What People Are Saying: Trends from the Integration Survey
A couple days ago, I sent out a Google Form to all residents of the South Pacific. The idea of this form was part of Prime Minister Lordnwahs’ agenda. We wanted to see why some people are reluctant to get involved in our region. Fast forward to today, we’ve collected some data and I’m here to present it.
The number of responses flowing into my spreadsheet has steadied and slowed down. Hence, I’m posting this thread right now.
I would like to start by pointing out that no one is forced to get involved. If someone’s not interested, we leave it there. But if someone displays interest, then we have room to work with. I would also like to note that all quotes posted here from the survey will be anonymous.
So what are folks saying? Let’s find out.
The mass-telegram was delivered to 3,916 nations. 411 of those nations, 10.5%, read the telegram. 694 nations blocked the telegram by category.
We received 84 responses to the form (as of the time this is posted). We’ll be taking further action (most likely personal one-on-one conversations about interest and info they raised in the survey) for about 25 of them.
I don’t have experience sending out a survey to this big of a crowd. In other words, I’m not sure of this is a good result for something like this. What I’ll say is this: however urgent we can make this out to be, there are still things more important than a Google Form from an online nation simulation game.
The big sauce here is where people tend to allocate their time and why they choose one place over another.
Yes, most people say they’re already on the Discord and forums. The second-largest chunk offer that they’re more satisfied with the RMB. Some said roleplay, SPSF, or politics didn’t sound interesting. A couple respondents said maintaining citizenship and legislatorship sounded like work. Some claimed they’ve never heard of these opportunities before. The rest used the “Other” button, with varied responses that could probably fit in one of the provided options.
The assortment of different colors in the upper left are the ‘Other’ responses. They’re mostly associated with Discord access and real life circumstances.
Quite a few respondents claim they never knew about things like the SPSF, our roleplay canons, the Assembly, our Discord, and the forums. Some say the guides and explanations are too confusing.
There are many responses which look like these:
- “I’m not a part of any of those, but I would like to join the SPSF. The reason I’m not involved with them is because I don’t know how.”
- “I would like to join but don’t know how.”
- “I have no idea on how this works and the explanations are hard to understand”
Many people are interested in the SPSF. Offsite roleplay opportunities took a close second. The Assembly took a distanced third.
There should definitely be some new recruits coming to the Special Forces soon! Tons of interest on that front. Roleplay-wise, some folks are involved in Knowhere and want to keep it that way. Others were mainly interested in what I would guess to be Pacifica. The Assembly and becoming a citizen were grouped into one category, and were not popular among respondents. I think they could use some more explaining–like how citizenship grants the right to vote in Prime Minister elections and how becoming a Legislator means you have a say in our writing our laws. Of course if someone’s not interested, the buck stops there.
- “I’m not involved in them…I will try to engage in roleplay soon.”
- “I’m not a part of any of those, but I would like to join the SPSF. The reason I’m not involved with them is because I dont know how.”
If someone is not interested in what we have to offer, the buck stops there. But if someone is and is either unsure of what to do next or never heard of said opportunities, there’s work that could be done.
Citing the quote in the block above, there are people who might be interested in joining the SPSF or forum roleplay but they simply don’t know how. There’s also people who are part of the Assembly and want to be active in it but don’t know what to do next. Admittedly, the Assembly can be a daunting place for newcomers. This is where my next task, a mentorship scheme, will come in handy. I see the mentorship program as a system for newcomers who have–for instance–joined the Assembly or applied for citizenship, are somewhat active (in some sort), and want to do more. That might be a very descriptive cookie cutter but I think we can work around this idea.
- “I am involved with the SPSF and it’s been really fun. I’m not as much involved with regional politics/government but I would like to get more involved!”
- "…but I would like to join politics. Well, not join, but be more active. [I just] lurk and vote on everything."
Other Interesting Snidbits
- Seven respondents claim they created a nation on NationStates due to a Drew Durrnil YouTube video
Sadly that was the only interest stat nugget I could find
- Well, I actually have this: "It would really help my integration experience if you sent me the full logs of the Cabinet chats by telegram. This is needed to verify that the Coalition of the South Pacific is transparent and democratic, specifically around the time of, say, March 2023 until July 2023."
- In the same response, there’s this: “Yes, because [being active offsite] is required to gain the Delegacy in order to overthrow the Coalition of the South Pacific.”
- Sadly, this player did not provide their full nation name in the survey. The response was blank.
Finally, I noticed a slew of positive and somewhat upbeat commentary.
“This has definitely been the friendliest community on NationStates I’ve seen
Keep spreading positivity!”
" I spawned in TSP, and Griffindor’s welcome telegram was the only one I got on the first day to tell me how to turn off recruitment telegrams, so I felt good about staying in TSP."
“My original nation was first founded in the South Pacific, so my residence in the region has stuck ever since. It was well worth it to stay!”
“I’d just like to thank the South Pacific for being so nice over all this time.”
“A friend brought me to Nationstates. I chose TSP because it’s the least-corrupt democracy I could find.”
I mentioned the mentorship program above. If anyone would like to help on that front, please reach out to me. I might use a mentorship scheme to help with the next steps of this form--reaching out to people who showed interest in certain things. I'd be looking for potential mentors and volunteers who are well-versed in one of the following circles: SPSF, roleplay, politics, and general interest/opportunities in general.