Politician Archive
Thread: Political advice for those seeking to run for Mayor
Page 1 of 1
Kinshi
Fri Mar 25, 2005 4:39 pm
#1
Some of you may have seen my other thread where I was asking for advice about running for Mayor vs a entrenched incumbent.
I thought I would share the outcome, and what I learned from all this so other aspiring Politcians dont get caught in the same trap I did.
In a nutshell I lost the race, it turned into a 3-way race after the incumbent decided not to run, and the final vote split along guild lines in town, with a small % of votes going to me (I was the Ralph Nader or this race). Keep in mind these are things I learned the HARD way. I thought I knew a thing or two about politics but my politics were based mostly on principle. getting the priciples into reality is a whole nother ballgame, and I came away humbled by what I learned.
What I learned from all this
Change is a HARD sell! No matter how good you think the change is or how much proof you provide, the change will be resisted as 'unecessary' if things are already fairly stable. Most folks do not like the boat being rocked for any reason. If you have changes, and you think they are the right thing to do, then you must do some things first *BEFORE* running for mayor.
1. You need to collect data to support your claims. testimonials from other players, data from other towns, something to show that there is a factual basis for your claims. NOTE This will NOT be enough however to win people over. People vote more on gut feeling than on intellectual merits so while you may be right in principle, you will likely still lose if the voters dont feel 'good' about you. Do this quietly, the less people who know you are thinking about running the better, this way if it turns out your ideas suck, you dont wind up looking like a goon.
2. On that note, you need to roll up your sleeves and go door to door, an talk to as many citizens as you can. Put a platform statement together, macro it if ya need to save you typing, and ask people, one on one what they think of your ideas, and answer their questions. People appreciate the time spent MUCH more than if you launch into a public campaign right away. This way you also learn who likes your ideas, who hates them, and who is on the fence, and will allow you to direct your efforts where they would make the most difference. DO NOT try to sway the folks who hate your ideas, you will generate friction if you do, and if it goes public it will only make you look bad. The most you should do, is ask them nicely why they dont like your idea and listen , and do not attempt to debate them. You may learn something you didnt know that could be a valuable tweak to your campaign.
Now its time to take stock. Did you get a sizable number of folks to agree with your ideas w/ little to no modifications? Did you get an idea of what concerns them and what it would take to alliviate their concerns? If not you need to do # 1 & 2 again or you are going to get shot down in an election. YOu need a stable base of supporters to even think of running, and if you find that 80% of the folks you interview just plain hate your ideas, then you need to do some serious rethinking and NOT run until you change those numbers. Also be VERY wary if you run across a 50-50 split. That could get messy down the road.
If you got here, it means you have a possible winning platform, but there are still challenges ahead. At this point you platform should be tweaked and updated, and ready to make its first public appearance.
3. Wait until the beginning of the next election cycle (dont jump in at the end and take everyone by suprise because you could get accused of trying to jack the election. Lots of towns are sleepy and have gotten lazy about voting because the same guy has been in office forever, and they will freak if the town changes hands rapidly and unexpectedly.
4. Announce your candidacy. This is a tough one because in order to get the word out, you will have to resort to some small amount of spamming, either via email, public forums, or afk macroing. Put out your platform along with your announcement. Then let it digest for a few days. DOnt resend or spam every day!
5. In the meantime, go door to door again, talk to your supporters, make sure they are still on board, see if they have concerns, and go talke to the undecideds again and see if there is more you can do to convince them. Stay off the public email and forums during this time. IF flak starts to rise over your platform, dont just jump in and start shooting back, especially when going against a popular incumbent. Heres why:
a. You as the challenger are the unknown and the human psyche equates the unknown to bad things. The incumbent is known thus good, you are unknown thus bad. You will find it VERy difficult to argue why the incumbent should not be mayor because they will be viewed as attacks agaisnt an elder statesman and you will look bad. You have to stick to why your platform is good.
b. The incumbent is not really regulated like you are so they are free to take potshots to a limited extent. They can explain why your ideas are bad w/o tarnishing themselves and they dont really have to explain why they are good (things stay the same = good, changes = bad is all they need). So when the opponent take aim at you, your responses must be limited to explaining why the concerns raised arent concerns.
c. Be VERY careful with public debate. People like confrontation even less than they like change. If you appear 'confrontational' or in anyway paint the incumbent in a bad light you will pay politically because you will become the 'bad guy' and since 'things are fine the way they are' is in effect, you will look like you are attacking.
d. Dont engage in debates with your opponents supporters. You are running against the oppponent, not the voters. If they have concerns, just listen to them politley, dont argue with them. It will just make you look bad to argue with the voters.
e. Dont assume everyone appreciates debates, they dont, in fact most really dont like them and will tune out fast, this is why you need to go door to door and talk to the voters person to person.
6 . If a public debate is requested, then be prepared to answer hard questions. By this time you should have an idea of what most of the opposition is to your platform and can answer accordingly. Do not make accusations, innuendo, or anything else negative in the debate. Stick to the platform. If the opponent gets personal, ignore them and stick to the facts. If they refuse to debate, then respectfully decline to debate further. But dont let them bait you into making an attack because it will be YOU who gets remebered as the attacker, not them. Have a printed copy of platform on hand to refer to, you look bad if you dont know things on your own platform.
The election lasts 3 weeks, so make the time count. Dont spam every day. Limit your emails to no more than one a week going out to everyone.
Hang outside the city hall during the last cpl days of the election and chat people up, make a 'vote for me' macro and have it going but dont be AFK. Talk to folks, you may catch a cpl more swing votes those last cpl days.
ANd again avoid personal contact w/ your opponents supporters. You never debate with the voters, especially if they are backers of the opponents campaign. These arent the right people to divulge your platforms problems to, as they have an interest in seeing your campaign fail.
Remember you are now in the public eye and all your actions will come under scruntiny. Yet another reason to avoid confrontational venues because they can quickly become personal. If you must be confrontational about an element, choose the topic VERY well, and make sure you are ironclad. Also let your oppponent be the confrontational one, let them shoot first. In politics the best offense is a good defense. You must maintain the 'good guy' view of the voters. Dont respond to evey potshot your oppnent takes at you either. The more he attacks and the more you hoold to the high ground, the better off you will be. Stay professional!
Above all, R/L distaste for Politics colors players views, which will make it harder for you. SWG is an escape from the grind of R/L and SWG Politics will feel like r/l intruding, so you will gain much more with less campaigning. Discretion and grace will be your mantra.
be careful, because you may only get one good shot at the mayorship, so dont be overeager to run. Hold back until you are absolutely ready to run. (there is an election every 3 weeks, not every 4 years, so you have time)
NOTES: SOme things to consider about the voters when running that are unique to SWG
One man does NOT equal one vote, in fact one man can equal MANY votes. A voter may be a Jedi w/ a FSCS unlocked, or they may have more than one account. You need to get a handle on who has what alts, because you are guaranteed those alts will vote too. This is something to consider if you have a lot of Jedi in your town. Same goes for large crafters, as they tend to have multiple accounts as well. If you have lots of Jedi agaisnt you, its going to be hard to gain enough votes to win by a clear margin.
Approach these folks with caution when running your campaign, because since they have lots of structures, and merchants, they will feel the impact of whatever changes you want the most. They also tend to have a fair amount of wealth as well, and are very active players. They can be powerful allies or powerful enemies. You need to figure out who the power players are in your town and recognize them, and be aware the sometime they dont want to be exposed as power players. Discretion is the buzzword here. These folks can either lift you up or shoot you down on their word alone. Definatley do NOT debate with them. But be aware that if you DO win, they will continue to be a force you must contend with, for good or bad.
being a member of a guild in the town is a help but not a guarantee of success by any means, being an active citizen in town is a must (dont show up, and run for mayor on your 2nd day in town) Put time and effort and money into the community, and make yourself known as a repectable citizen first, then think mayor after a few months have passed.
Politician is a lot more than being a dude who drops gardens and hands out zoning rights. For some folks thats good enough but if you want to convince folks thats not good enough, you have to work HARD. Getting people to agree with you and vote your way is harder than any Jedi Grind could possibly be. Keeping them agreeing with you is even harder.
Hope this helps aspriring politicians have a fair crack at the mayorship of those big Metro cities because thats where you will gain the Political XP the fastest if you convince the folks there you are good for them.
Good luck, and hope you do better than I did.
I thought I would share the outcome, and what I learned from all this so other aspiring Politcians dont get caught in the same trap I did.
In a nutshell I lost the race, it turned into a 3-way race after the incumbent decided not to run, and the final vote split along guild lines in town, with a small % of votes going to me (I was the Ralph Nader or this race). Keep in mind these are things I learned the HARD way. I thought I knew a thing or two about politics but my politics were based mostly on principle. getting the priciples into reality is a whole nother ballgame, and I came away humbled by what I learned.
What I learned from all this
Change is a HARD sell! No matter how good you think the change is or how much proof you provide, the change will be resisted as 'unecessary' if things are already fairly stable. Most folks do not like the boat being rocked for any reason. If you have changes, and you think they are the right thing to do, then you must do some things first *BEFORE* running for mayor.
1. You need to collect data to support your claims. testimonials from other players, data from other towns, something to show that there is a factual basis for your claims. NOTE This will NOT be enough however to win people over. People vote more on gut feeling than on intellectual merits so while you may be right in principle, you will likely still lose if the voters dont feel 'good' about you. Do this quietly, the less people who know you are thinking about running the better, this way if it turns out your ideas suck, you dont wind up looking like a goon.
2. On that note, you need to roll up your sleeves and go door to door, an talk to as many citizens as you can. Put a platform statement together, macro it if ya need to save you typing, and ask people, one on one what they think of your ideas, and answer their questions. People appreciate the time spent MUCH more than if you launch into a public campaign right away. This way you also learn who likes your ideas, who hates them, and who is on the fence, and will allow you to direct your efforts where they would make the most difference. DO NOT try to sway the folks who hate your ideas, you will generate friction if you do, and if it goes public it will only make you look bad. The most you should do, is ask them nicely why they dont like your idea and listen , and do not attempt to debate them. You may learn something you didnt know that could be a valuable tweak to your campaign.
Now its time to take stock. Did you get a sizable number of folks to agree with your ideas w/ little to no modifications? Did you get an idea of what concerns them and what it would take to alliviate their concerns? If not you need to do # 1 & 2 again or you are going to get shot down in an election. YOu need a stable base of supporters to even think of running, and if you find that 80% of the folks you interview just plain hate your ideas, then you need to do some serious rethinking and NOT run until you change those numbers. Also be VERY wary if you run across a 50-50 split. That could get messy down the road.
If you got here, it means you have a possible winning platform, but there are still challenges ahead. At this point you platform should be tweaked and updated, and ready to make its first public appearance.
3. Wait until the beginning of the next election cycle (dont jump in at the end and take everyone by suprise because you could get accused of trying to jack the election. Lots of towns are sleepy and have gotten lazy about voting because the same guy has been in office forever, and they will freak if the town changes hands rapidly and unexpectedly.
4. Announce your candidacy. This is a tough one because in order to get the word out, you will have to resort to some small amount of spamming, either via email, public forums, or afk macroing. Put out your platform along with your announcement. Then let it digest for a few days. DOnt resend or spam every day!
5. In the meantime, go door to door again, talk to your supporters, make sure they are still on board, see if they have concerns, and go talke to the undecideds again and see if there is more you can do to convince them. Stay off the public email and forums during this time. IF flak starts to rise over your platform, dont just jump in and start shooting back, especially when going against a popular incumbent. Heres why:
a. You as the challenger are the unknown and the human psyche equates the unknown to bad things. The incumbent is known thus good, you are unknown thus bad. You will find it VERy difficult to argue why the incumbent should not be mayor because they will be viewed as attacks agaisnt an elder statesman and you will look bad. You have to stick to why your platform is good.
b. The incumbent is not really regulated like you are so they are free to take potshots to a limited extent. They can explain why your ideas are bad w/o tarnishing themselves and they dont really have to explain why they are good (things stay the same = good, changes = bad is all they need). So when the opponent take aim at you, your responses must be limited to explaining why the concerns raised arent concerns.
c. Be VERY careful with public debate. People like confrontation even less than they like change. If you appear 'confrontational' or in anyway paint the incumbent in a bad light you will pay politically because you will become the 'bad guy' and since 'things are fine the way they are' is in effect, you will look like you are attacking.
d. Dont engage in debates with your opponents supporters. You are running against the oppponent, not the voters. If they have concerns, just listen to them politley, dont argue with them. It will just make you look bad to argue with the voters.
e. Dont assume everyone appreciates debates, they dont, in fact most really dont like them and will tune out fast, this is why you need to go door to door and talk to the voters person to person.
6 . If a public debate is requested, then be prepared to answer hard questions. By this time you should have an idea of what most of the opposition is to your platform and can answer accordingly. Do not make accusations, innuendo, or anything else negative in the debate. Stick to the platform. If the opponent gets personal, ignore them and stick to the facts. If they refuse to debate, then respectfully decline to debate further. But dont let them bait you into making an attack because it will be YOU who gets remebered as the attacker, not them. Have a printed copy of platform on hand to refer to, you look bad if you dont know things on your own platform.
The election lasts 3 weeks, so make the time count. Dont spam every day. Limit your emails to no more than one a week going out to everyone.
Hang outside the city hall during the last cpl days of the election and chat people up, make a 'vote for me' macro and have it going but dont be AFK. Talk to folks, you may catch a cpl more swing votes those last cpl days.
ANd again avoid personal contact w/ your opponents supporters. You never debate with the voters, especially if they are backers of the opponents campaign. These arent the right people to divulge your platforms problems to, as they have an interest in seeing your campaign fail.
Remember you are now in the public eye and all your actions will come under scruntiny. Yet another reason to avoid confrontational venues because they can quickly become personal. If you must be confrontational about an element, choose the topic VERY well, and make sure you are ironclad. Also let your oppponent be the confrontational one, let them shoot first. In politics the best offense is a good defense. You must maintain the 'good guy' view of the voters. Dont respond to evey potshot your oppnent takes at you either. The more he attacks and the more you hoold to the high ground, the better off you will be. Stay professional!
Above all, R/L distaste for Politics colors players views, which will make it harder for you. SWG is an escape from the grind of R/L and SWG Politics will feel like r/l intruding, so you will gain much more with less campaigning. Discretion and grace will be your mantra.
be careful, because you may only get one good shot at the mayorship, so dont be overeager to run. Hold back until you are absolutely ready to run. (there is an election every 3 weeks, not every 4 years, so you have time)
NOTES: SOme things to consider about the voters when running that are unique to SWG
One man does NOT equal one vote, in fact one man can equal MANY votes. A voter may be a Jedi w/ a FSCS unlocked, or they may have more than one account. You need to get a handle on who has what alts, because you are guaranteed those alts will vote too. This is something to consider if you have a lot of Jedi in your town. Same goes for large crafters, as they tend to have multiple accounts as well. If you have lots of Jedi agaisnt you, its going to be hard to gain enough votes to win by a clear margin.
Approach these folks with caution when running your campaign, because since they have lots of structures, and merchants, they will feel the impact of whatever changes you want the most. They also tend to have a fair amount of wealth as well, and are very active players. They can be powerful allies or powerful enemies. You need to figure out who the power players are in your town and recognize them, and be aware the sometime they dont want to be exposed as power players. Discretion is the buzzword here. These folks can either lift you up or shoot you down on their word alone. Definatley do NOT debate with them. But be aware that if you DO win, they will continue to be a force you must contend with, for good or bad.
being a member of a guild in the town is a help but not a guarantee of success by any means, being an active citizen in town is a must (dont show up, and run for mayor on your 2nd day in town) Put time and effort and money into the community, and make yourself known as a repectable citizen first, then think mayor after a few months have passed.
Politician is a lot more than being a dude who drops gardens and hands out zoning rights. For some folks thats good enough but if you want to convince folks thats not good enough, you have to work HARD. Getting people to agree with you and vote your way is harder than any Jedi Grind could possibly be. Keeping them agreeing with you is even harder.
Hope this helps aspriring politicians have a fair crack at the mayorship of those big Metro cities because thats where you will gain the Political XP the fastest if you convince the folks there you are good for them.
Good luck, and hope you do better than I did.
Sighryn
Fri Mar 25, 2005 10:20 pm
#2
Kinshi wrote:
Most folks do not like the boat being rocked for any reason.
Rock it on shore they'll love it. It's fun.
Rock it at sea and you are endangering their lives. If they kill you, you deserved it.
WildmanHT
Mon Mar 28, 2005 5:44 pm
#3
IMO, I think you forgot the most important thing...Have a sense of humor and realize this is just a game....Pls dont take that as a slam but you seem a tad to serious.
I just took over mayorship again in our city after a long break out of office. I did have one person I was going up against. I was the first mayor so people new I would make the town fun but for giggles I still put up NPC Actors in front of the shuttle from time to time. The one that got the most laughs was "Trixie". She was/is my Female Twi secretary....I put her in a Exotic Leotard and had her telling people to vote for me in that she missed taking notes while sitting on my lap... 
Kinshi
Tue Mar 29, 2005 12:24 pm
#4
I admint I do take the role a bit seriously, though it is fun (I like civil engineering, and public relations) so I actually play politician, not just use it as a sideline.
SOE gave us a pretty nifty set of tools when they gave us politician and player cities. Frankly, Politician is like a game within the game, like I said earlier, its like Sim City built inside SWG. Its a real appeal to the engineer types and folks who like to build (not to mention its a truly non-combat profession (that is if political sparring is not considered 'combat' hehe)
SWG cities are a city simulator, the SOE devs really put some thought into the design city interactions and mechanics (there is no other game that has the sheer levels of interaction and tools that SWG has for player cities)
Its easy to gloss over the depth of the Politician profession, and view it simply as a means to get your PA special things but there is a lot more there than meets the eye.
But no, i dont consider it a flame, and you are totally correct, this is all for fun and we should never forget that :-) Thanks for bringing that point up, its one we all can stand to remember.
SOE gave us a pretty nifty set of tools when they gave us politician and player cities. Frankly, Politician is like a game within the game, like I said earlier, its like Sim City built inside SWG. Its a real appeal to the engineer types and folks who like to build (not to mention its a truly non-combat profession (that is if political sparring is not considered 'combat' hehe)
SWG cities are a city simulator, the SOE devs really put some thought into the design city interactions and mechanics (there is no other game that has the sheer levels of interaction and tools that SWG has for player cities)
Its easy to gloss over the depth of the Politician profession, and view it simply as a means to get your PA special things but there is a lot more there than meets the eye.
But no, i dont consider it a flame, and you are totally correct, this is all for fun and we should never forget that :-) Thanks for bringing that point up, its one we all can stand to remember.
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