The Second World Assembly SymposiumThe second World Assembly Symposium was a three-day event held from Friday, 28 August 2020 to Sunday, 30 August 2020. The primary purpose of the event was to serve as a forum for discussion on a variety of historical and contemporary topics significant to the World Assembly. Each day consisted of two or three panels; each panel was dedicated to a particular area of interest. Every panel was further divided among specific points for discussion in order to provide a more concrete framework for discourse on any given subject matter. Each panel consisted of short-form discussion guided by the aforementioned points, which took place on
the event's Discord server, in addition to long-form discussion taking place in
dedicated forum threads.
A brief overview of the event's panels is as follows (in Eastern time):
Friday, August 28:9AM - Subforum becomes public and long-answer responses can begin being posted.
1PM-4PM - Liberations: When and how should they be used?
- Offensive liberations: Legitimate tactic or misuse of mechanics?
- How much drafting should a liberation undergo before it becomes ineffective?
5PM-8PM - Manipulating voting trends through politics.
- Blocs and their place within the World Assembly
- The lemming effect and how it's used
- Informational Dispatches and their effect on the voter psyche
Saturday, August 29:9AM-12PM - Repeals: Why they should be written and what should be included.
- Differences between repeals in the GA and SC, and what this means.
- What constitutes the grounds for a proper repeal?
- How to make a repeal convincing and how to properly convey your argument.
1PM-4PM - Commendations, Condemnations, and Recent Shifts in Oft-Recognized Areas.
- Who is deserving of being recognized by the World Assembly?
- Recent shifts in those being recognized (such as c/cs relating to Cards) have been rising in prominence - is this a good or bad change?
- How much should OOC factors play into mostly IC recognitions?
5PM-8PM - Noncompliance - dangerous trend, legitimate roleplay, or godmodding?
- How should non-compliance be handled within the World Assembly?
- Is there a legitimate way to be non-compliant or is compliance put into place instantly and by force?
- How do 'non-compliance pacts' effect gameplay within the World Assembly?
Sunday, August 30:9AM-12PM - Approval raiding - Curating proposals or interfering with democracy?
- Is delegate-bumping (or any other raiding tactics) okay under any circumstances in order to influence delegate approval?
- When should it be utilized, if it is?
1PM - 4PM - Trends, History, and the Future of the World Assembly
- How has the World Assembly changed recently, and are those changes good?
- Is the exchange of authors between the GA and SC good for increasing activity?
- What are some predictions for the future of the World Assembly?
In addition to written discussion, the Symposium included a Northern Broadcast Service (NBS) voice show on Sunday the 30th, from 5pm to 8pm EST. This show included but was not limited to a Q&A session with some prominent WA figures, commentary on discussions that occurred over the course of the event, and closing marks to round off the Symposium. The schedule can be found
here in gameside dispatch form.
The Symposium also incorporated four guest essays on critical topics, which acted as an excellent supplement to discussion and can be found in the recently published
Issue XXXII of The Northern Lights (TNL). Our goal with this Issue of The North Star (TNS) is to provide an effective overview of each of the event's panels and preserve their contents for posterity in an easily accessible format.
Friday Panel 1 - Liberations and Their UsageFriday’s first panel was held between 1PM and 4PM EST on the 28th of August 2020. The focus of this panel was when and how liberations should be used. This topic was divided into two subcategories:
- Offensive liberations: Legitimate tactic or misuse of mechanics?
- How much drafting should a liberation undergo before it becomes ineffective?
Longer-form responses are available
here, with shorter-form discussion taking place on the event’s Discord. A guest essay by Lord Dominator titled “Offensive and Defensive Liberations” related to the topic is viewable
here. A key focus of the discussion was the acceptability and use of symbolic liberations, with some arguing that symbolic liberations serve to spark change in OOC-bad communities and regions, while others asserted that they fail to serve that purpose and instead attract unnecessary attention and animosity to and from the targeted region. The discussion then covered the question of whether there should be a difference in acceptability between symbolic and offensive liberations, with most agreeing that there should be and is a divide in both purpose and acceptability. From there, speakers discussed how long liberations should be drafted for, with most arguing that liberations should be passed quickly as to avoid warning raiders, though some speakers preferred a longer-term approach to things, pointing out that liberations already take a while to get through quorum and the voting period. There was an agreement, however, that symbolic liberations may and should take longer periods of time to draft, seeing as time is not a factor in the usage of a symbolic liberation. The discussion ended on the topic of
when liberations should be repealed, with speaker Kenmoria stating that symbolic liberations should be repealed when the target region has changed, and speaker Tinhampton affirming that more “classic” liberations should be repealed at a time in which the region has reached a state of equilibrium.
I am a proponent of drafting for as long as possible, which for liberations is often unfortunately short, so I think people should draft for as long as might be reasonable. A region can be retaken, but an SC resolution is on the books forever.
Friday Panel 2 - Manipulating Voting Trends Through PoliticsFriday's second panel was held between 5pm and 8pm EST on the 28th of August 2020. The focus of this panel was the manipulation of voting threads through interregional politics. This topic was divided into three subcategories:
- Blocs and their place within the World Assembly
- The lemming effect and how it's used
- Informational Dispatches and their effect on the voter psyche
Longer-style responses are viewable
here, with shorter-form discussion occurring on the event's Discord. Two guest essays submitted for the Symposium are of particular relevance here:
The Role of IFVs in the General Assembly by Kenmoria, and
Regional Delegates and General Assembly Canon by Maowi. Discussion naturally centered around the effectiveness of IFVs and voting blocs, and how valuable they are at informing voters and influencing votes. Some prominent voices argued that IFVs serve an important role in informing WA member nations and strengthening regional communities, and that voting blocs allow for easier campaigning and a concentration of voting power and therefore competence in the WA. Others argued that IFVs are effectively useless in swaying votes (since region members arguably follow the Delegate's vote more often than not), and that at-vote telegram campaigns are of questionable value.
Here are some select opinions from Friday's second panel:
I feel that Information Dispatches (IFVs) and Voting Blocs have a really large part to play in the current situation in the WA. Both serves rather different purposes, playing different roles in deciding whether a proposal gets passed through the halls or is voted down.
IFVs are mainly due to the voting demographics. Not everyone is in the WA because they study the proposal to the finest detail and say, "Eh maybe this proposal is not that good I am voting against." The utilisation of IFVs would really help the voters understand some of the reasonings behind a certain leaning. Some of the people may just look at these IFVs and follow them blindly. Others may gain new insights that somehow "convince" them to vote that way. After all, you would always think experienced people know what they are saying with these Dispatches.
As for Voting Blocs - they are an entirely different beast, swaying the way the votes are being casted in reality. The psychological effect of early stomps is really huge - you simply sway voters to jump on the bandwagon and follow the trend.
I'm going to start this off with what may be a controversial opinion, I am not sure IFV dispatches do anything. If you are already going to vote whatever way your delegate votes, it doesn't add anything. Otherwise I assume most nations get their info from domestic sources or no source at all. The latter brings me to the lemming effect, I think it is huge. Probably the biggest determiner of a proposals success is if a couple of big delegates stomp or stack it.
Saturday Panel 1 - Repeals: How and Why to Write ThemSaturday’s first panel was held between 9AM and 12PM EST on 29th of August 2020. The focus of this panel was why and how a repeal should be written. This topic was divided into three subcategories:
- Differences between repeals in the GA and the SC, and what this means
- What constitutes the grounds for a proper repeal?
- How to make a repeal convincing and how to properly convey your argument
A majority of the discussion took place on the event’s Discord, though you can view the forum thread
here. The discussion generally focused on what warrants a repeal, how to make a convincing argument, and how important having replacements ready are in passing a repeal. Most speakers agreed that the importance of having a replacement ready for the repealed resolution is situational, with some noting that in many cases, particularly in the SC, a replacement is often unneeded depending on the intent of the repeal, whereas in the GA replacements are far more common, with repeals being passed to make way for the intended replacements. There was a general consensus that repeals are justified when a resolution has unintended consequences, blocks a better resolution, or generally does not serve its purpose, and that minor grammar or spelling mistakes do not justify a repeal (so long as the mistakes do not undermine the original intent). The discussion then sidetracked as the speakers explored the question of when an illegal resolution might be forcibly removed (which has not happened since 2003) before turning back to the question of how to create a convincing repeal, with most speakers concurring that crafting concise arguments that attack specific weaknesses of the target proposal while trying to avoid stating the reverse of the target resolution's arguments (as to avoid an Honest Mistake challenge) is a good way to start. The panel closed out on a discussion of how repealing an older and unliked resolution might run into HM problems, with speakers Graintfjall and Morover making the point that a repeal running into HM problems is hardly a consequence of the target resolution’s age, but rather due to the WA’s recent shift into a far more litigious environment that backs the rationale for arguments that often fall into the category of an HM mistake.
I think it's also valid to repeal a resolution if it's got significant, unintended consequences, or otherwise does nothing that it was promised to do. A replacement is often ideal but not necessary in those instances.
Saturday Panel 2 - Commendations, Condemnations, and Recent Shifts ThereofSaturday’s second panel was held between 1PM-4PM EST on the 29th August. This panel was focused on the discussion of the standard of what qualifies for a commendation or condemnation, and how that has changed as of late.
Three specific questions divided the panel into subcategories:
- Who is deserving of being recognized by the World Assembly?
- Recent shifts in those being recognized (such as c/cs relating to Cards) have been rising in prominence - is this a good or bad change?
- How much should OOC factors play into mostly IC recognitions?
No forum responses were made, though if you wish to see forum thread that was intended for this, it can be found
here. Much discussion took place on the event’s Discord, however. It largely dealt with some borderline examples of C&C worthiness, the specific point at which a line should be drawn on OOC matters being factored into the SC’s actions, and a brief discussion of dual commendations and condemnations. While shifts in the areas of the game being recognized were mentioned, quick consensus in favor of, or at least not opposed to, was reached. Most voices suggested that there are many OOC actions that quickly disqualify a candidate or author, and that you cannot view a proposal without OOC actions in mind. However, there was some disagreement over whether or not simply being a very rude and abrasive person should be considered even if the nominee has done nothing specific that would specifically eliminate them. Dual C&Cs were generally thought to be reasonable, with Evil Wolf being raised as a potentially deserving candidate.
I think the unifying thing about these achievements though is that even while some important achievements go unrecognized, it is those achievements which impact the wider NS game that receive resolutions, as opposed to any nation's impact in just one region.
While this isn't entirely a recent shift, I think the expansion of resolutions from mainly R/D based to those that also encompass RP, Issues, NS Cards, and so on serve to better highlight the work of deserving nations.
I think that if someone is controversial it's often conflated with being OOC bad. Obviously we shouldn't be praising someone who pushes harmful views upon everyone, but someone who comes across as a bit rude doesn't really disqualify them from a c/c imo.
Saturday Panel 3 - Noncompliance in the General AssemblySaturday's third panel discussion was held between 5PM and 8PM on the 29th of August 2020. This discussion focused on the subject of noncompliance and its consequences. Specifically, discussion centered around the following three subcategories:
- How should non-compliance be handled within the World Assembly?
- Is there a legitimate way to be non-compliant or is compliance put into place instantly and by force?
- How do 'non-compliance pacts' effect gameplay within the World Assembly?
Discussion on these topics was primarily hosted on the event's Discord server. The initial point of interest was distinguishing between noncompliance from the perspective of game mechanics and noncompliance from the perspective of roleplay (RP). The speakers largely agreed that noncompliance has been extensively recognized from an RP perspective in the General Assembly, and that there is a substantial difference between being creatively compliant with GA law and openly flaunting noncompliance. The speakers also largely agreed that OOC WA membership for raiding and similar purposes is inherently different from IC WA membership.
From there, the conversation shifted to the specifics of how noncompliance and creative compliance can be RPed effectively. Tinfect was held up as an example of what well-done noncompliance looks like, with noncompliance being clearly present in-character and making sense in context, without being abrasively advertised at every opportunity. Noncompliance pacts such as the one formed in response to WA abortion law garnered a more mixed response. On the one hand, that particular pact was poorly executed, backfired spectacularly, and failed to achieve its stated goals. On the other hand, there were points made that noncompliance pacts are not inherently worse than individual noncompliance in the abstract, and that noncompliance pacts when RPed well, especially regarding consequences, could prove interesting. However, that has not been the case thus far. There was also a point made by several speakers that blatant noncompliance should be treated in kind by the GA. In other words, shameless noncompliant actors are hypocrites if they expect legislation that they attempt to pass to be taken seriously.
Discussion then moved to enforcement mechanisms for GA compliance, with the concept of a WA military taking center stage. It was generally agreed that a WA military force tasked with enforcing compliance would not really be a positive addition to the WA, both due to the power level of such a force and the fact that it can easily be used excessively to enforce comparatively minor mandates. The discussion concluded with whether noncompliance-based RP should be recognized in Security Council resolutions, with the general consensus being that such RP could potentially be recognized if performed well and with consequences.
The current enforcement mechanisms do well enough if you ask me; you have to be RPing a kind of circumstance which itself severely limits the things you can do anyway in order to escape the issues of noncompliance otherwise.
Sunday Panel 1 - Approval RaidingSunday's first panel was held between 9AM and 12PM EST. This discussion was dedicated to the subject of approval raiding, the practice of raiding small regions whose delegates are approving a certain proposal in order to displace said delegates and remove their approval. Specific topic areas covered included:
- Is delegate-bumping (or any other raiding tactics) okay under any circumstances in order to influence delegate approval?
- When should it be utilized, if it is?
The focus of this panel was quite singular, and centered around the question of whether approval raiding is justified, and in what circumstances. This topic was easily one of the most divisive of this Symposium, with speakers being fairly cleanly split between those who believed approval raiding is a valid and useful, if somewhat damaging, tactic and those who believed it to be something that should not be in the game. Major points brought up included the collateral damage inherent to approval raiding (given that delegates hit by the tactic can easily be approving multiple proposals simultaneously), interaction between approval bumping and counter-campaigns, and whether approval raiding is prolific enough to even warrant significant attention. An interesting suggestion was brought up towards the end of the discussion: making it so that only delegates who initially approved a proposal could remove their approval. This was posted on the NS forum as a technical suggestion, but was quickly shot down.
Some select quotes from the Discord discussion:
The issue is that delegate bumping for one proposal makes it substantially harder for other proposals to reach quorum at the same time
It undermines the process of the WA and the ability for the people to choose what should be voted on or passed. TBH has bumped at vote proposals too
I strongly oppose update bumping for all the above reasons. It’s inconsiderate to people who have worked hard on a GA proposal to have their submission delayed because of something happening in Gameplay.
On one hand, approval raiding is kind of interfering with the natural course of a proposal. On the other, this is a game at the end of the day and approval raiding is just another interesting feature. It doesn't cause problems that often, and if a proposal didn't reach quorum because of it, then it probably wouldn't have passed anyway
Sunday Panel 2 - Trends, History, and the Future of the World AssemblySunday’s second panel was held between 1PM and 4PM on the 30th of August 2020. The panel focused on the trends, history, and future of the World Assembly. This topic was divided into three subcategories:
- How has the World Assembly changed recently, and are those changes good?
- Is the exchange of authors between the GA and SC good for increasing activity?
- What are some predictions for the future of the World Assembly?
Discussion on these topics generally took place on the event’s Discord. You can find a relevant essay that goes over RP and In-Character discussions in the GA by Maowi titled “Regional Delegates and General Assembly Canon”
here. The initial discussion focused on the presence of newer authors and the shift away from RP in the GA. There was a general consensus that with the coming of newer (and often prolific) authors in the WA that participation in the GA, SC, and even GI increased, with many noting that the three forums have begun to converge as newer authors began to dabble in each. However, some speakers pointed out that among the changes that came with the uptick of newer authors was a shift away from RP and IC drafting. Notable speaker Graintfjall voiced concerns about this, asserting that RP was integral to the magic of drafting in the WA and that its gradual disappearance was a sign of the WA’s decline. Others argued that the loss of RP in the WA was an inevitable consequence of feedback shifting towards a more efficient and rules-based style, with duplicity and writing quality becoming larger concerns than the topic of a proposal itself.
From there, the focus turned towards the early days of the WA (then the UN) and the evolution of the formatting of proposals, with speakers such as Jutsa pointing out that to the untrained eye, a well-formatted proposal is more appealing and thus likely to get a vote for than a short and concise one. A few potential additions to the WA like amendments and a total reset were then brought up (and quickly shot down), at which point the discussion turned to the question of whether the WA was still largely under the influence of the GP community. Jakker corroborated this assertion, citing the influence and impact delegates of larger regions have on at-vote proposals, while others like Morover pointed to the recent trend of C/Cs on individuals outside of the GP community as evidence that, while GP continues to hold power over SC voting, SC writing is increasingly shifting away from GP as authors continue to branch out. The discussion rounded off with an analysis of the growth of C/Cs in the SC, with the speakers overall concluding that the creativity and innovation utilized in recent C/Cs, particularly those in communities unfamiliar to the SC like Sports and Cards, were positive developments for the SC as a whole.
Even outside of their huge voting power, TNP usually has a lot more influence in this regard because of how much they're engaged with "voting early and voting often"
I think all of this speaks to the notion that nothing is objectively condemnable or commendable. Creativity and innovation is about having the flexibility to take communities and actions and so it can be either. And the SC should be open to that. Stifling creativity does not help to bring in new players
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