06-10-2016, 03:26 PM
Ahoy South Pacificans, I’m Imki and I’m running for your hot new MoMA!
Pretty sure y’all at least know of me by this point and are probably wondering more about why I’ve chosen to run for this position as I’m not particularly known for my military background, not to mention that there are a few people who don’t think too highly of me after recent events, so I’m going to skip the introduction and start my campaign by telling you completely and totally honestly why I’ve decided to run; The short answer is because I can!
Now hold your horses before you go thinkin’ the worst of me for this! It doesn’t mean I’m being deliberately contentious, malicious or whatever other awful things you might think I’m up to because that is not the case. I actually do have some very high hopes for filling this role and I am planning on dragging this Ministry, kicking and screaming if I have to, back to it’s feet!
... So… Why?!
The long answer is I originally had no intention of running for MoMA or any other position at all, but Drugged Monkey’s nomination for PM got me thinking and while I am very grateful to him for it, I personally did not feel it was the right time for me to run for that particular position (well, just yet at least..). However, I did find the gesture inspiring. This coupled with some insightful discussions with other TSPers and having the pleasure of meeting some of our delightful newcomers whose enthusiasm has been positively contagious (lookin’ at you, Seraph & Roavin!) has rekindled my passion for this place by reminding me that there are still people that have faith in me, that there are people I want to work with, that I do still want to have fun with, and that I really want to help make TSP a better place. Oh, and we are all totally stark raving bonkers in this region and that’s why I love this place no matter what!
I really do want to be a positive influence in the South Pacific again. I feel that one mistake shouldn't hold me back and I feel that reviving the SPSF may be the way to show this to the rest of ya!
Before nominating myself for MoMA, I thought very hard about it and hit up Resentine for a little chat and to make a few enquiries as I’ll admit I haven’t been following the SPSF an awful lot recently. I wanted to catch up on the ministry as it currently is from his perspective, see if there was anyone else that looked promising who could/would take on the role and why he personally wasn’t rerunning, and I found his answers interesting. I also spoke to a few contacts outside of the region about how the SPSF is viewed externally and the results, I’m sad to say, are not good.
We’ve suffered from a lack of active recruits and visible action. This isn’t to say that I think Res has done a bad job, it’s my understanding that these issues precede him and he has done his best to try and keep up activity and recruitment despite being plagued by them but he no longer wants to continue and it seems like there is no one else more qualified or experienced that is willing to step up and take his place. It is an admittedly rather daunting task; rebuilding the shambling zombie that is our military needs someone who’s not afraid of a challenge, and I do love a challenge so I thought… Why not Imki?!
Maybe it’s time this ministry had some fresh ideas and energy, someone who could be relentless and determined but also fun and friendly, someone with connections, someone easily and frequently contactable through various means, good at planning and observing, independent and headstrong.
I believe I am this person.
I can't and won't attempt to deny my lack of experience in this department but I am a quick learner and I have been lucky enough to have been offered a wealth of other, far more experienced player's knowledge to do this for which I am very grateful for and couldn't do this without!
I think we really need to boost our morale, numbers and reputation if we want the SPSF to make a great name for itself again and I believe I have what it takes to do this and if nothing else I'm going to give it my best damn try!
So, hopefully now you understand my motivation a little better, let’s get on with what I have in mind for this term!~
Let’s make the SPSF sexy!
Don’t worry, I’m not planning on stripping everyone off (although casual Friday will be getting a whole new meaning with me around!) but we do need to make the SPSF appealing again if we want to get more active recruits and keep them!
We need to show how fun it can be to be a part of and to do that we need to make ourselves seen.
Recruitment messages alone can only go so far and if people find being a member boring, they simply won't want to participate. Even with a few people I believe that by frequently taking part in more joint missions with other regions will help to get us out there and more noticed again and so I have already begun reaching out to friendly regions over the possibility of doing more of these and expanding the number of regions we are currently doing them with, with very positive replies so far.
Of course we don't want to be dependent on other regions for our activity so I would also like to plan independent missions and organise friendly training exercises like ‘capture the region’ to improve our coordination and teamwork.
I believe that maintaining frequent activity, even if there are just a small number of participants, will help promote our name and raise interest in us.
Along these lines I would like to coordinate with the MoRA and LC to help raise awareness of our activity.
I thought that the past attempts to give mission reports a roleplay feel was a great idea as it really helped raise interest and I personally found them great fun to read so I would really like to bring these back and get them published in the regional papers by the MoRA to help with our visibility. I’d also like the LC to help with promoting our activity gameside and helping with recruitment by keeping them up to date with our current operations and activities.
To help improve participation I intend on creating ribbons to reward those who do take part in missions no matter how small as well as bring back the Soldier of the Month awards with shiny new medals and incentives! I’m sure I do not need to boast about my ability to provide high quality graphics for this endeavor and am certain I will be able to do so quickly and frequently. My hope with this is that not only do people have something to gain and show what they’ve done, but it’s also another aspect of helping to improve our visibility.
For other, non-graphical rewards I would also like to bring back Steam gifts for those that have shown outstanding performance. I know this was a bit of a flop last time but with the help of my next idea I’m hoping that this will not be the case again this time.
To improve our interest, moral and camaraderie as a unit a rather unorthodox idea I have come up with is to implement more group based gaming sessions outside of NationStates. I would like to get the SPSF not only more active in GP but in general when it comes to working together and I think that getting us playing other games of a military nature that also involve us working together as a unit could work wonders for this. We already have a Steam group of which I am an admin of so organising things from that end will not be an issue for me as I already have access to everything I need to set this up. Games like Team Fortress are free to play and enjoyable but there are a multitude of other FPS and RTS games that we could also play. If other regions are open to the idea we also have another, alternative method of combating them in a friendly way that I feel will improve relations with both sides; everyone loves to play games together!
I’m aware this sounds a little more like something that should be in an MoRA campaign than MoMA but I think it’s important to build a strong, close knit group if we also want to be an efficient military and things like this can build that while also helping us work on our ability to coordinate and work as a team, stay active even if there are lulls gameside and have a whole lot of fun while we’re at it!
I also believe that this is something we should push gameside as I think it would help with recruitment; as a GCR we get a lot of people whom are not only new to the region but NS as a whole and are generally uninformed on the mechanics of things. A lot of questions on the RMB from these nations involve ‘how to make war?’ and are generally disappointed with the answer. I believe that giving them this alternative to the standard method of military gameplay could help bring some these new names into our fold and from there we can convert them into full fledged and active members of our in game military, and by having more of our members have an active presence on Steam should make our rewards there far more desirable.
I am aware that my lack of personal knowledge in military gameplay is a major drawback and I’m not going to attempt to convince you that I currently know what I’m doing fully but I am willing to put the time and effort needed into finding out. As I have already said I began reaching out to nations I knew did have the experience needed before even nominating myself as I wished to make sure I had their support before undertaking this and although I am a fresh face to the scene, this does not need to be a bad thing! What I lack in experience I am going to make up for with enthusiasm, hard work and new ideas. My lack of background also means I am free from preconceived notions and allegations - I have (in this area at least) a clean slate.
I have been very lucky to have received such helpful responses from the people I’ve reached out to and have been given more contacts and names to expand on this, Res has also said he will be staying on in the ministry and I hope to continue to pull on his experience to help guide us forward.
That’s all folks!
Well I think that about wraps it up for my platform, I’m sorry for the incredible lateness but better late than never as they say, right?!
I am almost always available for questions and general banter through IRC and Discord under the name Imki, just give me a ping and I’ll get back to you ASAP!
Oh, and one last thing, don’t forget…
Pretty sure y’all at least know of me by this point and are probably wondering more about why I’ve chosen to run for this position as I’m not particularly known for my military background, not to mention that there are a few people who don’t think too highly of me after recent events, so I’m going to skip the introduction and start my campaign by telling you completely and totally honestly why I’ve decided to run; The short answer is because I can!
Now hold your horses before you go thinkin’ the worst of me for this! It doesn’t mean I’m being deliberately contentious, malicious or whatever other awful things you might think I’m up to because that is not the case. I actually do have some very high hopes for filling this role and I am planning on dragging this Ministry, kicking and screaming if I have to, back to it’s feet!
... So… Why?!
The long answer is I originally had no intention of running for MoMA or any other position at all, but Drugged Monkey’s nomination for PM got me thinking and while I am very grateful to him for it, I personally did not feel it was the right time for me to run for that particular position (well, just yet at least..). However, I did find the gesture inspiring. This coupled with some insightful discussions with other TSPers and having the pleasure of meeting some of our delightful newcomers whose enthusiasm has been positively contagious (lookin’ at you, Seraph & Roavin!) has rekindled my passion for this place by reminding me that there are still people that have faith in me, that there are people I want to work with, that I do still want to have fun with, and that I really want to help make TSP a better place. Oh, and we are all totally stark raving bonkers in this region and that’s why I love this place no matter what!
I really do want to be a positive influence in the South Pacific again. I feel that one mistake shouldn't hold me back and I feel that reviving the SPSF may be the way to show this to the rest of ya!
Before nominating myself for MoMA, I thought very hard about it and hit up Resentine for a little chat and to make a few enquiries as I’ll admit I haven’t been following the SPSF an awful lot recently. I wanted to catch up on the ministry as it currently is from his perspective, see if there was anyone else that looked promising who could/would take on the role and why he personally wasn’t rerunning, and I found his answers interesting. I also spoke to a few contacts outside of the region about how the SPSF is viewed externally and the results, I’m sad to say, are not good.
We’ve suffered from a lack of active recruits and visible action. This isn’t to say that I think Res has done a bad job, it’s my understanding that these issues precede him and he has done his best to try and keep up activity and recruitment despite being plagued by them but he no longer wants to continue and it seems like there is no one else more qualified or experienced that is willing to step up and take his place. It is an admittedly rather daunting task; rebuilding the shambling zombie that is our military needs someone who’s not afraid of a challenge, and I do love a challenge so I thought… Why not Imki?!
Maybe it’s time this ministry had some fresh ideas and energy, someone who could be relentless and determined but also fun and friendly, someone with connections, someone easily and frequently contactable through various means, good at planning and observing, independent and headstrong.
I believe I am this person.
I can't and won't attempt to deny my lack of experience in this department but I am a quick learner and I have been lucky enough to have been offered a wealth of other, far more experienced player's knowledge to do this for which I am very grateful for and couldn't do this without!
I think we really need to boost our morale, numbers and reputation if we want the SPSF to make a great name for itself again and I believe I have what it takes to do this and if nothing else I'm going to give it my best damn try!
So, hopefully now you understand my motivation a little better, let’s get on with what I have in mind for this term!~
Let’s make the SPSF sexy!
Don’t worry, I’m not planning on stripping everyone off (although casual Friday will be getting a whole new meaning with me around!) but we do need to make the SPSF appealing again if we want to get more active recruits and keep them!
We need to show how fun it can be to be a part of and to do that we need to make ourselves seen.
Recruitment messages alone can only go so far and if people find being a member boring, they simply won't want to participate. Even with a few people I believe that by frequently taking part in more joint missions with other regions will help to get us out there and more noticed again and so I have already begun reaching out to friendly regions over the possibility of doing more of these and expanding the number of regions we are currently doing them with, with very positive replies so far.
Of course we don't want to be dependent on other regions for our activity so I would also like to plan independent missions and organise friendly training exercises like ‘capture the region’ to improve our coordination and teamwork.
I believe that maintaining frequent activity, even if there are just a small number of participants, will help promote our name and raise interest in us.
Along these lines I would like to coordinate with the MoRA and LC to help raise awareness of our activity.
I thought that the past attempts to give mission reports a roleplay feel was a great idea as it really helped raise interest and I personally found them great fun to read so I would really like to bring these back and get them published in the regional papers by the MoRA to help with our visibility. I’d also like the LC to help with promoting our activity gameside and helping with recruitment by keeping them up to date with our current operations and activities.
To help improve participation I intend on creating ribbons to reward those who do take part in missions no matter how small as well as bring back the Soldier of the Month awards with shiny new medals and incentives! I’m sure I do not need to boast about my ability to provide high quality graphics for this endeavor and am certain I will be able to do so quickly and frequently. My hope with this is that not only do people have something to gain and show what they’ve done, but it’s also another aspect of helping to improve our visibility.
For other, non-graphical rewards I would also like to bring back Steam gifts for those that have shown outstanding performance. I know this was a bit of a flop last time but with the help of my next idea I’m hoping that this will not be the case again this time.
To improve our interest, moral and camaraderie as a unit a rather unorthodox idea I have come up with is to implement more group based gaming sessions outside of NationStates. I would like to get the SPSF not only more active in GP but in general when it comes to working together and I think that getting us playing other games of a military nature that also involve us working together as a unit could work wonders for this. We already have a Steam group of which I am an admin of so organising things from that end will not be an issue for me as I already have access to everything I need to set this up. Games like Team Fortress are free to play and enjoyable but there are a multitude of other FPS and RTS games that we could also play. If other regions are open to the idea we also have another, alternative method of combating them in a friendly way that I feel will improve relations with both sides; everyone loves to play games together!
I’m aware this sounds a little more like something that should be in an MoRA campaign than MoMA but I think it’s important to build a strong, close knit group if we also want to be an efficient military and things like this can build that while also helping us work on our ability to coordinate and work as a team, stay active even if there are lulls gameside and have a whole lot of fun while we’re at it!
I also believe that this is something we should push gameside as I think it would help with recruitment; as a GCR we get a lot of people whom are not only new to the region but NS as a whole and are generally uninformed on the mechanics of things. A lot of questions on the RMB from these nations involve ‘how to make war?’ and are generally disappointed with the answer. I believe that giving them this alternative to the standard method of military gameplay could help bring some these new names into our fold and from there we can convert them into full fledged and active members of our in game military, and by having more of our members have an active presence on Steam should make our rewards there far more desirable.
I am aware that my lack of personal knowledge in military gameplay is a major drawback and I’m not going to attempt to convince you that I currently know what I’m doing fully but I am willing to put the time and effort needed into finding out. As I have already said I began reaching out to nations I knew did have the experience needed before even nominating myself as I wished to make sure I had their support before undertaking this and although I am a fresh face to the scene, this does not need to be a bad thing! What I lack in experience I am going to make up for with enthusiasm, hard work and new ideas. My lack of background also means I am free from preconceived notions and allegations - I have (in this area at least) a clean slate.
I have been very lucky to have received such helpful responses from the people I’ve reached out to and have been given more contacts and names to expand on this, Res has also said he will be staying on in the ministry and I hope to continue to pull on his experience to help guide us forward.
That’s all folks!
Well I think that about wraps it up for my platform, I’m sorry for the incredible lateness but better late than never as they say, right?!
I am almost always available for questions and general banter through IRC and Discord under the name Imki, just give me a ping and I’ll get back to you ASAP!
Oh, and one last thing, don’t forget…