So Whats It All About?

[Makeo]

I am ignorant in the ways of the Democracy game.

Enlighten me please.

[Makeo]

Hey all you ****ers who are looking at the thread could think about replying.

[MrWhereItsAt]

Well, we are playing a game of Civ2, Multiplayer Gold edition v1.3, via collective decisions. Every month we elect people to the High Council, which consists of a President (who plays the game), a Vice President (who takes over in case the Prez cannot play for some reason), and Ministers of Science, Trade, Military, Imperial Expansion (new cities), City Planner (building in cities) and Foreign Affairs.

These posters are sent the savegame by the President after he has played for a while, and they make up polls governing their respective areas. For example, if we want some other civ's Wonders, the Minister of WAR may make up a poll on whether we attack them. They may also invent a specific plan of attack for discussion. After the results of the polls are known and any discussion of plans has been followed through, the Ministers post their orders somewhere, or PM them directly to the President. The President then plays the game according to their orders, and posts both a report on what has happened and screenshots to aid his descriptions.

The cycle of sending the save out then repeats, new orders, game played again etc.

We have already successfully won one game via conquering the world militarily, a game in which I am proud to say I participated. We are restricting ourselves to a different type of win this time around - a win by spaceship if we can.

Any specific questions? I hope this helps.

[Makeo]

yes. thank you. how do i get involved

[Hydey]

Originally posted by Makeo
yes. thank you. how do i get involved

You just did.

[Makeo]

ok my first question is what lunatics voted for hydey as president?

[MrWhereItsAt]

US lunatics did.

[Hydey]

I saved us from disaster then i got shafted by an evil bear in a cave.

[cavebear]

Originally posted by Hydey
I saved us from disaster then i got shafted by an evil bear in a cave.

Oh c'mon, Hydey. You posted a request that other people run, then got miffed when I agreed to do just that.

[Hydey]

yes thats him, he's the evil bear in the cave.

[shade]

Originally posted by Makeo
ok my first question is what lunatics voted for hydey as president?

I did
*Military goons show waiting for the order from their SMC to arrest someone*

I saved us from disaster then i got shafted by an evil bear in a cave.

And this glory makes you loved by 1000's of amazons...and still you are complaining
on the other hand are you sure you could have done beter this term?That would have been really hard...beter be carried away on the hands of the amazons then to fade away into oblivion.

Shade
(hmm I have a nice end for your reign thank you )

[cavebear]

Originally posted by Makeo
yes. thank you. how do i get involved

As you have declared an interest in participating, you are now a Citizen. You can vote in the polls, respond to threads and create them (though it is a good idea to watch a bit before creating new threads, to get a feel for our routine). Most of the new threads are the polls by the Ministers or a description of a "session" played by the President (complete with useful screenshots).

Only the Cabinet receives the actual game file, though Citizens get a lost of information from the screenshots (you can check one of the previous session reports for examples).

There are a couple of unusual aspects of a Democracy Game (and that refers to the fact that everyone votes, not to the form of Government we use). First, it takes some adjustment to get used to a game you don't actually play yourself. It may seem that voting on actions would cause a lot of changes in strategy, but it works surprisingly well. The discussions during the polls usually make the best moves clear, and many people (even experienced ones) pick up some surprising information from time to time.

The second unusual aspect of a Democracy Game is that, while the President actually plays the game, he isn't really in control of it as much as you might think. A typical playing session lasts 4-8 turns, and the President is expected to follow the intructions of the Ministers and also expected to stop if any important decisions need to be made.

It makes things interesting. The President plays the game, but mainly as the executer of Ministerial recommendations. The Ministers get to phrase the poll questions, but they must recommend the results of the popular vote. The Citizens do the voting, but they must do so on the basis of inclomplete information.

Elections are for one-month terms, and new elections are held at the end of the month. Candidates self-nominate; if you want to run for an office, you just say so when the nomination period starts. The Vice President is in charge of the election cycle. He will declare nominations open about a week before the end of the month, will post polls for each Cabinet position when the nominations close, and will announce the winners. The next Cabinet takes over the first of each month.

Any Citizen can run for any office, but it is recommended that a new Citizen wait a month before running for office. The experience of seeing how things work helps. Also, it seems to work best that a Citizen be a Minister first, before running for President. Being a Minister gets one used to the administrative details necessary to coordinate things as President.

We don't have a Constitution. We've generally figured out what works and what doesn't, but it reduces flexibility to have hard-and-fast rules. There are no political parties.

We tend to have general goals in each game. In Democracy Game #1, we went for world conquest, used the SuperIronclad Strategy and used Monarchy and Communism. This time, we are trying to use representative governments, maintain a defensive posture, avoid the Superclad strategy, limit our Wonders, and seek an Alpha Centuri victory.

I hope you will join us!

[H Tower]

there's a topped thread in this forum, if you sign your name, i'll put you on the roster as a citizen

[-Jrabbit]

Another Hydey Loyalist reveals himself...

He led us from the bottom to the top of the Powergraph, founded many new cities, and accurately followed the will of the ppl as directed by the High Council.

Welcome to our little game, Makeo. Looking forward to your input.
Many a +1 there for the taking!