Rights of Nations

Voluntary Consent

Voluntary Consent
Voluntary Consent is the backbone of NationStates role-play. No player can force another player to do something against their will. No player can force another to roleplay with them, change their country, surrender their country after the loss of an In-Character conflict, & Etc. A player can do with their country as they wish, insofar as what they wish to do does not violate the rules.

This goes both ways. While one player cannot force another player to accept losses in an conflict, it is poor form to refuse to acknowledge them when the cause such losses is roleplayed well; refusing to acknowledge losses can lead to other players refusing to roleplay with a player due to powergaming.

A player can choose not to follow a given community standard; however they cannot force other players, who do follow such community standards, to roleplay with them if they choose not to for the reason of following different standards.

Player Threads

Co-OP
Players can appoint a member of a thread or organization and give limited powers to post on their behalf.

Co-Ops may come and go due to player disputes, leading to possible conflicts with the provenance of authority any given "Co-OP" may have. Further, while discouraged, sharing of accounts does occur; simply being on an account that has once logged-into the OP account does not satisfy this requirement. As such, Moderation does not acknowledge any power to thread Co-OPs; thread Co-OPs may not request posts be removed, the thread to be locked, the thread to be (re-)opened, or request to have a player banned from the thread. Moderation requires explicit requests from the thread OP, not by-proxy or otherwise by any other party. This does not prohibit any player from reporting actual rule-violating content, merely that Co-OPs are not granted any form of power bestowed via thread ownership.

Inter-player disputes that may arise between an OP and Co-OP, when they cannot be resolved by the players, fall upon the Domestic Affairs Officer to mediate and resolve.

CLOSED/OPEN & SEMI-CLOSED/SEMI-OPEN
When creating a roleplay thread, a player may choose to restrict whether other players may or may not post freely in their thread. A tag of "Closed" indicates a thread that is not open for players to post while a tag of "Open" indicates a thread that is open for players to post immediately and anyone may post in them. These tags may be used in conjunction with other tags.

A player may tag their roleplay thread as "Semi-Closed" or "Semi-Open" to indicate some manner of prior approval by the thread OP is required before a player may post.

APP/APP ONLY, INVITE/INVITE ONLY, TELEGRAM/TG, & **** ONLY
When creating a roleplay thread, a player may choose to restrict whether other players may or may not post freely in their thread and may require other players be explicitly invited by the thread OP (or thread Co-OPs) before they can post in the thread. The tag for such threads is "Invite" or "Invite Only."

A player may restrict who may post freely in their thread to an organization(s), nation(s), region(s), etc. The tag for such threads is "**** ONLY" where "****" indicates some organization(s), nation(s), region(s), etc.

A player may require other players apply and be approved by the thread OP (or thread Co-OP) before they can post in the IC thread. The tag for such threads is "App" or "App Only."

A player may tag their roleplay thread "TG," such as "TG for Interest," "Closed/TG," etc. to indicate that the thread OP wishes interested parties to send a telegram if they desire further information about the thread in question or wish to be involved.

Canonicity & International Recognition

CLOSED/OPEN CANON
A player or players may choose that their nation and roleplays are in a "closed" or "open" canon (and continuity).

"Closed canon" is defined as a canonical world in which application and acceptance is required in order for the player's nation to be considered to canonically exist, often by a central authority (such as a player or group of players)

"Open canon" is defined as a canonical world in which no application or acceptance is required for the player's nation to be considered to canonically exist; an example would be "NS Earth" as commonly seen in Modern Tech.

Closed Roleplaying Groups
A Closed Roleplaying Group is typically controlled by a central authority (a player or group of players), which requires application acceptance for the player's nation to be considered to canonically exist. Such CRGs are considered "closed canon" and often self-limit interaction outside of the CRG in some way. The amount of limitation can often vary, with a wide range stretching from "all actions undertaken outside of the CRG are considered non-canonical" to "outside actions are considered canonical based upon individual player discretion."

Embassy/Embassy Thread
Players may create an embassy thread where players open their country to requests of embassy or consulate establishment from other nations (other players), often with reciprocal arrangements. Such typically include applications, a list of restrictions for foreign embassies, requirements for the same, and may contain other information pertinent to diplomatic endeavors.

Ignore
Players cannot be forced to roleplay with any other player. Ignore (or the "IGNORE Cannon") is invoked when a player refuses to roleplay with another player; this may be simply in a single thread, or wholesale. In the case of the latter, typically means the player ceases to recognize another player's country as existing.

If a player is in a roleplay that they agreed to partake in and they do not wish to accept losses in a roleplay then that be an abuse of the right to ignore.

Godmodding, Metagaming, Numberwanking, & Powergaming

Godmodding
Godmodding is not allowed. Godmodding is to describe what happens to another player's characters, forces, etc. without the player's consent; refusing to take losses; having absurdly powerful characters, military forces, or technology; having a state's geography (or other features) designed in such a way as to provide an undue advantage. Examples include describing how a missile hits another player's ship, describing casualties or fatalities of another player's characters, or saying another player's character dies. Doing such is a violation of community standards, but not against the rules. Players should allow for the other player to describe the "effect" of any event (such as a military engagement) unless they have their permission to describe such. May also include any activity which otherwise violates community standards, broadly speaking.

Metagaming
Metagaming is not allowed. Metagaming is to use Out-of-Character information for In-Character gain without the other player's permission. An example would be to use information you (the player) are aware of from reading a Secret In-Character post and allowing one of your character's to know the information.

Numberwanking
Numberwanking is not allowed. Numberwanking is an attempt to use numerical superiority without justification for the purpose of increasing player/country prestige, power, or numerical advantage. Examples include having an unnecessarily large population while not acknowledging the drawbacks of such, having an infinitely-large armed forces, or having an amount of military forces in an engagement far beyond what is considered acceptable for a given thread.

Powergaming
Powergaming is not allowed. While there is nothing wrong with an In-Character desire to win or competitive roleplaying, powergaming describes an attitude in which a player's sole (or primary) purpose for roleplaying is to defeat another Out-of-Character player vicariously through In-Character actions. This can often be conflated with a form of godmodding, such as that a player will godmod by ensuring their nation is surrounded by absurdly treacherous (and otherwise unfeasible) terrain in an attempt to always defeat another player in a conflict so that, Out-of-Character, they can never be said to have lost (powergaming).

Voting Rights

Voting
Each player is allotted one (1) vote in elections/polls.

Puppet nations are not allowed to vote in elections, amendment polls, World Assembly polls, or recall/impeachment polls. Puppet nations guilty of voting shall be ejected and banned from the region. Depending on the severity of the offense or in the event of a repeat offense, the parent nation of the puppet(s) will be ejected and banned from the region.