Ministry of Cards Office - Opening Statement 1/12/2021
As for what we have down, I've divided what we should ideally accomplish by the end of this term into 2 categories:
1. See to the full introduction of a cards-based development program - Yes, really! The Ministry of Cards fully intends on introducing its own, fully-fledged development program similar to the highly popular WADP. Featuring monthly awards, lifetime achievements, and much more (all being centered around cards-based accomplishments), this is going to take months on end to complete and it will require all hands on deck in order to fully realize; this is why I will be delegating much of its production to the regular staffers in order to make its release as time-efficient as possible.
The potential benefits regarding this program have a likelihood to exceed even that of the Cards Integration program we released last term, so this will be MoCa's primary item which we will focus on within this term.
2. Host a cards-based gathering featuring traders outside of The North Pacific - Festivals have always been a long-time part of TNP, whether it be due to the wish to celebrate aspects of Gameplay, Roleplay, or other types of NS communities. This time, I believe Cards should have a go at this; Delegate @mcmasterdonia mentioned a Cards Symposium within their campaign, so we will work our hardest in order to introduce an event akin to what was wished for.
(Cards may require the help of other ministries (particularly Culture and WAA) in order to make this item a reality, as we have never done this before.)
3. Further enshrine the fledgling Cards Integration program within the region - As the Cards Integration program is still very new, there are still multiple ways in which it can be further publicized and developed. I firstly plan on getting all ministers on making announcements within their respective forums regarding what ministry-specific tasks they have for their staffers, along with what is rewarded should those tasks be completed. After that is done, I will see about expanding on the current cards rewards given out by the Cards Integration program (currently, only 1 random legendary is a reward; I believe that this can easily be diversified to make the program more appealing).
4. Introduce a card awards competition - In the NS Gameplay subforum, me and a few others noticed awards being nominated for specific GPers or GP-specific events. This has always been something we wished we could introduce for Cards and that is exactly what we will focus much on during this term. As this will be a community-wide event, I expect MoCa's regular staffers to be aiding in this event's implementation.
(As of now, the card awards competition is likely to be released within the NS Trading Cards subforum.)
This is what we will primarily be working on for the overall agenda. However, should Season 3 of cards be released during this term, then we will also expand this agenda to include the following:
5. Promote the introduction of the new season as much as possible - The introduction of a new season of cards only occurs around once per year (and in Season 3's case, it is taking even more than a year to be implemented by the NS admins). As a result, it will be the job of MoCa to ensure that Season 3 gets publicized to the rest of the region in a way that it will encourage a significantly increased turnout in trading participation within TNP. Additionally, this will help ensure that participation within the Cards Guild subservient to MoCa also increases.
6. Re-adjust the card WADP rewards to accommodate Season 3 cards - The current WADP sends out a percentage of Season 1 and Season 2 cards - at the end of each month - to top performers within the WADP's respective categories (you can view the most recent end-of-month card rewards here). These monthly card handouts, along with potentially the card lotteries themselves, will need to be re-adjusted in order to make way for the handing out of Season 3 cards. As cards of the previous 2 seasons will be de-prioritized in pack opening in favor of Season 3, MoCa will need to determine the most appropriate way in which we can hand out as many of these new cards as possible, while still giving newer players the chance to be gifted older seasons' cards the WADP will continue to reward.
The potential benefits regarding this program have a likelihood to exceed even that of the Cards Integration program we released last term, so this will be MoCa's primary item which we will focus on within this term.
2. Host a cards-based gathering featuring traders outside of The North Pacific - Festivals have always been a long-time part of TNP, whether it be due to the wish to celebrate aspects of Gameplay, Roleplay, or other types of NS communities. This time, I believe Cards should have a go at this; Delegate @mcmasterdonia mentioned a Cards Symposium within their campaign, so we will work our hardest in order to introduce an event akin to what was wished for.
(Cards may require the help of other ministries (particularly Culture and WAA) in order to make this item a reality, as we have never done this before.)
3. Further enshrine the fledgling Cards Integration program within the region - As the Cards Integration program is still very new, there are still multiple ways in which it can be further publicized and developed. I firstly plan on getting all ministers on making announcements within their respective forums regarding what ministry-specific tasks they have for their staffers, along with what is rewarded should those tasks be completed. After that is done, I will see about expanding on the current cards rewards given out by the Cards Integration program (currently, only 1 random legendary is a reward; I believe that this can easily be diversified to make the program more appealing).
4. Introduce a card awards competition - In the NS Gameplay subforum, me and a few others noticed awards being nominated for specific GPers or GP-specific events. This has always been something we wished we could introduce for Cards and that is exactly what we will focus much on during this term. As this will be a community-wide event, I expect MoCa's regular staffers to be aiding in this event's implementation.
(As of now, the card awards competition is likely to be released within the NS Trading Cards subforum.)
This is what we will primarily be working on for the overall agenda. However, should Season 3 of cards be released during this term, then we will also expand this agenda to include the following:
5. Promote the introduction of the new season as much as possible - The introduction of a new season of cards only occurs around once per year (and in Season 3's case, it is taking even more than a year to be implemented by the NS admins). As a result, it will be the job of MoCa to ensure that Season 3 gets publicized to the rest of the region in a way that it will encourage a significantly increased turnout in trading participation within TNP. Additionally, this will help ensure that participation within the Cards Guild subservient to MoCa also increases.
6. Re-adjust the card WADP rewards to accommodate Season 3 cards - The current WADP sends out a percentage of Season 1 and Season 2 cards - at the end of each month - to top performers within the WADP's respective categories (you can view the most recent end-of-month card rewards here). These monthly card handouts, along with potentially the card lotteries themselves, will need to be re-adjusted in order to make way for the handing out of Season 3 cards. As cards of the previous 2 seasons will be de-prioritized in pack opening in favor of Season 3, MoCa will need to determine the most appropriate way in which we can hand out as many of these new cards as possible, while still giving newer players the chance to be gifted older seasons' cards the WADP will continue to reward.
1. Delegate much of the Guild's regular programs to the hands of regular staffers - I've come to realize last term that the Guild leadership, while knowledgeable and effective, is still a band of people who might not always be online. This led to us not performing as efficiently as I might've hoped; therefore I will give our regular MoCa staffers the much-needed chance to manage our regular programs themselves. I will start this implementation by having regular staffers host our monthly card pull events along with the TMCCC.
As I have not been super active in updating our highly-used Great Card Giveaway, there is also potential for management of this program to be delegated to my regular staffers, even if it is primarily maintained through spreadsheet access.
Doing these things will provide our staffers the experience to hopefully lead the Guild themselves one day. As I'm a current university student I unfortunately won't be here forever, so I hope that delegating the Guild's tasks to regular staffers will eventually lead to this result.
2. Revamp the Charter to include new rules + a proper amendment process - Charter? You mean that dusty old thing that hasn't been updated in several months? Yeah, that charter. Currently the only rule within the Guild is for members to not heist each other's accounts, which, while certainly a good regulation, might not be the only thing that should be prohibited. The cards community is constantly evolving and developing itself as time passes, so the Guild will need to be prepared for when such things occur.
New rules for the Guild will always be considered, but for them to be actually implemented it will require the Charter to be amended. No, Guild leadership will not be the sole deciders of how the Charter gets amended. Everyone in the Guild, whether it be the regular members, the leadership team, or the Delegate overseeing the leaders of the Guild itself, will play a part in how the Guild governs its functions.
I've already drafted a potential amendment + rule proposal, so all Guild members currently reading this are highly advised to stay in tune!
3. Incite greater activity within the Cards Guild Discord channel - Not everyone has Discord and that's completely fine if you don't wish to join. However, for those that do possess it I would be personally interested in seeing more activity in the Guild's designated channel in the TNP General server. This may include regular Discord-exclusive events along with regular promotion of the General server itself; however we'll be going about this, I hope that this part of the Guild becomes even livelier than it already has been all this time.
3. Further reform our already-introduced programs to encourage more participation - This is an item partially accomplished by the end of last term through the introduction of Cards Integration. Therefore, I will seek other methods to go about this item this time around. Advertising + more timely announcements can use some work, along with potentially new incentives in each program along with occasional promotional events - this could, in fact, be slightly accomplished through its inclusion in the cards-based gathering mentioned in the overall agenda.
4. Further encourage a retaining of Guild membership status - Also an item partially accomplished during last term, pings were made to inform those who lost Guild membership status. To build more on this, telegrams informing TNPers of their loss of Guild membership status will be sought out these next few months. They will ideally be automatic, but if there is no way to do it other than manually then I would be willing to settle with this. Additionally, potential pings within the RMB have additional benefit to get users to re-join.
As mentioned in the end-of-term statement, a scaled rewards system depending on Guild membership duration is being planned. This will most-likely see implementation within the cards-based development program I mentioned above, or the Cards Integration program for staffers (ideally the former, as not every Guild member is a staffer).
Seeing that Guild membership solely depends on one's citizenship, this will be rewarding not only for the Guild, but also for the entire region.
5. Completely introduce a minigame that will focus on knowledge of cards trading - This should be the least of our concerns this term. Much of what needed to be worked on was accomplished last term (as it was actually an agenda item), so it's mostly just a matter of finishing the code-based aspects before it becomes a fully-fledged program.
As I have not been super active in updating our highly-used Great Card Giveaway, there is also potential for management of this program to be delegated to my regular staffers, even if it is primarily maintained through spreadsheet access.
Doing these things will provide our staffers the experience to hopefully lead the Guild themselves one day. As I'm a current university student I unfortunately won't be here forever, so I hope that delegating the Guild's tasks to regular staffers will eventually lead to this result.
2. Revamp the Charter to include new rules + a proper amendment process - Charter? You mean that dusty old thing that hasn't been updated in several months? Yeah, that charter. Currently the only rule within the Guild is for members to not heist each other's accounts, which, while certainly a good regulation, might not be the only thing that should be prohibited. The cards community is constantly evolving and developing itself as time passes, so the Guild will need to be prepared for when such things occur.
New rules for the Guild will always be considered, but for them to be actually implemented it will require the Charter to be amended. No, Guild leadership will not be the sole deciders of how the Charter gets amended. Everyone in the Guild, whether it be the regular members, the leadership team, or the Delegate overseeing the leaders of the Guild itself, will play a part in how the Guild governs its functions.
I've already drafted a potential amendment + rule proposal, so all Guild members currently reading this are highly advised to stay in tune!
3. Incite greater activity within the Cards Guild Discord channel - Not everyone has Discord and that's completely fine if you don't wish to join. However, for those that do possess it I would be personally interested in seeing more activity in the Guild's designated channel in the TNP General server. This may include regular Discord-exclusive events along with regular promotion of the General server itself; however we'll be going about this, I hope that this part of the Guild becomes even livelier than it already has been all this time.
3. Further reform our already-introduced programs to encourage more participation - This is an item partially accomplished by the end of last term through the introduction of Cards Integration. Therefore, I will seek other methods to go about this item this time around. Advertising + more timely announcements can use some work, along with potentially new incentives in each program along with occasional promotional events - this could, in fact, be slightly accomplished through its inclusion in the cards-based gathering mentioned in the overall agenda.
4. Further encourage a retaining of Guild membership status - Also an item partially accomplished during last term, pings were made to inform those who lost Guild membership status. To build more on this, telegrams informing TNPers of their loss of Guild membership status will be sought out these next few months. They will ideally be automatic, but if there is no way to do it other than manually then I would be willing to settle with this. Additionally, potential pings within the RMB have additional benefit to get users to re-join.
As mentioned in the end-of-term statement, a scaled rewards system depending on Guild membership duration is being planned. This will most-likely see implementation within the cards-based development program I mentioned above, or the Cards Integration program for staffers (ideally the former, as not every Guild member is a staffer).
Seeing that Guild membership solely depends on one's citizenship, this will be rewarding not only for the Guild, but also for the entire region.
5. Completely introduce a minigame that will focus on knowledge of cards trading - This should be the least of our concerns this term. Much of what needed to be worked on was accomplished last term (as it was actually an agenda item), so it's mostly just a matter of finishing the code-based aspects before it becomes a fully-fledged program.
As a bonus, should we have enough time to work on it then it would be interesting to see the video-based card tutorials become a thing this term. As there are plenty of other things we are currently focusing on, I didn't really include it within either of the 2 agendas, but it's a definite thing that can yield great results. After all, a picture is worth 1000 words!
For deputies, I have not appointed a definite set yet. Currently, @9003, @Noah's Second Country, and most-likely @r3naissanc3r will remain on the roster. All have continued to help lead the Ministry and their background in cards has helped push the Guild subservient to MoCa well beyond what most would expect. Pending further potential appointments, I will continue to consult with these 3 users to help manage the Ministry going forward!
Yet again it seems that MoCa will be significantly busy during this term. It's not the fact that we are a new ministry which makes us needing to accomplish much these next four months, but it's because of the prospect that cards itself can still be highly expanded on as a feature to note within TNP. Through the effort of everyone I will entrust with achieving this goal, I am sure that cards will continue to grow - through MoCa - to become something which even the most inactive of TNPers may categorize as its own special aspect within NationStates.
Thank you all for reading, and this concludes what MoCa has to offer this time around.
DGES, Minister of Cards of The North Pacific