The Governorship and YOU!

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Pharlen
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The Governorship and YOU!

Post by Pharlen »

In accordance with prophecy, we are coming up on a year of governing. Pharlen's governing, in fact. And that means, we need to build a whole new support system for the "governor of RhyDin" office if it is to continue.

That means, do you want it to continue?

Do you have ideas for what it could and should be?

I'd like to leave behind the old badness that led us all to be here, because this is our fun. It's been a yearly thing to elect a governor – in general, the governor has no real 'power' over anyone, it's strictly social and often played for laughs.

The position offers the chance for people to take up random social events for everyone, and it offers a chance to put site wide story lines into play. I think it's an important role to be played, because it is a purely social gig. It's sort of a cruise ship activities director with a side of lunacy and politics.

I would like us to start "fresh" as it were, taking good ideas and rolling them forward, BUT, I also do want to know if this is bad blood and we need to either kill it off or change it in a meaningful way.

SO!

My ideas are pretty simple:

1. It would be helpful to have a "governors office" thread or story board.
2. A list of various events that the governor can host or have hosted in their name.
3. A list of various resources that can be available to the governor.
4. A 'voting booth' sort of NPC.
5. ?? Profit?

The usual voting time is in September, so, let's get this thing going, because otherwise, Pharlen's going to figure she's Governor For Life. ;D
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Re: The Governorship and YOU!

Post by Delahada »

All hail her Ladyship the Governor for Life, Pharlen Von Tombs!


Seriously, though. I am in favor of continuing the Governor SL, however I have absolutely no helpful advice nor ideas to offer you concerning it. I like the way things were done elsewhere, with voting and fun stories written up before that about the candidates running for office. I agree that it provides wonderful RP opportunities and I think it's a necessary addition to give us things to do outside the duels. I think it could encourage and promote more play in the non-dueling rooms to have a more public face like the Governor roaming about.

Yes to a folder/thread/board.

Someone with a better memory than me is going to have to give you a list of events. I only remember the Governor's Ball that Sal went to all of once. I liked the Taste of Rhydin summer food fair event and wish that would have become a more regular thing. That's when Sal kicked off the annual Matadero BBQ (which I have to remember to write up here holy crap soon). Pretty sure there were other things, but what those were I have absolutely no recollection at this point in time.

That's all I've got. Firm support. Let's keep it going!
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Re: The Governorship and YOU!

Post by Bailey Raptis »

I'm a bit ambivalent about the Governor SL (for reasons I'll try to explain later), but, operating under the assumption that most people would like this storyline and play idea to continue on, here are my thoughts, pegged to the numbers in Pharlen's initial post.
  1. I think having a story board/folder like we had back on RDI is a very good idea -- something set-up in such a way that either the admins have ultimate control of the folder, or something that makes it easy to pass "control" along from governor to governor.
  2. We typically have had some sort of dueling event, like a megabrawl or something (someone will have to correct me on the precise sort of duel it was, but I know it was multiple people fighting each other at the same time) among the candidates for the governorship. Whether that continues I guess depends on whether or not the people who run for it next time are interested in dueling. But I do think there's also been a megabrawl/multiple-person dueling event with previous governors.
  3. This may be less for the governor, and more of a general thing, but I'd like to see a bit of history of the governors available in one place. At a minimum, a list of everyone who ever held the post and when they held it.
  4. I think a voting booth NPC might be nice, but I would also recommend we do what we did this year for the May Queen voting -- I liked that we scrapped forum polling in favor of just sending a message through the forum or through Discord to one person to compile the votes.
Why the ambivalence, then? I'm a bit leery of popularity contest stuff like this, and it feels a little similar to the May Queen in general structure. Of course, I also realize that it's got some significant differences from May Queen (not locked out to characters who don't want to be identified as a "Queen"), and I think the way this SL and the governor position have been handled in the past have made it possible for people to play into it as much or as little as possible. If most of us want this, I'm 100% fine with it. I would like to throw out an idea I'm going to shamelessly steal from the May Queen structure, and feel free to shoot this down in flames if you disagree with me, but: How do you feel about term limiting the governor to one year?
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Re: The Governorship and YOU!

Post by Harris »

Change the name and fold it into the staff as an actual position instead.

The idea that a roleplaying community should have a position dedicated to promoting roleplay seems perfectly logical. There should be a job where that is the sole responsibility of the individual and they're not bogged down by any other duties.

The pitfall of having a popularly elected Governor is that there's no guarantee you're going to get the best person for the position and there's no practical way to replace them should they disappear or otherwise fall into a state of inactivity. The community has to simply wait for the next election to swing around. Plus, an elected Governor technically has no accountability. They have no obligation to do anything and there's no oversight.

As a staff position you can clearly outline the expected duties, recruit someone that truly wants the job, and swap them out whenever it's required. They'll also have the benefit of the support structure that is the staff. Having a more organized system focused on stimulating roleplay seems like a more effective way to start fresh and run with the ball well into the foreseeable future.
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Re: The Governorship and YOU!

Post by JewellRavenlock »

Just a quick moment to point out that we do have an RP Coord!
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Re: The Governorship and YOU!

Post by Mallory »

That’s more or less the position of Roleplay Coordinator, which was started last summer to develop and promote new IC channels and support events.

Something I’ve personally enjoyed about the governor SL is how differently the people who have gotten characters elected have approached it. Matt played up big stories, like the storm; Dris established offices; Fio held meetings that tied into current events; while Pharlen has focused more on public appearances. And that’s off the top of my head, not counting others who have held or even run for the office. Humanity First, “no confidence,” great stories have come out of the election process itself.

What I’m trying to say with all that is, I like people having the flexibility to pursue their own ideas with it, and I would love for players to take the reins even more on creating and running events. Making it a position by staff appointment might minimize the risk in some ways (I guess -- anyone can ghost) but at the cost of the diversity of ideas that gather around every election, and the stories that come out of that process.

As RP coordinator, I’m happy to promote this and other events and open stories, and if the governor SL is something people do want to happen here? I’ll be reaching out to the players who end up running it to support them.
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Re: The Governorship and YOU!

Post by Harris »

Kudos.

I apologize for my ignorance on the subject!
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Re: The Governorship and YOU!

Post by Bailey Raptis »

Harris wrote: Mon Jul 01, 2019 4:42 pm The pitfall of having a popularly elected Governor is that there's no guarantee you're going to get the best person for the position and there's no practical way to replace them should they disappear or otherwise fall into a state of inactivity. The community has to simply wait for the next election to swing around. Plus, an elected Governor technically has no accountability. They have no obligation to do anything and there's no oversight.
I want to preface this by saying this isn't meant to call anybody out. Real life happens, and I totally understand why this ended up happening. With that in mind...we've already had this happen before, a governor more or less disappearing, when Dris was governor. But even that ended up playing into SLs, beyond the offices that Dris set up as governor. I can distinctly remember reading posts by Erinalle Dunbridge handling the fallout from that. We're all pretty creative people here, and I think we could figure out a way to handle a curveball like that again. Or anything else that might come up (evil governor, anybody?). I mean, we're still here aren't we, after all we've been through, looking forward to what the next step might be in this SL? :)

I'm repeating what Mallory's player just said (for emphasis!), but they're 100% right that the beauty of this is that everyone involved, from the governor to the people in play, has the ability to play this out and play into it as much or as little as they want, in whatever way they want.
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Re: The Governorship and YOU!

Post by Claire Gallows »

Bailey Raptis wrote: Sun Jun 30, 2019 7:23 pm I'm a bit ambivalent about the Governor SL (for reasons I'll try to explain later), but, operating under the assumption that most people would like this storyline and play idea to continue on, here are my thoughts, pegged to the numbers in Pharlen's initial post.
  1. We typically have had some sort of dueling event, like a megabrawl or something (someone will have to correct me on the precise sort of duel it was, but I know it was multiple people fighting each other at the same time) among the candidates for the governorship. Whether that continues I guess depends on whether or not the people who run for it next time are interested in dueling. But I do think there's also been a megabrawl/multiple-person dueling event with previous governors.
Just touching on this; I usually ran the Governor's Cage Match event. Last year was an exception for some uhhhh obvious reasons lol. But if we continue the tradition over here, I'd be glad to continue running it.
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Re: The Governorship and YOU!

Post by Pharlen »

Pharlen wrote: Sat Jun 29, 2019 10:36 pm 1. It would be helpful to have a "governors office" thread or story board.
2. A list of various events that the governor can host or have hosted in their name.
3. A list of various resources that can be available to the governor.
4. A 'voting booth' sort of NPC.
5. ?? Profit?
SO, 5 being, List of ex Govs
6. Term Limits?
7. Staff Position?

A list would be great! Blackmail material is blackmail material! (I'm kidding!)

Term limits, as in the May Queen, where the title is set to pass to people who haven't participated? For those Obvious Reasons, I'd rather say 'two years, and you're out for another (x amount) of years, because people do run again for offices. Or, after one year, another x amount of time before you can run again.

Staff position? Please no. The governor is supposed to be what we make of it, and we can always play around it. Or have a recall or impeachment!
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Re: The Governorship and YOU!

Post by Bailey Raptis »

Claire Gallows wrote: Mon Jul 01, 2019 6:30 pm Just touching on this; I usually ran the Governor's Cage Match event. Last year was an exception for some uhhhh obvious reasons lol. But if we continue the tradition over here, I'd be glad to continue running it.
I really do want to see the Governor's Cage Match continue, because it's a reminder of what kicked off the Governor's SL in the first place, and the community that we've built here as a logical evolution from that first spark of collaboration.
Pharlen wrote: Tue Jul 02, 2019 11:18 am SO, 5 being, List of ex Govs
6. Term Limits?
7. Staff Position?

A list would be great! Blackmail material is blackmail material! (I'm kidding!)

Term limits, as in the May Queen, where the title is set to pass to people who haven't participated? For those Obvious Reasons, I'd rather say 'two years, and you're out for another (x amount) of years, because people do run again for offices. Or, after one year, another x amount of time before you can run again.

Staff position? Please no. The governor is supposed to be what we make of it, and we can always play around it. Or have a recall or impeachment!
I'm going to build a list right now, based on stuff from the old RhyDin Election folder, so if any of this is incorrect, sorry!

Past Governors
2007: Kitty O. Helston
2008: Matthew Algiers Simon
2009:Matthew Algiers Simon
2010: Sheridan "Dris" Driscol
2011:Fionna Helston al Amat
2012:Fionna Helston al Amat
2013: Rekah Illyriana Silverblades
2014: Ebon Ilnaren
2015:Ebon Ilnaren
2016:Katt Batten
2017:Colleen MacLeod-Fenner
2018:Pharlen Von Tombs

I think a discussion on what form term limits should take is definitely worth having, and I think given the fact we're in a very different place than we were even a year ago, and definitely from when this storyline started 12(!) years ago, I would be inclined to say the slate starts clean here. I was thinking something along the lines of the May Queen's "once and that's it for a player", but looking at the previous results, we've got a precedent for people holding it two straight years. I think two years (two elections) followed by a mandatory year off for a player before being eligible to run again seems ideal, but I'd like to hear what other people think too.
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Re: The Governorship and YOU!

Post by Ebon Ilnaren »

Thank you for starting this thread, Pharlen, if only to keep me from starting it myself. ;)

I am very much in favor of the "two-term-then-at-least-one-term-out" limit, though of course there's nothing preventing someone from only serving one term or waiting more than one to try again. Personally, I found Ebon's time as Governor to be very rewarding, but after two runs I was very much ready to take a break, both IC and OOC.
Delahada wrote: Sun Jun 30, 2019 11:42 amI liked the Taste of Rhydin summer food fair event and wish that would have become a more regular thing. That's when Sal kicked off the annual Matadero BBQ (which I have to remember to write up here holy crap soon).
Thank you! I'm glad that the Taste of Rhydin was appreciated, and I am very grateful for everyone who participated in it! :) I would very much love to see that come back, whether or not I'm in office again. :D

I remember that Fio championed establishing a number of "native" Rhydin holidays, which I always thought were cool. They weren't necessarily driven from the Governor's Office, but she did keep the public holiday calendar there. Rekah (I think) held the first Valentine's Disco Ball, and I know Ebon continued that (Xanadu on roller skates, anyone?). Then there's the Yule Ball, which at least for a while became the Governor's Yule Ball.
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Re: The Governorship and YOU!

Post by Pharlen »

Started a List! :3 It's hardly comprehensive, but it'll do. Try to get them interspersed with the calendar as it goes!

Governor Inspired Events:

Oct: Halloween or Harvest activities.
Nov: Harvest, Thanksgiving.
Dec: Yule Ball, Governor's Ball, Governor's Yule Ball. Yule Parade
Jan: New Years, Governor's Ball
Feb: Valentines/Anti Valentines Disco Roller Skates
Mar: Governor's Ball, Random Parades.
April: Easter's around here somewhere. So is the Children's Day celebration.
May: Beltane and May Queen. Walk of Shame the day after Beltane.
June: Pride Week/Month Sponsor some Matches.
July: Taste of RhyDin or Summerween.
Aug: Taste of RhyDin, Free Movies, Summerween.
Sept: Frantic Campaigning.
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Re: The Governorship and YOU!

Post by Ebon Ilnaren »

Wow, Rhydin has a lot of balls. *cue AC/DC*
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Re: The Governorship and YOU!

Post by PrlUnicorn »

I'd like to add my thanks to Pharlen for kicking this into gear! Thanks to PC for starting the Rolodex thread.
Pharlen wrote: Sat Jun 29, 2019 10:36 pm 1. It would be helpful to have a "governors office" thread or story board.
2. A list of various events that the governor can host or have hosted in their name.
3. A list of various resources that can be available to the governor.
4. A 'voting booth' sort of NPC.
5. ?? Profit?
1. Yes to this and something to consider. Why is it a Governor and not a Mayor since that's the more common title for the head official of a city? Maybe the office also compasses some outlaying areas of the city or allows the Governor to act as or appoint liaisons to those places. Just one of those hmm things. Also, if there are any issues (bad blood as Pharl put it) a change of title might not be a bad thing.

2. I'm not certain, but I think each Governor has added some sort of festival(s), storyline(s), or project(s) during their tenure. There's no reason that those things can't continue when their term of office is over or be added to the list for the next person in line. While the Governor SL is a great springboard for things, I have come across people over the years that have been under the mistaken impression that only those with titles of some kind including staff positions are allowed to initiate any sort of event, etc.

3. The Rolodex having a new beginning on this site is a great start for cataloging resources. This is a useful tool for everyone not just the Governor.

4. This is an interesting idea! Something that has always boggled me is why the interim pole results for voting had been hidden. In real life situations, those results are made public, so, why not have the poll open to see how things are going?

5. Merchandising booths for candidates?
Bailey Raptis wrote: Sun Jun 30, 2019 7:23 pm We typically have had some sort of dueling event, like a megabrawl or something (someone will have to correct me on the precise sort of duel it was, but I know it was multiple people fighting each other at the same time) among the candidates for the governorship. Whether that continues I guess depends on whether or not the people who run for it next time are interested in dueling. But I do think there's also been a megabrawl/multiple-person dueling event with previous governors.
I like the idea of the Cage Match continuing as well. If the bot system is already or can be adapted for those rules, even better as it allows for any given official to be doing the sportscaster thing if they want to. As for those that have no interest in dueling or prefer to not participate, there has been at least one candidate in the past that didn't take part, the one that was a parody of Donald Trump.

I'm pretty sure you're right, Bailey, as I seem to remember Matt, Kitty, and Ebon taking part. Not sure who else was involved.


Bailey Raptis wrote: Sun Jun 30, 2019 7:23 pm This may be less for the governor, and more of a general thing, but I'd like to see a bit of history of the governors available in one place. At a minimum, a list of everyone who ever held the post and when they held it.
I think a voting booth NPC might be nice, but I would also recommend we do what we did this year for the May Queen voting -- I liked that we scrapped forum polling in favor of just sending a message through the forum or through Discord to one person to compile the votes.
Maybe a Governor history page similar to those of title holders, but with a bio of some kind?

A Voting Booth NPC/Bot does have the advantage of tracking one vote per player, unless that system changes, as most players only have one primary Discord account. How would that hold those that have more than one accountable outside of the honor system?


Bailey Raptis wrote: Sun Jun 30, 2019 7:23 pm Why the ambivalence, then? I'm a bit leery of popularity contest stuff like this, and it feels a little similar to the May Queen in general structure. Of course, I also realize that it's got some significant differences from May Queen (not locked out to characters who don't want to be identified as a "Queen"), and I think the way this SL and the governor position have been handled in the past have made it possible for people to play into it as much or as little as possible. If most of us want this, I'm 100% fine with it. I would like to throw out an idea I'm going to shamelessly steal from the May Queen structure, and feel free to shoot this down in flames if you disagree with me, but: How do you feel about term limiting the governor to one year?
No matter what we do, this kind of thing is going to end up as a popularity contest. I am not opposed to a term limit of say two one year terms of office, be it consecutive or the second one at a later date. I am, however, opposed to disallowing additional characters of a player from running for or serving in the office. That's my understanding of how the selection for May Queen nominees is done. To me, it's like punishing a character because a relative or weird neighbor down the street did it and now they can't. Since a character is already limited to one time as May Queen, that closes the door already.


Mallory wrote: Mon Jul 01, 2019 5:39 pm What I’m trying to say with all that is, I like people having the flexibility to pursue their own ideas with it, and I would love for players to take the reins even more on creating and running events. Making it a position by staff appointment might minimize the risk in some ways (I guess -- anyone can ghost) but at the cost of the diversity of ideas that gather around every election, and the stories that come out of that process.

As RP coordinator, I’m happy to promote this and other events and open stories, and if the governor SL is something people do want to happen here? I’ll be reaching out to the players who end up running it to support them.
This, so much this!

Everyone has their own ideas of what a Governor should or shouldn't do. I like the idea of players having the opportunity to try out their own ideas. It's nice to know there is already a staff person that could act as a sounding board for anyone needing bounce ideas around.


Pharlen wrote: Tue Jul 02, 2019 11:18 am
Term limits, as in the May Queen, where the title is set to pass to people who haven't participated? For those Obvious Reasons, I'd rather say 'two years, and you're out for another (x amount) of years, because people do run again for offices. Or, after one year, another x amount of time before you can run again.
I would like to suggest a back up plan in case there is another case of a Governor that is unable to finish their term. While Erinelle handled things brilliantly when Dris went off the grid, it might be interesting to have a midterm election or something. I laughed a lot when Dris finally returned, party hat and all, looking like he'd been kidnapped for a months on end festival with the wee folk!


Ebon Ilnaren wrote: Tue Jul 02, 2019 9:49 pm
Delahada wrote: Sun Jun 30, 2019 11:42 amI liked the Taste of Rhydin summer food fair event and wish that would have become a more regular thing. That's when Sal kicked off the annual Matadero BBQ (which I have to remember to write up here holy crap soon).
Thank you! I'm glad that the Taste of Rhydin was appreciated, and I am very grateful for everyone who participated in it! :) I would very much love to see that come back, whether or not I'm in office again. :D
Dooooo iiiiiiiiiiiiit!


Pharlen wrote: Wed Jul 03, 2019 8:16 pm Started a List! :3 It's hardly comprehensive, but it'll do. Try to get them interspersed with the calendar as it goes!

Governor Inspired Events:

Oct: Halloween or Harvest activities.
Nov: Harvest, Thanksgiving.
Dec: Yule Ball, Governor's Ball, Governor's Yule Ball. Yule Parade
Jan: New Years, Governor's Ball
Feb: Valentines/Anti Valentines Disco Roller Skates
Mar: Governor's Ball, Random Parades.
April: Easter's around here somewhere. So is the Children's Day celebration.
May: Beltane and May Queen. Walk of Shame the day after Beltane.
June: Pride Week/Month Sponsor some Matches.
July: Taste of RhyDin or Summerween.
Aug: Taste of RhyDin, Free Movies, Summerween.
Sept: Frantic Campaigning.
Not sure of the dates, but Citizens' Day, Outlander Day, Remembrance Day, Dueling Appreciation Week, and The Stew holiday are in there someplace!

I looked it up for what these were originally and found:
Feast of the Two Moons (second Saturday in January)
Stew Day (fourth Saturday in February)
Night of the Red Dragon (Leap Day - celebrated every 4 years)
March 4 - RhyDin Founders Day
April 14 - Children's Day
May 1 - Beltane (Festival Dates TBD)
June 21 - Midsummer Day (Summer Solstice)
Jul 17 - Outlander Day
Remembrance Day (fourth Wednesday in August)
Citizens Day (second Saturday in September)
Oct 13 - Nexus Appeasement Day
Dueling Appreciation Week (second full week of November)
Winterfest (Second week of December)
Yule Ball (Usually the Friday or Saturday during Winterfest)
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