The Writers' Block

[Unibot II]

I've got some ideas for folks for issues,

1. An issue on Judicial Reform (should judges be appointed [and whom should appoint them?] or elected? Or should we have judges at all?)
   
2. An issue on Lotteries (Social Conservative Against Lotteries and Gambling, Neoliberal For Lotteries, Weird Liberal Option where Lottery money is taxed for humanitarian projects -- do you tax the winnings or the operating company?)
   
3. An issue on Conditionality for Foreign Aid (Neoliberal may require Aid recipients to liberalize trade, privatize sectors (Water in Bolivia), deregulate, the humanitarian may require require school fees (IMF and WB in Africa), social policies to reduce poverty (WB), the scholar may require anti-corruption and judicial reform, or the liberal may require NO CONDITIONS and a staunch libertarian may say NO FOREIGN AID)

[Zwangzug]

1 and 3 seem to overlap a bit with 60 and 36 respectively, but lotteries seem relatively new.

[Frisbeeteria]

A lottery issue would be excellent. We have very few gambling issues (Child Casino Shock, Gambling Interests Offer High Stakes, We Who Are About To Die Would Rather Go Home), so there's plenty of room for government vs. private vs. moral outrage in the category.

Stuff related to foreign influence is hard to fit within a national framework like issues. Unless it has a direct impact on national government, industry, or freedoms, it's probably better off in the WA.

[Dukopolious]

I honestly think we need more military related issues. Would this be a good plot:

Various nations in @@REGION@@ have recently been bombed to ash, large controversy over what @@NATION@@ should do is present.

Option one: Liberals saying we need to focus what every military we have solely on peace keeping projects in the destroyed nations

Option two; Another person agrees, but thinks instead, we should annex the countries while they are weak.

Option 3: to fight off the nation's who won to stop them from gaining power

Or the crazy option #4: War is a terrible thing, we should outlaw guns, dissolve the military, and police force while we are at it and instead just build a huge wall around us, and leave those damn foreigners out of our country so we can all mind our own business.

Good plot?

[Nation of Quebec]

A lottery themed issue sounds like a good idea. There's plenty of options to go with it as well: religious outcry demands it to be banned, government short on funds creates a national lottery to drive up economy etc.

I remember submitting a lottery themed issue back in mid-2010 (which I have no idea if it's still in the queue or not). It would be fun for me to redraft some of my earlier work and turn it into something new and improved.

[Frisbeeteria]

I actually submitted one back in mid-2010 (which I have no idea if it's still in the queue or not).

Me either. The Issue Editor was coded in 2003 or so and isn't search-friendly. Dig up your old thread or post a new one with your revisions if you want feedback.

[Panageadom]

If we're staking out issues ground here (and please, let's hold off with the ideological urine...), I wouldn't mind trying at hand at any (or all) of:

1) Complaints against industry subsidisation (mainly because I can't seem to get rid of my own!) ("Tax on the little man! Inherently corrupt! No economic sense!" vs "Subsidisation is important for stability, (foreign) policy objectives (e.g. arms manufacture in peacetime) and your political future." vs "If we want to encourage business and investment, then make it fair by reducing corporate taxes across the board.")

2) Falling agricultural prices causing outrage (EU/America: "Subsidise!"; Friedman: "Liberalize!" ; China: "Collectivise!")

3) Air pollution, based on poor child dying from bronchitis or something (would be slightly surprised if we didn't have one of these, but haven't seen it floating about...please excuse...)

However, in the past, I've decided to write myself a list, and then done everything not on the list, so feel free to claim these back.

Also, may hold off with these until the forums clear slightly from the competition.

[Nation of Quebec]

If I can find my lottery issue I'll repost it along with a new version. As I mentioned before, there are several different aspects a lottery themed issue can go if anyone else wants to take a crack at it.

Since we're sharing issue ideas here, there's a couple that have been floating around in my mind for a while:

1) Based on a state in the USA (can't remember which one) banning Sharia Law from ever being used as a pretext for any new law. Of course for the NSverse, it would be based on the Violetist equivalent.

Violetists complain of discrimination by the government and demand that their voice be heard vs @@FAITH@@ group reminding you that this is a @@FAITH@@ nation and asks for another donation vs leader of atheist group demanding that no religion be used as a pretext for any future laws vs radical Violetist rambling about eternal damnation if the government does not enforce Violetist law on the populace

2) Sports people getting religious/trashing @@LEADER@@. Based on the media hype off that Tebow fella and the Boston Bruins goalie refusing to meet Obama in particular.

It's their right as celebrities to stand up for what they believe in vs angry sports fan just wanting to see them play sports vs worried lackey requiring that all sports players reveal their political positions prior to playing on a national team vs a mad scientist creating robotic players to make the issue moot

Can't recall if there's any other issues that cover these topics. Also agree with Panageadom in regards to waiting seeing how the issues relating to the contest are getting greater preference right now.

[Frisbeeteria]

I'm fond of the idea of sector-based issues. Agriculture would be a good one, if you included the effects on three NS industries: Beef-based Agriculture (representing both meat and feed), Cheese Exports (the dairy industry) and Trout Fishing (representing aquaculture). We tend to focus on the specific industry names, but I think there are broader potential issues there.

You could make similar arguments for Manufacturing (Armaments, Autos, Furniture Restoration, Book Publishing, and Information Technology), for Resource Extraction (Uranium Mining and Woodchipping), and for the Service Sector (Retail, Pizza, Insurance, Soda, Gambling, Tourism, and IT again). It would take a bit of work to tie those industries/sectors into coherent issues, but feel free to try.

All of these would be influenced (or not) by the Department of Commerce and Industry, with other obvious crossover effects (Public Transport with Automobile Manufacturing being the most obvious - and overused - one). There are also economic freedoms to consider with any kind of government fingers in the pie. I can usually think of moral, political, and religious objections to most proposals too.

Plenty of good ideas. Get writing!

[Frisbeeteria]

Also agree with Panageadom in regards to waiting seeing how the issues relating to the contest are getting greater preference right now.

They're not getting greater preference. We're working on others too, and have been all along. You're seeing more of them because nations get new issues in preference to those they've already had.

[Unibot II]

An issue I remembered from conservative talk radio this summer was an exotic fish (e.g., Shark) was prohibited for fishing and consumption since the practices for fishing often were violent and irresponsible. You had some strange undertones in the debate because you had the cultural aspect : minorities who claimed the exotic fish as a delicacy related to their traditions were asking for exceptions and likewise some people were calling the whole debate a red herring when there is a whole list of exotic fish that were in need for protection and thus there were calls for a push towards fish farming. Essentially there was the conservative, the pluralist and the liberal viewpoints expressed in the debate. Not included into the discussion but relevant to an NS Issue could be the neoliberal, "who gives a shit? Let the free-market decide!", opinion.

[Sedgistan]

There's lots of room for issues dealing with fishing - things such as trawling, depletion of fish stocks, quotas, fish farms. The lottery suggestion is another good one (it was on the list of ideas we're eventually going to release when the current contest is over).

[Nation of Quebec]

Is it just me, or has this forum been quieter this week now that the accelerated issue contest is down to the last few entries?

Also, I want to belay my previous two ideas. I'm not feeling the motivation for them. I do, however, have an issue in mind based off Newt Gingrich's suggestion of a moon base (that idea is just begging to be made into an issue) and another one regarding abortion (which would be more about forcing doctors to preform them even if it goes against their religious beliefs). Would either of those work as a potential issue for the game?

[Frenequesta]

Is it just me, or has this forum been quieter this week now that the accelerated issue contest is down to the last few entries?

Also, I want to belay my previous two ideas. I'm not feeling the motivation for them. I do, however, have an issue in mind based off Newt Gingrich's suggestion of a moon base (that idea is just begging to be made into an issue) and another one regarding abortion (which would be more about forcing doctors to preform them even if it goes against their religious beliefs). Would either of those work as a potential issue for the game?

I've been thinking about making the "Hyde Amendment" debate into an issue for some time now. A new abortion-based issue might be due.

[Frisbeeteria]

We were looking at a fairly decent abortion submission recently, but gave it up because the primary options were an almost exact match (in effect, at least) with existing issues. If you make sure you don't duplicate what's already in the game, you're welcome to try.

As to the quiet forum, that's not such a bad thing. We jammed a ton of issues into the game for the first time in 2 years, so a breather after that isn't a horrible idea. Feel free to step it up again whenever you want.

[Panageadom]

Sorry for not following up on anything I've promised in the last week (new edits, drafts), but if anyone wants to make use of it, a somewhat interesting issue came up at a debating competition I was at (a decent swathe of the issues I never thought to follow up came from the same route). The motion was This House Would force all media aimed at children to include characters which challenge gender stereotypes. If there's something in it, feel free to use it.

[Luna Amore]

An issue I remembered from conservative talk radio this summer was an exotic fish (e.g., Shark) was prohibited for fishing and consumption since the practices for fishing often were violent and irresponsible. You had some strange undertones in the debate because you had the cultural aspect : minorities who claimed the exotic fish as a delicacy related to their traditions were asking for exceptions and likewise some people were calling the whole debate a red herring when there is a whole list of exotic fish that were in need for protection and thus there were calls for a push towards fish farming. Essentially there was the conservative, the pluralist and the liberal viewpoints expressed in the debate. Not included into the discussion but relevant to an NS Issue could be the neoliberal, "who gives a shit? Let the free-market decide!", opinion.

You'll want to watch out for overlap with Issue #286: A Whale of a Problem.

[Dukopolious]

I had been wondering, if we were to have a larger amount of total issues, could we possibly increase the number of issues one may receive daily?

Also, would implementing a "Selective issues" option be helpful? For example, if a issue doesn't look to help increase my nation's military spending, I almost always dismiss it right off the bat.

[Sedgistan]

I had been wondering, if we were to have a larger amount of total issues, could we possibly increase the number of issues one may receive daily?

Probably not, but maybe we can consider it if we ever have 500+ issues.

Also, would implementing a "Selective issues" option be helpful? For example, if a issue doesn't look to help increase my nation's military spending, I almost always dismiss it right off the bat.

That'd be abused by nations trying to top the World Census reports.

[Dukopolious]

---

Makes sense, thanks Sedge.

What about adding something to the code to stop nation's from receiving the same issued again in "X" amount of days. I'd suggest a month between the same issue, minimum.

Also, I'm not sure if this is already functioning, because I don't seem to recall getting the same issue more often than Twice in the same 2 week period.

[Sedgistan]

You should make suggestions for technical changes in the Technical forum

[Frisbeeteria]

What about adding something to the code to stop nation's from receiving the same issued again in "X" amount of days. I'd suggest a month between the same issue, minimum.

You don't really need a new thread for that. The issue queue is currently weighted heavily in favor if issues you haven't received in a while. The pool of available issue choices is also somewhat limited by choices you've previously made, i.e. if you've outlawed voting, you don't usually get additional issues that outlaw voting.

We've got close to 300 issues at the moment, so even if you get two a day and don't qualify for a third of them, you're still looking at a repeat cycle of around three months.

[Fontoria]

Yeah, i've got some ideas for some new issues:
1) Riots about university taxes (I did a full version in my forum topic ideas for new isues)
2) A debate in your government whether to make car insurence manditory or not
3) Protestors ask for the government to start up a prodgect to start growing more trees.
4) A debate in your government whether to make it mandatory to tax people, then give the money to LEDC countrys or not
5) A debate in your government whether to have all hospitals as one government run organisation (such as the NHS) or to let private organisations have different hospitals
6) A debate in your government whether to build 10,000 more hospitals, 10,000 more shcools, or save the money for something else in the future

Yeah, that's alot of good ideas! i'm so proud of myself!

[Panageadom]

To my best knowledge, 5 and 6 already exists, and 4 could more widely be stated as a foreign aid debate.

[Fontoria]

Oh right, thanks for pointing that out