Suggestion for Incorporation of a Planet Governor

[Fish]

As we begin our 4th year here on awakening, I wish to initiate some new suggestions. A few months ago I put forth the suggestion of the additional rank 5 city specializations that we now see in place. It took some time to get the appropriate code work done, and it was good to see it given a chance to fit into the priority schedule of patches. I think it has been received well by the population, and wish to thank the dev team for their effort to get it applied.

I wish to now offer two new suggestions for the Politician skill tree, one is fairly easy suggestion already seen on other servers, the second is a bit more complex hypothetical concept that may be worthy of future debate, if it is even possible to be applied.

FISH SUGGESTION ACTION # 02, addition of player title as Mayor of City “X”. This title would be added to the pull down list of standard skill titles as applicable. That would mean a current standing mayor only would see this as an option in the skill title list. This is already an option seen on that “other” server most of us escaped from 3 years ago to be here now. So existing code already exists, so I assume it can be copied or can be easily emulated.

FISH SUGGESTION ACTION # 03 addition of a new Politician title of GOVERNOR OF PLANET “X”
Now this concept would be quite complex to set up as it would mean new parameters for the politician skill tree, so let me throw out some concept ideas to see how this might work.

Listed below are some concept ideas, the list is quite long, and yes I have too much time on my Fins.
A. Each player (buildable) planet would have a Governor position and title available
B. An election process would have to be established, similar to parameters as currently seen in the mayors election process
C. A candidate for Planet Governor would need to already hold the Master Politician skill level, not just already have that skill badge.
D. A candidate for Planet Governor must be an existing Mayor of a city on the same planet. Thus he is a declared citizen of that same planet.
E. The winning candidate would then automatically vacate his/her position as Mayor of the origin city, to then assume the duties of Governor ( which we will cover possible duties later here ). This would automatically trigger the vacated cities mayoral election process.
F. A term of office would have to be established, again similar to existing parameters in a mayor’s election process.
G. A Governor inactivity parameter would have to be established, and an auto election cycle would have to be set. Not to say the planet would go poof like a city might, if the Governor went AFK for a prolonged period of time, but a firm time duration term of office would be needed.
H. Election terminals to place votes would need to be added in NPC city halls. Currently there are only 4 City hall structures in only 4 NPC cities. One in tatoonie, Theed, Rori and C-net, so others would need to be added on Talus and Dantoonie.
I. Candidates would need to enter this election process at the appropriate terminal inside the appropriate NPC city hall. The terminal would screen and only allow qualified candidates, as specified in section C and D.
J. Voters in the Governors election cycle would need to be declared citizens in an existing player city of the appropriate planet only. The terminal again would screen/qualify a voter.
K. The creation of a “Planet Terminal” similar in scope to the “City Terminal” now seen in player city hall structures. This terminal would provide planet data such as population of declared citizens, and player structure data and possibly some other options. ( yet to be debated )
L. The possible creation of a Planet Treasury, generated from income from a new tax structure from player cities of that planet. These funds could be used by the Governor to add to capitol city décor or player event NPC’s for example.
M. The creation of an additional player badge “Governor of Planet “X”, as with SUGGESTION # 02

Ok now all these above parameters are open for suggestion/modifications by all here to comment on and contribute their own ideas.

So let’s begin…………. Why have a Governor?, and What would a Governor do?

 The Governor’s faction assignment (Reb, Imp, Neutral) would be applied to the planet capitol City. The outlying other NPC and player cities would not be impacted.
 The Governor would have authority to grant zoning for new city hall placement, existing player cities would be grandfathered in. This by no means would override existing player city parameters or planetary limits as already set by the server gods.
 The Governor would then become a new “check and balance” feature to actively monitor and mentor new mayors as they create new cities, forming new political connections.
 The Governor could activate periodic NPC city militia operations for sweeps of covert players within capitol city limits on occasions.
The Governor could apply a "planet ban" or "Capitol city ban" similar to "city ban" as mayors do now
The Governor could establish Planet wide Militia members to enforce his rule planet wide
 The Governor could set planet wide NPC city shuttle, star port, clone center, and garage fees that would provide income to the Planet treasury.
NOTE: these fees are already being collected right now but go into the void of "Planetary funds" to no where

As I myself have held the position of Mayor in a few rank 5 cities, on a few different servers, and have already mentored 5 different FISH guild members to achieve Master Politian and we FISH maintain 2 thriving cities on this server now for the past 3 years, I can confidently speak from experience that this can work.
I think that’s enough for now, as it’s a lot to absorb so I will stop here for now, and wait for the feedback from the player base and see where this goes. Please jump in here and speak your peace and maybe this being our anniversary date of our third year swimming here on Awakening will draw some great new ideas !!!

FISH FEAR NONE!!!!!!!

[Hammerfrog]

Give one or few players the power to decide wether or not other players/ guilds can establish them selfs where they like to!! Nah, I see alot of blackmailing coming.

[Cynar]

While I do like the idea of a planet to governor, we just don’t have enough players to put Dev time into something like this. If we had 2-3k players on all the time we might entertain a more involved political system.

[Fish]

Give one or few players the power to decide wether or not other players/ guilds can establish them selfs where they like to!! Nah, I see alot of blackmailing coming.

This situation already exists in a smaller instance, as right now, if any player desires to set up a home, shop or a guild in any existing player city, they need to gain permission from the City Mayor for player city zoning authority. This new concept is just an expansion of an already existing policy.
Most peeps quickly discover that just dropping their own personel city hall deed somewhere to start from scratch, as opposed to gaining permissions in joining an existing city is way way way more difficult than one person might expect.
The term "blackmail" is a bit harsh, I might suggest to use the term "negotiate" may be a better application to gain any such permissions.

[Fish]

While I do like the idea of a planet to governor, we just don’t have enough players to put Dev time into something like this. If we had 2-3k players on all the time we might entertain a more involved political system.

I find your thoughts on this very compelling Cynar, as it shows a glimmer of hope for such a future concept as the server grows. I wish to continue to discuss this concept with the future hope that if well planned out now, it may be indeed possible and easier to implement at a future time. As if the bugs and parameters are hammered out in this debate/discussion forum format now, we can work toward a plan forward.

Would you find this reasonable, or agreeable?

[Darkspecialist]

How would voting work but not in the way someone goes to a terminal and just votes like for a city? Ill give you an example of what I mean. The CMoM..probably deserving I feel some of these rounds wouldnt have gone the way they did. The last guild i was apart of sent out a mail saying we should put our support behind one person, that person won because one of the biggest most active guilds all voted towards one person.

my opinion, this takes away one persons choice. I am sure most people are followers and not leaders and they are given an option and feel, "yep, sounds good" and go with the group. if this server has multiple guilds with multiple cities on many planets but one guild owns half the people playing then does that guild own half the Governor spots?

There are people and guilds that do amazing things on and for this server but they are never known because they arent active in pvp, talking alot in general chat, lead weekly events or is feared in the BH/Jedi game. Like you said, you have been mayor on a few servers of a few big cities..but i think i have only ever interacted with you a handful of times over obtaining a badge or saw your name in general chat.

I guess what im saying is if someday this idea were to happen, i would just hope it would be based on being a qualified person and not a popularity contest.

[Fish]

if someday this idea were to happen, i would just hope it would be based on being a qualified person and not a popularity contest.

Yes I would agree, the candidate nominee would need to be a qualified person and the prerequisite's that I have suggested may help that happen. Those being that to even qualify for entry into this election process # 1 is that the toon is a full master politician, and # 2 is currently a sitting mayor of a player city ( on the same planet ).

That standard implies the toon has the knowledge and experience of what it takes to maintain and run a player city, and also the needed patience to endure the long period of time it took to earn Master Politician, which on average takes 4 to 6 months.

Now as far as "stuffing" the ballot box with votes from large guild memberships, yes this could occur. As there are currently 2 or 3 larger guilds right now, however as time goes by things change. Right now, it appears PHINIX, and MG seem to be most visible with large memberships. These two guilds could easily "stuff" a ballot box in any election. That is the name of the game in politics, look what happened to Bernie Sanders.

But for example we FISH, a medium sized but consistent guild, have a special relationship from many, many moons ago with the Metalus Gravis School, when they were in a city known as ALEIGHA on Talus, and as we have some fishy friends there as well. So we would have a good working relationship with them there, aye Baylor? That type of combined membership relationship could again easily sway a popular vote in any planet wide elections.

But to not get off the track here and begin a debate of who might be the largest guilds currently on the server, the point remains that anyone who might be brave enough or fool hardy enough to hold this concept position would already have a well established experienced track record no doubt.

Yes I am rarely on general chat, you will not find me there, there are many FISH in the sea and will you never know where we be..........

[Canti]

Some thoughts:

-----The Governor would have authority to grant zoning for new city hall placement, existing player cities would be grandfathered in. This by no means would override existing player city parameters or planetary limits as already set by the server gods.----

Well this would reduce the number of ghost cities popping up, it would be way to exploitable. Gives the gov the power to make sure there is entirely no way some one else can even attempt to challenge the current Gov. Think of it as PVP but with politic's, have to have a way for someone to oppose the gov with out that gov being able to chose who can.

----The Governor could apply a "planet ban" or "Capitol city ban" similar to "city ban" as mayors do now----

Very exploitable, Become Gov. of Lok, City Ban all BH's. Lok now safe haven for Jedi to roam freely. Gov of Tat, ohh this person has a Jedi I dont like him, Planet ban no pearls for you. Dant can control Janta Hides and bloods. Cor planet ban would kill travel to and from a lot of places. Or any planet, watch who drops harvesters then planet ban them until the harvester blows up, or just to control a resource.

----The Governor could set planet wide NPC city shuttle, star port, clone center, and garage fees that would provide income to the Planet treasury.

Point I want to make here is more about MMO economy in general. Mainly "white holes" and "black holes". White holes are what gets money into players hands, Black holes remove it and are the only way to control inflation in a game's economy.

Altering these fee's and putting them back into a players control could effect the economy and would need to be balanced with a serious black hole to remove this money from the economy.

Just my thoughts
Canti

[MarkyD]

Thats really thought out. I love the City Title idea, everyone would want one

[tmyers1065]

It would be a nice idea, probably a ton of code work though