OOC: Discussion

[DueWizard70]

After reading James's, Doc's and Wu's concerns, as well as what has been said in the Discord, I have changed my mind regarding this and I now too agree with James. The costs of doing this, which have already been mentioned by Wu, James and Doc, far outweigh the benefits that I mentioned.

Because of this, I will be deleting my post on Utembo leaving the WC, at least until a final decision is made on if the variable stays in the game or not. If it is decided that countries can leave the WC, I will post it again.

[Wu Han]

I don't know if the moderators intend on making a comment in the forum, but based on Discord discussions it appears that the variable has been rescinded.

I just want quickly express my appreciation to the moderators for their quick response to community feedback. Re-reading my comment, I can see that my tone may have bordered on hostile, which was not my intent; I was singularly motivated by what I felt was a very deleterious new policy with wide implications for the future of RP, and consequently, the game. As I said on the Discord, it was never my belief that moderators were acting maliciously, but simply that this change was made too suddenly, and without the full consideration that it deserved.

Moreover, I appreciate DueWizard's willingness to change his RP in light of the discussions surrounding this variable. I know it's never fun to rescind a post.

On the topic of "leaving the WC," as discussed on Discord (and here, by Doc), I think there are a number of ways by which players can functionally "leave" the WC without actually doing so, as it were. This could be in the form of refusing to participate or refusing to send delegates, abstaining from voting on SC elections (or running protest candidates?), cancelling any voluntary contributions given to the WC, disallowing WC institutions to operate within your country, or undermining the very concept of "international law," etc. I think beyond the narrow scope of leaving the WC de jure, there are far more opportunities for unique RP to oppose the WC or leave it in practice.

In sum, thank you to the mods for rescinding the variable, and thanks to those who gave feedback.

[jamescfm]

Following from my previous post and the conversation that we had on the Discord server, Moderation has removed the option for countries not to be a member of the World Congress (though the actual variable still exists). I am glad that they have listened to player feedback on this. As I said in my original post, I don't think the variable should be implemented at all and favour continuing the current system of operation of the World Congress but I would invite other players to express their view and we can hopefully get a sense of the views on either side.

In my view there are actually two related issues at play in this case. The first is whether countries should be able to disengage from the World Congress by not sending representatives, not voting in elections, not funding the institutions and not recognising the ability of the Security Council to create law. Few players would disagree with this and it has been used over the past few years by various countries with Kalistan as the longest-running example. For all practical purposes, Kalistan has left the World Congress. In the current situation though the view of the institution of the World Congress remains that Kalistan is a de jure member (and this is why they have their votes recorded in Security Council elections).

On the other hand, the second issue is whether countries should be able to withdraw from the organisation completely. As I have said already, I don't think that this additional step adds anything useful to role-play and Doc himself seems to agree that it would probably weaken the role-play even for those countries that choose to disengage.

Given that this discussion involves a broader recognition of the World Congress it would be perhaps be an opportune moment to think about how we want this institution to operate as a community from an out-of-character perspective. No doubt I am a player who is incredibly supportive of the institution but my view is very different to the view of other players who are similarly enthusiastic.

Personally I favour a much more limited role for the World Congress than players who would like to see the organisation regularly involved in international conflict, for example. For me the institution should serve as a forum for discussion between national governments and should primarily be involved in litigating on genuinely "international" matters. In a logistical sense, there is a lot of work to do sorting through over a hundred resolutions and countless debates. In all honesty my work in my own time as World Congress Coordinator was not as successful as I would have liked in this regard.

In general terms though I do feel quite strongly that it is beneficial to have an international organisation that has the out-of-character backing of Moderation and which has much broader scope than the player-led organisations. Regardless of what we think of individual players and members, it would be wrong to say that the World Congress has not created at least a few enjoyable moments in role-play over the past five years.

[Aquinas]

After the next WC coordinator is appointed, I would like to invite them to consider setting up a "Whale Island" news thread, so we can RP events on the Whale Island, which I understand is owned by the WC and is where the WC is based. This could include all sorts of cultural events, political activities/protests, restaurants/clubs, professional political lobbyists (some of them dodgy no doubt)... We could even have the occasional drama, like a "whodunnit" political assassination on the Whale Island, or stories about WC delegates getting drunk, having fights, having affairs etc etc..., or stories of important people being paid to hand over sensitive information...

The RP on such a thread would need to be suitably supervised/regulated, of course, which is something the WC coordinator might perhaps be interested in doing, in conjunction with Moderation.

This is just a thought. We have this whole island to work with and do something with, and I'd say there are RP opportunities here.

[mrcricketer]

We at WC Security council should support & enlist various organisations as. Part of WC or atleast back them or support them as much as possible

Organization such as Gene & Seed vault, International Workers protection treaty, International Trearty of the Red Cross,Seleya Artania Treaty Organization , Artanian International Bank

This organisations / treaties have played important role in Terra &This organisations should atleast be rewarded, backed by WC Security council

They play a role in welfare,infra & Defence matters of various terra countries

[jamescfm]

I thought I would just write this here for future reference since I told vesica and jack both already. While I was in charge of the World Congress, I had developed an informal system for rotating the General-Secretary whereby the individual would retire at the end of a term and their replacement would be from a country in the next voting group (A, B, C, D, E). I would not select a country on the Security Council either. For example at the end of the last session, I would've had Madeleine Fowler (Mordusia) retire to be replaced by someone from a country in seat D that is not Hutori. I kept track of the names and countries on the wiki page.

[robmark0000]

After the next WC coordinator is appointed, I would like to invite them to consider setting up a "Whale Island" news thread, so we can RP events on the Whale Island, which I understand is owned by the WC and is where the WC is based. This could include all sorts of cultural events, political activities/protests, restaurants/clubs, professional political lobbyists (some of them dodgy no doubt)... We could even have the occasional drama, like a "whodunnit" political assassination on the Whale Island, or stories about WC delegates getting drunk, having fights, having affairs etc etc..., or stories of important people being paid to hand over sensitive information...

The RP on such a thread would need to be suitably supervised/regulated, of course, which is something the WC coordinator might perhaps be interested in doing, in conjunction with Moderation.

This is just a thought. We have this whole island to work with and do something with, and I'd say there are RP opportunities here.

I will consider it and ask some questions. I personally think the idea is supportable.

[jellybean]

Congratulations to our new coordinator! I think this is a great appointment and I'm looking forward to seeing what you do, Rob!

[robmark0000]

Congratulations to our new coordinator! I think this is a great appointment and I'm looking forward to seeing what you do, Rob!

All hail you and thanks!

[TRA]

Everyone is more than welcome to provide feedback and ideas.

New campaign directory for the Security Council of the World Congress:

The Campaign Directory of the World Congress is a list of campaigns for nominations from nations across Terra. Players are required to use existing threads if their nation has already campaigned in the past. Players creating new campaigns for their nations should mark them as "[NATION] for [X]" (ex. Likatonia for C). Players are also advised to post campaigns on national newspapers and then submit a linked snippet to the campaign, but this is entirely optional.

Please consult with the list below to see where your nation falls in.

viewtopic.php?f=26&t=9430

A small update to the organisation of the World Congress on the forums, as well.

viewforum.php?f=26