[5th Euro Census] May 5-17, 2022

Prim

Security Council
Citizen
Discord Moderator
Pronouns
He/Him, They/them



5th Europeian Census
May 5-17, 2022


An Elderly Europeia;
Adapting in a Changing Raider/Defender Landscape



Demographics

Total Respondents: 56
Citizen Respondents: 54 (96.4%)
Resident Respondents: 1 (1.8%)
Foreign Visitor Respondents: 1 (1.8%)



Demographic Data -- Join Date, Activity, and Age


The difference in ages and join dates over these past two Censuses is likely due to some of the recent booms fading away and the players from those booms are aging into higher tiers. We have also had quite a few returning players who are skewing the average older as well. However, the very small proportion of "Under 3 month" responses could bee seen as concerning if we're not bringing in new people to replace any attrition we may have over time. The proportion of "Under 18" responses is interesting. Are we not attracting younger players? Are they being recruited to other, more social regions instead? Is our active RMB keeping all the young players from coming to the forum?

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Citizen Opinions


A bit of a reversion to the mean for the Forum vs. Discord Activity, about on par for past response rates. However, the rate of "political focus" is at its highest level. Citizens are valuing the politics simulation more highly than the social aspects than at any time in the past few Censuses. Perhaps a response to the highly charged R/D atmosphere bringing attention to how important our more serious FA policy and relationships can be in NS. An interesting point to note, while the political simulation responses came in very high, it didn't correlate with a similar outlier in the Forum vs. Discord question. Perhaps more citizens are viewing discord as an appropriate place to engage in political simulation than they have in the past.

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A bit of mixed results on these -- while the Advancement Opportunity responses, while still very high, were the lowest of all the Census results in the past, a slight trend downward over the past two years -- the Pathway to Leadership Perception results were around average or slightly higher than in previous surveys. Not exactly sure what to make of these mildly conflicting responses, possibly just some statistical noise.

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A slight downward trend over the past year or two, but nowhere near the difficulties (and near crisis levels) of staffing that we saw in 2019-2020 before the Drew Durnil Youtube Boom. Possibly a trend to keep an eye on for Ministers. Some great comments and suggestions below on resolution to this:

  • We should focus on what we are good at and do that. Stop doing busy work or unfun things for the sake of doing them. Explore sustainable gameplay loops.
  • I Would say to promote more activity, more emphasis from ministers, candidates, and general citizens on the idea that ordinary ministry staffers run the show and make things happen, rather than just the people at the top
  • More chances for newcomers, less chances for the "olds" who've become semi-active.
  • Incentivize/encourage more activity on the forums from primarily Discord users (to boost forum activity, get more insights and input in discussions potentially from outside the box, avoid people losing citizenship many many times for not posting, etc.). Revamp forum-side festivals and activities too because those always fall flat too.
  • I just generally feel there aren't enough new people on the forums. I'd blame the RMB but actually it was always like that. Bigger minimum Senate size perhaps, so that more newcomers get in?
  • I would just say showcase it more, especially the things people don't get to see the nuts and bolts of us as much (Interior, Culture)
  • An easier and more simplified getting involved message and document for our newcomers. Retention seems to be the hardest thing at the moment, and finding a way to grab people's attention without overwhelming them is key.
  • Opportunities to practice writing. I'm a shit writer.
  • Give more newcomers a chance.
  • A clearer way of tracking and displaying career progression

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Service in Office and Voting

Service in High Office


Solid responses here -- service in Executive Office is at its highest level in 3 years. Service as Speaker and Chief Justice are similarly strong, likely due to some turnover in these office in the past year or two, newer players getting a shot at these offices.

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Service in other Office


Significant increases in all three responses. Minister service is at its highest level, Senator service just hitting a record as well. Service on the Court is not at its highest percentage, but as an absolute number we're showing 11 active citizens who have served on the court, almost hitting the record of 12 from the first Census (which had a disproportionately lower overall survey response rate, leading to the higher percentage. Encouraging good players to rise up and keeping a good flow of turnover for some of these positions can be beneficial not only in finding talent, but also recruiting and retaining new players who see better pathways to advancement. Hopefully this trend continues and finds an ideal resting state.

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Election Turnout


Pretty steadily high numbers for Executive elections, much higher than past engagement. Senate elections seem to be on a slight downward trend, possibly due to some uncompetitive or barely competitive elections in the past year or so. It's likely that engagement would return to higher numbers, or similar numbers to Executive elections, if we had more competitive elections with more candidates standing. Or if we had more pressing topics in front of the Senate to bring people to the table.

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Service in Ministries



Fairly standard numbers on Ministry service, slightly lower than the last Census, but nothing significant. Keeping Citizen ministry engagement above 80% seems like a good baseline. A steady upward trend in Foreign Affairs ministry service definitely bodes well for a re-invigorated outward-looking Europeia during some turbulent R/D and NS Gameplay times in the future.

  • More advertisement on the RMB?
  • Maybe a few senate seats that have half terms.
  • Encourage voting on the RMB to help gain citizens and increase Europeian forum participation.
  • More time on the election
  • Unsure
  • More debates? Better advertising? Good question!
  • I really have none.
  • Hype it up
  • Definitely having their Citizen's username spelled right. Looking at "upc" here, always missing a "G" in the middle of my name >.>
  • Extend the voting period
  • Further increase awareness of elections
  • Make it less… terrifyingly large?

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Current Events and Ideas

Europeian Foreign Policy

  • I am shocked and appalled by the behavior that TCB did when they repealed our treaty after the events that happened between us. I believe Europeia as a collective did the right thing in this situation and if the TCB bloc regains its trust and friendliness with us, or there is a change of policy or leadership that aligns with us as a region, I believe we can form a relationship between each other again in the future that is fruitful and worthwhile in the long run.
  • Tankies are cringe
  • Neutral
  • unfortunate but make sense
  • It had to happen
  • Regrettable but necessary
  • It's regrettable that TCB has such leadership that doesn't understand why treaties should be respected, but it was the right choice on our side to repeal it.
  • It was very unfortunate but necessary. Clearly TCB doesn't value the relationship as much as we thought, and they are being influenced by an outside force as well (BOM). The logs were concerning as well.
  • Support, the current leadership there is awful and won't change soon
  • Slam dunk easy
  • While regrettable, something that should have happened.
  • No idea what this is.
  • Necessary
  • TCB was completely unreasonable and incredibly disrespectful on both and OOC and IC level. Their comments in ableism were completely unfounded, and a complete slap in the face to people that are neurodivergent (myself included.) I'm glad we dropped our treaty as a unified front, and it's an extra bonus that The
  • League relationship was founded on a major joint decision like this.
  • The government made the right choice, TCB's recent actions have been concerning to say the least
  • I dont know what TCB is
  • Good
  • Appropriate given the behavior by TCB.
  • Necessary, and there's possibly no way back.
  • Sound decision
  • Very reasonable.
  • Justified, and I think the administration handled it perfectly.
  • Unfortunate but apparently necessary
  • I giggled
  • Unfortunate but the right decision
  • Happy
  • It was the only choice left. The way TCB behaved is inexcusable.

  • Just saddened to see a great region fall into this state. They had a stroke of bad luck in their region with not-the-best leadership to have in that period of time and events-that-transpired-that-was-out-of-their-hands type of situations. Hopefully we can see them return in their full glory and pride as a UK themed region in the near future or in a bit of time.
  • Europeia must do better to engage with allies. At the same time, bad foreign leaders and insular regions make mistakes
  • Neutral
  • unfortunate but make sense
  • It had to happen
  • Regrettable but necessary
  • Eh... With all the leaks out it makes sense
  • Again, necessary. Not as unfortunate though, based on some of the disgusting and wild logs I've seen or heard about (including ones not shown to the public by UK themselves!). Clearly a terrible treaty partner, especially after they made a new friend that does not like us (*cough* BOM *cough*)
  • Support but I hope we reconcile quickly, it's unfortunate they fell under BoM influence
  • Slam dunk easy
  • Again, regrettable, but should have happened.
  • No idea what this is
  • Necessary
  • Clearly there was a lot of division in the UK government, with possible outside forces pushing government members to make rash decisions. I would like to see our friendship with the UK strike up again, but I do think this was our only option considering their governmental fallout.
  • The government made the right choice, though I believe that there is potential to rebuild our relationship with NSUK in the near future
  • Not sure what UK is (United Kingdom?)
  • None
  • Necessary, but a hopeful way back.
  • Sound decision
  • Sensible decision.
  • A sad and childish series of attitudes by the UK, which necessitated this step.
  • Honestly? It’s absurd. We clique too much with specific regions and are alienating other regions by doing so.
  • Unfortunate but the right decision
  • Sad
  • Not so sure about this one.

  • Just being a trustworthy, understanding, firm, and reliable ally to other regions that can rely on us if they have any troubles with things etc.
  • Gameplay value add
  • More diplomatic
  • We should have two different types of alliances. One type should be security-advancing alliances, and the other should be alliances with like-minded regions (either FA-, WAA-, government type-, or culture-wise)
  • GCRs and defenders to become a real player in the game.
  • Being friendlier with defender organisations
  • Having more meetups with our allies
  • Engaging with budding regions that are not yet aligned or those that are starting to lean independent. Regardless of which side is dominant in the R/D sphere atm, it would be a much more interesting game if more regions were independent.
  • Strong friendships that emphasize *more* than just games and events together. Let's get naval activities going! Let's get some crossover with citizens to deepen those ties! Let's have a conference or two that's a "serious" state visit where actual issues are discussed (the public doesn't need to be part of that - we used to have private subforums for confidential discussions and state visits with allies).
  • Strategic importance for treaties, making sure we have allies all across the (non-raider extremist) spectrum. As for smaller partners with forum embassies, we should
    help them develop if they so wish. They can be of any size
  • Making sure the electorate knows why we're allies. They often come out of nowhere.
  • More cooperation on FA rather than simply "We get along and culturally, they're good, let's do it"
  • No idea
  • Like-minded allies that we have a natural friendship with too (think Thaecia), and we know our involvement cultural will mesh with then politically too.
  • I think it's clear that we're moving closer to defenders, and I think this makes sense in the current gameplay world
  • Making friends. Friends lead to mergers. And the more the merrier!
  • Mutual defence and combatting enemies abroad
  • Getting more "close" alliances (like what we have with LKE, Thaecia, etc.)
  • Maintaining a good balance between defender, raider, and Indy allies, we can't allow the current raider grievances to dictate our overall ideology.
  • Openness
  • A wide range of partners that respect each other's differences
  • Yeab
  • Having a diverse set of allies is very important for an independent region like Europeia. We can’t become part of the rift that is currently trying to break NS apart

Some strong opinions in the comments. We seem to have a consensus that ending these treaties was the right course of action. This Census took place before the Kantrias situation arose, so there were no comments on that event. However, there are quite a few responses emphasizing FA-policy reasons for new alliances instead of simply cultural and social connections. Citizens seem to be engaging more with external issues and relations, prioritizing ideological or inter-regional diplomacy more than simply social friendships, which could be seen as a positive sign for those who are wishing for a more political Europeia.

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Europeia: Stronghold or Frontier?


Initial responses on the open question seem to have more strong opinions toward becoming a Frontier, but when it comes down to the head-to-head, Europeia still seems divided on the issue. With the Reliant Script investigation taking months and concluding with little to no work done by NS Admins and Mods, it seems safe to say that the Frontier/Stronghold update is likely still in the medium-term future, not imminent. So, there is still time for the two sides to make their cases, though Frontier seems to have stronger opinions up front than Stronghold.

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Legal Education


Strong support for legal education, but the form it would take is still up in the air. The two main ideas that seem to be rising to the top are the Europeian Bar Association with a separate establishment of volunteer educators and legal minds and a Senate-run subforum for Legal Education run more like a University. With opinions still divided, it seems like there would need to be more discussion before a resolution.

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Foreign Affiliation Disclosure in Elections


In the last Census, I noted the strong shift in opinion toward required foreign disclosure. This Census doesn't disappoint, it also shows a continued strong trend toward requiring foreign disclosure, an almost super majority in favor. Is this a result of the Chancellery voluntarily putting disclosure in their election sign-ups and the exposure over time made it a non-issue? Is there a concern on possible infiltration by a new external R/D threat? Proponents of required disclosure may feel comfortable enough to re-introduce legislation on this issue with a result like this.

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Executive Policy on Gameside/RMB


Just over half the citizens support an increase in RMB focus, with a significant group opting for no changes. Some of the strongest activities suggested were RMB polls and RMB liaisons, things that Ministries have been voluntarily doing off-and-on for a while. Some suggestions to go further and provide links to threads and events on the RMB for easier access and notification.

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Participation in Europeia

  • More chess
  • none--i come whenever i have time
  • More shitposting
  • Dunno never really checked :D
  • I'm already there too often
  • I'm unsure, as my business there is as a visitor only.
  • Nothing really.
  • I remember when Dax was culture minister we had hunger games events and similar choose your own adventure style games that just made me want to be here.
  • Something similar to that on our forums again?
  • Like i said earlier, chances to practice writing with some constructive critisism.
  • A roleplay, or long term forum game type thing if people would be interested
  • none
  • More political discussion

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  • Id say some chess games :))
  • i would prefer not to need to come to the discord more often. i'm not one of those old people that hates discord but also the forum is just so much easier for me to access
  • Eurochat feels a little insular?
  • More shitposting
  • Not much. Maybe some optional non-role locked name colouring as a general suggestion
  • I'd say weekend games but "random games" are back so nothing currently
  • nothing, my inactivity is due to rl
  • Again, I'm just a visitor. Not a member of the community, sadly. Lol.
  • Nothing particularly.
  • Movie nights, art (photography/meme) posting competitions, dedicated VC sessions like the poetry nights Icarus and UPC have organised.
  • No opinion.
  • I don't mind pings so they're a great way for me to see where I can engage - ping us more Lethen
  • Cuddles ;)
  • A second eurochat so people don’t get lost in the conversation. Can sometimes feel like a cool kids table
 
Thank you for putting this together, Prim! Really solid information here. I was surprised to see that 60% of our region was also a member of another region, but then I went back to the 4th census, and it was 68%, and 58% in the 3rd census! So clearly I need to accept this is how things have been. I know there's no way to figure this out now, but I wonder what those numbers would be at various points throughout Euro's history.
 
Awesome work as always Prim!

I too wonder why Europeia is ageing... but it could yet just be a random distribution of ages that doesn't really have anything to do with our policy - or it's just the general age of NS shifting as you suggested. I find it hard to believe Euro has suddenly stopped attracting younger people because we haven't really changed anything

What *is* concerning is the share of citizens that joined Europeia less than a year ago, the trend really looks ominous. And I guess it could explain the other graph, assuming that join date of NS hasn't changed in these 10 years which I think is reasonable. What's going on? Is it really just the booms? But the figure is even lower now than it was *before* the Drew boom... I guess not significantly so we just might be back on this level - which is still not fun
 
Thank you for putting this together, Prim! Really solid information here. I was surprised to see that 60% of our region was also a member of another region, but then I went back to the 4th census, and it was 68%, and 58% in the 3rd census! So clearly I need to accept this is how things have been. I know there's no way to figure this out now, but I wonder what those numbers would be at various points throughout Euro's history.
Probably something I should make into an Over Time graph on that question. 🤔

I'm technically a member of two regions, Euro and TCB, but I really only participate in one. There may be more out there who just have marginal ties to other regions but think of Euro as their primary.
 
I find it hard to believe Euro has suddenly stopped attracting younger people because we haven't really changed anything
Or other regions are attracting younger people more than in the past?

I think one of the more compelling explanations is that our RMB is keeping the very young players on-site instead of coming to the forum. But I have no evidence of that,
 
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