Background
I started NationStates roughly two and a half years ago. One of my first introductions to the region was my rather cringy run for Speaker against Artemis. While I was rather soundly defeated, it did introduce me to the wonders of TNP Government. Artemis requested that I join the Speakers office and I have been involved in TNP Government ever since.
From there I have served several times in the Judicial branch as Justice and Prosecutor. I have been a part of, or overseen, multiple Requests for Review and Criminal Cases. I have also provided several briefs in support of or against positions in several Requests. You can review some of my work in my campaign for Justice. I have served as an Election Commissioner for over a year and recently returned to that position.
In executive experience, I served as Deputy Minister of Radio and then as Minister of Radio for a term and a half. During that time, we were able to produce a steady stream of shows and a high level of engagement. For more information on that, you can review my post starting here. I have served as Vice Delegate and while maintaining normal Vice Delegate duties, I set up the process to declassify Security Council threads and began the declassification. I am currently a Security Councilor and Associate Justice.
Campaign
The storm of change is rapidly approaching. For those of you who do not read the Technical forum, there are proposed changes to the way UCRs, R/D, and nation spawning works. With the proposed change cutting off half the nations spawning in GCRs, we need to look at our existing policies and tools to make the determination if it's still in our best interest to open them to the game in its entirety. We need to balance our internal focus with outward engagement to maintain our leadership. Should Sedge be able to pull off his proposed changes, we need to be ready to act to preserve the North Pacific and set us up to face any future changes.
While most of my proposed changes involve internal shifts and directions of the various Ministries, there are SOMETHING that would involve possible shifts in long standing regional policy. Such shifts, in my opinion, should not be done solely by the Delegate in a vacuum, but with feedback from the Regional Assembly. One of the first discussions we should have is on our recruitment policy. As it stands today, our recruitment policy is a passive one, with restrictions on who and where an outside region can recruit within the region. We only send a recruitment telegram when a nation is formed outside our region and a welcome telegram to nations who are born here. Should Sedge’s proposed change to nation spawning occur, or another such change to nation spawning or gameside recruitment, we need to have an established policy to address the new normal. Should we change our policy? Where shall we recruit from? We need to discuss these questions within the region and with our allies game wide and determine the best course of action.
We need to do more to promote the region in game. While this is something we should be doing now, it will be vitally important for the future. Often, our gameplay thread falls several pages in, before a post is made presenting our regional activity. We should and will need to be more active in this arena. Posting articles, radio shows, and current events can not only keep us to the forefront, but show off the variety and full flavor of the region to the wider player base. I want to also explore the potential of posting some of our IFVs in our gameplay thread, but such an action needs further discussion. I would also like to see the return of interregional events. Interregional events are a good way for us to interact with other regions while having fun.
This cannot be a path done by one or a few individuals in government, it has to be a region wide effort and collaboration to ensure the steps we take are in line with our regional interest. Burnout is something we have seen across multiple promising and/or long time members of our community. Reassessing our work and developing new talent is vital for our future.
Administration
One thing that multiple Delegates have commented on, is the amount of time it takes during the term to declassify materials under the FOIA Law. I would like to change the way it is done slightly and utilize previous Ministers and Delegates to review and mark material for redaction. Having former FA, MoD, and Delegates mark records for declassification will help trim down the time a Delegate will need to review the records, while still maintaining the level of confidentiality needed to maintain regional security and give the region the information they are entitled to.
We will also work to identify any programs that we no longer have staff to maintain or if the program or dispatch no longer provides enough of a benefit to justify the workload involved. This will focus on old dispatches and current programs run by the Ministries. Robes outlined during his campaign several out of date dispatches that were in need of archiving and some that were still active and needed updating. I will work to continue this process into the next term.
Ministry Break Down
Gameside Advocates
The RMB is one of the first points of engagement for new players. It is also a key point for engagement and promotion of government activities. The Gameside Advocates have continued to lead the way in engagement among the RMB and building upon that in the future will be key in retaining and engaging the player base. For this term, I want to ensure that there is reasonable coverage on the RMB and general activity among the GA’s. Ideally, there would be a GA involved on the RMB during most hours.While I will not put in a posting requirement or other such activity measurement, activity from the GA’s will be a requirement for this team.
WA Affairs
WA Affairs is one of the most publicly active Ministries in TNP. The IFVs have been a boon to regional engagement and something that we need to continue and grow. I would like to reasonably expand the IFV program to our Gameplay forum but the purpose of the IFV and the general Gameplay world would make this not practical. But there may be opportunities, with consent, to share our IFVs with our embassy partners when appropriate. Outside of the IFV, continued engagement and support of WALL will grow in importance as game changes are put into place.
A question I am sure will come up is my position and history on Commends. While I personally still hold the same position on Commends as I did for over two years, except for one instance, that position is not one I can hold as Delegate. The Delegate’s vote is not their own, but the region’s as a whole.
Communications
Communications has made progress in consolidating its publications and producing steady content. Posting articles as they are finished is a great step in the right direction and something that needs to continue. For the next term, we should continue this trend and consider opening Communication publications to outside writers from other communities. This can be a great way to reach out to UCRs and our allies.
Home Affairs
Home Affairs has been on point with the Welcome Wagon, Forum mentoring, and welcoming new players to our community. At first glance, they are likely the best choice for any future plans for recruitment among outside regions. My initial thoughts are to create a recruitment team under the MoHA to develop targeted telegrams and engage with players outside TNP and Allied Regions, but within the regulations we develop. With the Game Mechanic changes and the yet undisclosed RMB/TG/RECRUITING changes, the final form of this is still in flux.
One thing that we can start now is targeting regions on the Retaliatory Recruitment list with directed messages to their members. According to the answer MCM gave to this question, the region currently sends an automated general telegram to those regions. I want to develop a targeted telegram for each region based on their purpose. For example, regions focused on Roleplay would get a telegram highlighting our roleplay worlds and communities, along with our hours of Roleplay based Radio shows.
Defense
The NPA has remained viable and active over the last few terms. In keeping with our Independent nature, we have worked with various groups to achieve some great victories, such has our victory in CCD. However, there are some areas which we need to address, mainly in recruitment and retention. During El Fiji and my term as Minister of Radio, we had the NPA Generals Series used to promote the NPA and recruit for them. Since then, there hasn’t been a major recruitment event. During my term I want to hold a recruitment week, promoting NPA accomplishments and providing information on how R/D works within the game. In keeping with the general theme of this campaign, I want to advertise our successful ops on our RMB and possibly our Gameplay thread. On the Retention front, after speaking to a few NPA Stakeholders, I would like to work on a mentorship program for new recruits. This bootcamp would involve having an experienced NPA member take on a new Recruit as a battle buddy and show them through the processes and make them feel welcomed into the community. I would also like to open communication with current and former NPA Members to see if any organizational changes need to be made to the structure of the NPA and any other changes we may need to take to grow our forces.
Culture
Culture continues to knock it out of the park with established events like Theme Thursday, Movie Night, collaboration with Radio on RP Shows, and other trial programs. Never a ministry to not take a chance, this term has been packed with various non-stop events. For the coming term, I want to see an interregional event scheduled. One way we can do this is to set up a Walking Dead themed event in preparation for Z day, along the lines of our Harry Potter event we have had in the past. Interregional events take a lot of work, but are a great way for us to interact with our allies and other regions we wish to grow relationships with.
FA
With the changes I am proposing here to long standing TNP policy and the coming changes to the game, Foreign Affairs will be even more important than its already prominent position within our region. The changes proposed to our recruitment policy need to be clear and expressed to our allies. Ambassadorships will need to become more than the person who reposts regional happenings and should help ensure that the correct people in each region are able to contact each other. A Delegate or Government official should not need to hunt down and come to TNP to get in touch with our FA Minster or Delegate, our Ambassador should be able and willing to get the line of communication open. Ambassadors should be active in our community and the region they are assigned to. Representing us should be more than a copy and paste job.
Cards
With the retirement of r3n, the transfer of tools was not as smooth as it should have been and that slowed things down alot. Much like Radio, cards has struggled to attract talent and keep its activity up.Cards have been a boom for several programs we use in the region. The addition to cards has supported the WADP program and helped us maintain strong WA numbers overall. The main issue for us tech wise and with the mechanic overall is its coupling with Issues and how it skews the stats for issue balancing. However, some of the proposed changes to the Cards Mechanic will likely make card farming in its current form obsolete. Depending on the final form of the changes, its likely Cards as a stand alone ministry will no longer be viable. For the coming term, I will be focused on maintaining the current programs and discussing the viability of the Ministry for the future.
Radio
Radio has continued to produce some stellar shows and we can further capitalize on that. We can utilize any planned interregional events to develop further shows and expand on the round table shows to include debates on game developments in Technical or the World Assembly. We can also promote our shows through our Embassies and on the Gameplay thread. Role Play Spotlights will continue to highlight our community and I would hope to expand these shows to highlight the various goings ons in our Roleplay Worlds.
Radio is often described as a highly technical ministry which is not necessarily true. Radio is better described as having a moderate learning curve. The programs used in this ministry are open source and free, and once you learn the basics you are able to be a fully functional member of the ministry. No one member needs to do all task on a show, something as simple as being able to record an audio file goes a long way to making a show work. This narrative is what needs to change in order to draw more people into this ministry and help it produce shows in a timely manner.
Conclusion
In light of the loss of overall players and with the natural burnout of experienced players, we find ourselves struggling in some key areas. Recruiting and maintaining an active Executive staff and Military force continue to be big stumbling blocks for the region. With the coming game changes, fixing the staffing drains will become more vital than ever. With the proposed game mechanic changes, we need to have some hard conversations now and to expand the foundations of the region. The steps we take now will set the way in which other GCRs will respond and how the game will grow. Such steps require community engagement, input, and teamwork to address the issues that have plagued us, and the changes we will face in the coming months.
