NationStates (formerly Jennifer Government: NationStates) is a multiplayer government simulation browser game created and developed by Max Barry. Based loosely on Barry's novel Jennifer Government, the game was publicly released on 13 November 2002 with the site originally founded as an independent vehicle publicizing the novel one week before its release. NationStates continues to promote books written by Barry, but has developed to be a sizable online community, with an accompanying forum board. Since its launch, over 8.67 million user-created nations have been created, with around 289,660 being active as of 12 July 2023.
History
NationStates, then named Jennifer Government: NationStates, was launched on 13 November 2002 by Australian novelist Max Barry to help promote the sale of his novel Jennifer Government, which NationStates is loosely based on, prior to its release. Although NationStates launched in November 2002, Barry worked on beta versions of the game as early as 7 August 2002. Barry has stated that he was influenced to create the website after he took a multiple-choice political quiz to determine a person's political affiliations, adding that "it was fun, but I also wanted to see what kind of country my policies created, and have to deal with the consequences".
On 21 January 2008, Barry received a cease and desist letter from the United Nations (UN) for unauthorized usage of its name and emblem for the game's fictional international organization which was based on the UN. As a result, Barry changed the name of the organization to the "World Assembly", introducing the changes as an April Fool's prank. Barry joked about the situation, stating "it's the place where players come together to debate and pass international law; in the five years the game has been running, they've implemented privacy safeguards, promoted religious tolerance, passed a universal bill of rights, and outlawed child labor, amongst 240 other resolutions [...] Clearly this wasn't anything the real UN wanted to be associated with."
Gameplay
Players register by setting up their nation through answering a short questionnaire which determines the type of government the nation will have. Players can determine their nation's name, flag, motto, currency, animal, capital, leader, and faith. Additionally, players can publish articles known as "factbooks" which can convey information about the player's nation.
The gameplay is centered on the player deciding government policies through "issues". Issues are written by either Barry or by the players themselves with moderator editing and are based on real-world politics with an "absurd and humorous direction". The player may choose from a list of options or dismiss the issue, and the player's responses may affect the nation's status across three main statistics: political freedom, civil rights, and economy; based on these main statuses, the nation is assigned to one of twenty-seven government classifications which are determined on a three-axis scale of personal, economic, and political freedom. Initially, the player received only one issue per day, but players now receive issues multiple times per day on timed intervals.
Players can also choose to join the World Assembly, a United Nations-like voluntary body concerned with the drafting and passage of international law. It has two separate chambers: the General Assembly and the Security Council. The General Assembly is concerned with passing legislation on various topics, while the Security Council recognizes various nations and regions for good or bad deeds. Players spawn in one of five "Pacific" regions (North, South, East, West, and just the 'Pacific') or others labeled as "frontier", but they can then move to different regions, which are a community function similar to a chat room. Users can create their own regions. NationStates does not have a win condition.
While NationStates lacks a mechanic for war between nations, it is possible to invade and take over other regions by exploiting a World Assembly mechanic. Every nation in the World Assembly can "endorse" other World Assembly members in their region, and the nation with the highest number of endorsements in a region becomes the World Assembly Delegate, who is responsible for approving proposals for voting in the World Assembly and can hold other permissions within a region. Players can seize control in a region by becoming its World Assembly Delegate in gameplay known as "raiding/defending" or "R/D".