Ministerial Reports #1
To conclude this term all government ministers have been requested to submit reports outlining their performance, and any goals they'd like to set for the future. Because there are a significant amount of reports, the reports have been separated into two threads for ease of reading. The second collection of reports can be viewed here.
Note: The Minister of Foreign Cultivation and the Minister of Foreign Affairs's reports have not been submitted yet, and will be published in the near future.
Grand Admiral Cerian Quilor
Raids Successfully Completed:
Las Vegas Strip
Pineapples in a can Dictatorship
UnIT
Sev Space
Island in The Sun
Ryleh
The Western East Horizon
Union of Allied States
Federation of Herbshire
United Reddit Nations (36 Hour Occupation)
City of Gotham
Night Vale
The Black Aspen Republic
Coalition of Christian Communities
Volunteer deployments:
We were in Slavia at start of term
Balder and Osiris Delegacy Transfers
Federation of Herbshire
United Reddit Nations
New members:
Kraken
RZM - particularly enthusiastic with ideas and interest
Razgrizistan - brand new, untested
Notable
Artimis and Drex both know how to trigger and have practiced (and will practice more soon) triggering
Artimis, RZM and MS especially have been able to show up to most/all operations
Elias has led some well-run ops.
The overall number of people in the ERN coming on for update operations has gone up over the course of my two-term tenure.
Minister of the Interior Mousebumples
As Mousebumples has only held the position as Minister of the interior for approximately three weeks, it may be difficult to fully and effectively judge the performances to date. Many projects and revisions are only just now getting started, which makes proper analysis difficult to fully discern. However, this report shall endeavor to at least scratch the surface on such an analysis, with the understanding that additional time will be required in order to fully comprehend all the pertinent details.
Regional Population
Regional population has been growing notably as of late. Per NSHistory, Europeia had only 678 nations on 1 February 2014. Mousebumples was officially confirmed as the Minister of the Interior on 2 February 2014, and the nation count has continually risen since that date. As of this publishing, on 9 March 2014, Europeia is home to 775 nations.
As much as the new Minister of the Interior may wish to take full credit for this reversal in fortunes, there are additional dynamics in play. Various changes with regards to the API and NS++ on the gameside of NationStates may also be impacting how many regions are sending out recruitment telegrams and how many nations are receiving the telegrams that are sent from Europeia.
However, it is possible that some of the new telegrams being sent out are having an impact as well.
Recruitment Telegrams:
Recruiting in the Sinkers
Under the leadership of Mousebumples, recruitment telegrams have been started in the sinkers. Previously, only the feeders were targeted as the yield is generally higher in those regions. While the yield is lower, approximately one nation has joined Europeia per day - on average - since these telegrams have been started.
A more focused recruitment telegram - aimed at these more experienced players and nations - may slightly increase the yield in this arena, but this is a step forward regardless.
Themed Telegrams in The Feeders
Two themed telegrams have been trialled so far, with mixed results. The first one had a Valentine's Day theme and had about half the success of the standard recruitment telegram - which can generally be interpreted to mean it was a dismal failure.
The reasons for this lack of success are uncertain and further trials of themed telegrams will hopefully help to better explain the lack of efficacy. Initial thoughts are that the Valentine's Day concept wasn't interesting enough to engage players, or perhaps the lack of details on Europeia within the telegram didn't give nations enough reasons to seriously consider a move to Europeia.
A second themed telegram, with significant contributions from Assistant Minister of the Interior Raging Zen Master, has been sent out for just over a week, as a tie in with the premiere of House of Cards. This telegram has been a slight improvement over the standard recruitment telegram, and at least 2 nations who joined Europeia because of this telegram have since joined the forum.
This telegram had, perhaps, a more engaging opening when compared to the Valentine's themed telegram, as NationStates is likely to have a number of players who enjoy government-based television, such as House of Cards. Additionally, the telegram contained more information on Europeia, to try to connect to the player better than the Valentine's telegram did.
Updating the Recruiting Telegram
r3n and Mousebumples have been working to redraft and improve the current recruiting telegram sent to new nations, and a new recruiting telegram has been implemented. However, due to the newness of this telegram, it is difficult to compare directly to the recruitment telegram that was used previously at this time. It is the hope of the Interior Ministry that more details will be available on this matter before the end of the term.
Updates to the Citizenship Application
The Citizenship Application has been adjusted slightly with a few notable changes. The form now asks for the player's Skype username, which allows us to get newcomers engaged in the community (and the EuroChat cult) more quickly. A few newcomers have already join the EuroChat, and the hope is that more will join the Chat in the future.
The application has also changed from asking if newcomers want to get involved with Civil Service or the Navy to instead linking to the respective subforums for these organizations. A response of "yes" on the previous application did nothing to actually get the individual in question involved with these organizations, and newcomers will now hopefully seek to actively join these groups sooner rather than later.
The Citizens' Assembly has also been added to the Citizenship Application, which probably isn't much of a surprise, given that Mousebumples presently serves as both the Minister of the Interior and the Chair of the Citizens' Assembly. As the Citizens' Assembly is the only organization that a newcomer can join while their citizenship is still pending, making that option clear from the start is a great way to get newcomers involved right away - especially those that have an interest in regional government and/or World Assembly legislation.
Patron Program
It's difficult to gauge the efficacy of the previous program when compared to the current program - especially with only a few weeks of the Mousebumples-variation in effect so far. Mousebumples tried to conduct a survey with previous members of the Patron Program, but received only a limited amount of feedback and responses.
However, updates to the Patron Program include attempts by Mousebumples to try to pair Patrons with newcomers that have similar interests and inclinations. For example, newcomers interested in the Navy might be paired with a Midshipman for a Patron. Those looking to get involved with RolePlay may be paired with a more experienced Europeian RolePlayer. Mousebumples uses her knowledge of the Patrons and the information from the Citizenship Application to try to determine what sorts of matches might be well suited.
Additionally, Mousebumples is demanding great accountability from Patrons, expecting them to contact her in a timely manner after receiving the assignment to ensure that the newcomers are being contacted promptly. Results have been positive in this end so far, and - at the very least - Patrons have been very responsive. Hopefully, newcomers are appreciating the contact and are getting engaged with their Patrons as a result.
In the Future Plans for the Interior Ministry
Additional telegram drafting is in the plans for the Interior Ministry.
Themed telegrams - concepts being discussed for the near future include both the Ides of March and St. Patrick's Day.
Sinker-specific telegrams - Europeia has a lot to offer to more experienced players and nations, and it may be worthwhile to tailor a recruitment telegram specifically to send in the sinkers.
Regional telegram announcements will hopefully occur at a regular frequency.
The Interior Ministry hopes to work with the World Assembly Delegate and the Ministry of Communications to send out more telegrams to nations in Europeia to announce upcoming events, regional votes on WA resolutions, and the like.
Patron Program Developments and Expansion
Buddy Program - a (tentatively titled) new off-shoot of the Patron Program geared towards gettings those who are perhaps less experienced in Europeia involved with serving as another point of contact for newcomers. Discussions are still on-going, but that is something that the Ministry hopes to unveil before the end of the term.
Newcomer "Graduations" - Recognize, in some way, newcomers who stay active on the forums for the full first month, which is about how long the Patron program "officially" lasts.
Graphics Galore!
Okay, maybe "galore" is a slight overstatement, but the Ministry of the Interior hopes to create a few different graphics and/or userbars that individuals involved with the Ministry can use. This may include images for newcomers, Patrons, and newcomers who have graduated from the Patron Program.
Want to help?
If you're interested in assisting with any or all of these things, please volunteer in the Ministry of the Interior. Those interested in becoming a Patron are welcome to volunteer in this thread.
Minister of Culture Matthew Vinage
We've successfully planned and hosted our leg of the Euro-TSP Festival, though I think our encouragement for Europeians to go to TSP for their leg could've been better. We're currently planning the Euro-Equilism Festival, and planning is going along well, if a bit slowly. We could improve by planning events and such with greater speed. I haven't really discussed these plans with the rest of the Ministry yet but I'm hoping to get more open events (i.e. anyone on NS can attend, for example, film nights) planned as a kind of showcase of Europeia to the world.
As for AM achievements, daproben has worked hard this term and I think he's probably worthy of a Bronze CSO award at the very least.
To conclude this term all government ministers have been requested to submit reports outlining their performance, and any goals they'd like to set for the future. Because there are a significant amount of reports, the reports have been separated into two threads for ease of reading. The second collection of reports can be viewed here.
Note: The Minister of Foreign Cultivation and the Minister of Foreign Affairs's reports have not been submitted yet, and will be published in the near future.
Grand Admiral Cerian Quilor
Raids Successfully Completed:
Las Vegas Strip
Pineapples in a can Dictatorship
UnIT
Sev Space
Island in The Sun
Ryleh
The Western East Horizon
Union of Allied States
Federation of Herbshire
United Reddit Nations (36 Hour Occupation)
City of Gotham
Night Vale
The Black Aspen Republic
Coalition of Christian Communities
Volunteer deployments:
We were in Slavia at start of term
Balder and Osiris Delegacy Transfers
Federation of Herbshire
United Reddit Nations
New members:
Kraken
RZM - particularly enthusiastic with ideas and interest
Razgrizistan - brand new, untested
Notable
Artimis and Drex both know how to trigger and have practiced (and will practice more soon) triggering
Artimis, RZM and MS especially have been able to show up to most/all operations
Elias has led some well-run ops.
The overall number of people in the ERN coming on for update operations has gone up over the course of my two-term tenure.
Minister of the Interior Mousebumples
As Mousebumples has only held the position as Minister of the interior for approximately three weeks, it may be difficult to fully and effectively judge the performances to date. Many projects and revisions are only just now getting started, which makes proper analysis difficult to fully discern. However, this report shall endeavor to at least scratch the surface on such an analysis, with the understanding that additional time will be required in order to fully comprehend all the pertinent details.
Regional Population
Regional population has been growing notably as of late. Per NSHistory, Europeia had only 678 nations on 1 February 2014. Mousebumples was officially confirmed as the Minister of the Interior on 2 February 2014, and the nation count has continually risen since that date. As of this publishing, on 9 March 2014, Europeia is home to 775 nations.
As much as the new Minister of the Interior may wish to take full credit for this reversal in fortunes, there are additional dynamics in play. Various changes with regards to the API and NS++ on the gameside of NationStates may also be impacting how many regions are sending out recruitment telegrams and how many nations are receiving the telegrams that are sent from Europeia.
However, it is possible that some of the new telegrams being sent out are having an impact as well.
Recruitment Telegrams:
Recruiting in the Sinkers
Under the leadership of Mousebumples, recruitment telegrams have been started in the sinkers. Previously, only the feeders were targeted as the yield is generally higher in those regions. While the yield is lower, approximately one nation has joined Europeia per day - on average - since these telegrams have been started.
A more focused recruitment telegram - aimed at these more experienced players and nations - may slightly increase the yield in this arena, but this is a step forward regardless.
Themed Telegrams in The Feeders
Two themed telegrams have been trialled so far, with mixed results. The first one had a Valentine's Day theme and had about half the success of the standard recruitment telegram - which can generally be interpreted to mean it was a dismal failure.
The reasons for this lack of success are uncertain and further trials of themed telegrams will hopefully help to better explain the lack of efficacy. Initial thoughts are that the Valentine's Day concept wasn't interesting enough to engage players, or perhaps the lack of details on Europeia within the telegram didn't give nations enough reasons to seriously consider a move to Europeia.
A second themed telegram, with significant contributions from Assistant Minister of the Interior Raging Zen Master, has been sent out for just over a week, as a tie in with the premiere of House of Cards. This telegram has been a slight improvement over the standard recruitment telegram, and at least 2 nations who joined Europeia because of this telegram have since joined the forum.
This telegram had, perhaps, a more engaging opening when compared to the Valentine's themed telegram, as NationStates is likely to have a number of players who enjoy government-based television, such as House of Cards. Additionally, the telegram contained more information on Europeia, to try to connect to the player better than the Valentine's telegram did.
Updating the Recruiting Telegram
r3n and Mousebumples have been working to redraft and improve the current recruiting telegram sent to new nations, and a new recruiting telegram has been implemented. However, due to the newness of this telegram, it is difficult to compare directly to the recruitment telegram that was used previously at this time. It is the hope of the Interior Ministry that more details will be available on this matter before the end of the term.
Updates to the Citizenship Application
The Citizenship Application has been adjusted slightly with a few notable changes. The form now asks for the player's Skype username, which allows us to get newcomers engaged in the community (and the EuroChat cult) more quickly. A few newcomers have already join the EuroChat, and the hope is that more will join the Chat in the future.
The application has also changed from asking if newcomers want to get involved with Civil Service or the Navy to instead linking to the respective subforums for these organizations. A response of "yes" on the previous application did nothing to actually get the individual in question involved with these organizations, and newcomers will now hopefully seek to actively join these groups sooner rather than later.
The Citizens' Assembly has also been added to the Citizenship Application, which probably isn't much of a surprise, given that Mousebumples presently serves as both the Minister of the Interior and the Chair of the Citizens' Assembly. As the Citizens' Assembly is the only organization that a newcomer can join while their citizenship is still pending, making that option clear from the start is a great way to get newcomers involved right away - especially those that have an interest in regional government and/or World Assembly legislation.
Patron Program
It's difficult to gauge the efficacy of the previous program when compared to the current program - especially with only a few weeks of the Mousebumples-variation in effect so far. Mousebumples tried to conduct a survey with previous members of the Patron Program, but received only a limited amount of feedback and responses.
However, updates to the Patron Program include attempts by Mousebumples to try to pair Patrons with newcomers that have similar interests and inclinations. For example, newcomers interested in the Navy might be paired with a Midshipman for a Patron. Those looking to get involved with RolePlay may be paired with a more experienced Europeian RolePlayer. Mousebumples uses her knowledge of the Patrons and the information from the Citizenship Application to try to determine what sorts of matches might be well suited.
Additionally, Mousebumples is demanding great accountability from Patrons, expecting them to contact her in a timely manner after receiving the assignment to ensure that the newcomers are being contacted promptly. Results have been positive in this end so far, and - at the very least - Patrons have been very responsive. Hopefully, newcomers are appreciating the contact and are getting engaged with their Patrons as a result.
In the Future Plans for the Interior Ministry
Additional telegram drafting is in the plans for the Interior Ministry.
Themed telegrams - concepts being discussed for the near future include both the Ides of March and St. Patrick's Day.
Sinker-specific telegrams - Europeia has a lot to offer to more experienced players and nations, and it may be worthwhile to tailor a recruitment telegram specifically to send in the sinkers.
Regional telegram announcements will hopefully occur at a regular frequency.
The Interior Ministry hopes to work with the World Assembly Delegate and the Ministry of Communications to send out more telegrams to nations in Europeia to announce upcoming events, regional votes on WA resolutions, and the like.
Patron Program Developments and Expansion
Buddy Program - a (tentatively titled) new off-shoot of the Patron Program geared towards gettings those who are perhaps less experienced in Europeia involved with serving as another point of contact for newcomers. Discussions are still on-going, but that is something that the Ministry hopes to unveil before the end of the term.
Newcomer "Graduations" - Recognize, in some way, newcomers who stay active on the forums for the full first month, which is about how long the Patron program "officially" lasts.
Graphics Galore!
Okay, maybe "galore" is a slight overstatement, but the Ministry of the Interior hopes to create a few different graphics and/or userbars that individuals involved with the Ministry can use. This may include images for newcomers, Patrons, and newcomers who have graduated from the Patron Program.
Want to help?
If you're interested in assisting with any or all of these things, please volunteer in the Ministry of the Interior. Those interested in becoming a Patron are welcome to volunteer in this thread.
Minister of Culture Matthew Vinage
We've successfully planned and hosted our leg of the Euro-TSP Festival, though I think our encouragement for Europeians to go to TSP for their leg could've been better. We're currently planning the Euro-Equilism Festival, and planning is going along well, if a bit slowly. We could improve by planning events and such with greater speed. I haven't really discussed these plans with the rest of the Ministry yet but I'm hoping to get more open events (i.e. anyone on NS can attend, for example, film nights) planned as a kind of showcase of Europeia to the world.
As for AM achievements, daproben has worked hard this term and I think he's probably worthy of a Bronze CSO award at the very least.
