The Writers' Block

[Trotterdam]

I was looking through issue results to see the outcomes of, in this case #143, and the database shows that option 1 may reduce the nation's weather by 0 to 2.

I'm guessing you're referring to my website? Queries on that are best posted in the appropiate thread.

In this case, the data looks suspicious. I'm going to purge it.

[SherpDaWerp]

I was looking through issue results to see the outcomes of, in this case #143, and the database shows that option 1 may reduce the nation's weather by 0 to 2.

Option 2 will improve the weather by 2.

I've guessed "weather" is some kind of metric on a nation's relationship with climate change or some other ecological situation, but now I wonder if this is not the case. If it is, it's counter-intuitive that preserving an archeological site is damaging, but building a mall is a positive.

Can you clarify this issue or this stat?

"Why did Weather change in this way?"
Weather is a funny old stat, and we don't take it into consideration when coding issues. Therefore, you should not expect any narrative consistency in the movement of this stat.

I consider this to be a deliberate comment by the game designers on how you can't really control the weather, at the end of the day. Don't know if that's true, but basically please don't make reports on unexpected effects on weather.

[Australian rePublic]

Are there any issues about Soverign citizens/freemen on the land? I've been looking them on YouTube and they're hilarious. I just feel sorry for the cops who have to put up with this bullshit

[Candlewhisper Archive]

There's issues about micronations, and 466 is a micronation of one. That's pretty similar, but you may find a distinct angle somewhere.

[Australian rePublic]

There's issues about micronations, and 466 is a micronation of one. That's pretty similar, but you may find a distinct angle somewhere.

Micronations are distinct from FMONTL in that micronations want to create their own country, FMONTL think that only part of the law applies to them

[Candlewhisper Archive]

Obviously.

I'm just making you aware of the overlap, as you asked. Position your issue to minimise that overlap.

[Australian rePublic]

Obviously.

I'm just making you aware of the overlap, as you asked. Position your issue to minimise that overlap.

Fair enough. I've already got one in the drafting room. First option is let him do whatever he wants, second option is crack down harder. I just need a third option

[Eastern Day]

Is there already an issue about marathon runners dropping empty water bottles/cups along the race course? I had a good idea for an issue about it, but that might be because I remembered it from an issue I had already encountered.

[Trotterdam]

Is there already an issue about marathon runners dropping empty water bottles/cups along the race course?

That seems like a... very specific situation. I'm quite sure we have no issue about that in particular, but I'm not sure we need one.

I'm guessing the concern here is littering? I'd just go "fine, so long as the race organizers clean up after themselves when the race is done". Though honestly, even without that, a few bottles dropped along the course of a marathon that's only run once per year or less isn't going to break the environment.

[Chan Island]

Is there already an issue about marathon runners dropping empty water bottles/cups along the race course? I had a good idea for an issue about it, but that might be because I remembered it from an issue I had already encountered.

Trotterdam's covered my thoughts, but perhaps you could adopt an angle about big events in general? I know that there have been littering complaints after concerts, protests, charity sales and, yes, marathon runs. Perhaps an issue about how to control pollution from large-scale gatherings?

[Trotterdam]

Trotterdam's covered my thoughts, but perhaps you could adopt an angle about big events in general? I know that there have been littering complaints after concerts, protests, charity sales and, yes, marathon runs. Perhaps an issue about how to control pollution from large-scale gatherings?

Take care to avoid overlap with #964, which is also about who should take responsibility for the fallout of large-scale gatherings, although it concerns a different type of fallout.

[Australian rePublic]

Hey guys, here's an idea for you, one that I do not wish to write myself. Underage girls lying about their age so they can have with older men

Is there already an issue about marathon runners dropping empty water bottles/cups along the race course? I had a good idea for an issue about it, but that might be because I remembered it from an issue I had already encountered.

I'd make it about a container deposit scheme. (Ironically, that's actually on my list of ideas you can steal, do check it out, because I have suggestions for the format). That way, people are always littering, and the question becomes whether or not you want to pay people to pick up other people's litter. In this situation, litter is a normal occurance, and this marathon is the straw that broke the camal's back

[SherpDaWerp]

Hey guys, here's an idea for you, one that I do not wish to write myself. Underage girls lying about their age so they can have with older men

That is almost definitely a bad idea for an issue, Aussie.

we've always nixed any issues that mention paedophilia or child abuse

[Lord Dominator]

Is there already an issue about marathon runners dropping empty water bottles/cups along the race course? I had a good idea for an issue about it, but that might be because I remembered it from an issue I had already encountered.

Trotterdam's covered my thoughts, but perhaps you could adopt an angle about big events in general? I know that there have been littering complaints after concerts, protests, charity sales and, yes, marathon runs. Perhaps an issue about how to control pollution from large-scale gatherings?

Personslly, I'm reminded of the situation in which various US cities say Trump owes them money for expidentures they made in support of his campaign rallies.

[Trotterdam]

Hey guys, here's an idea for you, one that I do not wish to write myself. Underage girls lying about their age so they can have with older men

That is almost definitely a bad idea for an issue, Aussie.

we've always nixed any issues that mention paedophilia or child abuse

The people doing this would be teenagers, not children. We already have issues on teen pregnancy, though they mostly assume the teens are having sex with other teens, not with older adults.

No sane person would believe a 9-year-old if she claimed to actually be 18, and no court on Earth would accept having been deceived like that as a valid defense against a pedophilia charge. However, a 14-year-old is essentially past puberty, and can much more feasibly be mistaken for an 18-year-old if you don't check her ID.

[SherpDaWerp]

A 14yo and a 20yo is still pedophilia... Maybe take out the sex aspect and make it about the prevalence of fake IDs being used to sneak into places, if that hasn't been done already

[Candlewhisper Archive]

I'm saying no to that issue idea.

Conversation over, guys. Further debate is not encouraged.

[Pangurstan]

I know that there are issues about bad movie sequels, but is there an issue about bad movie adaptations of plays/books? *cough cough* the cats movie

[Australian rePublic]

I know that there are issues about bad movie sequels, but is there an issue about bad movie adaptations of plays/books? *cough cough* the cats movie

Why would @@LEADER@@ care?

[Lyoku]

Can people suggest a new policy when making issues?

[SherpDaWerp]

Policies were initially created for backstage purposes only, in order to create more consistent narratives where player decisions later give access to or lock out other issues. They later became player-visible, but were never intended for this purpose, so they don't always turn on and off when you might expect.

New policies are added by the editing team when the issues demand it, not on a basis of a decision's notability in a nation's fiction. For example, we track the fine detail of whether a nation has dinosaurs AND whether a nation has a dinosaur theme park, because there are issues where the distinction is important. Likewise there's a code to track if players chose to personally go to ground zero in the first issue of The Enemy Within chain, as that affects some future narratives.

On the other hand, we don't track whether a minimum wage has been implemented or not, because no issue options need to check against this information. The presence or absence of a minimum wage is a much more notable feature of a nation than the things just mentioned, but notability is not the criterion by which we create policies.

For a policy to be created, it needs to have an Issue that lets you choose that policy direction. For us to code it as a tracked policy, it needs to have places elsewhere in the narrative that want to reference and track that. Also, of course, adding a new policy takes a while for each policy, as the adding editor then needs to reread all 1000+ issues to spot places where the new policy would affect existing narratives, and edit accordingly.

So basically, there is absolutely no point to players suggesting policies in the fora. The game isn't built in a way where suggestions of that sort will be implemented, ever.

If you want to see a particular policy in the game, the thing to do is to write a good quality issue which depends upon a past decision to affect how it is depicted. That's the only approach that will make a change, so come over to Got Issues, and get drafting!

TL:DR Policies get added when there are issues that depend on it. And even then, they will likely just be backstage triggers unless the almighty admin decide it's a good idea for a policy to be visible gameside.

[Australian rePublic]

I know we already have an issue about drought (264), but that's a pretty piss-weak drought. Rationing water? You mean water restrictions? That's normal in some parts of Australia. Could we write an issue about severe extreme droughts? We're talking about day-zero level drought, where entire cities are on the verge of drought? Would that be fine? Further, are there any issues specifically about flood (without being about natural disasters in general)?

[Sedgistan]

1,200+ issues?

To save me from having to read all the new ones first (I'll get round to that), have I missed the boat on submitting issues on...

1. A South Africa-esque "Truth and reconciliation commission"
2. Black Friday craziness
3. Lack of interest in engineering-type roles
4. Stoning
5. A USSR-esque nation handing out medals?

Because I have some drafts I'd like to finish, but there's no point if someone's beaten me to the punch.

[Lord Dominator]

There is a Black Friday one of that type, no clue on the others.

[Sedgistan]

There is a Black Friday one of that type, no clue on the others.

Thanks, just found that one. Thankfully I hadn't got far with that one, so no loss.