An OCC analysis of NS: What is it that we’re doing here?

Many of us play this game without giving much thought at all towards what exactly is being done here on Nation States. For many of us, we don’t need to answer this question. Discussing politics, roleplaying, and playing politics are just some of the activities that take place here on this site. For many of us, we get joy out of being on Nation States (NS) and this surface level desire is enough to bring us to the site and for a time remain here. This is all well and good but under that level of desire I think there’s something a bit more complex happening.

Through discussion, roleplaying and politicking we are exploring ourselves in a way that will help us express ourselves. Through the nature of this site we are exposed to a variety of different viewpoints and ideas. The global access for membership almost guarantees this ideological diversity. We are guaranteed to bump into ideas and belief systems that contradict our own. Our experience on NS is one in which we pass through various beliefs and ideas. In the extreme cases our minds will be changed, but at the least, our interactions with different ideas and beliefs will enrich our own understanding of the world.

What we’re doing here is self-actualisation, exploring different ideas but also crafting our own beliefs. This matters because in the same way we are exposed to different ideas, others are exposed to our own different ideas and beliefs. We have the ability and the possibility to change the minds of others. This is vital for us as political actors. I’m not saying that NS has a large amount of people who run for office, to be honest that number actually seems to be non-existent, but what I mean is that we’re politically consciousness and in being part of the body politic in most of our respective nations, we can influence other individuals that hold a small amount of political power too. This characteristic of being a political actor is something that I’ll claim is a general characteristic of those on NS. One may only have to look at the General sub-forum to get a feeling of that.

There is maybe a bit of silliness to this point. I am after all playing up a site like Nation States to some grand platform of political theatre. I do recognise this and realise NS has a very small internet footprint and for most of us this is just a game we do in our precious moments of free time. Because of this though I’d encourage us to get the most out of the site we can. Considering the varying opinions on this site, do not be afraid to get out your ideas, especially those ideas which are still in their infancy. Allow them to be challenged and challenge other ideas in which they are opposite of. Let this not be a scary thing, but instead contributing to the realm of public of knowledge in an age where our scope for acceptable ideas has broadened in the modern age.

Have some imagination, NS, and don't keep that imagination bottled up.