EM Announcement Guidelines for the Royal Council of Governors

[EM Barnaby]

Presented here is a guideline for the Royal Council of Governors on the Catskills shard. This was adapted from EM Bennu’s most excellent guide for Atlantic. These “rules” are subject to change. Should you have any questions regarding these, please post in this thread in as clear and succinct a way as possible. Thank you.

#1: Strive to always be “in character.” If you are a governor, act as a governor. All citizens are welcome to attend meetings, but this rule applies to you as well. The purpose of the Royal Council of Governors is to provide opportunities for roleplay.

#2: Just as the Governors and citizens are expected to properly roleplay, the King (or his Viceroy), will not break character. Please remember this as requests or comments meant for the EM playing the King, even if disguised as comments to the King, will most likely be disregarded.

#3: Governors serve at the pleasure of the King both “in character” and “out of character.” If your conduct is such that it causes a disturbance in the meeting, you will be asked to leave, and potentially removed from your position. If a citizen behaves this way, they will be asked to leave or removed from the vicinity. There will be very little tolerance shown for acts that disrespect the King, or other Governors and citizens. Further, any Governor who misses three consecutive meetings will be removed from their position.

#4: Each Governor may make a SINGLE request for a town improvement each term. Please note that simply making a request does not guarantee you will receive it. Also note that there is no “time limit” on requests – a request may be approved but not be fulfilled until after your term is up.
#5: The purpose of the Royal Council of Governors is not to assist in player-run events. That being said, events organized by Governors that are shard-wide and well advertised, may receive a small amount of support from the shard’s EM. This is by NO MEANS a guarantee, and if the success of your event hinges on this support, than you should reconsider the event.

#6: If you are not a Governor, but wish to address the Council, please arrange for an introduction with your town’s Governor. If you do not live in one of the towns, or the seat is vacant, please arrive early and let the King or his representative know you wish to speak.

#7: Whether you are a Governor or a citizen, please be aware of how long you speak! If you prove to be a bit talkative, the King WILL stop you in order to give someone else a chance. Please be respectful of others.

#8: Trade deals, and how towns are governed are the business of the Governor and the Townspeople. But remember, the King is Monarch and as Governor you are an extension of the Crown. If asked to change something (like a curfew) you as Governor must comply, (or work around it).

#9: Meetings will NOT take place at a set day or time of each month, but they WILL be announced with a minimum of a week’s notice. This does NOT apply to any emergency sessions that might be called (otherwise they would hardly seem to be emergencies, would they?).

#10: As stated, this system is for roleplaying purposes. Where possible, town improvements may be made and have the potential to be granted. As Governors you are being given “official” places within the story-line of your shard. This does NOT mean you have the authority to make proclamations that could potentially counter official canon (Global Story and EM Created Story). It DOES mean that, where appropriate, your efforts to better your towns will be recognized in the EM Created Story in small ways. EMs will always try to take into account the efforts of Governors and other players, but first and foremost their duty is to maintain the Global Story as well as their own.

 

[EM Barnaby]

Reserving this spot for a future repost (slightly tweaked) of Claudius' wonderful "In Character" guidelines.

 

[Bianca_CoD]

Thank you EM Barnaby, we have been asking for this for quite a while. My only other unfulfilled question in regards to this is... what TYPE of improvements to a city can be requested that can be somewhat easily fulfilled by the developers/producers? I had been told stables, docks, guard offices, bank improvements, 1-way gates, etc. were all things that could be asked for. But as your email to me stated, you are unable to fulfill Minoc's request for a dock. So a more realistic list of items that you can request that allow Governors to feel a bit empowered during their term would certainly be of great help!

Of course that's not to say that other more substantial requests wouldn't be looked at, just something to give us a starting reference. Like from what Pandora has told me, it is almost impossible for Vesper's request for their own menu-driven moongate to be fulfilled, that would require a game-wide change. Or anything that is a removal of trees or landscape that would require a change to the map files. Those are hard things to do. But give us a list of small things that can be done --- that we can start with --- or feel like we've accomplished something with.

And while yes this is based on role playing, I believe it was also promoted to be a way us citizens to individualize our shards through our Governors' requests, which was what appealed to me. That's something really special and important to me and to my friends that play with me... for Catskills to have something different than other shards, something that makes it stand out. We are diehard Catskillians in CoD (and all its subguilds) but when we see the passion and devotion given to other shards simply because they have more people, it really disheartens us. We want to bring folks to Catskills, but do not know how to do so without the support of the developers/producers and this Governorship System, we felt, was a way to be distinctive and show folks we can do just as well as Atlantic or Great Lakes or other shards and there is ROOM HERE to build player cities, establishments, etc.

How do we grow the population of this shard together as guilds, as EM's, as CSR's, as game owners? What can we use that's already in place to do so? Things like the Governorship could have potential, but it requires not only the players to be involved, but everyone --- including Mesanna --- to do so. More attention should be given to shards that have lower populations but a group of devoted players, like us... like PGoH... like NME...like NPS... like K^S.... for example. Those are the guilds you should work closely with to bring about change on this server. If that requires them to hire another EM to assist you Barnaby, please... make the request.

~ Sue.