Magyar_Republic
Self-requested Deactivation
- Joined
- Apr 11, 2011
- Posts
- 2,563
- Location
- Aberdeen, WA
- Society
- Whiskey Confederacy
- Avatar Name
- Edward Magyar Republic
I think it's widely accepted that the society functions in-game currently available are outdated, providing little incentive to manage a society or join one, and even becoming burdensome on those who do administer groups.
I believe True Juan a while ago managed a society wishlist. That list got me thinking: What would make a good society structure for EU?
Here it is:
The Current Structure
The current society structure consists of 6 ranks, for each society, each rank being progressively able to kick more people out, and manage a few updates. These updates are largely only noticed when a person is at the society terminal, and the ranks are basically meaningless titles players are forced to conform to if they want to join a social group or create one. They do not support a creative structure, instead they seem to enforce a type of game immersion. While this is good starting out, it's not so good overall.
Proposition
Create a society structure based on tiered advancement levels. These advancements grant new abilities within the society, and can be earned through either society longevity, or completion of related quests, or a combination of both.
Start with the basic society structure that exists now, in terms of ranks and titles, and add functionality to all societies for these items:
Create an underlying system of rewards for societies that have been around a long time and/or have a high member base capable of completing ingame tasks. This system of rewards allows the society to grow.
Reward Tier 1: Customizable Ranks and Privileges
1,000 points, or 1 year ingame
The Rank Archetype option "Custom" is added to the society terminal. Up to 20 ranks may be defined by the user, each with their own name, and privileges. Rank Archetypes may only be selected by the society leader. Privileges may also only be assigned by the society leader.
Privileges added include:
New items
Chat: Societies may specify in their description chat channels they use. Members will be automatically added to these channels. How they are automatically added depends on what is specified by their rank. This is useful for societies that may be large, like NBK, but may also wish to help new players. Instead of having multiple divisions they may now all consolidate under one flag. This will be useful for completing society quests.
Moderation: Chat channels can now be moderated by a member with sufficient privileges. This can be used to stop arguments, or for events, or other tasks.
Voice: Voiced members can talk during channel moderation
Mute/Unmute: Sometimes a person may be a problem. Or they might just be drunk. Folks may not want to, or have the authority to kick them. But they can still resolve the problem by muting them, so they do not disturb the rest of the society while people are figuring out what to do about them.
Trial: This option is automatically enabled by default. A person with sufficient privileges may put another person on trial, to remove them from the society. This circumvents needing a leader involved in every decision, and reinforces a sense of community.
Jury: Randomly selected. If there are not enough people online a jury cannot be formed.
Society Storage: If applicable, shared storage can be accessed by the rank specified.
Society Buildings: If applicable, private buildings shared with only society members can be accessed by the rank specified.
Society Merchants: If applicable, merchants managed by the society may be accessed by the rank specified.
Society Taxes: If a land area is managed by the society and taxes are split, this rank is entitled to a share of those taxes.
Reward Tier 2: Customizable Society Archetypes
5,000 points or 2 years in-game
The society may choose a government structure.
Society Government - Democracy
In a democratic society votes count for everything. The leader is selected by vote. People are expelled by trial, or by leadership decision/delegated responsibility only.
Society Government - Monarchy
In a monarchy, the leader cannot be removed, however trial functions are still open to expel members, including the leader, if the membership warrants it. In the event the leader is removed, the next leader is determined by highest rank + longest time in society combined.
Society Government - Dictatorship
In a dictatorship the leader may not be removed except in cases where the leader appoints a new leader, and trial functions are disabled.
Society Government - Achievement
In achievement oriented societies the person with the most skills is the leader. The system automatically uses skill counts to determine this once a month.
Society Government - Oligarchy
In oligarchial societies the leader is elected once a month based off total accumulated wealth, including assets managed. These assets are calculated at their current market value, including markup.
Reward Tier 3: Increased Member Count
10,000 points or 3 years in-game
Available Member Count is increased by 50.
Reward Tier 4: Society Headquarters
20,000 points or 4 years in-game
A society may designate one building as for society use. This building is the society headquarters. This opens up functionality later on for storage, society specific quests, society merchants, etc.
Reward Tier 5: Society Daily Quest
30,000 points or 5 years in-game
One Society quest may be added to the society building. The society quest is an NPC that hands out a daily quest that can be completed in addition to daily quests for corporations, planetary entities, or other NPC affiliated groups. This allows for faster point accruals.
Reward Tier 6: Increased Member Count
60,000 points or 6 years in-game
Available member count is increased by 50.
Reward Tier 7: Society Shopkeeper/Shared Revenue
120,000 points or 7 years in-game
One shopkeeper may be designated as operated by the society. Representatives authorized to use this privilege may do so. The merchant may have a society tax rate added to it, with that tax being divided up amongst all eligible members. If the society building is a shop or stall, then the entire shop may be designated as for use by the society at this time.
Reward Tier 8: Society Daily Quest
240,000 points or 8 years in-game
Additional society quest NPC.
Reward Tier 9: Society Shared Storage
480,000 points or 9 years in-game
Society Storage is allowed on one container, located in the society building.
Reward Tier 10: Society Land Area/Shared Revenue
1,000,000 points or 10 years in game
A land area maintained by a participant may be declared for society use. A portion of its taxes, set by the society, is sent to society taxes, and divided up amongst all eligible members.
Reward Tier 11: Increased Member Count
1,250,000 points
50 more society members are allowed to join.
Reward Tier 12: Increased Member Count
1,500,000 points
50 more society members are allowed to join.
Reward Tier 13: Increased Member Count
2,000,000 points
The society may maintain another building.
Further Rewards
Every 250,000 points afterward + 10 society members.
Every 500,000 points afterward + 1 merchant
Every 750,000 points afterward + 1 storage container.
Every 1 million points afterward + 1 building.
Every 10 million points afterward + 1 land area.
Benefits
I believe this structure benefits societies that last a while in-game, as well as benefits societies with heavy member base. It not only gives management tools, but incentivizes participation up to the point of virtually unlimited revenue share for society members through taxes shared on land areas.
This I feel will drive the user base up, giving everyone potentially access to ownership share, and will give societies that work at it quite a bit of clout in the game. Long term or small societies are never marginalized, as even they can be part of the land area revenue share simply by sticking around and staying active.
It also benefits Planet Partners and MA, because with the quest system I have in mind, these society quests will be money sinks that the partners can derive income from separate from Iron Missions or other quests.
Drawbacks
Long initial post. I didn't explore the additions needed to the quest system for this. I'll do that another time. I'm tired of writing.
I believe True Juan a while ago managed a society wishlist. That list got me thinking: What would make a good society structure for EU?
Here it is:
The Current Structure
The current society structure consists of 6 ranks, for each society, each rank being progressively able to kick more people out, and manage a few updates. These updates are largely only noticed when a person is at the society terminal, and the ranks are basically meaningless titles players are forced to conform to if they want to join a social group or create one. They do not support a creative structure, instead they seem to enforce a type of game immersion. While this is good starting out, it's not so good overall.
Proposition
Create a society structure based on tiered advancement levels. These advancements grant new abilities within the society, and can be earned through either society longevity, or completion of related quests, or a combination of both.
Start with the basic society structure that exists now, in terms of ranks and titles, and add functionality to all societies for these items:
- Message of the Day
- Total Skill Count
- Last Date/Time Online
- Preferred Language
- Language Filter (for foul mouthed folks or socially conscious groups)
- Event Calendar
- Chat Channels Used (for societies that use multiple chat channels this can be helpful - discussed later)
- External Website
- External Voice Chat Service
Create an underlying system of rewards for societies that have been around a long time and/or have a high member base capable of completing ingame tasks. This system of rewards allows the society to grow.
Reward Tier 1: Customizable Ranks and Privileges
1,000 points, or 1 year ingame
The Rank Archetype option "Custom" is added to the society terminal. Up to 20 ranks may be defined by the user, each with their own name, and privileges. Rank Archetypes may only be selected by the society leader. Privileges may also only be assigned by the society leader.
Privileges added include:
- Recruit New Members
- Expel members of rank or below (define 1-20)
- Moderate/Open Society Chat
- Add/Deny voice (members with voice can talk during moderated chat)
- Mute/Unmute a Society Member (only applies to society chat)
- Start a Trial (in a democratic or monarchial style society, a trial may be used to expel a member)
- End a Trial (ends a trial before it is concluded by a jury)
- Create a Jury (in a democratic or monarchial style society, a jury is selected at random from 10 participants who are all online at the time)
- Update description page (updates all info for society)
- Allow/Disallow new member applications
- Access/Deny Society Storage
- Access/Deny Society Buildings
- Access/Deny Society Merchants
- Access/Deny Society Taxes
- Automatic Access to Channel (specified)
New items
Chat: Societies may specify in their description chat channels they use. Members will be automatically added to these channels. How they are automatically added depends on what is specified by their rank. This is useful for societies that may be large, like NBK, but may also wish to help new players. Instead of having multiple divisions they may now all consolidate under one flag. This will be useful for completing society quests.
Moderation: Chat channels can now be moderated by a member with sufficient privileges. This can be used to stop arguments, or for events, or other tasks.
Voice: Voiced members can talk during channel moderation
Mute/Unmute: Sometimes a person may be a problem. Or they might just be drunk. Folks may not want to, or have the authority to kick them. But they can still resolve the problem by muting them, so they do not disturb the rest of the society while people are figuring out what to do about them.
Trial: This option is automatically enabled by default. A person with sufficient privileges may put another person on trial, to remove them from the society. This circumvents needing a leader involved in every decision, and reinforces a sense of community.
Jury: Randomly selected. If there are not enough people online a jury cannot be formed.
Society Storage: If applicable, shared storage can be accessed by the rank specified.
Society Buildings: If applicable, private buildings shared with only society members can be accessed by the rank specified.
Society Merchants: If applicable, merchants managed by the society may be accessed by the rank specified.
Society Taxes: If a land area is managed by the society and taxes are split, this rank is entitled to a share of those taxes.
Reward Tier 2: Customizable Society Archetypes
5,000 points or 2 years in-game
The society may choose a government structure.
Society Government - Democracy
In a democratic society votes count for everything. The leader is selected by vote. People are expelled by trial, or by leadership decision/delegated responsibility only.
Society Government - Monarchy
In a monarchy, the leader cannot be removed, however trial functions are still open to expel members, including the leader, if the membership warrants it. In the event the leader is removed, the next leader is determined by highest rank + longest time in society combined.
Society Government - Dictatorship
In a dictatorship the leader may not be removed except in cases where the leader appoints a new leader, and trial functions are disabled.
Society Government - Achievement
In achievement oriented societies the person with the most skills is the leader. The system automatically uses skill counts to determine this once a month.
Society Government - Oligarchy
In oligarchial societies the leader is elected once a month based off total accumulated wealth, including assets managed. These assets are calculated at their current market value, including markup.
Reward Tier 3: Increased Member Count
10,000 points or 3 years in-game
Available Member Count is increased by 50.
Reward Tier 4: Society Headquarters
20,000 points or 4 years in-game
A society may designate one building as for society use. This building is the society headquarters. This opens up functionality later on for storage, society specific quests, society merchants, etc.
Reward Tier 5: Society Daily Quest
30,000 points or 5 years in-game
One Society quest may be added to the society building. The society quest is an NPC that hands out a daily quest that can be completed in addition to daily quests for corporations, planetary entities, or other NPC affiliated groups. This allows for faster point accruals.
Reward Tier 6: Increased Member Count
60,000 points or 6 years in-game
Available member count is increased by 50.
Reward Tier 7: Society Shopkeeper/Shared Revenue
120,000 points or 7 years in-game
One shopkeeper may be designated as operated by the society. Representatives authorized to use this privilege may do so. The merchant may have a society tax rate added to it, with that tax being divided up amongst all eligible members. If the society building is a shop or stall, then the entire shop may be designated as for use by the society at this time.
Reward Tier 8: Society Daily Quest
240,000 points or 8 years in-game
Additional society quest NPC.
Reward Tier 9: Society Shared Storage
480,000 points or 9 years in-game
Society Storage is allowed on one container, located in the society building.
Reward Tier 10: Society Land Area/Shared Revenue
1,000,000 points or 10 years in game
A land area maintained by a participant may be declared for society use. A portion of its taxes, set by the society, is sent to society taxes, and divided up amongst all eligible members.
Reward Tier 11: Increased Member Count
1,250,000 points
50 more society members are allowed to join.
Reward Tier 12: Increased Member Count
1,500,000 points
50 more society members are allowed to join.
Reward Tier 13: Increased Member Count
2,000,000 points
The society may maintain another building.
Further Rewards
Every 250,000 points afterward + 10 society members.
Every 500,000 points afterward + 1 merchant
Every 750,000 points afterward + 1 storage container.
Every 1 million points afterward + 1 building.
Every 10 million points afterward + 1 land area.
Benefits
I believe this structure benefits societies that last a while in-game, as well as benefits societies with heavy member base. It not only gives management tools, but incentivizes participation up to the point of virtually unlimited revenue share for society members through taxes shared on land areas.
This I feel will drive the user base up, giving everyone potentially access to ownership share, and will give societies that work at it quite a bit of clout in the game. Long term or small societies are never marginalized, as even they can be part of the land area revenue share simply by sticking around and staying active.
It also benefits Planet Partners and MA, because with the quest system I have in mind, these society quests will be money sinks that the partners can derive income from separate from Iron Missions or other quests.
Drawbacks
Long initial post. I didn't explore the additions needed to the quest system for this. I'll do that another time. I'm tired of writing.
Last edited: