 (Creation - Nazi Wars - Farkers - Atlantic Alliance - Spammers)
  Pre- August Revolution.
  
• █ The Great War - 2003-2006 (ADN vs. NPO/PRP - RLA - ACCEL).
  Francos Spain's revolution in the Pacific invites international condemnation.
  
• █ The Great Decline - 2007-2009 (Influence - CyberNations - The Empire - DSA - NPO 2.0 - FRA - NS2 - End of Jolt/NSUN).
  Panic over the game's future turns players to desperate measures to revitalize/reinvent NS.
  
• █ The Great Revival - 2010-2012 (Macedon - WASC - Devonitians - UDL - Balder/Osiris - TBR - NS IPO).
  An era defined by its optimism and idealism, especially for the future of the game.
  
• █ The Cold War - 2013-2015 (SPPR - Ind. Manifesto - UIAF - SovCon - PRL - OFO - Sovereignty Conference - NLO - Hileville).
  Coalition-building draws major regions into a series of hotly contested proxy battles, conferences, and unsteady alliances.

But I think I've thought of a good title for the subsequent era...

• █ The Great Discord - 2016-2018 (Predator Scandal - TGW - UDoL - Khanate - St Abbaddon Crisis - Rahls)

It's a play on words: "Discord" refers the social platform, of course (which was especially important to this era, a period marked by its interpersonal activity) but it also signifies the era's moral confusion and ambiguity, the series of civil wars, and Gameplay's directionlessness at times as it operated in an institutional void.

There were some discussion at that time about what era was NS now operating in. Some suggested we were facing an "End of History." Others suggested an "Era of Good Feelings". I even got in on the action and joked it was The Great Accord.

I considered different names for it for a while and different themes. Peace, Calm, Tranquility, Quietude, Stability, Slumber, Stagnation etc. The Big Freeze? The Happy Quietude? The Great Stagnation?

I'm going to steal from RL politics though (hey, it's not like the other terms are original either!) and suggest The Long Peace:

• █ The Long Peace - 2019-??? (NS Cards ?? )

NationStates GP has entered a period of intense pacification. Some have heralded this development as a good thing - a refocusing on communities, a healthy downsizing / detoxing - others have accused it of constituting political and ideological stagnation. I've made my thoughts known on this phenomenon and I don't really want to rehash my thoughts here.

In the spirit of the original thread, I'm not going to digress/ramble further, I just wanted to open the idea to discussion here. Do folks like the name? Is NS in a Long Peace of its own? What events and organizations in 2019-2020 would you consider formative?

This means war.

So other than blah blah ideological politics (not including "Raiderism/Defenderism/Franco-Defenderistism/Varaism") how do we break this lame peace?

[Comfed]

As some background, a year ago I tossed around the term "The Great Discord" and it generated an interesting discussion...



There were some discussion at that time about what era was NS now operating in. Some suggested we were facing an "End of History." Others suggested an "Era of Good Feelings". I even got in on the action and joked it was The Great Accord.

I considered different names for it for a while and different themes. Peace, Calm, Tranquility, Quietude, Stability, Slumber, Stagnation etc. The Big Freeze? The Happy Quietude? The Great Stagnation?

I'm going to steal from RL politics though (hey, it's not like the other terms are original either!) and suggest The Long Peace:

• █ The Long Peace - 2019-??? (NS Cards ?? )

NationStates GP has entered a period of intense pacification. Some have heralded this development as a good thing - a refocusing on communities, a healthy downsizing / detoxing - others have accused it of constituting political and ideological stagnation. I've made my thoughts known on this phenomenon and I don't really want to rehash my thoughts here.

In the spirit of the original thread, I'm not going to digress/ramble further, I just wanted to open the idea to discussion here. Do folks like the name? Is NS in a Long Peace of its own? What events and organizations in 2019-2020 would you consider formative?

This means war.

So other than blah blah ideological politics (not including "Raiderism/Defenderism/Franco-Defenderistism/Varaism") how do we break this lame peace?

Two things that I can think of:
A couping organization
Regions need to stop caring about what other people think about them. Right now few big diplomatic moves are made because that could alienate people.

[Jar Wattinree]

I'm going to steal from RL politics though (hey, it's not like the other terms are original either!) and suggest The Long Peace:

• █ The Long Peace - 2019-??? (NS Cards ?? )

Nah, m8, It's gotta be this kinda peace, a watchful peace of sorts.

[The Church of Satan]

Assuming things stay consistent for another year (at the least), I'd say "The Long Peace" would be fitting. Who knows? Maybe this period of peace will be followed by a renaissance!

[Baedan]

Assuming things stay consistent for another year (at the least), I'd say "The Long Peace" would be fitting. Who knows? Maybe this period of peace will be followed by a renaissance!

I'm very excited for the return of francoism

[The Moonstar]

Assuming things stay consistent for another year (at the least), I'd say "The Long Peace" would be fitting. Who knows? Maybe this period of peace will be followed by a renaissance!

I'm very excited for the return of francoism

ikr

[Sassoon]

Assuming things stay consistent for another year (at the least), I'd say "The Long Peace" would be fitting. Who knows? Maybe this period of peace will be followed by a renaissance!

I'm very excited for the return of francoism

O.o

[Baedan]

I'm very excited for the return of francoism

O.o

these revisionists, these falsifiers in the NPO abandon the doctrine of francoist thought!! feederists and betrayers of the pacifican nation, every one of you

[Jazksrkeal]

Peace for our time.

[Pharoahs Haven]

'The Long Peace' definitely applies to the warzones.

New delegacy records have been set in two warzones, a major pact was signed with Lazarus.. and there has been no invasions of note besides that of Warzone Australia— but that was backed by a Warzone Control Council governed by delegates from all other warzone regions.

I haven't been too up to date on the international sphere this year though I'm afraid.

[Unibot III]

'The Long Peace' definitely applies to the warzones.

New delegacy records have been set in two warzones, a major pact was signed with Lazarus.. and there has been no invasions of note besides that of Warzone Australia— but that was backed by a Warzone Control Council governed by delegates from all other warzone regions.

I haven't been too up to date on the international sphere this year though I'm afraid.

Yes, I definetely think that the change in the Warzones is indictative of the Long Peace. How would I refer this in the OP - "Warzone Control Council" "Warzones Incorporated" "Warzone Federation" ? Riffing off Lazarus: I might add "LazCorp" as a formative part of The Long Peace (although I know it was formed at the tail-end of the Great Discord). It seems representative of the era - a cessation of civil war, a refocusing on regional culture away from GP.

I think I might also add the "Drewpocalypse" to The Long Peace's events.

What events / orgs would others list under The Long Peace?

Assuming things stay consistent for another year (at the least), I'd say "The Long Peace" would be fitting. Who knows? Maybe this period of peace will be followed by a renaissance!

Oooh, a Renaissance. I like that.

Two things that I can think of:
A couping organization
Regions need to stop caring about what other people think about them. Right now few big diplomatic moves are made because that could alienate people.

I chose "The Long Peace" as a neutral term, because I think there are a lot of players who like the change of pace.

I think that if the peace were to evolve into something else, it would begin with intiative at the individual level to intiate something new and a willing to "scale up" projects. Mass organizations, mass alliances, mass groups, mass movements etc.

There are a lot of players with a lot of creativity and perspective, but I think they're reluctant to challenge the existing order, so all of their pent-up energy and innovation has been driven 'underground' instead and channeled away from the political mainstream into subversive side-projects and subgames: cards, special events, discord games etc. To really change things, they would have to invest in reclaiming formal institutions of power (e.g., the legislature, the executive).

As far as I see it, there are always people who are "in" and people who are "out" and there are always players who are doers and creators and players who trade on their reputation. The problem as I see it is things are reversed these days: the creators are in the outs and the traders are in the ins, so you've got GP's creative engine burning red hot (NS newspapers, for instance, are turning out just as much content as they were during full-blown crises), and a political engine - regional governments and organizations - that's barely chugging along. This is an oversimplification but I think big things, both positive and negative, happen when the tables are turned and the creators are in the driver's seat. With that comes a shift from the "caretaker governments" of today to "activist governments."

[Comfed]

Well, I don’t think it’s such a bad thing to have periods of peace. Nonstop fighting with no end often causes burnout. It often happens in nation simulation games with a war mechanic (Cyber Nations, etc)

I don’t think it should last forever of course

[The Church of Satan]

I don’t think it should last forever of course

I dunno, I rather like that artists are at the forefront of GP right now. Politics and militaries have been the driving force of GP for so long that it's become tiresome. A lot of us could use a break from the chaos.

[United Provinces of Atlantica]

Assuming things stay consistent for another year (at the least), I'd say "The Long Peace" would be fitting. Who knows? Maybe this period of peace will be followed by a renaissance!

It's not the end of NationStates history, it's not going to last forever, someday another age will succeed it. Of course, I have no idea what form that age will take. No one knows what'll become of that age, but, of course, how, when, and what is of that age are things every player has the ability to shape.

"Cattle die, kinsmen die,
and you yourself shall die.
But fair fame never dies
for the one who wins it."
- Stanza 76 of the Hávamál

[The Church of Satan]

It's not the end of NationStates history, it's not going to last forever, someday another age will succeed it. Of course, I have no idea what form that age will take. No one knows what'll become of that age, but, of course, how, when, and what is of that age are things every player has the ability to shape.

I don't recall any sort of doomsaying on my part. Merely hoping that, as opposed to things going back to chaos, things will get much better.