I’m not involved in politics on Arelith anonymous, heck, I rolled and moved on with life.
But I do miss y’all so I check in here to see what’s happening, and this (and the book thing!) caught my attention.
In my opinion, the way to “address” the election system is:
- Staff confirm the 48 hour period which sees, on averages, the highest number of unique log-ins (which is probably the US weekend, from 00:01 Saturday morning to 23:59 Sunday night, US PST, as that incorporates the Euro Saturday morning play through to the US Sunday night play).
- Votes may ONLY be cast during this time, this is known as the “voting” period.
- An election may be triggered at any time, with all eligible settlement “electors” and “officials” receiving notification on log in that such has been triggered, and the incumbent settlement leader automatically entered into the election unless they were assassinated or removed by the DMs or the settlement system due to settlement bankruptcy.
- This “campaigning” period must be a period no less than 24 hours, meaning that if one wants a LONG campaigning period they would trigger an election an hour before the voting period would begin, meaning that it would functionally run for a full week, and if they want a short campaigning period they would trigger an election 25 hours before the voting period would begin.
- Thus, an incumbent might prefer a short election period, where a challenger might prefer a long election period, and politics can ensue. Or maybe the challenger wants a short campaigning period, to try to get as few competitors as possible, who knows?
- If a candidate is assassinated during the campaigning period they are removed from the ballot
- If a candidate is assassinated during the voting period, another member of the faction they entered the election with, with the specific “vice-leader” (hurr hurr) setting in the faction system (which would need to be added and would provide the same functionality as the faction owner EXCEPT that they cannot remove the faction owner, nor dissolve the faction, but on the deletion of the faction owner they become the new faction owner; yes, only one character can be the vice-leader) becomes the candidate in their place.
This system allows for folk to discuss election plans before the election cycle begins, and creates opportunities for espionage and skullduggery in numerous ways.
This system also allows for the maximum number of unique player log-ins, on average, to be able to vote, without having to be constantly alert for what might be happening.
Yes, we could end up with a week long campaigning period, but we could also end up with one that is only a day long.
By entering the incumbent settlement leader automatically into the election, they cannot be removed without notice just because someone decided to try and do a sneaky while they’re on a RL holiday, meaning that it’s only IC actions and inactions that really matter here, not actions taken for OOC issues. Yes, if they’re on a RL holiday they won’t be campaigning themselves, but their allies can campaign on their behalf, and if they are an effective leader then unless their opponent(s) are particularly skilled operators, the good will they have developed within their settlement will count for much.
And, by having a vice-leader who is there to step up, we create opportunities (especially in Andunor) for folks to use another person to try to win the vote, then assassinate them whilst voting is ongoing to take their place (a very drow thing, isn’t it?), or for an election to still go to a good group even if their leader is cruelly taken out.