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(Player Event) Ithaca Organizational Meeting Notes and Action Plan

O

Odyss3us

Guest
First of all I would like to thank those of you who were able to make it, I didn't get an exact head count but it seemed to be around 20. Unfortunately the Britannia Guard event was back to back with our meeting so people started ducking out early, at least hopefully it was more that than lack of interest.

The main point of contention in launching the city seems to revolve around the idea that the vendors would be themed, that is each house has specifically themed vendors (scrolls in the library, provisions in the town square, etc). While there seems to be near universal support for the idea in broad terms, there were significant points made about how to actually implement this plan.

First in order to achieve this it means the Ithaca Council must specify what items can be placed on a vendor when awarding that contract to a player. For instance a player could be awarded a recall/gate vendor slot but could not list potions on that vendor. There is some very legitimate concern that means a player active in the Ithaca community would not be able to sell an item that they would not have in sufficient quantity to regularly list, such as a power scroll or a rare item.

Second, assuming that the council does limit what can be sold on that vendor, do we allow competing vendors, such as multiple recall/gate vendors? And if so do we attempt to set community wide price guide lines to deter internal competition. My thoughts on this matter is we should not, in general, allow vendors that directly compete with one another. In the end Ithaca is a trade federation and in order to compete with Luna or Zento we need to provide a unified marketplace unlike anything found anywhere else. Also the council should not be involved in setting prices, that responsibility should be left with each vendor.

Third, again assuming the council awards these contracts, how do we determine which players are awarded which contracts. My thoughts on this is that we determine what vendors we want placed, what types of items each can list, and then auction those vendors off by vendor rate. So for instance the player that bids the most per week for the recall/gate vendor is awarded that vendor contract. Further the council needs to ensure that these vendors are placed in good hands when it comes to management of this vendors, to ensure that they are continuously well stocked. The vendor rate would then go into a general fund to be used at the council's discretion.

To address the concern about the inflexibility of what can be listed, I propose we find a way to make it easier for members of our community to trade the items they wish to list to the vendors that hold the relevant contracts. The system for this would need to be hashed out in much further detail.

Next steps:

A charter needs to be written to establish Ithaca Township that will define the election procedures for the council, the operating procedures for the vendors and the definition of membership in the community. To write this charter I propose that all those interested elect a 5 member charter committee who will write the charter which will then be approved by the interested parties.

I would suggest that the two owners of the Ithaca land are made members of this committee (myself and Woodsman) and the other three are nominated, and elected, by the interested parties. You cannot nominate yourself, one player (not character) gets 3 votes to apply to 3 candidates, the top 3 are made members. Ties result in a runoff. If there are any other suggestions on how to do this please post so we can discuss.

I nominate dreamy and necro.

Please place your nominations here, and I will find a ballot website to accommodate the election. Hopefully the election will take place no later than middle of next week and we can get a charter ready for a meeting next Saturday.

I want to make clear that while I have spearheaded this effort, at the end of the day this will be OUR community. YOU have a voice in this, I am not a dictator and I believe in order for this to work the people involved must have a real say in its operation. We have decisions to make, and we need to make them together so that this community will be the best it possibly can.

Thanks again for all your support, and I look forward to the future of Ithaca and UO!

Jason Lind / Lord of Lords
 
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