Government System Feedback

[Kyronix]

@Kyronix Requests are a big issue with the governor system and each shard seems to be handling them in markedly different ways, that's a bad thing. Whatever rules or expectations exist need to be uniform across all shards; the EMs on Shard A shouldn't be able to do things that the EMs on Shard B say no to. Currently, that's how the system is. Having everything be timered is also a bad thing.

A library of potential improvements sounds great, but I fear we'll lose individuality amongst the shards if everything else a governor asks for is either denied or stamped with an expiration date. I foresee an automated system becoming a crutch for the less active, or less involved, EMs.

Right now though, the biggest issue has to be the trade deals. Citizens have zero incentive to chip in for these, leaving the governors to foot the 24-26 mil price per term. Not everyone has seen the acquisition of massive amounts digital gold as a worthwhile goal in UO. This needs to be fixed asap.
Ways to help:

• Banners purchased from the city guard see the gold go into the city's coffers
• Trade Ministers send a certain amount of gold into the coffers based on what they get
• Trade Deals are halved in price to 1 mil, or lower
• Utilization of trade deals costs the citizen 10-50K in gold per use.

It also might be a good idea to double the buff strength from trade deals so they aren't just a longer lasting fish pie buff. More people will see them as worthwhile then.

We are working constantly with our Event Moderators to better the Governor system. It's still very much in its infancy, but we are making progress. If there are particular issues please let us know.

Unless something is being built on all shards (large scale stuff like docks and the like) we've run into issues in the past where something that exists exclusively on one shard causes issue with large scale plans - hence the timers. If circumstances dictate that something be built long term, we'd examine keeping those structures permanent on a case by case basis. Something like a "triumph" celebrating the victory over a lengthy invasion comes to mind in that example.

With regard to losing individuality we have to be somewhat pragmatic about it. I am all for each shard being unique, that is one of the fundamental features of UO that makes it so great. As we move beyond the beginning stages of these additions we can investigate providing a means to promote individuality with what can be done whilst still preserving aesthetic integrity within our cities. Our Event Moderators work WAY above and beyond what is required of them. Providing some automation to the system serves to ease some of what is required of them out of this, while still providing the interaction that makes it feel dynamic and real.

See my other post for the trade deals and "pay per use". Some of your other suggestions could be helpful in augmenting what I talked about in the other response, and will think about the best way to implement them.

Thanks again for the feedback!
http://stratics.com/community/posts/2366586/