I have also had the impression that NationStates and at times TNP is an old boys club. Elections are held but those who run are the same set of names from experienced players and this ties into my ealry statements. THose who have played for a while are overall better equiped to advance and interact with TNP and NationStates.Which is understandable with their expeirence and name regoniztion, but it can seem like an impossible barrier to break through.
Bringing new players into the Regional Assembly and have them interact outside the site proper is a challenge and TNP has tried to address it the best they can.
Y'know, I see this sort of sentiment a lot when relatively new people run for office, and most of the time it seems like a cheap shot to try to drum up anti-establishment sentiment. But I don't get the impression that you're doing that; on the contrary, your answers to the questions you've been posed have been thoughtful and, frankly, impressive.
I will freely grant that I am a member of the old guard; I have been playing NS since 2004 and I've been in TNP specifically since 2013. And from my perspective, TNP is a shining beacon of openness and a willingness to elevate pretty new players to high office.
McMasterdonia is no longer new, but he was elected delegate within six months of joining the region. Pallaith joined the forum in early September 2016, was WA Minister by the end of the month, and served his first term as Delegate starting May 2017. Siwale joined in January 2017, became a Deputy Speaker and a Minister in May 2017, was elected Vice Delegate in September 2017, and then served 2 terms as Delegate starting May 2018. Gladio, who served in between Pallaith and Siwale, has been a long time NPAer but that was his first (and so far, only) term as Delegate - and he won while running against a former delegate. Fiji is highly likely to win the current election as a first-time delegate, and although his nation has been around for several years, he only joined the community in July of last year and moved into a ministerial role very quickly from there.
Sil Dorsett joined the forum in October 2016 and was named WA Minister in January 2017, where he served multiple terms before running for Vice Delegate January 2019. His opponent Malphe started out in the NPA back in 2016, and worked his way up to Minister of Defense in January 2018. As for the Security Council... even though that's a role where we really do value longevity and length of service, there are only
two people on the current roster who predate my own joining date, and just one if you don't count COE because he left and rejoined the Council again. And there have been quite a few others who have joined and left in the meantime.
I could go on, but I think these illustrate the point I am getting at - that from my perspective, TNP has nearly constant turnover and the vast majority of key players right now are people who were either not around or practically unknown just a year or two earlier. I see a region that responds to outside threats by opening its doors even more widely, and which values and rewards both rewards critical thinking and competence. I don't see a stagnant old guard clutching the reins of power for itself, but rather fresh-faced idealists eager to
indoctrinate train and mentor new players.
So I would like to ask... where are you getting that impression from? What are we doing or telegraphing or messaging, as a region, that causes you as a new player to look around and think there is no opportunity for advancement for you?
Even if you do not win the election, I very much hope you will stick around as a Deputy Speaker. I personally feel that the Speaker's Office is an excellent role to gain experience in the legislative part of TNP, and I would hypothesize that, with the skills you are already bringing to the table, that would set you up very well to accomplish anything you desire in TNP.
