The Washington Society

[Blair]

x Blair

We must remain committed to the Atlasian Dream

[Blair]

And they say Atlasia is dead

[Blair]

Problems with Atlasia

1.) People Who Care- we need a good stream of players, without a doubt. What many people have ignored in the last couple of weeks is that Atlasia thrives on activity-July was one of the least active months on record. We had 6/10 Senators for most of the month, and a Presidental Election where neither side published a manifesto, or any policy. Now we need to value that this is just a game, and that RL issues can and will come up at any stage. However I think people need to put something into the game, and see what happens. As I've said before it needs a shot of Adrenaline-look at the Senate in the last couple of days.

2.) GM- I thought Kal was a brilliant GM, and it's ashame he was forced out. What was worse was that no-one was paying attention to him at all, literally he published about 10-12 stories and no-one did anything related to it. There's no point having a GM if he's ignored, and you also need a GM who is active in the Future. As said before, it seems stupid the Senate could pass a 100% wealth tax, and not expect to see any problems. We're suppose to be politics nerds-surely we could get a bit wonky time to time. An active thriving Atlasia needs a GM, and a GM that is listened to.

3.) Parties- Clearly there's an issue with the way that parties have become, largely the fact that as many said you can simply join a party without any campaigning and get elected to a regional seat. People literally vote for a donkey with a rosette-this happens on all sides of the political spectrum. The Party system has lead to awful rivalries that seemed based on absolutely nothing apart from long term fueds. Labor seem hated for their relative power in the last couple of months, along with it's reserves of voters, TPP have split in two over this issue and have always been a strange party in that they have  centre left liberals and centre right conservatives. The Federalists have fallen apart, with a slight fightback and Civic Renewal are a new party that whilst active only has 1 Federal office holder. The Party system is clearly broken with all parties becoming rather souless.

4. Government-Due to a lack of events the Federal Government has been reduced to a campaigning tool, where no major efforts are taken on the whole. Despite it's powers the President has become a figure head who signs bills. It's ironic that we have such a deeply divided party system yet the Presidency is not cared about unless there's an election. Again links back to the lack of a GM presence on the board
  

[Blair]

...Civic Renewal are a new party that whilst active only has 1 Federal office holder...

I believe the correct number there is 2, Blair.

Well it hardly makes a difference from the larger point-considering you were appointed rather than elected

[Blair]

Sorry for jumping in, but the real problem is that the executive branch lacks any real power. Bore's and Lumine before him have both been active and effective Presidents, yet it's virtually impossible for a President to craft a legacy unless they mess up.

I'm actually leaning towards a Parliamentary system, because it would fuse the executive and legislature together and actually make things interesting. I mean a parliament of say 20-25 people would be extremely powerful, and governments could be much more fluid.

I'll write something up tomorrow for this, but I'm leaning towards this

[Blair]

Sorry for jumping in, but the real problem is that the executive branch lacks any real power. Bore's and Lumine before him have both been active and effective Presidents, yet it's virtually impossible for a President to craft a legacy unless they mess up.

I'm actually leaning towards a Parliamentary system, because it would fuse the executive and legislature together and actually make things interesting. I mean a parliament of say 20-25 people would be extremely powerful, and governments could be much more fluid.

I'll write something up tomorrow for this, but I'm leaning towards this

Thing is this is a majority American Forum and most Americans wouldn't want to play.

There's absolutely no evidence, except you claiming this several times. In all fairness no-one wants to play Atlasia at the moment

[Blair]

only problem is that a President leads to a weak executive branch-that's our biggest problem in Atlasia. The executive branch of government doesn't have anything to do because all major policy that government could do is already sorted

[Blair]

Again, I've yet to see one person say that they wouldn't play Atlasia if it became a parliament. I think it's a pretty stubborn view, and again the current version is hardly popular is it.

[Blair]

This is all bluster, we don't need a long winded poll that tells us that 33% favour it, 33% don't and 33% are unsure. The reformed US system in my view doesn't change anything-three regions would slightly improve this but you'd still have rather directionless regions, you'd still have a weak executive (highly ironic that a US system for all it's fame delivers a much weaker position than the indirectly elected Prime Minister)

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It would in my view, because it actually changes the entire premise of a game. A big bold, singular reform -compared to tepid reform

[Blair]

My thoughts behind it would be that it would need 10-20 committed players, rather than the 50+ that Atlasia needs to get it to work (1 President, 1 VP, 3 Cabinet offices, 10 senators, 5 governors etc) A parliament system offers a more fluid government, a chance to actually change governments , coalitions and active involvement.

I appreciate it would be a big move, but it could be chance