Government & Political Roleplay Discussion

[Eriks]

The first step is establishing an actual city council, instead of having the entire legislative process controlled out-of-character or dictated through executive orders. The whole point of a political party is to get their candidates elected to public office, full-stop. If there aren't elections, if there aren't elected offices, we obviously shouldn't expect a lot of roleplay around political parties.

 

Finally, a city council must have teeth to do its job. Passing laws, oversight of government departments, and authorizing/appropriating funding for government programs. Otherwise it's just window dressing.

Edited June 27, 2020 by Eriks

[Tseard]

I'm all forward for having a realistic government with an actual city council and oversight committees. Politics is something that I find very enjoyable when correctly done and I hope that with the upcoming election system, we will actually see something like that. 

[jcat]

On 6/26/2020 at 4:39 AM, liafriuli said:

1.) What do you expect from an in-character political party?
2.) How would you change the current politics in Los Santos?
3.) Do you roleplay any political identity in your character currently?

 

 

 

1.   I expect an IC political party not to make sweeping changes.  There are so many competing interests, checks and balances, and partisan nonsense that big changes often take many years to implement.  Other changes wouldn't be possible due to server rules (make guns easier to get, make guns harder to get, longer sentences for convicted criminals, decriminalizing the drugs no one bothers with anyway).

 

2.  To have a viable political scene, we'd have to figure out what government policies can be changed or created, if they're compatible with server rules, and if they're not going to ruin people's roleplay.  Then we'd need people committed to playing opposition parties and things like that.  We'd need a voting system that isn't bullshit.  We'd need safeguards against players banding together to change policies to make themselves richer, or make crime easier, or some other self-serving thing.  This happens all the time, but in a server of 500 people, it would be so easy.  The policies that matter are created OOCly at the staff level anyway.

 

3.  No, my character isn't the type of person who would have a political identity.  Most characters are younger, and most young people aren't all that big on voting and civic duty, especially when half of them are gangsters or other criminals.  So many of the characters have criminal convictions, or are immigrants who are so recent that they wouldn't have their citizenship, that the voting base might not be all that large.  This would all have to be tracked.

[arrdef]

The above is a remarkably restrictive and close-minded vision of what politics can offer. If we start out with placing all interesting policy points behind OOC gates, why would anyone bother to play a political character in the long term? I think we should start with the healthier assumptions that those who get into the higher spheres of political RP do it for its sake, and aren't morons.

 

Setting policies "that matter" OOC will just ensure that prominent faction leaders have an easy channel to shut down any development they don't like, instead of fighting it IC. You'll just enable powertrips that annoy and frustrate everyone else. Moreover, dedicated players who research a lot are almost always better than a band of admins whose background is never 100% transparent; the current acts in force are an example of shoddy writing.

Edited June 27, 2020 by arrdef

[jcat]

4 hours ago, arrdef said:

The above is a remarkably restrictive and close-minded vision of what politics can offer.

4 hours ago, arrdef said:

Moreover, dedicated players who research a lot are almost always better than a band of admins whose background is never 100% transparent; the current acts in force are an example of shoddy writing.

 

Keep the personal jabs to yourself, thanks man.  

 

You also misunderstood the post.  

 

I wasn't recommending that policy points should be set OOCly, I was pointing out that the policy points that matter, like the availability of guns and so on, are already set OOCly by the staff for reasons of server management.  I'm sure you know this.

 

 

What I was recommending was for the people who want to do political roleplay to figure out what policies city government can set ICly, that will be compatible with server rules, and will not trample on faction roleplay, and will be compatible with the staff's vision for the server.

 

 

Whatever democratic system these players set up will have the potential to be abused, just like everything else, by people who come later.  

 

Voting and elections will have to be safe from tampering.

 

Voter rolls will have to be maintained.

 

Dedicated groups of players are not, in the end, responsible for the server as a whole.  The admins and staff are.  Dedicated groups of players frequently have their own interests which may or may not diverge from what makes the server enjoyable for the playerbase as a whole.  Dedicated groups of players are only as transparent as they wish to be.  Dedicated groups of players have their participants change, and are susceptible to infiltration by players who may have ulterior motives, like serving their own interests.

 

These are all valid concerns, especially when you are talking about a dedicated group of players who will ICly  be able to affect the gaming experience of all the players on the server through the IC policies this dedicated group implements through IC city government.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Gambler]

3 hours ago, jcat said:

 

Keep the personal jabs to yourself, thanks man.  

 

You also misunderstood the post.  

 

I wasn't recommending that policy points should be set OOCly, I was pointing out that the policy points that matter, like the availability of guns and so on, are already set OOCly by the staff for reasons of server management.  I'm sure you know this.

 

 

What I was recommending was for the people who want to do political roleplay to figure out what policies city government can set ICly, that will be compatible with server rules, and will not trample on faction roleplay, and will be compatible with the staff's vision for the server.

 

 

Whatever democratic system these players set up will have the potential to be abused, just like everything else, by people who come later.  

 

Voting and elections will have to be safe from tampering.

 

Voter rolls will have to be maintained.

 

Dedicated groups of players are not, in the end, responsible for the server as a whole.  The admins and staff are.  Dedicated groups of players frequently have their own interests which may or may not diverge from what makes the server enjoyable for the playerbase as a whole.  Dedicated groups of players are only as transparent as they wish to be.  Dedicated groups of players have their participants change, and are susceptible to infiltration by players who may have ulterior motives, like serving their own interests.

 

These are all valid concerns, especially when you are talking about a dedicated group of players who will ICly  be able to affect the gaming experience of all the players on the server through the IC policies this dedicated group implements through IC city government.

 

 

 

 

 

 

But he already told you that players who are way more informed than admin will probably be elected and will know better. None the less, I'm quite sure there will be constant communication between the elected personel and staff, which will make possible for the two sides to agree for the best of both worlds. Also be sure about it, when I tell you that in the very end, no matter who gets elected, he or she will do as management says. It's not like the person elected will do as he please without getting noticed.

Edited June 28, 2020 by Gambler

[Ketamine Kowboy]

1. A clear and realistic showing of their viewpoints on certain topics, I do understand that double-speaking is very common in politics, I believe that they should have clear values of what they stand for and support and what they do not support, abortion, second-amendment, etc.  

2. Political parties should also include some that are "small dogs" to some extent, that being not Democrats or Republicans. There seems to be a lack there of at the moment, only two blocks to pick from. 

 

3. Of course I do, all characters much like people should have their own set of political beliefs that align with them.

[Ketamine Kowboy]

- Accidental post

Edited June 29, 2020 by Lmao

[jcat]

2 hours ago, Lmao said:

only two blocks to pick from. 

 

One block with two hand puppets.

[Daquan Kingston]

I would love to see a conservative party with religious morals fundations in it so they can tackle this overwhelming wave of homosexual exhibitions throughout the city. I think it would be fun and positive to have a voice for it, especially with the amount of people for and against it.