An Introduction to the World of Nation Simulation

What is a nationsim?:

Nationsimulation (or "nationsim" for short) is an acronym for the really long word which describes this area of online gaming. Geo-Political Online Web-based Simulator is word you would use if you want to sound smart, but in this guide, I will use the word nationsim. Nationsim means that the game simulates emulates aspects of running a country in the real world. Specifically, the international politics part. Though nationsims have different time periods (some are set pre 2000, some are set in the cold war, etc.) the majority of them are set in present day. 

So what is a nationsim? It's a game, simply. While nationsims may at times seem very "real" and very sophisticated and advanced they are simply games. Some view them as eductional games, as you can learn alot about international and domestic politics while playing a nationsim, but the main objective is to have fun and enjoy the game. In this genre of games, you play as the leader of a nation. Although there are other - more advanced - ways of playing a nationsim (such as playing an organization, or a company, or a position within a government) those are not recommended for new players. And you are a new player, that's why you are reading this guide (silly).

As the leader of a nation, you fill the position of the president (or equivalent). Contrary to how things work in the real world, ingame you will have to manage your nation's budget, domestic politics, international politics, armed forces and so forth. You will infact be filling the positions of Secretary of State, Minister of Defence, Minister of Economic Affairs, Home Secretary etc all at the same time. But of course the width and scope of the issues these people have to deal with daily in real life are not emulated, and you don't have to worry about nationsims being your fulltime job (we won't pay you either). The focus in nationsims is usually on the international politics aspect and you can play the game good without doing a single domestic action. International politics means alot of diplomacy. If you want to start nuclear war and conquer the world, there are nationsims for that too. But as you might have guessed, those nationsims are very small and very short-lived. Superpower: Classic puts alot of emphasis on realism, meaning that we try to make the game as similar to the real world as possible, without taking the fun away. 

As you become more experienced in the genre, you will learn that your success depends upon your ability to master all the categories of being a leader of a nation.

Why play a nationsim?:

So why play the game? There are many reasons. Perhaps you have always wanted to divert massive state funding to research a cure for cancer? Play as a nation and focus your funds on research and development. Seek ties with other nations, get them to invest in your nation. Or maybe you're a Canadian tired of your nation's dependence on the US and want a Canada that's more independent? Play as Canada, seek trade agreeements with other nations, diversify your economy and perhaps even sabotage your neighbour. These are all goals, and if you want to really enjoy a nationsim you should have a goal. But maybe you've just always wanted to feel what it is to be the leader of a nation, discussing and taking part in world events? Then sign up as any nation, join the discussions and maybe you will find a goal on the way.

A nationsim is also a community. Most nationsims have a board where you can talk about stuff happening in the real world, and these forums often feature wild discussions about real world politics (as well as a lot of other stuff, like sports and music).

How do you play a nationsim?

How you play the game varies from game to game, but all nationsims have some things in common. As the leader of a nation, you obviously have broad power to do a lot of things. Raise taxes, invade your neighbour, sign a Free Trade Agreement, resolve a border dispute. You could simply log-on and post "France is raising personal income tax by 5%", but how can you know the effects and how can the other players respond? This is where the avatars come in.

The avatars function as just that, "gods" (not a religious manner, just to symbolize they are the people that make events happen in the world). You send the avatars what we call "actions". A small letter, in which you type down what you want to do (for example: troop movements, tax raise, seizing illegal funds, building new schools). The avatar then reviews your letter and using his own knowledge and experience (avatars are almost always veteran players) aswell as other sources of knowledge he then posts what consequences your action had in your nation and the rest of the world. Then the avatar posts this in the News, which is usually the only official source of "whats happening in the world" in a nationsim. Since avatars rarely post random events, or events happening in real life at the time, the game quickly develops it's own "history" and the progress of the storyline is dependent on players sending in actions.

Some nationsims have avatars for each category of politics: Financial Politics, International Politics, Domestic Politics, Military, etc. Some have avatars for different regions of the world, like Asia Avatar, Western Hemisphere Avatar and so forth. This differs from game to game. In Superpower: Classic we currently use regional avatars.

So by these actions sent to the avatars the way of the world is regulated. Nations rise and fall. You send in actions both to initiate events and in response to other events posted in the news.

But there's another aspect of the game too. The discussion.

Most nationsims feature one, if not several, forums for the leaders of the world to talk. In Superpower: Classic there are two main forums, the more strict and regulated United Nations (representing the United Nations HQ in New York) and the less regulated Leaders Discussion Chamber (representing the Hotel de Bilderberg in Oosterbeek in The Netherlands). Many other games simply use a forum called "leaders discussion" or "international telephone hotline". When you want to announce something about your nation or start a discussion on a subject concerning another nation or discuss whats happening with other leaders, you do it in the UN or the LDC. This is a very important aspect of the game and although the news are important, the discussions form the core of the game.

So lets take a quick tour of what might happen in a nationsim:

The news reports that a new president has been elected in Iran. He's a reformist, with liberal ideas when it comes to economics. In the discussions forum for OPEC (Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries) he announces that Iran will leave the OPEC to privatize its petroleum industry, abandoning many years of heavy government involvment in that sector. The new president states that the move is in response to the high unemployment figures in Iran, and that privatization will bring along investments that will create job. The people of Iran are celebrating the decision to privatize. Players can read about the domestic reactions to the move in the Domestic News.

Saudi Arabia however, the unofficial leader of OPEC, is not happy with the move as it will leave even more of the petroleum market outside OPEC influence. Saudi Arabia has a lot of influence over OPEC itself, and through OPEC it has a lot of influence over the world. Afraid of losing this influence, they threaten economic sanctions on Iran if they leave OPEC. They announce this not only in the OPEC forum, but in the world discussion forum as well. The current leader of Saudi Arabia is King Mohammed. However, King Mohammed is very old and fragile and the prince Ahmed is seen as a "candidate" for becoming the King. Ahmed is known for his liberal policies on economics. Saudi Arabia is not played by any player, and is thus controlled by the avatars. And the avatars make that decision that the current King would react in this way to discourage any of his successor from adopting more liberal approaches to economics.

Iran orders its intelligency agency to carry out a murder on the King of Saudi Arabia, and secretly fund prince Ahmed. The Iranian player does this through sending in an action to the Military avatar. The assassination fails however, and the Iranian agents are caught, as shown in the Military News.

The King of Saudi Arabia is obviously furious, threatening war if Iran doesn't stop.

Now, the situation in this region has become so dire that western nations such as the USA are getting worried about disruptions in the oil trade. China, also a large consumer of oil, is worried since their main source of oil exports is Iran. They both express their worries in the United Nations forum, starting with a US proposal for a UN resolution to condemn the attempted assisination and a Chinese objection against said resolution. The USA takes the issue to the United Nations Security Council by writing a resolution and submitting it to the the UNSC president. The resolution condemns Iran and calls for economic sanctions on Iran. China, fearing the effects it could have on Iran's oil industry, uses its special "veto" power in the UNSC forum to block the resolution. 

And from that, the event develops. Maybe it will end in a US invasion of Iran. Maybe it will end in a peaceful settlement between Saudi Arabia and Iran. That's up to you, and other nationsim players around the world.