Building a world
More about the world building idea I had here. Skip it if you aren't interested.
So what do people think of the following rules for a new community:
The Object
This LJ community houses an experiment which simulates what would happen if we, the members, ran our own country together. The object is to run the simulation in a freeform role-playing game style, so that members may tinker with it, write stories, use the setting in their own games if they wish, and have fun.
The Background
You have been offered a chance to leave your country and settle on an island in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. There you will be not only the citizen of a new country, but a member of its provisional ruling body - to decide, along with others in a democracy, how the new country will conduct itself. Everything about the deal checks out - the offerers are a legitimate group, and their offer comes with no strings attached.
The country will be very small. The island is temperate in climate, and approximately 3600 km^2 in size (halfway between Rhode Island and Delaware in land area). The population is about 100,000 people.
It is, roughly speaking, a "First World" nation; that is to say, it is essentially capitalist and democratic, and has modern industrial and technological amenities that one may find in the top one-quarter of the world's most livable countries: clean water, electrical power, modern transportation, and most importantly, an adequate amount of food for all citizens. The populace is moderately well-educated and mostly literate.
The Rules
1. Have fun. This should be the number one rule. This should not be deadly serious all the time. If it's not fun for people, we should change it until it is. Remember, if it looks like fun, it is fun.
2. The maintainer is the Worldmaster, and may, under serious circumstances, veto something if it is wildly out-of-game.
3. No flamage or other asshattery. The maintainer will boot you out if you do so.
4. If you post something not suitable for kids or bosses, mark it prominently as [ADULT] or [NSFW] and put it behind an LJ-cut.
5. Your "persona" in the game can be whatever you wish it to be (within reason). You may also have a "political party". You do not need to reveal your real name if you do not wish. You will begin as a member of "The Council", a loosely-defined group of lawmakers for the new country.
6. The setting for the simulation is modern-day. There will be no elves, goblins, superheroes, galactic jumpsuits, ghosts, aliens, vampires, or anything like that. You can have strange things that are analogous to modern-day - there could be a chupacabra on the island or something like that - but nothing that hasn't been found elsewhere.
7. There are four things that can be done in the game: features, laws, storylines, and rule changes. You don't have to do any of them.
8. Features.
a. A feature is a detail to flesh out the setting. A feature doesn't affect any characters other than your own and it doesn't make any real changes to the overall world outside of the island. Examples: "There is a waterfall on the south side of the island." "Here is a map I've made of the northern province." "The main city has a candy factory on Spence Street." "John Smallberries is a very successful local artist who likes to paint landscapes of the eastern shore of the island and sell them in the U.S. and Mexico."
b. A feature may be done by fiat - you just do it. If a feature is objectionable to the members, someone may propose a retcon. Retcons call for a feature to be removed, or changed significantly. If the creator of the feature doesn't agree to change it, it then goes to a vote, in the same way that laws do. Changing someone else's feature with your own feature without trying to retcon it is very uncool, and the maintainer will act.
9. Laws.
a. A law is a governmental or political decision made by the Council. Example: The minimum drinking age is 16. Laws are decided by the voting process.
b. Yes, the entire government structure can be changed by laws.
10. Storylines.
a. Storylines are just that, and are handled much like features, except that you should give a general idea of what you are doing first, and include other players in the execution, especially when "their" characters are involved.
b. You can roleplay having "the populace" do something as a storyline, particularly in debates about laws or "opinion polls" and such. As a member of the community, you "control" a proportional amount of the populace; for example, if there are twenty members, you control 5% of the population. At no time should you "speak" for more than 10,000 of the populace.
11. Rule Changes.
a. A rule change is a change to these rules. They can be voted on, or they can just be enacted by fiat of Worldmaster, if it is desperately needed.
12. Voting is handled in the following way: a proposal is made, and debate is begun. If there's general agreement after the debate, it passes. After three days of debate, unless all involved want more time, all options that have at least one person proposing them will be entered into a vote. The vote will be a ranked choice vote: you rank your favorite option "1", your next favorite "2", and so on. (Vote-splitting and "spoiling" is basically impossible under this system.) After a day or two of voting, the votes are tallied (using Instant Runoff Voting) and the winner is announced.
End of rules. "What do you think, sirs?"
So what do people think of the following rules for a new community:
The Object
This LJ community houses an experiment which simulates what would happen if we, the members, ran our own country together. The object is to run the simulation in a freeform role-playing game style, so that members may tinker with it, write stories, use the setting in their own games if they wish, and have fun.
The Background
You have been offered a chance to leave your country and settle on an island in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. There you will be not only the citizen of a new country, but a member of its provisional ruling body - to decide, along with others in a democracy, how the new country will conduct itself. Everything about the deal checks out - the offerers are a legitimate group, and their offer comes with no strings attached.
The country will be very small. The island is temperate in climate, and approximately 3600 km^2 in size (halfway between Rhode Island and Delaware in land area). The population is about 100,000 people.
It is, roughly speaking, a "First World" nation; that is to say, it is essentially capitalist and democratic, and has modern industrial and technological amenities that one may find in the top one-quarter of the world's most livable countries: clean water, electrical power, modern transportation, and most importantly, an adequate amount of food for all citizens. The populace is moderately well-educated and mostly literate.
The Rules
1. Have fun. This should be the number one rule. This should not be deadly serious all the time. If it's not fun for people, we should change it until it is. Remember, if it looks like fun, it is fun.
2. The maintainer is the Worldmaster, and may, under serious circumstances, veto something if it is wildly out-of-game.
3. No flamage or other asshattery. The maintainer will boot you out if you do so.
4. If you post something not suitable for kids or bosses, mark it prominently as [ADULT] or [NSFW] and put it behind an LJ-cut.
5. Your "persona" in the game can be whatever you wish it to be (within reason). You may also have a "political party". You do not need to reveal your real name if you do not wish. You will begin as a member of "The Council", a loosely-defined group of lawmakers for the new country.
6. The setting for the simulation is modern-day. There will be no elves, goblins, superheroes, galactic jumpsuits, ghosts, aliens, vampires, or anything like that. You can have strange things that are analogous to modern-day - there could be a chupacabra on the island or something like that - but nothing that hasn't been found elsewhere.
7. There are four things that can be done in the game: features, laws, storylines, and rule changes. You don't have to do any of them.
8. Features.
a. A feature is a detail to flesh out the setting. A feature doesn't affect any characters other than your own and it doesn't make any real changes to the overall world outside of the island. Examples: "There is a waterfall on the south side of the island." "Here is a map I've made of the northern province." "The main city has a candy factory on Spence Street." "John Smallberries is a very successful local artist who likes to paint landscapes of the eastern shore of the island and sell them in the U.S. and Mexico."
b. A feature may be done by fiat - you just do it. If a feature is objectionable to the members, someone may propose a retcon. Retcons call for a feature to be removed, or changed significantly. If the creator of the feature doesn't agree to change it, it then goes to a vote, in the same way that laws do. Changing someone else's feature with your own feature without trying to retcon it is very uncool, and the maintainer will act.
9. Laws.
a. A law is a governmental or political decision made by the Council. Example: The minimum drinking age is 16. Laws are decided by the voting process.
b. Yes, the entire government structure can be changed by laws.
10. Storylines.
a. Storylines are just that, and are handled much like features, except that you should give a general idea of what you are doing first, and include other players in the execution, especially when "their" characters are involved.
b. You can roleplay having "the populace" do something as a storyline, particularly in debates about laws or "opinion polls" and such. As a member of the community, you "control" a proportional amount of the populace; for example, if there are twenty members, you control 5% of the population. At no time should you "speak" for more than 10,000 of the populace.
11. Rule Changes.
a. A rule change is a change to these rules. They can be voted on, or they can just be enacted by fiat of Worldmaster, if it is desperately needed.
12. Voting is handled in the following way: a proposal is made, and debate is begun. If there's general agreement after the debate, it passes. After three days of debate, unless all involved want more time, all options that have at least one person proposing them will be entered into a vote. The vote will be a ranked choice vote: you rank your favorite option "1", your next favorite "2", and so on. (Vote-splitting and "spoiling" is basically impossible under this system.) After a day or two of voting, the votes are tallied (using Instant Runoff Voting) and the winner is announced.
End of rules. "What do you think, sirs?"