Voting has commenced!

[EtherEel]

Lets not rush ahead.

Not rushing -- advising.

 

[CyberTao]

Chat is not the community. It's a part of the community.
A forum discussion with "on the record" opinions/suggestions reaches deeper into and is more accessible to the entire community.

Chat is where the most vocal of us dwell. Rumours and stories travel fast there, and you better believe there are threads and posts if something happens that chat does not agree with.

It's also clear that no one who saw the news post stating that we would have STV raised any questions or concerns. It was in the launcher for a while I believe (I dont normally read it there, but I think it was). Everyone was aware, but no one came to ask for more details or to raise concerns. If you expect Duke to go door-to-door asking people in full detail their opinions on the system, then I am sorry to say there is not time for that.

You can't make a thread addressing concerns if you aren't aware there were concerns in the first place. There are 2 places that are good for circulating information; Mushroom Fleet and Chat. Forums are like the "slower" brother of chat, both behind in details and unable to do anything unless some wonders upon it (and requiring a lot more work to get anywheres close to the discussions had in chat). Chat and Forums are close enough to be considered the same, I actually see more people on chat than on forums posting.

(mostly Americans)

Kek. The day that the forums have to cater to the lowest common denominator is the day Mushroom Fleet takes over.

 

[Lecic]

hat is not the community. It's a part of the community.
A forum discussion with "on the record" opinions/suggestions reaches deeper into and is more accessible to the entire community.

I believe the thread announcing the council specifically asked for people's opinions on the council. http://starmadedock.net/threads/council-of-intergalactic-representatives.6070/

That would be the "forum discussion with "on the record" opinions/suggestions" you had asked for.

Spoiler

irrational Fear of America complex.

Between our trigger-happy police force, homophobia and racism, lack of cheap healthcare for all, gun toting rednecks, and drone strikes in developing nations with heavy civilian casualties, I wouldn't exactly call it irrational.

 

[Criss]

I am going to be frank. It is really disappointing to see a few people having major issues with this system, when no indie dev I know of is willing to put together a council of players to help with feedback and communication of issues. Just vote. If the wrong people end up on this council, then it is a failure that falls on the community just as well as the devs.

Just Vote.

 

[Comr4de]

Americans will find these voting mechanics weird and convoluted. We, generally, prefer simple and straight-forward.

or you could just watch the video in the OP for an explanation? I don't appreciate being treated like a child.

Chat is not the community. It's a part of the community.
A forum discussion with "on the record" opinions/suggestions reaches deeper into and is more accessible to the entire community.

Your (all of your) hypothetical worries regarding a single large voting "block" are just that -- hypothetical worries. MF can still, in the current mechanic, sweep the top 3 spots -- but there are more seats left... My suggested method deals with the problem just as easily, but is plainly "intuitive." If a pattern of voter "block" consistently produces council dominance, then you must either concede that this actually does represent the community or question the validity of existence of the council.

There is no "top 3" spots. All the chairs are treated equally. Plus, I don't think drawing conclusions from the first election is the best idea.
[DOUBLEPOST=1429494877,1429494493][/DOUBLEPOST]Also, if some people feel elevated about their posts I think that'll be addressed accordingly.

 

[Tydeth]

The Single Transferable Vote for a game-related player council has been used very successfully ten times in a particular well-known space MMO, in addition to being used in real politics. While Schine might feel the need to tweak some details, the system in and of itself is proven to work in a purely voluntary game setting. As far as understanding the vote system for this council, the instructions in the voting page were clear and concise: Select 5 people; rate them 1 though 5, with 1 being highest.

Regarding the technical aspect, it was likewise simple, and bug free. It may have been a little clunky perhaps, given no way to see all your votes without scrolling the list and searching for your numbers, but for a first-time design it worked well.

Suggestion: Include a numbered list in the green box showing our selections for each number alongside how many choices we have left. It can be a simple setup like:

1. Candidate M
2. Candidate C
3. Candidate K
4. Candidate X
5. Candidate S

showing just names, no picture to avoid cluttering the green box.

I don't know how it's done in the States, all I've drawn from is my own voting experiences here in Australia.

Bench , in American politics, voters pick 1 name per category. That's it. Voting is also completely optional, so you can leave some blank or not even bother at all. With regard to multiple candidates running in the same party for certain categories, we have a primary election to pick 1 of them to run against the other parties' choices in the main election.

 

[Keptick]

Good luck to every participant!

Darn, and you had answered all my questions too...
Guess it's your lucky day Keptick

Wait what?

 

[CyberTao]

Wait what?

I'm guessing you gained a +1 vote preference, grats.

 

[DraconisDomini]

While this is true, still Americans have no idea what that means (and we're not all going to rush over to wikipedia to figure it out, especially when it was also stated that so many variables were yet to be determined.)

Like Comr4de said, you could just watch the video in the opening post, it explains the whole process pretty well. 'Sticking with what people know' rather than actually trying to find the best voting system is why Britain is still stuck with the awful first-past-the-post system. NB: I am not necessarily saying STV is the best voting system (though personally I quite like it), I am just saying that people not being familiar with it is not a reason not to use it. After all this is the first lot of elections to this council, one can quite reasonably say that nothing about the process is necessarily going to be familiar. If Schine sticks with STV than after a few times you will be familiar with it.

 

[Kycomputer]

Kek. The day that the forums have to cater to the lowest common denominator is the day Mushroom Fleet takes over

Why do you say that like it's the worse thing possible? At the very least, the MF community polices itself and keeps negative elements out.

 

[CyberTao]

Spoiler: Off Topic

Why do you say that like it's the worse thing possible? At the very least, the MF community polices itself and keeps negative elements out.

You seem new. MF by itself isn't bad, but there is a definite rift between chat and forum regulars and notable members of MF. This isn't like a sneering, mocking each other kind of rift, this is a serious rift that has ended in various warnings, kicks, and even bans. It is not pleasant, and it's been like that for almost over a year it feels like. I'm not gonna argue with you MF polices, because not the place.

Would be better to not discuss this here at all really. MF was used as an example because I felt it would be most relatable to those reading at the time.

 

[Jay_do]

To be honest I'm an American and I've never heard of this system of voting. However after watching thw video I see its upsides and I enjoy it now. I noe see it as a superior system opposed to the 1 vote per person system.

 

[Ithirahad]

Good luck everyone, and may the best man... uhm, person... er, people... win.

 

[Visitor]

You can see someone's post history on their profile page.

Which involves manually looking for their nicknames (as application on the council page are actually posted by the automatic system) to access those profiles, one by one and then their posting history or using search button with filter of user's handle which again, requires manually searching and jumping through hoops. Thus my suggestion from before.

 

[CyberTao]

Which involves manually looking for their nicknames (as application on the council page are actually posted by the automatic system) to access those profiles, one by one and then their posting history or using search button with filter of user's handle which again, requires manually searching and jumping through hoops. Thus my suggestion from before.

So basically use the @[name] tag in the applications next time? I can dig that, never noticed the lack of direct linkage before, and it should be an easy fix/adjustment.

 

[SkaireKrough]

I was not aware that any country used a system like this for voting, wish the U.S. had adopted it when it was a new country.

At my last place of employment, the department I worked in had to be manned 24/7, most shifts were 12hrs/4 days a week, rotating every so often from nights to days and which end of the week, nearly everyone worked Sundays. A poll was conducted using a variation of this STV system, it simply asked the respondent to number in order of preference which shift they would like to work.

_Days
_Nights
_Rotating

The results were very eye opening and explained much about the departments poor performance.

@33% listed them as

1 Days
3 Nights
2 Rotating

another 1/3 listed Rotating as number 3, with a near even split between Days and Nights for number 1.

The remaining 1/3 we found out were not able to follow simple instructions.

 

[gravypod]

I was not aware that any country used a system like this for voting, wish the U.S. had adopted it when it was a new country.

At my last place of employment, the department I worked in had to be manned 24/7, most shifts were 12hrs/4 days a week, rotating every so often from nights to days and which end of the week, nearly everyone worked Sundays. A poll was conducted using a variation of this STV system, it simply asked the respondent to number in order of preference which shift they would like to work.

_Days
_Nights
_Rotating

The results were very eye opening and explained much about the departments poor performance.

@33% listed them as

1 Days
3 Nights
2 Rotating

another 1/3 listed Rotating as number 3, with a near even split between Days and Nights for number 1.

The remaining 1/3 we found out were not able to follow simple instructions.

That is the main problem with this system right now. People do not understand how it works.

The other thing that bothers me is that you only get 5 selections but there are 7 seats. That is not how STV is meant to be implemented.

 

[CyberTao]

The other thing that bothers me is that you only get 5 selections but there are 7 seats. That is not how STV is meant to be implemented.

It's close enough. People are already gruffy about having to pick 5 as is, making them pick an extra 2 on top would probably result in a greater general "bleh". It's an adapted system, Duke doesn't live by the rules.

 

[Jay_do]

I love how the ballot ends on my 19th birthday. Also, does the results get released that day or is there a tally time?

 

[Criss]

I love how the ballot ends on my 19th birthday. Also, does the results get released that day or is there a tally time?

Well, it's possible the tally will let us know immediately. I'm betting they will need a few days to get the council running regardless. Just in time for rail updates. Maybe it will be one big informational reveal :P