Axis Kast
Warlord
Here's the answer to your question, pulled from that thread:
"A NES is where players take control of countries, or tribes, or factions of some sort in a fictional or partly fictional setting, while another person, the mod, runs the NES. Players do diplomacy on a forum thread and send in orders in time for a deadline set by the mod, who then writes an update, describing recent events. Then the players do more diplomacy and send another set of orders and the NES continues like that." - Spryllino
An "NES" [game] here is equivalent to a Grand Strategy game on Sufficient Velocity, a Strategy game on SpaceBattles, a "Story Debate" on the old Frontier forums, a megagame as seen in some university or convention settings, or a "collaborative role-playing game" on reddit.
An NES is usually played by fans of 4X games like Civilization but is entirely text-based. Action is driven by the players themselves and an often basic or notional set of rules provided by the moderation staff, which is rarely larger than one.
Games vary between free-form exercises in what more or less amounts to collaborative fiction and calculation-driven models based on mathematical formula for unit production and maintenance that better resemble traditional boardgames played using a technique called "Theater of the Mind."
I do seem to recall that, at one point, in the very early Aughts, a group on Apolyton played a text-based game of Alpha Centauri in which they replicated all of the computer functions behind base-building and combat, but I've never been able to find it.
As a rule, all these types of games usually break down over major combat if it is not managed by consensus, although successful games can last for more than a year of real time and spawn dozens of imitators or sequels.
Now I have a much better idea about NESing. 
Unfortunately at present I don´t have the time for such long text-based games, as I need nearly all my free "gaming time" for modding Civ 3.
