Issue Inconsistency

[Celtic Colonies]

So, according to my nation page, "Crime -- especially youth-related -- is totally unknown..."
Yet in the past week or so I've had at least 2 issues come up, using arguments for reducing crime to support at least one option - todays is "Compulsory Gun Ownership", the last one had something along the lines of "After a recent high profile youth crime" in its premise.

Surely if I've already got no crime, the system shouldn't be putting these issues up, as they contradict what my previous decisions have achieved?

[Unita Teccon Olympia Enclave]

Issues are weird at times and Inconsistent.

[Insignificance]

Not only that, but I keep getting the same one every week about a blizzard in one of my nations northern villages. It says that, because of the ban on cold-calling, the mayor of said village is unable to contact anyone to ask if they are alright. Every week I say the ban is still being enforced, but the system keeps delivering this issue to me on a weekly basis. I think it's called "Cold Calling Falls Cold" or something like that.

[Sanctaria]

Not only that, but I keep getting the same one every week about a blizzard in one of my nations northern villages. It says that, because of the ban on cold-calling, the mayor of said village is unable to contact anyone to ask if they are alright. Every week I say the ban is still being enforced, but the system keeps delivering this issue to me on a weekly basis. I think it's called "Cold Calling Falls Cold" or something like that.

If you keep on banning something then the supposed problems are still there.

[Insignificance]

Not only that, but I keep getting the same one every week about a blizzard in one of my nations northern villages. It says that, because of the ban on cold-calling, the mayor of said village is unable to contact anyone to ask if they are alright. Every week I say the ban is still being enforced, but the system keeps delivering this issue to me on a weekly basis. I think it's called "Cold Calling Falls Cold" or something like that.

If you keep on banning something then the supposed problems are still there.

I shouldn't need to 'keep banning' anything in my opinion. The fact that this issue keeps being sent to me so I can make a decision on it tells me that the blizzard is effectively going to last for however long the ban of cold calling is in place. That's all wrong. Surely once something has been banned, it's been banned, and the constant... spam, if you will, of this one issue won't get the ban lifted. The weather and politics don't share a timeline.

[Sanctaria]

If you keep on banning something then the supposed problems are still there.

I shouldn't need to 'keep banning' anything in my opinion. The fact that this issue keeps being sent to me so I can make a decision on it tells me that the blizzard is effectively going to last for however long the ban of cold calling is in place. That's all wrong. Surely once something has been banned, it's been banned, and the constant... spam, if you will, of this one issue won't get the ban lifted. The weather and politics don't share a timeline.

You could live in a really cold, arctic climate?

And my point is if something is banned, that's fine. You get an issue saying "X is a problem because Y is banned". You dismiss it, effectively ignoring it. You're going to get "X is a problem because Y is banned" again.

[Luna Amore]

If you keep on banning something then the supposed problems are still there.

I shouldn't need to 'keep banning' anything in my opinion. The fact that this issue keeps being sent to me so I can make a decision on it tells me that the blizzard is effectively going to last for however long the ban of cold calling is in place. That's all wrong. Surely once something has been banned, it's been banned, and the constant... spam, if you will, of this one issue won't get the ban lifted. The weather and politics don't share a timeline.

Yeah, but this is a game. The player needs to be able to reverse decisions. That blizzard issue is the only chance a player has to go back on the cold-calling ban. So it remains in your pool of available issues to give you the option to reverse it if you so choose.

[Insignificance]

You could live in a really cold, arctic climate?

And my point is if something is banned, that's fine. You get an issue saying "X is a problem because Y is banned". You dismiss it, effectively ignoring it. You're going to get "X is a problem because Y is banned" again.

Yeah, but this is a game. The player needs to be able to reverse decisions. That blizzard issue is the only chance a player has to go back on the cold-calling ban. So it remains in your pool of available issues to give you the option to reverse it if you so choose.

Allow me to quote something from the front page of NationStates:

"NationStates is a nation simulation game. Create a nation according to your political ideals and care for its people. Or deliberately oppress them. It's up to you."

Now, I am not saying that my nation is based on my beliefs in real life. It actually couldn't be further from my beliefs in the real world, I just want to make that known. I amn't saying for one minute I'd let people freeze to death in a village because I hated getting calls at 01:00 from guys trying to sell me Tupperware and oven gloves, because I wouldn't. A phone call that can be ended by hanging up and adding the callers number to a blacklist is worth it if it means people get to live. But, since this is a game, it gives me a chance to get some idea of what it is like to run a country, and as such, I will choose whatever decision I wish when it comes to said country without having to worry about the consequences of my decisions. In this nation, I've went for being as corrupt as possible. So can I please ask... why are we allowed to run our nations how we choose, only to effectively be forced to change our minds by getting the same issues over and over again, despite the front page telling us that it is up to us how we run it in the first place? I know you have said "if you so choose." Luna Amore, but surely the fact that I keep saying the ban is still enforced means I will not reverse my decision and the issue should no longer be available.

[Sanctaria]

surely the fact that I keep saying the ban is still enforced means I will not reverse my decision and the issue should no longer be available.

It's a nation simulation. It gives you the freedom to run your nation as you would, or would not, in real life, but at the end of the day it's a game. How is the game, and indeed we, supposed to know you're never going to change your mind? The possibility exists you will want to in the future so the issue unbanning cold calling is going to continue popping up every now day. If you do choose to unban cold calling, then every now and then you're going to get the option to ban it. The game has just over 300 issues. You don't qualify for all of them.

If you want to change this, then write some issues.

Allow me to quote something from the front page of NationStates:

"NationStates is a nation simulation game. Create a nation according to your political ideals and care for its people. Or deliberately oppress them. It's up to you."

So can I please ask... why are we allowed to run our nations how we choose, only to effectively be forced to change our minds by getting the same issues over and over again, despite the front page telling us that it is up to us how we run it in the first place? I know you have said "if you so choose."

You are being given the choice to create a nation according to your political ideals and to deliberately oppress them. It is up to you. We're not stopping you doing that and we're not telling you what to do. What we are doing is providing you with the framework to make those decisions in the form of issues. If you want to continue oppressing your people, dismiss the option. It's not that difficult.

As I've already said, you want to help change this? Write some issues. It'll increase the pool and thereby decrease the likelihood of you receiving the same issue over and over again.

[Insignificance]

If you want to continue oppressing your people, dismiss the option. It's not that difficult.

I know it isn't difficult, and not once did I suggest it was; I am merely saying that it is frustrating having to make the same decisions more than once.

As I've already said, you want to help change this? Write some issues. It'll increase the pool and thereby decrease the likelihood of you receiving the same issue over and over again.

I know I haven't seen all of the issues available in the game; some are only available to people with no crime, some go to those who are riddled with crime; it depends on the decisions they made when addressing previous issues. As for me writing my own issues? It's a good idea, and I have thought about it in the past, but the fact that I do not know what has and has not already been done makes it difficult to identify a unique issue which no other player has thought of. You said it yourself;

"The game has just over 300 issues. You don't qualify for all of them."

I know that I don't qualify for all 300 issues, I never said I did, but how can getting the same one over and over again qualify me for new ones when I keep having to decide on something that has already been decided? You can only receive a maximum of two new issues per day, and when one of them is an issue you've decided on previously, that makes it all the more harder for you to qualify as the old issue is taking up space that could be used by a new one. It is my understanding that new issues which get submitted don't instantly become available. They go for a vote between Issue Editors, such as yourselves, Mods, WA member nations, whomever decides what issues get used and what ones don't. Then, and only then, if a certain number of people have said it is a good issue that could be used within the game, it goes off to editing, by people such as you. THEN it becomes available. There is no guarantee that me writing my own issues will work as there is also no guarantee that they will be used in the game.

If I am wrong, (or right), about any of this, please let me know.

[Luna Amore]

So can I please ask... why are we allowed to run our nations how we choose, only to effectively be forced to change our minds by getting the same issues over and over again, despite the front page telling us that it is up to us how we run it in the first place? I know you have said "if you so choose." Luna Amore, but surely the fact that I keep saying the ban is still enforced means I will not reverse my decision and the issue should no longer be available.

You aren't being forced to do anything. If we didn't give you the option of reversing a decision, then we wouldn't be allowing a player to run his country any way he chooses. You are saying, 'but I'm never going to reverse that decision'. That's fine, but you don't represent everyone. In the interest of letting people shape their nation however they want, we must give them the option to reverse past decisions through future issues. Tomorrow, you could change your mind and decide to take your nation in a new direction, make it an anarchy. The current game mechanics allow that. If we took your suggestion and blocked issues a player had already decided on from ever reoccurring, nations would become unchangeable, static and boring. As this is a game, that's not really the end result we're aiming for.

It is my understanding that new issues which get submitted don't instantly become available. They go for a vote between Issue Editors, such as yourselves, Mods, WA member nations, whomever decides what issues get used and what ones don't. Then, and only then, if a certain number of people have said it is a good issue that could be used within the game, it goes off to editing, by people such as you. THEN it becomes available. There is no guarantee that me writing my own issues will work as there is also no guarantee that they will be used in the game.

If I am wrong, (or right), about any of this, please let me know. :)

The basic process (ideally) is: player posts draft on Got Issues? forum for criticism and review --> once the player is happy with the draft, he submits it through the in-game process --> it goes into the issue pool --> the issue mods (Sedge, Fris and Reppy) sort through the pool looking for usable drafts --> usable drafts get edited by Issues Editors --> once the text is ready, the stats get worked out by the Issue Mods --> issue is added to the game.

but the fact that I do not know what has and has not already been done makes it difficult to identify a unique issue which no other player has thought of.

There is an unofficial list of the current pool of issues in a sticky on this forum. There's also a link in my sig.

[Anacasppia]

Of course, the number of issues is also finite, so there really isn't much choice here either - you're bound to get some more than once if you've been around for long enough.