Here is the report I wrote on Wintreath, if anyone is curious:
Nationstates is a website in which people run their own fictional countries, which are located in regions that act as independent communities where users can interact with each other. Upon creating my country, I received many messages, called telegrams, from representatives of different regions, asking for my membership. I chose to apply to a region with an active community, complete with its own website, forums, and discord server, as well as a Minecraft server and Steam group. Members of the region can choose to participate in roleplays, contests, and other events within the game on Nationstates, as well as communicate offsite. It has been active since 2013 and has a few hundred members.
The application for the region’s community involved signing up on their website and posting a thread answering a few basic questions, explaining why you wish to participate in their community, and whether you are experienced in Nationstates. After this, I joined the discord, and went on to request their consent to be studied. Upon receiving a confirmation, I began to examine the ways in which the community structures itself and interacts within their various methods of communication, and ultimately determine what this means for both the community and Nationstates.
The first observations I took note of within the community were its openness and overall friendliness. It appeared that everyone was as close-knit as had been described in the telegram I received. Upon further investigation, I found these elements to be repeated throughout the various interactions in the community. These observations have led to an understanding of Nationstates in that it is not just a simulation of global politics, but also a space that provides a potential for the formation of meaningful relationships and connections with others. The region I studied had itself made clear, through observations between the interactions of both those within the community and those outside, that the feeling of belonging generated from friendly interactions was the primary structure keeping the community together, rather than acting within the simulation of Nationstates.
One of the first actions I took in participating in the community was answering a poll looking to see what members’ favorite genres of music were. I chose “other”, and later received a message from a member asking me, along with two others who answered “other”, what genre I liked. It immediately became apparent that the people in this community wish to know each other and become friends, despite likely having never met in the real world. This theory was confirmed as I saw on their forums and Discord messages with a similar friendliness, such as asking how people’s days went, and the existence of an “Ask Me Anything” Board in which members can create threads where others ask them questions, usually involving personal interests and opinions.
The region’s website consists of several sections of forums, all with multiple active threads. The topics discussed were varied; general discussion, debate, gaming, an arts showcase, an LGBT chat, a spam chat, and regional politics were among these. Gameplay on Nationstates, although central to the initial foundation of the community, is not its primary function. Overall, the community seems to function as a place to interact with others, sharing ideas, and communicating as friends. Although elections are run to establish leadership and maintain the functioning and structure of the region, the politics of Nationstates did not appear to be the sole purpose or motivation of interaction between members.
The government of the region is run by a Monarch, with subdivision ministries of culture, foreign affairs, and regional affairs, each run by an individual. They are followed by further subdivisions of leadership roles with more specific roles, such as for gaming in the Ministry of Culture. The region also has a legislative branch composed of two chambers, one whose members are elected by the citizens on a regular schedule, and one whose members are chosen by the Monarch. Elections for the lower chamber of the legislature were in process at the time of my observations. The roles of people in this system and its processes were well structured and organized, described through a set of laws acting as a Constitution to the region. Those involved in government positions are among the most active members of the community, and work to stimulate further interaction between the citizens. This was made apparent in the campaign message posted by a nominee. A large portion of the post was proposing the creation of an Academy, where members would teach courses “from History to Math to even Scottish Gaelic”, simulating a college environment and structure, complete with degrees. The motivations behind this idea were described as follows, “I believe [region name] really needs to reaffirm its place as a region of cultural and connectivity, and i think this will allow us to connect more”. Lastly, the campaign mentioned improving the military, but no further detail was given. This, combined with the observation that the political forums had less activity than others on the website; one section dedicated to weekly meetings had not been active since 2019, led to my interpretation that connecting others through a virtual environment is fundamental to the functioning of the region, and that simulating conflict or competition was not. This is further emphasized in the openness of the region shown through their acceptance of any nation, regardless of how they run their governments.
A reply to a comment made on Discord brought up a similar idea about the importance of positive interaction between the citizens. It was quoting a suggestion made by another user, in agreement. The message went as follows:
“I’d also like to recommend a Wholesomeness channel. It’d be for complimenting others, posting motivational things as well as cute animal, nature, and motivational pictures. Overall it’d be a positive feel good channel for people to go when they’re feeling down. Venting channel would still serve its purpose for talking up people when they’re angry or depressed, but Wholesomeness (or whatever we choose to call it) would just be all positive and uplifting vibes. Arguments, drama, and spam would be kept out because it would go against the purpose of the channel, since it’s a place for people to get an uplift when they may be frustrated or upset (and spam has its own channel already).”
The comment quoting the above message itself had signs of support from others. This further proves the overall intent of the community to be a positive space for everyone to interact in.
As in all communities, there is an issue of conflicts, which may come both within the community and outside of it. Regions may be competitive towards other regions within Nationstates, in some cases simulating invasions. In the case of the region I studied, there did not appear to be any outstanding conflicts with other regions. There were, however, relationships with other regions, in the form of embassies. These relationships appeared to be on friendly terms, as members of these other communities are allowed to post messages to the regional message board. On this message board, I noticed a member stating that they were leaving for a while to join another region. This was responded to with a positive message, “I hope you have fun in –, we’ll be waiting for your return : )”, again showing the theme of cooperation and friendliness that runs the community.
Although there was no apparent conflict between this region and others, there had been conflicts within the community itself. I was not present at the time of these conflicts, but there had been some “drama in the community that has caused people to feel like they can no longer give their opinions, open up personally, or be themselves out of fear that they’ll be bashed or made out to be bad people by those who disagree with them,” as quoted in an announcement made by the Monarch of the community. It is made clear that conflict is not tolerated within the community, and that any disagreements must be handled in a peaceful manner, or else people will be forced to leave, “If someone consistently proves to be unable to disagree with others civilly and respectfully, they will no longer be part of our community.”
An example of an appropriate response to potential conflict was observed on the Discord server. One member brought up a controversial topic, and another replied, “Yeah let’s not. I agree with you but let’s not”. It is clear that this interaction was designed to avoid a conflict and maintain civility on the server, and therefore the entire community. As anyone is welcome into the community, it is structured on the basis that no one should have negative interactions with each other. Acceptance is a fundamental value of the community.
Despite the importance of avoiding conflict within the community, debate is not discouraged. On their website is an entire group dedicated to “Discussions and debates about serious real-life matters.” Space is provided within the community to hold conversation about controversial topics, provided that the discussion is productive in some way.
On the region’s website, members of the community may participate in games and roleplay. These are activities that are generated by the participants themselves. One of these is a variation on “Mafia”. In that game, there are two groups, the “mafia” and ordinary people. Members of the mafia group know each other’s identities, but members of the other group do not know either their own group’s identities or those of the mafia. Each round of the game, the mafia “kills” a citizen, removing them from the game. The goal of the game for the citizen group is to identify the mafia members, and the goal of the mafia group is to not be found. Another game played by the community involves a group of people who must determine who among them is a spy by asking each other questions. The spy does not know the location the group is imagining to be in, and so they must be careful not to reveal themselves by answering questions with incorrect context to the imagined situation. The spy wins the game if they can guess the location, and loses if they are correctly identified.
The basic elements of lying and deceiving are crucial to the fun of both games. This is in contrast to the values of the community, as this activity is just a game played for enjoyment, not to create tensions. Another subject that interested me about these games was the fact that, aside from the basic rules, winning or losing conditions, roles of the players, and proper etiquette (maintaining civility, not cheating, etc.), the experience revolved around the imaginations of the players. The games ran on a story that was procedurally generated by the people playing them, which results in a unique experience every time. Cooperation is required for these games to run effectively, again showing the importance of positive interaction to the community.
This region, one of many initially created through Nationstates, has evolved into a community including people from all over the world, with different experiences, beliefs, and cultures. Yet, they manage to cooperate within the space they have created online, forming positive connections and relationships that ultimately hold the community together. This may not be the case with all communities, however, due to their differing structures and cultures. Nationstates provides a space for people to interact and structure unique communities.
