[DRAFT] Are You Not Entertained?

[Minskiev]

[title] Are You Not Entertained?

[validity] picked #539.3

[description] As trial by ordeal has been brought to @@NAME@@, criminals have been mauled by vicious @@ANIMALPLURAL@@. However, many gladiators have won their fights, won their crowds, and are trying to win their freedom.

[option] “Strength and honor!” cries Mixerus Quadrilateral Meritocracy, who’s believed to have killed innocent people, as he bangs his sword against his shield. “Almighty @@LEADER@@, be merciful. Think of how the people would feel if their beloved leader changed from the...err, charming, benevolent @@MAN@@ they knew to a cold-hearted killer. Make the right choice; what we do in life echoes in eternity.”

[effect] slaves are incentivized to revolt

[option] As Mixerus leaves the room, your advisor, who’s also believed to have killed innocent people, scoffs in disgust. “What plebeian codswallop! How dare he try to dictate how you rule! You must put those undesirables in their place, if you don’t want your loyal citizens to think you’re weak and a traitor. The fact that you even hear from that peasant vexes me, I’m terribly vexed.”

[effect] the government has a sick pleasure in letting movements grow then crushing them

[validity] has Capitalism

[option] “Once again, your answer lies within the free markets,” teases @@RANDOMFIRSTNAME@@ Losewaller, CEO of the arms company Losewaller, smirking at their ‘catchphrase’. “If you sign this right here, I’ll be sure to give you the literal worst weapons we have! Think a weapon is genuinely functional? Refund them to me within up to 30 days! Want to give your soldiers a challenge? We’ll throw in a Limited Edition Albionian blade! Shields not included.”

[effect] elite veterans are matched against people with heavy sticks

[validity] does not have Capitalism

[option] “Once again, your answer lies within my direction,” jokes the Director of the @@DEMONYMADJECTIVE@@ Arms, smirking at their ‘catchphrase’. “If you give me this much of a raise, I’ll be sure to give you the literal worst weapons we have! Think a weapon is genuinely functional? Let us handle them! Want to give your soldiers a challenge? We’ll give you an Albionian blade! But, give me THIS much of a raise for free shields.”

[effect] rocks are sharper than official state weapons

[Australian rePublic]

Free people who hate you but are strong enough to overthrow you. What could possibly go wrong?

[Minskiev]

Free people who hate you but are strong enough to overthrow you. What could possibly go wrong?

I never said that Mixerus was the General here. The guards would still protect you.

[Daarwyrth]

Fire-Breathing

Hmm, I like this inclusion, but I wonder whether it will sit well with nations that specifically play to be in the "real" world, without such seemingly mythical entities. Because I have yet to encounter an animal that is able to spit fire in real life perhaps consider changing it to something like "voracious" or "vicious" or "battle-trained".

I'd also have a look at the effect lines, I feel they could be much sharper. They're going in the right direction with their base idea, but they're lacking a bit of humour, I feel.

[Trotterdam]

Because I have yet to encounter an animal that is able to spit fire in real life

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombardier_beetle

[Daarwyrth]

Because I have yet to encounter an animal that is able to spit fire in real life

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombardier_beetle

Well, I’ll be jitterbugged! This is most fascinating xD

[Minskiev]

/bump

[Minskiev]

/bump again

[Trotterdam]

You seem to be confused as to who these gladiators are.

#239 1, which you currently list as the validity of the issue, describes hiring free people who are paid well for their work. In this case it obviously wouldn't be much of an issue if they decided to quit their jobs, that's their right, just stop paying them.

#533 3, another option involving gladiatorial combat, involves using it to execute condemned criminals - a situation in which it'd be more plausible that you'd be upset if the criminals didn't die, but the specific version #533 actually does cover the situation and explicitly say survivors should be allowed to go free, using the gladiatorial matches as a replacement for court trials rather than just an execution method.

You currently introduce these gladiators with "critics of your rule have been enslaved", which to start is a player autonomy violation because I may never have chosen to do anything like that (none of the existing issues about gladiator games do such a thing, and the mix-and-match-as-you-please nature of NationStates policies means it is in fact entirely possible to have an autocratic slave-owning regime that nonetheless respects freedom of speech), but otherwise simply suggests a variant of the "convicted criminals" version. In this case, using only weak gladiators obviously isn't a solution - you want to be able to send whatever convicts you have into the pit, however strong or weak they are. Ways to rig the fights against the convicts would more likely involve giving them terrible weapons. ("You're scheduled to fight a bear this afternoon. Here's your wooden sword.")

If your gladiators are slaves who didn't become slaves due to being convicted of a crime (not something that any current NationStates issue explicitly does), you probably want to use ones that actually stand a fair chance, not pathetic weaklings. Real fights that can go either way excite audiences more than ones that are rigged against the human from the start.

Moving on to the options, you describe the first speaker as "father to a murdered son, husband to a murdered wife", which is not explained in any way and is completely irrelevant to the rest of the issue, having absolutely nothing to do with how you suggested the guy got into this situation. Also, we used that quote already, whatever it's from. And it actually made sense there.

[Braule]

I like this, so does this only work if you have the gladiator and slavery along with autocracy picked out?

[Minskiev]

Alright, Trotter, let’s see.

1, I was checking to see if there was an issue like mine, and I saw 239, so I just thought it could branch off of that. Although I guess I should’ve put a little more reading into it.

2, you’re right, not sure how I missed that. Total breach of autonomy.

3, that could make more sense.

4, I was just using the famous quote, but it’s already taken, so fair.

Once again, stellar criticism!

[Minskiev]

/bump

[Candlewhisper Archive]

539.3 is an option that lets people marry their robots. 533.3 is the one you want.

[description] As trial by ordeal has been brought to @@NAME@@, criminals have been mauled by vicious @@ANIMALPLURAL@@. However, many gladiators have won their fights, won their crowds, and are trying to win their freedom.

It's trial by combat, not trial by ordeal. Different things.

Huh, looks like 533 got it wrong too, and I missed it on the edit. I'll go back and change that now.

Anyway, presuming you change this to trial by combat, the whole point here is that it is a trial. If you win, you're not a criminal, you're an innocent and can go free straight away.

That makes the premise of this issue somewhat flawed.

Hey, I get that you love Gladiator. So do I, which is why I referenced the main character in #1189.1. However, as a premise this issue isn't holding together right now.

[Minskiev]

Ah, mixed 239 and 533. Why do I always do that?

Alright, I suppose that is quite the flaw. Rewriting it then.