School President Elections

[Toto]

IGN: SchoolRP
DATE: 9/11/2020
WHAT YOU NEED TO SUGGEST OR MENTION: Host proper School President elections, make the rank something players can do speeches for icly and have it be some type of big server event that goes on for multiple days (it could be a big server event which would have vote polls via in-game voting, a simple voting plugin would suffice - someway in which PLAYERS and not staff-member EXCLUSIVELY could have a chance to vote without alts having a play). Having a rather ic process still be an application is so mundane and behind the times, which is apparent as most of the other student ranks have since swapped from an application based on practical demonstration. (Aka, Football team applications used to be a thing, it has since evolved.) Make every rank in the school council based on a vote event for the next map and then further on every year oocly or until the previous one quits. This may be unpopular because it implies that the current people will lose their ranks but really all it means is that it prevents stagnation as there would be a lot of rivalry, which is better for everyone in terms of stuff "being better." This could also fill in peoples PoliticsRP need's as it wouldn't be as drastic as a mayoral election which would be a great undertaking in it of itself.

TL;DR: Remove the formal application process of the School Council Ranks (like how you used to have to apply for Football-Team via an application and now the applications are all practical.) and have them instead by elected by the student body via yearly or sub-yearly events which would be a big event that everyone would be able to participate in, either as a participant in the running for any of the roles or as someone who will vote for one of the participants.

And hell, if you don't want to do it for STUDENT COUNCIL, do it for Mayor instead, my hope is we at least get it somewhere.

REPLIES:
+9 / -6
RATINGS:
+13 / -10

 

[Springwood]

+1

 

[Yonio]

+1

Completely agree with this.

 

[Gamma Rose]

+1
Certainly got my vote. I think its a wonderful idea.

 

[qbigail]

Yeahhh!! WOOH!! +100098272636636

 

[bpnny]

+0.5

I feel like this could be a good idea, but I don’t agree with the removal of council applications. I also believe that you should only be eligible for nomination to be president if you are in the council.

 

[Mxxkie]

Interesting concept indeed, however speaking as someone who's in the council; there's a lot more to the presidents than meets the eye. They are qualified in their own right and oversee many aspects behind the scenes; in other words not everyone has what it takes. If I were to tweak this, I'd say choosing a president from the already existing roster of councillors. I agree in that their should be some change as in the past people have obtained the ranks of vice president or president, when I personally feel it shouldn't have happened. Furthermore, more often than not, the leads are chosen without much input from the council and we only really hear about it after the fact, which can sometimes lead to confusion or discontent. I like the way the applications are set up. My point simplified, while I agree on democracy, putting the position of president and vice president to a vote, I believe the vote should be made within the council, not the entirety of the school.

 

[hebwig]

+1 good luck @oph

 

[Totalore]

+1

keep council applications, just have people apply for the spot and the best applicants get to run (make a speech etc etc) in the whole election and go through the voting process to become the president

 

[Thomdar]

Hey! As someone that has been quite a few roles in the Council through out multiple generations of it I figured I'd go ahead and let ya know a few things.

Firstly, the President is generally whoever the previous President picks and is almost always the Vice-President. They also have to be approved by the Faction Lead and if a majority of the council members don't agree they tend to lose their rank fairly quickly.

Secondly, the reason Council is an application and not a practical demonstration is because Council is a lot more about communication icly and oocly, even if we added a demonstration we'd still require an ooc writing or interview simply because it's vital. On that note, a decent understanding of grammar has to be maintained as well, and this is easier to see when looking over application.

The Presidents are responsible for a decent bit oocly, so they really have to have a good amount of experience with the council beforehand. Along with this, councilors have to be able to show they can cooperate oocly and write compelling stories while demonstrating problem solving skills.

Although the idea of an election is interesting, it wouldn't work practically as we don't even use the Treasurer or Secretary roles anymore due to not being a Student Council in the traditional sense. You can always apply for a club of your choice if you want some political rp though!

 

[Xusic]

I'm a bit in between on this suggestion, yes I do indeed think it would be good and fun to nominate and elect those for council. However, council is definitely more work behind the scenes. As one of the current presidents, I would be SLIGHTLY concerned about how it would go since, council president usually goes to those within council. Yes it would be fun to elect someone but a lot of the work being done and would be a big bear to carry, without hard work from the council members, faction lead, SLT, and presidents (both vice and president) council definitely would not be functioning as well as it is currently and perhaps it would even get worse if hard work isn't being done in it.

Note: There's a difference between sports and student council. For one, you should probably be good at the plugin / sport to be in the team and the other would be student council being a lot more peacekeeper / somewhat more paperwork than sports. Rather than adding a whole other plugin you could also do polls. Generally I think that the election should be nominating those already WITHIN council, because irl you still have to apply for council and same goes with the current. The president again is chosen by the Faction Lead or SLT, and with the opinion of the previous president.

 

[Demurity]

Adding onto Thomdar's points, the issue with having an election for a council President is that it only makes real sense to happen ICly. And while I can see the definite roleplaying appeal of having people campaigning for the role and all of the fun that would likely come with it, responsibility in the role of Council VP or Council President is something proven OOCly.

One of the things I've noted from a) the short time I was on the council and b) being friends with people on the council (including College VP @Cencres ) is that there is far more effort out of character than there is within, per se, a sports team- not saying sports teams don't work hard!! But because council is so much responsibility from all of their event planning to their coordination with all of the sports teams, their leadership being dictated through ICly means doesn't make any probable sense. Not to mention that- and I say this as kindly as I can- I very much doubt that the SRP community could fairly elect a candidate ICly considering how much is already done ICly for the OOC meme, and the current council leads shouldn't have their spots put at jeopardy for an ICly experience because of how much they do already.

Take into example the common responsibilities shared between sports team leads and council leads. Hosting meetings and or practices, being responsible for the image of the group, having experience, a clean OOC record, and of course team leaders also sometimes host their own events or participate in events (i.e. the KBA/KVA/KFA tournaments, or the College Swim Team's Luxe parties). Logically, no one would agree with a captain being decided through an ICly vote rather than a good and decent discussion on who deserves the role because of the OOC effort put in and it should be the same case for Council VPs and Presidents.

The only thing I could see possibly working is having candidates be chosen OOCly with their experience and efforts already evaluated before going through an ICly election and campaigning which I think would be fun and intriguing but nevertheless, it still feels like a more flawed and less fair process than OOC decision. Not to mention that having such elections, especially suggested as of now when Council seems to already have incredibly capable leads and their roles shouldn't be jeopardized suddenly for this concept.

TLDR; a -1 from me. OOC effort > IC therefore IC process shouldn't be a deciding factor.

(Note; as soon as I finished this I saw Music's response. Complete agreement with all of the points made there.)

 

[Cencres]

-1 only because Council is largely OOC and having its leaders depend on something IC doesn't seem logical, though an election seems like a fun server-wide event. (Basically what @Demurity said)

 

[Thomdar]

To go with @Demurity if we wanna talk about the voting itself be unfair, consider student of the month. To begin with no one voted based on character, but based on player instead. We quite literally had a banned player as student of the month because everyone liked her more. I'd barely trust staff to vote on it, much less players that don't know anything about the process.

 

[pitapet]

i do not feel like typing a lot but i do not think it would be an enjoyable event to majority of players as its kind of wow watch and look and woah vote for somebody

all i have to say, also agree with thomdar & music

-1

 

[eto]

Looking at all of these comments, I would like to point out a suggestion. In a President election there is three areas I would personally judge off of:

1. SLT and their viewpoint/opinions.
2. An electoral vote from the students.
3. The Student Council themselves who judge all of these together, plus their views.

These three should determine who gets elected to the position, but also runs the same way for Vice-Presidents. It shouldn't just be the council or the students.

 

[Toto]

To anyone who's points were that "The job is a big undertaking" and "They'd need to understand how it all works" The idea is that everyone collectively votes for a person and that - if you were to apply you'd understand how much work it really is. As for @Thomdar's approach to this all, I sincerely doubt anyone would get that far into the election if they couldn't use proper grammar.

As for roles like the Treasury, they'd have to be elected to serve as the Treasury, ALL roles would be elected officals. I strongly believe that ANYONE, if a member of the council or not should be able to APPLY as that is how democracy should work, having it locked off to people outside of the council is unfair to those who cannot become members (due to the council being full for example) this also implies that people cannot "rise to power" which, in the real would people could. I feel as if players should ALL be given the chance to NOT ONLY vote but also RUN for any role of council they choose.

My thread implies that, for the most part every member of the student council will be able to keep their positions as long as they win their end of the election. All they have to do is continue to hold their place, I am not saying to outright clear the current school council but that they would have to run in the next election, similar to how it would work with the US election where a president would have to be elected to serve a second term. The current student council would simply need to rerun to keep their claim on their spot in the council, or if they want use that time in order to advance to a higher spot.

Really the idea is that if you were to apply you'd understand all of the OOC work the job has behind it, as I doubt anyone would vote for someone who couldn't fulfill these qualities. To me, I see it as simple as this, if you are willing to go to all of the work to be elected - and then actually BEING ELECTED, chances are the actual rank will be a lot easier, since it wouldn't be a walk in the park to do. Players would vote for those they believe have the IC and the OOC ideals needed for the role, however IC the position would be, if they were to be elected they'd KNOW what they are getting into for the OOC part.

TL;DR: This yearly or subyearly event would have a lot of competition behind it, meaning that out of all of the people running, they'd all be putting a lot of work into it. With competition comes expansion and the thing itself becomes better, I sincerely think that whoever would be voted in has the skills OOCly to do all of the work as they'd of just beaten everyone else, one of those being the prior President. I sincerely think that - the player(s) who win these elections will be fit for the rank and even if they aren't, the one below them can just take their place to fill in, allowing for one of the runner-ups to take a spot on the council.

 

[Thomdar]

@Totoro_Sam Can you guarantee everyone that applied would know how it works? Can you guarantee that the server won't do it's usual and vote purely for the meme? And you missed the point. The treasurer, not treasury, role is gone completely. It is no longer a job, there is a reason it is no longer a job. I should know, I was one. Players will not elect based on who is better, but who they like. The system will fail after having to pick the 3rd president that month after the last quit

I am not using fancy words, so pay close attention. The idea is good, on paper. In practice it would never work and should never be put into fruition. You'd be better off asking for a mayor of Karakura role. If you want to discuss this more, dm me. Thomdar#1500

 

[Cencres]

(My opinion on this!!) I just don't think its a good idea jeopardizing peoples positions for an event or a different roleplay experience. It's still fair and square to get on the council using apps, to become a VP or President is also a chance for everybody on the Council. I just don't get the appeal of changing the systems already put in place that have worked for as long as the Council has been a thing. This is from a non-bias standpoint considering I'm College VP. Especially when its based on chance that players will treat this "election system" like you're implying. Also agree with all of Thomdars points again. It seems fun, yeah, it just doesn't seem realistic to me, especially with the points that have been made.

 

[Toto]

@Totoro_Sam Can you guarantee everyone that applied would know how it works? Can you guarantee that the server won't do it's usual and vote purely for the meme? And you missed the point. The treasurer, not treasury, role is gone completely. It is no longer a job, there is a reason it is no longer a job. I should know, I was one. Players will not elect based on who is better, but who they like. The system will fail after having to pick the 3rd president that month after the last quit

I am not using fancy words, so pay close attention. The idea is good, on paper. In practice it would never work and should never be put into fruition. You'd be better off asking for a mayor of Karakura role. If you want to discuss this more, dm me. Thomdar#1500

The idea is that you can trust the players to be able to manage themselves. Obviously there will be moderation in the voting system (to make it so trolls can't be let in etc) But the idea is that the amount of competition the role would have would lead to the best rising above, like how it works in the real world. Players who will be in the final tiers of the election WOULD be the well known players who know what they are doing, to give players such little trust is not right, players aren't stupid and those who do attempt with troll-like characters simply won't make it into the ballet. The type of players who will run (and will make it far into the election) are people like the lore-team, ex staff members or well known players with credibility. Not untrustworthy players.