Office of GM Foucaulf - POLICY AGENDA POSTED
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  Office of GM Foucaulf - POLICY AGENDA POSTED
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Author Topic: Office of GM Foucaulf - POLICY AGENDA POSTED  (Read 4893 times)
Foucaulf
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« on: July 19, 2015, 11:54:30 PM »
« edited: August 08, 2015, 11:56:56 PM by Foucaulf »

Citizens of [Future Country name here]Sad/i]

My name is Foucaulf, the Game Moderator serving the Provisional Parliament.

Let's cut to the chase: This is a new game, and I want your ideas. While the Provisional Parliament gets used to the rules of order and make legislation, I'll be worldbuilding and setting up how our nation looks like. I will also figure out the GM's relation to Parliament and ways I can communicate with Parliament and Cabinet.

I welcome all of your suggestions. Got country names, maps or how our country should start out as? Post them here and let me know. I think we are simulating a nation comprising the continental United States, so we could aim for a country starting off with U.S. - like policies.

I will try to update the thread regularly, probably daily. Thanks.
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JerryArkansas
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« Reply #1 on: July 20, 2015, 12:01:08 AM »

Let's start off with something which we all now, the UK, I like that system being used.  We could start off with a system in like 2009 or so, and go from there.  Of course we would have different parties, and we would need a GM.  However these details could be worked out by the temporary parliament.
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Simfan34
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« Reply #2 on: July 20, 2015, 01:09:04 PM »

I think it might be a good idea if we made the GM Head of State. President? "General Moderator"?
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Potus
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« Reply #3 on: July 20, 2015, 01:15:51 PM »

It is extremely important that our game moderation legitimately simulate the effects of legislation on the game. Unemployment, GDP, social unrest, etc. all need to respond to legislation in a realistic way. No Sovietization of the economy and having steady GDP growth.
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Simfan34
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« Reply #4 on: July 20, 2015, 01:21:23 PM »

It is extremely important that our game moderation legitimately simulate the effects of legislation on the game. Unemployment, GDP, social unrest, etc. all need to respond to legislation in a realistic way. No Sovietization of the economy and having steady GDP growth.

Foucaulf is an economist. We are in good hands.
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Foucaulf
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« Reply #5 on: July 20, 2015, 02:37:37 PM »

I may as well put some of my thoughts on the table.

Role of the GM. The GM exists to keep players on their feet. Ideally, cabinet is the group that is banging out legislation and directing the agenda. The GM is there to get parliament thinking about issues outside of the agenda.

I personally don't want to build the role around spitting out statistics and conjecturing elaborate storylines; doing that either bores everyone or pisses everyone off. My idea is to moderate "Model UN style": every week or so, build a dossier that explains a neglected issue or a consequence of legislation I  thought was not emphasized in debate very well. Then parliamentarians are somewhat informed to act upon the event.

Obviously I won't stand idly by if Parliament votes to install a Soviet dictatorship, but the hope is that we won't be bored enough to entertain such things.

Relation to Parliament. Parliamentary supremacy rules, and I have power insofar as parliamentary statute keeps this position going. I definitely think Parliament should have some oversight over me. There are two questions:
- Does the GM have a fixed term, at which point parliament must vote to reelect him?
- Can parliament support a motion of no confidence in the GM and make him resign?

Location. I still want to start up the scenario in a more dystopian version of America, but location is something Parliament should decide. I just don't want to see a totally fictitious location - roleplaying isn't the goal here yet.

Here's also what I said in another thread:

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As acting GM I should try to answer these questions.

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This is an artifact of when we had conversations about mock parliament on IRC: usually evenings in the US. There's a tradeoff here: do we stick with an American political system so new players can jump in faster, or do we move to a different country? The focus may have been more to the former, since we really thought of this as an alternative to Atlasia.

I'm assuming we're starting with a historical US scenario, but parliamentary supremacy rules. I don't see why parliament can't just order a GM to write a new scenario if the need arises.

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Exactly what I thought. I'm taking requests for policy research over in the other thread!

We can delve into the intricacies of this, but getting used to parliamentary supremacy means getting used to there being no giant hurdle to establish rights or lack thereof. If we're successful certain rights will be set as precedent, and keeping track of said precedent will probably be the judges' main duty.
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Simfan34
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« Reply #6 on: July 20, 2015, 02:52:46 PM »

I like this model. What exactly do you envision in this (mildly?) dystopian setting
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SUSAN CRUSHBONE
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« Reply #7 on: July 20, 2015, 03:01:38 PM »

Location. I still want to start up the scenario in a more dystopian version of America, but location is something Parliament should decide. I just don't want to see a totally fictitious location - roleplaying isn't the goal here yet.


so like america a couple years after overthrowing a fascist regime, for example?
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bore
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« Reply #8 on: July 20, 2015, 03:13:54 PM »

I think there needs to be a decision over whether this is to be a government sim or an election sim, and, if it's the case that it's a government sim there absolutely has to be balance in the parliament. A major problem with atlasia was the fact that atlas leans left so election were too easy and the senate too warped to have real debates. For a centre leftist there was nothing to do and for a right winger there was no point even trying. So if it's going to be a government sim I think quotas for different political views need to be considered. Elections would be needed to shake things up but there should always be a solid block of both wings to make things challenging.
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Foucaulf
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« Reply #9 on: July 20, 2015, 03:30:23 PM »

Location. I still want to start up the scenario in a more dystopian version of America, but location is something Parliament should decide. I just don't want to see a totally fictitious location - roleplaying isn't the goal here yet.


so like america a couple years after overthrowing a fascist regime, for example?

That goes quite farther than what I was thinking, but I like it.

Here's a rough sketch: a world where ModParl America is a waning power alongside a rising China and and resurgent Russia. Let's say that an authoritarian U.S. shot itself in the foot, diverting a large portion of its best and brightest across the world. Many travelled to South America or other Commonwealth countries. As said authoritarian U.S. became isolationist, Russia buttered up with Europe and Japan/Taiwan/Korea became economically integrated with China. On the foreign policy front at least ModParl America needs to reconcile with its old allies, while battling for control in a roughly rectangular area spanning the Western Sahara to Indonesia and the Philippines.

Maybe someone can sponsor my full setup as a motion in the provisional parliament and see if it passes, as an additional exercise in understanding parliamentary procedure.



Also noted what Bore posted. I think election simulations will get complex and impenetrable very quickly, and I'm optimistic that a closed PR list biased toward small parties will bring balance (i.e. Sainte-Lague highest averages)
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Oakvale
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« Reply #10 on: July 20, 2015, 03:34:13 PM »

Frankly the best dystopia is America right after Atlasia collapses.
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TNF
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« Reply #11 on: July 20, 2015, 03:39:41 PM »

Frankly the best dystopia is America right after Atlasia collapses.

Given the way Atlasia ended, we could all be debating how best to survive nuclear winter. Wink
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Potus
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« Reply #12 on: July 20, 2015, 03:41:47 PM »

I think there needs to be a decision over whether this is to be a government sim or an election sim, and, if it's the case that it's a government sim there absolutely has to be balance in the parliament. A major problem with atlasia was the fact that atlas leans left so election were too easy and the senate too warped to have real debates. For a centre leftist there was nothing to do and for a right winger there was no point even trying. So if it's going to be a government sim I think quotas for different political views need to be considered. Elections would be needed to shake things up but there should always be a solid block of both wings to make things challenging.

What about an election sim with an election moderator rather than player voters?
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Cassius
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« Reply #13 on: July 20, 2015, 03:45:43 PM »

I doubt there'd be enough voters to make 10 (let alone 20) FPTP constituencies, workable. Perhaps a better option would be to have 4 Irish style constituencies, with 5 seats each, subject to change depending upon the population of the constituency. Alternatively you could go for Dutch style PR.
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Foucaulf
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« Reply #14 on: July 20, 2015, 05:05:09 PM »
« Edited: July 20, 2015, 07:18:01 PM by Foucaulf »

Responding to the electoral sim suggestion here: I don't like a sim for the same reasons economists like markets these days. Any sim ran by a few people won't be taking into account all the information in the game. We're definitely heading towards more a government game than an elections one, but I don't have confidence that any rules governing a simulation would reflect what the players want out of a game. Eventually it'll be both unfair and ridiculous.

We're going to have zombie voters at this rate (if we're going full FPTP zombies are a necessity). Maybe Parliament can vote for term limits if things really start going the Atlasia way?

New parliamentarians should also know that a dual system is possible, maybe one where 10 seats are FPTP and another 10 are closed list PR. We could also do MMP, but that system is subtler than it looks.

How about AMS like in the Scottish Parliament? You get the benefit of constituencies plus pretty much full proportionality?

AMS is MMP except with a hard cap on the number of PR seats allotted. In that sense, it is less proportional than MMP. Let's say that in an election in our game a left-wing party sweeps 11/12 of the FPTP seats but gains 50% of the vote on the party list. In that case, we would need to have a 22-member parliament, such that 11/22 = 50%.

Maybe it would be fun to try MMP at first, since I doubt any party will have such perfect vote efficiency. The only worry is that we run out of candidates running in an attempt to maintain proportionality.
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bore
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« Reply #15 on: July 20, 2015, 06:44:21 PM »

How about AMS like in the Scottish Parliament? You get the benefit of constituencies plus pretty much full proportionality?
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Foucaulf
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« Reply #16 on: July 21, 2015, 01:28:54 PM »

I'm starting to think "U.S. after Atlasia's collapse" is a good starting point, especially if people are jumping to the idea of diplomacy between games. Our origin story could be that the original Atlasian government collapsed sometime this summer, and an alliance of regional leaders decided to reunite the country. The Atlasian government is a rump state that still controls bits of the country, whose propaganda feeds their citizens the illusion of continued control. Swearing never to repeat the calamities of war, we will rather negotiate with them than launch another war.

Of course, from Atlasia's view we're the rump state that failed to take over the country, and they're the good guys who negotiate instead of launching war. The joke is that it's impossible to find out who's telling the truth.
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Simfan34
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« Reply #17 on: July 21, 2015, 02:32:38 PM »

I think that's actually very clever...
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Leinad
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« Reply #18 on: July 21, 2015, 09:53:37 PM »

For the location/backstory, how about a unified Europe? GB&I, Scandinavia, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, and Southern Europe could be multi-winner districts.

I'd be open to whatever, but that's another interesting idea. It would also allow us to cooperate with a revitalized Atlasia across the Atlantic, if we choose to go the route of inter-game diplomacy.
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TNF
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« Reply #19 on: July 21, 2015, 10:16:09 PM »

I think it's best if we keep it US-based. That's what the majority of us are familiar with and probably most comfortable with, I'd wager.
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Leinad
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« Reply #20 on: July 22, 2015, 01:49:06 AM »

I think it's best if we keep it US-based. That's what the majority of us are familiar with and probably most comfortable with, I'd wager.

Agreed, but it's an interesting idea to have it European based.
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Flake
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« Reply #21 on: July 22, 2015, 03:06:40 AM »

A South American based map wouldn't be a bad idea imo



If you take all the countries and combine the trio of Guyana, Suriname, and French Guinea, you'd get 11 seats, and if you wanted 10, you could always put Uruguay into Argentina or something.
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Hash
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« Reply #22 on: July 22, 2015, 08:38:30 AM »

I very much like Flo's idea.
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ilikeverin
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« Reply #23 on: July 22, 2015, 08:51:19 AM »

That could also assist in making population more balanced than it could be sometimes in Atlasia... people would essentially be forced to register somewhere they don't live.  And every region could have its own unique identity.
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Talleyrand
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« Reply #24 on: July 22, 2015, 09:03:55 AM »

With Flo's map, why not just leave the 12 countries and French Guiana as separate seats? A solid 13 isn't a bad idea at all.
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