Politician Archive
Thread: Burning out as a mayor! Need help!!
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LuciousOtso
Sat Jan 08, 2005 8:53 pm
#1
i've been a mayor of my find city New Hope for about 6 months, we are steady level 4 with shuttle. I believe we have the best looking city on our server. But after being there to place every single structure in our city, countless layout plans (kept getting scrapped after i ran into an unbuilable areas), and spending 90% of the maintance every week from my own pocket (only a 30% property tax, which i still get complaints about from time to time). We have maxed decorations and tons of gardens, i have "rarly" left the city the last 6 months.
I'm burning out as a mayor now. I don't find the incredible layout worth the amount of money i pay every single week. I need a way to keep going as mayor as there is no one else in the guild who could even come close to afford it. Got any ideas of getting my intrest back into mayor? or maybe i should just step down and see if anyone else would take over....
Message Edited by LuciousOtso on 01-08-2005 07:55 PM
Kyorlana
Sat Jan 08, 2005 9:33 pm
#2
I'm on my way to bed so don't have time to write a detailed post but fundamentally:
Delegate. Put together a council. Make other people responsible for commerce, community, city planning, entertainments, etc.
Encourage ALL citizens to contribute through sponsorship, city hunts etc. and remind them that it is their city. In getting them involved more they will care more about the place and in so doing relieve what has clearly become a burden for you.
For ideas on how you could go about this take a look at the Tirius Holosite (link in my sig).
Delegate. Put together a council. Make other people responsible for commerce, community, city planning, entertainments, etc.
Encourage ALL citizens to contribute through sponsorship, city hunts etc. and remind them that it is their city. In getting them involved more they will care more about the place and in so doing relieve what has clearly become a burden for you.
For ideas on how you could go about this take a look at the Tirius Holosite (link in my sig).
Hvzeda
Sat Jan 08, 2005 10:11 pm
#3
Kyorlana makes great suggestions. If you are doing everything then you will get burned out because it no longer becomes a game but a job.
You might want to figure out how much it would cost each resident per week to maintain the city, put it in the citizen email and tell them that you will be revoking the property tax and city treasury will be dependent on people donating to the city treasury. You will get people that won't donate but you will get others that will donate more than their share.
I never had a problem with city maintenance because I told the citizens in the beginning that I won't empty my bank account topay the weekly city maintenance since it was not my city but it was ours.
Khristen
Sat Jan 08, 2005 11:49 pm
#4
As they have suggested above, don't try to be "Super-Mayor". You'll drive yourself batty trying to do it all without a good support team. When it becomes more like work and less like fun, you need to take a mental step back and look at the situation.
Just from what you've said in this post, I'd definitely recommend looking at options to fund the city outside of your own pocket. That should always be a last resort, honestly. With sales tax borked and a limit on what other taxes can be levied, it becomes something that you have to get creative with. It's important that all of your citizens come to understand exactly what it costs to maintain a city like yours. I have always sent out weekly reports to the citizens letting them see what's going out per week compared to what's coming in. Many times when the treasury was starting to get a little low, several of the citizens would voluntarily drop a sizeable donation in the treasury with nothing more than that weekly report.
Something else we've done successfully is create a city donation vendor in the building with the most traffic. Citizens offer items to the vendor for 1 credit and the merchant lists them slightly below what the item would normally sell for. All the proceeds from the vendor go straight into the city treasury. It requires a fair amount of trust in the merchant, but it's a good source of additional income.
But beyond funding alone, find people in your city that you can trust to share the load with. Running a city is a huge responsibility, and not one that should be shouldered alone. Put someone in charge of being a secretary for thecity to take care of sending out any announcements. Have someone in charge of fund-raising; leave it for them to come up with new ways to generate income and run money-making events and hunts. Put someone else in charge of militia responsibilities. Have someone else take care of zoning and city planning exclusively. There are plenty of areas that can be delegated out which allows other people to shine. It doesn't detract from your position as mayor, rather it makes you a better mayor through the people you develop. Plus it lets you have a chance to take a small siesta and enjoy some of the other things SWG has to offer without sacrificing the well-being of your city.
Fluke_SillyWalker
Sun Jan 09, 2005 5:28 am
#5
LuciousOtso wrote:
i've been a mayor of my find city New Hope for about 6 months, we are steady level 4 with shuttle. I believe we have the best looking city on our server. But after being there to place every single structure in our city, countless layout plans (kept getting scrapped after i ran into an unbuilable areas), and spending 90% of the maintance every week from my own pocket (only a 30% property tax, which i still get complaints about from time to time). We have maxed decorations and tons of gardens, i have "rarly" left the city the last 6 months.
I'm burning out as a mayor now. I don't find the incredible layout worth the amount of money i pay every single week. I need a way to keep going as mayor as there is no one else in the guild who could even come close to afford it. Got any ideas of getting my intrest back into mayor? or maybe i should just step down and see if anyone else would take over....
Well I feel for you dude, I use a 2% sales tax which I justify with a perfect city Layout and masses of Gardens etc, I think your Citizens don't realize how much it cost to keep a city running every week. I suggest writing a List of all the civic structures, Gardens Decor in your City and work out how much each costs you a week . The n Forward this to your citizens if they realize how much everything costs they may thing of donating more money.
My City currently has 26 million in the bank , due to generous donationf from teh city merchants for our Services, I suggest establisihing yourself as a second Coronet may help to bring big Busines to your city , thereofre for more money and more Citizens.
I suggest though if you can find a New Mayor to step in for abit I would do , its not fun being in your situation and it looks like its getting tot eh point where the game is not fun for you anymore.
Message Edited by Fluke_SillyWalker on 01-09-2005 12:35 PM
Alwan
Mon Jan 10, 2005 2:28 am
#7
U remind me of my guild 1st city Calista on corellia( i still visit it runes ), he droped all kinda of taxes and keep the property tax at 30% and payed from his own for the mantaince. why u doing so? u dont live in it alone do u?
As long as they live in the city they must pay, nothing for free in this game.
For my city i manage by spamming the auction channel with add about my citymall to bring good sales to our merchanet and as the sales tax was 10% the city treasury grow from 2mil to 4mil, some merchanet of the city donate some cash to the city as a way to show there greatedud.
And finaly as many ppl start leaving swg for other MMORPG games i had an idea, i ask to see who is going to leave then i simply ask them to donate there money to the city and allow me to get there stuff at there houses, in some cases i toke the ownership of there houses as they are inside the city and pass them to new guild member who are not citizens.
Now my city ( Nova Republica, Dantooine/ farstar ) got over 10mil in teasury, citymall got maintance for over a year so dose the cantina plus i drop all taxes after i told them why. Now anther player who is leaving working with me to handover all his stuff and houses.
Payed for Buffpacks for the doc's to keep giving free buffs for the guild.
If u think carefuly u'll see many ways to make things work for u.
And btw the mayer if my city is my alt, because as much as i love been the mayer and all the stuff u can do as much as i like to have my own life in the game Not hold up in the city for 6months. Belive me u'll start hatting the game because not going out and having fun with your guild m8's or friends.
I hope my exprience and ideas will be any use for u and others.
P.S: sorry for my spelling mistakes english is not my native languge after all.
DeCuGnA
Tue Jan 11, 2005 1:46 am
#8
There are sound suggestions here, and I might add if not already said:
Hold weekly meetings and arrange mission hunts that give all funds to treasury
Send emails once a week on the balance in treasury and how much just paid along with detailed account for what you have put in. Then ask for voluntary donations at the next meeting. But remember to bring that up in the meeting.
At the day or even hour before the maintenance pull all your gardens and trainers and terminals until next day. If anyone in the city sends a Tell or Email about it just politely explain that you must do this and all have to sacrafice through this until donations appropriate to leaving them down balance out the debt each week.
Selecting Officers is not such a great idea unless you know them in Real Life. I had my city taken over by such after they moved in a bunch of friends to out vote me. Needless to say they are all kids and the city will devour itself inside of 6 months guaranteed.
Make sure your Sales are all in one area and not confusing to find in your city. Then hold a meeting to configure a Sales Drive. Make sure that sales prices are fair to galaxy standards, otherwise sooner than later your customers will fall away. ( Better and Ounce of Prevention than a Pound Cure ) Then assign players to go into each major city ( at least One per planet ) and make a Shout Macro that describes Location and Huge Sale. No details are necessary if you have the right items that all use. ( Resources are always a plus )
Make House Tax 2000
Make Income Tax 3 percent
Make Sales 5 percent
( If you have and or are looking for Crafters for your city that are Merchants - OR can at least place a vendor in someones House or Tent you will benefit in the long run. )
When recruiting individuals always show them the City Terminal and how they can access it. Then bring up the Treasury Deposit as a non-pressure voluntary donation when they can to help the city's growth.
Dont ever forget to keep the emails coming every week on what the city has to have in maintenance to Stand and how its been in the past getting paid for.
Do a concise evaluation to see if you really need Trainers, are they being utilized? Are you in need of a Theater? ( if you have one ) Are you in need of more than one Mission Terminal? ( if you have the max out there ) Remember, whatever is excess is nice on paper but kills you in maintenance.
My Two Cents =)
Hold weekly meetings and arrange mission hunts that give all funds to treasury
Send emails once a week on the balance in treasury and how much just paid along with detailed account for what you have put in. Then ask for voluntary donations at the next meeting. But remember to bring that up in the meeting.
At the day or even hour before the maintenance pull all your gardens and trainers and terminals until next day. If anyone in the city sends a Tell or Email about it just politely explain that you must do this and all have to sacrafice through this until donations appropriate to leaving them down balance out the debt each week.
Selecting Officers is not such a great idea unless you know them in Real Life. I had my city taken over by such after they moved in a bunch of friends to out vote me. Needless to say they are all kids and the city will devour itself inside of 6 months guaranteed.
Make sure your Sales are all in one area and not confusing to find in your city. Then hold a meeting to configure a Sales Drive. Make sure that sales prices are fair to galaxy standards, otherwise sooner than later your customers will fall away. ( Better and Ounce of Prevention than a Pound Cure ) Then assign players to go into each major city ( at least One per planet ) and make a Shout Macro that describes Location and Huge Sale. No details are necessary if you have the right items that all use. ( Resources are always a plus )
Make House Tax 2000
Make Income Tax 3 percent
Make Sales 5 percent
( If you have and or are looking for Crafters for your city that are Merchants - OR can at least place a vendor in someones House or Tent you will benefit in the long run. )
When recruiting individuals always show them the City Terminal and how they can access it. Then bring up the Treasury Deposit as a non-pressure voluntary donation when they can to help the city's growth.
Dont ever forget to keep the emails coming every week on what the city has to have in maintenance to Stand and how its been in the past getting paid for.
Do a concise evaluation to see if you really need Trainers, are they being utilized? Are you in need of a Theater? ( if you have one ) Are you in need of more than one Mission Terminal? ( if you have the max out there ) Remember, whatever is excess is nice on paper but kills you in maintenance.
My Two Cents =)
LuciousOtso
Tue May 10, 2005 6:22 pm
#9
I know this is an old post, but i forgot to give a proper thank you to everyone who has posted. Politician has become my favorite prof again. I did create a new 4 member council, and distributed the responsiblity. I still pay most of the maintence on my own, but my guildies, knowing how hard i work for them have been donating as much as they can so i never feel like i need to leave.
So in conclusion thanks for all your great advice!!!
DesktopSaki
Wed May 11, 2005 2:13 am
#10
LuciousOtso wrote:
I know this is an old post, but i forgot to give a proper thank you to everyone who has posted. Politician has become my favorite prof again. I did create a new 4 member council, and distributed the responsiblity. I still pay most of the maintence on my own, but my guildies, knowing how hard i work for them have been donating as much as they can so i never feel like i need to leave.
So in conclusion thanks for all your great advice!!!
Hooray! Great to hear it's working out for you. 
One other idea that I got from these boards is to set up an "Adopt A Garden" program. People in your city--or outside of it--can choose to "adopt" a garden, statue or other decoration or public building via a weekly or monthly donation--say, 2500 a month for a statue, 5000 for a large garden, 10000 for the cloning or med center. (You could even name the med center after them, heh.) It'd be honor system, of course, but it's a neat way to raise donations, and it engenders public pride.
Don't forget to have that 100 cred surcharge on shuttle tickets, by the way. That can add up real fast. Our city (level 5) is maintained solely by that, donationsand a 1% tax on the garage.
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