Politics is the process by which groups of people make decisions. The term is generally applied to behaviour within civil governments, but politics has been observed in all human group interactions, including corporate, academic, and religious institutions. It consists of "social relations involving authority or power" and refers to the regulation of a political unit, and to the methods and tactics used to formulate and apply policy.

"Politics" ultimately comes from the Greek word "polis" meaning state or city. Politikos describes anything concerning the state or city affairs. In Latin, this was 'politicus' and in French 'politique'. Thus it became 'politics' in the English language.

-from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Politics

Everyone has seen the ebb and flow of RP in Amia, how there are hotspots and times of high activity, alternated with utter boredom and vacation eras. Amia is very much an adventuring server, layered with roleplay that while prominent in many circles, ultimately take second fiddle to grinding to level 30, rinse and repeat.

While I do not believe that adventuring or adventuring roleplay in Amia will ever take second fiddle, I would like to propose that politics, both internally within a faction, and externally involving cities, be taken to a whole new level.

1. Factions should be by their very nature, fluid, with leadership based not on seniority, but activity and presence as well as maturity. While most faction leaders are chosen by the faction members, there is a perception of stagnation after the ranks are filled up, with progress upwards seemingly impossible without the creation of new ranks(or a very large, empty rank structure).

2. Factions should therefore have regular elections, to fill not just the faction leader's position, but also the position of a second in command, in the case of a FL's absence. This should happen at perhaps a six-month interval, with voting rights extended to only players with active characters in the faction.

3. Factions should, from the very beginning, have an apparatus for leadership renewal with or without the faction leader's consent. This should be invoked in the case of the FL's lack of activity, negligence, or drop in support.

I believe that the above three suggestions will result in an increase of internal faction political activity, as FL's and their would-be replacements skirmish and actively recruit to maintain their position. This increase in rivalry would spur much roleplay, conflict and activity in even the most dour of factions.

1. Cities are under the direction of the DMs, which is definitely good, as this gives the DMs the ultimate deciding vote in any situation. I propose that PCs be allowed to take leadership positions under the NPCs within more cities, something that is already happening under limitations and DM oversight. My suggestion is that this be expanded to other cities, and more power placed in the hands of PCs.

2. Political power should extend to military, as well as economic areas. Politically empowered PCs should be able to raise and command PC armies, with little to no NPC empowerment. PCs in leadership positions will have to work to build their army of doom.

3. Leaders should also be allowed access to funding separate from normal adventurer gold. This could be in the form of items with unique powers, ability to pay PC guards, or a myriad mix of possible rewards.

4. Cities should each have a certain resource which other cities do not, which will require trade and trade agreements to be drawn up. Since only political leaders can engage in such agreements, there is a need for said positions to be filled with active players.

These suggestions have two benefits, one is to make the position of faction leader enticing, the other to ensure that people are more than willing to work to attain that position, and snatch it away from someone else. The benefits are the same as those given above for faction leaders.



While I do not expect anything written above to be implemented(some might even be, and I am utterly oblivious to it!), and certainly do not think everyone will agree with me, I hope this has been some food for thought into making Arelith more exciting. What I hope is that this wets the appetite of a DM or two, or gets those creative juices flowing for something to happen.

My ultimate goal is to increase dramatically, in terms of exponential numbers, the amount of political roleplay that occurs within Amia, and all its attendant benefits and disadvantages. I believe that this will lead to much more player interaction, less Cordor East sitting, and more work for our inns.

Alot of people do nothing because they feel their character has nothing to do, lets give them goals they can work towards, some people just can't do it themselves.

Well, a few questions. I can't look in the future, but experience with past explosions in factions (you should know yourself) suggest a few drawbacks.


Agreed. Who's gonna tell the old leader to sod off, though? And who's gonna clean up the mess if it fails?


Agreed, except for the interval. You should hold elections when needed, not for teh sake of holding elections. Appointing somebody by reading fish entrails also works, btw.


... and who's gonna clean up the mess?


I agree with the analysis, but this seems a rather risky approach, really.


Hmm... willing DMs/cities... not sure if that ratio will be higher than 1. I am also not sure if you can get enough life in so many places with about 100 players doing whatever they do at a certain moment. I'd focus attention.


Urr - how on earth do you want to do that? You can pay them already, and that's about all you can do. You simply have nothing to base authority on in Amia besides personal charisma. If players like your style you will be able to command their PCs, and that's about it.


Combined with the suggestions in the first part of your post this is a recipe for disaster.



Wait and see. I got something cooking.



I think this will be the calculation: Perks + long toes + disposable leaders = players leaving.

I think that factions can use more activity, but I think nothing can compensate for a charismatic leader. That is what makes or breaks a faction. Such aperson draws active players, which draws more players. At a certain moment thsi person leaves or gets bored and the faction tumbles down. That's the usual cycle as far as I know.

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Say 'no' to JSBF!

leave as is please.

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"Earnest Hemingway once wrote, 'The world is a fine place, and worth fighting for.' I agree with the second part."

[Kegs] Angry Dwarf
[Akly] Angry Halfling

That sums up alot of my feelings on the matter as well. The problem is not that a leader leaves, its that when he does, he very often he did not appoint a successor or even have some interim leader. Also, its because no one really knows how to handle faction leader change, resulting in lots and lots of problems.

I want to try and stimulate RP and Politics, not plot out faction leader change.

Working solutions are hard to come by, and there is no perfect solution to any given problem, we can only make the best attempt and deal with it as it happens.

In the end, it boils down to activity. If we are to get players to remain active in a faction, we have to make holding on, and constantly playing a single character more rewarding than it is to just rinsing and repeating new characters every month. Real political power will hopefully make this instantly appealing.

A long-term character will gain far more in terms of RPed power than Jake the Weaponmaster V15.09, who gains recognition for his ability to pwn everything in sight.

We need to change Amia by getting people to invest more in the characters they create, more story, more flesh, more background, more interactions. We need to make people realise that that one or two characters, who are always around, always coming back, week after week, is their goal, rather than reaching level 30 with a new character every month.

We don't need new characters in Amia. We need people to hang on to their old ones. I think giving some of them political power, and allowing others to work to attain the same, is the way to go.

I'd love to see some more politics in amian RP. I.. Uhh.. I have nothing else to add, really.

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Profiles: DakoDako & ElWacko

Characters: Currently trying my best to stick to Beridoc Brushgale

I don't feel the TC has any ability whatsoever to be commenting on any "political state" of Amia, nor is he qualified to make any actual criticism regarding factions.



And indeed he doesn't as it seems to be a simple copypaste from Arelith's forums, with "Arelith" changed to "Amia". That speaks volumes to me.

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Davion Telemos - Monk of the Four Winds
Korthan Isharnos - Dragon Shaman of Thunder Spirit Zamasham

Ell Oh friggin Ell

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"Earnest Hemingway once wrote, 'The world is a fine place, and worth fighting for.' I agree with the second part."

[Kegs] Angry Dwarf
[Akly] Angry Halfling

I don't agree, I like the idea of looking at what other people are doing and extracting what seems good and works from them. I regularly look on other server forums, check out other servers and even other games to get ideas either for my own roleplay or for the server in general. Personally, I believe it important to remember that people that choose amia over arelith could probably have just about the same level of fun on either but just ended up on amia by chance and stayed due to friends or because they were established etc. I've tried out Arelith, and I definitely think some of their ideas are good ones and could be at least an influence on an amian parallel. If the sole reason for rejecting an idea is because another server has similiar then you really have to question your reasoning. Should elves be removed from FR because lord of the rings had them?



I agree strongly. In fact, I like his whole post.

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Wyjyn: Loving all of you (and above all Disco) since 11 Jan 2007.

You would. It's not your problem, after all, when the shit hits the fan. You have a nice little safety net, no matter how much you hate it. Us.

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Davion Telemos - Monk of the Four Winds
Korthan Isharnos - Dragon Shaman of Thunder Spirit Zamasham

Wow, embarrassing. You won't find any post of mine on Arelith's forum any time recently, however, that was a simple substitution error.

Erm... I blame Disco! I was reading his post just shortly before posting.

The vast majority of factions are cults of personality, not political parties. What they should be, in their very nature, is whatever the faction leader intends them to be like. That includes selecting an NPC to be the IC faction leader, while retaining just humdrum regular PCs as the technical OOC faction leaders.



Only the factions that want to have regular elections should have regular elections. Some are quite happy with the way they are. If they want to change it, they can change it. But it isn't something they necessarily should do, just something they can do.



This is where I agree with the should. It does help to think ahead and devise an IC means by which an IC faction leader can be removed. Because again in the vast majority of factions, the IC faction leader is also the OOC faction leader. There is an apparatus in place for removing a negligent, absent OOC faction leader. Its called majority vote from the players in the faction and DM intervention booting the OOC faction leader's forum moderation privileges. If your OOC faction leader is the same as your IC faction leader, have an IC apparatus in place...even if it means that the IC faction leader agrees in advance that if he should ever become disliked by the players in the faction, that he can have his IC ass kicked out by force. Non-negotiable. No PvP necessary.



Show us what you have yet to show us, that you're capable of handling this, sink or swim, and the doors might yield a little more.



Accomplish 1, and 2 might follow naturally.



This is contrary to supporting the inflationary player economy, as it means pumping unearned gold back into the system. However, there are some developments in the works that can generate resources for you in a way that doesn't involve hunting, but also isn't placed in your hands by a DM, which is what you're wanting. You are free to call this pool your payment for services rendered.



This is actually already the case, but there are very few players willing to get hardline and investigate it to that extent.

Also, put more spaghetti sauce on the copypasta next time, plz. Yum.

Dude, I definitely am not capable of running a city, nor do I really want to see many players I know running a city....

It always turns OOC.

Well, it should be possible if you keep the actual running of the city OOC and not IC. People tend to be a lot more reasonable when you simply look at a situation without a toon on your mind.

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Say 'no' to JSBF!

Any increase in politics per se will require both the consent and cooperation from DM's. A player community can do only so much when it comes to in game politics, its the DM's who sit with the module, the tools, and the power to decide, create and destroy. I would very much be in favour of seeing more politics, and a world that changes with it, but in a game like this, where time is limited by RL, both for players and DM's, it is very hard to pull off anything more than politics between player factions that do not affect anything else than said factions and their relations.

And player run cities, well, that requires immense time both on your part and for the DM's, who probably have a ton of other things to do in addition, as well as your and others players actual ability to govern such structures.

However, i think it is possible to expand politics on a lower level, and with just abit of DM help and cooperation for smaller scale events, it could work very well. Politics need not involve cities and kingdoms, the fight for controll of just a part of a city, for a part of a trade route, etc can be just as complex and entertaining.

My two cents anyway