SENATE STANDING COMMITTEE: Gov't Oversight and Reform (Recommendations)

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

One of the most interesting or should I say ironic thing about this is that shua, had all the links to the past GM threads, including yours Marokai, in his OP. That is why I just linked to his OP rather than repost them in this thread. The SoIA was more difficult though.

It is not the public's job to think up stories for you to write, Shua. It is yours. Purple State's tenure as GM taught me that you won't know what people can/will respond to unless you write it.

When was the last time the public was interested in any story, either domestically or internationally? I can't remember. The more fundamental issue is that there's little evidence that what I write is read at all. If it had been, the question of why we still have high unemployment would not be such a complete mystery.

This committee will by design create pull on the GM and SoIA, as long as I am chairman that is. I think most people "know" why unemployment is so high, we aren't all that dumb enough to not. The purpose of this investigation and this committee is to probe the issue with a public disgussion rather than waiting for someone to write a piece of legislation on his own motivation and hoping it is relevant enough to have that discussion and then having to contend with the limits and time restrains of traditional Senate debate. In short it provides the kind of inter-gov't interaction that this game has desperately needed and I have been struggling to find a way to provide since I first won election to the Senate. This is what you have been waiting for.

Theoretically, the way this would work, is that you would create the stories. We then haul you before here in chains to explain and provide more details about the situation. Then we deliberate and make recommendations based on what you tell us. You get a portal into the Senate that does care, and we get to harrass you all the time to keep you active.

If this sounds condescending, it should because I have a dim view of government officials. I would think you sympathize with such sentiments from an ideological view if nothing else.  

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

The one kink this first time is that process is dominating the discussion because of all the difficulties that exist regarding these matters. I quite expected that when I started this and actually desired it. So don't consider it a distraction.

It is not the public's job to think up stories for you to write, Shua. It is yours. Purple State's tenure as GM taught me that you won't know what people can/will respond to unless you write it.

When was the last time the public was interested in any story, either domestically or internationally? I can't remember. The more fundamental issue is that there's little evidence that what I write is read at all. If it had been, the question of why we still have high unemployment would not be such a complete mystery.

It used to be popular to call Purple State the "Game God" back in the day, because that's what you have to remember that you are. You aren't just a dispenser of random statistics, you can shape the narrative of the entire game. You have immense power that you should use to write stories that people must respond to.

Who cares if people haven't expressed specific interest? This game currently lacks direction and it lacks focus, our parties act as weak and amateurish organizations compared to our old institutions, and the Senate runs around with their heads cut off picking random fights with the Supreme Court or arguing about toilet regulations than anything else. Your position was created to give the game direction and narrative it could fall back to if the meta-game started to break down, and you should be using that authority.

I'm trying to look through the old update threads to see if there have been any stories that have ever been continued from one GM to the next. So far, I haven't found any.

Look harder. I was not left much to work with, story wise, but I sewed up Badger's story about the GTO bomber (where has the GTO Ambassador gone, by the way? That position just faded away) and Yelnoc's stories about hurricanes and emergency conditions throughout the Mideast. They were minor stories, but I felt continuity was important and finished them.

If you're looking for some of my old material, there was a Midwest tax shelter story I started that no one followed up on, an abortion story I started no one followed up on, the social unrest in Oceania that no one followed up on, stories with the SoEA about african nations joining the GTO and the restrictions placed on them by doing so.. that no one followed up on, and the two other major stories I started, unsafe nuclear power facilities and a failing Postal Service, I had to solve myself when I became Senator months later.

The Guardian-Informer, folks. Ask for it by name.

I seem to recall you were very traditional regarding the GM and was hostile to all such stories that weren't data oriented, atleast with the New Mexican rebellion. In that case you have made quite a bit of progress in these three years. As I said then, the GM should be aggressive and innovative and shouldn't cower because certain people dislike certain kinds of stories. That is a given in this business. People can specialize in their strong suit and shouldn't try to force limit the GM only to do things their desired way. Was serving as GM, the catalyst for changing your perspective?

[Kaine for Senate '18]

I think part of the problem is that, except for GM, these positions now turn over too much.  We've had three men serve as SoEA in 4 months, and several men serve as SoIA, with the incumbent having done nothing since taking office.  If we could keep them all in office together, we'd be more likely to get follow ups and continuity.  Of course, I'm not sure there's a solution to that.

[🐒Gods of Prosperity🔱🐲💸]

If you're looking for some of my old material, there was a Midwest tax shelter story I started that no one followed up on, an abortion story I started no one followed up on, the social unrest in Oceania that no one followed up on, stories with the SoEA about african nations joining the GTO and the restrictions placed on them by doing so.. that no one followed up on, and the two other major stories I started, unsafe nuclear power facilities and a failing Postal Service, I had to solve myself when I became Senator months later.

Come to think of it, that postal service issue was one that I continued, but the issue was never solved.  The story I was writing for it got complicated by an unclear healthcare reimbursement bill that I couldn't get any answers on.  The Oceania story was controversial because members of the Pacific did not believe it took into account the actions of their legislature, so frankly I was confused and didn't want to touch it. The others just seemed like self-contained stories.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Shua, why was there no attempt to coordinate or perhaps I should say collaborate with the SoIA in the past two months?


So far, what I can gleam is that we need continuity from previous occupants of each office to current occupant, and then lateral communication between the current occupants of those real.

We have a suggestion to make summary reports to incomming officials, and one that threatens impeachment to those that don't follow their predecessors story lines. I think we should lead the horse to water, but not try and force them to drink. Both of these will be questions in our recommendation vote. Have I missed any others?

Does anyone have any other ideas on how to improve the GM/SoIA/SoEA operation?

If not, then I would like to proceed with discussing some of the details of the current economic situation, that aren't the result of the inferiorities of the game infrastructure.

Shua, at what point in the future do we expect unemployment to fall below 6% on the current trajectory? What potential pitfalls do see out there that could slow down or reverse the gains? Is the budget being in balance a detriment to a recovering economy? Is it a positive?  Or maybe a little of both?

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

I still don't quite understand why we need summary reports when the threads themselves should suffice.

Though if compiling the timeline is this much of a priority, perhaps we could encourage more cooperation in updating the wiki to include all this information?  That is, after all, what it's there for...

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

I still don't quite understand why we need summary reports when the threads themselves should suffice.

Though if compiling the timeline is this much of a priority, perhaps we could encourage more cooperation in updating the wiki to include all this information?  That is, after all, what it's there for...

Prioritization, especially in a situation like Purple State who held the office for seven months, or shua himself even. With such a long thread, it would be easy to miss important stuff in favor of less important or resolved matters. Also, you have the leading the horse to water situation I mentioned earlier, whereby you decrease the chance of a situation like Morgieb's happening.

[🐒Gods of Prosperity🔱🐲💸]

Shua, why was there no attempt to coordinate or perhaps I should say collaborate with the SoIA in the past two months?

The SoIA position isn't strongly defined and so it depends on who fills it as to what its role is.
Based on the confirmation hearings, I got the impression Morgeib was more focused on cabinet work and implementing policy than in the game moderation aspect.  I didn't have anything particular in mind as far as collaboration, so my attention ended up elsewhere.

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I don't have a crystal ball to show you. A straight line continuing the rate of progress could mean under 6% unemployment in about year and a half.  Or, the economy could adjust and self-correct more quickly. Or, we could be dealing with longer term structural problems that will create a new normal unemployment  above 6%.
As far as the effects of the budget, I have mentioned in my updates the issue of higher taxes and lower spending. It may be that quickly balancing a budget during a period of slow growth and high unemployment makes sense - but the case has yet to be made in the Atlasian context, I think.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Damn it, 22 days we lost here. We need to get that down to 10 next time. Improving Committee membership process may be our next topic.

Since it seems, we will have a CoIA very soon, I am going to drop the economic conditions from the current discussion and let them pick up with that. However, we will continue to poke around in the GM and SoIA's business for a while. Then we will deliberate solutions to the his communication/interaction problem amongst ourselves (the shackled victims will be removed from our presence).

How do the members feel about this pain er plan?

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

I ordered some new carpeting, because the blood stains were getting to be annoying. This time we will use drop cloth before we...

[Kaine for Senate '18]

Plan looks good to me.  Let's go!

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

Plan looks good to me.  Let's go!

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

I want the members to review what the testifying parties have posted and formulate ideas or repost previous ones they came up with regarding solutions to the communication/interaction issue.

We had the "summary reports to successor at end of term" idea, that I came up with. And I think Ben had something else, but I can't remember what his was. Were there any others?

Shua recommending updating the wiki. - I am going add that to topic as an item of discussion, because that is an issue in and off itself. For that we would need the VP, AG and possibly the Regional executives to testify. 

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

They have finished the carpeting in here, and it is really good quality work I must say. No all we have to do is....  ah I just can't, Ben suffered enough from crazy nicknames from a certain movie in my Approval poll thread.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Oh and one more thing, if you guys have any topic ideas or bills we should review, please do tell.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Ah, Hello!

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

We are postively brilliant. Considering I am just sure that such active Senators as Ben and Scott, wouldn't dare fail to do what I asked of them, I couldn't imagine the silence in this thread being anything else then a new innovation on their part. Silent deliberations. Postively Extroadinary! NOT!

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

I'm strongly in favor of developing a comprehensive plan for updating the wiki.  In my view, the regional executives should have a strong rule in adding their respective laws as long as they have access, so I would support summoning them to the hearing.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

That is nice but what about the previous hearing, that needs to be finished and a recommendation passed? Were there any ideas that I missed in my post?

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

Well, I think the best idea I've heard was the "summary reports" one.  There needs to be a way to promote coordination between cabinet members, and that's probably the best way of doing so.  That, and holding cabinet members to that duty.  I'd recommend that either a statute or a constitutional amendment be passed to require the reports.  Hopefully our friends won't mind a little extra paperwork...

[Kaine for Senate '18]

I firmy believe that the only way to create continuity, and hopefully entice officeholders to actually work, is to have a comprehensive report of what their predecessors did.  That way there's a starting point.  I want bi-monthly status updates, or whenever an officeholder departs - whatever comes first.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Okay "summary reports" and bi-monthly "status reports".


What would these look like in your opinion? I think I described my idea of the "summary reports" being a short report about the priority issues, the policies they followed and potential secondary consequences or complications arising as they move forward. Which you think anything more is in order here, Scott and Ben?

You mentioned, Bi-monthly "reports" or perhaps "updates", Ben? Would these look and operate the same way or would the mechanics of them be different?

How do we go about requiring these be done and enforcing afterwards to ensure that they are. It is easy to pass mandates on officeholders, it is hard to actually get them to be done. I remember I passed a series of mandates on specific issues, requiring to GM to do A, B and C by the end of the September. Well, September has ended three times since then, and those mandates still haven't been followed. Unless we cover all the bases here, this brilliant idea will just be another ignored, "activity mandate".

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

I think just a short overview of the events they wrote about along with what you mentioned will be appropriate.  

Enforcement shouldn't be much of a problem.  The President can either dismiss them from their duties or they can be impeached for refusing to follow through.  Otherwise, maybe there can be a built-in deadline for officeholders to complete their reports or else lose their positions.  In that case, I would think that a bi-monthly status report requirement is more appropriate so that they're constantly on their feet.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

If Ben wants to respond on that, he may. Also if anyone has any final thoughts on this matter, please post them by tonight, when I plan to open a recommendation vote.

[Kaine for Senate '18]

I'm generally in line with what Scott said.  I just think there needs to be something that each successive officeholder can work with.