12
Dispatch → Bulletin → News
by 
The Positive Nation of Todd McCloud.
.
1,890 reads.
From Youtube to Your Nation... OR A Decent Place to Start
... or as we call it, the Best Pacific!
Greetings! This is
Todd McCloud here to brief you on the recent goings-on across the region. What is "the region"? Why that would be The East Pacific, of course. And it's a large region. Large regions are often fun regions, so you're in luck! Of course, when I say "you" I refer to the entity that is your state, and may be taken in context to mean something like your leader, prime minister, president, overlord, whatever.First, let me say congratulations for arriving in The East Pacific, if you have arrived recently. We noticed the helicopters flying overhead as they plopped your nation down into its rightful spot. And what a spot to be! You're one of the lucky ones, of course, as there are many other regions out there all with their own flairs, quirks, flaws, and so on. A team of scientists recently put together a pie chart intended for the game at-large, but, of course, they want to wait on more data to confirm their studies. Nevertheless, there's no harm in releasing data prematurely, so here goes!
So that's great! Nothing else to do, right? Well, not so. See, your nation is precious. And like precious, precious blood that flows through every living animal, an active person behind that nation is extremely important. Don't think of it as a job as much as it is ensuring all the little virtual people, plants, and animals living in your nation are well-managed.
If your nation existing is enough of a lesson today, you may close out of this and read the rest tomorrow. But, if you wanna know the next step, here goes!
Here, this is all this stuff and what it means:
Check out the green and yellow numbers on our regional page (that's what it's called).
1. Left-hand frame. Here you'll find links to things generally found outside of your nation. Things like the World Assembly (read below for more), other, less enchanted regions, and so on exist there in the ether.
2. Top frame. This space has links that apply directly to your nation. Notices let you know if something has happened to your nation. Issues are conflicts that you may address in your nation. Telegrams are direct correspondences from other nations (feel free to ignore recruiting telegrams). Settings is where one can change things about their nation, and so on.
3. Regional links. Here, you can find out what's going on at the RMB (Regional Message Board), which you can also access by scrolling. Sometimes, we'll have polls to vote on. If you wanna see major regional events as recorded by the game, you can check out History. And so on, and so on.
4. The World Factbook Entry, also called "WFE". Pertinent information exists here, like various links, laws, dispatches, and any officers that may be present in the region.
5. These links are important! Here you'll find all the links as they relate to getting the most out of your game - our forums, how to become a citizen (you'll want to do that), where our Discord server is, and so on.
6. This is our delegate. They ensure things go smoothly here. Any citizen of our region can be voted in as delegate. Who knows, maybe one day that will be YOU???
7. Our flag. It changes over the years, but that's our flag. Why the freemasonry imagery? Well, we happen to be connected with various underground organiza- actually, long ago we decided we liked it, so it stuck.
8. An ugly mug. Seriously.
By now, you've probably seen a lot of hubbub concerning the United Na WORLD ASSEMBLY. It's a fair body full of other nations, some that care about policy, others that do not. But you can join - it's not an exclusive club yet. Simply apply, follow the instructions and YOU'RE IN. Note that only one of your nations can be in it - the rest cannot!
So now that you're in the World Assembly, what can you do? Well... let's see... you can possIBLY ENDORSE ALL OTHER NATIONS IN YOUR REGION. How does one go about endorsing? It's simple! Follow these three steps:
1. Go to another nation's page, one that is in the World Assembly and is in The East Pacific.
2. Scroll down. We do this a lot in this game.
3. Click "add your endorsement"
And done! You've just endorsed another nation. Nothing major happens - you don't suddenly adopt the policies of that nation, you just happen to have endorsed that nation and nothing more. Why are endorsements important? Well, they keep our region safe and secure. Did you know that because we're a great region that there are other folks who want to take us down? Those laggards! So join the World Assembly, endorse other nations, they'll endorse you back, and all will be well! Just stay below the endorsement cap, which is stated in the World Factbook Entry
Well, it kind of is. It's a game that was designed to advertise an author's book - Jennifer Government - way back in the early 2000's. The author? Max Barry. It kind of grew into something a bit more, and now it's well-played by a lot of other nations. It's changed little over the years, which is a testament to how unique and fun this game can be. How fun can this game be? It depends on what YOU put into it. I've shown you some regional mechanics, but now, maybe it's time to learn a lil bit more.
Remember: The more you put into it, the funner it becomes and the more interactions you'll have!
Oh you bet there's forums and Discords. Notice I said Discords with an "s". Forums are where much of the action occurs. Here, one can apply for citizenship, join our government in another capacity (like army, legislature, and so on), and interact with other nations on an in-character basis. How do I know this? Well, I've done almost every damn thing there is to do in this region, and I'm still here, so that should say something! Some other more articulate individuals have written "how-tos" on subjects such as this, so lemme link to you some guides.
Get up, get on the floor, we're gonna walk you through our citizenship process
TEP Forums - all the main stuff happens here. Hellll yeah we got some forums!- TEP Discord Server - our main server. Lots of fun. Some leftover popcorn.
- TEP Roleplay Server - for roleplaying, nation-building, world leader assassins, Coca-Cola, Sometimes War.
So you have a nation, right? Well, what if I told you that everything was made up and the points don't matter? That's pretty much the start of roleplay. Roleplaying, or storyweaving, is you or I playing out a particular nation that we created and seeing how it can grow, the people within it interact, and so on. The possibilities are endless. The stats on my nation don't really matter. I can emulate those stats, but in no way am I bound by those stats. Can I make a nation of sentient lemurs? Sure, we have those. What about a nation that colonized that nation at one point?
Why not. Okay... okay, what about a nation that was once split from that nation but is now its own country and is kind of backwards and run in the background by a crime syndicate? Yeah, we have that too. Oh, we also have a burgeoning Wikipedia site too, which helps with keeping information accessible and consistent.It kind of sounds like the wild west, right? Make things up as you go, kind of like Bob Ross painting a nice background, right? A touch of Van Dyke Brown, maybe some happy trees, then we rinse our our brush and beat the devil out of it.
Yes... and no. There are some rules, and there's actually a bit more than what I'm about to explain, but it basically amounts to the following: no godmodding (like nuking the world with your first post sort of thing), all-powerful nations all-powerfully suck, and any kind of strength you give your nation, try to find a balancing flaw.
