The South Pacific

Hi there! If you don’t know me, I’m Prarie. I’m a Minnesotan, passionate about politics both NS and IRL, who has been a TSPer since July of 2017. I most recently served as Prime Minister here for about half a term following the August special election last year, where I worked with the Cabinet to increase activity, transparency, and move towards a bolder Defender agenda.

Now, here I am - running for Cabinet again! I hope I can earn your vote to become the next Minister of Culture of the South Pacific.

The Agenda

Too many Cabinet candidates overpromise, then underperform. My campaign’s agenda focuses on improving Ministry infrastructure while prioritizing realism and effectiveness in events. And I believe that’s a general theme of my campaign: realistic, but effective.

Infrastructure

The Ministry of Culture is currently in a state of disrepair. The last post in the Culture section of the server was two weeks ago. The last post in #moc-general related to MoC activities was a month ago. Many of the problems plaguing the Ministry of Culture are problems that can’t be fixed at the Ministerial level. However, that doesn’t mean the Minister can’t do their best to help the Ministry succeed.

The most significant problem within the Ministry today is the lack of engagement among staff. And that isn’t their fault, as running festivals in online political simulators is hardly most people’s priority. While I don’t believe this is an easy or immediate fix, I believe we can fight it via a general opening-up of the MoC structure. This is accomplished by:

• Doing work in the #moc-general channel. This enables all staff to better connect with myself and Ministry leadership and have proactive discussions about Ministry matters with maximum input from staff.
  
• Getting rid of ‘project teams’. In the same fashion as the above, rather than having a specific ‘project team’ for the planning of a certain festival, I want all Ministry staff to be involved in the discussion and planning of every Ministry event. So, instead of pinging project teams when something needs to get done, I’ll ping the entire Culture staff.
  
• Getting rid of the Ministry Application and replacing it with a simple DM to myself or an ask to be masked as an MoC staffer in the #getting-help channel in Discord. This makes joining Culture staff less intimidating and makes it easier for all to get involved.
  

Doing these things will, hopefully, maximize activity within the Ministry. And when the Ministry is active, we do better work, which means more want to join and existing staff would be more passionate about participating.

A Culture Calendar

Recently, the focus has been put on hosting small to medium-sized festivals, all of which fall under the same rough blueprint of “games, art contest, discussion, all on a separate Discord server.”

While these make good resume boosters, they attract the same people and don’t really maximize activity. For this reason, I’ll replace these festivals with a TRR-esque Culture Calendar, where minigames and activities are hosted weekly, based on a calendar of events. This, being more consistent than previous festivals, will do a better job at attracting new players to our community and getting more experienced players involved, while keeping Ministry staff engaged, doing easy, welcoming jobs. Many of these minigames and activities will coincide with….

Partnership Weekends

The Partnership for Sovereignty is an amazing foreign policy feat that we need to expand upon and keep active to prevent the same stagnation that has become synonymous with its greatest competitor, WALL. By hosting regular PfS-wide activities, we can prevent that.

That’s why I hope to host Partnership Weekends, monthly weekend-long festivals of games, cooperation, and fun, where members of each PfS region are encouraged to visit other member regions and engage with the activities and community there, hopefully adopting an elementary school field day-esque style of “stations”, or one defining minigame per member region.

This won’t be an easy task, which is why the first thing I will seek to do once elected will be to work with the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Cabinet to reach out to fellow PfS member regions and build up the infrastructure and planning necessary for this to happen.

Encouraging Roleplay

Our roleplay community is one of the region’s hidden gems, and it’s one we too often take for granted. It’s full of dedicated, highly-skilled, passionate players that showcase the best of the South Pacific. I want to make sure everyone gets the opportunity to experience this community, which is why I will work with leaders such as Qwert and GI-Land to see how best we can advertise TSPRP while not infringing on the freedom of the community.

Questions?

I always welcome questions about my platform and campaign! If you have any, ask them in this thread, or send me a PM via gameside telegram, forumside PM, or DM on Discord, where I can be found at #Prarie 2402.

CoI

My currently active nations are my TSP nation, North Prarie, as well as two puppets - Nuova Venezia, which is located in Refugia, and Etoile Au Dessus, which is located in the Rejected Realms. I currently hold citizenship in the Rejected Realms. 
I am currently Deputy Chairman, Public Relations Director, and Deputy Publishing Officer for NationStates Today, as well as being an editor and writer.
At home, I am a Legislator, FA Secretary of State, SPSF Tidal Force Coordinator and Soldier, as well as being a staffer in the Ministries of Engagement, Culture, Media, and OWL. 
For a more detailed CoI, featuring past nations and regions, I will direct you here.

Glen put in his playlist, and I thought that was a great idea. So here are some songs that have been getting me through quarantine and Minnesotan winter -

I'm very excited about the prospect of regular small events and events with PfS members--both are things I probably would have campaigned on if I were running

Anyway I have a few questions:

While you are focusing on smaller activities, what are your plans for larger events?

How will you promote transparency?

What are your plans for the leadership structure? For example, will you have deputies, will you have project leads or will you lead everything, etc.

Do you have any plans regarding Pacificon 2021?

Do you have any ideas for specific events (like not for any special occasion similar to Megafest or Paradoxical)?

Thank you for the questions! 

(02-04-2021, 11:07 PM)Purple Hyacinth Wrote: [ -> ]While you are focusing on smaller activities, what are your plans for larger events?

(02-04-2021, 11:10 PM)Swifty Wrote: [ -> ]Do you have any plans regarding Pacificon 2021?
Do you have any ideas for specific events (like not for any special occasion similar to Megafest or Paradoxical)?

I suppose this kinda ties into the small to medium-sized events statement I put in my campaign, but I have no plans for any large, TSP-centric events. While I am not opposed to large events, I would only use them at the interregional level as a vehicle for cooperation and foreign policy.

I wasn't completely sure about the status of PacificCon 2021, as I am not in any backroom discussions, but it sounds like it will be happening. I'm excited to work with our fellow GCRs to make it into the best event that it can be.

(02-04-2021, 11:07 PM)Purple Hyacinth Wrote: [ -> ]How will you promote transparency?

What are your plans for the leadership structure? For example, will you have deputies, will you have project leads or will you lead everything, etc.

I think that getting rid of project-specific events and roles and focusing on all doing work together in the general channel will greatly improve transparency, as we're breaking down the barriers between staffers and MoC leadership and focusing on planning out in the open. However, I will look to utilize Cabinet Twitter as much as possible, and I'll work with the Cabinet to set standards and meet goals in that regard.

I plan to have 2 or 3 Senior Staff, who will be experienced players that can assist with larger planning as well as the day to day. I, alongside the Senior Staff, will lead all projects and initiatives but will promote free discussion and planning amongst staffers.

Taco Bell or Chipotle?

(02-04-2021, 11:49 PM)Swifty Wrote: [ -> ]Taco Bell or Chipotle?

Chipotle. By far.

You have referred to how you will boost roleplay which is extremely good considering how such a gigantic proportion of NS players purely play NS just for roleplay.

Specifically, how would you encourage gameside residents to involve themselves in regional roleplays under the oversight of the Ministry of Culture particularly in getting them involved in the Treasure Island roleplay forum?

(02-05-2021, 01:58 AM)Langburn Wrote: [ -> ]You have referred to how you will boost roleplay which is extremely good considering how such a gigantic proportion of NS players purely play NS just for roleplay.

Specifically, how would you encourage gameside residents to involve themselves in regional roleplays under the oversight of the Ministry of Culture particularly in getting them involved in the Treasure Island roleplay forum?

I mentioned in my campaign that I want to work with roleplay leaders to figure out how to best advertise roleplay, so I think getting gamesiders involved in Treasure Island is something I'll work with those leaders on, so we can come up with a plan that best serves the needs of the RP community. I don't have any concrete plans for that because I want to listen to them first.

I have recently been admitted to citizenship in the Rejected Realms, and my CoI has been updated to reflect that.