[SUBMITTED] Drive-By Revolution

[West Barack and East Obama]

[title] Drive-By Revolution

[desc] It has been revealed that the international human rights organisation "Get Flashed!" has been smuggling flash drives containing propaganda against your regime into @@NAME@@.

[validity] low civil and political rights, restricted or no Internet, has computers

[option] "These flash drives are nothing but baseless lies attempting to erode trust in our leadership" scoffs Police Commissioner @@RANDOMNAME@@ as he twirls a thick truncheon around his finger. "We must stop them before they brainwash any of our citizens and stoke up riots and violence. Banish flash drives, DVDs and other devices made to store and share digital data from our nation by confiscating and incinerating them, and severely punish anyone who flouts these rules."

[effect] burning DVDs has a whole new meaning

[option] "Please, @@LEADER@@, let us keep our drives!" begs local film buff @@RANDOMNAME@@. "Look, not all of us are interested in starting a revolution. Most of us are just interested in films and music, and without the Internet these physical copies of media are all we have. But since these devices are so expensive, people have been resorting to getting them off the black market, leading to all this nasty anti-government stuff being spread. Maybe if the government directly provided us with these drives and their content, we can view more approved wholesome content and less instructions on how to start an uprising. It's truly the best of both worlds!"

[effect] the revolution won't be televised but will be available on DVD

[option] "We should be talking about the root cause of the problem: smugglers!" moans your Chief of Border Protection @@RANDOMNAME@@. "No matter what we try to make illegal, smugglers are still going to do it. That's, like, their whole job. Give my department the funds needed to infiltrate these smuggler rings and shut down their operations. If we're lucky, they could even lead us to these irritating "Get Flashed!" lunatics! I've got a couple of spots in my 'detention camps' reserved just for them."

[effect] it's more dangerous to sneak a flash drive into the country than a brick of cocaine

[option] "Meddling, lily-livered liberal scum!" bellows your hot-tempered brother as he watches a "Get Flashed!" film. "Couldn't they have chosen a better looking actor to portray me? Uh, I mean these foreign propagandists are seeking to undermine our stable leadership and it's unacceptable! Well, it's about time we fought fire with fire. Assemble a group of @@DEMONYMADJ@@ operatives with exclusive access to the internet to spread disinformation about our enemies. If they want an information war, they can get it."

[effect] internet forums are filled with @@DEMONYMADJ@@ operatives and foreign agents trying to out-lie each other

[Verdant Haven]

- Option 1: This option would have the result of banning computers, video, photography, paper, recorded music, calculators, visual arts, carved stone tablets, cave paintings, and many other things. Civilization is basically defined by having the ability to record data. A little more specificity may help avoid disaster! That effect line is great though, so definitely try to keep that usable.

- Option 2: what is the actual government action here? It appears to simply be allowing the current state of affairs to continue.

- Option 3: I'd love to hear some details on what the crackdown entails, and how precisely this individual wants to "shut down" the propagandists. The effect line seems to imply a rather violent intention, which the option doesn't currently include. Totally fine – just include it! Re: the effect line, remember that we can't assume cocaine is illegal in the receiving nation.

- Effect 4: I know this goes back and forth, but personally, I really hate using real-world names, brands, etc. I think "internet forums" would be more suitable than "Reddit comment sections" anyway – that has the potential to get as dated as a "Digg" or "Adcritic" reference would be had we used them in the early days.

[West Barack and East Obama]

- Option 1: This option would have the result of banning computers, video, photography, paper, recorded music, calculators, visual arts, carved stone tablets, cave paintings, and many other things. Civilization is basically defined by having the ability to record data. A little more specificity may help avoid disaster! That effect line is great though, so definitely try to keep that usable.

Whoops. I swore I wrote the word 'digital' somewhere in my original draft I think this should resolve it.

Option 2: what is the actual government action here? It appears to simply be allowing the current state of affairs to continue.

I think this fix should have more of an impact.

Option 3: I'd love to hear some details on what the crackdown entails, and how precisely this individual wants to "shut down" the propagandists. The effect line seems to imply a rather violent intention, which the option doesn't currently include. Totally fine – just include it! Re: the effect line, remember that we can't assume cocaine is illegal in the receiving nation.

I've included it! Also, if cocaine is illegal in a receiving nation... the effect line technically isn't wrong about it being less dangerous, just that the contrast is less staggering Given the unlikelihood of a North Korean style dictatorship choosing the option to violently crack down on flash drive smugglers not also banning cocaine, I'm inclined to keeping it as it is, but if you still think it's going to be problematic I'll think of something else

Effect 4: I know this goes back and forth, but personally, I really hate using real-world names, brands, etc. I think "internet forums" would be more suitable than "Reddit comment sections" anyway – that has the potential to get as dated as a "Digg" or "Adcritic" reference would be had we used them in the early days.

I deliberately chose Reddit to evoke a specific kind of tiresome internet debate, but your suggestion works much better. Changed!

[West Barack and East Obama]

Hey I know I just met you, and this is crazy, but here's my issue, so bump me maybe

[Australian rePublic]

Option 1- Wouldn't the police commissioner know that all of @@NAME@@'s propaganda is bullshit, rather buy into it?

[West Barack and East Obama]

Option 1- Wouldn't the police commissioner know that all of @@NAME@@'s propaganda is bullshit, rather buy into it?

Or maybe he does, but he supports it because it provides him with a cushy top level police role

[Australian rePublic]

Option 1- Wouldn't the police commissioner know that all of @@NAME@@'s propaganda is bullshit, rather buy into it?

Or maybe he does, but he supports it because it provides him with a cushy top level police role

Correct. But the way it's written suggests that he buys into it, rather than knowing it's all bullshit

[West Barack and East Obama]

Bump

[Verdant Haven]

- Option 1: No need for the period at the end of the opening quote (the dialogue tag ends that sentence).

- Option 2: There are a couple of sentences awkwardly starting with "But..." in here, which make it choppy to read. Effect line probably wants "on DVD" rather than "in DVD"

- Option 3: A Minister of Immigration implies an immigration validity that isn't necessary for smugglers.

- Option 4: Wording: "Could they have..." rather than "Couldn't they had."

This draft is looking really good. With the above, I suspect it's about ready to submit.