Role-Play Accord Index and Economic & Military Rankings

[Aquinas]

UPDATE December 2nd 2016: RP Accord has been dropped

As per section 20 of the rules, the following nations are members of the Role-Play Accord:

Aldegar
Badara
Barmenia
Beluzia
Cildania
Cobura
Dankuk
Dorvik
Dundorf
Hutori
Indrala
Jakania
Jelbania
Kalistan
Likatonia
Luthori
New Endralon/Kizenia
Pontesi
Saridan
Sekowo
Trigunia
Vanuku
Zardugal


RP TEAM: Economic rankings for use with the RP Accord

Frequently Asked Questions:

How do these rankings affect me?

• For nations which have not / not yet ratified the RP Accord (forum thread), these rankings are suggestions. We ask that those who have not ratified the Accord seriously consider these rankings, and also seriously consider ratifying the Accord outright. Please feel free to utilize these rankings to inform your roleplay, your wiki writing, your history writing, etc.
• For nations which have ratified the RP Accord, these rankings are canon and will be enforced by Moderation under section 20 of the Game Rules beginning on Feb. 22, 2016 at 12:00 AM CST. At that time these rankings will supersede any contradictory information on the wiki, the forum, legislative bills, the national debate page, etc. Utilize these rankings to inform your roleplay, your wiki writing, your history writing, etc.

I disagree with my nation's ranking. Can I have a say before these rankings are official?

• From today (Feb. 14, 2016) until a week from today (Feb. 21, 2016 at 11:59 PM) these rankings will be considered to be in draft status. During this period, nations may petition the RP Team with a post on this thread for movement either upward or downward in rank. YOU MUST READ THE METHODOLOGY SECTION OF THIS POST BEFORE PETITIONING FOR A CHANGE IN RANK. Please understand that any petition is most likely to be denied and the rankings listed here will remain unchanged. We are confident in our rankings and methodology, and as such only petitions which include links to irrefutable evidence of a mistake on the part of the RP Team in creating these rankings have any likelihood of changing a nation's ranking. We are more likely to be amenable to a move downward in ranking than a move upward.
• Further, we wish to recommend to all concerned parties that it is the opinion of the RP Team, with years of experience between us, that playing in less economically developed nations can be as fun, or even more fun, than playing in a nation which is more economically developed. Such a situation allows for innovative and creative RP, and also is more likely to earn the RPer the respect of his peers. In Particracy, the poorer nations do not always "lose!"
• Even further, we wish to highlight the fact that no nation in Terra is so economically developed as to be considered a superpower on the level of the real world America of the mid-20th century. All of the high development nations listed below are all relatively on par with one another economically speaking. As such, no nation should RP itself as a global economic hegemon.

OK, fine. Can I affect my nation's ranking moving forward?

• These rankings are designed to be fluid on a timeline of hundreds to thousands of in-game years. With evidence of long-term, excellent economic roleplay, nations can affect their ranking either upward or downward on this list. The RP Team hopes that these rankings will encourage all players and nations to engage in innovative, creative RP of economics and trade, a type of RP that has often been neglected in Particracy.
• Nations which wish to petition for a change in rank must follow this process:
  
  • A post must be made on this thread by a member party of the nation seeking a ranking change who has been continuously active for at least one month in that nation. This is to prevent petitions from being lodged by those who have little history in any nation.
  • The petition post should link to all relevant RP and give a brief summary of why the nation is suitable for a move in rank in either direction.
  • The RP in question should be:
    1. Evidence of long term planning, organization, and execution on the part of one or more players in the nation.
    2. Reasonably realistic in the estimation of the average player of Particracy.
    3. Of high quality.
    4. In fitting with the general role play environment of Particracy as a whole.
    5. Strong preference will be given to forum RP, as it allows other nations and players to interact and to thus show their opinion of its reasonability.
• The RP Team reserves the right to question and debate any petition, suggest further RP before repetition, reject any petition outright (with explanation as to why and with suggestion as to what might be a better path forward, or to move any nation up or down in the rankings without petition (with explanation as to why).
• The RP Team will reassess these rankings using the same methodology roughly every six months in real life time.

Ranking Category Descriptions:

High Development

These countries have economies typically centered around services and high tech industries. Culture and political goals can influence what types of industries are most influential, e.g. the agricultural or manufacturing sectors are still important for certain real world high development economies, but these industries should be secondary and perhaps being phased out. More and higher quality education and health opportunities exist. These countries tend to have higher a GDP per capita and median incomes, although inequality may still persist. These countries typically have higher standards of living, but can also experience the consequences of such an economy, such as increased alienation, higher unemployment as automation increases, the decreased importance of the family unit, etc. These countries tend to be active on international markets, but don't necessarily always experience trade surpluses.

Medium Development

These countries have economies centered most heavily on manufacturing or extraction-based industries, but they might also have some clusters of post-industrial industries along side some agricultural industry. These countries have lower life expectancy, less education, and less income (primarily GDP per capita) than high development nations, but they can also generally boast higher employment than the increasingly automated high development nations, a more citizenry more generally engaged in the political sphere than in the more alienated high development nations, etc. These nations likely are more likely to be heavy polluters than many other nations. Though they are generally less active on international markets than high development nations, their economies often center around export and so trade is relatively important.

Low Development

These countries have economies typically centered around the agricultural or extraction sectors. Though some manufacturing might exist, if it exists on any large scale it is likely to be internationally owned and thus unprofitable for the host nation. Locals might have set up subsistence economies that emphasize manufacturing in the household (cottage industries) to compensate for the lack. Generally the people of these countries have poor education and health relative to more developed nations. The family unit and the community in these nations are likely to be very important to every day life, and people are likely to feel much less alienated than in the more automated and high-paced medium and high development nations. Pollution is largely a result of agricultural and extraction byproducts, and these are typically water pollutants. These nations are very often net exporters, but the goods they export may not get them too much in return.

Underdeveloped

These countries are the ex-colonial nations of Terra, whose colonial regimes abused them in order to profit in days gone by. They have often been intentionally undeveloped or developed in such a way as to divide the people therein for the benefit of the metropole. They struggle to provide even basic healthcare or education to their people, and they are highly reliant on international aid and charity. These nations do benefit from the continued focus on the extraction economy, and they often can sell their goods at lower prices than most more developed nations on the international market.

Methodology:

• The rankings below were developed first by generating two separate rankings:
  
  • Subjective ranking - we created an economic ranking of all of the nations of Terra based on the educated opinions of all four members of the RP Team. This ranking system took into account historical RP and play style, recent RP and play style, as well as general community opinion. This gave us a score for each nation.
  • Objective ranking - we created a ranking of all the nations of Terra by normalizing their GDPs (excluding those nations for which the economic system was never completed), correcting for those nations who "game the system" by spending unrealistic amounts of their GDP publically, and then looked at spending as a percentage of GDP in various areas relevant to economic development (e.g. education, healthcare, infrastructure, welfare, etc.). Finally we generated an aggregate score and used that in our calculations.
• We then took these two rankings and averaged each nation's score in each. This gave us our final rankings, which you will see below. We feel that this methodology allowed us both to eliminate as much bias as possible while incorporating RP factors into the final rank, and also to utilize as much of the in-game economic system as was reasonably possible. It is because of this belief that we posted the warning above (in the FAQ section) that it is unlikely we will allow petitions to change our rankings at this juncture. We are very confident in this methodology.

Rankings (order within each category does not matter):

High Development:

Sekowo
Keymon
Lodamun
Rildanor
Telemon
Zardugal
Dankuk
Kafuristan
Luthori
Vanuku
Dorvik
Indrala
Trigunia

Medium Development:

Aldegar
Beiteynu
Kirlawa
Kazulia
Cildania
Tukarali
Dundorf
Cobura
Istalia/Quanzar
Rutania
Aloria
Pontesi
Solentia
Barmenia
New Endralon/Kizenia
Hutori
Endralon
Kundrati
Alduria
Darnussia and Narikaton
Davostan
Saridan
Beluzia
Selucia
Kalistan
Mikuni-Hulstria
Badara

Low Development:

Deltaria
Kalopia/Wantuni
Valruzia
Kanjor
Egelion
Ibutho
Hobrazia
Baltusia
Jakania
Dolgaria
Gaduridos
Jelbania
Likatonia
Mordusia
Malivia
Talmoria
Vorona / Deltaria Nova
Lourenne

Underdeveloped:

Commonwealth of North Dovani
Utari Mosir
Cifutingan
Istapali
Suyu Llaqta
New Englia
Ostland
New Verham (Argos & Cho'kun)
Midway
Liore (Lyore & Shiratoku)
Kurageri
Rapa Pile
Statrica
Bianjie
Utembo
Ntoto (South Aslistan)
Hanzen
Kimlien
Medina
Xsampa (New Mordusia)
New Alduria
Noumonde
Temania (Squibble)
Vanakalam (North Vascania)
Kalkalistan (South Vascania)
Dalibor

RP TEAM: Military rankings for use with the RP Accord

Frequently Asked Questions:

How do these rankings affect me?

For nations which have not / not yet ratified the RP Accord, these rankings are suggestions. We ask that those who have not ratified the Accord seriously consider these rankings, and also seriously consider ratifying the Accord outright. Please feel free to utilize these rankings to inform your roleplay, your wiki writing, your history writing, etc.

For nations which have ratified the RP Accord, these rankings are canon and will be enforced by Moderation under section 20 of the Game Rules beginning on March 7, 2016 at 12:00 AM CST. At that time these rankings will supersede any contradictory information on the wiki, the forum, legislative bills, the national debate page, etc. Utilize these rankings to inform your roleplay, your wiki writing, your history writing, etc.

I disagree with my nation's ranking. Can I have a say before these rankings are official?

From today (Feb. 29, 2016) until a week from today (March 6, 2016 at 11:59 PM) these rankings will be considered to be in draft status. During this period, nations may petition the RP Team with a post on this thread for movement either upward or downward in rank. YOU MUST READ THE METHODOLOGY SECTION OF THIS POST BEFORE PETITIONING FOR A CHANGE IN RANK. Please understand that any petition is most likely to be denied and the rankings listed here will remain unchanged. We are confident in our rankings and methodology, and as such only petitions which include links to irrefutable evidence of a mistake on the part of the RP Team in creating these rankings have any likelihood of changing a nation's ranking. We are more likely to be amenable to a move downward in ranking than a move upward.

Further, we wish to recommend to all concerned parties that it is the opinion of the RP Team, with years of experience between us, that playing in less militarily powerful nations can be as fun, or even more fun, than playing in a nation which is more militarily powerful. Such a situation allows for innovative and creative RP, and also is more likely to earn the RPer the respect of his peers. In Particracy, the weaker nations do not always "lose!"

Even further, we wish to highlight the fact that no nation in Terra is so militarily powerful as to be considered a superpower or hyperpower on the level of the real world America of the mid-20th century or the British Empire at its height. All of the great power nations listed below are all relatively on par with one another militarily speaking. As such, no nation should RP itself as a global military hegemon.

OK, fine. Can I affect my nation's ranking moving forward?

These rankings are designed to be fluid on a timeline of hundreds to thousands of in-game years. With evidence of long-term, excellent military roleplay, nations can affect their ranking either upward or downward on this list. The RP Team hopes that these rankings will encourage all players and nations to engage in innovative, creative RP of military development ranging from wars, exercises, research and development, and etc.
Nations which wish to petition for a change in rank must follow this process:
A post must be made on this thread by a member party of the nation seeking a ranking change who has been continuously active for at least one month in that nation. This is to prevent petitions from being lodged by those who have little history in any nation.
The petition post should link to all relevant RP and give a brief summary of why the nation is suitable for a move in rank in either direction.
The RP in question should be:
1. Evidence of long term planning, organization, and execution on the part of one or more players in the nation.
2. Reasonably realistic in the estimation of the average player of Particracy.
3. Of high quality.
4. In fitting with the general role play environment of Particracy as a whole.
5. Strong preference will be given to forum RP, as it allows other nations and players to interact and to thus show their opinion of its reasonability.
The RP Team reserves the right to question and debate any petition, suggest further RP before repetition, reject any petition outright (with explanation as to why and with suggestion as to what might be a better path forward, or to move any nation up or down in the rankings without petition (with explanation as to why).
The RP Team will reassess these rankings using the same methodology roughly every six months in real life time.

Ranking Category Descriptions:

No Power: These are nations that are barely able to keep control of their own borders, much less project their influence anywhere else. This is reserved entirely for the NPCs throughout Terra, unless the RP Team decides they are otherwise. No Player nation will EVER have this rating, again, unless the RP Team decides to RP a nation like this otherwise.

Small Power: Nations that have limited ability to defend themselves, but often are allied with larger and stronger states to ensure their continued independence or hyper isolationist. Their militaries are traditionally outdated, small, woefully trained, or a combination of all three. Its not uncommon for regional or greater powers to have substanial influences over these nations.

Middle Power: These are nations that are more then able to stand on their own and have the ability to defend themselves against other nations and their influences and can project their own influence to a very limited degree on their neighbors, although they will traditionally ally with greater nations, though more for reasons of cooperation and progress then an inability or worry to defend themselves in the world. Their militaries are usually modern, fairly well sized and trained or a combination of all three.

Regional Power: These are powerful nations that generally stand tall amongst their immediate neighbors, and more times often then not, are able to project their influence on them. While they have the capability to project their influence or power globally, it is limited and their power in primarily centred around home. Their militaries are generally modern, of sufficent size and training and have the ability to project themselves overseas of immediately against their neighbors.

Great Power: These are amongst the most powerful nations in the world, and have a great deal of influence both at home and abroad, with the ability to project their power globally, either politically, economically or militarily. They are generally considered regional hegemons in the absence of any other great powers. Their militaries are usually hyper modern, extremely well trained, usually quite large,and the ability to sufficently project considerable force overseas, though they are stronger closer to home. (Similar to the European Empires before WWI)

Superpower: The most powerful nations in the world, there are generally only two or three of them at any given time. Their influence and power, in politics, economics and military affairs are generally unchallenged in their respective direct spheres of influences and can adequately project that same power anywhere in the world at their will. Their militaries are always considered the most powerful, being hyper modern, very large, and extremely well trained and have the ability to rapidly deploy anywhere they chose. (Similar to the USSR and USA during the Cold War, or historically, the Holy Luthori and Hulstrian Empires)

Hyperpower: The unmatched political, economic and military hegemon of the world, their authority, power, and influence are unmatched and can project themselves anywhere they please at will without worry of serious reprisals or challenges. Their militaries are considered unmatched in anyway, from their training, equipment, and the sheer size of it. No nation in Particracy has ever obtained this and the only real world example of this is the British Empire at its absolute height.

Methodology:

The rankings below were developed first by generating two separate rankings:
Subjective ranking - we created an military ranking of all of the nations of Terra based on the educated opinions of all four members of the RP Team, as well as in consultation with colonelvesica and the OTAF. This ranking system took into account historical RP and play style, recent RP and play style, as well as general community opinion. This gave us a score for each nation.
Objective ranking (A great deal was based on the methods used at Global Firepower, while incorporating some elements from OTAF) - we created a ranking of all the nations of Terra by normalizing their GDPs (excluding those nations for which the economic system was never completed), correcting for those nations who "game the system" by spending unrealistic amounts of their GDP publically, incorporating each nation's economic ranking, looked at spending as a percentage of GDP in various areas relevant to military power (e.g. defense, infrastructure and transportation, and science and technology), looked at population, and then looked at the number of countries each country borders (excluding islands from the list). Finally we generated an aggregate score and used that in our calculations (Really, Polites did a lot of the work. You should thank him for it and his statistics abilities).
We then took these two rankings and averaged each nation's score in each. This gave us our final rankings, which you will see below. We feel that this methodology allowed us both to eliminate as much bias as possible while incorporating RP factors into the final rank, and also to utilize as much of the in-game system as was reasonably possible. It is because of this belief that we posted the warning above (in the FAQ section) that it is unlikely we will allow petitions to change our rankings at this juncture. We are very confident in this methodology.

Rankings (order within each category does not matter):

Great:

Indrala
Trigunia
Vanuku
Zardugal
Luthori
Dorvik



Regional:

Lodamun
Kafuristan
Rildanor
Hutori
Mikuni-Hulstria
Kalistan
Dundorf
Cobura


Middle:

Sekowo
Alduria
Rutania
Dankuk
Aloria
Saridan
Aldegar
Barmenia
Solentia
Darnussia and Narikaton
Tukarali
Telamon
New Endralon, Kizenia, and Kuzaki
Cildania
Deltaria
Beiteynu
Kazulia
Pontesi
Baltusia
Kundrati
Selucia
Kalopia/Wantuni
Hobrazia
Badara
Kirlawa


Small:

Kanjor
Gaduridos
Valruzia
Malivia
Beluzia
Egelion
Keymon
Lourenne
Mordusia
Talmoria
Ibutho
Davostan
Dolgaria
Endralon
Istalia
Jelbania
Likatonia
Jakania
Vorona-Deltaria Nova