[MEGATHREAD] Unusual Issue Effects

[Rainy Swamphaven]

Thora and Eloise - Issue #722 - Option 2

Why did opting to call a pair of murderers a pair of murderers result in a loss of lifespan?

EDIT: 4/25/2019, this just happened

[The Free Joy State]

Thora and Eloise - Issue #722 - Option 2

Why did opting to call a pair of murderers a pair of murderers result in a loss of lifespan?

EDIT: 4/25/2019, this just happened

Lifespan is a secondary stat, made up of a variety of primary hidden stats, including some of those that are (correctly) coded into the option. These stats play off each other and your own nation's stats, which can mean they have a somewhat unpredictable effect.

However, your loss of lifespan was fairly small -- 50.86 to 49.49 in raw numbers.

If you haven't done so, I suggest you go to Settings and turn on "Show More Stats". The raw numbers are often less alarming.

[Ourisio]

Does someone want to explain why the everloving f u c k does the second option on #1044 OK Stupid instantly lead to a ban of physical sports.

[The Free Joy State]

Does someone want to explain why the everloving f u c k does the second option on #1044 OK Stupid instantly lead to a ban of physical sports.

The option clearly states:

If @@NAME@@ is to convalesce its approbation, the citizenry must partake in more intellectual pursuits: televised chess matches, strategy endeavors, and intense philosophical debates. All other activities and pursuits are frivolous and must be verboten."

This clearly means that all other pursuits will be banned ("verboten" being synonymous with "banned" or "illegal").

This is not an unusual effect.

And, for the future, please remember that asking nicely makes us more inclined to help you.

[Luna Amore]

Does someone want to explain why the everloving f u c k does the second option on #1044 OK Stupid instantly lead to a ban of physical sports.

Because that's what it says it'll do.

“The complication is that Luna Amore is a vast cesspool of cultural stupidity, not the electioneering and administration of the government,” muses Hillary Rogers, the head of the Mare Loon chapter of highbrow society The League of Brainboxes. “Every diurnal course I’m distressed to see simpletons who credit crystals, specters, charlatans, religious superstition, reality television, and other such tomfoolery. If Luna Amore is to convalesce its approbation, the citizenry must partake in more intellectual pursuits: televised chess matches, strategy endeavors, and intense philosophical debates. All other activities and pursuits are frivolous and must be verboten.”

In the future you need these three things:
1) nation that answered
2) issue # and choice selected
3) date issue was answered

I'd also point out that civility goes a long way. You are dealing with volunteers. Please check the attitude at the door.

[Tusdetan Minecorp]

Title: "Attack of the Attack Ads"
Issue #: 529
Nation: Tusdetan Minecorp
Date: 5/3/2019
Outcome: "The nation's politicians are acknowledged as the most polite in the region to the dismay of comedians everywhere."

Why did picking the option that promotes politeness not increase social conservatism? When the MP advocating for new restrictions on attack ads introduced his perspective as, “Whatever happened to the good old days?” I expected at least a small bump to social conservatism.

[The Free Joy State]

Title: "Attack of the Attack Ads"
Issue #: 529
Nation: Tusdetan Minecorp
Date: 5/3/2019
Outcome: "The nation's politicians are acknowledged as the most polite in the region to the dismay of comedians everywhere."

Why did picking the option that promotes politeness not increase social conservatism? When the MP advocating for new restrictions on attack ads introduced his perspective as, “Whatever happened to the good old days?” I expected at least a small bump to social conservatism.

Welcome to Got Issues?.

Social conservatism is what we call a secondary stat -- that means that it's a stat impacted by a range of primary hidden stats that we code in backstage interacting with your nation's individual stats -- however, the manners of a nation is not among those that impact it.

Social Conservatism is more related to your civil rights, which didn't move in this instance.

The issues working as expected.

[Australian rePublic]

How in the fudge does 1077.2 decrease civil rights and increase authoritarianism

[The Free Joy State]

How in the fudge does 1077.2 decrease civil rights and increase authoritarianism

With many nations, it wouldn't. However, increasing the rights of TV companies to air whatever they want also includes potentially bigoted, transphobic and homophobic content (as described in the opening), so this option plays off the rights of people to completely avoid such potentially problematic content.

It's a small impingement that would not make civil rights fall in many nations, but your censorship was about as low as it could get, so -- on balance -- that effect was seen in your overall statistics.

As for your authoritarianism, it's a secondary stat that tends to rise as civil rights drop.

[Demoness]

Two different issues and I apologize for the delay on posting this because I waited until the weekend.

Issue #528, Choice 2 (I'm pretty sure I answered it 1 May JST)

The choice states that "the government should just mind its own business and butt out of hobbies". That speaks to me that it should increase Civil Rights (or at least leave it alone) because we're not legislating their personal lives. However, it increased Social Conservatism (+1.5%) and decreased Civil Rights (-.15%)?

I can understand Authoritarianism (+.30%) increasing because more drones increase surveillance. Maybe Social Conservatism because "conservative" government policies are to leave private lives alone?

Issue #1203, Choice 1 (4 May JST)

Again, I chose the choice that doesn't care about personal lives. It's a little creepy, but it doesn't mandate that the government does anything. However, the following stat changes happened to me: Social Conservatism (+4.0%), Authoritarianism (+.75%), Civil Rights (-.38%), Weather (-.11%). I really don't see how Social Conservatism increased because I can't see how fanfics equal into that. I could convince myself about authoritarianism and civil rights since the option did have the creepy question of ""What do you normally order on a first date?". However, Weather just seemed like an oddity to me.

Thank you!

[The Free Joy State]

Two different issues and I apologize for the delay on posting this because I waited until the weekend.

Don't worry too much about waiting. By giving us the date (which you did), we can find it.

Issue #528, Choice 2 (I'm pretty sure I answered it 1 May JST)

The choice states that "the government should just mind its own business and butt out of hobbies". That speaks to me that it should increase Civil Rights (or at least leave it alone) because we're not legislating their personal lives. However, it increased Social Conservatism (+1.5%) and decreased Civil Rights (-.15%)?

I can understand Authoritarianism (+.30%) increasing because more drones increase surveillance. Maybe Social Conservatism because "conservative" government policies are to leave private lives alone?

The civil rights fall here is related to other peoples' rights to privacy. The drone pilot has his drone in LEADER's face the whole time, which will impinge others' privacy.

Authoritarianism and Social Conservatism are secondary stats that are somewhat related to civil rights (both tend to rise when civil rights fall).

Issue #1203, Choice 1 (4 May JST)

Again, I chose the choice that doesn't care about personal lives. It's a little creepy, but it doesn't mandate that the government does anything. However, the following stat changes happened to me: Social Conservatism (+4.0%), Authoritarianism (+.75%), Civil Rights (-.38%), Weather (-.11%). I really don't see how Social Conservatism increased because I can't see how fanfics equal into that. I could convince myself about authoritarianism and civil rights since the option did have the creepy question of ""What do you normally order on a first date?". However, Weather just seemed like an oddity to me.

Thank you!

This option plays off two rights -- the right of fanfic writers to write what they like about public figures and the right of those public figures to protect their privacy. In your nation's specific case, people are already pretty free to say what they like (so that couldn't really get much better), so only the impingement to the privacy of public officials was reflected.

This led to a fall in civil rights from 91.21 to 90.86 in raw numbers. As I explained above, the Social Conservatism is a secondary stat.

If you have not yet done so, I suggest you go into Settings and turn on "Show More Stats", which will show you your changes in raw numbers. The raw numbers are rarely as alarming as percentage changes.

[Lawless Lunata]

Issue #528, Choice 2 (I'm pretty sure I answered it 1 May JST)

The choice states that "the government should just mind its own business and butt out of hobbies". That speaks to me that it should increase Civil Rights (or at least leave it alone) because we're not legislating their personal lives. However, it increased Social Conservatism (+1.5%) and decreased Civil Rights (-.15%)?

I can understand Authoritarianism (+.30%) increasing because more drones increase surveillance. Maybe Social Conservatism because "conservative" government policies are to leave private lives alone?

The civil rights fall here is related to other peoples' rights to privacy. The drone pilot has his drone in LEADER's face the whole time, which will impinge others' privacy.

Authoritarianism and Social Conservatism are secondary stats that are somewhat related to civil rights (both tend to rise when civil rights fall).

That's fair. I didn't think of it as playing off of two civil rights (yours versus others'), but I do think that in this particular case Social Conservatism is an odd knock-off effect.

Issue #1203, Choice 1 (4 May JST)

Again, I chose the choice that doesn't care about personal lives. It's a little creepy, but it doesn't mandate that the government does anything. However, the following stat changes happened to me: Social Conservatism (+4.0%), Authoritarianism (+.75%), Civil Rights (-.38%), Weather (-.11%). I really don't see how Social Conservatism increased because I can't see how fanfics equal into that. I could convince myself about authoritarianism and civil rights since the option did have the creepy question of ""What do you normally order on a first date?". However, Weather just seemed like an oddity to me.

Thank you!

This option plays off two rights -- the right of fanfic writers to write what they like about public figures and the right of those public figures to protect their privacy. In your nation's specific case, people are already pretty free to say what they like (so that couldn't really get much better), so only the impingement to the privacy of public officials was reflected.

This led to a fall in civil rights from 91.21 to 90.86 in raw numbers. As I explained above, the Social Conservatism is a secondary stat.

Your explanation makes sense with how the game is programmed, but the knock-off effects are still a bit odd in context of the issue. Maybe I just don't actually understand Social Conservatism is and just think I do. :-p

If you have not yet done so, I suggest you go into Settings and turn on "Show More Stats", which will show you your changes in raw numbers. The raw numbers are rarely as alarming as percentage changes.

Cool tip! Raw numbers would be more helpful than percentages.

I'm really only concerned because I'm trying to correct some mistakes I made a few months back in certain stats, so I've been trying to anticipate results and these just struck me as weird.

[Demoness]

Well, that's just annoying. ^That was me. :-p

[Bears Armed]

This nation.
Just now.
issue #456, option 2.

How does allowing people to wear whatever they want while riding motorcycles -- rather than requiring helmets -- cause a noticeable drop in Weather quality?
I do understand about Weather being a secondary effect, but this choice neither decreased Environment quality noticeably nor improved Culture, which are the two factors that I've noticed affecting Weather in the past... and in fact I wouldn't have been surprised to see the slight increase in Nudity which this choice caused accompanied by a slight increase in Weather too (whether on the basis that people are more likely to wear less if the weather's good, or -- bearing in mind the rationale given for why improving a NS nation's Culture makes its Weather worse & vice versa [that people spending less time (assumed to be indoors) on 'cultural' activities means that the weather outside must be better] -- on the basis that people wearing less somehow actually makes the weather better....).

[The Marsupial Illuminati]

How does allowing people to wear whatever they want while riding motorcycles -- rather than requiring helmets -- cause a noticeable drop in Weather quality?

From the FAQ in this thread's first post:
"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."

I do understand about Weather being a secondary effect, but this choice neither decreased Environment quality noticeably nor improved Culture, which are the two factors that I've noticed affecting Weather in the past...

There are other factors that you have yet to discover the identities of.

[Zadar B]

why does 483.4 makes agriculture go down by -101%?


i answered it on june 11th, 2016, on this nation

[Luna Amore]

why does 483.4 makes agriculture go down by -101%?


i answered it on june 11th, 2016, on this nation

You answered it 3 years ago. Not much we can check.

[The Chuck]

-The name of the nation that had this effect: The Chuck
- The day that this effect was encountered: 5/11/2019
- The name of the issue, and if you know it, the number of the issue: "Regarding Robbers’ Rights" NationStates Issue No. 158 Option 1. “We must take a stand against burglars and looters entering our property,” explains HDA President, Catherine Gratwick, while digging a moat around her house. “We should be able to rip their guts out with a machine gun, no questions asked. If they want rights they should have considered the poor sod they were robbing.”

I chose this and it actually caused my weaponization to go down. Not sure if I'm just so high on weaponization that it cancels out or what?

[The Free Joy State]

-The name of the nation that had this effect: The Chuck
- The day that this effect was encountered: 5/11/2019
- The name of the issue, and if you know it, the number of the issue: "Regarding Robbers’ Rights" NationStates Issue No. 158 Option 1. “We must take a stand against burglars and looters entering our property,” explains HDA President, Catherine Gratwick, while digging a moat around her house. “We should be able to rip their guts out with a machine gun, no questions asked. If they want rights they should have considered the poor sod they were robbing.”

I chose this and it actually caused my weaponization to go down. Not sure if I'm just so high on weaponization that it cancels out or what?

Pretty much. Weaponisation is a secondary stat, meaning that it takes into account many of the factors within the issue's stats and your nation's own stats (which means they can be slightly unpredictable). Allowing people to bombard burglars with heavy artillery doesn't really change anything if they already have access to a lot of weaponry already.

If it helps your headcanon, perhaps think of it that there are fewer burglars with weapons (if only after they attempted a few home robberies).

[Cameroi]

how does no internet banking equal no internet? that has to be just plain weird.

[The Free Joy State]

how does no internet banking equal no internet? that has to be just plain weird.

We need the issue name/number, the option you picked, the date you answered (if not today), and the nation name (if not this one) to be able to give a useful answer.

[The Chuck]

-The name of the nation that had this effect: The Chuck
- The day that this effect was encountered: 5/11/2019
- The name of the issue, and if you know it, the number of the issue: "Regarding Robbers’ Rights" NationStates Issue No. 158 Option 1. “We must take a stand against burglars and looters entering our property,” explains HDA President, Catherine Gratwick, while digging a moat around her house. “We should be able to rip their guts out with a machine gun, no questions asked. If they want rights they should have considered the poor sod they were robbing.”

I chose this and it actually caused my weaponization to go down. Not sure if I'm just so high on weaponization that it cancels out or what?

Pretty much. Weaponisation is a secondary stat, meaning that it takes into account many of the factors within the issue's stats and your nation's own stats (which means they can be slightly unpredictable). Allowing people to bombard burglars with heavy artillery doesn't really change anything if they already have access to a lot of weaponry already.

If it helps your headcanon, perhaps think of it that there are fewer burglars with weapons (if only after they attempted a few home robberies).

Damn, how am I supposed to dethrone Little Flowers as the most weaponized? lol. Thanks for your help The Free Joy State!

[Colonalia]

Allow children to come out of the closet, Civil rights go down Can someone please explain?

[The Marsupial Illuminati]

Allow children to come out of the closet, Civil rights go down Can someone please explain?

You restricted freedom of speech by banning certain advertisements.

[Noroo Tusdeta]

On the issue Tariff-ic Trouble (#1134, which I just answered on this nation 5/13/2019), why did my business subsidization go up when I selected the "invertebrates of the year" option that tries to negotiate by responding to a tariff increase by lowering tariffs? I would have expected if anything that bending over to a foreign trade partner to give them a fairer deal would have lowered business subsidization.