Initial situation
The players of our region’s member states were and still are not interested in participating in military gameplay. Our region’s founder had ceased to exist, leaving the region vulnerable to invasions due to game mechanics. Compulsory military gameplay to us is as attractive and interesting as watching paint dry. It was only a matter of time before our region fell victim to one of such raids.
Goal
Restore the region as well as its community and secure the region against future assaults. Keep the region open and inviting to new nations joining. Avoid compulsory military gameplay. Continue playing NationStates in the ways we choose to play.
Options
To avoid military gameplay, it is necessary to look into the relevant game mechanics. One option is to keep the region passworded, saving it from invasions but unfortunately also from new members. Discarding this option, a way to prevent being invaded is to have a founder, since in a founderless region the WA delegate is automatically administrator of the region. Therefore, any group of players that can join a region and manage to generate enough endorsements can seize a founderless region and start wreaking havoc. An active founder can disable the WA delegate’s access to regional control. To get the chance to do that, we needed to refound, i.e. create the region anew.
Invisible password
Typhootania, the WA delegate of the region Deutschland, password-protected the region. The delegate did not check the box “Show password to residents.” The regional password was invisible to all nations except the delegate.
Thus, the password was also invisible to invader sleepers residing in the region. Invader sleepers are nations which are in a region with the players’ intent of preparing invasions. It was not necessary for the delegate to share the regional password with anyone except with the defenders who helped us with refounding. The password gave us the break needed for the democratic process. (Actually, our delegate didn’t password until later, when we had started discussing the refounding option among WA nations. It is mentioned at this point in the text, because, as WA nations can be invader sleepers, this sequence is advisable.)
Request for assistance
We needed help from players skilled in military gameplay, willing to spend time on the project, able to show up with the necessary strength in numbers, trustworthy, and committed to defending our freedom to choose which game interactions with free consent between players we participate in, and which interactions we don’t participate in. Inquiry via a telegram whether, hypothetically, the defender organisation TITO from the region 10000 Islands would help, in case the longer resident nations in the region Deutschland decided to refound. They replied that they would be happy to help.
Technical advice
Nations from Deutschland and 10000 Islands corresponded via telegrams on technical aspects.
Finding a volunteer among WA nations
The next step was to find out who was in favour of refounding, among WA nations resident in the region for some time. If there was a general tendency in support, we needed to sort out who could become future founder(s).
We needed a volunteer willing to dedicate the necessary time and effort during the refounding process as delegate, willing to take on responsibility as founder in the long term, and trusted by sufficient nations in the region. Possibly, in case the volunteer became unavailable, we needed backup candidates. Technically, it was advantageous but not vital that the volunteer delegate be a nation with a relatively high influence ranking, so as to be able to eject nations if necessary.
Regional influence rankings
Baden-Wuerttemberg started a round of telegrams among WA nations in the region. (The original telegram was in German.) The contents were:
Hello dear WA members in the region Deutschland,
1. Request to discuss this matter in private via telegrams, not on the RMB. Request to use telegrams to multiple nations for the discussion, like an email mailing list.
2. Refounding as an option that could be attempted, rather than abandoning the region.
3. Technical explanation of refounding: A new region of the same name, with a founder nation, either a new nation or an existing one. The regional message board and regional history disappear. The name Deutschland stays.
4. Possibility of assistance from the defender organisation TITO. They have already assisted various regions with refounding.
5. Refounding carries a considerable risk. There is a risk that somebody might try to grab the region name. We could take this risk, so that we don’t need to be bothered with uninteresting invasions any more. In case the refound doesn’t work out, option of jointly moving to a new region with another name.
6. Questions to WA members
Question 1. Are you in support of refounding the region Deutschland? Yes/No
Question 2. (If you answered ‘Yes’ to question 1.) Would you be a volunteer to carry out the process together with TITO, and take on responsibility as founder of Deutschland in the long term? Yes/No
Question 3. (If you answered ‘No’ to question 2.) Whom do you nominate as delegate for the refounding process and future founder? (Multiple nominations are possible.)
From the replies to this telegram, we sorted out who the volunteer delegate and future founder would be.
Volunteer elected
Once we had sorted out who the volunteer would be, our sitting delegate Typhootania temporarily resigned from the WA to drop the received endorsements, and we elected the volunteer Yermaney with our endorsements. The new delegate of the region Deutschland, Yermaney, corresponded with the TITO field commander Improving Wordiness (Wordy) from the region 10000 Islands about technical details.
Founding a temporary region
A temporary region was needed for nations to move to during the refounding process.
Baden-Wuerttemberg, who with the nation Wortschatz had founded Deutsch as a possible backup region, and kept it passworded until it might be needed, shared the regional and founder passwords of Deutsch and Wortschatz with the delegate Yermaney and the TITO field commander Improving Wordiness (Wordy). Sharing the passwords of the temporary region was a necessary precaution, in case the player of Baden-Wuerttemberg might have become unavailable at some point. If the refound of Deutschland had not succeeded, the player of Yermaney would have had the option to keep the founder of Deutsch as a new region for the community.
Roll call vote by telegram
Yermaney sent a telegram to all nations in Deutschland. The recipients had one month time to vote on the proposal to refound the region.
(Translation into English from the German original.)
“Dear nations in the region Deutschland,
As our region has repeatedly had the nuisance of invasions, which we have no interest in, we are considering refounding it. Please reply to this telegram whether you are in favour of refounding, opposed, or abstain. Please note that this is a roll call vote. We will publish the results with the names of the nations.
Please send back one of the three following sentences to me:
- I am in favour of refounding
- I am opposed to refounding
- I abstain.
If we don’t hear from you before [one month after the sending date], we will count your vote as abstaining. Thank you!”
Publication of votes
Yermaney published on the RMB how each nation that responded had voted.
8 had voted in favour of refounding, 0 against, the rest abstained. Yermaney noted that refounding the region was decided.
Opening the temporary region
Regional password protection in the temporary region was removed.
Wortschatz (Baden-Wuerttemberg) announced in the WFE of the temporary region Deutsch: “Hello, nations from the region Deutschland. We are temporarily setting up camp here. Make yourselves comfortable.”
Move to temporary region
The delegate Yermaney sent a telegram to all nations in the region Deutschland, asking them to move to the temporary region.
Telegram and post on the RMB: “well then. in the current phase of refounding all nations have to leave deutschland. for that reason we will rally in the temporary region Deutsch. so please move there. once the critical mass left the region, i will kick the remaining nations. i will of course take note of the names and they will be invited back to new Deutschland once it is ready to accept new and old residents.”
Defender nations arrive
While nations from Deutschland started moving to the temporary region Deutsch, defender WA nations from 10000 Islands arrived and endorsed the delegate Yermaney.
History records
Baden-Wuerttemberg copied and archived the regional records, and reposted them on the RMB of the temporary region.
These included the RMB archive, World Factbook Entry, regional flag, automatic region tags, chosen region tags, embassies, nations present in the region, regional history page. A RMB archive is available divided into several pages by clicking on “Switch to Forum View” at the bottom of a region page. A history page is accessible by clicking on “History...” on a region page.
Ejection
Yermaney ejected the last nations from Deutschland that had not yet moved. Then Yermaney moved to the temporary region too. Only nations of the defenders from 10000 Islands remained in Deutschland.
Wait
We waited for the players from 10000 Islands to complete the last step in their own time.
Baden-Wuerttemberg wrote on the RMB in Deutsch: “For everyone who has already arrived here in the temporary region Deutsch: Now it’s not necessary any more to log in regularly, in order to notice it’s time for our move. Here, we can just wait until the refounding process is over, and then move back at our leisure.”
Baden-Wuerttemberg posted a telegram message from Yermaney on the RMB in Deutsch: “Greetings, my henchmen! I have just kicked the last nations. Now comes the time to wait. The people from 10000 Islands will complete the last measures in their own time, and then you can all return. Just look in once in a while, and with some luck you’ll have mail from me. Until later, Signed Yermaney”
Refound
Moving during the update requires exact timing. The players from 10000 Islands successfully completed the refound for us, with Yermaney as the founder nation.
Return
We said thank you to everyone who had helped us and celebrated. The founder Yermaney announced the opening of the region Deutschland and welcomed nations there.
Our region: Deutschland
You are welcome to telegram if you are considering refounding too and have a question we might be able to answer. For advice and support in refounding, you can telegram defenders whom you trust. Questions and ideas for clarifications are welcome. Gameplay-argument type stuff is unlikely to get a reply. As additional documentation of the process, please check out the RMB of our temporary region Deutsch.
From the region Deutschland
Baden-Wuerttemberg (short: Ba-Wü)
co-authors:
Typhootania, a former delegate
Yermaney, a delegate and our new founder
