Politician Archive

I would like to start a thread where the current politicians of cities can write down what being mayor means to them. I will start it off with sharing the ups and downs of the city I am mayor of and that is Stargate - and then I would like to hear what others who are past and current mayors have to say.

I wasn't Mayor of Stargate at its inception, but I was on the council and worked very hard with the mayor and the other council members to help get the city up and running. There was a lot of work involved from planning - to scheduling a time when we knew everyone could be present to lay down their houses. Some of it went smoothly, other parts... a bit rough but the town hall went down and the City of Stargate began. It was exhilarating.

A few months down the road – the task of being Mayor became too much of a strain for the current Mayor – as you all know before skill points were reduced to “0” master politician took up a big chunk of points. So the council met and it was decided that I would run for mayor. It only took 1 week of voting and I was elected in, and began down the road of learning what it truly means to be a politician.

Being a politician is a “giving” profession – you’re basically there to tend to the needs of your citizens and the city. We don’t get paid in our profession – though I suppose we could take 50k out of the treasury per day – however, as most of us have learned we typically put in at least that if not 5 – 10 times more to help keep the city afloat.

We give of our time – we give of our resources – and some of us are lucky because we have a great group of citizens that make the giving worthwhile. I really do enjoy the role playing aspect of being a Mayor.

Oh yes – I am not going to deny that sometimes there are headaches. No green tinted lenses here – I also admit at times that the tools that we are given to work can also increase the frustration. Taxes working – not working – sales takes no longer working at all – no way to get a report (unless you use 3rd party xcel sheet) to figure out where income is coming from in city – and even then its not 100% accurate. You also find yourself working through challenges of the lack of things like a city chat channel – now all of us that have multiple guilds know how utterly sweet this would be… but we make do – we do work-arounds and we make our own chat channels etc… why – because we want to build a community.

I was thrilled – literally when skill points were dropped from politican – it has allowed me to get actively involved in the entertainment in the city – set up a theater – and have fun!

So what does being Mayor mean to me? It means being proud of representing a great group of people – it means celebrating with that group of people when we meet challenges head on and come up with solutions as a whole. It means I never stop being thankful for the amount of trust that they put in me to take care of their city and their community. It's not about the power - it's about the giving - and the serving and the opportunity to share in the fun.