#BackTheBrain for Head Mod - Manifesto

Why I Am Running

The people of MHOP need unity. It’s been a particularly acrimonious time in the sim and we need to get back to our roots of why we are here – arguing about the political happenings of the sim, with thoughtful and balanced discussion about how we make the sim more attractive for current and prospective members. I pledge to be fair, bring about meta discussion and votes for major changes, and bring down the temperature of the sim.

Qualifications

I have been active and involved with political sims like this one for several years; I served as Head Censor (similar to head mod) in ModelUSGov back in its heyday of over 100 active users, and was involved in moderation/speakership for MHOC as well. I have also been an active player (doing the James Callaghan thing in MHOC, as well as being Senate Majority Leader and Secretary of State in MUSGov). Most recently, I am acting Commons Speaker here in MHOP!

Moderation

As head mod, my stance on moderation will be simple: I will not censor political speech and won’t ban people from the game over political speech. That being said, it is also my job to make sure main chat is enjoyable for people to engage in casual, non-sim related discussion and will happily mute or kick players from the server for whatever length needed in order to ensure that. The sim is richer when we have people of all political opinions (even ones I find distasteful) and banning them from canon participation because of being annoying in the Discord is not wise.

Meta Reforms

I personally find it patently absurd that we have 3 officers who can’t play the game in a simulation of ~15-20 active members. It is simply top-heavy and as Head Mod, I will push for making Commons and Lords speakers able to play the game with caveats (not party leaders, maybe limits on cabinet depending on what the community thinks!). The level of low demand we’ve seen for these positions is I believe in part due to the fact that the vast majority of people join MHOP so they can play the game.

I will also push to build a richer sim world, offering an “events team” type addition to the game to simulate how governments can respond to foreign events, economic happenings, and perhaps even devolved governments. The MHOP sim as we currently have it is straightforward, which can get a little bland. My hope is to offer these additions to the sim experience to make the Commons feel more active and have more to do for a government or opposition.

Otherwise, I am open to ideas and will support discussion and community voting on meta reforms to make the game more enjoyable. I believe that, at its best, we will attract members by making the game more involved and engaging. Recruitment helps but we need a good product to keep new members.