Politician Archive

Premise:
Mos Oasis like all other original “founding cities” is dieing, a failed experiment. Since the initial founding of player city’s a lot has been learned on how to run them, the good/ bad points and what works and doesn’t. For these cities, they have two choices, re-invent themselves or fail.

Originally
When founded, we focused on being one of the few to reach metropolitan status. It was a race plain and simple and it is something we're still feeling the effects of to date. We raced to get and keep the status regardless of player type and regardless anything other then “great someone wants to move in, get them in”. We have always maintained city laws and we have always been a public city and that was part of how we figured that approach would work. It did and worked well until the mass-exodus of players to the other games of late.

What we’ve learned
* While you can always remain public, that does not mean everyone can move in. Players are simply not responsible enough towards their cities and that in the end causes many problems. It means you get people who leave the game but not the city… who just “join” but don’t contribute and those who will not move homes for the greater good. Most importantly it means you didn’t help to build the community.

* If active players move in but are not of the right mindset, you still don’t have the right citizen base. These players while contributing to the active city base, don’t necessarily contribute to the city and usually are off in other areas so it still feels like just a pile of homes.

* Active merchants are the key to low taxes but not the only key. You have to help drive traffic for them. You have to subsidize these players’ sales through ticket sales and bringing people to the city. With that then players need a reason to come specifically to your city.

* Close Poi’s are not the key to traffic. Many will get to the poi other ways and you can’t rely on them as your “anchor” to bring in people.

* Traffic, citizenship requests and “good name” are all the key indicators of how your city is doing. These are driven through regular and successful player events. That is the ONLY proven reliable system for regularly creating “buzz” about your city and regularly bringing in visitors. These events usually bring in lots of money on their own as well as sell vendor wares and create repeat traffic.

* Shoppers choose the stores because of selection, items in stock and “look & feel” of the stores/ city over others. It is the duty of the citizens and mayor to ensure these customers get it and the merchants have what they need to achieve this.

* Without community you have nothing. People shouldn’t want to leave their city and should feel like they are in a “light guild” and have that sense of community. They should want to help because that’s where their friends are and they also know the new residents will likely become the same because of mindset.

* Good layout is needed but not essential. Many cities have overcome layout due to bad land then well planned cities that are dead have. The layout simply should fit the “style” of the city. That is more critical that the layout fit the feel you want not that it’s perfect. This is assuming however you don’t have people placing in roads ect as the rule. Like irl, the layout should have zoned areas. People want to know where merchants are. They want to know where to find attractions. They need to know where the critical items are. Pointing them to wards the right areas are crucial. You also have to remember that no matter how well laid out your city is, they visitors don’t know it and pointing them in a direction will be useful.

* Expect and plan for attrition. It is not a bad thing but something that needs to be planned for. You need citizens to keep you up to speed on what they are doing however so that you can plan on holes ect. You should have a steady stream of applicants to keep this even all other things being even however and if prepared, it will not be a big deal.

* House sizing is a big problem but must be dealt with. First everyone is Ok with smalls and then they all want larges. Non merchants want the starport and citizens can be impatient. You have to “have a plan and work your plan”. And you have to say “sorry but no”.

So there is my best “tips”. It is also what will drive the next part, the “vision” part.

Where Mos Oasis is headed
We are headed in a new direction with a new focus. It is my belief that this will be vital to the continued success of the city. While some who currently live there may not like it from what I can see, it is the only way in general to have a vital city that lasts. While with the new changes I may not remain mayor as everyone can run, hopefully I will set the ball in motion for a lasting fun and prosperous city.

The new goal
With this new plan is a new goal. The new goal of Mos Oasis is to be the “sidetracked” capitol.

I think one of the most fun things about this game or maybe its MMO’s (this is my only one) is that you log on and set out to do A but end up doing B, C or D. You log on the next day same plan and do F or G. Though you’ve never completed your original plan, you never complain because the sidetracked ventures tend to be just as fun or more then what you had had planned. Today we see “less content” because were less open minded and solely focused on getting Uber or leveling or getting that one loot.

We want this to happen whenever you go to Mos Oasis. To make this happen will take a lot of work. But when we get to this state, when you’re bored or whatever, hopefully you will say… “Hey lets go to Mos O” and see what trouble they’re getting into. You might say ‘c’mon wookiee you’re crazy, there is not a way in game and players themselves can not pull this off by them selves. I answer, with me they have been since launch.

To become the “sidetrack” capitol a lot must happen
First you need a city that helps to enable this and complete the list from above at the same time. You must tie in the wants and needs with the citizens and visitors while not allowing for mistakes that were once made.

General overview
First here is what I envision you will find in Mos Oasis when arriving there.

* You will always find a player or two “on the premises”. That player will be the “events cowardinator” of the day. Basically they have signed up to help distract you once you arrive. Be it with conversation or RP or pointing you towards an event that will be their job. (I have a feeling if this works one distraction will be you seeing if you can “not get distracted” by the distraction capitol.)

* All shops and homes will be decorated and public. Most will be themed in a unique way. (I will cover how this will be done soon)

* All shops will (in general) be stocked… not necessarily “well stocked” because hopefully they are having a hard time keeping up.

* Citizens/ visitors will find shops by type easily as well as see who the “top merchant” was for the previous month.

* Shops of the same profession will likely be very different still and carry different items then the others.

* Citizens that are well taken care of by the city and have very little reason to leave it relative to other cities.

* Shop owners/ citizens or visitors may at anytime speak gibberish or anything else to throw you off… beware the corrillian coarouine cough crops up in the city from time to time and everything and anything else that may help get you “sidetracked”… The militia may come in and arrest you for being too focused

How does this help and how can you expect citizens to do all of this?
Well this is a hard thing to achieve. First is the easy one.

The themed and decorated houses. When a new shop comes or a new resident moves in, the city will host a “housewarming” party for that citizen. On that day, as many citizens as are available will help him “move in”. While moving in they will help get it decorated with the guidance of city funded interior decorators. This makes the move easier, much much more fun and gives us a sense of community as well as an event.

Public shops that are stocked and easy to find: While we need merchants and badly, they still must fit the rest of the mold, and thus must adhere to the city laws. Merchants will compete to be the “lead shop”. The others then will look to help that merchant and their own shop. To make business fair, the lead shop can claim X products to sell but can not sell the others. All merchants of the same category will help the lead and each other. By “help the lead”, that shop will need to be kept full until the next review. On that next review if we see wow everyone else carried him, well then likely they’ll loose that lead status. Lead status will be designated through winning the merchant of the month for that category. Those merchants will have public city designations for shoppers to see who’s who. On the non lead shops, citizens will have a discount to those shops that will be subsidized by the city. This way those shop while not lead, can count on a stead stream of income and customers since obviously citizens will want to go where it is a lot less money to them.

A public distracter: This person need not be a role player but someone simply helping out that is fun. To qualify for citizenship discounts, citizens will be required to sign up to do this for some minimum time during the week/ month (TBD). If they do not do this, then they will be required to host an event during the month and attend one. These events do not have to be big or grandiose; simply a distraction or something to do that isn’t available without the work of that player.

Organization and zoning: This while not key is important in many aspects. Citizens may have to move from time to time to maintain this.. but have no fear we’ll have a “moving party!”

City funding: This like before will come from taxes. There will be one new tax and then the rest will come from events income. The new tax is a location tax. To move in to certain area’s ie the very demanded ones, you will need to stipend the city. Plain and simple, the city “owns” that land until you move in. To this end, if someone wants gardens in or near this home/ shop, the same will have to be done. The city however will of course have them w/o this. The city hall of course keeps funds, but they are hard to access and so very likely we’ll have a PA as a secondary treasury/ bank.

Recruiting: We will always be taking requests for review. The process is still being determined, but don’t expect it to be immediate and same with the move in which will need to be planned. Citizens will be required to have an outside of the game contact method to join uncase their homes/ shops need attention. In the case of those who do not want outside contact, their logon’s will need to be given to the mayor. Who would simply “pack it up” as a last resort but w/o regard to stuff.

Community: This is the key and central element to PC cities and to our goal. I believe that with screened move ins and house warming parties and regular events as well as in city discounts, this will be created. From what I know of this game, that gives it the best chance. It is the most important to have the sense of community but also for the community to have a sense of responsibility to itself. This plan will either work and Mos O will become a great city once again, or fail and become a grain of sand in the time of tatooine.

So there you are, most of this by current or prospective citizens will be/ can be discussed at www.famousfatwookieband.com ‘s forums under “Mos Oasis”. But I also posted it here to help other cities and for prospective citizens to take a look at the initial plan