[MEGATHREAD] Unusual Issue Effects

[Qvait]

In Issue 1142, entitled "Womb Service", I selection option 1, which states:

“I’ll be dammed if this doesn’t keep coming up every couple years,” sighs a representative from the Womb Tang Clan, a leading abortion advocacy group. “Sneaking around in bathroom stalls is for politicians, not for women seeking legitimate healthcare! We need to keep abortion safe and legally accessible to all women, especially the vulnerable women who are most likely to need more than one abortion and would be most impacted by any attempt to limit or defund abortions. Jarlskona Kate Murphy, we must mandate full healthcare provision of these vital, life-saving services and fund the distribution of free contraception to all women in Qvait.”

Because I selected this option, Social Conservatism and Authoritarianism went up, and Civil Rights went down...what?

[Luna Amore]

In Issue 1142, entitled "Womb Service", I selection option 1, which states:

“I’ll be dammed if this doesn’t keep coming up every couple years,” sighs a representative from the Womb Tang Clan, a leading abortion advocacy group. “Sneaking around in bathroom stalls is for politicians, not for women seeking legitimate healthcare! We need to keep abortion safe and legally accessible to all women, especially the vulnerable women who are most likely to need more than one abortion and would be most impacted by any attempt to limit or defund abortions. Jarlskona Kate Murphy, we must mandate full healthcare provision of these vital, life-saving services and fund the distribution of free contraception to all women in Qvait.”

Because I selected this option, Social Conservatism and Authoritarianism went up, and Civil Rights went down...what?

Awhile back, the team (aware of the deep and personal feelings around the sensitive issue of abortion) took the -- perhaps controversial decision -- to (generally speaking, allowing for individual stats) programme a civil rights rise for both banning and allowing abortion.
Due to the strength of emotion it raises, we felt it inappropriate to come down on either side of this debate.

In some cases, this can show a slight decrease in Civil Rights if the rights that would normally increase are already maxed.

[Dabarastan]

Issue 417 - "Hush... Hush, Sweet Charlotte"
Option 3

The speaker suggests for Leader to publish a series of memoirs, but there seems to be no significant overall effect on Book Publishing. I realise Leader alone releasing a book series wouldn't have a particularly huge effect on the publishing industry but I'm wondering if this option should at least include a small boost.

[Blutiges Imperium]

I just answered issue #61 Should the Government Grant Estates and Titles of Nobility?, chose the second option, was presented with text that read "citizens are allowed to rise or fall based on their own merits" and absolutely NOTHING happened to my nation. Like, not a single thing. That has never happened to me in all my time of playing NationStates where not a single aspect of my nation is unaffected my a selection of an issue. Is that normal for that issue?

[Victoriaans Nederlands]

Hello there! Ahh, I'm not sure if I am reading this wrong, so I recently answered Issue 1,465, Parking Pandemonium. I chose Option 1 (choice-0): “These gendered parking spaces are discriminatory and they must be banned,” says Logan in his podcast, always seemingly a few words away from being dropped by his sponsors. “There were no places left! What was I meant to do? It’s not like parking lots are dangerous places. Man, this incident really makes you think about sexism. Anyways, this week’s show is brought to you by the Jock Club, where for a few Universal and Reliable Valentian Credits a month, you will receive a curated selection of underwear...”

My Inclusiveness went down from 529.11 to 528.32 (-0.15%), so I was wondering as to if this is supposed to be the other way around.

[Umbratellus]

On issue #56, "Give Us Money!" Quoth The Poet, selecting option one

"We need government help to promote culture." says @@RANDOMNAME@@, chairperson of the National Poetry Society of @@NAME@@. "Poetry is the soul of our nation, the very pulse of humanity! We will ultimately be judged according to our contribution to artistic enlightenment. In other words, please provide funding for our humble mission to bring the beauty of poetry to the masses!"

resulted in both my taxation and freedom from taxation scores falling. I neglected to take precise figures but it struck me as unusual.

[Umbratellus]

On issue #264 Not a Drop to Drink, choosing option #2

"You think too small," sighs Foreign Secretary @@RANDOMNAME@@, between sips from a sparkling bottle of gourmet dihydrogen monoxide. "@@NAME@@ may be short on water, but the rest of @@REGION@@ has water to spare! Why not just import the water from abroad? Sure, it'll cost money, but what's worth more to the people of @@NAME@@, a little tax money or their most basic physical needs? Our neighbors wouldn't dream of cutting off the water, right?"

raised both my Scientific Advancement (157.11 → 157.88 ^0.49%) and my Primitiveness (-156.61 → -156.38 ^0.15%) at the same time .

[Bawkie]

Selected option 2 on #22: Nazi Sympathizers Plan Rally. Each time I have answered this option before, it has enacted the "Public Protest" policy. It didn't this time.
I was wondering if this was normal or on some sort of threshold?

[Landow]

I have banned cars in my nation, yet issue Terrorists Strike City Centre says a car exploded. Shouldnt this be replaced with something else for nations that banned cars? Like a wagon or something?

[Xanthorrhoea]

Hey, I have a question about taxation vs freedom from taxation. When I selected option 1 on issue #353 (Broadband Going to the Birds), both my taxation and freedom from taxation decreased, and I’m a little confused why. (Issue answered 17/9/21* by Xanthorrhoea)

*local time, I answered it about an hour prior to posting this.

Is it a case of taxation being a percentage and freedom from taxation being an absolute value, or does it just boil down the “tax is super complicated” as per the FAQ and there’s some hidden variable or combination of variables that happened to align right at the time?

[Steelfeather Rapture 1]

I haven't acted on it, but I'm aware that "This Green and Pleasant Land" (Issue #630) is programmed to treat option #3 as authoritarian and hostile to economic liberty. This is really stand-out because the issue describes that land in question as having previously been a useless, barren wasteland. Therefore, designating it as national parklands doesn't infringe on existing land use rights and doesn't require any increase in environmental authority. It's not even considered to be a government program (there's no increase in eco-friendliness spending). This decision should be neutral to economic rights (a capitalist government could hypothetically take this stance to promote eco-tourism, for instance) and authority.

The basic idea of environmentalism being authoritarian in this game is as nonsensical as the way it often treats pacifism as authoritarian. In human psychology throughout Earth, civil rights has been the cause of pacifism, whereas violent authoritarianism has opposed it, and we can see the divide between first world nations with strong civil rights (and strong pacifism) as compared to third world nations with weak civil rights (and heavily entrenched violence). Yet I don't want to litigate the pacifism issue entirely in this thread, I just wish to protest the environmental authority issue in #630 as I do not believe it makes sense within the issue as presented.

Apologies if this is a double-post. I tried to post ITT earlier, but it didn't show my post.

[Entropyistan]

#334.2 somehow increased taxes despite reducing government size?

[Umbratellus]

Issue 384, "Out of the Royal Frying Pan," option one increased my Scientific Advancement and Primitiveness at the same time. Scientific Advancement went up 264.80 → 265.59 +0.30% and Primitiveness went up -261.16 → -260.92 +0.09%.

[Random Country 453632]

Issue #1416 Building on Sand option 2 gives 1 effect and one Detail
Found this on my alt

[Frei-Harz]

dilemma=94

Making Spamming and spam emails a crime akin to fraud (which it is in germany fyi) Increased my Corruption by a considerable amount
what is the thought process behind that?

[Chocolatistan]

Hello,

I have a question, which I posted on the RMB of my region. People there didn't know the answer and suggested that I place it on the Got Issues forum.

1. My Automobile Manufacturing, Beverage Sales and Furniture Resoration are negative. Does this mean that there are e.g. car dealers, but all of them are perpetually running a loss?

2. I have done some calculations, but my different industries do not add up to my average income, not even when I take Administration, Black Market and Social Policy (whatever that may be) into account. I also did this with the stats of a friend of mine, but his industries add up to more than his average income. Why is that?

I think that maybe the negative sectors might have to something with it (I didn't add those to my pie charts).

[Trotterdam]

1. My Automobile Manufacturing, Beverage Sales and Furniture Resoration are negative. Does this mean that there are e.g. car dealers, but all of them are perpetually running a loss?

This is generally taken to mean difficulty establishing industries: not only do you not have an automobile industry, but you lack the infrastructure or education to even begin manufacturing cars, and would need to perform quite a bit of work to get a factory running.

However, I figure the "perpetually running a loss" explanation is just as good, if you want.

The OOC reason is that the World Census needs to have some way to tiebreak the large number of nations that have no automobile manufacturing.

[Candlewhisper Archive]

I haven't acted on it, but I'm aware that "This Green and Pleasant Land" (Issue #630) is programmed to treat option #3 as authoritarian and hostile to economic liberty. This is really stand-out because the issue describes that land in question as having previously been a useless, barren wasteland. Therefore, designating it as national parklands doesn't infringe on existing land use rights and doesn't require any increase in environmental authority. It's not even considered to be a government program (there's no increase in eco-friendliness spending). This decision should be neutral to economic rights (a capitalist government could hypothetically take this stance to promote eco-tourism, for instance) and authority.

The basic idea of environmentalism being authoritarian in this game is as nonsensical as the way it often treats pacifism as authoritarian. In human psychology throughout Earth, civil rights has been the cause of pacifism, whereas violent authoritarianism has opposed it, and we can see the divide between first world nations with strong civil rights (and strong pacifism) as compared to third world nations with weak civil rights (and heavily entrenched violence). Yet I don't want to litigate the pacifism issue entirely in this thread, I just wish to protest the environmental authority issue in #630 as I do not believe it makes sense within the issue as presented.

Apologies if this is a double-post. I tried to post ITT earlier, but it didn't show my post.

This is an interesting post, and certainly there's a question as to whether centralised authoritarian intervention is a requirement for successful environmentalism. The game engine actually allows you to have a superb environment whilst simultaneously being exceptionally liberal and small-government, but definitely a lot of pro-environment options in existing issues focus on the government restricting economic freedoms for environmental benefit. The fact is though, neither the eco-friendliness or environment stats are treated as direct functions of authoritarian tendencies. Whether there is a correlation or not, I'm sure someone can analyse.

As to 630.3 specifically, I'd argue that while the desert space was formerly barren, the newly formed green space being turned into a nature resort implies that the government is putting environmental protections in place that weren't previously there. Additionally, the option stands in context of following two options that want to develop the land for various economic benefits, and thus is also an implicit rejection of those positions. I think the stats are fine as they stand.

[Silver Steps]

Answering "Time for Paternity Leave, Say Dads" (#304) today on this nation, I chose the option for mandatory daycare (Option 6). This brought public education down, which seems odd as early childhood daycare is almost certainly public education, and nothing suggested there was anything wrong with the daycares.

[Candlewhisper Archive]

Answering "Time for Paternity Leave, Say Dads" (#304) today on this nation, I chose the option for mandatory daycare (Option 6). This brought public education down, which seems odd as early childhood daycare is almost certainly public education, and nothing suggested there was anything wrong with the daycares.

Fair point. It was coded as a social welfare program, rather than education, and so every other department loses a bit of funding. But I think you're right, daycare on that scale will almost certainly include some level of education, rather than just looking after kids. Amended.

[Hellscapia]

Sigh. I got another issue that somehow had the opposite statistical effects it should have had.

#198.4 somehow managed to increase civil rights and decrease social conservatism and authoritarianism ...????

[Gasakstan]

Copied from previous post I made:I recently took issue 1223 and chose the second option to give more money to the monarchy, there was something about diamond encrusted toilet plungers. However as you can see by my wealth gaps graph this made my wealth gaps drop dramatically for some reason, a stat which was my best stat at top 0.1%. Please can I have some help here.

[Seanat]

Issue 950:4 says "we must therefore shut our borders down permanently", yet it didn't negatively affect my Tourism stat by any more than an insignificant amount. I believe it would only make sense for such an action to tank the Tourism industry.

[Umbratellus]

Now, I'm trying to keep my political freedoms as high as possible but I wanted to get the "Native Representation" policy that I've seen many nations with. I got issue #961 "No Two Ways About It," just now and I thought I finally found one that could add the policy. I went with option #1 (ban duel citizens from holding office) because I figured it would be an acceptable loss of political freedoms for the Native Representation policy. Unfortunately, it did not add the policy. I'm not sure if it's just not guaranteed to be added (as with some other policies) or if I failed to meet some other requirements for the policy to be unlocked, but I feel like options 1 and 2 should probably add the Native Representation policy when chosen.

*edit*
Looking at the other outcomes for the issue (here), it seems like #3 would make a good option for a repeal of the Native Representation policy if it does not already do so.

*double edit*

On second reflection, shouldn't option one actually raise political freedoms by the framing of the issue? Literally just yesterday I got issue #805, where option 1 increased political freedoms by allowing citizens to remove vast swathes of politicians at will. Isn't this basically just the same thing in that regard? The issue outright states that outraged citizens are calling for the resignation of the officials in question. How is having them fired reducing, "...the ... amount of freedom to select their own government?"

[Agadar]

Issue 56 "Give Us Money!" Quoth The Poet, 2nd option, tells the following, emphasis mine:

"Artists and poets should support themselves, like everyone else," replies @@RANDOMNAME@@, spokesperson for the Capitalism Now Party. "The suffering taxpayers should be given a break. In fact, we should abolish all government subsidies for special interest groups."

The result should be the following:

The government has cut its subsidies for all special interest groups.

And yet, somehow, my taxes went UP instead of down. I would very much be interested in learning of a rationale behind this, if any.