Dwarfpolis wrote:BASED Trotterdam. Based, simply BASED.
I have no idea what that even means.
Dwarfpolis wrote:EDIT: YOU, yes YOU the reader, archive this with archive.is regularly in case this gets taken down
Are you talking about my spoilers, or your image?
If you mean my spoilers, they can't get taken down. They're not on the NationStates server, so it's outside the mods' authority. The most the game staff can do is scramble the game mechanics to make it harder for me to track them in any meaningful way (which would affect even people who aren't using my site), or maybe just IP-ban me personally from the API (which wouldn't stop me from continuing to host the data I already have, though it would gradually grow out-of-date). Even if all my nations were deleted and I was declared delete-on-sight, that would not technically prevent me from continuing to maintain my list (though it might eat away at my motivation to do so). Archiving this site is not useful since the latest information will almost always be the most accurate.
If you mean your image, I hope it does get taken down. I do not appreciate being cursed at.
Chan Island wrote:Unless the oracle at Delphi is back in business, or there is a supercomputer around I don't know about, then no nation is able to exactly predict every outcome of their decisions.
No, but by the same token, nations do have numerous expert advisors as well as ability to reference historical precedent, and don't make decisions based on nothing more than a single paragraph of text to go on.
Chan Island wrote:EDIT: Oh, and since this nation is already basically completely random when it comes to issues, I will enjoy deliberately answering issues in choices that so far the script has not picked up.
Thanks! This is helpful. (EDIT: Except that you're a WA member. Oh well.)
Ransium wrote:Since their have been questions about legality, I would like to state unambiguously that what Trotterdam is doing is legal by our site rules (Caveat: Not a techie so I cannot speak to the legality of the script he is using, but the final product is legal.)
You can ask [violet] to check just to be sure, but I have read the script rules and made sure to follow them. Even the "this isn't technically a rule but we'd prefer you did it anyway" ones.
Kurnugia wrote:Here is the thing: As soon as there is a multiplayer aspect, which with the comparative stats you have, you are influencing the enjoyment of other players.
The stated core precept of the game has always been that there is no way to "win" or "lose", and that the point is not about picking the right options but the ones that suit your nation. Using my predictions will enhance that, by ensuring that the nation highest on a ranking is not the one who has the most metagame information on how to raise that ranking, but rather the nation that cares the most about that ranking and is willing to raise it at the expense of other stuff. This is in tune with the original stated intent of the NationStates gameplay experience, even if the existence of rankings does naturally inspire people to try to "win" them.
Currently, the nations that are highest in the leaderboards tend to be the ones with enough experience to already know what issues improve the stats they're interested in, and who are answering based on their own recorded experience. All I'm doing in this regard is make it easier for newbies to compete, rather than the same small handful of people obsessive enough to compile the same data I'm offering
without using a script always dominating.
This makes sense. In real life, if a nation passes a new law and it makes crime rates go up or down, it's not going to make this information a state secret that other nations interested in passing a similar law are strictly forbidden from ever looking it. That's just public knowledge and sensible politicians (yeah yeah, oxymoron, I know)
will look at other nations' experiences before making a decision.