Survey Atlasia: GM Approval Poll

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

You know the drill. All Registered voters, Five days this time.


Sponsor: The National Weekly Atlasian

[Associate Justice PiT]

     Going back to having an inactive GM really makes me appreciate the job that Purple State did. I may not have liked the vast number of financial updates, but other stories came in at a decent clip too.

[Marokai Backbeat]

The status of the position is being discussed right now, I promise you.

But I hold no bad feelings for Al about his performance, it's a daunting job and I know he was reluctant to take it on in the first place. It's understandable.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Disapprove. The job is not, unfortunately, what I presumed (lie! hoped. The correct word is hoped) it to be and I'm no longer invested in this place enough to do anything about that.

I should explain why this is a problem; in order to do this job well you have to actually concentrate on what you're doing (there were several GMs under the old system - including the one ghastly attempt at a collective GM - that didn't, and the results were not pretty). If you have a lot of genuine free time, that isn't a major problem, but I don't (most of the time I'm online here I'm working as well), so it is necessary to care a great deal and/or to be basically satisfied with what other people here want you to do.

Whoever becomes the next GM needs to a) have a lot of free time, b) be totally invested in the game (to the extent of not caring about realism), c) be happy to accept that there position is not what the title says that it is. Your job is not to provide stories (because only a couple of people will actually care about those), but to give people fantasy information.

And that is that.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

I don't see the job the way you do appearently. Yea the fanasty info is important and necessary but there is nothing wrong with creating story lines. One of the reasons I refused the position so many times is because, I fear that I would get to sensationalistic and far out there on that aspect of job

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

GM who's very active... everywhere outside Atlasia.

[Associate Justice PiT]

     To be honest, I would very much appreciate a storyline or two to work with. We're having a drought of ideas over at the IDS Legislature.

[Purple State]

Because I think the announcement is just that important:

Speech Regarding the Position of Game Moderator

My fellow gamers,

Over the course of my term as President of this nation, I have found it difficult, neigh impossible, to keep one major promise that I made during the campaign. When asked repeatedly whether I could maintain the same level of activity by the GM as I had displayed during my time in the position, I answered time and time again that it would be done, that someone would step into the void and fill my shoes.

I was wrong and I apologize.

With Al's resignation as GM, I find my administration in a moment of mini-crisis. Though I have, over the past two months, sought to devolve certain powers and responsibilities from the less active GM, such as the monitoring of foreign events, it is not possible to actually make up for a woefully inactive GM. As such, the game has struggled to advance a coherent narrative that had started just a few months prior.

There is little else I can say on this matter. I have failed to uphold a standard of the utmost importance to the nation and to myself. And so now I announce an open application period for all those interested in picking up the mantle of GM where I laid it down just over two months ago. For now, please send a simple message of interest to me and I will follow up with each applicant individually.

Thank you.

~PS

[Vepres]

Disapprove. The job is not, unfortunately, what I presumed (lie! hoped. The correct word is hoped) it to be and I'm no longer invested in this place enough to do anything about that.

I should explain why this is a problem; in order to do this job well you have to actually concentrate on what you're doing (there were several GMs under the old system - including the one ghastly attempt at a collective GM - that didn't, and the results were not pretty). If you have a lot of genuine free time, that isn't a major problem, but I don't (most of the time I'm online here I'm working as well), so it is necessary to care a great deal and/or to be basically satisfied with what other people here want you to do.

Whoever becomes the next GM needs to a) have a lot of free time, b) be totally invested in the game (to the extent of not caring about realism), c) be happy to accept that there position is not what the title says that it is. Your job is not to provide stories (because only a couple of people will actually care about those), but to give people fantasy information.

And that is that.

Well, you really need data and stories.

[Dr. Cynic]

If we would simplify the data and accept more storylines, it might be an easier job that could keep up interest. I would hope that we could see a reform of the position to encompass more national and regional stories as opposed to a data driven position.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Reform the position?


The GM has a fairly free hand for gods sake. What reform does it need?

Al could have taken it any way he wanted to. I don't know where this idea of contraints keeps popping up from. Its false, fictitions, it doesn't exist. Its a misinterpretation of public sentiment in Atlasia. It has nothing to do with what legislation exists regarding it. It needs someone bold and aggressive willing to challenge people's opinions which we should never have let develop in the first place.

[Teddy (IDS Legislator)]

If I didn't enjoy my current position so much I'd offer my name.

[Dr. Cynic]

Reform the position?


The GM has a fairly free hand for gods sake. What reform does it need?

Al could have taken it any way he wanted to. I don't know where this idea of contraints keeps popping up from. Its false, fictitions, it doesn't exist. Its a misinterpretation of public sentiment in Atlasia. It has nothing to do with what legislation exists regarding it. It needs someone bold and aggressive willing to challenge people's opinions which we should never have let develop in the first place.

Then the whole problem has been that for so long as it has existed, the people around here expect data which I suppose the GM is to pull out of his ass rather than what I've always thought the position should be about and that is storyline development. Whenever this problem pops up, we have the same damn argument over and over. I've never done the job, but if I did, the only data you would see from me would be unemployment and inflation data as well as "polls". That's all it should require from a data perspective, but ever since I started in Atlasia, this argument comes in over and over and it never changes. Once and for all, let's just resolve to change it.

[Purple State]

There is nothing that requires the GM to produce data. In fact, I would say it was equally difficult to write a good story line (e.g. acts of terrorism, Venezuela vs. Colombia, regional issues) as it was to produce data on the economy or legislation. Overall, no matter in what direction each GM takes the office, it is a really tough position if you are active in it.

[Dr. Cynic]

There is nothing that requires the GM to produce data. In fact, I would say it was equally difficult to write a good story line (e.g. acts of terrorism, Venezuela vs. Colombia, regional issues) as it was to produce data on the economy or legislation. Overall, no matter in what direction each GM takes the office, it is a really tough position if you are active in it.

No doubting it's tough either way. But it's been at least whenever I'm around that the problem is mostly related to data. That's why I'm proposing a more simplistic data system and as far as creativity goes, that depends on the writer. It's like writing a film, which I've done and it's like booking for a wrestling show, which I've also done. You need to set a course and generally follow it so long as the direction warrants it and change that direction if you need to. My sincere hope is that the next GM can really incorporate compelling stories which would add interest.

[Vepres]

There is nothing that requires the GM to produce data. In fact, I would say it was equally difficult to write a good story line (e.g. acts of terrorism, Venezuela vs. Colombia, regional issues) as it was to produce data on the economy or legislation. Overall, no matter in what direction each GM takes the office, it is a really tough position if you are active in it.

No doubting it's tough either way. But it's been at least whenever I'm around that the problem is mostly related to data. That's why I'm proposing a more simplistic data system and as far as creativity goes, that depends on the writer. It's like writing a film, which I've done and it's like booking for a wrestling show, which I've also done. You need to set a course and generally follow it so long as the direction warrants it and change that direction if you need to. My sincere hope is that the next GM can really incorporate compelling stories which would add interest.

I always thought he should change the thread title to attract interest. Something Al didn't do.

[Purple State]

There is nothing that requires the GM to produce data. In fact, I would say it was equally difficult to write a good story line (e.g. acts of terrorism, Venezuela vs. Colombia, regional issues) as it was to produce data on the economy or legislation. Overall, no matter in what direction each GM takes the office, it is a really tough position if you are active in it.

No doubting it's tough either way. But it's been at least whenever I'm around that the problem is mostly related to data. That's why I'm proposing a more simplistic data system and as far as creativity goes, that depends on the writer. It's like writing a film, which I've done and it's like booking for a wrestling show, which I've also done. You need to set a course and generally follow it so long as the direction warrants it and change that direction if you need to. My sincere hope is that the next GM can really incorporate compelling stories which would add interest.

I always thought he should change the thread title to attract interest. Something Al didn't do.

I do believe I tried that at one point, but I didn't find it all that useful. But each GM has a different dynamic and should be encouraged to do what works for them, as long as they are active.

[Dr. Cynic]

There is nothing that requires the GM to produce data. In fact, I would say it was equally difficult to write a good story line (e.g. acts of terrorism, Venezuela vs. Colombia, regional issues) as it was to produce data on the economy or legislation. Overall, no matter in what direction each GM takes the office, it is a really tough position if you are active in it.

No doubting it's tough either way. But it's been at least whenever I'm around that the problem is mostly related to data. That's why I'm proposing a more simplistic data system and as far as creativity goes, that depends on the writer. It's like writing a film, which I've done and it's like booking for a wrestling show, which I've also done. You need to set a course and generally follow it so long as the direction warrants it and change that direction if you need to. My sincere hope is that the next GM can really incorporate compelling stories which would add interest.

I always thought he should change the thread title to attract interest. Something Al didn't do.

I do believe I tried that at one point, but I didn't find it all that useful. But each GM has a different dynamic and should be encouraged to do what works for them, as long as they are active.

Certainly, that's all I'd ask of the GM. I'm just recalling when numbers were a huge deal with the job and turnover was so high because of that. If it means minimal data but compelling storylines, I'd be all for it and if it meant someone data driven, but not good with storylines, then fine because we'd at least know that going in and other news outlets could create storylines.

[Vepres]

There is nothing that requires the GM to produce data. In fact, I would say it was equally difficult to write a good story line (e.g. acts of terrorism, Venezuela vs. Colombia, regional issues) as it was to produce data on the economy or legislation. Overall, no matter in what direction each GM takes the office, it is a really tough position if you are active in it.

No doubting it's tough either way. But it's been at least whenever I'm around that the problem is mostly related to data. That's why I'm proposing a more simplistic data system and as far as creativity goes, that depends on the writer. It's like writing a film, which I've done and it's like booking for a wrestling show, which I've also done. You need to set a course and generally follow it so long as the direction warrants it and change that direction if you need to. My sincere hope is that the next GM can really incorporate compelling stories which would add interest.

I always thought he should change the thread title to attract interest. Something Al didn't do.

I do believe I tried that at one point, but I didn't find it all that useful. But each GM has a different dynamic and should be encouraged to do what works for them, as long as they are active.

Certainly, that's all I'd ask of the GM. I'm just recalling when numbers were a huge deal with the job and turnover was so high because of that. If it means minimal data but compelling storylines, I'd be all for it and if it meant someone data driven, but not good with storylines, then fine because we'd at least know that going in and other news outlets could create storylines.

Well, the GM can make the position whatever he wants. I'd be thrilled if you took your approach and were active.

[Dr. Cynic]

There is nothing that requires the GM to produce data. In fact, I would say it was equally difficult to write a good story line (e.g. acts of terrorism, Venezuela vs. Colombia, regional issues) as it was to produce data on the economy or legislation. Overall, no matter in what direction each GM takes the office, it is a really tough position if you are active in it.

No doubting it's tough either way. But it's been at least whenever I'm around that the problem is mostly related to data. That's why I'm proposing a more simplistic data system and as far as creativity goes, that depends on the writer. It's like writing a film, which I've done and it's like booking for a wrestling show, which I've also done. You need to set a course and generally follow it so long as the direction warrants it and change that direction if you need to. My sincere hope is that the next GM can really incorporate compelling stories which would add interest.

I always thought he should change the thread title to attract interest. Something Al didn't do.

I do believe I tried that at one point, but I didn't find it all that useful. But each GM has a different dynamic and should be encouraged to do what works for them, as long as they are active.

Certainly, that's all I'd ask of the GM. I'm just recalling when numbers were a huge deal with the job and turnover was so high because of that. If it means minimal data but compelling storylines, I'd be all for it and if it meant someone data driven, but not good with storylines, then fine because we'd at least know that going in and other news outlets could create storylines.

Well, the GM can make the position whatever he wants. I'd be thrilled if you took your approach and were active.

I'd probably be more active as a GM than I would be in electoral Atlasia given my stronger interest in writing. My approach would just be as simple as I laid out before. That would be managable for me and you'd have new active storylines. I'd do my best to make them compelling.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

The thing to understand is that the position isn't especially powerful. The name is a misnomer. But Atlasia was always far too dominated by titles. I think that may be when things went wrong; when everyone started putting Secretary of Fig Consumption (or whatever) as their username, years ago. That's a digression, I guess.

Anyone interested in the job should understand that you either have to put in a lot of your free time into turning the position in what you want it to be, or produce what the rest of the game wants, and that is mostly numbers, but sometimes attention. People like stories, but they don't really shape the game; the only real narrative here is that of the game itself. That probably can be changed, but only if you are prepared to put in a lot of work for little initial reward in what is, ultimately, just a game. If someone has the time and the will to change matters, the game would probably be vastly improved for everyone; but you'd have to give up something somewhere to do so, or not have a lot to do in the first place.

That's the last I'll say on the subject in public.