Election Time

So the Election has begun in Jottonia and, as usual, it is not without it’s fair share of controversy. First of all the new MoDA, Rodklieven, called the election early which upset Captain Griffen the leader (and only member) of the one Political Affiliation in Jottonia, the Association for the Welfare of Everyone (AWE). Then the MoDA altered the Parliament Act to allow players who were only 15 days old to stand in the election if they wanted to from the previous 30 days old limit. That was slightly more controversial because the Parliament Act is a Law and not a Government rule as it used to be.

In my time away there has been a shake-up of the Laws and Rules with several former rules becoming Laws (and thus subject to alteration by Parliament) and several former Laws becoming Rules (thus falling under the jurisdiction of the Government only). It is this change that has caused the main problem, as the MoDA changed what was a Rule but is now a Law, effectively, without permission from, or even discussion with, Parliament. The fact that Parliament has been non-existent in the last session seems to be irrelevant despite it being the reason for the change cited by the MoDA.

The shake-up has also caused one or two other problems. For example, the MOLA (Maximum Ownership Limitation Act) which limits how much of a company’s available stock that can be held by one person has now become a Law after being a Rule for as long as I can remember. This is good because it means that Parliament can alter it, if they choose, and Gov would have to comply. At the moment the MOLA states that a player can only own 35% of a company, even if it is possible to own more (some companies it is possible to buy more than 35% of the available stock). However, the punishment has never been changed so, although the MOLA says its a crime to own more than 35% and that it can be punished by warnings and fines, it doesn’t state who would be the person/entity to police the law or to dole out the punishment if the law was broken.

And the law WAS broken, but it was broken by a malicious transfer to someone who owned a large portion of a company and thus taking them over the MOLA… but as it is not defined who is responsible for ensuring that the MOLA isn’t broken and who would deal with any violations; neither the malicious sender nor the unfortunate recipient who had more stock than the MOLA allowed can be punished. There are other problems with the laws too, certain things I’ve highlighted, others I’ve alluded to, and yet more have been raised by other players and even the candidates themselves.

One hopes that because of the problems, this coming session of Parliament may actually produce some results for the first time in many sessions. The current standings in the election are as follows (5 seats available unless tied for 5th):

alex123 ID: 29311	2
Lord McRad ID: 28532	1
King Slayer Guajardo ID: 21944	6
bill guajardo ID: 26557	4
Akse von Van-Waelda ID: 29248	2
Gras ID: 21298	5
Thooper ID: 17554	6

I have yet to cast my vote, although if I was going to vote on the basis of their ‘manifestos’ then I would have a tough choice to make. Only 4 of the candidates have made any sort of ‘vote for me’ post and of those, only 2 of the candidates make any real sense. Those being Thooper, who is an old player, former Govbot (MoE), and currently the round leader by a long way; and Alex123, a relatively new player who recently won the Newbie Spotlight award (no idea what that actually is…). Both of their ‘vote for me’ speeches have been well thought out, well articulated, well presented and made a lot of sense. Thooper’s RL Law study makes him an obvious candidate for fixing and creating Laws in Jottonia; whereas Alex123’s newbie status means he is able to come to the table with fresh ideas and is also able to explain the difficulties that new players face on joining Jottonia (along with possible solutions to those problems).

I’d like to vote for them both to be honest. In reality though, I shall probably use my vote strategically, either to ensure that Parliament is made up of as many members as possible or to ensure that both the above get into Parliament. Although it’s early days, Thooper looks to have a certain seat, Alex is looking a little precarious… time will tell where my vote goes but for now, if you are able, vote Alex123!

On the stock trading front, well I am now at around 8 billion and 12th richest overall. I’ve been a little bit lazy recently but made a few inroads today almost doubling my assets in the process! Of course, I am way behind the top5 but perhaps have a chance of sneaking into the top 10 over the next few days, time will tell I suppose and then the stocks will have to be kind. I’ve been far less controversial in my posts this time around although, earlier in the week I did make a risky comment.

Smuss, a former double round winner, had passed away from inactivity and, when the President asked why he died, I replied ‘Couldn’t cheat anymore’. Of course, those who were friends of smuss didn’t like this comment but I maintain that smuss was a cheat, to the point that I actually once watched him exploit a bug within the game. This was many, many rounds ago in my first lifetime in Jottonia and was something I highlighted at the time. My questions in the Game Forum were ignored by the then Gov, I was called a liar and smuss went on to win the round.

However, the bug he had exploited was busted wide open by Weasel and Swish during a later round and it was admitted that a lot of players had exploited the bug, smuss included. I felt cheated out of a WT that round, and probably harmed my own growing reputation at the same time by highlighting the cheating in the GF when I did. Be all and end all, when I reminded players of the circumstances re: the bug, and therefore backed up my ‘couldn’t cheat anymore’ statement, the thread fizzled out. I’ll have to be more careful though, probably upset a few people with my comment, true or not. More from Jottonia next time, until then… tweet me :)

Hira (AKA -Devil’s Advocate- / Lazaru5)