I've Got a Burgeoning Reindeer Population
Thanks to Anna Vitebsky, who keeps me updated on all things virtual, I have joined the game nationstates. Here's how it works: you go to the website nationstates.net, pick a name (I literally tried at least 100 before I settled on Alav b/c so many other names were already taken), a flag, a monetary unit, a national animal and a motto. You then answer a few general questions and your nation is established. Depending on your settings, you then deal with 1-2 issues per day which relate to policies in your nation. You are given a scenario and 2-3 options for how to deal with the issue to pick from. After each issue is decided, the summary of your nation on your homepage changes a bit. You are also kept updated on the status of civil rights, political freedoms and the economy in your nation at all times. Here is my current description:
"The Republic of Alav
"Strength in Unity"
UN Category: Scandinavian Liberal Paradise
Civil Rights:Superb
Economy: Struggling
Political Freedoms: Average
Location: the Pacific Regional Influence: Minnow
The Republic of Alav is a large, safe nation, remarkable for its burgeoning reindeer population. Its compassionate population of 29 million enjoy extensive civil rights and enjoy a level of social equality free from the usual accompanying government corruption.
The government -- a sprawling, bureaucracy-choked, socially-minded morass -- juggles the competing demands of Social Welfare, Education, and Healthcare. The average income tax rate is 42%, but much higher for the wealthy. A tiny private sector is dominated by the Book Publishing industry.
Organ donation rates are among the lowest in the region, extreme political groups are outlawed, the tenet of free speech is held dear, and euthanasia is legal. Crime is totally unknown. Alav's national animal is the reindeer and its currency is the ala."
The unforunate part is that you can't decide what kind of issues are going to be brought up each day. I'm obviously unhappy that my economy is struggling and taxation is so high, but I haven't been asked many economy-type questions lately. Anyways, it's fun. At some point I plan on making really bad decisions, just so the summary on my homepage says something along the lines of, "The citizens of Alav were completely taken off-guard by their government. Chaos rules in the streets..." Muahahaha!
posted by Katie @ 1:15 PM
2 comments
2 Comments:
my only question is this: can you invade states run by other players? if not, then i am not interested. politics for the sake of politics is uber-boring. politics in the context of war is slightly less uber-boring.
i lied. second question: has anyone tried to fairly and faithfully mimic the bush administration to see what would happen? obviously your state needs to be similar to the u.s. to make it interesting.
kaf, you should make a second nation state, call it "new alav" and make them alav's colonies. To relive history, rule them with an iron fist.(you can legally do this w/in the game, but you can't both join the UN). For a while I made some bad decisions and Vitaaborg really was in chaos ("gangs roaming the streets") but I think things are back on track now.
josh: you can't invade another state, but players have developed a system to invade another region. some regions have defence forces for these purposes.
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