SB 110-12: The Game Engine Restructuring and GM Team Creation Act (Passed)

[GM Team Member and Senator WB]

sorry gentlemen, I've been a bit busy lately.

So this bill overhauls the GM system and replaces it with a GM team, similarly to something Lumine suggested a while back. The goal is to make it so the workload doesn't fall all onto one person, and thus reduces burnout because that's the most common reason for them leaving. It also doesn't rely on one person's activity to remain strong, which should help with activity issues.

I've included the provision to allow (not require) an elected official to be member, mostly to deal with the possibility that the non-elected playerbase is disconnected from the game and thus isn't interested. I've limited this to one so that elected officials can't hijack control of the whole game engine for self-serving needs.

I do remember some alterations Lumine wished for me to make once this got on the floor, but my time is slightly limited at the moment. I should hopefully get those here tomorrow or Friday.

As for spark's amendment, it is an interesting idea but the fact that no one is on the DPC puts a damper on it. I personally don't think such a commission could find much of anything but it wouldn't hurt I suppose.

[GM Team Member and Senator WB]

Nay for the reasons the president mentioned

[GM Team Member and Senator WB]

AN ACT
To restructure the Game Engine to create a GM team

Section 1: Title & definitions
i. The title of this Act shall be The Game Engine Restructuring and GM Team Creation Act. It may also be cited as "The GM Team Creation Act".
ii. As it appears in this legislation, “non-playable entity” shall refer to all parties, including but not limited to foreign governments and non-state actors, minor agencies, state and municipal officers, and public interest groups, which may be presumed to exist within the context of Atlasia, the functions of which are not performed by any person registered with the Census Bureau.

Section 2: Separation of powers
i. All powers and prerogatives which shall by grant of Congress in the game engine reside, shall be divided among the several officers of the same, that is between the members of the game moderation team.

Section 3: Game Moderation Team
i. The president shall appoint three (3) members of the game moderation team (henceforth referred to as "the GM team") with the advice and consent of the Senate.
ii. The GM team shall have power, except where limited elsewhere by this legislation:
(a) to simulate the effect of domestic and foreign legislation of the government of Atlasia and of the several regions;
(b) to simulate the actions of non-playable entities;
(c) to simulate domestic and global events;
(d) to be the final arbiter in all questions of the reality of events which occur during their tenure;
(e) to be the final arbiter on the reality of the status quo with respect domestic and global conditions.
iii. The word of the GM team, once spoken, is Canon, and may not be revoked by their successor.
iv. Members of the GM team may be removed from office according to the same provisions set in place for the impeachment of executive officers.
v. A majority of members of the GM team may not hold any other elected or appointed office in either the Federal or Regional Governments.

Section 4: Internal Deliberations of the GM team and Public Updates
a) Any major decision by the GM team regarding information given to government officials in but not limited to the National Security Council, shall be put to an internal vote if any member of the team objects. A majority of votes shall be required to pass a major decision. Should a vote come to a tie either due to vacancy or absence, the most senior sitting member of the GM team who is not an elected official shall break the tie. No major decision's vote may come to an end with less than 2 members of the GM team voting.
b) Any public update as a whole shall be voted on by the GM team with the same rules described in Section 4.a with the internal vote count being made public at the end of the update. A majority of members of the GM team must provide confirmation within the Game Engine publication thread that the vote count is valid.
c) Should any member of the GM team post a public update without a vote count or without verification from a majority the other members of the team, or give information to government officials without approval from a majority of the team, it shall be considered an impeachable offense.

Section 5: Repeal of old legislation
i. All previous Acts of Congress as they relate to the structure, powers, and officers of the game engine are hereby repealed.

Small amendment. This is to prevent the elected official member of the team from seizing control of the engine in cases where one seat is vacant for a time.

[GM Team Member and Senator WB]

108 hours have passed so I'm going to post the numbers here.

Aye: 0
Nay: 11 (Rpryor, Reactionary, WB, WM, Spark, DeadPrez, Sev, UT Neolib, Blairite, Yankee, S019)
Abstain: 0
No Vote: 7 (AFE, AGA, DC, Greg, Muaddib, OSR, WD)

The amendment fails.

[GM Team Member and Senator WB]

Move for a final vote.

Objecting due to wanting to introduce an amendment, give me a minute to write it up here

[GM Team Member and Senator WB]

Amendment:

AN ACT
To restructure the Game Engine to create a GM team

Section 1: Title & definitions
i. The title of this Act shall be The Game Engine Restructuring and GM Team Creation Act. It may also be cited as "The GM Team Creation Act".
ii. As it appears in this legislation, “non-playable entity” shall refer to all parties, including but not limited to foreign governments and non-state actors, minor agencies, state and municipal officers, and public interest groups, which may be presumed to exist within the context of Atlasia, the functions of which are not performed by any person registered with the Census Bureau.

Section 2: Separation of powers
i. All powers and prerogatives which shall by grant of Congress in the game engine reside, shall be divided among the several officers of the same, that is between the members of the game moderation team.

Section 3: Game Moderation Team
i. The president shall appoint three (3) members of the game moderation team (henceforth referred to as "the GM team") with the advice and consent of the Senate.
ii. The GM team shall have power, except where limited elsewhere by this legislation:
(a) to simulate the effect of domestic and foreign legislation of the government of Atlasia and of the several regions;
(b) to simulate the actions of non-playable entities;
(c) to simulate domestic and global events;
(d) to be the final arbiter in all questions of the reality of events which occur during their tenure;
(e) to be the final arbiter on the reality of the status quo with respect domestic and global conditions.
iii. The word of the GM team, once spoken, is Canon, and may not be revoked by their successor.
iv. Members of the GM team may be removed from office according to the same provisions set in place for the impeachment of executive officers.
v. A majority of members of the GM team may not hold any other elected or appointed office in either the Federal or Regional Governments.

Section 4: Internal Deliberations of the GM team and Public Updates
a) Any major decision by the GM team regarding information given to government officials in but not limited to the National Security Council, shall be put to an internal vote if any member of the team objects. A majority of votes shall be required to pass a major decision. Should a vote come to a tie either due to vacancy or absence, the most senior sitting member of the GM team who is not an elected official shall break the tie. No major decision's vote may come to an end with less than 2 members of the GM team voting. The GM team may internally delegate certain topics to certain members by internal vote. Should the member of the team who is delegated to a topic leave the team, a new member my have the topic designated to them, or the team may choose to split responsibility for the topic amongst themselves.
b) Any public update as a whole shall be voted on by the GM team with the same rules described in Section 4.a with the internal vote count being made public at the end of the update. A majority of members of the GM team must provide confirmation within the Game Engine publication thread that the vote count is valid.
c) Should any member of the GM team post a public update without a vote count or without verification from a majority the other members of the team, or give information to government officials without approval from a majority of the team, it shall be considered an impeachable offense.

Section 5: Repeal of old legislation
i. All previous Acts of Congress as they relate to the structure, powers, and officers of the game engine are hereby repealed.

Lumine wanted me to specify that the team can internally delegate specific topics to a certain member. That can be as broad as foreign affairs in general or as specific as the effects of a single bill, it's up to the team to decide.

[GM Team Member and Senator WB]

With no objections we move to a final vote. Here is the full bill:

AN ACT
To restructure the Game Engine to create a GM team

Section 1: Title & definitions
i. The title of this Act shall be The Game Engine Restructuring and GM Team Creation Act. It may also be cited as "The GM Team Creation Act".
ii. As it appears in this legislation, “non-playable entity” shall refer to all parties, including but not limited to foreign governments and non-state actors, minor agencies, state and municipal officers, and public interest groups, which may be presumed to exist within the context of Atlasia, the functions of which are not performed by any person registered with the Census Bureau.

Section 2: Separation of powers
i. All powers and prerogatives which shall by grant of Congress in the game engine reside, shall be divided among the several officers of the same, that is between the members of the game moderation team.

Section 3: Game Moderation Team
i. The president shall appoint three (3) members of the game moderation team (henceforth referred to as "the GM team") with the advice and consent of the Senate.
ii. The GM team shall have power, except where limited elsewhere by this legislation:
(a) to simulate the effect of domestic and foreign legislation of the government of Atlasia and of the several regions;
(b) to simulate the actions of non-playable entities;
(c) to simulate domestic and global events;
(d) to be the final arbiter in all questions of the reality of events which occur during their tenure;
(e) to be the final arbiter on the reality of the status quo with respect domestic and global conditions.
iii. The word of the GM team, once spoken, is Canon, and may not be revoked by their successor.
iv. Members of the GM team may be removed from office according to the same provisions set in place for the impeachment of executive officers.
v. A majority of members of the GM team may not hold any other elected or appointed office in either the Federal or Regional Governments.

Section 4: Internal Deliberations of the GM team and Public Updates
a) Any major decision by the GM team regarding information given to government officials in but not limited to the National Security Council, shall be put to an internal vote if any member of the team objects. A majority of votes shall be required to pass a major decision. Should a vote come to a tie either due to vacancy or absence, the most senior sitting member of the GM team who is not an elected official shall break the tie. No major decision's vote may come to an end with less than 2 members of the GM team voting. The GM team may internally delegate certain topics to certain members by internal vote. Should the member of the team who is delegated to a topic leave the team, a new member my have the topic designated to them, or the team may choose to split responsibility for the topic amongst themselves.
b) Any public update as a whole shall be voted on by the GM team with the same rules described in Section 4.a with the internal vote count being made public at the end of the update. A majority of members of the GM team must provide confirmation within the Game Engine publication thread that the vote count is valid.
c) Should any member of the GM team post a public update without a vote count or without verification from a majority the other members of the team, or give information to government officials without approval from a majority of the team, it shall be considered an impeachable offense.

Section 5: Repeal of old legislation
i. All previous Acts of Congress as they relate to the structure, powers, and officers of the game engine are hereby repealed.

Vote is open for 96 hours.

[GM Team Member and Senator WB]

Aye

[GM Team Member and Senator WB]

It's hard enough to find one GM, trying to find three will be hellish. This will cause lots of problems, recommending that the Senate vote Nay.

As I said during the debate on this, having the work split will make any prospective GM team candidates less daunted by the workload. It's worth a shot at the very least.