NationStates News
For a list of current game bugs & issues, see the Known Problems page.
Archive: [2009] [2008] [2007] [2006] [2005] [2004] [2003]
Thu, 10 Sep 2009
by Max Barry
There have been lots of changes recently, so it must be time for another
MaxChat! No, I'm not sure how one follows from the other either. But
we're still doing it.
This is an online chat where most of the mod/admin team and I field
questions from players about the game:
what the hell we think we're doing,
why we just did that thing we did, who put us in charge; that kind of thing.
Come along armed with your own question, or just sit back and watch!
When: Roughly afternoon/night on Saturday 19th September, depending
on where you live.
Click here for your local time!
How: Join #nationstates on irc.gamesurge.net. See
here for details!
Transcripts of previous chats can be found here:
#4,
#3,
#2, and
#1.
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Mon, 07 Sep 2009
by Max Barry
Regions may now proudly hoist a flag over their domain! To ensure yours correctly symbolizes every aspect of all resident nations, speak to your WA Delegate or Founder!
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Fri, 14 Aug 2009
by Max Barry
Since nothing in the server room has caught on fire recently, we're bumping up
the frequency of the (now quite poorly named) daily update.
WA endorsements will now be tallied twice a day, not once, providing double the number
of opportunities to make your regional WA Delegate nervous.
You can find some discussion about this here.
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Sun, 26 Jul 2009
by Max Barry
Updates are coming thick and fast at the moment. A few highlights:
New custom fields! Reaching certain population levels now unlocks additional custom fields, allowing you to name your Capital City, National Leader, and National Religion.
New daily issues! We now have a grand total of 250. A code tweak also means older nations are much less likely to see the same issue appear twice in a short period of time.
World Assembly Councils! The WA now has two distinct sections: the General Assembly, charged with formulating international laws imposed upon all member nations, and the Security Council, responsible for new WA Resolution types that do not affect nation stats.
Speaking of which, we also have a new Resolution type!
Liberate
A Liberation Resolution overrides any Delegate password in the nominated region, allowing other nations to enter freely. (It doesn't restrict the Delegate's ability to eject, ban, or do anything else; nor does it affect regions with Founders.) This allows the World Assembly to further its aims of bringing freedom and justice to the world, or grossly overstep its moral authority, depending on your perspective.
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Sun, 07 Jun 2009
by Max Barry
The new forum
has officially passed its
load test—thanks
to everyone who helped put it through its paces! There are still
a few tweaks to be made, but since it's in pretty good shape, we're
peeling off the "BETA" tag.
The old Jolt forum isn't moving, but will be no longer linked from
the sidebar. A permanent link to it can be found
here.
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Wed, 27 May 2009
World Assembly: Commend and Condemn
by Max Barry
Now for something fun. The World Assembly has just gained two new Resolution categories:
Commend
Condemn
The usual Resolution rules apply: you need to be a WA member with at least two endorsements to Propose a Commendation or Condemnation, and passed Resolutions can be repealed (which removes the badge).
And, of course, exactly when and why these Resolutions should be employed is a matter for World Assembly members. But I'm sure you'll think of something.
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Wed, 20 May 2009
The Sad State of NationStates 2
by Max Barry
Jolt, developer of NationStates 2 and ex-host of this site, has announced the
imminent
shutdown of NationStates 2, with the game to go off the air
indefinitely on July 1st, 2009.
I realize that last you heard, NationStates 2 was my baby, endorsed by me and financially supporting me and this site. So allow me to clear that up.
For months now, Jolt has been operating NationStates 2 without my authorization, profiting from my trademark, domain name, and original game design while paying me nothing. As you might expect, I've been less than thrilled about this. I haven't taken action to shut them down, though, as I didn't want NS2 players to be left in the lurch. NS2 is not my favorite game—parts of it are great, but as a whole it's a pale, deformed version of the game I designed—but some people are enjoying it, and are invested in their nations. So I've let it run, even though I feel pretty ripped about Jolt taking my work.
Now Jolt says that NS2 is closing, and "substantial work" will be performed on it, and eventually it may rise again in retooled form. I have no idea what this means, but I note that Jolt's strategy these days is all about herding players from less profitable games to more profitable ones. I was told to push players from NS1 to NS2; now NS2 players are being pushed onward to something else. The ultimate destination of this quest over burning bridges, I imagine, must surely be a game in which players compete to throw the most cash at Jolt.
I also note that Jolt's two flagship products are copies of other people's games with an unrelated brand name stuck on top:
"Legends of Zork," for example, is a clone of
Dragon Tavern, and has little
to do with Zork,
while "Utopia Kingdoms" is a rebadged
Khan Wars that has little to do
with Utopia. Other Jolt games, like Truckz
(and, for a while, NationStates), were acquired from indy designers
and Jolt's contribution has been to insert ads.
Which is fine; after all, Jolt is a business, albeit one that ignores my invoices. But this is not the kind of thing that implies a commitment to gameplay or community. So if I was a NationStates 2 player, I would not hold out much hope that this "substantial work," if it occurs, is for my benefit. I would guess it is more about developing exciting new ways to pay Jolt money. And I would not be surprised if any reworked NS2, if it does eventually emerge, turns out to be an entirely new game, copied from somewhere else, with a big brand name and no real connection to NationStates.
I've always said that if it ever became impossible for me to host NationStates, I'd release the source code for free. Because I'm not here to make money. Even when I created this game, back in 2002, I hoped it could help promote my novels, but a big reason for doing it was just because I thought it would be cool. And that's the main reason I run this site today: because we're a cool site, with a smart, quirky, sometimes prickly, and occasionally bizarre community, a style of debate and discussion you don't see anywhere else, and almost seven years of history.
We have millions of nations, and probably as many stories. Players here reminisce about regions that rose and fell, about Delegates who were betrayed, about alliances that were infiltrated, and ideological battles waged on the forum. I don't think Jolt gets that. I don't think they understand there's more to a game than its revenue—that games can become universes, and people live there. And that sincerely disappoints me, because I hoped NS2 could be something special.
NationStates—the original—is, thankfully, self-hosted these days. We have some plans, but our most important one is to not go anywhere. Thanks for sticking with us.
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Wed, 13 May 2009
by Max Barry
Those new NSCode tags proved popular, so now you can also use them in telegrams and Regional Message Board posts. For examples, see the Technical section of the FAQ.
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Sat, 09 May 2009
by Max Barry
Regional leaders, you have a couple of new tags to spice up your World Factbook Entries. We've added [nation] and [region] tags, so you can steer visitors directly to the person they need to endorse to avoid your wrath. And there's a new [url] tag for creating links to your region's own site (or perhaps a key thread in our very own new forum!). See your Regional Control panel for details.
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Wed, 29 Apr 2009
by Max Barry
We are trialing a new forum! Check it:
http://forum.nationstates.net
Things to know:
- This is a test. It's possible the server will spectacularly implode under the load, in which case we'll probably have to abandon the idea and stick with Jolt.
- Once you visit the new forum while logged in as a nation, the sidebar's "Latest Threads" will show you topics in the new forum, not the old one. (To visit the old forum, use the "Jolt Forum" sidebar link.)
- The Jolt forum isn't going anywhere. Even if our new forum survives this load test, the old one will remain, and you can move between the two as you wish.
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Tue, 31 Mar 2009
by Max Barry
I'm pleased to announce the latest NationStates expansion: NationStates DS!
We looked at a variety of mobile platforms--the Apple iPhone, Google Android, PlayStation
PS--before settling on the Nintendo DS. It's a terrific, cutting-edge device that's just
beginning to attract some attention... just like us!
For more information about this exciting development, see
http://nintendo.nationstates.net!
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Wed, 25 Feb 2009
by Max Barry
I had a dream: we would snuggle close to a professional games
development company, and they would deliver a brilliant, shining
NationStates sequel while hosting us here for all eternity.
But that didn't really work out, so we split.
NationStates is now hosted by me, and doesn't
have terribly much to do with NS2 any more. The good news is
that means we are free to do what we like here, including adding
a few new features.
One thing this experience has taught me is how special the
game is. We have something here. And it's due a little
love and attention.
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Wed, 18 Feb 2009
by Max Barry
Well! That didn't last long. We are on the move to a new host, and so
will suffer a little downtime over the next few days.
The "Nation Restoration" feature has been temporarily turned off, so
we can shift those two million archived nations across without bringing
down the entire game. Once we're moved, you will once again be able to
restore that old, deleted nation.
Thanks for your patience!
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Sun, 10 Aug 2008
by Max Barry
You might have noticed there's a new link on your nation page that allows
you to reserve its name for
NationStates 2.
No? Huh. That's weird. It's
really obvious. I'm kind of surprised you could miss that. It's--yes,
that's it.
Click away, and when NationStates 2 arrives (not long
now!), you'll be able to use the same name!
And if--wait, you really can't find that link? Did you use it already?
Because it disappears if you do that. Okay, then log in and
click here.
This is probably a good time to reiterate that NS2 isn't replacing this
game: your current nation(s) will continue here. You can
operate nations in both games, if you like. I mean, you know,
if you're cool enough.
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Mon, 28 Jul 2008
by SalusaSecondus
OpenId is used throughout the web to identify yourself for sites such as blogs and comments. Now, you can use NationStates to do this. For the first time, you can prove to sites that you control a specific nation. Unfortunately, this is a bit of a technical feature to use. We only provide delegation so you'll need to link your nation to another OpenId account. If you have any questions, please post them in the technical forum, and we'll try to help.
YOU SHOULD STILL NEVER GIVE OUT YOUR NATIONSTATES PASSWORD TO ANYONE OR ENTER IT ON ANY SITE OTHER THAN NATIONSTATES.NET.
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Thu, 01 May 2008
New and Improved Hosting with OMAC Industries
by Max Barry
Hi,
The same folks who are working like demons on the epic masterpiece
that is NationStates2 have
now taken over the hosting and general maintenance of NS. Although the
current forums are still hosted in Jolt (we're working on that as
well), you should find the site a lot faster as we've migrated it to
very beefy servers in our data centre (in New York City, if you're
interested).
To cover a little of the monthly server cost (these are
not cheap at all!) and make sure that we've got extra resources for
general NS development, we're going to put a very small piece of
advertising in the left-hand panel of the game. We promise it won't be
intrusive and it helps make the game better for everyone :)
Thanks, Tilt
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Mon, 21 Apr 2008
by Max Barry
I know a bunch of you just choked on your wheat flakes, but it's true:
NationStates 2 is happening. It's taken five years of discussion,
plans, tears, hopes, trials, and floundering, but at last it's come
together: I have the right people working on the right design.
Five years ago, I created this site, NationStates, in my spare time,
never expecting it to find the popularity it has. I actually designed
it to be a passing fancy, something you might find fun for a little
while, then move on.
With NS2, the design from day one has been all about longer-term
gameplay. While the core principles of NationStates haven't
changed—micromanagement is still a dirty word, diplomacy is
the focus, and customization rules—NS2 greatly expands your
nation's ability to affect its world. It's all about giving you
top-level control and letting you take your nation wherever the hell you
want.
I'm thrilled about this. I hope you are, too. For more information,
including an NS2 FAQ, check out
www.nationstates2.com.
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Mon, 14 Apr 2008
by Max Barry
The World Assembly wishes to announce that it does not intend to enforce
bans ordered by the now-defunct United Nations. It is, in the
World Assembly's educated opinion, highly likely that such bans were
the result of filing errors, bureaucratic bungling, or pure incompetence.
Thus, if your nation was banned from joining the UN, it may apply
for membership of the WA.
One should note, however, that the World Assembly intends to ensure
that
the rule restricting players to one WA nation each is vigorously policed. Any violations will receive a WA ban, to
be upheld until the end of time or the collapse of the World Assembly,
whichever comes first.
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Tue, 01 Apr 2008
by Max Barry
So it's April 2. And we still have a World Assembly.
What this means is if you were thinking this year's April Fool's prank
wasn't very believable and didn't fool you for a second...
you've been no-pranked.
No joke: the United Nations really has demanded we cease & desist from
using their name. That's a real cease and desist letter.
[ Get
the full story here! ]
When the letter arrived, the whole thing sounded so much like an April Fool's gag, we decided
to use it as one. It was perfect: experienced NationStates players,
hardened to our April 1 shenanigans, could no longer be fooled by anything...
except the truth.
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Mon, 31 Mar 2008
United Nations orders closure of United Nations
by Max Barry
[ Read the full Cease & Desist notice here ]
The (real) United Nations has demanded NationStates
"immediately cease and desist from using the United Nations name and emblem,"
as it "is unauthorized and in violation of of the provisions of international and U.S. laws."
Reaction inside the NationStates world was swift and brutal: faced with
this extra-dimensional incursion, the NS United Nations collapsed. Stunned member
nations stared on in disbelief; Gatesville regional residents wandered about in a daze,
unsure how to feel and wondering what to do with their lives.
But bureaucracy abhors a vacuum, so almost immediately the proposals rang
out for a new organization, one that would serve the same, admirable function
as the United Nations, but without the lawsuits. Thus, behold!
The World Assembly!
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