NationStates

Category: Education and Creativity
Area of Effect: Artistic

The World Assembly,

Understanding that electronic gaming is an immensely popular hobby within many member states,

Delighted with the positive impacts of gaming, such as increased revenue for technology companies, less stress for overworked citizens and the contributions to overall modern culture,

Believing that a union of World Assembly member states to promote the art of gaming will be a net positive to society, hereby enacts the following, subject to extant World Assembly legislation:

1. “Games” in this resolution shall refer to any game played on an electronic device, for the purposes of this resolution.
   
2. The World Assembly Gaming Organisation (WAGO) is hereby established. The WAGO shall be an opt-in organisation exclusive to member states, excepting any member state noncompliant with extant World Assembly legislation. All other member states are encouraged to join this organisation.
   
3. The WAGO shall establish the Games Library (the Library). The Library shall be responsible for the following:
   1. researching into and developing new, original games or sequels/spin-offs to previous games (with all relevant permission acquired and compensation paid).
   2. acquiring the exclusive rights to sell certain games.
   3. curating the above games into the Library and making this Library available to all WAGO members, ensuring that the games available in member states are legal for consumption in that member state.
   4. subsidising access to the Library for residents of member states that are unable to afford it.
   5. revoking access to the Library to nations or people that are noncompliant with existing World Assembly legislation.
4. The WAGO shall establish the Tournaments Committee (TC). The TC shall be responsible for the following:
   1. researching the popularity of games and prioritising the organisation of tournaments based on the economic benefits of the potential tournaments.
   2. identifying and cooperating with suitable WAGO members willing to host gaming tournaments within their territory.
   3. hosting and being responsible for the logistics and promotion of these gaming tournaments, these tasks may be delegated towards relevant WAGO member states if more efficient.
   4. promoting games with potential to rake in large amounts of money in future tournaments.
5. Member states shall establish systems to provide counseling and assistance to those addicted to gaming, proportional to the amount of gaming addicts in their jurisdiction.
   
6. Member states shall establish “International Gamers Day” on the 12th of November annually, or equivalent date if suitable. On this day, all corn chips and carbonated drinks (Gaming Fuel) in member states where they are sold shall receive a 1% discount off the price they are ordinarily sold at, unless a business selling Gaming Fuel can demonstrably prove that doing as such will bankrupt the business.

I cannot support this resolution in good conscience.

1. There exist many mandatory provisions in WA law. Not all of the actions required (or prohibited) by the World Assembly are equally praiseworthy (or damnable). For example:
   
   1. Article 2 of GA#38 forbids member states "from perpetrating acts of genocide,"
   2. Article 2 of GA#90 forbids members from "pressuring [any other] nations to adopt changes in their recreational drugs policy,"
   3. The sixth requirement of GA#161 is that each prison in a member state must contain a ward which "Arranges for the safe transfer of prisoners to outside facilities for those who require specialized medical care beyond that offered by the Prison medical ward,"
   4. Article 2 of GA#301 states that "within no more than four years since" its provisions come into force for a particular member state, no leaded "fuels at all [may be] produced within its borders or brought into therein for civilian use," and
   5. Article 4d of GA#548 mandates that members "inform their citizens of the prevalence of microplastics and ways in which individuals can alter consumer behaviour to reduce microplastic pollution."
2. Sanctions for member states that do not comply with these provisions exist and are widely supported. Article I.1 of GA#440 authorises a WA commitee called the Independent Adjudicative Office (IAO) to impose fines upon member states who refuse to comply with active GA resolutions. If those non-compliant members are indeed fined and refuse to pay those fines, Article IV.4 thereof requires all other member states to sanction the members in question. The sanctions provisions of GA#440 are widely accepted by participants in the General Assembly community - as witnessed by the recent discussion on Macadia - and there have been no serious attempts to repeal GA#440 since September 2018.
   
   
3. The GA allows for sanctions to be enforced upon non-members who do not comply with certain resolutions. Notably, Article 10 of GA#17 requires that "[g]oods produced, in whole or in part, through servitude shall be permanently embargoed" regardless of where they were produced. Article 3 of GA#566 allows non-members to submit themselves for a WHA-led inspection of a disease outbreak within their borders (and such inspections are required of member states by Article 1 thereof); however, if a non-member agrees to such an inspection and then "fails to comply with section 1 access and retaliation requirements as if it were a member nation, at the instigation of the WA Solicitors Office, the [IAO] may declare appropriate sanctions to be enforced by member nations against the nation or those persons responsible in that nation for such non-compliance."
   
   
4. The proposed World Assembly Gaming Organisation cannot offer its services to non-compliant entities. Article 2 of the eponymous draft says that WAGO membership is open only to "member states, excepting any member state noncompliant with extant World Assembly legislation." Article 3e requires that WAGO remove access to its Games Library "to nations or people that are noncompliant with existing World Assembly legislation." It does not matter with which provisions an entity is non-compliant with, to what extent the IAO has fined them (or sanctions have been required for non-payment), whether they genuinely seek to cease non-compliance or even intended to fall foul of WA law: WAGO must nonetheless restrict access to all of them. (The effort required on WAGO's part to ascertain that subscribers to its Games Library are in full compliance with all resolutions - especially taking into account whether they are absent, acquitted, apologetic, or otherwise - would be colossal even were this not an issue.)
   
   
5. Passage of the draft as-is would set a dangerous precedent for committees. As has been made clear in my points B and C, there is no language in GA#17, GA#440, GA#566 or any other resolution requiring that any WA committee restrict access to any service to any legal or natural person based on whether or not they comply with any resolution; such sanctions have always been the responsibility of member states. Requiring that WAGO deny service to non-compliant entities would pave the way for committees whose tasks are far more important than a steady supply of video games for the multiversal population to do the same: future resolutions could forbid committees from offering technical assistance to member states who cannot comply with particular resolutions due to their status as such, even if they seek to become compliant and are willing to be supported by those committees on their journey to compliance. The precedent set by Articles 2 and 3e of World Assembly Gaming Organisation would no doubt weigh heavily on the minds of those particular authors.

(Even if all of this wasn't a concern, I still have questions about the other aspects of your document. Does Article 3c just allow WAGO members to ban any games they don't like? Who gets all the money from the Tournaments Committee's tournaments? Why does Article 5 assistance have to be "proportional to the amount of gaming addicts in their jurisdiction" rather than necessarily tailored to the needs of the individual addicts? Are all drinks that have CO₂ in them "Gaming Fuel?" )

Tinhampton wrote:snip

snip

Thanks for raising the issue on investigating people, which on the internet will certainly be difficult, so I'll remove that provision. However, not removing anything else.

Does Article 3c just allow WAGO members to ban any games they don't like?

Only in that state. The WA is not going to foist propaganda games on WAGO members likewise members won't foist their ideals on others.

Who gets all the money from the Tournaments Committee's tournaments?

I thought about this, and decided that the WAGO and member state would work it out between themselves in their 'cooperation'.

Why does Article 5 assistance have to be "proportional to the amount of gaming addicts in their jurisdiction" rather than necessarily tailored to the needs of the individual addicts?

The idea was so that super advanced societies that have eliminated gaming addiction/backwards Ug-ug no tech countries don't have to spend money, but good point. Will be fixed.

Are all drinks that have CO₂ in them "Gaming Fuel?" )

Yes.

"Opposed. The General Fund should not be used for such fripperies, especially as regards to being used to procure unhealthy foods for participants."

Opposed. A waste of money, but a great draft.

The Orwell Society wrote:Opposed. A waste of money, but a great draft.

How is this a waste of money? Elaborate. While WA bureaucrats and corrupt politicians roll around in taxpayer money intended for boring old cultural sites, the common gamer don't have access to these games. Unbelievable.

-Benji

Honeydewistania wrote:

The Orwell Society wrote:Opposed. A waste of money, but a great draft.

How is this a waste of money? Elaborate. While WA bureaucrats and corrupt politicians roll around in taxpayer money intended for boring old cultural sites, the common gamer don't have access to these games. Unbelievable.

-Benji

The "common gamer" is not worthy of international attention, let alone legislation.

Tinhampton wrote:

1. [b]
2. Article 2 of GA#90 forbids members from "pressuring [any other] nations to adopt changes in their recreational drugs policy,"
3. The sixth requirement of GA#161 is that each prison in a member state must contain a ward which "Arranges for the safe transfer of prisoners to outside facilities for those who require specialized medical care beyond that offered by the Prison medical ward,"
4. Article 2 of GA#301 states that "within no more than four years since" its provisions come into force for a particular member state, no leaded "fuels at all [may be] produced within its borders or brought into therein for civilian use," and

“The following parts of your argument are not in any way relevant to this proposal. How does this proposal forces changes in drug policy, relate to prisoners, or even matter in the field of leaded fuels?”

“In any case, the Clevesian Empire is opposed on the grounds that the subject of gaming has no place in WA legislation. Let us move on to more serious matters.”
-Ms. Charlotte Schafer, WA Ambassador for the Clevesian Empire

Mr. Hepperle,

The continued attempts by certain delegations to find ever more petty minutae to regulate that ought to be below the notice of this nest of whores and vipers should not have been taken as an invitation for a race to the bottom.

GAMERS RISE UP

Mario-karting his way in while dodging green shells like green goblins, says the Ambassaspider, "I have one, rather minor, a little nitpicky suggestion to make:

'developing new, original games or sequels/spin-offs to previous games'

could be expanded into

'developing new, original games and/or sequels, prequels, remakes, reboots and spin-offs of previous games'

This way, game creators in member states could have a much wider range of creative access. Thanks for your time."

Spiderman swings back to a ledge overlooking the skyline, evading a banana peel along the way.

Ambassador Tappe: “This is a clear case of WA overreach. This body should not concern itself with curating gaming libraries or organizing video game tournaments. Our government will strongly oppose this, should it reach the voting floor.”

OOC: Let’s not.

OOC: A noble extension of my "make World Assembly legislation more fun" idea. I don't know if I support it passing, but I certainly support it getting to vote.

IC: "While my nation is not opposed to scheduled tournaments, we are opposed to the World Assembly commandeering the gaming industry from so many companies that have never gone against the best interest of the consumer. The World Assembly may recognize and promote these products, but we oppose so long as they are in the business of creating the products."

[One of Morover's top industries is video game, and specifically VR, development.]

Bananaistan wrote:"Opposed. The General Fund should not be used for such fripperies, especially as regards to being used to procure unhealthy foods for participants."

No WA funds are used to fund the 'procuring of unhealthy foods' if you're referring to the ultimate clause. Also, gaming tournamemts are lucrative. They will likely earn a profit for the General Fund overall, which is obviously a benefit. You of all people should support efforts at making the General Fund's pit bottom slightly lower, Comrade Ted

The Orwell Society wrote:

Honeydewistania wrote:How is this a waste of money? Elaborate. While WA bureaucrats and corrupt politicians roll around in taxpayer money intended for boring old cultural sites, the common gamer don't have access to these games. Unbelievable.

-Benji

The "common gamer" is not worthy of international attention, let alone legislation.

I suppose you would then support repeals of universal healthcare and civil rights because the common man does not deserve attention, Disembodied Voice.

Anne of Cleves in TNP wrote:

Tinhampton wrote:

1. [b]
2. Article 2 of GA#90 forbids members from "pressuring [any other] nations to adopt changes in their recreational drugs policy,"
3. The sixth requirement of GA#161 is that each prison in a member state must contain a ward which "Arranges for the safe transfer of prisoners to outside facilities for those who require specialized medical care beyond that offered by the Prison medical ward,"
4. Article 2 of GA#301 states that "within no more than four years since" its provisions come into force for a particular member state, no leaded "fuels at all [may be] produced within its borders or brought into therein for civilian use," and

“The following parts of your argument are not in any way relevant to this proposal. How does this proposal forces changes in drug policy, relate to prisoners, or even matter in the field of leaded fuels?”

“In any case, the Clevesian Empire is opposed on the grounds that the subject of gaming has no place in WA legislation. Let us move on to more serious matters.”
-Ms. Charlotte Schafer, WA Ambassador for the Clevesian Empire

How is gaming not a serious matter? Gaming is not a joke. It is an enormous industry which the World Assembly should harness to further their goals in other "serious" areas with the lucrative tournament revenues.

Desmosthenes and Burke wrote:Mr. Hepperle,

The continued attempts by certain delegations to find ever more petty minutae to regulate that ought to be below the notice of this nest of whores and vipers should not have been taken as an invitation for a race to the bottom.

Where's the regulation in this proposal? WAGO is a voluntary opt-in, the only mandates are the gaming addiction counselling (which I'm considering making optional as well) and the gamers day, which is a tiny mandate with very little real world consequences.

Spiderman wrote:Mario-karting his way in while dodging green shells like green goblins, says the Ambassaspider, "I have one, rather minor, a little nitpicky suggestion to make:

'developing new, original games or sequels/spin-offs to previous games'

could be expanded into

'developing new, original games and/or sequels, prequels, remakes, reboots and spin-offs of previous games'

This way, game creators in member states could have a much wider range of creative access. Thanks for your time."

Spiderman swings back to a ledge overlooking the skyline, evading a banana peel along the way.

We are grateful to the Webbed Ambassaspider for his great suggestion. We will incorporate this.

Astrobolt wrote:Ambassador Tappe: “This is a clear case of WA overreach. This body should not concern itself with curating gaming libraries or organizing video game tournaments. Our government will strongly oppose this, should it reach the voting floor.”

Why not? There's no overreach. The WA is not interfering with existing tournaments. Why should this body concern itself with preserving unique marine sanctuaries or cultural sites but not this?

Morover wrote:
"While my nation is not opposed to scheduled tournaments, we are opposed to the World Assembly commandeering the gaming industry from so many companies that have never gone against the best interest of the consumer. The World Assembly may recognize and promote these products, but we oppose so long as they are in the business of creating the products."

[One of Morover's top industries is video game, and specifically VR, development.]

Thank you. Would a provision that WAGO help to develop and fund games instead of directly create them be less objectionable? Or would you suggest not doing anything at all with regards to making games, and stick to promoting them?

OOC: Let’s not.

OOC: Why?

"Morover would tentatively be in support of the World Assembly funding our - well, the world's - gaming studios. While, as we mentioned, we are opposed to the World Assembly commandeering the rightful domain of private companies, we do enjoy boosts to our economy, and, frankly, given the sizeable donations my nation has made to the General Fund, it is the least that it can do in return."

"How is this an international issue?"

Magecastle Embassy Building A5 wrote:"How is this an international issue?"

Promoting co-operation between nations is worthy of international attention.

Honeydewistania wrote:

Magecastle Embassy Building A5 wrote:"How is this an international issue?"

Promoting co-operation between nations is worthy of international attention.

"How is international legislation necessary to promote cooperation specifically on the status of electrical currents, ambassador?

I just don't see how e-gaming is a topic that the World Assembly needs to take international action to promote, especially combined with blatant joke policies such as section 6."

Magecastle Embassy Building A5 wrote:

Honeydewistania wrote:Promoting co-operation between nations is worthy of international attention.

"How is international legislation necessary to promote cooperation specifically on the status of electrical currents, ambassador?

I just don't see how e-gaming is a topic that the World Assembly needs to take international action to promote, especially combined with blatant joke policies such as section 6."

Gaming is a very lucrative industry and is nowhere near small and unowrthy of WA legislation. It's a great opportunity for the World Assembly to finally have some perks of membership rather than pages and pages of regulations.

The "International Gamer's Day" discount rule is ludicrous.

Overall, while I was hesitant at first I can see how this might be a good resolution, especially considering how it offers perks for membership, which seems (rather unfortunately) to be an original concept

Comfed wrote:The "International Gamer's Day" discount rule is ludicrous.

OOC: That's to stop committee only rule from kicking in. See "Greenhouse Gas Cap and Trade Program"

Honeydewistania wrote:

Magecastle Embassy Building A5 wrote:"How is international legislation necessary to promote cooperation specifically on the status of electrical currents, ambassador?

I just don't see how e-gaming is a topic that the World Assembly needs to take international action to promote, especially combined with blatant joke policies such as section 6."

Gaming is a very lucrative industry

"Not in all nations, ambassador."

Honeydewistania wrote:and is nowhere near small and unowrthy of WA legislation. It's a great opportunity for the World Assembly to finally have some perks of membership rather than pages and pages of regulations.

"Is free trade in, among other things, games, not enough of a "perk of membership" to not need setting up what accomplishes nothing more than some private corporation having a monopoly on the gaming industry?"

Honeydewistania wrote:

Comfed wrote:The "International Gamer's Day" discount rule is ludicrous.

OOC: That's to stop committee only rule from kicking in. See "Greenhouse Gas Cap and Trade Program"

Ah. Well, fair enough then.

Magecastle Embassy Building A5 wrote:

Honeydewistania wrote:Gaming is a very lucrative industry

"Not in all nations, ambassador."

And? WAGO membership is optional. The mandates about gaming addiction counselling and gamers day shouldn't be exclusive to WAGO members.

Honeydewistania wrote:and is nowhere near small and unowrthy of WA legislation. It's a great opportunity for the World Assembly to finally have some perks of membership rather than pages and pages of regulations.

"Is free trade in, among other things, games, not enough of a "perk of membership" to not need setting up what accomplishes nothing more than some private corporation having a monopoly on the gaming industry?"

Can you rephrase your point? I'm busy eating my discounted corn chips and am having trouble understanding what you're trying to say with this.

-Benji

The ambassador rolls his eyes _

"It provides no incentives whatsoever to those nations for WA membership, because that is what your aim seems to be, ambassador..."