The following is the first of a series of musings over making some changes to the language, (which would be done through the normal channels of ammendments bills etc.), and I want feedback please.
Sooo.. to start at the beginning...
Neualtenburg definition:
At the top of the TOS there is that legal dealie where the names used in the contract are defined and then the bracketed version indicates thats the term the "contract" will use for the remainder of the document. It says that there is:
- "The Neualtenburg Projekt, Inc." (Neualtenburg)
- "land cooperative" (Cooperative)
- "in-world government" (Government)
The language there implies that there is a legal entity (a corporation of sorts) known as "Neualtenburg" that exists in RL, that the co-operative belongs to (is owned by?) this company, and that the Government belongs to the co-operative. Is this a real legal entity? Or is this just bafflegab? This just confuses me and I honestly just want to be informed of the legal status. If by agreeing to the TOS one is entering into a contract, the principles must be clearly defined, and the TOS certainly reads like it thinks it's a contract.
In various places in the document, (although defined as referring to the "parent company" at the beginning), "Neaultenburg" is also used seemingly synonymously with "the City" but sometimes it also seems like it refers to "the cooperative."
Not only does that useage have to be cleared up, it seems to me that the many references in the TOS to "the City" specifically leave out everything outside the walls (just sayin). The majority of the time, the TOS kind of refers to "Neualtenburg" as "the City" and not as a corporation/cooperative/state.
Also, since we might have extra sims soon and are thinking of entering into "protectorate" agreements with other "states" (sims?), it seems like defining ourselves as a "City" is doubly problematic.
At points in the TOS, "Neualtenburg" as a term also seems to be describing the physical simulator that we live in in stead of a corporation/cooperative/state, but at one point it refers to the "Neualtenburg colllection of sims." Is Neualtenburg the actual sim at that point? If it's something else, then what is the sim called? What would the next sim be called?
I suggest that beyond knowing clearly what "The Neualtenburg Projekt, Inc." really is (it's structure), we need to change some of our labels and terms that we throw around internally. Perhaps "the City" is more rightly "the State?" Or if "the State" is synonymous with the corporation/cooperative/state, then shouldn't the simulator be called something else?
I find all this very confusing.
I know its mostly just terminology, but since this is a contract, I think it should be crystal clear as to what we are talking about. Mostly what I would like to see here is someone who was in on things at the founding of Neualtenburg to jump in and clearly state what the structure is. It's more about making a clear explanation of that structure and the labels we are putting on things, than changing anything.
