I'm fine with a South American game. It seems to be the consensus first-choice, and no one seems to dislike it that much.
BUT, can we really say for sure it's the best plan until we've fully looked at all the options? I think not. So, here's my pro/con analysis for, well, almost everything Evergreen had in her
unofficial setting poll, and a few others I decided to add (because I can):
South AmericaPros:
-It's novel, it's different.
-There's a small number of countries. In addition to the obvious fact that no one gets left out of Copa America, this means that every country has at least 1 MP and we can add more for the bigger ones.
Cons:
-It might be too different. The fact this is out of our Western element might lead it to either be dominated by South American members or turn into Atlasia with more exotic-sounding names.
-Us dedicated founding members would learn, but newer players might have a harder time figuring out what the heck we're doing in South America.
Question:
-Is the northern border for this game South America, or is it Latin America + Caribbean? Blair mentioned he'd like Cuba, and I'd like Jamaica if that's the case. But it would make more sense to be just the geographic South American region.
Europe(I already wrote up a plan for a Euro game, by the way.)Pros:
-It's different than Atlasia, but still familiar. A nice compromise, right?
Cons:
-Maybe it's still too familiar? I mean, a good bit of us are European, and many more of us follow the happenings over their a good bit.
-It's already close to a progressive fantasy, so it might be a little boring.
United States/North America (preferably post-fascist dictatorship)
Pros:
-The most familiar of all. No one, be it current players, new players, or the GM, will have any issues stemming from lack of knowledge.
Cons:
-Too familiar. Too similar to Atlasia. That could be helped a little by adding caveats (e.g. adding Canada, making it post-fascist dictatorship, etc.) but it's still kind of bland.
Canada (without the U.S.)
Pros:
-Maybe similar to Europe in familiarity to American users. As in, we know it, but it's not like an American game.
Cons:
-I'm having a hard time thinking of why this would be a better plan than Europe.
United KingdomPros:
-Again, this is similar to Europe in that it's in between US and South America in familiarity, although it could be considered better in that it's more local.
-Two MPs for each of the 9 regions + 2 Scotland + 2 NI + 2 Wales = 24, not too far off from our target number.
Cons:
-Similar to Europe, it's fairly progressive already, and we all know it fairly well (it might just become exactly like the current UK parliament--not very original).
Independent ScotlandPros:
-Familiar, but still something quite different.
-No real status quo for foreign policy, so we'd have a lot of room to work with on that.
-We could (either out loud or in our heads) read parliamentary proceedings in Scottish accents, which makes everything more fun.
Cons:
-Maybe it's too small of an area?
-It's also quite progressive, too.
Post-Soviet RussiaThe pros and cons are similar to Scotland's, except a little less familiarity, less progressive, and no Scottish accents.
Australia (and maybe New Zealand, too)
Pros:
-Familiar, but not too familar.
Cons:
-No one has said anything in favor of this, actually.
Democratic China (or North Korea or Cuba)
Pros:
-We'd basically be getting to create a new democratic nation. That would be very fun, right?
Cons:
-Even less familiarity than South America.
Moon/Mars/Alpha Centauri/Generic Space ColonyPros:
-It's in freaking SPACE!
-Complete clean slate.
Cons:
-Very much fantasy stuff. As much as some of us might enjoy worldbuilding, that's not really out purpose here.
Fictional CountryPros:
-We can make it what we want.
Cons:
-Too much worldbuilding, probably.
Rough ranking from most familiar to least familiar:
1. United States/North America
2. United Kingdom
3. Canada
4. Australia
5. United Europe
6. Independent Scotland
7. South America
8. Post-Soviet Russia
9. Democratic China
10. Space
11. Fictional country
Analysis: 1, and maybe 2-5 (maybe 6?), are too familiar, 10-11 are too worldbuild-y, while at least 7-9 (maybe 6?) could have a dock in points for their lack of familiarity.
Alright, tell me if I got anything wrong, or missed anything. Also voice your opinion on what you think is best, what you think is acceptable (i.e. not first choice, but would still definitely play it), what's bad (i.e. not a fan of it at all, but it could be worse), and what's just pure crap (i.e. you wouldn't even play this).
