There wasnt any communication!
We had to fill a form to receive all updates and gain the right to vote... and not 1 update was sent.
If I wasnt trying to sell everything quickly and cash out, I would tell you how I really feel about this scheme.
I got a email March 21
The Polls Are Open
Voting in the election for the first President of Virtual Reality is now underway. You may log into your Facebook Account and then Visit http://presidentofvirtualreality.com to register your Vote.
The voting is being conducted via a poll APP hosted on our Facebook page @ http://facebook.com/VRPresident. Each vote will count as one vote.
The votes will not be weighted. All votes will be audited at the end of the election to best ensure that the voters are real people and not shill accounts. Once again thank you for participating in this historic election.
interesting, was that from MA, ND or mailing list for the PoVR site? i didn't get one but it could have landed in junk.
it was however all over PCF when the voting started, thats how i found out
Anyway, I did voted, I did convinced friends (both players and non-players to vote) and no, I was not paid for this, so yeah, Neverdie actually is my president.
what - if anything - is ND president of?
where does his authority begin and where does it end?
does he even have the authority to present clearly PE/EU-related plans given that he (apparently) has been elected outisde of PE/EU, by (at least partially) non-PE/EU players, and that his presidency is that "of VR" rather than of PE/EU...
As mentioned earlier, the structure topped by the floating "V" is the old voting kiosk. Oldsters will remember them in most major settlements on the old pre-asteroid strike Planet Calypso. They were useless since MA never put anything to a user vote. Now, after all these years, we are asked to cast a ballot on something as significant as choosing a president and we don't even get a revival of the system that was supposed to facilitate in-game voting?
Screw that.
Look, Neverdie recently issued a press release (since no legitimate digital news outlet will cover him) comparing himself to Donald Trump. This is essentially true. Like Trump Neverdie has been very successful within EU. Also like Trump Neverdie is known for his tacky self-promotion, failure to deliver on his grandiose ideas, trashy Kardashian sense of style and value, and holds a negative public image with a significant portion of the EU player base. That MA insists on placing Neverdie front and center as its ambassador to the rest of the gaming world is a profound embarrassment.
Go away, Neverdie. Go finish Planet Michael Jackson or whatever equally bizarre project for which you think the world is clamoring. We here in EU have already heard of you. If you need more validation go bother Eve Online or one of the Star Wars MMOs.
Upon second thought - or rather read - a few questions come to mind given the above:
- why would one coerce or even convince non-players to vote for this?
- why would one let oneself be coerced or convinced to vote for this if not an active participant/player?
- how many of the votes cast have come from actual players and how many or "outsiders"?
- what does this say about the whole election? also when taken into consideration how many actual players have not been able to even cast their votes...
...and, most importantly, based on the above questions and posts in this and other threads:- what - if anything - is ND president of?
where does his authority begin and where does it end?
does he even have the authority to present clearly PE/EU-related plans given that he (apparently) has been elected outisde of PE/EU, by (at least partially) non-PE/EU players, and that his presidency is that "of VR" rather than of PE/EU...
A lot of people saw the elections as a joke and didn't bothered to run for the office, join the mailing list on the site or even vote; now same people come here and complain about the elected president. But truth being said, anyone not living in a bubble could and should have at least heard about elections - they were announced a few months in advance, they were in the official EU news (which were distributed to all planets forums) and there were quite a few discussions about them here on the forum.
And, as I said before, is sad that we only had one candidate and not a real competition, but, again, is not Neverdie's fault that no one else put their money where their mouth was and run for the office (and, as I also said before, $1,000 may be a lot of money, but I think it was a reasonable amount to assure there won't be 100 trolls running in elections, and, for someone serious, and with enough support from the "community", it was just a matter of finding 100 supporters to donate $10 each).
Now why I convinced friends, non-players, to vote... well, unlike others I took these elections seriously and I thought that they could potentially lead to great things, like to really have a President of VR and not only a President of EU; maybe one day be able to "travel" from EU to SL, EVE or SC... and for this very purpose I think is fair that the voting was not limited to only EU players (requiring an EU account), but practically to everyone else who shares an interest into virtual reality. Sure, even a Facebook poll left some people outside, and that is regretful, but nowadays 95% of people connected to the Internet have a Facebook account, and the one year old account requirement was a good safe mechanic for avoiding votes abuses and manipulations (via fake/automated accounts, etc).
Now about authority... TBH, I doubt that he has any authority (and I haven't seen anywhere mentioned that he has any authority); yes, he can proposed things (as it was this one with the IPO of the Public Transport) and his voice may be heard louder than other peoples voices, but ultimately is MAs decision what will they implement and what not - they may already be on board with ND for this, they may just tag along or they may just dump his idea. And why propose things for EU... well, see it like this... his title is "President of Virtual Reality", EU is part of "Virtual Reality", so is logic he can make suggestions... is like the President of United States can make suggestion about Florida legislation, since Florida is part of United States.
Now Neverdie seem to actually be willing to listen and discuss with people on the official forum so, maybe, instead of acting childish (not directed at the guy I quoted, but generally talking) and start crying and negating everything, it would be more productive to try to discuss with him and propose alternative solutions, adjustments, etc. For years people complained that MA is not listening, now there's someone that actually listens and discuss with people, so why not take advantage of this?
...
The election was a farce as it was obvious who was the chosen winner by MA by who had his sites setup prior to the announcement.
This is kind of an empty comment because anyone could have run to be president and won. MA didn't choose the winner, most people except ND just chose not to run for candidacy... Also there were additional options on the voting form, people didn't have to vote for ND they could have voted for candidate B or C.
Again, it's just a proposal from the President of VR. No one has to agree with him. Being honest, we don't even have to discuss it with him as he hold no office within EU.
MA, at least at this time, is in charge of this game and we, as customers, need to make sure that our feelings on this proposal are heard by them.
There is another option though. Ignoring the fact that you like ND or not, that you liked the elections or not, that you voted for him or not or that you trust in the elections or not, fact remains that he has a direct connection with MA, better than most (if not all) of us. And, well, he seems willing to listen, to discuss, to compromise... so why instead of being a nay sayer not try to join the discussion that he proposed, explain to him what you think is good, what you think is bad, propose alternatives... basically anything that falls under "constructive brainstorming"... this way there's a way higher chance to manage to come to a solution that would please everyone and not force MA to have it either black or white.
If it was real life politics I would agree. Here, no need to worry, no need to make support cases, none of that really matters.... personally I did sent a support ticket stating my agreement with the proposed idea and letting them know that I hope it will be implemented; not only that, but once again I tried to rally people to do the same; and there is nothing stopping you or anyone else from the opposing side to do the same. That is a rather risky thing to do though if you ask me, you kinda force MA's hand...
If it was real life politics I would agree. Here, no need to worry, no need to make support cases, none of that really matters.
MA has been through many important changes over the years. They know if they manage to piss us off too bad we'll vote with our wallets.
The only thing they are really worried about is how serious is the damage if they go for it.
Should they decide to go for it, they will most likely throw us a bone - make the tax smaller, leave some TP's untaxed and add interplanetary TP's hoping then most of us will swallow it and the damage to the economy will be minimal. Or they might decide it's too risky and drop the whole thing.
The voice of the nondepoers doesn't carry much weight either way, nor does the outcry from those who don't play and only post on the forums. We don't know what will be the reaction of the majority of the active depositing players. I would predict the economy will definitely take a hit but it prolly won't kill the game.
Hope it's not wishful thinking...
Regarding ND knowing about the election in advance planet partners partnered with MA to show support, these partnerships must have been discussed prior to the announcement and hence why the website domain was registered prior to the announcement. No conspiracy there. There was nothing in the rules that said a PP or other official employees of MA or PPs could not run for president.. If Arkadians wanted they could have rallied around Dave to get him to run, Cryene, Tulan etc all the same. Nothing to stop other PPs taking up the initiative.
And, as I said before, is sad that we only had one candidate and not a real competition, but, again, is not Neverdie's fault that no one else put their money where their mouth was and run for the office (and, as I also said before, $1,000 may be a lot of money{...}
I understand what you mean about conflict of interest but as the job is unpaid
That's one of the facts on which I base my estimation that most people that cry to quit and predict EU death if this is implementing right now, will just swallow it, adapt and move on if it actually happens. I'm not worried at all about these apocalyptic scenarios, just like I was not worried at all about the end of WURM on that May 2nd or the end of the world on December 12, 2012.
That's one of the facts on which I base my estimation that most people that cry to quit and predict EU death if this is implementing right now, will just swallow it, adapt and move on if it actually happens. I'm not worried at all about these apocalyptic scenarios, just like I was not worried at all about the end of WURM on that May 2nd or the end of the world on December 12, 2012.
When I asked you point blank if you wouldn't mind if this game was a non-RCE game you do remember what you told me right? Yes that you think this game would be much better off not being a RCE. (watch it I keep logs)
So, what would their playerbase have been like had they not increased the fee? You somehow are presenting these statistics like they actually prove something.
To my understanding of the information you provided, they increased the fees and the population began an immediate and substantial decline. Then, they announced a "Loyalty Program"(?) and managed to regain about half of what they lost before the steady decline resumed. After that there was this X Conn thing, the subscriber numbers returned for a short time and then resumed their decline. One has to wonder how high their numbers would be had they not had such a dramatic (and possibly desperate) price increase?