Who Would Be KING? (

ash88

Hail to the King Baby -DN
Joined
Jun 26, 2009
Messages
352
Location
Castle Merlot
We have no KING! The Kingdom is in Chaos!

Please Do NOT reply with messages about "voting for me" or other such platform messages. Anyone that does so should be considered a court idiot - unknowledgable in the ways of the nobility, and obviously not ordained to take the throne!

The commoners are rioting and loitering in the streets. Our noble birthright is in jeopardy. Brothers, we must act on God's will and find the King to take the Throne. Who would it be? Who among us has rallied support in this time of crisis when so much is unknown? Who has the favour of God resting upon him? It will take the strength of a King to claim the Throne - a King with vision! A King with power and cunning! Long live Gods chosen King!

Length of the Campaign
All nobles may send 1 private message to the Administrator (that's me) in the next 5 days from the time of this posting (I have extended the time on the pre-game anarchy period) (from the time of this posting). In the next 5 days you should be rallying support for your cause and rallying support for the cause of your candidate. Choose wisely! The fate of our Kingdom depends on it!

Which King to Support?
See my post here for more details on choosing our first King. The success of our Kingdom rests solely on the the candidate you place in power - so choose wisely. Do they have a plan for backup turn playing? Do they have an overall strategy? Do they need one? Are they good? Have they played in Team Games before? Have they posted on the forums? What can you dig up about them? Do remember that they will be King, and all questions should be posed with absolute humility - but do ask, because they do need your support for the Throne.

How do I Become King Then?
So you want to become King then? Oh, very nice. It's very simple really - just gain a simple majority of the support in the noble house and make sure they send me the ballot on time and you will be crowned King! It is vitally important that you do this using Private Messages. This isn't a forum war or a popularity contest and it is against the spirit of our Team to use the Forum to whip up a Forum frenzy around your Throne grab. As per the spirit of house Merlot rules here, The Administrator for Team Merlot will intervene if anyone uses the Forum as a troll or fanboi for any of the candidates. Help me out here guys - particularly on our first vote. Keep it in PMs. Depending on the structure of these forums we may move The house Merlot forums to a Privately hosted Forum, or work with the good people here, but in the interm please just make my job easier and follow the rules so everyone has a good time and we can get going.

Casting your Ballot
You cast your ballot by sending the Administrator (thats me) a private message any time within the next week (from the time of this posting. In order to be absolutely clear it may say one of two things:

"I claim the throne." OR "I support <name> in his claim for the throne."

There are no "ifs" "ands" or "buts." There is no "if so and so is running..." blah blah blah. Might I humbly suggest that all those wishing to claim the throne should start gaining support quickly, in the first 48 hours. Might I humbly suggest that those who will be supporting a King wait until late in the process to do so. You get one Ballot - your first ballot - you cannot change your Ballot!

One last word - As Administrator I do not typically vote, except in the case of a tie. So a forward thinking King would do well to include me on any private messages that he sends out gaining support so that if a tie does occur they have a leg up.

Take the time to support a Good King! This will be the most difficult election as we have so little to go on so do your research my brothers! Long Live the King!

Why don't we just post platforms publicly in this thread?
The reason is that being skilled at being a forum warrior is not the same as being a good King. They are two entirely different skill sets that often don't go together (although sometimes they do). Getting a flock of annonymous people to side with you by making them think everyone already is while throwing in a little humour is easily done, but being a King is going to take more than being a forum whore. In fact, as the King has the power to silence forum whores who speak against him being a forum whore is not going to be the greatest asset in this game - winning is. Pick people that are going to win - not people that are just going to be witty in a post.

But we don't know anyone!
Being the King is a lot of work. The begining game is the trial-by-fire. I'm anxious to see how many people take the time to try to earn my support. Aren't you? Who is dependable to do what is needed? The people that put in the time are the people that aren't going to disappear in the second week. It's easy for people to be excited about an idea - but who among us are the people that are going to stick it out? Those are the people that will take the time to do this right. We all know this because we have all seen it before. Find the good people!

The Administrator
As in all matters ingame the King has final authority, the Administrator has final authority in all matters OOC (Out of Character) and OOG (Out of Game). I anticipate we will run into a few, and I apologize in advance. I have tried to anticipate different situations in a politically charged playing field and creating a structure of guidelines for them, but I can't anticipate them all. Where there is any arbitration needed the buck stops here. Trust now that my goal is that everyone have a good time, and that we create a great framework for many games to come. I'm a careful and critical thinker so if something does come up I will give it the careful thought that it is due. So sit back and enjoy yourself gentlemen! We will kick some ass, drink some wine, and have some fun. Have some posting, maybe get a Ventrillo if people are interested during those critical times, laugh about pillaging our enemies Kingdoms and laying waste to all we see. Dining at the Kings Table should be a good time. Drink up!

Final Word
Everything you say on the Forums can be used against you by all future Kings, or anyone. Please choose your words carefully! If you are giving your opinion in a thread remember that you are giving it by leave of the future King. Make liberal use of private Messages, because they can't be used against you.

Now go find your King! :king:
 
It might be a good idea to draw up a notitia dignitatum of House Merlot so our future Sovereign is in no doubt as to who owes him their allegiance (and who to PM to remind them of that fact).
 
How do I Become King Then?
So you want to become King then? Oh, very nice. It's very simple really - just gain a simple majority of the support in the noble house and make sure they send me the ballot on time and you will be crowned King!

I request a clarification, my noble Administrator. The case of a majority seems clear cut; however, what is the ruling in case the leading candidate only has a plurality?

I think that the candidate with the most votes should become king, regardless of whether or not he has 50%+.

Perhaps that is what you meant in the first place; I want to make sure this is sorted out now to avoid any future chaos in our great House.
 
I request a clarification, my noble Administrator. The case of a majority seems clear cut; however, what is the ruling in case the leading candidate only has a plurality?

Yes - a welcome clairification. The candidate with the most ballots supporting him will be crowned King.

I'm not sure why I presupposed that there would only be 2 Candidates and had the idea that a simple majority would therefore be easily attainable, but thank you for clarifying this now and thereby making my life a lot easier on the other side of the succession vote.

Cheers!
 
May I suggest that we give 5 days for all canditates to send their PM's and allow ballots only after the 5 day deadline has expired? This way we will get to read all the PM's before deciding.
 
Original Post Time: Mar 22, 2010 09:54 AM EST
Current Post Time: Mar 23, 2010 09:37 AM EST​

Brothers, - Only 4 days Remain!

May I suggest that we give 5 days for all canditates to send their PM's and allow ballots only after the 5 day deadline has expired? This way we will get to read all the PM's before deciding.
It's a reasonable idea. Let me tell you why I didn't do it this way so you can give me your thoughts. Its too late to do it the way you suggested for this time - any changes mid-process and someone will inevitably (and rightfully) call foul - but I'm always looking to improve the process for next time:

There are 2 ways I can treat the voters. The first way is to put restrictions on them, not accept their votes until a certain time, inevitably have to write PMs back to those that send me ballots early saying "sorry, this didn't count, it was early" and such. This has the potential to tick some people off - particularly since we are operating across time zones and that gets confusing for people. The more restrictions you put on people the more room there is for people to screw up, the more work you have to do as an Administrator. I'm selfishly making this role as work-lite as possible ;) - but in turn that makes the system as self sustaining as possible - and I'm trying to make it so people have as little to complain about as possible (although that last one is admittedly the toughest! :lol:) Those three reasons are why I went this way this time, but it can be changed easily - I look forward to more well constructed thoughts on it.

The down side is that, as you said, the individual voter potentially casts his vote before he educates himself on all the candidates - but with a small group of voters like this one I'm hoping that the message we have put out there is that people really need to research the King wisely and they dont jump the gun with their vote (unless they have a reason to). Ineivtably if someone does cast their vote before researching the candidates so be it, they are accountable for their actions and that is a major theme in the Team - but they only have to live with it for 15 turns and they can change it; they can change it at the next vote.

Cheers :)
 
Original Post Time: Mar 22, 2010 09:54 AM EST
Current Post Time: Mar 25, 2010 09:01 AM EST

Brothers, - Only 2 days Remain!

My brothers, the peasentry walk the street and speak of revolt. I fear that blood may soon stain our streets! What would we do? Sit here in debate while the Kingdom created by our fathers collapses around us? I implore you brothers to let clearly your thoughts be known!

With some of you having stepped forward to publicly support the King some of you have choosen to keep your thoughts as your own. No King is an island - who is it that the Lords support?

Quick Update
  • With only 2 days left I encourage everyone to begin to put in their ballots over the next short while. For the sake of clarity remember the wording, "I support <name> in his claim for the Throne." This is so I don't misinterpret and "ifs, ands, or buts" - and I won't be responsible for these in ballots deviating from the simple wording.
  • You only vote once and only your first vote counts. It represents you standing up and giving your support publicly for the King. In the "coronation" thread I open I will indicate who supported who, and when they stood up to suppport them.
  • I really appreciate that for the most part you guys have kept the forum free of "I am running for King!" threads. Thank you. That made the job easier.
  • The administrator does vote in the case of a tie - and for some of the candidates I don't have any information from them - which would mean that if a tie happens my vote would be an easy one ;)
  • I haven't recieved all of the "I claim the Throne" Private Messages from Kingly candidates - mainly because I have PMs for candidates that haven't yet sent me their "I claim the Throne" PM :)

I'm looking forward to Saturday.

To the Kingly Candidates - whoever is successful in their claim will need to weigh in on Saturday to a number of different "official" threads in the main section of the forums. We don't want to hold up the game and many of the other teams have already weighed in. As such I humbly suggest you are prepared to do so with all haste! :)

Cheers.
 
whoever is successful in their claim will need to weigh in on Saturday to a number of different "official" threads in the main section of the forums.

I saw you posted that we would be ready on saturday but what if the King wanted to set up a process of his/her own to decide some of these matters. You gave him no time to do so.
 
I saw you posted that we would be ready on saturday but what if the King wanted to set up a process of his/her own to decide some of these matters. You gave him no time to do so.

Time marches on, even for the King. :)

Going forward there will be 2 days in all succession votes. I chose to allow the first pre-game succession vote to last 5 days to ensure that everyone had time to get registered on the forums, and the candidates had time to become known. My priority was (and continues to be) to make sure that the ongoing tradition of the succession vote was fairly handled.

The truth is that a good King can cope with less than ideal circumstances, but the Kingdom cannot cope with a less than ideal King ;)

I'm not sure what else you expect me to say here or whether this is just a complaint without the expectation of a resolution. If the King needs more time to arrive at some conclusion after the coronation then he will have to figure something out. I have no power to move the game deadlines. I currently stand by my choice and would make it again given the other options and the timelines given.

Cheers. :)
 
Original Post Time: Mar 22, 2010 09:54 AM (roughly 10am EST)
Current Post Time: Mar 25, 2010 04:21 PM EST (roughly 5:30PM EST)

Only 17.5 Hours Left until we crown a King!

We have roughly 17 hours gentlemen - 17 hours before our King is crowned (maybe a few more if I sleep in a bit on Saturday morning:) ). With that little time left let me give you some statistics:

There are 19 people on the official sign up thread on Team Merlot. 4 of the 6 teams had the opportunity 2 build their team roster over a month before the private forums opened - Team Merlot did it in 1 week. People want to be ruled by a Monarch!:lol: We are the 3rd biggest Team in the game based on these numbers and the others aren't that far ahead of us. Awesome participation from everyone!

In the Team Merlot thread we have 23 people that raised their goblet and yelled out "Long Live the King." The sign up process was a multi step thing, and then we all had to get access to the forums - so who knows, we may seem some people come wandering in a little late to the party :) (No doubt with a hangover using last nights drunken binge fest as an excuse for their late arrival).

I have no idea how many people actually made it all the way through the multi-step confusing sign up process and found our forum here. I don't have a list. I count about 14 unique names posting in and about the forums - but no doubt there are a few lurkers (hi lurkers!).

With 17-odd hours I have 7-ish nobles who have stood up to support a king or claim the throne. Roughly half of the known people who are in the forums. 50% voter turn out as it were :) That should tell you that there is still plenty of time to make your voice known and have your support count for something. Get involved! It's more fun when you do!

That is all... looking forward to the coronation ceremony/post in 17-ish hours. Wear your best and prepare for the after party.

Cheers.
 
Top Bottom