F&NI General Help Thread

[Vivolkha]

I command tons of puppets with different beliefs, ranging from liberal to communist to totalitarian to conservative dictatorships. Needless to say, none represent my OOC beliefs (this nation used to, but my opinion has changed and this nation hasn't).

It is easier if they are authoritarian though, because it provides some realistic justification of an arbitrary order that could be easily voted out of office in a democracy.

[Silver Commonwealth]

As an amateur worldbuilder myself, I think that it's because totalitarian hellhole worlds are usually easier to RP as. However, as some there have pointed out before, people put different amount of effort into their nations - some have time for that, some don't. I have seen nations with barebone factbooks, which usually consist from unformatted text, and I also have seen masterpieces from users like Pan-Asiatic States, which have utilized website template to its fullest, and have created living, breathing worlds. There are democratic nations with lots of effort put in them as well, tho. (As for myself, I usually have relatively high standards when it comes to RPing, and worldbuilding, and I try to hold on those standards. My nation is far from my IRL beliefs, but I don't think, that I can create a nation which would 100% represent my beliefs anyways, as I am there for RP, not to insert my political views in a character/nation)

But yeah, sometimes the good guys are boring. That said, I had quite a variety of nations in the past myself, but nowadays I just don't have energy for all of them, so I rather focus on a single RP product, and try to produce my best, when it comes to it.

[Geneviev]

I have a fascist puppet nation mostly because it's more fun than my actual beliefs. RPing as the opposite of what I believe is more interesting.

[Bear Stearns]

My nation is based on my profession.

[Kowani]

I don’t have the interest or inclination to simulate elections.

[An Alan Smithee Nation]

It's very confusing when people post something in NSG when they have something like "this nation doesn't represent my real life views" in their signature. Are we not meant to believe what they are saying in the out of character forum?

[Greater vakolicci haven]

It's very confusing when people post something in NSG when they have something like "this nation doesn't represent my real life views" in their signature. Are we not meant to believe what they are saying in the out of character forum?

I had that at one point. I think it's generally understood, as I spend a lot of my rp time rping a theocratic monarchy.

[Lillorainen]

My RP style has changed over the time since my creation of Lillorainen, my oldest (still active) NS nation. It started off as, well, maybe not the Good Guy™ in the classical sense of the term, but much rather a caricature of some points I have in RL (not all of them, mind you - just in case someone starts judging me based on it), whereas some others would be unlikely to work in RL. In the time being, it has gotten more serious, but still with a few jokes and features that definitely wouldn't work in RL - for that's the fun of RP, after all. It has grown in maturity and consistency, most certainly because within the numerous RPs I've participated in, and the experiences I've made therein, my quality standards have risen.
(This doesn't concern the factbook style, though, for I'm an incredibly lazy sod who has been procrastinating the writing of a proper factfile since December 2018 now. ^^)
But not only my standards have changed, but also my style itself. My second Main is pretty much Lillorainen's twin, but with a different culture and a slightly different system. When creating my third Main, I've discovered how much of fun it can be to RP as an Absolute Monarchy, where we go with the fun of RPing a country where you don't have to go through the whole shebang of having each decision voted through, but simply can pass a policy for the reason of "Hey, I was just in the mood to do that!" and call it a day.
All three Mains would be considered the good guy - at least by me. They also have "bad guy" elements, simply because they don't care much about the opinion of others, and if someone complains, they will simply say, "It's because of our history and culture, deal with it."
And then, there are two side projects of mine which are less of the "good guy". Well, they do try to sell themselves as the "good guy", but at the end of the day, they do show how many skeletons they have in their closet. I've simply discovered some fun about RPing leaders who either do bad and mean well, or mean bad but happen to do well. They aren't the bad guys, but they are surely anti-heroes in some sense or the other.
There are also NPC-Nations in my canon, but these are, as the name suggests, NPCs, so I RP characters from these places from my Mains.
With all this being said, I'm much into worldbuilding - namely, so much, that none of my nations exist in the real world. The world is entirely fictitious and shares the canon with others whose world is fictitious as well (for instance, my entire region), and uses the Portal to the Multiverse when RPing (including social media interaction). I also think, that while thinking out an entire new world might be a lotof work, it just makes one more flexible when it comes to RP interaction. I can also spend quite a lot of thoughts on details others might not care about a lot (like numbering highways), some of which may appear nerdy, but I've given up concerning myself about whether I might be viewed as nerdy or not already many years ago, so who cares.
Another point all my nations have in common - none of these is your average multi-party democracy - the term 'average' may already imply the reson for it; I just think there are too many of these out there, it's almost boring. ^^ Much rather, I based mine of philosophical approaches and alternative ways of governance, like technocracy/meritocracy, or the classical Philosopher King's Rule. It's more fun to think about such ways and how to implement them into a body politic than going the bog-standard way and copy the system we've already seen thousands of times. Some ideas can even be food for thought when it comes to one's RL views (for instance, some more meritocracy surely wouldn't harm quite a few RL countries, including the one I live in ...). For the same reason, my nations all follow pagan religions - although I surely wouldn't bother, if there were a few more of these around. ^^
And, thanks to Alan Smithee's friendly reminder, there's another important point - I don't see why I should put some 'disclaimer' along the lines of "this nation doesn't represent my real life views" into my signature, as if I were thinking, that other users weren't capable of separating between IC and OOC. While some people do have questionable views, I generally remain in good faith, that a tin-pot dictatorship executing its people because their top dog doesn't like how their noses are shaped, is actually run by a normal user just LARPing as such, unless they clearly state the opposite. I came for the fun and stayed for the fun.

(And this post totally hasn't gotten long ... too many thoughts I needed to put into words, sorry! ^^)

[Munkcestrian Republic]

Why did this get moved to NationStates? This is an in-character forum, mods.

[A m e n r i a]

their beliefs. There is some sort of appeal in playing the bad guy or playing a Nation which you consider/perceive is a bad guy for having the opposite beliefs as you. It's the same reason why some people chose to play as Cobra when playing with Hasbro toys while you were younger or chose the Brotherhood of Nod while playing C & C. Am I right? Or are there other reasons?

I think it has to do with simplicity, too.

What's easier to manage and create? A fully-fledged realistic nation that mirrors your predictably complex beliefs; or a comical, one-dimensional dictatorship ruled by "the bad guys"? Understandably, a lot of people don't have the time or courage to do the former.

*One dimensional democracy

[Valentine Z]

I do have many other puppets that are opposites of what I believe in, or are purposefully comically dictatorial just because.

With that said, this nation represents my views... A nation based on love, care, and understanding.

Though of course, there are canonical NS stats and policies that I use. For instance, VZ is not a socialist (just one with limited capitalism and measures to prevent huge-ass monopolies from bullying customers), and the recent WMD policy was only because I want to get back my Defense Forces.

[Dawetid]

I think that playing a nation that doesn't reflect your views, is better than playing your views and getting bashed for them (you know who you are).

With that said, this nation still reflects my views.

[The New California Republic]

I actually have a puppet that is more or less the inverse of my main. It's fun, and also lets you see issues that you otherwise wouldn't.

And no. Nobody is finding out what my puppet is.

[The Supreme Magnificent High Swaglord]

...

With that said, this nation represents my views... A nation based on love, care, and understanding.

...

This is so noblebright and wholesome I might as well say that this post gave me diabetes.

[Vendellamoore]

their beliefs. There is some sort of appeal in playing the bad guy or playing a Nation which you consider/perceive is a bad guy for having the opposite beliefs as you. It's the same reason why some people chose to play as Cobra when playing with Hasbro toys while you were younger or chose the Brotherhood of Nod while playing C & C. Am I right? Or are there other reasons?

That may be true, but all my puppet nations are Right-Wing, and I would probably never make a communist nation.

[Dawetid]

...

With that said, this nation represents my views... A nation based on love, care, and understanding.

...

This is so noblebright and wholesome I might as well say that this post gave me diabetes.

See, some people can create nations on this theme and get compliments, while others can create another nation on the same theme and get bashed.

And no, I don't have a problem with it.

[The Supreme Magnificent High Swaglord]

This is so noblebright and wholesome I might as well say that this post gave me diabetes.

See, some people can create nations on this theme and get compliments, while others can create another nation on the same theme and get bashed.

And no, I don't have a problem with it.

... Did I say something mean?

[Vendellamoore]

This is so noblebright and wholesome I might as well say that this post gave me diabetes.

See, some people can create nations on this theme and get compliments, while others can create another nation on the same theme and get bashed.

And no, I don't have a problem with it.

I know right

[Kasa Tkoth Sphere]

If I want to write about my perfect world, I can do so by myself without dragging other people in, because they won't find it as perfect as me and I'll get into meaningless arguments and such.

So instead, if I want to write an engaging story with other people, I make sure to spill something bad into the mix, even if the premise mostly aligns with my beliefs, so I can also point out the problems my own settings have and allow their flawed natures to cause interesting conflicts.

[Oppermenia]

Hi, I was wondering. I have a national anthem now, but I was wondering what factbook category is best for national anthems? I can't decide between overview and culture

[Yohannes]

Hi, I was wondering. I have a national anthem now, but I was wondering what factbook category is best for national anthems? I can't decide between overview and culture

We can write about our national anthem and its history. We can also write about our national anthem and how the words used carry cultural and emotional associations or meanings (vis-à-vis our nation)

Therefore, our national anthem could fall under any of the following "Factbook" categories: Overview, History, Culture, Politics, Miscellaneous.

[Libereco kaj Paco]

Does anyone know if nationstates has any limits on (fictional) violence in text and specifically in art/photoshops? I want to write about the war in LkP's history but I read that it should be PG-13 and I don't know what is "allowed" under this rating.

[Kyrusia]

Does anyone know if nationstates has any limits on (fictional) violence in text and specifically in art/photoshops? I want to write about the war in LkP's history but I read that it should be PG-13 and I don't know what is "allowed" under this rating.

Yep. Relevant posts, there and down.

[Nanyang Soviet Republic]

Nanyang SR is based on Java, West Malaysia, Singapore, Sumatra, and the greater Sunda islands. As such, my nation has about 229 million people. I know that's a lot, which is why I'm wondering how to lower it. Considering my nation just came out of a revolution, what SHOULD my population be?

[Qara-Tumen Khanate]

Well, the area in question is heavily populated so 229 million isn't out of the question. If you want to reduce it, perhaps there was a refugee crisis during the revolution and large numbers of people left the country to escape violence. Take a look at current day refugee numbers and the population on the nations they are fleeing. You could use that to approximate a percentage of your population that left and get a decent reduced number.