Europeia is a region of NationStates that follows the principles of republicanism, meaning the officials of Europeia are elected by the people, of the people, and usually for the people.
Can I join?
Of course. Of course. All you have to do is register an account. Validate said account (it should send an email to the email address you have provided, if it did not pester us about it here). Your account in the beginning will automatically be placed in the non-citizen usergroup. You can change that by applying for citizenship. The application, for security purposes, usually takes a few days to be processed by our forum administrators. But once that is done you can see it all and do it all as a full citizen of Europeia .
So, I came here representing another region? I do not want to become a citizen. Where should I go?
First you have to register an account. Then you have to validate said account (it should send an email to the email address you have provided, if it did not pester us about it here). Your account in the beginning will automatically be placed in the Non-Citizen Usergroup. Then you can apply for diplomatic masking.
What offices are there for people to be elected into?
Well, first of all there are three Branches of Government. There is the Executive, the Legislature, and the Judiciary. The Executive is responsible for the day-to-day governance, the Legislative writes and manages the laws of Europeia, and the Judiciary has the Power to review laws to see if they comply with our Constitution as well as hear trials against accused citizens.
The Executive is made up of the President, the Vice President and their Cabinet. The President and the Vice President are elected together every 70 days. They then nominate other citizens to fill the Cabinet Posts. Those nominated are then confirmed by the Senate. For more on the Executive click here.
The Legislative is made up of the Senate and the Citizens' Assembly. The Senate is made up of a minimum of five citizens who are elected into office every 70 days, exactly 35 after the presidential elections. The Senate writes or repeals laws, confirms Ministers and Judges and can remove any elected official. The Citizens' Assembly writes pre-Legislation, which is then passed on to the Senate for approval. Members of the Assembly are not elected. Instead every citizen is automatically a Member. For more on the Legislature click here.
The Judiciary is made up of the High Court, which answers legal questions and hears criminal and civil cases, looking to the laws of the Republic, both statutory and common, to render judgment. It is made up of the Chief Justice and three Associate Justices. The Justices serve for a 120-day term. Instead of being elected, they are nominated by the President and then confirmed by the Senate. For more on the Judiciary click here.
What is there for me to do in Europeia?
If the game of high politics is not your cup of tea you can always just hang around doing fun things. Or if you want to put some work in, there is always the Civil Service, the Navy, and the Citizens' Assembly.
As citizen, you can join the Civil Service (or CSO). The CSO assigns its Members (called Assistant Ministers or AMs) to the different Ministries to help out the Ministers. As AM you can do many things and garner great accolades. Most of the great politicians of Europeia started in the CSO.
Once you become a citizen, you can also sign up to become a Sailor in our Navy, going out on raids, defending Europeia, or helping our allies defend themselves. Or, if reading and creating Law is more your speed, you can always join the Citizens' Assembly.
That answers most of my immediate questions. What if I have any more?
You could always check the Newcomer's Handbook to see if the answer to your question is there. It may even be in the FAQ (or Frequently Asked Questions). If neither answer your question, you can ask our admins here.
All the things I like to do are either immoral, illegal, or fattening.
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Deconstructing Europeia as a Digital Space, Part One: Cyberpsychological Dimensions and Avatars
Why do people behave the way that they do online? How do people form online identities? Do people's online identities create social expectations in the online communities they participate in? It will be my goal in this essay series to provide some answers to these questions and more. However, I am not a psychologist and by no means should any of this be used as a reference for a diagnosis of any kind. I am simply an Internet user and a member of online communities looking to shed some light on this topic.
In this first essay, I will be drawing from my experiences in the online communities of NationStates (NS), a text-based browser game and, more specifically, the community of Europeia—a sub-group of players (known as a "region") within the game. As a community, Europeia is a multimedia environment, making use of not only the NS website itself but also an independent forum and multiple Discord servers. Each of these social platforms allows users to have a different experience. Many other regional communities within NS have similar structures; however, not all do.
Both the NS website and the forum allow users to communicate asynchronously, and the Discord servers allow for a mixture of asynchronous and synchronous communication (dependent upon the availability of whom one is talking to). Additionally, it is typical for users to feel more freedom in choosing an avatar (that is to say, an image) on the forum and on Discord to represent themselves than on the NS website, where it is traditional to represent one's account (one's "nation") with a flag. The presence of these visual forms of expression, in addition to the text used to communicate with others, adds another layer to the complex cyberpsychology of this online community. The Eight Dimensions of Cyberpsychology Architecture However, before one can begin to map these passages of the maze that is the human mind, one must first understand what Dr. John Suler, Professor of Psychology at Rider University and a founder of the field of cyberpsychology, calls the eight dimensions of cyberpsychology architecture. The eight dimensions are: identity, social, interactive, text, sensory, temporal (time), reality, and physical. All digital spaces, Europeia included, can be examined using this architecture. Which dimensions are minimized or maximized, and in what ways, are critical to understanding the psychological aspects of Europeia as a digital space.
(Descriptions of the eight dimensions can be found in Dr. Suler's book, Psychology of the Digital Age: Humans Become Electric, which was published in 2015, and online at this link.)
To examine Europeia as a digital space using this architecture, we must analyze each dimension individually. While I will not cover every dimension in this essay, to encourage readers to analyze those not examined on their own, I will begin with the identity dimension. How can a user present themselves in Europeia? As mentioned previously, there are multiple avenues available for presenting one's self through text and through the usage of an avatar. In addition to that, on both the forum and the Discord servers used by the community, a user can also control when other users know they are online. In the case of the forum, users may choose to log in anonymously, and in the case of the Discord servers, users may choose to appear offline at any time they wish. Users may also present themselves vocally on the Discord servers through the voice chat function.
Secondly, I will examine the social dimension. What possibilities are there for creating, managing, and aborting relationships with individuals and groups? Frankly, the possibilities are surprisingly numerous. Europeia, as a region, is highly centered around role-playing politics. The majority of the community's forum and Discord users are "citizens" of the region, which means that they maintain a nation within the region on the NS website and have successfully completed an application process on the forum. After acquiring citizenship, a whole new array of possible roles will become available to the user to play, vastly expanding the range of their social dimension in this digital space. This aspect is very common throughout NS communities in general and the social dimension is one of, if not the, most strongly emphasized in the experiences of both Europeia and the game as a whole. Furthermore, all of the social platforms available to users allow them to interact with other members within the community, as previously described. The possibilities are nearly limitless.
Next up in this essay is the temporal (time) dimension. As mentioned before, there are opportunities for both asynchronous and synchronous communication in Europeia. There is also an incredible degree of recordability of that communication on all levels. Europeia originated in 2007, and has made use of the NS website and an independent forum since then, and the Discord servers first came into use in 2016. While there are some public communications that have been lost, either due to deletion of posts (which is extremely rare) or due to the abandonment of an obsolete social platform (such as Skype), by the community, the majority of Europeia's public communications have been permanently frozen in time since their posting.
The final dimension I will be analyzing is the physical dimension. Though it is likely not consciously considered by most users, as it is habit to them, interacting with the digital environment that is Europeia requires the use of the physical body. It might sound silly to read but I highly doubt that most users actively think about how much typing they are truly doing, as text communication is the method most commonly used, in order to engage with others within the community. Additionally, the physical state of a user can affect his or her behavior, such as if the user is fatigued or intoxicated, and their ability to type effectively. Ineffective typing in text-based communication can be incredibly hindering to the understanding of those the user is engaging with socially, to say the least. Furthermore, certain behaviors, particularly those that may be displayed by an intoxicated user, may not be considered appropriate for one reason or another. Concerning Avatars While avatars can be of any image that is within the constraints of the community's rules, in Europeia, they are typically of a person (such as a famous actor), an animal, an animated character, or an object. The avatar may be used to represent the user's personality (or at least one aspect thereof), or it may be used to associate with something the user is fond of, such as their favorite film. Regardless of what image is chosen as an avatar, it is not uncommon for it to hold some emotional significance to the user. At their cores, avatars are social props that we in cyberspace use to not only express ourselves but also to shape our interactions with other users by influencing how we are perceived by them.
Avatars can also be used to display a user's emotional state or general state of mind, both intentionally and unintentionally. This practice is especially common when the user's avatar is of a person or character who has a wide array of images available on the emotional spectrum—perhaps one reason actors are so popular—or the user is prone to make use of avatars of a particular gender. In comparing it to the physical world, think of how the clothes you are wearing may affect the way you behave, or the way others behave toward you. You may end up getting attention simply due to the way you are dressed.
The changing of avatars can also disrupt a user's online identity, particularly if that change is accompanied by a change in the user's name as well. Even the user's closest friends may have difficulty recognizing him or her by text alone. For a user who is new to the community, this can be especially damaging, as it takes time to develop an identity other users associate with the new member. However, the changing of avatars can also sometimes be indicative of an identity disorder in the user, with disassociated parts of his or her personality being displayed with different images.
(To read more about the psychology of avatars, please check out this article by Dr. Suler.)
"Get these Motherfucking Anumias out of my Motherfucking region!" - Noto "Cat and Carrot sitting in a tree, T-O-O-T" - Kraken "CAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT" - Pichto "SD I'm gonna eat your dick" - Carrot "Swoosh Swoosh I've got two more shots left" - Isaris
"One day Mal will say something funny so I can put it in my sig :stuck_out_tongue:" - Cat "Something funny" - Malashaan
"No more drugs for me; pussy and religion is all I need" - Jahka "Fuck me sideways. That had an exceptionally high production value. Wow." - hyanygo
"Cat now forces CSP onto his knees, and [inserts object] into a thinly lined [crevice]. "Careful CSP" she says mockingly, "The navy doesn't pull out" - Cat "Between gasps CSP says "You're promoted to Rear Admiral." - Kraken
"We can, and should do this to make sure that constantly post or send doesn't her ass or bully others." - Audio Handbook "I cannot summon satan with my family right there." - Leo "Bootskitten is a MILF, according to Mouse?" - R3n "I eat meals with two out of three meals." - Vac "Boxing is like anal. It can hurt like hell but you still like it" - Festavo "I'm not gay but I appreciate a good penis just as much as the next guy" - CSP "NO PUPPERS IN THE DONGER ZONE" - Aex "Cat, its not beastiality if I'm in animal in the sheets too" - Verteger "I'd tea bag @Cpt.Carrot" - CSP
""Amazon is doing great damage to tax paying retailers. Towns, cities and states throughout the U.S. are being hurt - many jobs being lost!"-Trump"" - Crow "Hes just angry because his replacement copy of Mein Kampf got lost in the mail." - Drecq
"hello im sex" - Aex "Im a coconut, brown on the outside but a little classically educated white boi on the inside" -Hyanygo
"Replaying my NS career in my head, I'm a little hoe" - Vac
"God offered me the height of 6 foot 7 but I told him to take the 7 inches and put them on my dick instead" - Fest
"Oh I had a weird dream. I bought a battleship at a huge discount only to find out it had been shrunk in the wash" - Carrot
"Oak I have the constitutional right to challenge the SC so kindy move out of the way of the will of the people" - Keshiland
"Hey, fist me." - Murden
"I do not know if god exist or if he loves us, but Cat's voice is all the proof I need that satan exists and that he hates us." - Verteger
"I didn't think four fingers would do it for me" - Souls
Real Life
"Statistics and probability of action and reaction, are you familiar with that concept? I haven't applied the concept to the xx chromosome role" - Tinder Guy
Awards
The Order of the Sapphire Star shall be issued by the Vice President to citizens who excel in service to Cabinet Ministers during each Presidential term. The Ribbon of Duty is given for participation in an operation.
The Ribbon of Sustainability is given to the new sailors that join the Active Duty or Volunteer Reserve and show activity in an operation.
Culture
This is clearly one of the moments where I can really see the flame in the medal making sense. Passion, that's one thing we like to see here. Cat displayed that extremely well during her time in Culture. Joining the whole team rather late, she immediately took responsibility in Weekend Games and also worked on two new ideas. When I thought about the medalists at the start of EurOlympics, I did not even think she would make the list, but she was extremely diligent in the last two weeks. That medal is very well deserved.
Foreign Affairs
"Cat came in during the second half of the term and has really done well in her roles helping both Isaris and Klat." With that, I award Cat bronze.
Awarded in the assistance of a massive Anti-Nazi Op consisting of 84 updaters from 18 different regions, in order to liberate NSIA.
Awarded to Citizens who post a comedic or satirical correlation.
The Best Assistant Minister Award goes to Cat! We thanks for her contributions to helping out in the ministries in Europeia in 2016 and she deserve this award.
The Break-Out Europeian Award goes to Cat! We thanks for contributions to spontaneously giving us new ideas and rising in Europeia in 2016 and she deserve this award.
The Worst Thread Award goes to "You wanna suck?"! We thanks for this thread horrifying us in Europeia in 2016 and it deserve this award.
The Cuddliest Person Award goes to Cat! We thanks for her contribution to making the forum more hospitable and caring in Europeia in 2016 and she deserve this award.
The Two Truths and a Lie winner award goes to Cat for winning this week’s Trivia game by a huge margin!
Broadcast of the Year "The Divide Between Old and New Members"
Positions
President 0.1x Senator Substitute 1x Senator 1x Minister of Radio 4x Deputy of Sinker Regions 1x Deputy of Interior 1x Deputy of Radio 3.0x Deputy of Culture 1x Navy Midshipman 1x Navy Ensign 1x Grand Admiral 0.1x
Art of Me
Thanks Pyntuma <3
Radio
Society Leader Break the silence. Take a stand against harassers, abusers, and predators in NationStates.
Every day may not be good, but there's something good in every day. <3
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Lovely essay. Can't wait to read the next one!!
Positions in Europeia
Former Positions
Ministry of Culture Deputy of Weekend Games (for quite a few terms)
Current Positions
Ministry of the Interior Deputy Minister for Gameside Regional Connectivity Ministry of Culture Deputy Minister of Weekend Games Ministry of Radio Assistant Minister Unofficial Birthday Tsarina <3
Shinies and Awards Received
The Order of the Sapphire Star is a Vice-Presidential medal to be awarded to Assistant Ministers for excellence in their service to their ministries. (x2) 2017 Europeian of the Year Most Welcoming 2017 Workhorse Award 2017 The Order of Enlightenment shall be issued to citizens who provide outstanding cultural work including projects and creations that aid in the cultural development of the Republic.
"thinks of unproductive ideas"- Moronist Decisions "Oh gods do I need to Bubble wrap this whole region?" -Cpt.Carrot "This is why we slowly fold everything into Weekend Games." -Drexlore "dont spork me to death" -Leo Drakan "I don't know you but I like the pun so have an internet cookie" -Verteger "Euro will now only be open on the weekends" -Rach "I think these puns are all pyncredible. Does that earn me a quote? Because that better earn me a quote. :stuck_out_tongue:" -Drexlore "EMBIGGEN THE POST!!!11!! MOAR QUOTES!!!!" -Drexlore
Motivational Messages (For those days when you just feel meh. ;w;)
Other
Outside of Europeia, I am..
Former Bloopister of Innocence in Bloopsjooj Former Bloopister of +hug and the General Well-being of all Bloopizens in Bloopsjooj Deputy Prime Bloopister in Bloopsjooj (x2) Former Bloopister of Puppies, Hugs, and Cookies in Bloopsjooj Citizen of Equilism Citizen of The Galactic Order Citizen of Merridel Citizen and Princess of Caer Sidi
Reminder to all that you can take my digital lifestyle survey for the next week, which will be used to inform future essays. You can find more info on that here: http://s6.zetaboards.com/Europeia/topic/10030961/
Director of the Europeian Cosmopolitan Party
Coat of Arms (created by Iberian Empire)
Nations
The Interstellar Republic of [nation]Isaris[/nation] ([region]Equilism[/region]) The Jamahiriyah of [nation]Medma[/nation] ([region]Europeia[/region]) The Imperial Systems of [nation]Eilantha[/nation] ([region]The Kingdom of Great Britain[/region]) The Holy Violet Federation of [nation]Prijipati[/nation] ([region]Yggdrasil[/region]) The People's Republic of [nation]Izzbekistan[/nation] ([region]Lazarus[/region])
Positions & Titles Elsewhere
Officer of Public Relations (Equilism Township), March 2018–Present Section Σ Lead Investigator (Equilism Township), June 2017–Present Queen Mother (The Kingdom of Great Britain), September 2017–Present Grand Duchess of Luxembourg (The Kingdom of Great Britain), September 2017–Present Duchess of Cambridge (The Kingdom of Great Britain), April 2017–Present
Former Positions
Member of Parliament (First Commonwealth of Equilism Nations), 2009 World Assembly Delegate (Second Commonwealth of Equilism Nations), August 2011–May 2012 World Assembly Delegate (Equilism Township), March–October 2016, January–April 2018 Mayor (Equilism Township), September 2016–June 2017, September–December 2017 Officer of Public Relations (Equilism Township), June–September 2017 Town Moderator (Equilism Township), August–November 2017 Citizens' Assembly Representative (Republic of Europeia), March–May 2016 Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs (Republic of Europeia), April–July 2016 Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs (Republic of Europeia), July 2016–April 2017, September–November 2017 Minister of Foreign Affairs (Republic of Europeia), November 2017–January 2018 Assistant Minister of Culture (Republic of Europeia), June–November 2016 Senator (Republic of Europeia), May–October 2016 Speaker of the Senate (Republic of Europeia), July–August 2016 Representative of Europeia to the Coalition Against the Ideology of Nazism, February–November 2017 Deputy Speaker of the Senate (Republic of Europeia), March–May 2017 Deputy Citizens' Assembly Chair (Republic of Europeia), July–September 2017 Queen-Empress (The Kingdom of Great Britain), April–September 2017 Member of the House of Lords (The Kingdom of Great Britain), September–December 2017
Awards, Badges, Medals & Other Honors
NS Family
Isaris "Isabella" Somerset-Mountbatten I
Widow of George Mountbatten VI Mother of Matthew Arche and Pynelope Mountbatten Son of Aexnidaral "Crist" Seymour and Pichtonia Somerset
Pokémon
Favorite Quotes, Milestone Posts, Etc.
"I'm not a Republican, I'm a Christian." - Katie Birb, 12/8/2017
"I'm just a 13-year-old Taiwanese boy who likes Phil Collins." - Alan Lee, 12/13/2017
"I probably like dick most." - Aexnidaral Seymour, 1/28/2018
Former Positions Senator 1x (May-July 2018) Minister of Interior (Under Pres. HEM, Mar-May 2018) Minister of Culture (Under Pres. Malashaan, Feb-Mar 2018) Deputy Minister of Culture (Under MoC WritingLegend, Feb 2018)
Post-Nominal Suffixes EEN EOI
About Me
About Me (RL) Stay-at-Home Dad Speak Russian, French PC Gamer (Grand Strategy/Paradox/Total War) Favorite Book Genres: Sci-Fi, History, Philosophy of Mind
15 year old Glutton Ultra nationalist Indian Class 11 Humanities student Ardent football and Real Madrid fan Know English, Hindi, Tamil and Konkani Nerd, dork, introvert Irreligious theist. I revere many Gods, first and foremost my parents. Other gods include a higher power, books etc. Bibliophile bookworm Wannabe diplomat