[DRAFT] An Unexpected Interview With Wallenburg

El Fiji Grande

Over 37000 km and counting
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-
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Pronouns
he/him
TNP Nation
El_Fiji_Grande
Discord
El Fiji Grande (#3446)
I had just spent a lovely week on vacation in Texas, visiting my Uncle and his family for Thanksgiving. Having flown back earlier that day into LAX with American Airlines, and taken the FlyAway bus from the airport to Union Station, I was feeling the exhaustion of travel bearing down on me. The Amtrak from Union winds north along the California coast, passing first through the bustling stations on the outskirts of Los Angeles and then sleepy rural towns. The ride is infamously slow, and the tickets are a bit pricey for a student like me. So, while it’s not ideal, the lack of other transportation options landed me on one such train, heading home to return to school.

And it was here, on this train, that I settled down for a bumpy ride. I had been expecting to spend the time gazing out the window until the train arrived at my destination at around half past eight in the evening. Little did I know that it would be hours thereafter when I would finally arrive.

About forty-five minutes into the arduous journey, the train bucked violently and came to a screeching standstill. After a few minutes, the conductor told us over the overhead that the train had been forced to a halt. He failed to mention why there was a delay, but stressed that it was not due to a mechanical fault with the train itself, and that the local police had been called to conduct an investigation.

I stood up, placing my jacket on my seat to save my spot and my bags back into the overhead bin. I decided to take the opportunity to walk around, going down the length of the train to the front, then to the back, and then back to my seat. Along the way, I spoke with fellow passengers, who speculated that someone had jumped in front of the train. I felt disheartened by sadness but also frustrated when I heard that this sort of incident typically took about four hours to resolve. Not only would the police conduct an official report, but the crew would have to be exchanged in nearby Moorpark.

I saw a handful of friends as I walked up and down the train. That isn’t unusual; many other students take the train when returning from holiday. But as I was passing down the length of the train towards the rear, I saw something that caught my eye. I saw someone hunched over in his seat with NationStates open on his laptop. He wore a nice coat and an Italian-style flat cap. I paused - as rare as it is to see someone else playing NS, it seemed weird to mention it. Yet nonetheless, I stepped forward, coughed to grab his attention, and introduced myself.

“Hey, I couldn’t help but notice that you’re playing NationStates..” *eyebrows raised*

He introduced himself as Wally, and we briefly discussed recent NS events and his role in the World Assembly. Specifically, I asked him of his opinions of the then-recent declaration of war against the NPO made by Europeia, the ultimatum from Osiris, and their relationship with The Black Hawks. He said that he didn’t tend to follow NS GP events, and that even if he had, he wouldn’t particularly care. He had settled in to WA Affairs for good. While I didn’t want to press the issue, I did also ask him about his impression with respect to Francoism. The term itself seemed to put a bad taste in his mouth as he responded that Francoism as an ideology is dangerous, as it preaches a false superiority and inspires autocrats. Moving on, we also discussed our origins on the site, from his time in The Nether to my time in the International Northwestern Union.

I then slowly returned to my seat, pondering the event. I quickly got on my phone and started discussing the occurrence with some of my fellow region-mates. What I soon realized is that I hadn’t connected all the dots from our conversation. I had assumed Wally to be a low-level staffer of The East Pacific. It had not occurred to me that Wally and Wallenburg could be one and the same, and that the man who had a reputation of needling some of TNP’s WA Affairs Ministry could be the same person I had just met.

At once, I got a slew of messages on Discord. “You met HIM, of all people?!” I felt shocked, but then perhaps I should have known. To meet someone who plays NS is so rare, it seemed impossible I had met someone actually active in a GCR government. As time passed, I decided to walk back down to his seat and have a much deeper conversation.

He allowed me to take a seat next to him, and we proceeded to talk about the World Assembly and NationStates in general for about one hour and forty-five minutes. In so doing, I had the chance to complete a full interview, which I will detail below.

I tried to be as polite and respectful as I could, bearing in mind that despite our commonality in NationStates, I had just taken a seat beside a complete stranger. I had also been traveling for the entire day, and could only imagine what I smelled like.

After a brief pause, he introduced himself by name - by which I mean IRL name - and shook my hand. I returned the gesture. It turns out we have more in common than I had initially expected - our destination was the same, he attends the same university as I, and we’re both studying technical fields. I was also struck by the dichotomy of behavior - from what I had heard of his prickly NS reputation to the kindness with which he exuded. Clearly, one shouldn’t always judge people by their reputations. After the more formal introductions, we dove right to the heart of the matter. He took his time to answer each question I had clearly and carefully. I will present his responses as best I can. That said, keep in mind that I may not agree with his opinions.

For years, I was an active member of a few UCRs, and came to hold the belief that the WA was controlled by the delegates of the largest regions. As a smaller delegate, I felt that my vote held far lesser sway of WA Affairs, and as such, I quickly abandoned any considerable pursuit in that area. After arriving in The North Pacific, and the existence of WALL became known to me, my views seemed to be quickly confirmed. Yet this experience, while valid, does not do justice to GCRs. If given the power to sway the WA, it is sensible and intelligent to form a voting bloc to more directly control votes. Thus, the creation of such blocs feels inevitable. Wallenburg shared the view that voting blocs would naturally emerge given the nature of the WA, yet does not share my early-career hostility towards them, despite not being a member of the bloc. Instead, he recognizes the fairness of the system, but wonders why other such blocs do not yet exist. In doing so, he posited that WALL is not unshakable, and that the time is ripe for others to capitalize on the same idea.

He asked me if I had heard of SIEGE - which naturally I had not - and proceeded to explain the concept to me. SIEGE is the name of an idea, more than it is the name of a reality. Yet that idea is powerful, in that SIEGE would hope to form a competitor to WALL, and challenge the current WA supremacy of TNP. SIEGE would work in much the same way as WALL, but would be more rigorous in its approach in that signatories would have to vote the same way as the overal organization. This differs from WALL, in which current member regions briefly discuss each resolution before then making their own votes. Often, WALL members disagree, and the bloc’s strength is weakened.

On a different note, we then discussed more general facets of the WA, starting with WA proposal drafting, offensive liberations, and GenSec.

I started by mentioning how (back when I was originally interested in the WA) difficult and moreover frustrating I had found creating and proposing WA resolutions. Wally first assured me that starting out can, and usually is, difficult for everyone. When authoring WA resolutions, you should start with an initial draft and post this draft in the NS WA forums for discussion. Doing so immediately raises your chances of success, because far too often, newcomers skip this stage and can find themselves on the one hand not making it to quorum, and on the other hand also occasionally breaking WA rules in the process. By discussing the resolution on the forums, other nations can help you edit the language for clarity and legality. While WA regulars can be harsh in their criticism, Wally said he tries to be constructive in that criticism. It is important to heed at least some of the advice, as the WA has a very set way of doing things. There is no set amount of time a proposal should spend in the forums being debated, but a good rule of thumb is roughly two weeks. WA regulars are also often cognizant that newcomers may be trying to receive the WA resolution authorship badge, and be particularly picky with people who have not yet passed a resolution.

That said, the standards are the same for everyone, and in order to further increase your chances, becoming familiar with the WA’s rules is also recommended. Doing so can be difficult, however, as these rules can be very technical in nature, and there are examples of regulars applying them incorrectly to discourage newcomers. Wally stated that he not only does not endorse but condemns this practice as both overly hostile and unhelpful. He said these nations seek not to confront proposals based on their merits, but rather to shut a proposal down based on nebulous concepts you may not yet understand. To learn the WA’s rules, I found it particularly useful to review Mousebumples’ WA101 course, which can be found under TresVille on TNP’s offsite forums (https://forum.thenorthpacific.org/topic/7241162/). Wallenburg has also published his own ‘Handy-Dandy Guidebook to the WA’ in the form of a dispatch. Additionally, it can be helpful to familiarize yourself with common acronyms of previously passed resolutions. To do so, reviewing - or better yet - reading a handful of past passed resolutions should be done. Becoming a member of the WA General Discord is also a recommendation for familiarizing yourself with the general practices of the WA.

Wally said that while he is generally more on the side of IntFed than he is of NatSov, he doesn’t want to be categorized in that way. Instead, he says he judges each individual resolution on its merits, and sometimes votes IntFed and sometimes NatSov. It didn’t seem to make such a big difference to him.

Wally has passed a number of resolutions himself, including one at around the time we spoke entitled ‘Don’t Kill The Poor Act.’ Having recently drafted a handful of repeals of proposals with names like ‘Preventing the Execution of Innocents,’ he jokingly fears some will view him as some sort of harbinger of death.

He describes himself as “a professional critic of GenSec.” From what I understood, he generally sees GenSec as a necessary evil. The General Secretariats - or GenSec - is a group of elite, experienced WA nations that determine the legality of WA resolutions before they make it to the quorum. They also hear appeals and mete out warnings to authors who they deem should know better. Wally explained that while the system isn’t perfect, it does work, and that he has learned a lot from each General Secretariat. He specifically mentioned Bears Armed and Separatist Peoples. Of Bears Armed, he said that he never used to consider non-human nations when writing WA proposals. He now collects a set of nations for each such example, including the time when a proposal addressing unexploded ordinance and landmine removal registered a complaint from ‘sentient landmines.’ There are now a host of such ‘sentient’ nations.

Wally also disdainfully expressed some frustration that there are a certain number of nations who are simply imitation USA’s. He wishes there were more nations that would ascribe to Eastern philosophies, or perhaps would roleplay non-worldly magic nations. While roleplaying nations are often a thorn in the side of many a WA drafter, Wally finds this aspect to make NS more interesting.

I also asked Wally what his opinions were of other prominent WA nations. Of Imperium Anglorum, Wally showed respect, but stressed the extent to which they disagree. And if there were ever a standard by which incessant argument could be held, that standard might well be Wally and Jocospor. Once again, Wally described his opponent as both dedicated and principled. He also spoke highly of Yuno and Tlomz (Kranostav), though his interactions with them have been far more limited in nature.

Wally also shared his thoughts on offensive liberations. His personal view is that while it is understandable that organizations would like to use the WA to their advantage to capitalize on OOC events, both in-game and IRL, he views this as a deliberate misuse of the WA. The WA is not intended to handle OOC infractions, and when players make use of offensive liberations (and condemnations for that matter as well), they must be careful to remain entirely IC as they argue their case. This further blurs the line between OOC reality and IC politics in dangerous ways. His argument is consistent even when regarding Nazi regions, who he feels are unfairly targeted by such resolutions. While the philosophy should be condemned, he argues that these regions do not present a threat and that by forcibly removing their right to play the game, an injustice is being done. Who knows if these players are truly participants in Nazi ideology or simply RPers? By “liberating” such regions, the WA is deliberately acting not to rescue raided regions, but to open such regions to raiding. Since liberations can be difficult to repeal, offensive liberations tear down a region’s borders for extensive periods of time, allowing raiders to grief the natives and destroy regional activity. While such behavior is normally condemned, regions who use offensive liberations are turning a blind eye to such behavior.

Wally spent some amount of time describing his time in NS prior to becoming involved in the WA. He often frequented NS General (NSG), and became exceedingly active in debates. He describes NSG to this day to be a ‘toxic cesspool,’ and considers his time there to be broken into three tours of NSG: the summers of ‘15, ‘16, and ‘17. To this day - even after years of discussions in the WA forums - 46% of his forum posts can be found in NSG. He even has compiled a dispatch of truly facepalm quotes from his time in NSG, which he describes as “many of them offering a unique blend of hatred or stupidity to the NS forum scene.” He says he ultimately moved on from that section of the forums as the pernicious environment there was slowly getting to him. Likewise, he finds NSGP to have many of the same characteristics.

Indeed, he finds the culture of the WA GA so different from that of NSGP that he often likes to think that the GA and SC should be entirely different institutions. Having both side by side within the WA means that many players will vote for each resolution without fully realizing the different standards and culture each side maintains.

At this point, the conversation began to wind down. We spoke a bit about why he originally joined TEP, as well as how the TEP WA Affairs Ministry operates. That is, it operates much the same as does TNP’s WA Affairs Ministry, and I suppose many others as well. He expressed interest in becoming more involved in TEP’s WAA, but was cautious in describing what he felt his next steps in politics are. I got the sense that he’s happy where he is, and that he will see where it takes him.

He does tend to enjoy NS events, though he has never been particularly taken with P2TM and RPing in general. That said, he does have a few RP factbooks. I noticed the main banner on his nation page is the AAAAAAAA banner resulting from the triumphal victory of UPPERCUT against the Augustine Alliance (AA) on the last N-Day.

Throughout my conversation with him, Wally would often reference a personal database of statistics he had compiled on each of the WA resolutions he has taken part in over the last few years. You can find his website here:

At this point, Wally turned to me, and asked me a few questions about my experience in NS as well as my time serving as TNP’s Minister of Communications. I then asked him if I could publish the interview he entertained me with, and he naturally said yes. And with that, I stood, shook his hand, and made my way back through the train to retake my seat and explain all that had occurred to my TNP regionmates.

All in all, meeting Wallenburg was a phenomenal experience that not only made my exhausting day much better, but changed the way in which I think of other NS players. He was kind, spoke with clarity, and clearly has an incredible work ethic. I cannot thank him enough for offering me his time, and I wish him all the best!
 
Last edited:
I edited the first draft for the following issues:

Edit out any mention of SIEGE
Make shorter
Vary sentences “wally says, wally thinks”
Shave off some of exposition; start with first line of speaking to him
When I ask him about WALL, I mention my own opinion before his; confusing
Confusing parenthetical after GenSec
Mousebumples’ WA 101 is a total plug
Website reference
Incessant argument line with Jocospor should be removed
A paragraph to contextualize it and another to reflect on the awesomeness of encountering someone from NS in real life
Rephrase to "Europeia’s recent declaration of war against the NPO"

“Hey, I couldn’t help but notice that you’re playing NationStates..” I said, my eyebrows raised. The well-dressed man with an Italian-style flat cap glanced at me, then waved me over.

~~~

The Amtrak from Union Station winds north along the California coast, passing first through the bustling stations on the outskirts of Los Angeles and then sleepy rural towns. We were both returning home after the Thanksgiving holidays, and while we didn’t know it when the train left station, the already painfully slow journey would become agonizingly long. About forty-five minutes into the arduous journey, the train bucked violently and came to a screeching standstill. It would remain in position for the next four hours as police conducted an investigation and the train crew were swapped out. I used the opportunity to get up and stretch my legs. I saw a handful of friends as I walked up and down the train. That isn’t unusual; many other students take the train when returning from holiday. But as I was passing down the length of the train towards the rear, I saw something that caught my eye. I saw someone hunched over in his seat with NationStates open on his laptop.

He introduced himself as Wally, and we briefly discussed recent NS events and his role in the World Assembly. Specifically, I asked him of his opinions of Europeia’s recent declaration of war against the NPO, the ultimatum from Osiris, and their relationship with The Black Hawks. He said that he didn’t tend to follow NS GP events, and that even if he had, he wouldn’t particularly care. He had settled in to WA Affairs for good. While I didn’t want to press the issue, I did also ask him about his impression with respect to Francoism. The term itself seemed to put a bad taste in his mouth as he responded that Francoism as an ideology is dangerous, as it preaches a false superiority and inspires autocrats. Moving on, we also discussed our origins on the site, from his time in The Nether to my time in the International Northwestern Union.

I then slowly returned to my seat, pondering the event. I quickly got on my phone and started discussing the occurrence with some of my fellow region-mates. What I soon realized is that I hadn’t connected all the dots from our conversation. I had assumed Wally to be a low-level staffer of The East Pacific. It had not occurred to me that Wally and Wallenburg could be one and the same, and that the man who had a reputation of needling some of TNP’s WA Affairs Ministry could be the same person I had just met.

At once, I got a slew of messages on Discord. “You met HIM, of all people?!” I felt shocked, but then perhaps I should have known. To meet someone who plays NS is so rare, it seemed impossible I had met someone actually active in a GCR government. As time passed, I decided to walk back down to his seat and have a much deeper conversation.

He allowed me to take a seat next to him, and we proceeded to talk about the World Assembly and NationStates in general for about one hour and forty-five minutes. In so doing, I had the chance to complete a full interview, which I will detail below.

After a brief pause, he introduced himself by name - by which I mean IRL name - and shook my hand. I returned the gesture. It turns out we have more in common than I had initially expected - our destination was the same, he attends the same university as I, and we’re both studying technical fields. I was also struck by the dichotomy of behavior - from what I had heard of his prickly NS reputation to the kindness with which he exuded. Clearly, one shouldn’t always judge people by their reputations. After the more formal introductions, we dove right to the heart of the matter. He took his time to answer each question I had clearly and carefully. I will present his responses as best I can. That said, keep in mind that I may not agree with his opinions.

We first discussed general facets of the WA, starting with WA proposal drafting, offensive liberations, and GenSec.

I began by mentioning how difficult and moreover frustrating I have found it to be to draft and propose WA resolutions. Wally first assured me that starting out can, and usually is, difficult for everyone. When authoring WA resolutions, you should start with an initial draft and post this draft in the NS WA forums for discussion. Doing so immediately raises your chances of success, because far too often, newcomers skip this stage and will likely not only fail to have their proposal reach quorum, but may also find that their proposal has violated WA rules. By discussing the resolution on the forums, other nations can help you edit the language for clarity and legality. While WA regulars can be harsh in their criticism, Wally said he tries to be constructive in that criticism. It is important to heed at least some of the advice, as the WA has a very set way of doing things. There is no set amount of time a proposal should spend in the forums being debated, but a good rule of thumb is roughly two weeks. WA regulars are also often cognizant that newcomers may be trying to receive the WA resolution authorship badge, and be particularly picky with people who have not yet passed a resolution.

That said, the same standards are applied to everyone, and in order to further increase your chances, becoming familiar with the WA’s rules is also recommended. Doing so can be difficult, however, as these rules can be very technical in nature, and there are examples of regulars applying them incorrectly to discourage newcomers. Wally condemns this practice as both overly hostile and unhelpful. He said these nations seek not to confront proposals based on their merits, but rather to shut a proposal down based on nebulous concepts you may not yet understand. To learn the WA’s rules, Wallenburg has created his own ‘Handy-Dandy Guidebook to the WA’ in the form of a dispatch. I have also personally found Mousebumples’ WA101 course to be of use. Additionally, it can be helpful to familiarize yourself with common acronyms of previously passed resolutions. To do so, reviewing - or better yet - reading a handful of past passed resolutions should be done. Becoming a member of the WA General Discord is also a recommendation for familiarizing yourself with the general practices of the WA.

While he is generally more on the side of IntFed than he is of NatSov, Wally doesn’t want to be categorized in that way. Instead, he says he judges each individual resolution on its own merits, and sometimes votes IntFed and sometimes NatSov. It didn’t seem to make such a big difference to him.

He has passed a number of resolutions himself, including one at around the time we spoke entitled ‘Don’t Kill The Poor Act.’ Having recently drafted a handful of repeals of proposals with names like ‘Preventing the Execution of Innocents,’ he jokingly fears some will view him as some sort of harbinger of death.

He describes himself as “a professional critic of GenSec.” From what I understood, he generally sees GenSec as a necessary evil. The General Secretariats - or GenSec - is a group of elite, experienced WA nations that determine the legality of WA resolutions before they make it to the quorum. They also hear appeals and mete out warnings to authors who they deem should know better. Wally explained that while the system isn’t perfect, it does work, and that he has learned a lot from each General Secretariat. Of Bears Armed, he said that he never used to consider non-human nations when writing WA proposals. He now collects a set of nations for each such example, including the time when a proposal addressing unexploded ordinance and landmine removal registered a complaint from ‘sentient landmines.’ There are now a host of such ‘sentient’ nations.

Wally also disdainfully expressed some frustration that there are a certain number of nations who are simply imitation USA’s. He wishes there were more nations that would ascribe to Eastern philosophies, or perhaps would roleplay non-worldly magic nations. While roleplaying nations are often a thorn in the side of many a WA drafter, Wally finds this aspect to make NS more interesting.

I asked Wally what his opinions were of other prominent WA nations. Of Imperium Anglorum and Jocospor, Wally showed respect, but stressed the extent to which he tends to disagree with both. He describes his opponents as both dedicated and principled, if misguided. He also spoke highly of Yuno and Tlomz (Kranostav), though his interactions with them have been far more limited in nature.

Wally also shared his thoughts on offensive liberations. His personal view is that while it is understandable that organizations would like to use the WA to their advantage to capitalize on OOC events, both in-game and IRL, he views this as a deliberate misuse of the WA. The WA is not intended to handle OOC infractions, and when players make use of offensive liberations (and condemnations for that matter as well), they must be careful to remain entirely IC as they argue their case. This further blurs the line between OOC reality and IC politics in dangerous ways. His argument is consistent even when regarding Nazi regions, who he feels are unfairly targeted by such resolutions. While the philosophy should be condemned, he argues that these regions do not present a threat and that by forcibly removing their right to play the game, an injustice is being done. Who knows if these players are truly participants in Nazi ideology or simply RPers? By “liberating” such regions, the WA is deliberately acting not to rescue raided regions, but to open such regions to raiding. Since liberations can be difficult to repeal, offensive liberations tear down a region’s borders for extensive periods of time, allowing raiders to grief the natives and destroy regional activity. While such behavior is normally condemned, regions who use offensive liberations are turning a blind eye to such behavior.

Wally spent some amount of time describing his time in NS prior to becoming involved in the WA. He often frequented NS General (NSG), and became exceedingly active in debates. He describes NSG to this day to be a ‘toxic cesspool,’ and considers his time there to be broken into three tours of NSG: the summers of ‘15, ‘16, and ‘17. To this day - even after years of discussions in the WA forums - 46% of his forum posts can be found in NSG. He even has compiled a dispatch of truly facepalm quotes from his time in NSG, which he describes as “many of them offering a unique blend of hatred or stupidity to the NS forum scene.” He says he ultimately moved on from that section of the forums as the pernicious environment there was slowly getting to him. Likewise, he finds NSGP to have many of the same characteristics.

Indeed, he finds the culture of the WA GA so different from that of NSGP that he often likes to think that the GA and SC should be entirely different institutions. Having both side by side within the WA means that many players will vote for each resolution without fully realizing the different standards and culture each side maintains.

At this point, the conversation began to wind down. We spoke a bit about why he originally joined TEP, as well as how the TEP WA Affairs Ministry operates. That is, it operates much the same as does TNP’s WA Affairs Ministry, and I suppose many others as well. He expressed interest in becoming more involved in TEP’s WAA, but was cautious in describing what he felt his next steps in politics are. I got the sense that he’s happy where he is, and that he will see where it takes him.

He does tend to enjoy NS events, though he has never been particularly taken with P2TM and RPing in general. That said, he does have a few RP factbooks. I noticed the main banner on his nation page is the AAAAAAAA banner resulting from the triumphal victory of UPPERCUT against the Augustine Alliance (AA) on the last N-Day.

Throughout my conversation with him, Wally would often reference a personal database of statistics he had compiled on each of the WA resolutions he has taken part in over the last few years. You can find his website here: https://srwallenburg.weebly.com/

At this point, Wally turned to me, and asked me a few questions about my experience in NS as well as my time serving as TNP’s Minister of Communications. I then asked him if I could publish the interview he entertained me with, and he naturally said yes. And with that, I stood, shook his hand, and made my way back through the train to retake my seat and explain all that had occurred to my TNP regionmates.

All in all, meeting Wallenburg was a phenomenal experience that not only made my exhausting day much better, but changed the way in which I think of other NS players. He was kind, spoke with clarity, and clearly has an incredible work ethic. I cannot thank him enough for offering me his time, and I wish him all the best!
 
Spent some time on my flights today editing the article a bit more finely. Still not entirely perfect, but I feel that this is a definite improvement over the second draft, and thus worth updating.

“Hey, I couldn’t help but notice that you’re playing NationStates..” I said, my eyebrows raised. The well-dressed man with an Italian-style flat cap glanced at me, then nodded and waved me over.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Amtrak from Union Station winds north along the California coast, passing first through bustling stations on the outskirts of Los Angeles and then through sleepy rural towns. I was returning home after Thanksgiving break, and while I didn’t know it when the train left station, the notoriously slow journey would test my patience. An emergency stop about forty-five minutes into the trip caused the train to be delayed for several hours.

I used the opportunity to get up and stretch my legs. I saw a handful of friends as I walked up and down the train. That isn’t unusual; many other students take the train when returning from holiday. But as I was passing down the length of the train towards the rear, I saw something that caught my eye - someone hunched over their laptop intently viewing NationStates.

He introduced himself as Wally, and we briefly discussed recent NS events and his role in the World Assembly. Specifically, I asked him of his opinions of Europeia’s recent declaration of war against the NPO, the ultimatum from Osiris, and their relationship with The Black Hawks. He said that he didn’t tend to follow NSGP events, and that even if he had, he wouldn’t particularly care. He had settled into WA Affairs for good. While I didn’t want to press the issue, I did also ask him about his impression with respect to Francoism. The term itself seemed to put a bad taste in his mouth as he responded that Francoism as an ideology is dangerous, as it preaches a false superiority and inspires autocrats. Moving on, we also discussed our origins on the site, from his time in The Nether to my time in the International Northwestern Union.

I then slowly returned to my seat, pondering the event. I quickly got on my phone and started discussing the occurrence with some of my fellow TNP region-mates. “You met HIM, of all people?!” What I soon realized is that I hadn’t connected all the dots. I had assumed Wally to be a low-level staffer of The East Pacific. It had not occurred to me that Wally and Wallenburg could be one and the same, and that the man who had a reputation of needling some people in our WA Affairs Ministry could be the same person I had just met. I felt shocked, but then perhaps I should have known. To meet someone who plays NS is so rare, it seemed impossible I had met someone active in a GCR government. After a few minutes, I decided to walk back down to his seat and have a much deeper conversation. This was an opportunity I could not pass up.

He allowed me to take a seat next to him, and we proceeded to talk about NationStates and the World Assembly for about one hour and forty-five minutes. In so doing, I had the chance to complete a full interview, which I will detail below.

This time, he introduced himself by name - by which I mean IRL name - and shook my hand. I returned the gesture. It turns out we have more in common than I had initially expected - our destination was the same, he attends the same university as I, and we’re both studying technical fields. I was also struck by how different he seemed in person than his NS reputation would suggest. Whereas I had only ever heard of him as a prickly individual, I instead found him to exude kindness and understanding. Clearly, one shouldn’t always judge people by their reputations. After the more formal introductions, we dove right to the heart of the matter. He took his time to answer each question I had clearly and carefully. I will present his responses as best I can. That said, keep in mind that I may not agree with his opinions.

I began by mentioning how difficult and moreover frustrating I have found it to be to draft and propose WA resolutions. Wally assured me that becoming familiar with the WA’s rules, traditions, and standard procedures is difficult for everyone. He then provided some general advice for fledgling authors hoping to pass a resolution. When authoring WA resolutions, you should start with an initial draft and post this draft in the NS WA forums for discussion. Doing so immediately raises your chances of success. Far too often, newcomers skip this stage and will likely not only fail to have their proposal reach quorum but may also find that their proposal has violated WA rules. By discussing the resolution on the forums, other, more experienced nations can help you edit the language for clarity and legality. While WA regulars can be harsh in their criticism, Wally said he tries to be constructive in that criticism. It is important to heed at least some of the advice, as the WA has a very set way of doing things. There is no set amount of time a proposal should spend in the forums being debated, but a good rule of thumb is roughly two weeks. WA regulars are also often cognizant that newcomers may be just trying to receive the WA resolution authorship badge and therefore may be particularly picky with people who have not yet passed a resolution.

That said, the same standards are applied to everyone, so one should become familiar with the WA’s rules. These rules can be very technical in nature, and there are examples of regulars applying them incorrectly to discourage newcomers. Wally condemns this practice as both overly hostile and unhelpful. He said these nations seek not to confront proposals based on their merits, but rather to shut a proposal down based on nebulous concepts you may not yet understand. To learn the WA’s rules, Wallenburg has created his own ‘Handy-Dandy Guidebook to the WA’ in the form of a dispatch. I have also personally found Mousebumples’ WA 101 course to be of particular use. Additionally, it can be helpful to accustom yourself with the common acronyms of previously passed resolutions. To do so, reviewing a handful of passed resolutions should be done. Additionally, the WA General Discord is open to all and can be used as a forum for discussing current proposals, asking questions, and socializing with other WA members from across the NS world.

While he is generally more on the side of IntFed than he is of NatSov, Wally doesn’t want to be categorized in that way. Instead, he says he judges each individual resolution on its own merits. It didn’t seem to make such a big difference to him.

He has passed several resolutions himself, including one at around the time we spoke entitled ‘Don’t Kill The Poor Act.’ Having recently drafted a handful of repeals of proposals with names like ‘Preventing the Execution of Innocents,’ he jokingly fears some will view him as some sort of harbinger of death.

He describes himself as “a professional critic of GenSec.” From what I understood, he generally sees GenSec as a necessary evil. The General Secretariats - or GenSec - is a group of elite, experienced WA nations that determine the legality of WA resolutions before they make it to the quorum. They also hear appeals and mete out warnings to authors who they deem should know better. Wally explained that while the system isn’t perfect, it does work, and that he has learned a lot from each General Secretariat, specifically mentioning Bears Armed and Separatist Peoples. Bears Armed helped teach him to consider non-human nations when writing WA proposals. He now collects a set of nations for each such example, including the time when a proposal addressing unexploded ordinance and landmine removal registered a complaint from ‘sentient landmines.’ There are now a host of such ‘sentient’ nations. Additionally, his general policy is to approve of each proposal Separatist Peoples brings to the floor of the WA.

Wally also disdainfully expressed some frustration that there are a certain number of nations who stubbornly mimic the general policies of the US. He wishes there were more nations that would ascribe to Eastern philosophies, or perhaps would roleplay non-worldly magic nations. While roleplaying nations are often a thorn in the side of many a WA drafter, Wally finds this aspect to make NS more interesting.

I asked Wally what his opinions were of other prominent WA nations. Of Imperium Anglorum and Jocospor, Wally showed respect, but stressed the extent to which he tends to disagree with both. He describes his opponents as both dedicated and principled, if misguided. He also spoke highly of Yuno and Tlomz (Kranostav), though his interactions with them have been far more limited in nature.

Wally also shared his thoughts on offensive liberations. His personal view is that while it is understandable that organizations would like to use the WA to their advantage to capitalize on OOC events, both in-game and IRL, he views this as a deliberate misuse of the WA. The WA is not intended to handle OOC infractions, and when players make use of offensive liberations (and condemnations for that matter as well), they must be careful to remain entirely IC as they argue their case. This further blurs the line between OOC reality and IC politics in dangerous ways. His argument is consistent even when regarding Nazi regions, who he feels are unfairly targeted by such resolutions. While the philosophy should be condemned, he argues that those regions do not present a threat and that by forcibly removing their right to play the game, an injustice is being done. Who knows if these players are truly participants in fascist ideology or simply RPers? By “liberating” such regions, the WA is deliberately acting not to rescue raided regions, but to open such regions to raiding. Since liberations can be difficult to repeal, offensive liberations tear down a region’s borders for extensive periods of time, allowing raiders to grief the natives and destroy regional activity. While such behavior is normally condemned, regions who use offensive liberations are turning a blind eye to such behavior. This misuse should not be tolerated.

Before becoming involved in the WA, Wally often frequented NS General and became exceedingly active in debates. He describes NSG to this day to be a ‘toxic cesspool,’ and considers his time there to be broken into three tours: the summers of ‘15, ‘16, and ‘17. To this day - even after years of discussions in the WA forums - 46% of his forum posts can be found in NSG. He has even compiled a dispatch of truly idiotic quotes from the General forums, in which he describes many of them of “offering a unique blend of hatred or stupidity to the NS forum scene.” He ultimately moved on from that section of the forums as the pernicious environment there was slowly getting to him. Likewise, he finds NSGP to have many of the same characteristics.

Indeed, he prefers the GA side of the WA, as its culture is not directly influenced by NSGP events. He finds the culture of the GA to be so different from that of the SC that they should be entirely separate institutions. Having both side-by-side within the WA means that many players will vote for each resolution without fully realizing the different standards and culture each side maintains.

At this point, the conversation began to settle down. We spoke a bit about why he originally joined TEP, as well as his future in the region. He expressed interest in becoming more involved in TEP’s WAA but was cautious in describing what he felt his next steps in politics are. I got the sense that he’s happy where he is, and that he will see where it takes him.

Throughout my conversation with him, Wally would often reference a personal database of statistics he had compiled on each of the WA resolutions he has taken part in over the last few years. These statistics catalogue his vote as well as both the majority and dissenting vote percentages. You can find his website here: https://srwallenburg.weebly.com/wa-policy-history.html

At this point, Wally turned to me, and asked me a few questions about my experience in NS as well as my time serving as TNP’s Minister of Communications. I then asked him if I could publish this interview, and he naturally said yes. And with that, I stood, shook his hand, and made my way back through the train to retake my seat.

All in all, meeting Wallenburg was a phenomenal experience that not only made my exhausting day much better but changed the way in which I think of other NS players. He was kind, spoke with clarity, and clearly has an incredible work ethic. I cannot thank him enough for offering me his time, and I wish him all the best!
 
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I would like to offer my suggested edit:

“Hey, I couldn’t help but notice that you’re playing NationStates," I said, raising my eyebrows. The well-dressed man with an Italian-style flat cap glanced at me, then nodded and waved me over. This was a first for me, and as I approached, I considered how rare an opportunity it was. What were the odds, especially considering how it may not have even happened, despite us being in the same place at the same time. And on top of that, it was not just a meeting of two NS players, but two prominent players in two of the most prominent regions. Looking back on my first connection with another NS player in the flesh, I marvel at how fate had decided to alter the course of what had been a long, tiring day. Not only was this a meeting of two NS players, but two prominent players in two of the biggest regions in the game.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Amtrak from Union Station winded north along the California coast, passing first through bustling stations on the outskirts of Los Angeles and then through sleepy rural towns. I was returning home after Thanksgiving break, and while I didn’t know it when the train left the station, the notoriously slow journey would test my patience. An emergency stop about forty-five minutes into the trip caused the train to be delayed for several hours.

I used the opportunity to get up and stretch my legs. I saw a handful of friends as I walked up and down the train. That isn’t unusual; many other students take the train when returning from holiday. But as I was passing down the length of the train towards the rear, I saw something that caught my eye: someone hunched over their laptop intently viewing NationStates.

I couldn't resist taking advantage of this extraordinary coincidence, and after introducing myself and him doing the same, I began asking him questions about the topics of the day. Naturally, this meant I asked him about Europeia’s recent declaration of war against the NPO, the ultimatum from Osiris, and their relationship with The Black Hawks. He said that he didn’t typically follow NSGP events, and that even if he had, he wouldn’t particularly care since he had settled into engaging with the World Assembly. While I didn’t want to press the issue, I did also ask him about his impression of Francoism. The term itself seemed to put a bad taste in his mouth, and he replied that Francoism is a dangerous ideology as it preaches a false superiority and inspires autocrats. We then moved on to discussing our origins on the site, from his time in The Nether to my time in the International Northwestern Union.

I was eager to share the meeting with my regionmates in TNP, and pondered what had just happened as I slowly returned to my seat. When I arrived back at my seat, I quickly got on my phone and started talking about the encounter. As I began to relay the details of our brief conversation, including the fact he was part of The East Pacific's WA ministry, the others began connecting the obvious dots that I had missed.

“You met HIM, of all people?!” one of them exclaimed, signaling just how momentous this really was. I had assumed this guy was just a low-level staffer of TEP, so I was quite shocked. In retrospect, I should have known who he was the moment he referred to himself as Wally. I had heard of Wallenburg, of course, and his reputation for needling some people in our WA Affairs Ministry, but it was enough of a coincidence to meet another player on the train. It seemed impossible I had met someone not only active in a GCR government, but prominent in the game more broadly. After a few minutes, and a great deal of nudging from the others, I decided to walk back down to his seat and have a much deeper conversation. This was an opportunity I could not pass up.

Wally allowed me to take a seat next to him, and we proceeded to talk about NationStates and the World Assembly for about one hour and forty-five minutes. What follows is my best recollection of our conversation.

This time he introduced himself by name, by which I mean his IRL name, and shook my hand. I returned the gesture. It turns out we had more in common than I had initially expected. Our destination was the same, he attends the same university as I, and we’re both studying technical fields. I was also struck by how different he seemed in person compared to his NS reputation. Whereas I had only ever heard of him as a prickly individual, I instead found him to exude kindness and understanding. Clearly, one shouldn’t always judge people by their reputations. After the more formal introductions, we dove right to the heart of the matter. He took his time to answer each question I had clearly and carefully.

I began by mentioning how difficult and frustrating I found the drafting and proposal process to be for WA resolutions. Wally assured me that becoming familiar with the WA’s rules, traditions, and standard procedures is difficult for everyone. When it comes to authoring WA resolutions, he swears by an initial draft which should be posted in the NS WA forums for discussion. Doing so immediately raises your chances of success. Far too often, newcomers skip this stage and will likely not only fail to have their proposal reach quorum but may also find that their proposal has violated WA rules. By discussing the resolution on the forums, other more experienced nations can help you edit the language for clarity and legality. While WA regulars can be harsh in their criticism, Wally endeavors to make his criticism constructive. And he stands by this advice given that the WA has a very set way of doing things, though in the case of how long a proposal should spend in the forums being debated, a good rule of thumb is roughly two weeks. WA regulars are also often cognizant that newcomers may be just trying to receive the WA resolution authorship badge and therefore may be particularly picky with people who have not yet passed a resolution.

In theory, the same standards are applied to everyone, so one should become familiar with the WA’s rules. However, these rules can be very technical in nature, so naturally there are examples of regulars applying them incorrectly to discourage newcomers. Wally condemns this practice as both overly hostile and unhelpful. When this occurs, these nations seek not to confront proposals based on their merits, but rather to shut a proposal down based on what he deems to be nebulous concepts that new authors may not yet understand. To facilitate learning the WA’s rules, he has created his own ‘Handy-Dandy Guidebook to the WA’ in the form of a dispatch. This reminded me of Mousebumples’ WA 101 course, which I found to be of particular use for the same purpose when I got started. Additionally, it can be helpful to become familiar with the common acronyms of previously passed resolutions, especially when interacting with the WA regulars. The WA General Discord is also a fantastic resource for prospective authors, and is open to all as an additional forum for discussing current proposals, asking questions, and socializing with other WA members from across the NS world.

World Assembly watchers divide the world into International Federalists (IntFed) and National Sovereigntists (NatSov). On balance, Wally's views would tend to peg him as IntFed, as would the resolutions he writes, like the one he had just passed at the time we spoke, 'Don't Kill The Poor Act.' Wally doesn’t want to be categorized that way. Neither philosophy makes much of a difference to him, as he aims only to judge each individual resolution on its own merits. He prefers the same judgment apply to his own resolutions, several of which have been successfully passed. At the time we spoke he had recently drafted a handful
of repeals of proposals with names like ‘Preventing the Execution of Innocents,' leading him to jokingly fear some will view him as some sort of harbinger of death.

One way to classify Wally might be the term he has given himself, “a professional critic of GenSec.” The way he tells it, the GA Secretariat (GenSec) is a necessary evil. They consist of a group of elite, experienced WA nations that determine the legality of WA resolutions before they make it to the quorum. They also hear appeals and mete out warnings to authors who they feel should know better. Although the system isn’t perfect, Wally does believe it works, and he has learned a lot from each member of GenSec, especially Bears Armed and Separatist Peoples. Bears Armed helped teach him to consider non-human nations when writing WA proposals, so now he collects a set of nations for each such example. A standout for him is the time when a proposal addressing unexploded ordinance and landmine removal registered a complaint from ‘sentient landmines.’ Since then, there are now a host of such ‘sentient’ nations. And in recognition of the help he has provided to Wally, every time Separatist Peoples brings a proposal to the floor of the WA, Wally approves it.

Sentient objects are just one way that roleplaying nations are often a thorn in the side of WA authors. That may be so, but they also make NS a more interesting place as far as Wally is concerned. This is why he laments the number of nations who stubbornly mimic the general policies of the US. If he had his way, there would be more nations that would ascribe to Eastern philosophies, or perhaps would roleplay non-worldly magic nations.

Since he had a good opinion of GenSec members, I was curious how Wally felt about other prominent WA nations. Of Imperium Anglorum and Jocospor, Wally showed respect, but stressed the extent to which he tends to disagree with both. He describes his opponents as both dedicated and principled, although he views them as misguided. He also spoke highly of Yuno and Tlomz (Kranostav), though his interactions with them have been far more limited in nature.

Wally saved his strongest opinions for the trend of offensive liberations. The way he sees it, they as a deliberate misuse of the WA, which is not intended to handle OOC infractions, and when players make use of offensive liberations (and condemnations for that matter), they must be careful to remain entirely IC as they argue their case. This further blurs the line between OOC reality and IC politics in dangerous ways. His stands by this even when Nazi regions are involved, and even feels they are unfairly targeted by such resolutions. While the philosophy should be condemned, he argues that those regions do not present a threat and that by forcibly removing their right to play the game, an injustice is being done. The players may not truly be participants in fascist ideology and may simply be RPers. By “liberating” such regions, the WA deliberately acts not to rescue raided regions, but to open such regions to raiding. Since liberations can be difficult to repeal, offensive liberations tear down a region’s borders for extended periods of time, allowing raiders to grief the natives and destroy regional activity. While such behavior is normally condemned, regions who use offensive liberations turn a blind eye to such behavior.

Leaping right into big debates is second nature to Wally. Before becoming involved in the WA, he often frequented the NS General forum and became a familiar face in their debates. To this day, he describes NSG as a ‘toxic cesspool,’ and considers his time there to be broken into three tours: the summers of ‘15, ‘16, and ‘17. Even after all these years in the WA forums, 46% of his forum posts are in NSG. He has even compiled a dispatch of truly idiotic quotes from the General forums, in which he describes many of them as “offering a unique blend of hatred or stupidity to the NS forum scene.” Ultimately, he moved on from that section of the forums as the pernicious environment there was slowly getting to him. He finds NSGP to have many of the same characteristics.

Considering the culture of the General Assembly in the WA is not directly influenced by NSGP events, Wally prefers it. He finds the culture of the GA to be so different from that of the SC, in fact, that they should be entirely separate institutions. Having both side-by-side within the WA means that many players will vote for each resolution without fully realizing the different standards and culture that define each side.

With all the hot takes exhausted, the conversation settled into familiar territory. We spoke a bit about why he originally joined TEP, as well as his future in the region. He expressed interest in becoming more involved in TEP’s WA ministry but was cautious in describing what he felt his next steps in politics are. I got the sense that he’s happy where he is, and that he will see where it takes him.

The work in the WA ministry comes naturally to him. Apart from working in TEP, Wally made a personal database of statistics he had compiled on each of the WA resolutions he has taken part in over the last few years. These statistics catalogue his vote as well as both the majority and dissenting vote percentages. You can find his website here: https://srwallenburg.weebly.com/wa-policy-history.html

Before heading back to my seat, I confirmed with Wally that I would be able to publish a story about our conversation, and he said yes. Wally also turned to me, and asked me a few questions about my experience in NS as well as my time serving as TNP’s Minister of Communications. I obliged and shared some thoughts of my own, but that's a different article for another day. With our conversation complete, I stood, shook his hand, and made my way back through the train to retake my seat.

Meeting Wallenburg was a phenomenal experience that not only made my exhausting day much better but changed the way I think of other NS players. He was kind, spoke with clarity, and clearly has an incredible work ethic. I cannot thank him enough for offering me his time, and I wish him all the best!
 
Thanks for submitting your edit, Ghost. It reads much smoother than mine does, and clarifies a few things I was struggling with figuring out how to say. There were a few things I changed back, but for the most part, yours was a fantastic edit.

“Hey, I couldn’t help but notice that you’re playing NationStates," I said, raising my eyebrows. The well-dressed man with an Italian-style flat cap glanced at me, then nodded and waved me over. As I would later learn, this was not just a meeting of two NS players, but two prominent players in two of the largest and most prominent regions. This was a first for me, and as I approached, I considered how rare an opportunity it was. Looking back, I marvel at how fate had decided to alter the course of what had been a long, tiring day.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Amtrak from Union Station winds north along the California coast, passing first through bustling stations on the outskirts of Los Angeles and then through sleepy rural towns. I was returning home after Thanksgiving break, and while I didn’t know it when the train left the station, the notoriously slow journey would test my patience. An emergency stop about forty-five minutes into the trip caused the train to be delayed for several hours.

I used the opportunity to get up and stretch my legs. I saw a handful of friends as I walked up and down the train. That isn’t unusual; many other students take the train when returning from holiday. But as I was passing down the length of the train towards the rear, I saw something that caught my eye: someone hunched over their laptop intently viewing NationStates.

I couldn't resist taking advantage of this extraordinary coincidence, and after introducing myself and him doing the same, I began asking him questions about the topics of the day. Naturally, this meant I asked him about Europeia’s recent declaration of war against the NPO, the ultimatum from Osiris, and their relationship with The Black Hawks. He said that he didn’t typically follow NSGP events, and that even if he had, he wouldn’t particularly care since he had settled into engaging with the World Assembly. While I didn’t want to press the issue, I did also ask him about his impression of Francoism. The term itself seemed to put a bad taste in his mouth, and he replied that Francoism is a dangerous ideology as it preaches a false superiority and inspires autocrats. We then moved on to discussing our origins on the site, from his time in The Nether to my time in the International Northwestern Union.

I was eager to share the meeting with my regionmates in TNP, and pondered what had just happened as I slowly returned to my seat. Then I quickly got on my phone and started talking about the encounter. As I began to relay the details of our brief conversation, including the fact he was part of The East Pacific's WA ministry, the others began connecting the obvious dots that I had missed.

“You met HIM, of all people?!” one of them exclaimed, signaling just how momentous this really was. I had assumed this guy was just a low-level staffer of TEP, so I was quite shocked. In retrospect, I should have known who he was the moment he referred to himself as Wally. I had heard of Wallenburg, of course, and his reputation for needling some people in our WA Affairs Ministry, but it was enough of a coincidence to meet another player on the train. It seemed impossible I had met someone not only active in a GCR government, but prominent in the game more broadly. After a few minutes, and a bit of nudging from the others, I decided to walk back down to his seat and have a much deeper conversation. This was an opportunity I could not pass up.

Wally allowed me to take a seat next to him, and we proceeded to talk about NationStates and the World Assembly for about one hour and forty-five minutes. What follows is my best recollection of our conversation.

This time he introduced himself by name, by which I mean his IRL name, and shook my hand. I returned the gesture. It turns out we had more in common than I had initially expected. Our destination was the same, he attends the same university as I, and we’re both studying technical fields. I was also struck by how different he seemed in person compared to his NS reputation. Whereas I had only ever heard of him as a prickly individual, I instead found him to exude both kindness and understanding. Clearly, one shouldn’t always judge people by their reputations. After the more formal introductions, we dove right to the heart of the matter. He took his time to answer each question I had clearly and carefully.

I began by mentioning how difficult and frustrating I found the drafting and proposal process to be for WA resolutions. Wally assured me that becoming familiar with the WA’s rules, traditions, and standard procedures is difficult for everyone. When it comes to authoring WA resolutions, he swears by an initial draft which should be posted in the NS WA forums for discussion. Doing so immediately raises your chances of success. Far too often, newcomers skip this stage and will likely not only fail to have their proposal reach quorum but may also find that their proposal has violated WA rules. By discussing the resolution on the forums, other more experienced nations can help you edit the language for clarity and legality. While WA regulars can be harsh in their criticism, Wally endeavors to make his criticism constructive. The WA has a very set way of doing things, so heeding at least some of this advice is important. While there is no set amount of time a proposal should remain in the forums, a good rule of thumb is two weeks. WA regulars are also often cognizant that newcomers may just be trying to receive the WA resolution authorship badge and therefore may be particularly picky with people who have not yet passed a resolution.

In theory, the same standards are applied to everyone, so one should become familiar with the WA’s rules. However, these rules can be very technical in nature, so naturally there are examples of regulars applying them incorrectly to discourage newcomers. Wally condemns this practice as both overly hostile and unhelpful. When this occurs, these nations seek not to confront proposals based on their merits, but rather to shut a proposal down based on oftentimes nebulous concepts that new authors may not yet understand. To facilitate learning the WA’s rules, he has created his own ‘Handy-Dandy Guidebook to the WA’ in the form of a dispatch. This reminded me of Mousebumples’ WA 101 course, which I found to be of particular use for the same purpose when I got started. Of course, both of these guides are out of date. The WA forum has pinned a regularly-updated set of rules that is always a good starting place that should be consulted with first. Additionally, it can be helpful to become familiar with the common acronyms of previously passed resolutions, especially when interacting with WA regulars. The WA General Discord is also a fantastic resource for prospective authors, and is open to all as an additional forum for discussing current proposals, asking questions, and socializing with other WA members from across the NS world.

World Assembly watchers divide the world into International Federalists (IntFed) and National Sovereigntists (NatSov). On balance, Wally's views would tend to peg him as IntFed, as would the resolutions he writes, like the one he had just passed at the time we spoke, 'Don't Kill The Poor Act.' Wally doesn’t want to be categorized in that way. Neither philosophy makes much of a difference to him, as he aims only to judge each individual resolution on its own merits. He prefers the same judgment apply to his own resolutions, several of which have been successfully passed. At the time we spoke he had recently drafted a handful of repeals of proposals with names like the ‘Public Health and Vaccinations Act,' leading him to jokingly fear some will view him as some sort of harbinger of death.

One way to classify Wally might be the term he has given himself, “a professional critic of GenSec.” The way he tells it, the GA Secretariat (GenSec) is a necessary evil. They consist of a group of elite, experienced WA nations that determine the legality of WA resolutions before they make it to the quorum. They also hear appeals and mete out warnings to authors who they feel should know better. Although the system isn’t perfect, Wally does believe it works, and he has learned a lot from each member of GenSec, especially Bears Armed and Separatist Peoples. Bears Armed helped teach him to consider non-human nations when writing WA proposals, so now he collects a set of nations for each such example. A standout for him is the time when a proposal addressing unexploded ordinance and landmine removal registered a complaint from ‘sentient landmines.’ Since then, there are now a host of such ‘sentient’ nations. And in recognition of the help he has provided to Wally, nearly every time Separatist Peoples brings a proposal to the floor of the WA, Wally approves it.

Sentient objects are just one way that roleplaying nations are often a thorn in the side of WA authors. That may be so, but they also make NS a more interesting place as far as Wally is concerned. This is why he laments the number of nations who stubbornly mimic the general policies of the US. If he had his way, there would be more nations that would ascribe to Eastern philosophies, or perhaps would roleplay non-worldly magic nations.

Since he had a good opinion of GenSec members, I was curious how Wally felt about other prominent WA nations. Of Imperium Anglorum, Wally showed respect, but stressed the extent to which he tends to disagree with him. He describes his opponents as both dedicated and principled, albeit misguided. He also spoke highly of Yuno and Tlomz (Kranostav), though his interactions with them have been far more limited in nature.

Wally saved his strongest opinions for the trend of offensive liberations. The way he sees it, they are a deliberate misuse of the WA, which is not intended to handle OOC infractions. When players make use of offensive liberations (and condemnations for that matter), they must be careful to remain entirely IC as they argue their case. This further blurs the line between OOC reality and IC politics in dangerous ways. He stands by that even when Nazi regions are involved, and feels they are unfairly targeted by such resolutions. While the philosophy should be condemned, he argues that those regions do not present a threat and that by forcibly removing their right to play the game, an injustice is being done. The players may not truly be participants in fascist ideology and may simply be RPers. By “liberating” such regions, the WA deliberately acts not to rescue raided regions, but to open such regions to raiding. Since liberations can be difficult to repeal, offensive liberations tear down a region’s borders for extended periods of time, allowing raiders to grief the natives and destroy regional activity. While such behavior is normally condemned, regions who use offensive liberations turn a blind eye to such behavior.

Leaping right into big debates is second nature to Wally. Before becoming involved in the WA, he often frequented the NS General forum and became a familiar face in their debates. To this day, he describes NSG as a ‘toxic cesspool,’ and considers his time there to be broken into three tours: the summers of ‘15, ‘16, and ‘17. Even after all these years in the WA forums, 46% of his forum posts are in NSG. He has even compiled a dispatch of truly idiotic quotes from the General forums, in which he describes many of them as “offering a unique blend of hatred or stupidity to the NS forum scene.” Ultimately, he moved on from that section of the forums as the pernicious environment there was slowly getting to him. He finds NSGP to have many of the same characteristics.

Considering the culture of the General Assembly in the WA is not directly influenced by NSGP events, Wally prefers it. He finds the culture of the GA to be so different from that of the SC, in fact, that they should be entirely separate institutions. Having both side-by-side within the WA means that many players will vote for each resolution without fully realizing the different standards and cultures that define each side.

With all the hot takes exhausted, the conversation settled into familiar territory. We spoke a bit about why he originally joined TEP, as well as his future in the region. He expressed interest in becoming more involved in TEP’s WA ministry but was cautious in describing what he felt his next steps in politics are. I got the sense that he’s happy where he is, and that he will see where it takes him.

The work in the WA ministry comes naturally to him. Apart from working in TEP, Wally made a personal database of statistics he had compiled on each of the WA resolutions he has taken part in over the last few years. These statistics catalogue his vote as well as both the majority and dissenting vote percentages. You can find his website here: https://srwallenburg.weebly.com/wa-policy-history.html

Before heading back to my seat, I confirmed with Wally that I would be able to publish a story about our conversation, and he said yes. Wally also turned to me, and asked me a few questions about my experience in NS as well as my time serving as TNP’s Minister of Communications. I obliged and shared some thoughts of my own, but that's a different article for another day. With our conversation complete, I stood, shook his hand, and made my way back through the train to retake my seat.

Meeting Wallenburg was a phenomenal experience that not only made my exhausting day much better but changed the way I think of other NS players. He was kind, spoke with clarity, and clearly has an incredible work ethic. I cannot thank him enough for offering me his time, and I wish him all the best!
 
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