How about adding politics/politicians to the game?

A player can be a fighter or a crafter, but how about a politician? I'm not sure how it would be incorporated into the game, but I think it would be a fascinating aspect. Lord British would have a parliament. Of course, some of fighters and crafters would also be politicians. But what about "career" politicians. Perhaps they'd make money by supporting certain crafters or causes?

Also, how about adding other professions, such as newspaper editor? I'd like to do that, as I was one in an old Ultima Online mod.

Just ideas

 

Most of that could be done just through RP and using the tools we'll have.. like the printing press.

 

Your welcome to do politics all you want, but for the record, I am sick of politics lol. I come here to get away from all that nonsense

 

I'm sure POTs will have town councils & council meetings over time

 

Political parties would be cool, too. You can't have a realistic virtual world without virtual politics.

 

Politicians can stay where they are don't need any more of th crap we put up with daily dragged into this game

 

Don't you want a game with a realistic feel to it? A living and breathing world? Add politics!

 

Well, one of the fun things I've seen are culture wars. Maybe have towns generate influence based on population and trade. Then measure them all to see who has the most activity. That influence spreads to all the nearby towns by way of minor buffs to their residents, or lower taxes. By participating in trade in your home town you help keep prices lower for everyone. And the small towns near by do the same, fostering a natural trade flow by unnatural game mechanics.

 

YES ADD POLITICS LOL

 

I played a UO shard called IPY (In Por Ylem) that had a king system in each town along with an election system. Players chose what town to be a citizen of primarily based on housing location and would cast votes on candidates monthly.

The main thing the king could do was select a town buff such as increase crafting chances for exceptional goods, a small increase in the amount of gold found on mobs and a few other things that were not OP.

The king would also manage the town budget through taxes, militia disbursements, and guard awareness. Oh, and the king got a special crown for the time period that he remained in office. There was quite a bit more to it that I don't recall off the top my head, but I have several things saved from it as I was king of Brittain for 4 consecutive months and the king of Jhelom for a month.

 

If politicians are added to the game as a class, I propose that they don't have the protection of the Oracle.

 

Well we have a virtue system even though it is not all implemented. In a way the oracle will run the show even politicians would be affected by virtues. But really you will be allowed to roleplay the way you want. If you are in a town you could have your very own political system, be the president, mayor or governor of your town.

**edited** I can tell I was typing on my phone

 

There are no classes but POTs are governed. If you look at the structure for Beran's Reach, there will be diplomats and what not. All this means there will be politics.

Towns and cities working together, and some maybe not.

Right now since everything is still being built we don't see that. But it will happen in the future.

The only question is: will all the town communities and guilds always get along like they do now? Right now everything is sunshine...will there ever be war?

 

Without the slightest shadow of a doubt.

THEN the real metagame can start.

Can't wait.

 

One of the UO shards I played in 2005 was called Shadowcove. It had a good political system. Players were citizens of particular towns of their choosing. Each month an election occurred for mayor of the various towns. Mayors were allowed to choose their Vice-Mayor. My character became mayor of Vesper, despite having zero skills in fighting an crafting. Long story, but I purposely made the most influential weakling on the shard. His influence was built through role playing and use of the message boards and the creation of an in-game weekly newspaper.

In this shard, the mayor had control of taxation and could use the funds to place NPC vendors and guards, as well as decorate the city. Additionally, the mayor could remove NPCs. My character, Vladimyr Boyar, was both loved and loathed. My greatest compliment came from one of Boyar's fiercest opponents, who defended my role playing in a message board by saying that by my actions I created a constant stream of events that never seemed scripted, and which seemed much more real than those created for the game. I only played as Boyar for about half a year, but it was the most fun I ever had in an Ultima Online game, the creation of a powerful character without any skills.

He was also a comic character. I role played him as someone with a comic pretense for power. During battles, he'd proudly place himself at the front of the front lines until the enemy showed up and then he'd run behind the lines, preferring to bark out orders and encouragement, while never swinging a blade himself. I did do some good, I advocated causes, such as funding for cash strapped cities in the game.

One of my more controversial moves was interfering in the voting in Skara Brae. They had had a mayor for about a year or more than was never playing online. I argued that the mayor should be someone that played nearly every day. Skara Brae had about only 15 citizens and nearly all of them were accounts held by two people--one the mayor and the other the vice-mayor. I campaigned a mass migration to Skara Brae, the citizenship skyrocketed and they voted in a candidate I promoted. He was in office for about a day, when he resigned over this controversy. Skara Brae had another election and elected someone else. While not one of my candidate, it was at least someone actively playing the game. As mayor of Vesper, I had at least two supporters of mine as mayor in other cities. Again, the comic thing was that they were grandmasters in some skill with a lot of money and my character, other than two houses gifted to me (one serving as my printing press), my character had no money and no skills.

My god, it was so much fun! Can't believe that was 10 years ago!

 

The official UO has something like that (elected officials, town citizenship, reputation ranks, buffs) in place now too, just in case you haven't logged on in awhile... Oh, and they also completely removed the faction system.

 

A politician in the game? Sorry, I understand that stealing won't be in Episode I but it will be in Episode II.

 

Politics.............. The very sound of it puts me in a not so good mood.... So, I vote no on more than we already have.

 

Yea to politicians and may there be open PvP upon their scurvy souls!