Senate Confirmation Thread: tmthforu94 for Deputy Game Moderator (Debating)

[Esteemed Jimmy]

I, Mr. Reactionary, by the authority vested in me by the Laws of the Republic of Atlasia as Game Moderator, first officer of the game engine thereof, hereby nominate Tmthforu94 for the position of Deputy Game Moderator.

- R

The nominee has 24 hours to make an opening statement.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

I will hold off on questions until the nominee has made an opening statement.

[Devout Centrist]

I look forward to a spirited and healthy debate!

[Attorney General, LGC Speaker, and Former PPT Dwarven Dragon]

I will hold off on questions until the nominee has made an opening statement.

[tmthforu94]

Thank you to GM Reactionary for the nomination.

I accepted the nomination because the lack of stories is a gaping hole in this game that I have been protesting for basically the last year; I have the experience and qualifications to fix this.

To address one concern I have already heard: do I think it is necessary to have a third Deputy GM's for writing stories? No. However, Sestak hasn't written anything for two months and has shown no desire to write anything now. He has stated on Discord the reason is because no one took action on the ones he wrote in June (which is incorrect, I sought to correct the territorial referendum debacle). People not responding to my stories doesn't mean I'm not going to do my job. I'll take it as a learning experience and get feedback on what I can change so that people will react to them. It also didn't help that the stories he wrote came out just days before a federal election - people were focused on the election aspect of the game at that point.

Another point that might be brought up is me posting fake unemployment numbers back in January-ish. As explained at the time, in no way was it meant to be taken seriously and I was clear of that when I posted it, I just wanted to bring to light and emphasize that the lack of GM action at the time was an issue that needed addressed.

In my mind, being a competent GM for writing stories requires a few things:
1. Strong writing skills - my undergraduate degree is in journalism from a reputable school. My RL job doesn't entail too much writing, so I'm actually excited to work on creative writing again, I haven't done it in a long time.
2. Knowledge of the game - 10+ years of experience in the game, I know how it works and have seen what works well and what doesn't from the GM team.
3. Knowledge of the current game climate - again, I have it. A key part is understanding what is happening at the federal and regional levels so that stories can be RELEVANT for government officials to respond to.
4. Being non-partisan - I just came off being a highly successful Federalist president, so some may question this part, especially on the left. I can also be feisty and know I rub people the wrong way. However, I am certainly not beholden to a political party, past experiences have also proved I can work in nonpartisan/bipartisan roles with success.
5. Activity - I have a strong record of activity in this game. Yankee might correct me on this next statement since he knows my history better than I do, but I don't think I've ever resigned in the game because of inactivity.

What can I promise? At MINIMUM I plan to have one story/newsflash from the GM department each week (on average). This can be higher, if something gets crazy IRL, there may be a week where there is none. Considering the lack of stories we have had for the last year, I promise today that if I go more than 3 weeks without posting anything, I will resign immediately. I won't make excuses for inactivity. I plan on serving through the end of this presidential term and will talk with Reactionary and reevaluate at that time.

I will likely steer away from the long, 4+ paragraph stories. Similar to some of Yankee/Griffin rants, most people don't read them. My stories will be short and concise and will be a mixture of using real world stories and coming up with my own. I also want to do stories that are "reaction" pieces to legislation that is pending or recently passed.

[Devout Centrist]

What is your opinion on crises? Hypothetically, how would you execute a proposed crisis?

[Peanut]

Let me just step in for a second, if I may...

With you as Deputy GM, TM, what can the regions expect regarding stories predominantly featuring us? We've been rather lacking on them lately, and I'd much appreciate stories to get the Council moving and issue a few Orders maybe .

[Former President tack50]

I believe Tmth's opening statement speaks by itself. I can think of no one more qualified than him to be Deputy GM and I wholeheartedly endorse his nomination.

Beyond that I also endorse his plan for shorter and more concise stories over longer ones; which should encourage more reactions. I will note the job of Game Moderator, especially one dedicated to stories, is usually a hard and thankless job. The GM is powerful on paper, but his stories are sometimes ignored.

However, since it is the job of the Senate to question the nominee:

- Do you have any plans for stories involving racoon outbreaks and other attacks by animals?

- How exactly will you judge the effectiveness of legislation for your reaction stories to laws passed by Congress?

[tmthforu94]

What is your opinion on crises? Hypothetically, how would you execute a proposed crisis?

I think that is a bit down the road honestly, but it is something Mr. R and I have talked about and it certainly would be fascinating! I do think you need to get support from parties involved in advance to ensure it has buy-in and can be properly played out. (in terms of crises that involve players). Otherwise I think it plays out just like a normal story, ensuring there is follow-up based on the actions of government (or lack thereof). That hopefully answers what you're asking, please let me know if you need more follow-up.

Let me just step in for a second, if I may...

With you as Deputy GM, TM, what can the regions expect regarding stories predominantly featuring us? We've been rather lacking on them lately, and I'd much appreciate stories to get the Council moving and issue a few Orders maybe .

Excellent question, I don't have an exact ratio for federal stories vs regional stories, but as a longtime proponent and advocate for regional governments, I can promise you there will be a healthy mix of both, after all, there are 3 regional legislatures as opposed to the 1 federal. As mentioned in my opening statement, part of that will be reading through legislation that is being debated or has recently passed in regional legislatures and creating reaction stories to them.

I believe Tmth's opening statement speaks by itself. I can think of no one more qualified than him to be Deputy GM and I wholeheartedly endorse his nomination.

Beyond that I also endorse his plan for shorter and more concise stories over longer ones; which should encourage more reactions. I will note the job of Game Moderator, especially one dedicated to stories, is usually a hard and thankless job. The GM is powerful on paper, but his stories are sometimes ignored.

However, since it is the job of the Senate to question the nominee:

- Do you have any plans for stories involving racoon outbreaks and other attacks by animals?

- How exactly will you judge the effectiveness of legislation for your reaction stories to laws passed by Congress?

Thank you for the kind words! Just to re-emphasize, I don't want to be lazy by writing shorter stories and will certainly write something longer if the need is there, but when I think of how I can spend MY time with this job, I think having a few short stories/headlines is going to have a better effect on the game than one story that requires hours of research/work. For those of you that have played NationStates, think along the lines of that as to how my stories will be formatted.

To answer your questions, I don't have any specific plans yet for stories, there will be a very wide variety to allow politicians to get a good mixture of things to respond to. While the raccoon crisis in the South, as well as rat problem in DC, are pressing issues facing the game in my opinion, my opinion really doesn't matter when it relates to GM stories. Facts only!

Great question on how to judge effectiveness of legislation, and that is something I'll certainly work with the GM team on to help ensure any biases are out the window. There won't be any sort of formula or specific metric used because I think it would be difficult to do that without including bias. All I can say is that there won't be consistency one way or the other in stories I write that rate legislation "effectiveness." All sides probably won't like legislation ramifications from time to time.

[Attorney General, LGC Speaker, and Former PPT Dwarven Dragon]

I hereby endorse the nomination.

[tmthforu94]

Any additional questions?? TY

[Devout Centrist]

How often would you like to see the GM team collectively produce stories? How would you collaborate with the team to make new content?

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

I am satisfied with the opening statements and don't have any other questions. The nominee is correct I do know his history in this game, perhaps more than he does (applies to many people for example). One thing I can say is that Tmth has always been active in office as far as I can recollect and he has always been something of a political maverick. He also combines the experience of being a Governor during several different points in history, President likewise, and both Senator and cabinet. This means that he understands the expectations and desires that all of these organs of power desire from the GM team.

I am also very much interested in his seeking of feedback and also the advanced support and buy-in. I think such would great improve the quality of the stories and also the willingness of people to pay attention and accept what the GM says and then play the game on that basis.

[tmthforu94]

How often would you like to see the GM team collectively produce stories? How would you collaborate with the team to make new content?

I'd like to see at least one story come out a week, this does not include any budgetary reports that Encke works on.

In terms of collaboration - Encke works so hard on providing the numbers, I'd like to work with him to take those numbers and put them into stories. After a region passes a budget that he worked hard to get numbers for, I'd try to do a follow-up report explaining how any changes effect (example: education cuts could result in a teacher strike). While I don't know all of their plans since I'm not on the team, I know Mr. Reactionary has a lot of ideas and content, so I'd work close with him to put those ideas into actual stories.

Two types of stories there will generally be:
1. Reactionary - reacting to legislation being passed/debated by legislatures
2. Proactive (best word I can think of to describe this) - bringing issues to light to encourage legislatures to act.

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

What would you say is your philosophy with regard to the role of the Game Engine within Atlasia? Is the GM akin to a deity, or a chief priest in the service of the republic? Do you consider the engine part of the cabinet, separate from it, or above it?

In your view, what would constitute "crossing the line" when it comes to a story published by the Game Engine? On a similar note, what is the difference between bias and realism from a GM perspective?

[tmthforu94]

In its perfect form, the Game Moderator team is what should make Atlasia tick and transform it to a true mock government as opposed to just an election simulation. Every action in life has consequences, good and bad, and while we will never be able to fully encompass that in the game, I'd like to at least give it my best effort. My largest complaint with Atlasia for the past couple years is that it really doesn't matter what people do when they're in office, it is just about the party affiliation. An active GM team with stories that can bring to light happenings in federal/regional legislatures can hopefully provide a better educated public and elections can be more impactful and issues and results based. That is how I would describe how the GM department works within the game.

I consider it separate from the cabinet. The GM team was not part of any cabinet discussions during my tenure as president.

In terms of crossing the line - I think it would be letting my personal views/opinions affect story-writing or doing something without a players consent (trying to kill off someone, for example). Obviously I have an opinion on just about every issue, but for issues I have voiced strong opinions on (for example, your terrible resolution trying to move Kansas to Fremont which would have horrible economic ramifications for the state), I would either defer to another member of the GM team to handle OR, at minimum, would make sure they are all on board before submitting anything. The GM team loses all credibility when one side starts to cry foul and claim bias, so I will do all I can to avoid that.

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

My thanks to the nominee: I would tend to agree with all of that (except for the strange alternate spelling of "glorious" —is "t-e-r-r-i-b-l-e" pronounced differently in the South? ).

[Devout Centrist]

If there are no objections, I motion for a final vote

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

My thanks to the nominee: I would tend to agree with all of that (except for the strange alternate spelling of "glorious" —is "t-e-r-r-i-b-l-e" pronounced differently in the South? ).

You just appropriated three states into Fremont via the Entities formerly Known as Territories bill, surely you don't also need Kansas.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

I open a final vote on the confirmation of the nominee, Senators please vote Aye, Nay or Abstain.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

AYE

[ON Progressive]

I am satisfied with the answers this nominee has given, and he is qualified for this job.

Aye

[Former President tack50]

Aye!

[Devout Centrist]

Aye

[Don Vito Corleone]

I know it's a bit late for this, but I strongly favour tmth's confirmation as Deputy GM. I greatly enjoyed working under him when he was President, and I know he's someone who is very dedicated to the game.