On the New Wastelands and the World Assembly

I.
We are now a few weeks removed from the latest update to the Frontier mechanic. As Frontierists, it behooves us to examine these developments with a critical eye. What successes have come from this update? What opportunities lie before us? Frontiers are the future of NationStates: this is obvious to Frontierists, who openly proclaim this fact, but it is also obvious to any player. Why else would griping about the falling World Assembly numbers of feeders be a regular topic of conversation? In order to maintain our place at the cutting edge, we therefore have to assess the battlefield, as it were, after the newest winter update and prepare to respond.

The winter update addressed one problem that I identified two years ago: the wasteland. The magnetism changes, by boosting spawns for competent frontiers and cutting spawns for incompetent wastelands, have greatly reduced the threat of the latter to the world order. It is now less likely, though by no means impossible, for a new player to find themselves in a dead region with no opportunities for growth. The other immediate result of these magnetism changes was the need for many Frontiers to replace their delegate briefly. Carcassonne, through the luck of my somewhat recent accession to the throne, was able to benefit for a couple of days from its position at the top of the heap.

This was the most obvious change brought up by the winter update, but I believe it is mostly irrelevant to our political analysis. It is trivial for a competently run Frontier with friends capable of piling to replace its delegate for a couple of days, if necessary. If anything, it hints at a future update where game admins will force Frontiers to completely change their delegates for more than a mere two days. In this, though, I am merely speculating.

Wastelands are now less of a nuisance, but they are not completely gone. Instead, we witness the slow death of the “accidental” wasteland and the persistence of the “malignant” wasteland. These regions may claim to have a government, but upon closer inspection, their government is a hollow shell incapable of performing any of the necessary tasks of a region. They similarly lack a role-play community or any other way for new nations to get involved. Despite these shortcomings, their leadership – if such bandits can be called leaders – learn the rules of the newest Frontier update and maintain their magnetism through pointless RMB posts, bare-minimum endorsement tarting, and the use of poorly-formatted welcome telegrams. With malice of forethought, these regions deliberately siphon spawns from greater lands. It remains crucial for all Frontierists to pluck these fungal growths whenever they sprout.

II.
However, I do not wish to understate the opportunities that the newest winter update presents for Frontierists. It will succeed in killing a majority of wastelands, freeing up our ability to focus on that other prong of Frontierist thought: cross-regional solidarity. More magnetism for true Frontiers means more spawns, which means more World Assembly endorsements. We cannot sit on this opportunity. This is a resource which will only continue to grow.

Frontierists should, first of all, put these new endorsements to work in their militaries. Here we can do the work of dismantling wastelands and defending true Frontiers from raids. Of course, as our regions grow, so do the ambitions of those who seek to destroy them. Frontiers should implement true World Assembly development programs, if they have not already, to take advantage of this growing resource. Military numbers are not everything, though. Frontierists should turn their attention towards the World Assembly itself, and begin to participate earnestly and ably in that body.

Too long has the World Assembly been ruled by a cadre of elites, pushing poorly-written and overreaching legislation through the General Assembly, as has been recently pointed out. These proposals have been called “badge-hunts”. Undoubtedly, some of these frivolities reflect sincerely-held beliefs on the part of the authors, who perhaps have strong feelings on the in-ovo sexing of chicks. In any case, they are unnecessary and pass merely by virtue of the authors’ attachment to certain regions, or the prominence of their names. Admirably, the Security Council passes far fewer resolutions, but it also needs shaking up. Who is commended and who is condemned is strictly controlled by the chamber’s own elites, who will be sure to wait for the opening of a new vote in order to pile against-votes on resolutions not because of their content, but because of their author.

Frontiers were added to NationStates in order to disrupt the years-long status quo and tired domination of a few large regions. It is time for Frontierists to use their regions, in solidarity with each other, to fulfill the reason for our existence. We must begin paying attention to the World Assembly and coordinating our votes. A handful of large Frontiers is equal to a GCR. By uniting, by judging the worth of a resolution by its effects on our movement, and by asserting our growing power, we will no longer be driven by the World Assembly, but drive it ourselves. Our fellow travelers, as well, have a role to play in this. Many of the strongest non-Frontier supporters of our movement also resent the leash that the World Assembly is kept on, and they can surely recognize the great power growing among us.

Our Frontierist brothers and sisters, gone are the old days of wrists shackled. We must break free; take up arms and join hand in hand. Time has come for us to band together, for the new world to march and liberate the old!