NationStates

Issue: A mother in @NAME@ was disturbed when she found out that her 12 year old son spent an uncanny amount of @CURRENCYPLURAL@ in exchange for a million "Barrytokens" without her consent. She blames the wildly popular video game Maxxi Brawler known infamously for it's gacha system. It's remains a mystery how she chose to directly address this problem to YOU.

Valid for all nations that do not ban video games

Option 1: "I can't believe what my son did!" exclaims @RANDOMNAME@, the mother of the 12 year old. "I don't even know how he was able to get away with spending real money on these Barry- whatevers without consequence! We need to ban Maxxi Brawler and other pay to win games from children under 18, and treat it like it is. Gambling." She immediately whips out her own phone and plays yet another game of Chocolate Crush.

Fallout: Children look to the black market to find used copies of Maxxi Brawler

Option 2: "The truth is, this crazy parent could have taken basic steps to prevent her son from making in app purchases, and she chose not to," claims online streamer *Random Name.* "If anything, I'm almost glad she lost money. Speaking of money, thank you for all of the donations! I couldn't keep this channel alive without you," he says while gaming and avoiding extra questions. "Seriously though, what I'm saying is, we can't just ban everything that causes any sort of controversy, and that includes online gambling. Maxxi Brawler is also clearly not a pay to win game; it's just that some people, uh, naturally suck at it."

Fallout: Children often (unsuccessfully) explain to their parents that video game characters like Calvary Charles and Bayonet Braxton are worth spending real money on

Option 3: "I don't see a problem with this at all!" claims @RANDOMNAME@, the CEO of Maxxi Brawler. "The new Calvary Charles character has given our studio incredible revenue, and banning in app purchases would ruin our buisiness model. Oh, but the mother can have her cake and eat it too. We are developing advanced technology that hijacks in app purchases from the mother's account to the buyer's, if the user is under 18 of course. Just imagine the looks on these greedy kid's faces when they realize they are the ones who are actually paying for Calvary Charles."

Fallout: Children learn the concept of money in increasingly unorthodox ways.

Option 4: "I have an even better idea!" yells John Xina, who you swear was not invited to the press conference. "Maxxi Brawler's headquarters are in Dàguó so it's clear that we should follow Dàguó's model. Video games are limited to one hour a day, three days a week, Friday through Sunday. Surely @NAME'S@ kids will become model citizens." Right? Anyone...

Fallout: Video games are the poster child of bad Social Credit

Greetings - welcome to Got Issues! As it looks like this is your first issue draft, please take a look at the Got Issues FAQ and How to Write and Issue thread, here: viewtopic.php?f=13&t=424657

That thread will have lots of useful information, including the proper formatting for the macros you're looking to use.

One quick suggestion/comment - try to avoid quite so directly just using real-world names from the subject you're riffing on. The name miHoYo is the actual studio name of the creator of the gacha game Genshin Impact, so calling the game Mihoyo Impact would be like writing an in-game issue about an internet browser called "Microsoft Explorer" - too direct for NS. Similar comment regarding the term "Moragems" that simply combines the real game's in-game currencies, Mora and Primogems. Same again with the character names... the real game faced controversy over a character called Zhongli, so using "Zhongqui" is not much of a change.

When it comes to it, those proper names are immaterial to the issue in NS, and including them takes away more than it adds - especially in effect lines. They're sufficiently out of place that despite the fact that I'd literally never heard of the game in question before now, it was obvious enough that it was pulled directly from a real world game that I found everything I commented on above within less than a minute. Try to focus on the meat of the issue - things like kids spending real money on fake currency, or gambling on loot creates to try and get unlocks. That issue isn't limited to just one game, just one character, or just one currency, so more general descriptions can be used. Definitely do look to take inspiration from the real world, but make the topic your own when you write!

While not a full overlap, be aware of issue #901 "You Buy That?" as well, which is related to the sale of virtual content for real money.

Final note for the moment, I think the word you're looking for in the title and in the first option is Gambling, not Gamboling. Very different meanings.

Maybe add something to how this got brought to Leaders desk, like because in general this wouldn't get brought up directly to the leader of the country. Maybe I'm wrong about that but yk

There have already been two similar issues related to in app purchases/ online gambling, so the premise would work as an issue

https://nsindex.net/wiki/NationStates_Issue_No._686

https://nsindex.net/wiki/NationStates_Issue_No._901

I read the title "Mobile Gambling" and was half-expecting this to be an issue about @@RANDOMNAME@@ going about, touring @@HIS@@ casino on wheels around @@NAME@@ and raking in the money. Alas!

The fact that an issue about in-app purchases has been done before is probably a good indication that another issue about in-app purchases shouldn't be done. We'd have several dozen issues about whether to make voting compulsory or voluntary if people ran under that assumption at the dawn of the issues game.

Tinhampton wrote:Alternative idea: I read the title "Mobile Gambling" and was half-expecting this to be an issue about @@RANDOMNAME@@ going about, touring @@HIS@@ casino on wheels around @@NAME@@ and raking in the money

That’s actually a pretty good play on words

Tee Googly Coffee Me wrote:Maybe add something to how this got brought to Leaders desk, like because in general this wouldn't get brought up directly to the leader of the country. Maybe I'm wrong about that but yk

Not that long ago the Chinese government enacted new laws that seriously restrict the amount of time children can spend playing online games (sorry I can't provide a link at this moment). Search for that news topic and it might provide you with more material to work with.

I actually knew that already . Genshin Impact was made in a studio in Shanghai

Socialist Ancomistan wrote:I actually knew that already . Genshin Impact was made in a studio in Shanghai

You know that this issue is based on Genshin Impact. Verdant Haven, an editor, knows that this issue is based on Genshin Impact. Everybody on this forum who has ever played Genshin Impact, ever, knows that this issue is based on Genshin Impact. Yet you insist that this issue ought to be based on Genshin Impact! Or you could, uhhh

Baggieland wrote:

Tee Googly Coffee Me wrote:Maybe add something to how this got brought to Leaders desk, like because in general this wouldn't get brought up directly to the leader of the country. Maybe I'm wrong about that but yk

Not that long ago the Chinese government enacted new laws that seriously restrict the amount of time children can spend playing online games (sorry I can't provide a link at this moment). Search for that news topic and it might provide you with more material to work with.

When Fortnite China was around, they limited the gametime for users under 18 and it also had gameplay changes. Epic pulled it out of China due to those restrictions and they couldn't really market it well (or if you're a China watcher, you'll say Epic pissed of the CCP).

Tinhampton wrote:I read the title "Mobile Gambling" and was half-expecting this to be an issue about @@RANDOMNAME@@ going about, touring @@HIS@@ casino on wheels around @@NAME@@ and raking in the money. Alas!

The fact that an issue about in-app purchases has been done before is probably a good indication that another issue about in-app purchases shouldn't be done. We'd have several dozen issues about whether to make voting compulsory or voluntary if people ran under that assumption at the dawn of the issues game.

A traveling casino… that might not be such a bad idea…

Socialist Ancomistan wrote:There have already been two similar issues related to in app purchases/ online gambling, so the premise would work as an issue

https://nsindex.net/wiki/NationStates_Issue_No._686

https://nsindex.net/wiki/NationStates_Issue_No._901

Yeah, that’s the exact read it probably won’t be accepted
I’ve had multiple issues be scrapped for the simple reason that it bled too much into other issues

The Orwell Society wrote:

Tinhampton wrote:I read the title "Mobile Gambling" and was half-expecting this to be an issue about @@RANDOMNAME@@ going about, touring @@HIS@@ casino on wheels around @@NAME@@ and raking in the money. Alas!

The fact that an issue about in-app purchases has been done before is probably a good indication that another issue about in-app purchases shouldn't be done. We'd have several dozen issues about whether to make voting compulsory or voluntary if people ran under that assumption at the dawn of the issues game.

A traveling casino… that might not be such a bad idea…

I don't know if I'm supposed to ask questions on this thread, but do you think I should add the literal "mobile gambling" traveling casino as a fifth option? Or would that be too many topics to cover in a single issue?

Socialist Ancomistan wrote:

The Orwell Society wrote:A traveling casino… that might not be such a bad idea…

I don't know if I'm supposed to ask questions on this thread, but do you think I should add the literal "mobile gambling" traveling casino as a fifth option? Or would that be too many topics to cover in a single issue?

It would be unlikely to have any reference to a video game, at least. I once again refer you to Verdant Haven's excellent commentary!

Socialist Ancomistan wrote:

The Orwell Society wrote:A traveling casino… that might not be such a bad idea…

I don't know if I'm supposed to ask questions on this thread, but do you think I should add the literal "mobile gambling" traveling casino as a fifth option? Or would that be too many topics to cover in a single issue?

Like with any proposals and drafts you are allowed to ask questions, receive feedback and edit your drafts completely free. I am not sure if traveling casino fits the vibe with online gambling in the games. A traveling casino could work as an separate issue on its own, tho

Socialist Ancomistan wrote:Would now be a good time to edit my issue to involve a more "generic" video game, and then submit it?

Editing your draft to respond to feedback can be done anytime you want to.

After doing so you should probably wait some time for people to offer feedback on the new version before submitting.

The new draft should be edited into the original post (it's traditional to include old versions of the draft in spoiler tags, while leaving the newest version unspoiled), but also bump the thread to let people know you edited the draft, preferably with a summary of the changes.

Should I submit my issue now? I changed the title of the video game from Mihoyo Impact to the more "generic" Maxxi Brawler. Apparently I'm not allowed to reference a specific video game despite many other issues taking real world inspiration

..

I would wait for a bit more feedback. I might have some coming soon.

Socialist Ancomistan wrote:Should I submit my issue now? I changed the title of the video game from Mihoyo Impact to the more "generic" Maxxi Brawler. Apparently I'm not allowed to reference a specific video game despite many other issues taking real world inspiration

No. All you appear to have done is changed the name of the video game without editing out any of the other exceedingly obvious Genshin Impact references.

How could you get infinite anything for 1,000 @@CURRENCYPLURAL@@? Not even the BBC's moral mini-panic over loot boxes in July 2019, 'The kids emptied our bank account playing Fifa' and 'My son spent £3,160 in one game', had any examples of this much being obtained for this little.

Edited to be less on the nose about anything related to Genshin Impact

I suggest changing things like *Nation Name* and *Random Name* into macros such as @@NAME@@ and @@RANDOMNAME@@.
If you would like a guide on macros please go here.
(Though you'll have to scroll down quite a bit to find it.)

EDIT: Also, it might not be such a good idea to give an exact number on how much the son spent since 3500 currency could be worth nothing(which means it's not rlly that big of a deal) or a lot(big deal). Maybe, change it to his mom's lifetime savings or something like that, just make sure not to give the exact amount of money.
(Not too sure if this is a good suggestion but I do suggest doing this)

Also, lots of missing quotation marks.
Basically, a lot of this:
"*Introductory sentence*" says *Speaker*, *Description of Speaker*. *Speaker's Argument*
This format is fine(and standard) but notice how the *Speaker's argument part doesn't have any quotation marks.

Also, there's already a China stand-in, Dàguó. It has already been well established in NS issues as being based off of China so I recommend changing Sinoasiatica to this.

I believe we already have a couple of issues on this exact topic. Issue 686 deals with this already, and I'm certain I encountered an issue before with exactly this premise that a child bought some rare sword in a game and spent too much of their parent's money on it, but I can't find it yet, I'll keep searching. So, I believe there already is a lot of overlap with existing issues.

As a sidenote: you shouldn't specify amounts of @@CURRENCY@@ in issues. If you want to say that they spent a lot of money on something, you can put it like "an exorbitant amount of @@CURRENCYPLURAL@@". After all, it violates player autonomy to a degree if you start assuming what amount of what currency is a lot.

I’m going to scrap this issue since it seems like there is too much overlap, even after removing the obvious Genshin Impact references.