Mission Statement Ideas

Well I think I'm allowed to start discussion here. To start planning the University, lets come up with a basic mission statement; what we plan on accomplishing with the university, etc.

First. what principles should we espouse?

Then, we can pretty up the words.

Perhaps something along the lines of "The University shall be used for the betterment of NS as a whole" or something like that?

Who makes up the target audience(s)?

What would they need (or want) and why?

How would the "U" help them get what they need or want"?

Keep in mind that the "U" is going to help bring players to the regional forum, and hopefully motivate them to get involved. They may originate from here, or from another region.

I wasn't able to reduce those ideas down to a single statement ev ery time I discussed it, and I doubt it can be done in one sentence.

Y'all are free to borrow from anything I've said in the campaign or since if that would help.

Well, specifically we should think about the "community of scholars" definition that Universities use. We already have areas where people can comment and freely share whatever ideas they have about gameplay or diplomacy or forum activity.

How specifically do we think we can make this something more than the "NS Discussions" section of the forum?

I'll post up some of my ideas on initial subject matter later on tomorrow.

Part of it should be running 'courses' with the aim of getting some kind of made up TNP 'qualification' at the end of it. I'd probably suggest staying with NS related stuff initially rather than 'RL' subjects though. I guess the detail of that isn't what we're on about now though. So, part of our mission statement should be to provide courses/information/whatever on stuff.

Also, Unter has a good point. It may be that we could move some of the NS discussion forums into the Uni area perhaps? And just provide a venue for people to discuss NS related things perhaps in a more 'academic' manner? I dunno. A sort of two pronged approach perhaps, with both formalised courses and also informal discussion areas.

But yeah. So as for a mission statement, our aims then, are to provide courses to allow people from all over NationStates to learn more about some of the diverse facets of the game, such as the invader/defender part of the game, perhaps gaining some kind of 'qualification' and also to serve as an area for discussion of events and ideas about NationStates.

Think about, if you can remember, what a new player in the game confronts when they first arrive. It's not only invaider-defender, it is also:

• 1 how the NSUN works,
• 2 UN proposals and resolutions (and I know of a region that would love to help with teaching that aspect),
• 3 daily issues and how they work (there's plenty of room there for instruction since the number of issues has grown significantly over time)
• 4 regional influence
• 5 endorsements and what and how they work

And I'm sure that I haven't listed everything that can drive newbies crazy.

Then one gets to the areas that interests players once they've been here for a bt, such as intra- and inter-regional off-site politics, history of NS and TNP, invaider-defender gameplay, and so forth.

Maybe we should go ahead and have a list of areas newbies might need and most established players might want or need, and see where that takes us in terms of the mission statement, what areas to start with for courses, etc.

As to certification, it could be something like mentioning a certification in the player's sig (such as the UN Old Guard, and the Order of Gryphons maybe with a special gif,

I agree that moving the serious NS discussions out of arts and entertainment to the university is a very sound idea; I'm now wonder why no one has raised that idea before. In other words, even *I* like that idea!

Here's what I was thinking for the University:

• Courses on beginner NS issues, such as how the UN works, how issues work, etc.
• More advanced courses for players who understand the game. Subjects such as complex invader/defender, history of NS regions, interregional politics, etc.
• Maybe "Degrees" for those who have taken a set of courses and passed a short exam or something (to make it a little more interesting)
• Lectures by veteran NS players on various issues
• Discussions on in-depth and advanced NS issues
• A library of NS documents, posts, forum addresses, etc. that are normally hard to find. Including an in-depth archive of documents relating to TNP history.

Part of it should be running 'courses' with the aim of getting some kind of made up TNP 'qualification' at the end of it. I'd probably suggest staying with NS related stuff initially rather than 'RL' subjects though.

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I like that idea. I think the certification would get more people interested in the University.

The Mission of the University of the North Pacific is to establish a seminary and repository of those lessons learned and demonstrated by the manifest experience of its members, for the betterment of all players of Nationstates and the game itself.

^ works well for me

Byardkuria:

The Mission of the University of the North Pacific is to establish a seminary and repository of those lessons learned and demonstrated by the manifest experience of its members, for the betterment of all players of Nationstates and the game itself.

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I like it too!

Would someone like to start pulling the pieces together, or leave it for me to do.

We need to focus on a few issues, which need to be stated.

I would like to come up with a timeline/game plan for startup and phasing in the scope of the offerings on the one hand; and how the courses will be organized (in the sense ofcertification/degrees, etc.)

We also need to make some decisions on the proposal for governance.

Any takers?

*Blue Wolf II dropkicks JAL in the ribs

Its your ministry damn it, unless you want me to start doing your job get off your lazy ass and do it