The Writers' Block

[Candlewhisper Archive]

Note specifically that calls for Autarky and No_compensation reversals are new.

Just for clarification:
Is an issue needed to cancel or to restore Autarky?

Also, is an issue needed to end or bring back compensation suits?

Reverses autarky. Brings back compensation.

Will clarify the post.

[Candlewhisper Archive]

This is a quote from a drafting thread for a draft that I have since discarded. Has the issue you mentioned been discarded or published?

That issue was published.

It was 684, Murder Most Deniable. While that issue is about Litvinenko rather than Nemtsov, I thought two issues about the Russian government murdering its critics was a bit much at once. Looking back though, I think there's as many differences as parallels, and if you want to rez that with effort made to minimise overlap, go for it.

[Candlewhisper Archive]

Is an issue about female genital mutilation still needed? I've been working on a draft, but I haven't posted it yet.

I don't think one was ever needed, from a technical standpoint. Rather it was on NoQ's list of suggestions.

Free Joy State actually submitted an issue on this some time back, and started a self-edit, but opted to abandon it as there was no way to make it fit well with NS.

That in mind, feel free to draft further issues on this topic, but please don't regard it in anyway as something that is needed or directly sought - rather it is just NoQ suggesting ideas for people who are short of them. Also note he hasn't updated that list for some time, which is why I added my own portion, which is my own thoughts on what issues are actually required, rather than just a list of ideas.

[Trotterdam]

The game does not keep track of whether or not you ban poetry.

Okay, that can't be right. I just got #700 on a puppet and didn't receive option 4. Other people have received it, so it's clearly in the game. It must have some sort of validity. Do you just guess a nation's attitude on poetry based on its Culture rating or something?

- how to react to child soldiers on the other side

I had an idea for this one (after it was mentioned in a throwaway forum post by someone else), but was stymied by the need for your nation to be at war for the issue to make sense, which I felt wasn't a reasonable assumption to make given the game's structure.

- similar to the meat smuggling in a vegetarian nation - the import of products that may contain indirect meat products

Well, there are some mostly-vegetarian foods that still commonly include small amounts of dead animals, such as cheese with animal rennet or candy with animal gelatin, but vegetarian alternatives exist and that seems more like a technicality for bureaucrats to handle, rather than the leader of the nation. The main issue, I guess, is whether foods are clearly marked for their ingredients, since someone being given a marshmallow without an ingredient list might not realize it contains anything non-vegetarian, but requiring ingredient lists is rather of a no-brainer even in non-vegetarian nations.

- prioritization of endangered species - big flashy ones that get loads of public love, or unpopular but vital species?

#751 addresses some endangered but unpopular species, though it's more about being redundant than ugly.

- an ancient colony of nation may have ruins in another nation - do we have the right to excavate it?

I don't think we have anything on that yet. Go for it!

We do have a couple of issues about @@NAME@@ having cultural artifacts of another nation, but not the other way around.

[Candlewhisper Archive]

Okay, that can't be right. I just got #700 on a puppet and didn't receive option 4. Other people have received it, so it's clearly in the game. It must have some sort of validity. Do you just guess a nation's attitude on poetry based on its Culture rating or something?

Not from culture, but from other parameters.

[Singapore no2]

Just for clarification:
Is an issue needed to cancel or to restore Autarky?

Also, is an issue needed to end or bring back compensation suits?

Reverses autarky. Brings back compensation.

Will clarify the post.

In the Autarky section, you list issue 648 as an activator of Autarky but that doesn't seem correct, as it leads to "Confessions Of A Dirty Mind", which is about confessions rather than anything remotely economic in nature.

[Jutsa]

Odd question: Does banning immigration/emigration also mean banning tourism to/fro your nation, or is it still legal?

I wanted to write an issue about tourists for nations that have banned either or both, but I don't know if they kill tourism or not.

[Bears Armed]

Odd question: Does banning immigration/emigration also mean banning tourism to/fro your nation, or is it still legal?

I wanted to write an issue about tourists for nations that have banned either or both, but I don't know if they kill tourism or not.

Bears Armed has the policy "No Immigration. Foreigners cannot become residents" with Tourism still as its largest industry (and #732 in the world), so I think it's fairly safe to say that they don't.

[Sammuramat]

- how to react to child soldiers on the other side

I had an idea for this one (after it was mentioned in a throwaway forum post by someone else), but was stymied by the need for your nation to be at war for the issue to make sense, which I felt wasn't a reasonable assumption to make given the game's structure.

I feel like there are enough "GO TO WAR!!!" options that I'm surprised "at war" isn't a policy. Would it be possible for issues needing war to be chained off issue answers declaring war?

[Pogaria]

I had an idea for this one (after it was mentioned in a throwaway forum post by someone else), but was stymied by the need for your nation to be at war for the issue to make sense, which I felt wasn't a reasonable assumption to make given the game's structure.

I feel like there are enough "GO TO WAR!!!" options that I'm surprised "at war" isn't a policy. Would it be possible for issues needing war to be chained off issue answers declaring war?

I suggested that once. The group consensus was that implementing this policy would be way too much work. Maybe we could do this at some point, but I don't think it's possible at the present time.

[Candlewhisper Archive]

Reverses autarky. Brings back compensation.

Will clarify the post.

In the Autarky section, you list issue 648 as an activator of Autarky but that doesn't seem correct, as it leads to "Confessions Of A Dirty Mind", which is about confessions rather than anything remotely economic in nature.

649. I will amend.

[Candlewhisper Archive]

I feel like there are enough "GO TO WAR!!!" options that I'm surprised "at war" isn't a policy. Would it be possible for issues needing war to be chained off issue answers declaring war?

I suggested that once. The group consensus was that implementing this policy would be way too much work. Maybe we could do this at some point, but I don't think it's possible at the present time.

Yeah, I'm in favour of the idea too, but not volunteering to implement this.

[Reckington]

How can we, as the people, start putting in the "issues" our form of ideas and rules? I want to end briberies, I want to eliminate pay to play. what ideas do you want to put down right now, if you could?

[USS Monitor]

How can we, as the people, start putting in the "issues" our form of ideas and rules? I want to end briberies, I want to eliminate pay to play. what ideas do you want to put down right now, if you could?

There are some existing issues about corruption or money in politics. If you have an idea for a new angle that hasn't been covered, you can try writing a new issue.

[He Qixin 2]

I suggested that once. The group consensus was that implementing this policy would be way too much work. Maybe we could do this at some point, but I don't think it's possible at the present time.

Yeah, I'm in favour of the idea too, but not volunteering to implement this.

You know what, I also wished there was a "War" policy. But thinking that site moderators would have to spend so much time re-writing the game code, I'd say, "nah. whatever."

[USS Monitor]

Yeah, I'm in favour of the idea too, but not volunteering to implement this.

You know what, I also wished there was a "War" policy. But thinking that site moderators would have to spend so much time re-writing the game code, I'd say, "nah. whatever."

Probably would be editors rather than mods. Some mods have the necessary access, but our friends with the gold name tags are usually the ones who set stat effects and policy toggles.

I'd be willing to read through the issues and identify options that should toggle war on or off, but I'm not likely to get to it very soon because I have some other things that are higher on my to-do list.

[He Qixin 2]

You know what, I also wished there was a "War" policy. But thinking that site moderators would have to spend so much time re-writing the game code, I'd say, "nah. whatever."

Probably would be editors rather than mods. Some mods have the necessary access, but our friends with the gold name tags are usually the ones who set stat effects and policy toggles.

I'd be willing to read through the issues and identify options that should toggle war on or off, but I'm not likely to get to it very soon because I have some other things that are higher on my to-do list.

okay

[Candlewhisper Archive]

For the possible interest of regular or new authors, here are some miscellaneous issue ideas that came to me that I'm unlikely to use myself:

https://www.nationstates.net/nation=can ... /id=950582

These aren't issues required by the game, it's just a brainstorming notepad that I thought I'd share.

[Trotterdam]

If tests suggest that machine learning programs are as good as doctor at making diagnoses and choosing treatments, do we let them see patients and prescribe without human supervision?

They always have human supervision: the patient.

Wait, you meant competent human supervision?

[Candlewhisper Archive]

If tests suggest that machine learning programs are as good as doctor at making diagnoses and choosing treatments, do we let them see patients and prescribe without human supervision?

They always have human supervision: the patient.

Wait, you meant competent human supervision?

Naa, I mean qualified human supervision. You meet some of my colleagues, and the two are clearly not the same thing.

That'd be a great phrasing to use in the issue though.

[Raionitu]

I saw this thread and thought the vegan idea might be something to pursue as an issue. Are there any issue drafts currently in the works or is specifying veganism currently untouched?

[Jutsa]

There was a draft Amjedia made, but they gave up, and I never wrote anything about it.
If you want, you could possibly make a draft like this where you have different levels of vegetarianism, or make everything free-ranged, or something.

If you can think of anything else, feel free. Aussie came up with something, which I later co-authored, but it's not exactly a policy one can make a whole lot of issues about.
(though there's definitely room to expand. )

[Ransium]

Just so you guys aren’t disappointed, even if a vegan issue is accepted into the game, we may not make a policy for it and even if we do it may not be a policy that’s viewable to the players.

[Raionitu]

Just so you guys aren’t disappointed, even if a vegan issue is accepted into the game, we may not make a policy for it and even if we do it may not be a policy that’s viewable to the players.

I know, I just thought that there should be a issue option for the vegan niche.

[Fauxia]

Just so you guys aren’t disappointed, even if a vegan issue is accepted into the game, we may not make a policy for it and even if we do it may not be a policy that’s viewable to the players.

I am not an editor, but I don’t think a player-visible policy is necessary. It’s like having one policy be “only the police and military can own guns” and another being “no one can own guns.” There isn’t much differentiation between them.