That's nice Only a "small" part of them are active in the forum, only small part vocal about issues and the community. This is normal, and for any issue that is not a major itch for everyone, you have no alternative but to take the opinion and vote of few percent as representative for the community. Yes, but only if it is a major itch, and not until the people can feel it (which may be a bit late). For any strategy issues, it is a wonder if the voter turnout goes over few percent. But this is a natural property of (this community, that's) human nature. So that means really many, if not overwhelming. This is a very well known problem of democracy and voting / elections. (Side note: Recent example from IMO currently the best democracy in RL - Switzerland. They have referendums / ballots on every major issue, so they vote like every month. In November 2009, 57.5% voted for -> banning construction of new minarets what caused a major controversy and showed that a significant part of voters of like top developed democracy can have a homophobic freak-out episode. Half of a nation! This is a topic one could invest whole life and career into ... as many people do.) I don't want to start a debate on principles, but just motivate members to think about the community and participate - and encourage Justin, Jeremy and staff to strengthen and support the community even more. One of the applicable solution here on EMC is: explain, explain, explain, let / ask / encourage others to explain and discuss. Most of the time the majority will understand, many times an idea / solution isn't really that good, and sometimes a good idea won't be recognized ... well that's life and we can only hope it won't happen too often. And hopefully, of course, a really bad idea won't be accepted in a community-wide freak-out episode. I'd suggest to make polls (that are obviously not binding, we've discussed that) on more / most (all major) issues and announce it in the game, like it was with the rule enforcement poll. For other solutions ... let's see how the community will develop, we have time and it is fun... Well, that's kind of very democratic It's for the best and I applaud to that. IMO, the best traits of EMC are recognition of the importance and value of the community, of fair play and of manners / civilized social intercourse. To really want the best for the community is about the most noble motive. I congratulate and fully support that. The fact that we are quite openly discussing here and that criticism is accepted and responded to is a rather democratic facet. Excellent! (Side note again: I see four main problems with authoritarian system, even if there is genuine will and effort to make the best for the community: 1 - The authority does not really know what is best, does not really have that universal geniality nor a direct phone line to God to check, or even has an idée fixe, or several, and is (temporary, partially or fully) on a completely wrong path. You know about dedicated, strong leaders or parties or preachers who led their communities, societies or nations into disaster. 2 - The system (naturally, because of human nature) leads to a situation where a (small) minority exploits the majority, knowing (hopefully) what is best for them. 3 - Repression that goes along with authoritarian system causes suffering and damage. 4 - The community / society degenerates over time because of lack of freedom and diversity, repression, and because they rely on that authority and do not need to think and work themselves. The society takes lasting damage. A huge RL problem in post-communist societies. All of this does not directly apply to EMC, of course - you can make parallels and compare where it makes sense.) Naturally, you mostly have to, and want to make some trade-offs / compromises. I do not think that EMC is bad, otherwise I would not invest effort here. My criticism is about issues that, IMO, are suboptimal trade-offs and/or directly or indirectly go against one of above traits or where I think that negative effects can (and should) be expected in mid-term or long-term development. I've criticized few things in the past, no need to repeat here, I'll just mention three groups of topics: - issues mostly around EMC economy, fair play and making the game easier (and therefore less interesting) - making assumptions or "decisions" about what is the "correct" way to play the game (against the sandbox principle and diversity) - issues around occurrences of authoritarian style of communication, not explaining intentions behind rules, censorship instead of commenting, answering and discussing, closing of discussion threads, possibly too harsh punishments, and related symptoms like people (non-staff) who police around etc. ... and some pictures Sure, but there is an, I think, obvious pitfall there. There are more than enough disasters around there, no need to measure oneself against mediocrity. I wonder how and why servers you describe have any players or even a community and why the people do no move or get together and finance a decent server... I wonder how and why servers you describe have any players or even a community and why the people do not move or get together and finance a decent server... Would it be sustainable, would it work long term? Would a sane mind participate in such enterprise? I think this was a very good decision (not disturbing the balance). My vote was against flying in SMP towns, because it would significantly change properties of our space there - some games would not work, need for additional walls, doors, roofs etc. I think vault fee is too small to be significant. Otherwise, spending large amounts of rupees outside of /shop will boost the effects of inflation, which will eventually lead to increase in prices and stabilization. It would be good to check the prices in /shop and ensure that they are at least the double of the current average market price, because although buying from /shop eases the inflation, it makes the economy absurd. Current hint: Ink sac Thank you! PS: anyone thinks this is a really long post? C'mon it's only like 1300 words
I have referred 3. One threw an outright fit over the regulations and fees for things yet refused to leave town. The other is my sister and the other my husband who gets on every now and then.
