Monte Ozarka
TNPer
Lecture 4: Legitimacy "First impressions"
We've learned about some of the more tangible benefits of having a forum, namely that of being able to organize and administrate far more effectively, as well as helping to build a regional community. But there's something more intangible to it.
Legitimacy: Selling your region
Forums also lend a very important sense of worth or legitimacy to a region. Now, what do I mean by "legitimacy"? In this case, I mean something akin to respectability. It has less to do with real worth as much as perceived worth. Basically, if someone were to take a random glance at your region, they would likely make a very rapid assessment of your region based on the limited information that they can see. A forum, I argue, lends a far more favorable reaction.
Why does this matter, though? I don't mean to sound trite, but you only have one chance to make a first impression. Therefore, if you want to recruit new people to the region, you have to at least make an effort to wow and dazzle them. When given the choice between two regions that have equally interesting premises, it is likely that they'll choose the one that they judge to have a better community. Because forums take effort and some sort of regional cohesion, they are impressive. And even if the forums are new or kinda dead, they still represent regional potential and an investment of some sort of effort capital into making the region better. (Plus, offering a new recruit the increased number of opportunities and greater involvement that forums provide is always a good thing.) Therefore, to a new region, the existence of regional forums represent effort and enthusiasm on the part of the region's members. Potential recruits, therefore, may judge the worth of adding their input and effort into the region.
Legitimacy: Other considerations
Why does this matter to large, established regions, though? Well, how do you think they got to be that way in the first place? They had to grow out of humble beginnings, and with enough recruitment and common history, they got to be where they are. And as they are (as far as I can tell) ALL regions with regional forums, I'd say that the sense of legitimacy and potential that forums bring helped to contribute to that growth. Furthermore, large regions cannot survive without offsite forums, as any region of any decent size cannot be administered effectively via in-game means. Large regions without forums pretty much signal bad or nonexistent administration to someone who knows nothing about the region.
This also applies to foreign governments checking out your region. Whether or not they open formal relations with you or enter into a treaty or alliance with your region are influenced in large part by what they see. As I said before, the absence of a forum may demonstrate weakness, apathy, and lack of cohesion. Who would wish to link one's region to one like that?
Now, let's change topics a little bit. There is a wholly different issue that I hope your region will never have to deal with. This doesn't deal with the respectability of a region but weaves itself in regional strife.
Forums and governmental legitimacy: A TNP anecdote
This issue is not nearly so important in smaller regions where one can directly contact the members of a region quickly and without too much effort, but it has occurred multiple times in the feeders before. So, although this may not be so applicable, it's important to see what role forums can play in political strife.
In the feeders, because the forums are very much THE center of regional life (much to the detriment to the RMB), control of the forums can be a very contentious and divisive topic. Those of us here in TNP experienced a lot of that in the past. All this revolves around the elected government being based on the forum.
One type of conflict occurs when the sitting delegate decides to usurp power for themselves, overthrowing the elected government for all intents and purposes. Since the government is located on the forums, the easiest way for the rogue delegate to severely hamper the government's efforts to replace him is to cut off their recognition. The URL to the forum is removed in the WFE, and a new one to one that the delegate personally supports may be replaced. The delegate denounces the old forums as "unofficial", "illegitimate", or "traitorous", and all of a sudden, the old forums are deprived of new life.
"But wait!" you say, "Surely, everyone would be able to see through that deception!"
The answer is no. Anyone and everyone connected to your region (i.e. active citizens and allies) would be able to see the truth, but this is impossible in a feeder. With a population of 4000+ nations (and during the time of the Great Bight and Pixiedance affairs, TNP's population was anywhere between 6000 and 8000+ nations strong). The people in the know are many, but the newbs and the more apathetic members don't have any clue what's going on. They sign onto NS, and they see the forum's URL at the top of the region's page. "Oh, okay. This must be the region's official forums." And there we go.
But who cares? The community is still maintained, right? There's still a forum to take up the torch.
Sorta. But in a region like ours where community and democratic governance are entwined, such a breach of political trust amounts to breaching the trust of the greater community. After all, by exiling the old forum wholesale, the rogue delegate is also locking away the community's history.
Also, governance matters, and who's in control matters. With enough time, the presence of a government on a set of forums that the delegate advertises will cause nations to join them, regardless of legality or fairness. In this case, forums go a long way towards propping up what may be an illegitimate government. It represents governmental legitimacy.
---------------------------------
Congratulations, you are now done with the lectures for this class. For this week, I'd like you to tell me your first impressions when you came upon the TNP forums. (In general.)
Hope this has been fairly useful so far. I've enjoyed our discussions, for one.
Will type more when I can be cogent in the morning. Toodles.
We've learned about some of the more tangible benefits of having a forum, namely that of being able to organize and administrate far more effectively, as well as helping to build a regional community. But there's something more intangible to it.
Legitimacy: Selling your region
Forums also lend a very important sense of worth or legitimacy to a region. Now, what do I mean by "legitimacy"? In this case, I mean something akin to respectability. It has less to do with real worth as much as perceived worth. Basically, if someone were to take a random glance at your region, they would likely make a very rapid assessment of your region based on the limited information that they can see. A forum, I argue, lends a far more favorable reaction.
Why does this matter, though? I don't mean to sound trite, but you only have one chance to make a first impression. Therefore, if you want to recruit new people to the region, you have to at least make an effort to wow and dazzle them. When given the choice between two regions that have equally interesting premises, it is likely that they'll choose the one that they judge to have a better community. Because forums take effort and some sort of regional cohesion, they are impressive. And even if the forums are new or kinda dead, they still represent regional potential and an investment of some sort of effort capital into making the region better. (Plus, offering a new recruit the increased number of opportunities and greater involvement that forums provide is always a good thing.) Therefore, to a new region, the existence of regional forums represent effort and enthusiasm on the part of the region's members. Potential recruits, therefore, may judge the worth of adding their input and effort into the region.
Legitimacy: Other considerations
Why does this matter to large, established regions, though? Well, how do you think they got to be that way in the first place? They had to grow out of humble beginnings, and with enough recruitment and common history, they got to be where they are. And as they are (as far as I can tell) ALL regions with regional forums, I'd say that the sense of legitimacy and potential that forums bring helped to contribute to that growth. Furthermore, large regions cannot survive without offsite forums, as any region of any decent size cannot be administered effectively via in-game means. Large regions without forums pretty much signal bad or nonexistent administration to someone who knows nothing about the region.
This also applies to foreign governments checking out your region. Whether or not they open formal relations with you or enter into a treaty or alliance with your region are influenced in large part by what they see. As I said before, the absence of a forum may demonstrate weakness, apathy, and lack of cohesion. Who would wish to link one's region to one like that?
Now, let's change topics a little bit. There is a wholly different issue that I hope your region will never have to deal with. This doesn't deal with the respectability of a region but weaves itself in regional strife.
Forums and governmental legitimacy: A TNP anecdote
This issue is not nearly so important in smaller regions where one can directly contact the members of a region quickly and without too much effort, but it has occurred multiple times in the feeders before. So, although this may not be so applicable, it's important to see what role forums can play in political strife.
In the feeders, because the forums are very much THE center of regional life (much to the detriment to the RMB), control of the forums can be a very contentious and divisive topic. Those of us here in TNP experienced a lot of that in the past. All this revolves around the elected government being based on the forum.
One type of conflict occurs when the sitting delegate decides to usurp power for themselves, overthrowing the elected government for all intents and purposes. Since the government is located on the forums, the easiest way for the rogue delegate to severely hamper the government's efforts to replace him is to cut off their recognition. The URL to the forum is removed in the WFE, and a new one to one that the delegate personally supports may be replaced. The delegate denounces the old forums as "unofficial", "illegitimate", or "traitorous", and all of a sudden, the old forums are deprived of new life.
"But wait!" you say, "Surely, everyone would be able to see through that deception!"
The answer is no. Anyone and everyone connected to your region (i.e. active citizens and allies) would be able to see the truth, but this is impossible in a feeder. With a population of 4000+ nations (and during the time of the Great Bight and Pixiedance affairs, TNP's population was anywhere between 6000 and 8000+ nations strong). The people in the know are many, but the newbs and the more apathetic members don't have any clue what's going on. They sign onto NS, and they see the forum's URL at the top of the region's page. "Oh, okay. This must be the region's official forums." And there we go.
But who cares? The community is still maintained, right? There's still a forum to take up the torch.
Sorta. But in a region like ours where community and democratic governance are entwined, such a breach of political trust amounts to breaching the trust of the greater community. After all, by exiling the old forum wholesale, the rogue delegate is also locking away the community's history.
Also, governance matters, and who's in control matters. With enough time, the presence of a government on a set of forums that the delegate advertises will cause nations to join them, regardless of legality or fairness. In this case, forums go a long way towards propping up what may be an illegitimate government. It represents governmental legitimacy.
---------------------------------
Congratulations, you are now done with the lectures for this class. For this week, I'd like you to tell me your first impressions when you came upon the TNP forums. (In general.)
Hope this has been fairly useful so far. I've enjoyed our discussions, for one.
Will type more when I can be cogent in the morning. Toodles.