The Island (Election and Governing Game)

[Teddy (IDS Legislator)]

Before I explain the game, I wish to say that this is an idea I've had since at least 2001, and also that I've never seen an episode of 'lost' (which started in 2004). Any similarities between this game and that TV show are firstly coincidental, but also, this game will be taking a very radically different path.



The story starts when you, along with 99 others, wake up on a beach. You have an erie feeling, and seem to have memory loss. All you can remember is sitting at your computer, reading a thread on the atlas, and... now you are here? You somehow know, from a feeling, that you are on an island, though there is no evidence of that. You also somehow know, from a feeling, that you are being watched, but again, there is no evidence.

In front of you is the ocean. Salt water. No clouds are visible. To your left and right the beech extends beyond sight and curves back, vanishing behind trees. Behind you, and around you, you can see mountains, or at least rocky hills. Also, very puzzling, there appears to be a large, flat, grass area. In front of it, more confusingly, there is what appears to be a platform or stage of some sort, made out of some kind of hard black material, perhaps some sort of metal or some kind of carbon based material. At the rear of this 'stage' is what appears to be an outhouse, or a small shed.

This is all you know.

I will give people 48/72 hours to register. You play yourself, with all your skills and hindrances. You are only in the clothing you are wearing, your pockets are empty. You are wearing a shirt of some sort, pants of some sort (or if you are a girl, a skirt), and underwear. If you use glasses, you are wearing them. If you use any other devise for normal use (IE you have braces on your teeth, you are in a wheelchair, you have a hearing aid) you have it with you as well.

Once the 48/72 hours passes, the game "begins" and from then, functions in real time. The limits of what you can and cannot do are limited by your imagination, and the laws of physics.

This game will have a maximum of 100 players, but can easily be played with much less. I will simulate the non-player characters, who in general won't speak, and will do as told. If I feel you are stuck and need a hint, they might pipe up.

[Teddy (IDS Legislator)]

This is what you can see... sorry for subjecting you all to my bad art.

[Teddy (IDS Legislator)]

(I don't want to spoil it... but I will seeing as no one has joined yet)

Someone from the group of 100 goes up to the "outhouse"

They find it has a solid metal door that will not open. No handle. There is, however, what looks like a "hand pad". He tried putting his hand there, but nothing happened. He then noticed little holes, perhaps a speaker. He turned towards it and said "Hello?" A deep nearly mechanical voice belted out "WE WILL ONLY SPEAK TO YOUR LEADER"

[Teddy (IDS Legislator)]

I would like to play

Excellent.

At this moment you are the "front runner" to become "leader"

[Teddy (IDS Legislator)]

Would you be willing to continue as it's only current player? This game will work fine with just 1 player until others join. In fact, it will work fine with none!

[Teddy (IDS Legislator)]

Of course!

Looks like we might have a race on our hands!

The game will "start" tonight.

[Teddy (IDS Legislator)]

I expected at least a dozen people to sign up by now

So I've decided the following. This round will be called "The Short Round". Not that it will be super-duper short, but it will end at some point in the future, and a new round will start up.

I've also decided that I will guide you much more than I had originally planned to. Hopefully the guidance given in this round will help the start of the next round.

ROUND BEGINS NOW

[Teddy (IDS Legislator)]

The person who spoke to the speaker, turns to the others. They all heard the loud announcement. He stands on the edge of the stage and begins to speak.

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Some in the crowd roll their eyes, others say at varying volumes things like "Who died and made you king" while others respond "let him speak!"

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Over the next hour, Paul spoke to all interested candidates, as well as the two players from above. Paul then again took the stage.

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At that moment, the red light on the robotic shack light up, and the door slid open. Some people gasped. Paul slowly walked up and peaked his head inside.

The shack was empty, except for a solid table, made from the same material as the shack itself. It was constructed as a single piece along with the floor. On the table there was one ream of printer paper, and a dozen pencils. Paul took the items and walked out of the shack. The door closed immediately behind him.

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Paul then wrote down the ideas that had been presented to him.

"IDEA ONE"
The group will get together and elect a number of their own, starting with 7, to serve as representatives of the entire group. These 7 will then, amongst themselves, pick a leader and decide how the heck we are going to get home.

"IDEA TWO"
Anyone wishing to run for leader will make a speech and speak to the group. After a few hours, we will gather back here and elect a single person to be our leader, who will make all the decisions for all of us so that we can get back home.

"IDEA THREE"
We will split up into 7 smaller groups of a 14 or 15 or so each. Each group will have it's own leader. The 7 leaders will pick amongst themselves who will speak to the robots and get us home.

Some in the group already began to favour one or another option, but others began to ask for a debate. Paul then invited anyone who wished to speak for or against one or another of the ideas to make a speech in favour or against the options above.

[Teddy (IDS Legislator)]

One of the leadership contestants took the stage.

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[Teddy (IDS Legislator)]

A lot of people are nodding their heads.

Jenny points out that one of the biggest concerns in the begining will be divsion of Labour. What will the 100 people do exactly? This is going to become one of the large issues for the "government" to decide and constantly keep track of.

[Teddy (IDS Legislator)]

Most people feel "All of them" is the right answer.

[Teddy (IDS Legislator)]

Jenny likes the plan you submitted and will be voting for  it.

Paul will be abstaining to prevent any accusations of impartiality, but seems to like your plan as well.

[Teddy (IDS Legislator)]

Ralph thinks each member of the panel should have a specific area of expertise; creating a 'cabinet' of sorts. For example the Secretary of Gathering Wood for Fire. Secretary of trying to catch fish. Secretary of making a map to figure out what our Island has on it, etc.

[Teddy (IDS Legislator)]

Paul announces that balloting has begun

[Teddy (IDS Legislator)]

Paul announces balloting has ended (with only one player proposal, the decision is easy )

ONE - 12
TWO - 6
THREE - 18
FOUR - 63
abstain - 1

[Teddy (IDS Legislator)]

Seeing as there are only 9 within the group at this time who want to run for leader, the group makes the first election of the executive council unanimous. All players are now on the executive, and any empty spots will be filled by Jenny, Ralph, and other NPC's as needed. Candidates for President have 24 hours to make speeches and try to woo the council to vote for them.

(It would not make sense for a player to be powerless that's why this has been done this way)

* Also, it is presumed that once the council elects as President, Paul will take the empty seat.

** Also, players always displace NPCs, so if a new player joins, the NPC will be written out of the scenario as though they had never existed. This is supposed to be a player driven game!

[Teddy (IDS Legislator)]

Of course, the election will be open to everyone. Just wanted to get rolling.

Usually, in life, the less I say the better I do. This game seems to be the exact opposite!!

[Teddy (IDS Legislator)]

Note that players above will 'bump' anyone from the below list. Presuming the current pace of players joining remains the same, I don't see all 9 positions being filled by players by the time we really get flying here. Therefore, I am going to "cheat" and name the people who would win the posts if no players run for the spots.

Food and Water - Ralph
Shelter - Ricky
Resources - Chris
Defense - Harry
Exploration - Jenny
Labo(u)r - Paul (spelling is open to both to prevent arguments)
Health - Kelly
CS - Tanya



Chris says the department would work with the Department of Exp for the time being, and expects the two to be tied together for a little while.

The Departments of Shelter and DoFaW are already clashing, and are also clashing with Exp, and are asking for Labour to sort it out. Paul says this will be the first thing the new President will have to deal with.

Kelly and Tanya have taken to speaking to members of the group. Many are very concerned as they are on prescriptions and do not have them with them.

Tanya reports that all members of the group speak English. "51 are from the United States, 17 from Britain, 15 from Canada, 11 from Australia, and 6 from elsewhere"; Further that "61 are male, 39 are female"; that "81 are age 25 or younger". Lastly, no one feels sleepy or hungry at this point in time.

Lastly, Paul reports that some members are skilled in some areas, but the bulk of the group is, as he delicately put it, "not quite as skilled". Around 10 members have "extraordinary mental skill" and are "Suited for top government jobs" (Including himself, and fellow executive members of course) while around 15 other members are "physically skilled" including one man who claims he can catch fish with his bare hands, another who claims to be able to lift 1000lbs, and looks it, and a woman who is a "trained cartographer". They have expressed preferences for where to work, but the other 75 or so members are at a loss. Paul calls them "Sheeple" who will need "quite a bit of guidance"


In short, the above gives you a lot of data about what you will be doing, and who will be doing it!

[Teddy (IDS Legislator)]

Employment Requests.

Department Name - Employment Request (Volunteers)

DoFaW - 67 (5)
Shelter - 59 (3)
Exploration - 71 (7)
Resources - 6 (2) May need more in the future, needs to find resources first.
Defense - 4 (4) There has been no sign of animals or other people, the department is confidant they'll be fine with only the 4 of em, toughest guys around.

The below are mostly ministerial departments - IE they do not require a large number of "workers"
Labour - 1 (1)
Health - 1 (1)
CS - 1 (1)
Liaison - 1 (1) (you )
President - 1 (0)

The below are standing, sitting, thumb twittling, having chats, and/or picking snot out of their nose and looking at it.
Thumb Twittlers - 0 (75)

[Teddy (IDS Legislator)]

My turn:

"Hello everyone. My name is Tyler and basically i want to second John's idea. That is all, thank you."

Would you like to run for President? Someone's gotta do it

[Teddy (IDS Legislator)]

Excellent. If no one else declares they want to play, and, want to run, you will be elected President when I wake up (with a faux race showing the results of some NPC's. You will win at least 60 votes)

If someone else wants to run, it will be a contest

[Teddy (IDS Legislator)]

The basis of the argument is which should come first, food, shelter, or exploring to find said.

[Teddy (IDS Legislator)]

Heading to bed.

Also remember, that we are not even at sunset on the first day just yet.

[Teddy (IDS Legislator)]

Election Results:

Tyler - 63
Jenny - 17
Write In: Vazdul - 7
Write In: Paul - 5
Harry - 2
Ralph - 2
Chris - 1
Kelly - 1
Tanya - 1
Abstain - 1

It appears to be an hour before sunset.

As the results were announced, suddenly, the "outhouse" door slid open, and the speaker announced "TYLER. YOU HAVE BEEN SELECTED LEADER. APPROACH US TO COLLECT YOUR ITEMS"

[Teddy (IDS Legislator)]

Also, by now, people have began to use terms.

After watching the sun, it's been decided the beach is facing south.

The "outhouse" has become known as the "Robot/Robotic Box" or "The Box"
The group is known to many as "The Tribe" though other members of the group despise that name.