Like any aspect of NS, the World Assembly has no shortage of critics and proponents, and a wide variety of perspectives for how best to utilize or mitigate its impact on the game. And that is true just by looking at the dedicated subset of players who engage in the WA every day. Expand the lens to the game as a whole, and that collection of opinions and ideas for the WA grows a great deal larger. As of the writing of this article, there are close to 25,000 nations in the WA, eclipsed by the over 175,000 nations the game currently boasts (keeping in mind that a great deal of those nations are puppets and not all separate individuals). Considering that player influence and grows the more endorsements a player has, and a region’s voting power in the WA grows with each endorsement given to delegates, this discrepancy seems strange. Why is it that such a significant part of the game is underutilized? Granted, it can be hard to mobilize a great number of people to endorse delegates, to get them to agree to be part of a collective effort that doesn’t always give them a tangible benefit and many times appeals to their pride or regionalism. And a lot of people oppose the WA because of the extra votes delegates have, benefiting more populous nations at the expense of those who cannot muster the same number of votes.
Nevertheless, I firmly believe that all regions should make the effort to include WA activity as a central pillar of their governments’ agendas. The WA offers a myriad of domestic and foreign policy benefits for all regions regardless of size, R/D affiliation, GP or RP culture. While every region divides their ministries and duties in their own way, we all generally cover the same ground. Obviously our World Assembly Affairs ministry is concerned with our WA voting and campaigns, and any region that chooses to participate in the WA would likely have something similar. When it comes to the rest of our ministries, every one of them is enhanced by WA participation. Defense benefits from the WA differently than the rest, because it is the endorsements themselves and not the effect of those endorsements in votes that affect it. Obviously the more endorsements a delegate has, the harder it is for raiders to take over. But as we have demonstrated in TNP, more nations maintaining a high number of endorsements also makes it more difficult for coups to remove key players and purge those with greater residency in the region. There is a kind of herd immunity that makes the region as a whole more secure. Engaging in WA initiatives enhances the number of nations exchanging endorsements and contributes to that herd immunity. In short, the more people join the WA and endoswap, the more secure a region can become.
In every other ministry, WA engagement enhances influence and the endorsements’ value as extra votes is the aspect that is the focus. TNP divides its internal affairs into three ministries, Home Affairs, Culture, and Communications. Home Affairs is the primary internal ministry and is concerned with coordinating participation in the other ministries, informing the region of events and activities and in many cases managing those activities, and recruiting from within to bring more players to the offsite areas. In recent years Home Affairs has also been concerned with linking the gameside-active players to the offsite areas, and regulating the RMB. Every player has an aspect of the game that calls to them, and some of those players are either interested or primed to be interested in the WA. Obviously reaching out to those players and appealing to that interest will activate them as players who can contribute their talents to the region at large. Many times the initial interest serves as the gateway for broader participation in a wider variety of departments a region may have. Any region’s recruitment or internal affairs department should include WA engagement to harness this cohort of players.
Engagement with the WA has an added benefit of being one of the clearest examples of NS activity that is strictly and primarily game-based. Of all the potential categories of government or activity in a region, WA is built into the game’s DNA and is a tangible example of game-based activity. In a game state where R/D is not as central to defining a metagame in NS, participation in the WA offers an alternative, or even another arrow in the quiver of specific gameside activities that regions can point out to prospective new players. Recruitment and activity efforts are boosted when players have clear things they can do, and if they are more inclined to favor the gameside over offsite forums or Discord servers, being able to point to a robust WA program, particularly one with a competitive edge in delegate votes, makes for an easy selling point.
When defining a region’s purpose or niche, and selling the region to a prospective player, the WA can be an important aspect of a region’s identity. Some regions favor roleplay over gameplay and vice versa, but in either case the culture of a region can be enhanced by the WA. Clearly gameplay-oriented regions have an easier connection to the WA, but the two chambers play to either kind in different ways. Roleplay regions are far more likely to get something out of the General Assembly, particularly if their roleplay in any way is informed by the game’s stats and how game issues are answered by their players. Gameplay regions on the other hand will be far more likely to get something out of the Security Council, which has long since been considered the aspect of the WA geared toward GP. Most of the time liberations will be the aspect that most informs their gameplay, but commendations and condemnations can help build loyalty and notoriety, as well as be useful tools for alliances and relationship building (as can be seen when I explore foreign affairs). But there are ways to pick and choose which resolutions get a region’s focus to help inform what that region is in the grand scheme of the game.
Regions like Forest, known for its environmental advocacy, can use the WA to live out their own code and focus on issues they care about. The resolutions a region supports or opposes tell the rest of the game what their purpose is and if they can enhance their influence in the WA they can make sure they stand out more in that area, or successfully contribute to the game with important victories in their policy area. This is clear in the GA but can also be seen in the SC depending on which regions they help or oppose, or choose to recognize. In this way the point is not simply to get a lot of endorsements and be able to help swing votes, but to be influential enough that when a vote comes along that appeals to a region’s interests, they can better ensure that it goes the way they want it to. As a region starts to rack up victories in the WA, or becomes part of successful efforts to pass resolutions they like, they build a case for being an authority in particular areas and can utilize that experience in teaching the incoming players and making a successful case for why players who share their beliefs or passions should join them.
For those regions who do not have particular interests or much of a desire to be involved in the WA, participation in the WA still offers them a valuable tool. Of course, regions can enhance their relations with other like-minded regions, or can use their influence to defeat natural enemies or rivals. But if they have neither of these things and are not defined in large or small part by their WA activity, having a greater vote in the WA can be used to entice other regions or deter them. Assuming another region is involved in the WA or utilizes it for one of the aforementioned reasons, a region with little interest in the WA can effectively strategically deploy its WA vote in any given vote. Allies can count on them for additional votes, or enemies can fear their involvement. When a region truly has no stake in a vote, not utilizing their votes strategically is a huge missed opportunity. Instead of abstaining or opposing votes reflexively, a region in this situation could vote for something one day and against something else entirely depend on arrangements with friends or foes, and the greater the influence the more potent that option becomes.
We have seen the rise of voting blocs in the WA, which provide a great way for allied or friendly regions to enhance their cooperation and relationships with each other, while also boosting their collective global influence. TNP is part of the World Assembly Legislative League (WALL), an arrangement consisting of signatories who all also happen to be treaty allies with TNP, allowing our alliance to work toward clear goals and practice working with each other outside of the classic military operations that most often dominate the concrete examples of allies working together. As of late another bloc, the Interregional Legislative Coalition (ILC), has come on the scene with a more pointed goal of supporting resolutions that appeal broadly to the generally left-leaning regions that make up the bloc. This fits more with the culture-enhancement aspect of WA activity, but achieves the same things as WALL in terms of cooperation and finding ways to deepen and enhance the partnership made by neighboring regions. There are plenty of regions with relationships similar to the regions in these blocs, and perhaps WA activity is one way they could build stronger bonds and achieve goals that fit their respective cultures.
Note that at no point was actually drafting WA resolutions, or participating in the editing and advice process in drafts on the forum specifically mentioned. The nitty gritty of WA resolution writing is a very specific thing that does not interest most players, especially as so few have an affinity for it. Everything else, from concerns about the “lemming effect” to the fact that some regions have way more votes in the WA, can be mitigated by greater focus in participation and outreach in WA affairs. A robust, successful WA program like the one in TNP is not developed overnight, and smaller regions will have to choose their battles more carefully, pull off more successful recruitment of new players, or collaborate with other regions in official or unofficial voting blocs. But there is simply too much untapped potential and benefit in becoming involved in the WA for regions to ignore it entirely. It can be utilized in so many ways direct and indirect, and tailored to fit the needs or interests of the regions who are willing to invest in its exploration.
More regions should be working toward becoming bigger players in the WA, and if this were done in any significant way, new avenues of gameplay could be opened up as the established order of things would begin to change shape. As more people become involved and find novel ways to make use of the WA, how we understand it would continue to evolve and those already participating in it would have to evolve along with it. In short, it isn’t just for their own good that regions should get involved in the WA, but for the game as a whole. But even if most regions don’t get on board with the “greater good” argument, that’s just more of a reason for individual regions to step up their game. Just as the few regions we currently have dedicated enough to build their endorsements to high levels benefit from the lack of challengers in that regard, new regions willing to step up can do the same. Nature abhors a vacuum, and the WA is still very much a space with much more room to be filled by those brave and creative enough to make the effort.
Nevertheless, I firmly believe that all regions should make the effort to include WA activity as a central pillar of their governments’ agendas. The WA offers a myriad of domestic and foreign policy benefits for all regions regardless of size, R/D affiliation, GP or RP culture. While every region divides their ministries and duties in their own way, we all generally cover the same ground. Obviously our World Assembly Affairs ministry is concerned with our WA voting and campaigns, and any region that chooses to participate in the WA would likely have something similar. When it comes to the rest of our ministries, every one of them is enhanced by WA participation. Defense benefits from the WA differently than the rest, because it is the endorsements themselves and not the effect of those endorsements in votes that affect it. Obviously the more endorsements a delegate has, the harder it is for raiders to take over. But as we have demonstrated in TNP, more nations maintaining a high number of endorsements also makes it more difficult for coups to remove key players and purge those with greater residency in the region. There is a kind of herd immunity that makes the region as a whole more secure. Engaging in WA initiatives enhances the number of nations exchanging endorsements and contributes to that herd immunity. In short, the more people join the WA and endoswap, the more secure a region can become.
In every other ministry, WA engagement enhances influence and the endorsements’ value as extra votes is the aspect that is the focus. TNP divides its internal affairs into three ministries, Home Affairs, Culture, and Communications. Home Affairs is the primary internal ministry and is concerned with coordinating participation in the other ministries, informing the region of events and activities and in many cases managing those activities, and recruiting from within to bring more players to the offsite areas. In recent years Home Affairs has also been concerned with linking the gameside-active players to the offsite areas, and regulating the RMB. Every player has an aspect of the game that calls to them, and some of those players are either interested or primed to be interested in the WA. Obviously reaching out to those players and appealing to that interest will activate them as players who can contribute their talents to the region at large. Many times the initial interest serves as the gateway for broader participation in a wider variety of departments a region may have. Any region’s recruitment or internal affairs department should include WA engagement to harness this cohort of players.
Engagement with the WA has an added benefit of being one of the clearest examples of NS activity that is strictly and primarily game-based. Of all the potential categories of government or activity in a region, WA is built into the game’s DNA and is a tangible example of game-based activity. In a game state where R/D is not as central to defining a metagame in NS, participation in the WA offers an alternative, or even another arrow in the quiver of specific gameside activities that regions can point out to prospective new players. Recruitment and activity efforts are boosted when players have clear things they can do, and if they are more inclined to favor the gameside over offsite forums or Discord servers, being able to point to a robust WA program, particularly one with a competitive edge in delegate votes, makes for an easy selling point.
When defining a region’s purpose or niche, and selling the region to a prospective player, the WA can be an important aspect of a region’s identity. Some regions favor roleplay over gameplay and vice versa, but in either case the culture of a region can be enhanced by the WA. Clearly gameplay-oriented regions have an easier connection to the WA, but the two chambers play to either kind in different ways. Roleplay regions are far more likely to get something out of the General Assembly, particularly if their roleplay in any way is informed by the game’s stats and how game issues are answered by their players. Gameplay regions on the other hand will be far more likely to get something out of the Security Council, which has long since been considered the aspect of the WA geared toward GP. Most of the time liberations will be the aspect that most informs their gameplay, but commendations and condemnations can help build loyalty and notoriety, as well as be useful tools for alliances and relationship building (as can be seen when I explore foreign affairs). But there are ways to pick and choose which resolutions get a region’s focus to help inform what that region is in the grand scheme of the game.
Regions like Forest, known for its environmental advocacy, can use the WA to live out their own code and focus on issues they care about. The resolutions a region supports or opposes tell the rest of the game what their purpose is and if they can enhance their influence in the WA they can make sure they stand out more in that area, or successfully contribute to the game with important victories in their policy area. This is clear in the GA but can also be seen in the SC depending on which regions they help or oppose, or choose to recognize. In this way the point is not simply to get a lot of endorsements and be able to help swing votes, but to be influential enough that when a vote comes along that appeals to a region’s interests, they can better ensure that it goes the way they want it to. As a region starts to rack up victories in the WA, or becomes part of successful efforts to pass resolutions they like, they build a case for being an authority in particular areas and can utilize that experience in teaching the incoming players and making a successful case for why players who share their beliefs or passions should join them.
For those regions who do not have particular interests or much of a desire to be involved in the WA, participation in the WA still offers them a valuable tool. Of course, regions can enhance their relations with other like-minded regions, or can use their influence to defeat natural enemies or rivals. But if they have neither of these things and are not defined in large or small part by their WA activity, having a greater vote in the WA can be used to entice other regions or deter them. Assuming another region is involved in the WA or utilizes it for one of the aforementioned reasons, a region with little interest in the WA can effectively strategically deploy its WA vote in any given vote. Allies can count on them for additional votes, or enemies can fear their involvement. When a region truly has no stake in a vote, not utilizing their votes strategically is a huge missed opportunity. Instead of abstaining or opposing votes reflexively, a region in this situation could vote for something one day and against something else entirely depend on arrangements with friends or foes, and the greater the influence the more potent that option becomes.
We have seen the rise of voting blocs in the WA, which provide a great way for allied or friendly regions to enhance their cooperation and relationships with each other, while also boosting their collective global influence. TNP is part of the World Assembly Legislative League (WALL), an arrangement consisting of signatories who all also happen to be treaty allies with TNP, allowing our alliance to work toward clear goals and practice working with each other outside of the classic military operations that most often dominate the concrete examples of allies working together. As of late another bloc, the Interregional Legislative Coalition (ILC), has come on the scene with a more pointed goal of supporting resolutions that appeal broadly to the generally left-leaning regions that make up the bloc. This fits more with the culture-enhancement aspect of WA activity, but achieves the same things as WALL in terms of cooperation and finding ways to deepen and enhance the partnership made by neighboring regions. There are plenty of regions with relationships similar to the regions in these blocs, and perhaps WA activity is one way they could build stronger bonds and achieve goals that fit their respective cultures.
Note that at no point was actually drafting WA resolutions, or participating in the editing and advice process in drafts on the forum specifically mentioned. The nitty gritty of WA resolution writing is a very specific thing that does not interest most players, especially as so few have an affinity for it. Everything else, from concerns about the “lemming effect” to the fact that some regions have way more votes in the WA, can be mitigated by greater focus in participation and outreach in WA affairs. A robust, successful WA program like the one in TNP is not developed overnight, and smaller regions will have to choose their battles more carefully, pull off more successful recruitment of new players, or collaborate with other regions in official or unofficial voting blocs. But there is simply too much untapped potential and benefit in becoming involved in the WA for regions to ignore it entirely. It can be utilized in so many ways direct and indirect, and tailored to fit the needs or interests of the regions who are willing to invest in its exploration.
More regions should be working toward becoming bigger players in the WA, and if this were done in any significant way, new avenues of gameplay could be opened up as the established order of things would begin to change shape. As more people become involved and find novel ways to make use of the WA, how we understand it would continue to evolve and those already participating in it would have to evolve along with it. In short, it isn’t just for their own good that regions should get involved in the WA, but for the game as a whole. But even if most regions don’t get on board with the “greater good” argument, that’s just more of a reason for individual regions to step up their game. Just as the few regions we currently have dedicated enough to build their endorsements to high levels benefit from the lack of challengers in that regard, new regions willing to step up can do the same. Nature abhors a vacuum, and the WA is still very much a space with much more room to be filled by those brave and creative enough to make the effort.