Eutopia's Central Asylum (for OOC talk)

[unmerged(1522)]

By way of a quick update, here are the (preliminary) decisions from Wednesday's meeting. Please feel free to provide feedback.


General setting

It was decided to go with the established setting; any economic changes (rise in inflation, stock market crashes etc.) will be event-driven

National government

(1) President: elected every two months by popular vote (voting period: one week); appoints and dismisses Ministers; cannot be a Member of Parliament (same goes for Ministers) but may propose legislation in Parliament; if a parliamentary vote is tied, the President may cast a tie-breaker vote (provided all 12 MPs have already voted); the President is Head of State as well as Head of Government (i.e., no Monarchy); one of the Ministers will be designated Vice-President by the President and will fulfill the President’s functions if and while the latter is absent

(2) Ministers: four Ministers; appointed and dismissed by the President; may *not* propose legislation in Parliament; portfolios: Minister of Defense and International Affairs (MDIA), Minister of Economy, Trade and Infrastructure (METI) (includes energy, agriculture, natural resources), Minister of Home Affairs(MHA) (Interior, Justice, Coast Guard, immigration, citizenship, customs etc.), Minister of Heritage and Social Affairs (MHSA) (health, labour, family, Youth, welfare, education, culture, communities, science, technology); Finance is left to the President; Ministers can hire experts for their Ministerial Cabinet

(3) Parliament: twelve Members; elected every two months by popular vote; electoral system: straight proportional representation; any two MPs may propose legislation; legislation is passed by a majority of votes cast (voting period: one week); constitutional amendments require two thirds of votes cast and at least six votes in favour; if an MP is going to be absent for more than ten days, s/he will have to resign his/her seat, to be replaced with the next candidate from the party list; if an MP resigns his/her seat for any other reason, s/he will also be replaced with the next candidate on the list

(4) High Court: constitutional court; in actual gameplay practice, the High Court is going to be identical with the Gamemasters

(5) Candidates: parties will have to nominate (a) candidate(s) for parliamentary and presidential elections at the Speaker’s Office, three days before the elections begin

(6) popular vote: all citizens (= registered players) are eligible to vote by way of a voting thread; non-citizens may not vote

 

[Blade!]

All right!

Can I do anything for you? Remmber to ask!

Do you have a time table for a new start?

 

[unmerged(1522)]

Originally posted by Blade!
Can I do anything for you? Remmber to ask!

Thanks, Blade! I expect we'll take you up on the offer once we've decided what kind of threads to keep and such (see below).

Do you have a time table for a new start?

Not really. We had another meeting yesterday (I'll post the decisions once the summary has been okayed by the Committee members, probably Monday), and I'd say we're about one third done with the overhaul. Some of the issues we still need to discuss are pretty complex, while others are relatively straightforward - so overall, it's a bit difficult to come up with a reliable estimate when we'll be done (not to mention the challenge of coordinating six conflicting schedules ). However, if I had to hazard a guess, I'd be cautiously optimistic and say about three weeks.

Just to give you all an idea where we're at, I'll post our overhaul agenda here. Issues listed in italics have been more or less settled already, the others still need to be discussed.


Part I. Setting
A. General setting
B. Policy areas

Part II. Government
C. National government
D. Provinces
E. Military
F. External affairs

Part III. Society
G. Economy
H. Organizations
I. Media

Part IV. Game organization
J. Threads (= stickies, carry-overs)
K. Suggested thread: 9 ½ things etc. (= Intro-thread)
L. Gamemasters
M. Game parameters
N. Transition
O. In-game job combinations

 

[unmerged(10191)]

U think ul be ready before my birthday?

It is hard to only manage with only Utopia...

I WANT EUtopia before my birthday!

 

[Murmurandus]

We're trying...

 

[unmerged(1522)]

Summary of Friday's decisions.


National Government

(1) Addition to President: the President can be removed by Parliament if at least 9 MPs agree

(2) Electoral system (parliamentary elections): straight proportional representation; ballot structure: citizens cast a vote for a closed party list (i.e., a list as is - voters cannot change the rank order of candidates)

Provinces

(1) Provincial powers: provinces are merely administrative units and have no legislative powers; exception: the Latin provinces are autonomous in the areas of education, language and culture (the Latin provinces basically provide two school systems, one where the language of instruction is English, one where it is French or Spanish); in particular, the police is the exclusive responsibility of the national government

(2) Provincial government: provinces are headed by a Director-General (chief of administration) appointed by the President; the Northern provinces have no elected representatives on the provincial level; in contrast, the Latin provinces have elected provincial assemblies to legislate in matters of education, language and culture (subject to approval/disallowance from the national Parliament); the Latin assemblies elect a First Minister to form a provincial government, but all areas outside education, language and culture are still the sole responsibility of the Director-General

Military

(1) Situation: the military is underfunded and its equipment is outdated; there are pronounced inter-service rivalries; males age 18 are conscripted to serve in the military for one year; the military supports the existing political system, but is extremely dissatisfied with its outcomes for the forces

(2) Command structure: there is no Supreme Commander; instead, the Chiefs of each of the three services make up Central Command; Chiefs are appointed by their predecessors (parliamentary approval required) for a period of 8 years (= in-game 4 months); only Generals or equivalent can be appointed Chief; Chiefs can be removed only if the President and at least 8 MPs agree

(3) Promotions: for game purposes, military promotions will be handled by the Gamemasters

External Affairs

(1) International organizations: Eutopia recently joined the UN and belongs to the OSCE, but to no other international organizations

(2) Foreign embassies: players can play the role of foreign ambassador to Eutopia, provided they get Gamemaster-approval; if so, they cannot become citizens, cast votes or join Eutopian organizations/institutions

(3) Eutopian embassies: it'll be up to the Gamemasters to decide where Eutopian embassies exist at the beginning of the game

Organizations

We didn't really get into this, but there were two preliminary decisions.

(1) Churches: players who wish to play leaders of major Churches/religious organizations will need Gamemaster-approval

(2) State corporations: CEOs of state-owned corporations are appointed by the responsible Minister

 

[HJ Tulp]

About the military: You say the GM decide about the promotions.
But how do you start? As a cadet?

 

[Murmurandus]

Originally posted by HJ Tulp
About the military: You say the GM decide about the promotions.
But how do you start? As a cadet?

I presume that would be a matter of the gamer together with the GMs...

 

[Petrarca]

Wonderful, I see much room for improvement when my party takes power.

Still disappointed we couldn't run an unstable gov't in the middle of coups and revolutions.

 

[Josephus I]

Good work to all involved. Looks like you took care of some major issues that caused problems initially.

 

[unmerged(1522)]

Originally posted by Murmurandus
I presume that would be a matter of the gamer together with the GMs...

That was my understanding as well.

 

[unmerged(2178)]

Who are the victims - I mean GMs? Do we have any willing sacrifices?

 

[Murmurandus]

Originally posted by Wagnaard
Who are the victims - I mean GMs? Do we have any willing sacrifices?

First we are building up the stuff, then we're going to look for candidates...

Are you interested maybe??

 

[unmerged(10191)]

Originally posted by Murmurandus
We're trying...

It is good to know

 

[unmerged(6324)]

Yohoo! Bladey dear!? Where are you? Can I come back? Also, are coups, revolutions, or the sort simulated?

 

[Murmurandus]

Originally posted by Euro-Maniac
...
Also, are coups, revolutions, or the sort simulated?

Yes, that's the idea, but this will be handled by the GMs (by events probably). There's no use of players declaring independence, a coup or whatever...

 

[unmerged(2178)]

Originally posted by Murmurandus


First we are building up the stuff, then we're going to look for candidates...

Are you interested maybe??

Errrrmmmm ummmm noooo.


/Wagnaard's survival skills pick up and immediately he is running for the door....

 

[Murmurandus]

Originally posted by Wagnaard



Errrrmmmm ummmm noooo.


/Wagnaard's survival skills pick up and immediately he is running for the door....

Smart move...

 

[Blade!]

Originally posted by Euro-Maniac
Yohoo! Bladey dear!? Where are you?

*Waves back*

 

[unmerged(8451)]

We need an EUtopia avatar uploaded when this thing is relaunched.