Exciting RP Team News!!!

[jamescfm]

Let me begin by saying that I cannot speak for the entire RP Team, this is my view as one member. Nonetheless, until new rankings are published (at the end of this RP cycle), the old rankings should be used as a general guideline, to be combined with events that have transpired since. So in the examples that Axxell raises, Indrala should perhaps not be treated as the same powerhouse it once was but that isn't to say that it would disappear from the international stage entirely. To bring it back to your analogy, despite the fall of the USSR, Russia remains an extremely significant power in international affairs.

Similarly, the fact that there has been a change in government in Trigunia and Vanuku should not be perceived to be that those nations are suddenly in turmoil or a crisis, that is not necessarily the case. Ultimately, a degree of common sense should be applied. Remember that these rankings are not intended to be a centrally-decided doctrine which players must comply with in their RP, rather they are an organic result of the interrelationships between players and nations. The status of the 'Big 5' was determined based on their role-play, their role-play was not determined by their status.

[Roosevelt]

I am from the nation of Malivia as current Head of State. Where do we post our role play pertaining to the economic crisis?

What is the original scenario that started the crisis?

Who are the major global actors pertaining to world economy and also the crisis?

[Reddy]

I think we should have a think about how to organise the threads. If we carry on the way we are at the moment, the Third World News Network thread is going to become increasingly inundated with posts that are related to the financial crisis, but which are not really directly related to Terra's Third World.

One possibility would be to split the thread from this post onwards, and call the new thread "Global financial crisis" or something like that.

Yes but I think it's too late to do that as the thread has become a mixture of reports about events that actually take place in the Third World and those about the financial crisis. It seems Oakwood already created a separate Financial Crisis thread.

[Reddy]

I am from the nation of Malivia as current Head of State. Where do we post our role play pertaining to the economic crisis?

What is the original scenario that started the crisis?

Who are the major global actors pertaining to world economy and also the crisis?

The original scenario is to be found here

You can post here and/or in your national news thread.

As for identifying the major global actors, I'd advise consulting the Voluntary Economic & Military Role-Play Guidewhich is an advisory list on the economic rankings of the Terran nations. Hutori, Indrala, Kalistan, Trigunia and Vanuku are generally regarded as having the most advanced economies.

[Axxell]

rather they are an organic result of the interrelationships between players and nations. The status of the 'Big 5' was determined based on their role-play, their role-play was not determined by their status.

But in fact, about Trigunia and Vanuku, it was just a secondary comment, "just to say" and I have no too much interest to debate on this, but about Indrala, given the statement of yours which I quoted, what the other players perceive about Indrala today? If a player don't check the E&M ranking, what he must to say about Indrala? And what we can conclude looking at the RP on the forum about Indrala?
One of the major power of the world which seems like, wait, not seems, it is actually desappeared by the international stage, which has no involvement in the international RPs, events, etc... which has no partecipation to the World Congress and to the RPs which was developed thanks to the WC, etc... even about the regional affairs or with other nation since more than a century Indrala had no involvement and during a period of strong isolationsism some parties withdrew by all single treaty which Indrala had ratified (and in fact currently the most ancient treaty we can find in the Diplomatic Details of Indrala goes back only to 4142).
I think that the situation in fact is worst than the end of the URSS! At least the Russia post-Urss tried to maintain a certain involvement with the other former republics of the Urss and tried also to maintain a certain military status.
But what did Indrala?

NB: This is not a crusade against Indrala due to some problems I could have with the players or with Indrala itself, it is just to debate on an observation made by Aquinas but that I consider interesting and very important and given the fact that always the mods and other players insisted on the importance of the RP and on how the other players perceive the other nations through the RP, and given also the fact that these E&M rankings in theory had to be changed each 6 months on the basis of the RP and the perception of other players, I think that the position of Indrala had to change already months ago and that the Team should consider very well the effect on the global scale of the measures adopted by the Indralan nation of today, which personally I think it is nowhere near to the other members of the big 5 nations! I always respected the RP made in the past by other players and I always show my respect about the situation which I find when I began to be active also in the global RP, and I adapted all my RP on the previous situation, but currently for a player like me, after the RPs I developed and those which I joined since July or August, Indrala is simply a very very secondary nation today, an ancient great power, and personally I can know this just thanks the rankings and because I spent hours to read its RP months old, which has progressively lost its influence, power and place on the international stage; since months I had never to do with Indrala, a part just a state visit during which however I perceived serious trouble in the this nation, as well as all the other players in particracy (Which players can say to have had any kind of involvement with Indrala in the last six months, a part those which played in Indrala?) and I have never seen Indrala like a nation which should be one of the big 5. Once maybe, but today I don't think so.

[jamescfm]

I don't think anybody will question your motives on this; there's no doubt that Indrala was difficult to deal with during the previous rankings and since. To clarify my comments, I'm simply explaining how the rankings are determined. Obviously, since the current rankings were introduced there has been significant change to the overall 'role-play landscape', by which I mean Indrala has been almost (until very recently) irrelevant in international affairs. Unfortunately, though, that is a practical limitation within the game- almost as soon as they are published the rankings start to become out of date. Currently, we are right at the end of their lifetime. As you know, the next set of rankings will be out at the start of next month and they will hopefully better reflect the opinion of the community.

I appreciate the frustration because I have felt it myself both before I was on the RP Team and now but at the same time we have to retain some long-term consistency in the rankings too. It's unrealistic to have nations constantly climbing and descending the economic and military ladder. A final point to add is that, in reality, notions like 'the Big 5' don't even always reflect economic reality; they are often based on political or historical factors too. Think of the G7, for example.

[Axxell]

Mmm... yes... good points on which reflect!

[Aquinas]

I've put some requests to Moderation regarding thread organisation, and I encourage anyone reading this (especially the RP Team, of course), to offer any feedback to that they want. I would have gone to Vesicia over this, but he's been away a little while.

On the subject of the economic rankings, I personally have no strong view as to who the "Big 5" should be and so on, its more that I think it is important we should have a clear idea of what the picture is. Vesica has told us he will be making an assessment of each nation's economic strength for both before and after the financial crisis. I am simply making the point that it would be helpful for us to have at least some idea of what the position is right now, at the beginning of this big RP. As opposed to finding out next month.

I also want to suggest that, going forward with this RP, it would be a good idea if the RP Team could play more of an "encouraging and advising" role in terms of giving us some direction in terms of what RP is appropriate, and what isn't. For example, if I am RP'ing in a way that the RP Team thinks is unrealistic or is grossly over-exaggerating or under-exaggerating my nation's economic strength, then it would be helpful if they could find ways of communicating that. (BTW, this is another reason why it is important for us to be given at least some idea of what the RP Team considers the economic rankings to be now).

When the big World War RP was done some time ago, I recall there being a considerable degree of planning, and a lot of help/advice being given. With this RP we are doing at the moment, I'm getting the impression it is much less structured and much more open. Please don't get me wrong - I'm not necessarily suggesting that is a bad thing. In fact, there could be advantages/opportunities involved in doing things that way. But if I'm going to be honest, based on what I've seen so far, and also based on some things I've heard RP Team members saying (both on and off the forum), I'm picking up a vibe that we may be in a situation where those organising the RP have not thought everything through in the way they might have, and that there might be a general lack of oversight going on. Again, I could be wrong and I apologise if I am. But anyway, all that matters now is that we make the most of this that we can, and that's what I hope everyone will do.

[jamescfm]

Given that the RP has been running for about a week now, I think it is an ideal moment for us to reflect and consider how we proceed. Most nations have now simulated a crash, rising unemployment, inflation, poverty etc. and many are proposing measure and counter measures to overcome the difficulties. I'll be honest in saying that I do not now how much intervention we can expect to see from Vesica; it's my understanding that his game time is limited by some other commitments. Generally, what is the opinion about how we should progress and how the game should emerge from the other side?

[Aquinas]

Thanks for that intervention, James. Two points I'll make for now:

1. Vesica has not logged in to the forum for 6 days or posted for 7 days. Would the RP Team consider nominating one amongst their number to take over as general coordinator for this RP, at least until he returns? It would be helpful to have a "go-to" person, someone who is monitoring everything, helping out, giving direction where needed and so on.

2. Could the RP Team give us at least some idea of what the situation is? Obviously I'm not personally in the RP Team or Mod Team, so I did not see and was not involved in the planning/preparation stage of the financial crash RP, but I'm guessing the RP Team members & Mods would have more information. For example, going forward, are there planned RP Team interventions/events you're going to introduce? I'm not necessarily asking you to give us details (I appreciate that could be a spoiler), but I do want to ask...does the RP Team have a plan or a structure in terms of this RP? Or was Vesica's original plan just to kickstart the RP with a few events right at the beginning, then just to sit back and watch it evolve, or to improvise as he went along?