GENERAL FOREWARD
This is a combination of 2 articles I wrote on region-building, both written (at the time) when I was doing stuff in the region known as The Union of Democratic States.
I am not that great of a region builder, but whenever I saw the ideas implemented in these essays being done by people who are great region builders, they tended to be successful. Which is to say - the ideas I’m stating here aren’t terribly new at all. This is just my attempt to cohesively tie many distinct, separate region building ideas and concepts into a cohesive perspective for regionbuilding.
In otherwords, a framework.
I copied and pasted the two articles here from their original sources. Thus, they also have individual forewards I wrote at the time.
The first part establishes a model of a region - focusing on the relationship between government and community. The second part uses this model to explore how many common region-building ideas can be used to build up a region. The second part heavily references UDS and its regional institutions, but it should generally apply to any region.
PART 1: A MODEL OF THE REGION: COMMUNITY AND ITS INSTITUTIONS (SOURCE LINK)
I wrote this for the UDS as a precursor to an article I wanted to write in my newspaper there. Then I realized this is a) a tad bit bland and b) a tad bit long and probably wouldn’t work out well for such an article?
But also I spent like an hour writing this for no reason and I think it’s ok to read so i’ll just post this here. ig. yeah.
So this is an idea that’s been kinda running around in my head a lot. My idea of how a region kinda… operates, maybe. As someone who’s been around the block in terms of region-building for a while now, even if not particularly successful at it… you tend to notice things! And I think one thing I’ve noticed is an interesting interplay that exists between a community and its institutions that exist - and how if one fails, the other usually doesn’t do too hot. Or it just fails outright. Kinda depends on context, but in any case - it’s something I think is important for the regions I’m in to consider. And probably important for other regions to keep in mind as well.
Now, I’m sure anyone who is a region-builder inherently knows this stuff. It’s common sense, almost, I’d like to think, if you’ve been region-building for years. Maybe you won’t agree with everything, but I think the general trends will make sense. So I guess the reason I’m writing this is less for people who already know what they’re doing, and more so perhaps for those who don’t know… and for me, so I can solidify this concept in my head. I guess it’s kinda like those studies that link together common things just to prove it or re-prove it. Like yeah, duh, we know - but it’s still nice to have it written out somewhere, isn’t it?
So here’s how I think a region may look like, from a certain perspective based around the community.
The Community
So the first part, and really the main part, of any region is its community. And I’m sure anyone who has been in a region before can say “yes”, because what else keeps people in a region for the long-term? You can always ask many older NSers who have been in their regions for eons - “hey, why do you stay here?” - and very likely more than not the answer will relate to how good the region’s community is in some way, shape, or form. So yeah, the community of a region is the integral part. The community is the region, its populace, etc. So yeah, of course, it’s the main part of a region - in terms of what gives the region substance. There are, of course, the leaders who keep a region running - but without a community to draw from or entertain or help out… then one isn’t really much of a leader of anything, are you.
In any case, what is super interesting about communities is the things they particularly bring to the region. Communities are essentially massive groups of loosely connected friend networks all revolving around a singular need. So they establish a common ground between individuals - for NationStates, that’s residing in the same region - based on a single unified identity. That gives communities an ability to offer something no other entity or concept quite can - comradeship. The ability to do things with others, even if they may not be your closest friends, simply because you all share a common identity and common values associated with those identities. (Although that in itself does tend to lead to friendships forming as relative strangers begin interacting within a community.)
And I do personally think that’s a beautiful thing about communities, and really about NS regions themselves more specifically. Many people on this site have been able to build areas wherein people, sharing similar general identities, values, and patriotic pride in a region, are able to come together and enjoy each other’s presence. They can work together in the World Assembly, in roleplaying, in sh*tposting, in playing with cards, etc. In effect, a community makes it easier to find people to do things with than it would be if you were just plopped into a crowd of strangers you don’t know whatsoever. Being a part of a community offers a way to, really, share the act of playing NationStates with others, rather than doing it isolated and alone. And since we humans are social creatures - anyone who dares reach out beyond issues usually does fall into a community of some sort, with many calling a regional community home.
But the thing about a community is that it’s also pretty large. Communities aren’t like small friend groups, wherein the norms are well understood and you can generally rely on just generally following the vibes. Communities are chonky - and after a certain point, you end up needing some form of structure to help regulate a community and ensure being in such a place is fun for all. This leads to the need of institutions for said community to function properly - and in the case of NationStates regions, we can say these are regional institutions.
Regional Institutions: Leadership
It’s no major surprise that regions in NationStates have leaders, second-in-commands, deputies, workers. Etc. Every community will ultimately need some form of regulation, and in that light you’ll need some form of leader to watch over the community’s well-being. This is because by itself, a community is generally too big to keep itself together. Therein needs to be some active force to eventually push a community beyond being the size of like 6 people or whatever arbitrary number is a sustainable friend group versus an unstable community network.
Of course, in many communities on the internet - this essentially means just having some site owners, moderators, a rule-set, and that’s it. For many internet communities and even some NationStates regions, that’s more than enough to justify regulating their community and ensuring everything goes right.
But since this is NationStates, which is a political simulator with communities tied to regions, which by nature are forced to interact with the game in a variety of different mechanical ways, things are a little bit different. Regional communities tend to gravitate to a more formal government structure - which makes perfect sense in the context of this game. But with a formal government does come the question of how powers should be distributed. This is usually decided at a region’s founding, but in general you either have regions choose to be democracies (i.e. with the community having a much more stronger, active role in the leadership process) and autocracies/oligarchies (i.e. with the community having a inherently weaker say in the leadership selection process). This extends both IC (i.e. positions unrelated to Administration-related jobs - tend to see more mixes across regions) and OOC (i.e. positions related to Administration-related jobs - tend to be oligarchic/autocratic due to the high level of trust and stability needed for OOC things).
In either case, the regional institutions for any regional community on NS do serve a second clear purpose beyond establishing rules. They help to keep the region alive, they recruit for it, and they make decisions about the regions’s wellbeing into the future. In effect, regional institutions are how the community makes decisions for itself, through delegated individuals given more-than-usual authorities than what regular community members get.
And that’s essentially what regional institutions are: structures built by the community or its founders to delegate authority to certain community members to regulate community conduct and perpetuate the community. But interestingly, the dynamic between communities is more than that.
Regional Institutions and Communities: How They Interact
So now we’ve established two key players in a region: the community and the institution. We know what regional institutions generally do for a community - regulate it and keep it alive. But what does that look like?
Well, a cursory look at any region gives a quick answer to that. Beyond just keeping the community alive with fresh blood and regulating conduct, regional institutions also work to enhance the community - make it something beyond just people talking to each other with a shared identity. This, of course, involves a variety of different methods - but there’s generally a few distinct approaches.
The first approach is one that focuses on facilitating chatting, primarily. In this type of approach, the regional government doesn’t do too much to foster massive programs for the community, but it does do some more minor things - like creating off-site social platforms (Discord) or running on-site polls - to keep the community engaged. This type of approach is pretty basic, to the point wherein pretty much any successful region will co-opt this approach with at least one other. And that makes sense - of course, a region will do things like creating more organized social platforms or making use of NS’s basic features for fun. Doesn’t take that much work, but it provides a lot of reward. The most prominent example I can think of for this kind of region would be the Alstroemeria Commonwealth - a group of regions that tend to not do too much in government stuff, but mostly just have fun chatting with each other whilst holding the odd-event with their friends.
The next approach to discuss is holding a regional roleplay. Regional roleplays are self-explanatory roleplays that a region holds for community members to participate in. Roleplays are pretty great community enhancers in two ways - the first is that they offer NationStates players a way to roleplay their nations interacting with other nations, which is nigh impossible to do with issues alone. Roleplay allows a community to express its creativity and get immersed in a world of its own making. The second thing that’s excellent about roleplays is they offer a way for community members to give back to the community - whether it be via creating regional maps, serving as a Roleplay Moderator, developing guides to help newer players in the roleplay, and so on. This essentially creates an interesting loop wherein community members join the roleplay and rise in the ranks so to speak. It’d be accurate to say that depending on the region, whatever entity directly runs a regional roleplay could very well be the region’s primary regional institution or a secondary regional institution with its own rules and customs, if a more government-based primary institution exists. An example of a roleplay region I’ve heard of is The Hole to Hide In - a region totally focused on roleplay with roleplay moderators having equal reverie as government officials. It’s a nice region, and they take their roleplay seriously.
Another approach for regional institutions to enhance their communities is creating a regional government. Regional governments essentially set up positions that specifically allow community members to serve, but unlike a moderation team or roleplay team, regional governments tend to avoid Out-of-Character moderation or directly managing roleplays. Instead, they focus on essentially cultivating every other aspect the region can participate in - the World Assembly, managing relations with other regions, domestic cultural events, etc. Not to mention that many governments have legal systems and courts that players can develop and serve within. In effect, regional governments are the most expressive way of a community to enhance itself, because by instituting a full-on government a community can encourage its own growth in a variety of factors. For example, the regional government could decide to form a WA-mentorship program, allowing community members to become more versed in WA-writing and perhaps bond over community experiences in that area. Regional governments can be difficult to maintain though, since they often require a multitude of individuals to keep their systems running.
Interestingly, there are two pretty divided perspectives when it comes to creating a regional government - which comes down to how intense serving in said government is. All regional governments (at least, those that are successful) will somehow serve as a region’s primary institution in keeping it alive (with another regional institution usually regulating OOC conduct in such a set-up).
But some governments go further by becoming pretty intense political simulators. These governments, usually being democracies, will give community members extremely high prestige for serving in a position - and high costs to reputation and likability if they end up not doing well. They’re also pretty strict on the law, making sure every letter of it is followed. Said governments highly emphasize climbing the ladder and making a name, and can be enjoyable for many NS players and a turn-off for others (a symptom of such intense political governments is often their own officials burning out and leaving the region). One major con to intense polsim governments is they often build their activity around elections and the push/pull of politics surrounding regional issues, which means they can often fall into inactivity struggles once regional issues get resolved. That being said, some regions manage to maintain this type of government - most notably Europiea.
The second kind of government is a polsim government’s exact opposite - a government that tends to avoid competition, strictness, and prestige-seeking. These governments are known to be more chill and more open than their counterparts, with an explicit goal of serving the region. Interestingly, you’ll find that most successful NationStates meritocracies/autocracies like the West Pacific tend to fall into this category. Autocracies obviously tend to avoid competition unless they hold elections for minor positions - so the focus for most autocracies is simply developing the region (thus why many call themselves “meritocracies” or governments based on merit). That being said, democracies can very easily fall into this type of category as well.
Regardless of the approach, it’s clear that regional institutions thus have a focus on bettering the experience of community members. Put it another way, they wish to offer a unique way or style of enjoying NationStates, tied to a common group identity.
But all this may make it seem like regional institutions have all the power. And indeed, this type of mindset does tend to occur in regional institutions sometimes - they forget who they’re serving and often focus more on self-preservation or setting up abstract gatekeeping ideals to prevent newer community members from joining said regional institutions (particularly for regional governments). What is important to note, however, is that regional institutions and the community need each other. The community needs regional institutions to upkeep and maintain whatever programs are currently running, because it is the regional institution that serves as a medium for people experienced in running certain programs to self-organize what they’re doing. On the flipside, regional institutions need a regional community to serve because… well, if you have no real community, what are you doing there?
This is why it’s important to remember another important aspect of communities and their institutions: that institutions are ultimately a reflection of the community’s interests. This holds true regardless if the institutions came before the community or vice versa; if a community is maintaining a successful institution, then it is in the interests of said community to maintain that regional institution because it gives the community some feasible benefit for its existence. If the regional institution stops reflecting the community - maybe moderators stop moderating the rules properly, the government becomes abusive with its powers, etc. - then the community may very well determine said regional institution no longer befits it. In many cases, this leads to regional fissures, with one part of the community leaving to form their own regional institutions.
Conclusions
Erm, that’s basically all I have to say. To summarize this idea of what a region is, a region is basically a community that has successfully managed to maintain itself by creating successful regional institutions which help the community become more diverse and interesting to its community members.
I feel like all of this is really just common sense, which is why no one wrote it out probably, but nonetheless. I wanted to say something else, but this article turned into something else. So I’ll write more about that something else in another article. Someday! :>
- End Part 1 -
PART 2: ON COMMUNITY BUILDING (SOURCE LINK)
So if y’all haven’t seen it, I recently published this dispatch [NOTE: This dispatch is just part 1 of this forum post] that discusses kinda how I view the general moving parts of a region. In that dispatch, I said I wrote that… essay, I guess, in preparation for an EDN article. This is said EDN article.
This is something I’ve wanted to write for a long time, although times have tended to change since I first started writing this a year or two ago. Most importantly… I feel the Union generally subscribes to this kinda way of thought, which it kinda didn’t when I first came to realize my opinions/observations on this matter. Nonetheless, this is basically a short article on what I think the Union, as a region, should have as its mindset when it’s generally considering any major initiative.
I should note I’m a subpar regionbuilder. But I do have observations and experiences that give me an inkling of an idea-framework here that works, I think, although I’ll leave you to judge that.
So let’s go.
The Background
So the way this small article will be framed is on the basis of the dispatch I linked above. I’d recommend reading that if you don’t understand this section. But to summarize.
From what I’ve seen, a region is made up of two parts. The community, and whatever institutions said community has that recruits for, maintains, and enhances the community. Both tend to need each other - communities give institutions purpose, and institutions need to function properly to keep the community alive. One type of such regional institution is a regional government, which generally runs a variety of programs that give the community more stuff to do AND allow community members to give back to the community.
Given the Union’s government (like most governments) is the primary caretaker of most of the community’s general aspects, you’ll notice that I view the lens of this article through the government. That’s because the government is primarily responsible for region-building, and thus this article is my opinion of the things it should do and the perspectives it should hold.
The Government, the Community Builder
(TLDR; The Union should focus on community building (it hasn’t always done so in favor of more splintered concerns) and should show the community it cares.)
Probably the most important perspective for the Union’s government is to simply focus on building a community. The reason is simple: the government in the Union is what is tasked with maintaining, recruiting for, and enhancing the community. Its entire purpose is to make the Union a place for people to stay, to have fun, and to make their home. Thus, it should focus on that purpose.
While this may seem inherently sensible at first, there have been times when the Union’s government has skimped on this part. Maybe it was a worry about perpetuating the government itself, generating an off-site presence whilst effectively ignoring the on-site region, or developing a political simulator government again (which characterized the region from 2015 to 2019/2020-ish), or so on. For a long time, the Union’s government had generally focused on a specific issue that was only a portion of its true purpose. In essence, the Union’s government had focused on the branches whilst ignoring the tree.
This is not to say none of those things are important. They are! But all of them serve the broader core function of the Union’s government to build a community, and thus none of them should come superior to that broader purpose. There is a more practical reason for this as well: you need a community to have a government in the first place. Fact is that if you don’t have a community of people invested in the region’s wellbeing, then you aren’t going to have people to recruit into your projects, join your off-site platforms, or participate in your politics. Which is why, before all else, the regional government must focus on building a community, and all its steps should be geared towards that broader purpose.
But it is not enough to just focus on building a community; an important part of this is to show the community that you care in the first place. Expectations beget expectations. When the regional government is inactive and doing nothing, at least publically, then people are left to believe no one cares about the region’s community. They then, in turn, find it less worth investing their time, efforts, and love into the community; for if the leadership of the community seems to not care, why should they? And so a death spiral may occur. Which is why beyond having that core focus, the regional government needs to show they care. Making things more accessible for people (such as forms anyone can use, without having a forum account), being transparent (weekly updates), holding events all can participate in (like songs of the week) - these things among others can showcase the government’s activity and care for the region, and therefore make it more likely that people will recognize something real is being built. I’ll touch on this a bit later, but generally speaking, the government should take moves to show it cares.
As a case study of how important the government showing it cares is, here’s this screenshot from one of our roleplay Discord servers.
Showing we care about the proper thing matters.
How To Go About It
(TLDR; The Executive is the main branch responsible for community building. It should do this by helping community members run projects, act as a talent-finder, and be ready to give new excited community members spots in the Executive. The regional government as a whole should also focus on accessibility to make our region more inclusive for its inhabitants.)
So great. We’ve established that the Union’s government really should focus on community building and take deliberate steps to show it cares about the Union’s community.
But how do we get the government to build the community?
Well, one thing to remember about people is that we are naturally creative. When we get bored, many of us will sit down and try to improve/fix on something or create something new. This inherent tendency is pretty reinforced by the types of people NationStates encourages to stick around - often individuals who like to worldbuild. This is pretty clearly a phenomenon you’ll see in real life too. Point being, NationStates encourages its players to play in its sandbox and do whatever they wish - it plays into an inherent instinct to create that many of us feel.
This often leads to people expressing a variety of interests. Some tend to want to hold events for other nations; others like discussing World Assembly proposals. Whatever the case may be, such talents and interests grow naturally within a community like the Union’s. It is these very talents that the government should attempt to nurture and grow into something that helps both the individual and the community grow. Kind of similar to how a stereotypical music manager will find a good singer and help promote them and their work until they reach success, the government should aim to promote the works of the community and, if specific individuals want, offer them a more permanent platform to run projects for others. In this way, the government builds the community through initiatives, but it also propagates itself by training new people to take over its duties over time. This duty, by nature, mostly falls on the Executive branch of the Union.
So how should the Executive do this? One thing is by keeping an eye on the region for new ideas people may propose and/or indicators that someone may have interest in some area the Executive covers. One major way to do this is act as a project promoter. For example, if someone has shown an interest in maybe running an event, then the Executive should resolutely reach out to that individual and see if they’re willing to cooperate with the Executive to get that event up; the Executive can promote said event in all of the Union’s edifices, while the person running the event can get help from the Executive’s experience and available manpower. The Union’s benefit is that it gets a more polished event that more people are likely to enjoy whilst giving a Unionist more experience in event management and knowledge of the Union’s institutions. (As a note, this doesn’t mean Minister’s shouldn’t chase their own goals and ideas - they should! They’re a part of the community as well. But they should balance doing both what they want and what the rest of the community wants is all I’m saying.) This example does apply to other projects as well, like polls or game nights.
Another way for the Executive to do this is to give positions to people who show a nominal interest in an area. A great example of this, in my opinion, is the Ministry of World Assembly Affairs. If the Executive sees someone who has interest in World Assembly resolutions, then maybe said individual would be interested in hosting discussions for said resolutions! So the Executive should thus reach out to such an individual and ask if they want to be in the Ministry of World Assembly Affairs. And if there’s an open Deputy/Minister spot… the Executive should give them that as well! Give that person as much room as possible to experiment and explore the world of their interests. This could very well lead to a Unionist launching a variety of different projects (see: Aarman being awesome and running World Assembly discussions now) and perhaps help us seek new governmental leadership for the next generation.
One key thing I should note here is my language, that the Executive should reach out. In many regions and definitely in the Union, there tends to be a focus on self-interest; that people should express some interest in a position before we give it to them. This especially is shown in the idea of Executive applications; that people should apply for X or Y position to have any chance of joining a Ministry. The problem with this approach is that we presume the entire community knows 1000% well what happens in the Executive, or the expectations of serving in the Executive, or so on - which isn’t necessarily true. There could be many reasons why someone who’d be a great fit for say, Minister of World Assembly Affairs, wouldn’t think of applying - like maybe they’re scared to apply or don’t think regional government is for them despite never being in it! Whatever the case, it shouldn’t be a surprising notion that the Union may miss out on awe-inspiring power players simply because we expect them to reach out to us, when in fact maybe what’s necessary is us reaching out to them.
(As a note, this isn’t to say Executive applications are bad; they’re great since they allow people who go unnoticed by the Executive to self-nominate themselves for appointment. BUT, they should be used in conjunction with the Executive reaching out to people, not as a replacement thereof. Also, the Executive should never pressure individuals to join; they should be free to decline a request. Which is obvious but, I’m saying this just in case.)
The interesting thing about the Executive is that once you join a Ministry, the only thing you need to do anything is the permission of the relevant Minister and the President. But one thing I’ve found oftentimes is that people may tend to feel restricted as a staffer, with an expectation that they’re there solely to do what the Minister wants. Which isn’t the right way to think about things, but this thought process naturally persists because that’s how most hierarchies work. If you join someone’s staff, you’re there to do mostly their work - unless they give you free reign. Which is why Minister and Deputy Minister are important positions when it comes to community building, because the primary benefit they have is to encourage people to go buck wild in ways most people feel uncomfortable with as a staffer. (We should also encourage staffers to do their own things, don’t get me wrong - but oftentimes, having an official title is important to make someone feel a bit more comfortable in my experience).
This is why the Executive should make an effort to balance having proficient Ministers with allowing new players to take the reins. While many Executives may be hesitant to ditch a star three-term Minister for a newbie, there is also the fact that a new Minister often may have new ideas about what to do in a Ministry that they can probably carry out most effectively as Minister. There’s also the fact that proficient Ministers can burn out if they’re appointed to the job for a long period of time - there’s been many cases across many regions of Ministers who, being seen as super effective, were kept in the seat for months on end and thus over time ended up burning out yet don’t have the heart to refuse being re-appointed. Such Ministers often lose the ability to do what made them a good pick in the first place. Having a bit more higher Minister turnover will help prevent this, alongside enabling the rise of more power players who can both gain more enjoyment from the game alongside producing content the rest of the community enjoys as well. In my opinion, this is one of the things the Union did a bit better in its political era in 2018/2019, and it has seemed to have lost a little bit as time has progressed.
This necessity of the statuses of Minister and Deputy Minister being available does also mean that the Executive should be fine with another thing: leaving those spots empty, at least for those Ministries that require less experience (specifically our foreign affairs, World Assembly, culture, and census ministries). Oftentimes the reason Ministers get burned out is because there’s a worry from the Executive that if they have their awesome Minister resign, then no one will fill their spot. By keeping spots empty when there is no one who can fully serve in the office, the Executive can thus make it a priority to keep an eye out for anyone who might be interested in serving and do better in the job than a burned out Minister. And, of course, letting said burned out Minister go and do something else.
To add on to that, the Executive should also be flexible when it comes to Ministries and who it appoints as Minister. This is because while being a Deputy Minister can help someone be more comfortable in doing Executive duties, being a Minister increases that comfort. Being a Minister may also make sense if an individual is overseeing a very specific project - a Minister may not have time if they have multiple Deputies, afterall. While these speciality Minister-offices are rare, the Executive should be ready to accommodate its structure to make it more easier for people to do their duties - and thus, more easier for the Executive to build a community.
Another important thing for the Executive to do is try to either avoid boring mundane jobs or make such jobs more rewarding. I am, of course, talking about more long-term/monotonous jobs like UDSAF soldier or Union ambassador - staffer jobs that most people probably find boring to do. If the Executive’s general gist should be encouraging people to run programs they like, then it doesn’t make too much sense to give these monotone jobs an exception. Probably something like external motivation would be required for them (such as the UDSAF ranks and badges, or giving UDSAF soldiers a fun military community to be in) to always have - which I believe President East Chimore’s faction system will resolve - but nonetheless this should always be kept in mind in the Executive’s perspective. If the job is a monotone job that isn’t inherently rewarding in some way (unlike MoWAA discussion posting, which can be nice due to getting to see people’s responses), then the Union must add some form of external motivation to keep the job enjoyable. In other words - if a job is lacking some form of internal motivation, the Executive needs to provide some method of external motivation.
But one final thing for my thoughts on this matter, perhaps all else, is this: that when the region isn’t doing well, the Executive’s focus should be on the Ministry of Culture. This isn’t to say that the Executive can’t focus on other areas, but it is integral that Culture be an on-going Executive focus, forever and always. Because ultimately, Culture tends to be the Ministry that theoretically deals with most community-ran projects AND it also hosts its own projects that give the general community things to do. Without culture pushing activity initiatives and giving people ways to hang out, it is very unlikely that the Union’s general community will be as active or close with each other. It is the job of Culture, as the Executive’s most important Ministry, to build the community directly. So no Executive should ever sideline Culture, but rather cherish it. For it is the most crucial Ministry in fulfilling the Executive’s (and regional government’s) main purpose: to build up the region’s community.
Increasing Accessibility and Inclusivity
This is another major thing, in my opinion - and this is something that, whilst definitely important for the Executive, it is important for other branches as well. And that is accessibility.
Accessibility means improving and expanding the number of ways we enable the community to participate in the government. Some of the things I mentioned above, like the Executive reaching out to potentially interested people or utilizing forms anyone can use (as I mentioned prior) are ideas of this.
Effectively speaking, I think it would behoove our government and region as a whole to constantly be in a state of wondering how it can improve accessibility. And I mean this both in generally big things (like applications) and smaller things (like how our Ministers use Regional Officer powers, for example). It is important that we improve accessibility because it allows more people to participate in our community (like by improving on-site accessibility, we allow more on-site focused people to give input to traditionally forum focused things) and thus increases inclusivity. But it is also important that we improve accessibility to make it easier for people to perform certain tasks, particularly those in government. This article by Kron is a good reach into analyzing that part of accessibility.
Now to be frank, I don’t have too many suggestions on how to improve accessibility in general. There are some general things the Union should keep in mind to improve game-side accessibility, which I explain in my “The Future of the Game-side Community” article and thus won’t discuss in this article. But when it comes to the Executive, there are a few things I can think of. One is not mandating every person who the Executive reaches out to to fill out an application, since this is a useless step in onboarding that can be skipped. (If records of when someone joined the Executive are important, just make a thread and post a record stating “X joined Y Ministry after being contacted by the Executive).
Another idea, possibly a bit more controversial, is perhaps allowing staffers to be non-Citizens. This is kinda already done for the Ministry of Roleplay, but I think it could be a good idea to extend this to these lower level positions to allow people who may not be sure/not interested in becoming Citizens yet to join the Executive and start doing things there. This would mostly apply to anyone reached out to by the Executive I think, but nonetheless it’d also allow people to jump in immediately rather than waiting a day or two for bureaucracy. And if said person likes working in the government, they can always apply for Citizenship during their staffership and become eligible for promotions in the future.
There are, of course, concerns about regional security. And the fact is, they will always contrast with regional accessibility. For example, considering we’re a notable (albeit more on the minor side) defender region, we kinda probably need IP Citizenship to protect our voting processes. But our need for regional security should be balanced with making things easier for our community, like for example, the previous two ideas I mentioned don’t really impact our security that much yet pretty obviously make things a bit easier for newer players joining up in the Executive. Ideas like these - those that don’t impact our security as much, but do make things easier, are out there and perhaps waiting to just be discovered and tried.
If we make our region’s institutions more accessible and thus more inclusive, we both show our community that we care AND we allow for more community participation. A win win, in my opinion, so long as we do it right.
Conclusion
So you may be saying “G&C, you said this article would be SHORT”. To that, I must say my dear reader, I did. But that was before I wrote the first draft of this, and then I found it funny to include this part of the conclusion, and so it remains. A pseudo-short article, perhaps?
In any case! If you want a TLDR; of the article, it’s this: the Union’s government needs to take as its focus building the community, first and foremost. It also needs to show the community that it cares in the process. To facilitate this, the Executive in particular should both serve as a no-obligation platform to help Unionists run community events AND act as a talent-finder to help community members develop their skills whilst running government programs to benefit the community and themselves. Additionally, the region as a whole should keep in mind where it can improve the region’s accessibility to improve our community’s inclusivity.
Now to be clear, maybe I’m wrong here. I don’t think I am, but as I said I’m not too great a region-builder, who knows? Also, I’m not claiming that doing all I said will lead to insta-region success for the Union; region-building is more than a philosophy. But I am a personal believer that having a solid, grounded philosophy makes it easier to do things. So here’s my philosophy on regionbuilding.
So that’s all I have to say.
P.S. this is 7 pages - congratulations on reading it! 
P.P.S. for funsies you can read a pseudo-Delegate campaign I made in the East Pacific once, which covers this stuff to some extent but with nicer graphics
- End Part 2 -