A Modest Proposal

[bore]

So, I think we all agree that atlasia is in crisis and needs radical change. We can all also look across our borders to the Mock Parliament board to see a thriving simulation which has attracted a lot of former players of this game, as well as people who never cared for this. To survive, if we want to survive, we need to offer something distinctive. That should immediately rule out any parliamentarism, and also an GM oriented response game.

So, without further ado, I present my proposal for reform:

2 regions with a governor and a legislature of 3 people (which could theoretically be expanded if demand was there)
A senate of 7, two elected from the regions and one at large
A President and Vice President
A Statute reboot and a new constitution
A Supreme Court of 3 people with the associate justices assigned to hear cases in one of the two regions respectively

Regarding the Cabinet I would keep the SOFE and RG as separate but allowing people to hold the office and other ones, abolish the AG (if someone needs to be sued the president can appoint a prosecutor) and the SoIA and SoEA. The GM might or might not exist, but if they did it would just be to act as a very low key God figure.

This produces 20-23 offices and allows us to focus on the areas the mock parliament doesn't, namely a US style executive system and a focus on letting people write laws on subjects they want to debate.

[DemPGH]

I think it's a good plan - I in fact wondered how two regions might work, and I think that looks great. I personally favor either doing away with the G.M. or at the very least limiting the G.M. to RL events. It is the only position in the entire game for which there is no RL equivalent, and I honestly think it's just too much. The office technically holds a degree of power that I think most folks just find unbelievable, and I also think the focus should be in-game stuff. And for those reasons I favor axing the G.M. or dramatically redefining the office to something more life like and realistic.

But we have to do something, and I think this deserves to put on the table as a serious alternative. I think if we had got the ball rolling on this much earlier we might have staved off the last bout of chaos and retained some folks.

Other folks have suggested doing away with either the federal government or the regions. Doing away with the regions would probably bring us too close to a parliamentary structure, and indeed I don't know what's going on over there because I haven't checked in a while. It was still in the very early stages a week ago or so. But two parliamentary games wouldn't be a good idea.

Of course, who knows. A lot of good people have left and we have sock puppets, etc.

[Leinad]

2 regions is too much of a decrease, I think. 3 or 4 makes more sense; we could make it smaller after that if it really is needed.

I don't understand how someone can want more activity, yet also want the GM to be abolished. Yes, I think the GM needs to be regulated, but a fact that this is struggling in activity is that only, what, 20 or so people (totally made up that statistic) are active, so our to-do lists are derived from activities from those people. In the real world, the government's to-do lists are derived from activities from over 300 million people in the US, plus about 7 billion others in the rest of the world. My point is that the GM needs to be there to simulate those other people, and the results of bills. Otherwise it's just people making meaningless laws for a dormant country where no one does anything.

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

I prefer my plan to restore Department of Forum Affairs by merging RG Bureau and DoFE, as well as creating Department of Home Affairs by combining DoJ and DoIA.

[Lincoln Republican]

2 regions is too much of a decrease, I think. 3 or 4 makes more sense; we could make it smaller after that if it really is needed.

I don't understand how someone can want more activity, yet also want the GM to be abolished. Yes, I think the GM needs to be regulated, but a fact that this is struggling in activity is that only, what, 20 or so people (totally made up that statistic) are active, so our to-do lists are derived from activities from those people. In the real world, the government's to-do lists are derived from activities from over 300 million people in the US, plus about 7 billion others in the rest of the world. My point is that the GM needs to be there to simulate those other people, and the results of bills. Otherwise it's just people making meaningless laws for a dormant country where no one does anything.

I agree with more than 2 regions, 3 might be good for starters.

As to the GM office, we cannot have a GM who goes around arresting public officials right and left and who wipes out millions with nuclear bombs.

In the final analysis, after all, Atlasia is an election and government sim, and everyone knows that.  Those who participate in the sim do so because they enjoy elections and government sims.

It does not really need a GM in my view, because the game is elections and government.

[DKrol]

2 regions is too much of a decrease, I think. 3 or 4 makes more sense; we could make it smaller after that if it really is needed.

I don't understand how someone can want more activity, yet also want the GM to be abolished. Yes, I think the GM needs to be regulated, but a fact that this is struggling in activity is that only, what, 20 or so people (totally made up that statistic) are active, so our to-do lists are derived from activities from those people. In the real world, the government's to-do lists are derived from activities from over 300 million people in the US, plus about 7 billion others in the rest of the world. My point is that the GM needs to be there to simulate those other people, and the results of bills. Otherwise it's just people making meaningless laws for a dormant country where no one does anything.

I agree with more than 2 regions, 3 might be good for starters.

As to the GM office, we cannot have a GM who goes around arresting public officials right and left and who wipes out millions with nuclear bombs.

In the final analysis, after all, Atlasia is an election and government sim, and everyone knows that.  Those who participate in the sim do so because they enjoy elections and government sims.

It does not really need a GM in my view, because the game is elections and government.

What is government but providing for the needs of the citizens? How can you know the needs of the citizens without a GM?

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

2 regions is too much of a decrease, I think. 3 or 4 makes more sense; we could make it smaller after that if it really is needed.

I don't understand how someone can want more activity, yet also want the GM to be abolished. Yes, I think the GM needs to be regulated, but a fact that this is struggling in activity is that only, what, 20 or so people (totally made up that statistic) are active, so our to-do lists are derived from activities from those people. In the real world, the government's to-do lists are derived from activities from over 300 million people in the US, plus about 7 billion others in the rest of the world. My point is that the GM needs to be there to simulate those other people, and the results of bills. Otherwise it's just people making meaningless laws for a dormant country where no one does anything.

I agree with more than 2 regions, 3 might be good for starters.

As to the GM office, we cannot have a GM who goes around arresting public officials right and left and who wipes out millions with nuclear bombs.

In the final analysis, after all, Atlasia is an election and government sim, and everyone knows that.  Those who participate in the sim do so because they enjoy elections and government sims.

It does not really need a GM in my view, because the game is elections and government.

What is government but providing for the needs of the citizens? How can you know the needs of the citizens without a GM?

If Atlasia is ever to become a game about casting and getting votes, but nothing else, then count me out.

[Lincoln Republican]

But if there is to be a GM, then there must be boundaries set over which the GM cannot exceed.

These arrests, threats to the lives of public officials, nuclear holocausts, I believe, are counter productive, and do not lend anything of value to the game.  The game is elections and government, and we do not need such events to provide for the needs of the citizens.

Besides, the legislators and public servants in the game are always presenting bills, debating bills, passing or defeating bills, and bringing in legislation to serve the needs of the citizens, as they see it.

With a new Atlasia, if there is to be a GM, then the pronouncements from the GM must be realistic, not silly and ridiculous.

I as well believe that legislation must not be silly or ridiculous, but that would be difficult to enforce in a democratically elected legislative body.

[Fmr. Pres. Duke]

We have a plan. Adam and I just need to propose it publicly now. I think 2 regions is too little but the rest I loosely agree with. You all will hear more from me shortly.

[Leinad]

But if there is to be a GM, then there must be boundaries set over which the GM cannot exceed.

Of course. We totally can set up boundaries, it's not a matter of weak GM vs. dictatorial GM. We can most certainly have a strong yet regulated GM. and I think that would be best.

We have a plan. Adam and I just need to propose it publicly now. I think 2 regions is too little but the rest I loosely agree with. You all will hear more from me shortly.

Sounds great! I certainly look forward to hearing it!

[bore]

My thinking is that we can always add but we can't subtract (well we can but that's much less hassle)

We have to ask ourselves what the regions do, why it is we want them. The first thing is, it's not because the regions interact with each other because they don't, we could have 1 or 1080 but they still wouldn't interact, so that doesn't necessitate 3 or more. I think the answer is we want somewhere where new players can get a feeling for the game, we want there to be multiple legislatures with different cultures (there would be 3 under my proposal which I thin is enough) and we also want someone to interact with the federal government. I think 2 is enough for all of those things.

My view is we need to remove all the offices that we can while still preserving the essential features of the game (that is, the american style system) and two regions preserves those regions.

If there comes a point where the federal government and both regions are flourishing with competitive elections and active bodies we can easily add a region (which should be a lot easier than removing one because the establishment aren't hurt by it) or a few senate seats or a full time AG or whatever else. But I think we need to start from the very bottom to be able to get back to the top.