A Basic Guide to Roleplay Alliances
How to Create a Functional Roleplay Alliance
- We've all done it before, or have at least considered doing it. Making an awesome alliance; something that creates a community of nations or something along those lines. It's an interesting concept really, because ultimately the idea of running, operating, and participating in an in-character alliance is very appealing as an RP element. However, recently have been looking over International Incident's newer alliances, and I must say that I am not pleased with the quality of these newer alliances. While some of them do indeed show promise and potential, I see many alliances that were likely made in no more than ten minutes, or are very poorly created. It should be noted that there are some alliances that are actually quite good, or at least have been made very well, yet have been mismanaged to the point of it being useless.
- Charter [ Explains the Structure and Purpose of your Alliance ]
- Roster [ Includes The Member Nations of your Alliance ]
- Application/Method of Entry [ Usually a Form that Interested Player's Fill out to join your Alliance ]
When creating an alliance, I would recommend including the following three things in your Original Post, or posts.
Now, before I get into any specifics, allow me to explain what you should not do when creating an alliance. These are the things that I see time and time again, and they make me just smack my head, and sometimes cry.
The 'Application and Roster' Alliance - This type of alliance is one that I see far too often, and when these alliances become popular it is usually cringeworthy. Pretty much, these alliances are an emblem, a title, an application, and a list of members. The point being ( I'd assume ) that you fill out the application so that you can get your name on the list, and to be honest this is often ( and by often I mean always ) hilariously stupid. It gets to the point of complete noobery/lulzanarchy, and nothing good ever comes out of these, well, unless some guardian angels pop by and tell you better.
The 'Accept Everyone' Alliance - Technically, there isn't anything really wrong with this type of alliance, in fact I have seen several alliances like this that work very well. However, almost ninety nine percent of the time these are done unintentionally, and just become trashy. This is the type of alliance that accepts anybody, and I mean anybody. When this is the case, you'll often see awful noobs get accepted, and from there they just wreak havoc. I've seen alliances accept members into their alliance whom completely contradict the alliance's interests, and even structure. It is sort of like a Nazi Youth joining the Komsomol; it just doesn't make any sense. Keep in mind when you start an alliance that you want members who will do good for the alliance, and whom are worthy of your standard. If you don't have a standard for membership - something is terribly wrong.
The 'Accept Everyone' Alliance - Technically, there isn't anything really wrong with this type of alliance, in fact I have seen several alliances like this that work very well. However, almost ninety nine percent of the time these are done unintentionally, and just become trashy. This is the type of alliance that accepts anybody, and I mean anybody. When this is the case, you'll often see awful noobs get accepted, and from there they just wreak havoc. I've seen alliances accept members into their alliance whom completely contradict the alliance's interests, and even structure. It is sort of like a Nazi Youth joining the Komsomol; it just doesn't make any sense. Keep in mind when you start an alliance that you want members who will do good for the alliance, and whom are worthy of your standard. If you don't have a standard for membership - something is terribly wrong.
Now with that in mind, you can begin constructing your alliance. With an unlimited amount of possibilities, great fun can come out of this process, and maybe when you're all done you will have made something pretty neat.
The Charter
- When creating your alliance, the charter will be the most important aspect of your alliance. This charter is pretty much like your organization's constitution, and thus is incredibly important to your alliance, insofar as your charter is your alliance itself. In fact, try thinking about it like this: your alliance is your charter. Thus, you must have a good charter. But what exactly is a charter, and how do you make one?
A charter is pretty much a constitution, as I said before, or the structure of your organization. In your charter all of your alliance's protocols and rules are detailed. In your charter, you should establish the aims and purpose behind your alliance, and you should detail what exactly it means to be in your alliance. Your charter should also outline what is expected of its ( your alliance's ) members. For example, if "Cartagrad" joins the "Generic Alliance", Cartagrad is promising that the Cartagrad country will abide to the rules of your alliance's charter. If the charter says the Cartagrad must 'give a certain amount of money to the Alliance's Military Fund", Cartagrad would have to give a certain amount of money as a member of the alliance.
However, the rules of your alliance shouldn't be the alliance itself. The rules, clauses, and protocols of your alliance are meant to ensure that your alliance is capable of following through on its said goal or aim. Nations do not simply join organizations so that they may donate money to a random fund. Ultimately, a nation joins an alliance so that they may work together with the other members of said coalition to achieve a certain goal; not so that they may pay money to some random fund. So with that said, if Nation A is expected to pay a certain amount of money to a certain fund; they are doing this so that the alliance/coalition can work towards its goals with greater ease ( or so that they may have the means to work towards their goals ). This example is obviously quite specific, but nevertheless I hope that I have made my point clear.
*A thing worth noting is that the policy for accepting new members is something that should be included in the charter, and not assumed.
Good Examples of Charters - The Oceanic Defense Coalition | The Sovereign Network | The Judean Sanctum
Application
- An application is the form that one must complete to possibly gain entry into an alliance, and applications are usually either screened by an alliance's founder, or are voted on by alliance members; and a majority vote will often grant a nation access into an alliance. The fields of your alliance's application really depend on your alliance, and what is included in the charter - but it should generally include everything that your alliance would need to know about another alliance member. Nation name, government type, leader, current conflicts, population, RPing skill; things along those lines are quite important. However, when making a basic alliance, you'll usually see this ( at minimum ); nation name, population, etc.
As for IC development - you'll want to include anything that your alliance would want to know about its members, or what you would want to know about an alliance-mate. Thus, nation name, type of government, region, description of your nation, description of your nation's people, economic strength, military size, etc. But if you have set up an alliance that is moreso dedicated to the economic swing of things; your application should likely include more economically oriented fields.
Another thing that should be kept in mind is the application procedure. This is essentially how applications are handled. If 'Cartagrad' applies for an alliance, the application procedure would be what decides whether or not said nation gets accepted or not. Often you'll see the alliance as a whole vote on an application, and if a majority approves, the said applicant gets accepted, however sometimes councils or even individual nations decide whether or not a nation gets accepted. Your application procedure should also be detailed in your charter.
Application Examples - The Incursus Application | The Sovereign Network Application
After you Have Posted your Alliance
- After posting an alliance, you'll usually face a few stages. You'll likely get some interested people, who will go and apply for your alliance, they will be accepted/denied, and possibly added to your roster. After a while your alliance will consist of a few members. That's cool - but you don't want to sit around for too long. You'll want to get to some roleplaying in after a while with your alliance; and if you fail to do so it becomes useless. When considering what you want to do with your alliance, I advise that you discuss it with your alliance's members OoCly first; and maybe, with luck, you can get an interesting roleplay going. It is generally just a matter of activity at that point; if you have active members sitting around, a roleplay can likely just pop up after a few chats about ideas and such. Your alliance might also find itself dealing with foreign influences, and thus interacting with other roleplayers/roleplaying factions. Either is good really; in the end RP is all about having a good time.
They're more things you'll wanna keep in mind after your alliance gets rolling, mainly along the lines of building your community and such, and you may find yourself creating an alliance forum, or maybe even an IRC Channel. But before you can do any of that you need to established an active base. Thus, roleplaying with your alliance and IC related affairs are really important. I cannot emphasize this enough. If you set a high standard for your alliance, put effort into its creation, and develop an active community, I think that you will most likely see yourself doing well with your alliance.
I don't expect this guide to get praise or anything, because ultimately I'd just like to see some better alliances in International Incidents. It's entirely my own opinion, and should not be perceived as being anything but such. I'm beginning to get tired of the low standard ( of alliances ) that I see being everyday on this forum. This guide really wasn't written for the experienced veterans on this board, but rather it is meant to be for all the people who join nationstates, pop onto International Incidents and generally see shameful/low quality alliances.
Thank you for reading, I hope you found this helpful.
<- The 
I praise thee.
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