Government Comes to SL

On Sunday the 14th of November 2004 the city of Neualtenburg instituted a provisional government based on its first-draft constitution. That's right. Government has come to SL. It's time to dust off that "no government" T-Shirt.

This provisional government comes two months before the official transition to citizen rule. This is to better engage the citizens of the city, to give those interested in the project a say in directing its future, and to iron out problems in SL government before its official launch. Details on the government can be found in the Constitution Thread in the Neualtenburg Projekt forum.

Overview

The government will have three branches, the Representative, Artisanal, and Philosophic branch. Each branch is designed to meet a single critical need of a city in SL. The Representative branch supports land, the Artisanal branch provides goods, and the Philosophical branch provides order.

The Representative branch is designed to maintain all things which relate to land. It must increase the population and size of the city, monitor resource usage and make sure the city has sufficient land-tier donations. In short this is a land-focused legislative branch.

The Artisanal branch is designed to create and sell goods, generate all income beyond dwell, and for building and maintaining the city infrastructure. In short this is a goods-focused workers union.

The Philosophic branch is designed to maintain order, interpret and modify the constitution, and settle disputes. In short this is an order-focused university.

Currently, Kendra Brancroft is in charge of the Artisanal branch, Talen Morgan is in charge of the Representative branch, and Ulrika Zugzwang is in charge of the Philosophic branch. We will be adding members to each branch over the next few days. There will be overlap between these groups in the beginning.


Anarchists Welcome

Anarchists don't despair. You too have representation! The city currently has three declared factions which will compete for seats in the upcoming election in January. The Social Democratic Faction (SDF), the Anarchist Party, and the Worker's Party. Stay tuned for more details (and, while you're waiting, get your official Neualtenburg Chicken Hat while they're hot in the sim of Anzere in the vendor in front of the church).

~Ulrika~

I have been a member of groups and projects, and considering how SL is these could be seen as small governments in some reguard, any land management group would fall under some form of government. Though your presentation of a party system in your group does lead me to say this... Oh for the love of <censored> more politics. -.-

This is becoming more and more necessary.

One interesting thing though is that you may want to have some kind of contracts or commitments from your population as after a vote if things don't go their way they all may immediately move out...

I will be handing out free Grand Theft Autocrat - Ulrika Zugzwang shirts

Good job Ulrika!

You said you were gonna do it your way - and you did!

Best wishes to you and this project!

Woot!

Yes. I've been thinking about this a lot.

I would like to implement a contract where citizens agree to give a one-week notice before leaving the group in return for the city proving a one-week grace period when discharging a member.

Additionally, we're working on creating a representative government, where a party holds a number of seats proportional to its percent of the popular vote with a minimum of one seat. Thus all parties will have a role in the government -- it's not winner takes all like it is in a U.S. presidential race.

~Ulrika~

save one for me!

Good job guys!

LOL ditto.

Ha ha! No autocracy here. I'm a social democrat.

I have to say that Kendra Bancroft has had an enormous influence on the city architecturally, building exquisitely detailed structures, and on the government, helping to define the different branches and refine the roles we'll all play. Additionally, we've had wonderful architectural contributions to the city from BladeDancer Pendgragon (Church) and Urusula Zapata (Restaurant). Eggy Lippmann has also contributed a piece of code. Chandra Page shows promise as a newly acquired coder. We also have an army of land-tier contributors (Talen Morgan and Pendari Lorentz come to mind) as well as many other citizens who have contributed or await the completion of the city. (I really should write down all their names!)

With that said, the motivation for the inception of the provisional government is to give all people a hand in steering the city's future. I hope to pull in Billy Grace and Pendari Lorentz into the Representative branch shortly.

For those of you who are interested, please contact me for membership. You can join in the process immediately.

~Ulrika~

There are other sims where there is a "government".

Consider:
1. Private sims - monarchies / dictatorships
2. Sims owned largely by a few people.

In this latter case, Varney also has a loose government of 6 people. We agree upon things, with no formal voting system or powers. It is a government of pure democracy - where involvement is voluntary and people have common goals.

Certainly, it's convenient, since we all just want to keep Varney looking good, and low lag, casino-less, etc.

But the point is this - our "government" fits our needs. That's right - needs arise before government. What's the point of government without ... a point? It's a tautology.

So I ask, Ulrika... what's the point of having the government there?

Government without direct need is shameless beaurocracy.

In short a government exists to maximize the benefit to a society (and thus citizens) by providing order, direction, and services. A clue that it might work is that every modern industrialized country on Earth has one.

We're not doing anything that hasn't been done before. We're simply the first in this particular game to take the time to create a formalized government to improve upon the status quo and address future needs.

If you're interested in concrete examples of how a government can improve things over current conditions, there are pieces of post #23 in the Constitution thread which provide examples. Naturally, a government is of limited use to small groups but becomes critical for larger groups.

~Ulrika~

Why do you need so much beaurocracy to do this?
Why not have something far simpler?
Why do you seem to take pride in the fact that you've established something so beaurocratic?

All governments exist for the purpose of sustaining the government as an entity. If the will of the people is to truely be done then it will be done by the will of the people without governmental influence. This has been proven in SL through groups such as Vertu...the will of the people dictated the success of the organization. If people are inherantly good, this includes the politically driven class, then good will prosper. If people are inherantly evil then destruction and mayhem will flourish, this has not been the case in SL.

We need a bureaucracy because we're creating the infrastructure for something that will hopefully be much larger. I take personal pride in it as, if it succeeds, it will bring measurable benefit to all who are involved. It will allow individuals to emerge from anarchy and exploitation into a larger collective of mutual collaboration.

Your questions are like asking why we need such a big hammer when a little one will suffice. My answer to you is, you haven't seen our nail yet.

~Ulrika~

Dispute resolution.

There was an article in Wired and I believe it was one of SecondLife's largest points of participation at the State of Play conference.

While your voluntary scheme is great, Hiro, it has been proven time and time again that such things break down at certain levels of population and are not scaleable.

How can you accurately predict the needs of something much larger?

This isn't as simple as a nail and hammer, at the very least, it's a screw whose head's size and shape is unknown - does it need a screwdriver? Phillips head or regular? Does it need a wrench, instead? Hexagonal? Allen wrench? Star shaped?

Modern governments have been formed via a long heuristic approach. I don't see how you can simply say "Here there be order" and have order. Yours is a plan. You don't know if it fits what will happen. Merely declaring it as such is just ...

... *grins* ...

... government propaganda.

This is but one of many purposes for a government. Making sure your toilet works is another. Governmental self-perpetuation isn't really such a bad thing when you consider that it comes with functioning toilets.

This is a false statement followed by a faulty analogy.

These are false statements as well, although the point is moot given that humans are neither inherently good or bad.

~Ulrika~

I'm sneaking on late and days after I wanted to! hehe.. Ulrika, I'll get to the group forums tomorrow I promise. LONG story!

I saw this post straight away and wanted to add one comment. Just so everyone does not freak out and think this is something being adapted by all of SL, I wanted to post a reminder that this government we are creating in the city of Neualtenburg within SL is an experiment and is a voluntary group/city to join. One of the main goals was to create a government that has never really existed in the RL world. Of course it will be based on a combination of many governments in existence, but this is mainly because each member is bringing their own thoughts to the group. We are an odd hodgepodge mix. Different backgrounds, different beliefs, and by all means different political viewpoints.

We very much want the SL community to know how this experiment is coming along. So when you hear talk of the city of Neualtenburg and the government it is bringing to SL, please fear not. For while in future years it could set standards for other governments in online environments (even SL), it is not something that will be pushed on the masses.

Read our group forums and visit the links in Ulrika's signature line for more information on this exciting project!

Consider 3 things:
1. The State of Play conference was dealing with things from a legal perspective, via corporate perspective. They are talking about how companies need to have a judicial system to resolve player disputes. It has nothing to do with an expansive regulatory system, or even a local regulatory system.
2. Ulrika's proposed system is flawed in that it is not being implemented on a small scale. There is simply no way to implement something like a government on a small scale, as she has, and then say, "Okay, time to make it big!"
3. SL is, by definition and implementation, postmodern and anarchist. There are only 2 ways to provide order:
- Sole ownership, either top-down from the Lindens or in land ownership by players
- External order - whether it is a group that exists outside of SL, like a learning institute, or something like money, where contractual agreements exist.

The bottom line is that while this is an interesting experiment, why is it being touted as "bringing government to SL"? I think that's just plain silly.

Name a government that is not corrupt...why should I, one of a vast minion of newbs, lay down my rights to you and your vast conglomerate of those who have been around. I know that government is a necessity. But I would rather put my vote where my money is and give the power to those who are in need of my monthly pay off. Not to degrade your premise. It seems to be in good faith. But faith relies on you doing the right thing by me and I am not the majority.

You are not likely trying to get me to buy into your scheme but if you were I would not bite. I have lived through unions and oppresive governments...I really don't want them in my down time. If this is just an experiment on an island then go for it but if you really want pinky and the brain type world domination then count me in as a dissenter. I already have to ask my homeowners association if it is ok to orange mums instead of yellow. I do not want to jump hurdles in sl as well.

So are hippos, sheep, penguins, aliens, furries, amazons, cars, boats, babies in boxes and more. But your silly in SL can be quite fun and/or serious to others. Why should you begrudge or belittle the fun of others if it is not hurting you?

It sounds like I've now convinced you why we need a government and now you've moved on to questioning whether or not we have the correct future vision and boundary conditions to launch a functioning government. At least I'm making progress.

All these points are being discussed in the Constitution thread. In short we are creating this provisional government to try out the government until we implement it officially.

~Ulrika~

Silliness is fine. Government is forced silliness, though, and that's scary.