Market Research: Chat-Based Direct Democracy Game

Perhaps its that all my experiance is in games ran by a single person, rather than games that are truely property of a large group such as this, and treated as such. Maybe its that all my games were essentially despotic, and so no one gave a damn about the rules of the game. Or maybe I just want to have fun and run something. Maybe its because I'm new, and really want to experiance this already. But I've grown impatient with all this preparation and bureaucracy. And so I propose the following: a chat-based direct democracy game.

And I really mean chat based. Everything is done in the chat. There would be no forum polls, no citizen registery. All that is in the chat. The only thing outside the chat would be a thread, such as this one, for screenshots, chat logs, and saves. This means that all decisions, and I mean all, are done by a vote of those in attendance, an idea that is quite different from the impression I get of the demogame. The demogame is a represenative democracy, with elected ministers doing most of the work, while this would be a direct democracy, with the chat attendants chosing by a vote for most of the work (mayors, and eventually governors, would be added later on for city micromanagement, however). The demogame has a set number of citizens, while here the citizens are simply everyone at the chat (missing a chat would de-citizenize you, for the time being.). The player would be me (though, by a vote, that can be changed at any time), and there would be mayors (who do the queues and micromanagement for cities, perhaps eventually provinces), but beyond that all it is is a council of those attending the chat who vote on everything.

As I see it the main advantage of this is that its so simple. Unfortunately, it does not present much room for growth (I dread the thought of a 50 person council meeting), or RPing. But I just want to get something done, and done fast. And though this will most likely fail, its worth a shot, and will only be a waste of a few hours and a thread (or two, if I choose to start a new thread).

Please post if you are significantly interested, and include what times you could be at a (probably hour long, with five people) chat this week. The creation chat would deal with all the game and world settings, as well as the initial settling. If that goes well another chat will be scheduled for the time most convient for everyone, and a save, log, and pictures posted here. Currently this is purely experimental, and should not detract from the repdemogame (to distinguish from the dir[ect]demogame), as it should be long over by the time we get to that creation chat. Five would be the ideal number of council members, at least to start. This will be vanilla.

For the record, the council has the powers to end a chat; end the game; replace the player, governor, or member; and schedule the next chat so that it is most convenient.

This should realy be in the Polls section of the forums.

I wouldn't say you are a dumbass. Unfortunately there is no other 'no-option'...

But the problem with your proposal is that when you base a game on chatsessions solely, you exclude almost everyone. Some people live in the US, others in Europe, and if I am not wrong even Asian players participate. You will never find an hour convenient to everyone. The great advantage of a forum-based game, is that you can participate whenever you want.

I would vote "No", but I dont agree with the comment next to it
I agree with Gert-Janl, we would exclude lots of ppl if we did this..

I put it in the wrong forum, so I'd say dumbass is about right.

I keep doing that too.

I realize that it would exclude people, but it would be a very small game anyway (10 people, max), so it would exclude people anyway. I just want to try it before trying to fix anything like that.

if ya want to do one on your own fine, but this Demogame should remain Forum based.

It would. This would be on its own, and entirely different.

Well, someone [else] said yes. But who....

The idea does sound interesting, and I'd probably participate if there's a sufficient number of people to start the game...

Well, with the demogame delayed at least a month (if not two), and a show of a minimal amount of support, I think we can go on with this. The first challenge is to schedule the creation chat as well as possible.

Direct Democracy Game 1: Creation Chat Agenda
-Choose a world size, climate, temperature, landforms, and age
-Choose a barbarian level
-Choose civilization
-Choose victory conditions, rules
-Choose dificulty level
-Choose number of other civs
-Choose capital location
-Name capital city
-Set capital city queue
-Arrange next chat session

It looks like a lot, but it isn't really, I just wrote it out that way. If you wish to participate in this chat, please state when in the next week you'll be able to attend, so the most convenient time for everyone can be worked out. Hopefully this shouldn't take much over an hour, since very few people will be in attendence.

Come on, people. I need to know so I can set a time when people would actually attend. The demogame is at least a month away, and right now is the perfect time to test this out. The only schedules I've gotten where non-specific, meaning the person is on all the time, so I can't build off of those. This is simply experimental, easy, and won't detract from the demogame. So please participate.

Goddamit, triple post....

Okay, I can understand people being hesitant about this. It would leave people out, but its designed to be small and include as many people as possible. And its size is an actual advantage, because more things can be decided by the people directly, rather than by elected officials for them. I'm doing it now because now, while the demogame is still getting its constitution together and not getting to the actual playing, is the best time to do it without taking away from the game. This is purely experimental, and might not work. But it might, and it might be a giant improvement. I realize this change may not be welcome, but it might be great. And we won't know whether it is or not if we don't try.

So this is what I'm going to do. I've decided simply to schedule a chat that I figure will be timed best for everyone. The creation chat will be on Sunday, July 4, at 18:00 GMT (thats 1:00 pm Eastern time, 10:00 am Pacific, 6:00 pm in England, etc.). I realize this is a bad day, but its the only time I figure enough people will be free. And its the only time I figure most people in the US and Europe will be able to attend. If you would like to attend but can't because of the time, feel free to complain and I'll see if something can be worked out. I hope to see at least five people in the #demogame thingy when the time comes to start this.

Once again, I would like to implore the demogame community to attend the chat tomorrow, in the #demogame chat room at the bottom of the forums. I really think that this deserves a chance, because it might be a vast improvement (or not), and unless people attend we'll never known. I have fought against horrible popups that can no longer be called advertisements, as their sole purpose seems to be annoying me (they don't load or close, so I don't see why I'm supposed to buy the product they're advertising), a broken keyboard, and a number of other problems. I would be very dissapointed if thirdgeek is the only person in attendence.

Once again, this is the Experimental Direct Democracy Game Creation chat, which will be hosted in the #demogame IRC channel which can be accessed from the "Chat Room" link at the bottom of this page. It will begin at noon CST on Sunday July 4, which is 6 pm GMT. I hope to see all you there, simply because I feel that this has promise and could be something, and if we don't try we'll never know if it actually had that potential.

Note that the "m" key is broken, so some m's may not appear in this post. I managed to half reattach it, but it still doesn't work too well.