If you're using FF, try hitting the tab key a few times. I often find that when I'm using FF (90% of the time) I can't click in the message window, but tab will usually get me there.

Yeah I know. It is a delicate subject. It basically revolved around the endgame.xml which IIRC was not it's true name. When this was first discussed there was no checksumming or hash total or any other protections and that certainly was an issue and still may be. Last I heard that was going to be corrected.

Regardless of the current details you can see that there is a lot to discuss about issues like this and this isn't something that you want to decide to do without some real understanding of the issues and concerns from all involved. That's where the work comes in.

In our case that work is taking the time and effort to hash out a bunch of details that can be complex and confusing and try to find a solution that satisfies a wide range of people, all with different interests and concerns, and that ends up actually making a positive real change for the better. The AltMeta was certainly an actual positive real change. So was the MVL itself.

Kzinti asked what is metaverse activism. Basically if you hang around these forums long enough, time and again, over and over, you hear people complain about one thing after another but nothing ever happens. It's always Stardock should do this or Stardock should do that and everyone has their own little idea of what it is precisely that Stardock should do. And then two weeks or a month later that issue just fades away to be replaced by the next issue du jour. The end result is nothing ever changes.

I don't recall how many times I've said this in the past and that is there are tons of good ideas each with a handful of people supporting them, but what we need are a handful of ideas with a ton of people supporting them. If and when we can present a coherent and consistent opinion only then would it actually possible for Stardock to be able to respond to a request for change.

In the meantime holding our breath and waiting for Stardock to do something is a waste of time, if we want something new the only way to ensure it is to do it ourselves. Both the AltMeta and the MVL (and MVC as well) are totally player driven ideas brought to fruition by the work and effort of players without any effort on the part of Stardock. In that regard these are totally unique occurances.

That is what the MVC did. We actually accomplished something.

Garnering support form large amounts of people is even tougher now that the forum has no "advanced search" function, so you can PM people who have replied to posts, but not created any original posts....very annoying.

So what is the most effective process to do this? I cant think of a reasonably functional/efficient way to do so that will reach enough people.

Sentient species taste better...

I don't know that there is much you can do but maintain a presence and keep active and try to add features that are of interest to different folks. You can only hope that people do check in once and awhile and if they happen to see something that strikes their fancy (like the MVL for example) then perhaps they will become interested enough to join.

You have to have reasonable expectations. There's no way to reach everyone but you just try and reach those that you can. People come and go every day. There's no reaching those that give up on the game and decide to go. However, there's a window of opportunity with every new person that shows up. If you can interest them in some of these other attractions then you contribute to the life and popularity of the game and the site.

I don't know if others have looked around at sites dedicated to other games but I have a bit and it's a totally different world. Things like Space Empires have a number of fan based sites but they pale in comparison to this site and there simply is nothing else like the metaverse out there.

I mean even the Sins site doesn't even compare to this but perhaps that's just me. The Sins site is a lot more active than here but again it's a totally different crowd certainly because it's an RTS as opponsed to a TBS. But looking at the clans in Sins, it's nothing compared to our empires, at least in my opinion.

Anyway you can only work change at the margin. The MVL is an activity that provides another possible point of interest. Simply participating in the MVL contributes to the promotion of the metaverse. The only thing I'm saying is that there are other things we can do in addition to the MVL.

But there's no point in taking on too much at any one time. Let us learn to walk before we can run. A reasonable goal is the simple act of getting the MVL onto the AltMeta which will instantly change it into a much more professional operation. From there who knows? Depends on other peoples interests. I'm not the only one with ideas although I do have a few. Let's hear some suggestions from others.

I for one would like to pursue some kind of metaverse tournament function that would be individually based and therefore allow people to participate or not as they choose from one round to the next. This would definitely be different than the MVL and would definitely not be intended to in any way replace the MVL but it could appeal to those that are interested in the MVL but unwilling to make the commitment to play every month. That's one idea, I'm sure there are many others.

Well as a reminder voting for the new Commissioner ends tomorrow, Thursday February 28th, 11:59:59 PM EST.

I hope that everyone has had a chance to get their votes in.

There's really nothing more I can say at this point other than that I've been a consistent player and supporter of the MVL. That I have always found time for the MVL even with work, school, and a social life. That I have always treated everyone with courtesy, honesty, and respect even when emotions run high. That even when things don't go my way or something annoys me, I remain calm and reexamine the situation to see what solutions there may be.

Even when there has been conflict in the MVL, I have played diplomat and tried to get everyone to calm down and talk to each other, even eventually as having to go so far as to ask for everyone to take a weekend break lol. But it ended up working.

I know that I'm not necc. the most knowledgeable person, or best player, or most veteran player of GalCiv but I do commit and stick around, and I plan on sticking around for a good time ahead.

-Silver-

Amen.

On the eve of the end of this election I want to congratulate Silver as someone that epitomizes the best the MVL has to offer. Win, lose or draw this remains true. I assume everyone pretty much had their mind made up one way or another before the election even began. The last few posts I made in this thread were not intended to sway anyone's opinion but to simply answer a direct question that was asked.

In any case if there is anyone that hasn't voted please do so. I truly believe that having a large participation in this vote is even more important than who actually wins.

I also have to say that it's somewhat stressful to put yourself into the position of running for an office knowing full well there is a reasonable possibility that you may not win. It’s like junior prom all over again. I view this just like I view the game. Losing is not the worst thing that can happen. The worst thing is not trying. Whether or not I win or lose, I did try.

Thanks to all who voted and to the nominees themselves. The polls are officially closed and i will confer with DA and tally our votes. I will post the winner once DA and i have come to an accord.

Thankyou to all who voted!!!

Hi all. The votes have been tallied and Dethadder and i have conferred and we both come to the same tally and conclusion.

I would officially like to announce that the new Commissioner of the Metaverse League is...Silverbeacher.

Congratulations to Silver on his election to the commish position and i would like to congratulate both Mumble and FB for their efforts in running too. Any one of these 3 gentleman would have made a fine Commish.

The votes were tallied by both myself and DA and we separately came to the same conclusion as to the result. We are in complete agreeance as to the outcome.

If there is no further discussion on the matter i invite Silver to take over the role of the commish as i officially stand down.

I thank you guys for the kind words you have given me in my departure and i look forward to continued success for the MVL.

Neilo.

I concur and am in full agrreance with Neilo's statements above. Congrats Silver..errr Commish.

Thanks for everyone that participated and a Special Thanks to Mumble and FireBender for excellent run campaigns.

Long Live The Metaverse and the MVL.

Congrats SB!   

Sentient species taste better...

congrats to all who ran. Now get to it Commish and make the rules for the next round  

Congrats to Silverbeacher on winning the election! Party at your house?   

And also thank you Neilo for all your work as commissioner!   

Sentient species taste better...

Per Neilo's Post #294



Unless EVERY player in the MVL has voted...

As such, I at this time cannot accept this vote as elections are still open until Midnight tonight EST (Forum Time). To do so would be unfair to myself, the MVL, and my fellow nominees.

Thank you everyone.

-Silver-

Actually, I accept the results as announced as totally valid. I didn't say anything previously because I was obviously disappointed by the results and didn't want to say anything at a point when my comments could possibility be tinged by that disappointment.

Everyone is familiar with the seven stages of grief and while I can't say I'm completely through all seven stages, this is not like a death in the family and it doesn't take that long to come to the final stage of acceptance in a case like this.

I do want to thank those that supported me but I don't see any need to prolong this or to introduce any uncertainity into the outcome. I trust Neilo and DethAdder implicitly.

As far as the technicality of midnight tonight or whatever, Neilo never did mention anything about midnight he simply said the election would run for 1 week and would commence on the 21st. To truly be technical my unbiased rulekeeper interpretation of this means that the voting started at 0:00:01 of the 21st and ran to 0:00:01 of the 28th.

The timeframe that Neilo allowed was actually a bit beyond what was technically specified. Therefore Silverbeacher is indeed the new commissioner and I fully wish to congraulate him on his victory.

So where's the Round 7 settings?   

Congrats SB.

Well, with Mumble's post...

Thank you Neilo for your time and effort as Commissioner of the MVL. Without your hard work, none of us would be here today, and my guess is that many of us would be playing GalCiv2 a lot less (ok, that's not true, but it sounds nice)

To Mumblefratz and FireBender, you both are great players and I am glad that I got to run alongside you here. Its a bit overwhelming at the moment to realize that I'm going to be Commissioner, but I know that with the two of you helping me along, we're going to do great things. Thanks so much for being the good people that you are.

To everyone that voted, thank you for taking the time to participate in this. Like Mumble said earlier, the outcome wasn't as important as much as everyone being involved. I think it says a lot about gaming communities, the MVL, and everyone in it that we have all been to come together to have a good time every month, which is a lot more than a lot of games and game sites can say.

Finally, thank you to Stardock for making a great game. Without that, we would all be playing Oblivion or something


As my first order of business I must officially step down as Score Keeper of the MVL and as Captain of the Eternal Villainy. Both have brought me great pleasure and I was honored to hold these positions.

The Villainy will meet in our forums at the Core to discuss who our captain will be for upcoming rounds.

As for Score Keeper may I nominate KzintiPatriarch and Neilo (if he's not too burned out lol) as both have been involved with calculating scores. I think either one will do a fine job.

I plan on having the Round 7 details up later today.

Thanks again everyone.

Commissioner Silver

Actually Neilo mentioned that he would appoint a new scorekeeper in case you won, however as commissioner I see no issue if you decide to do this differently. A nomination implies an election and an election for scorekeeper is not inappropriate.

Under those assumptions I would like to second KzintiPatriarch's nomination for Scorekeeper, but I would like to propose something different in Neilo's case.

I would like to propose that all former commissioners receive the title of "Commissioner Emeritus" and retain the right to participate and be consulted in the score calculation process just as they were when commissioner (assuming of course they wish to participate). Anyway this is just a suggestion, feel free to agree or disagree.

To Neilo, well done, mate. To SB, M and FB, thanks for stepping up to the plate.

Thanks SB & Mumble...I was going to volunteer to be scorekeeper when the election was final. As for other people contributing to the calculation, this is also something that I intended to say. No-one is infallible, and it is always a good idea to have another set of eyes to look at data. I've been doing my own calculations for the last three rounds, and sending them to SB, even though he didnt ask for them. Whoever is going to be scorekeeper, I suggest that they should encourage anyone who feels like it to contribute their own calculations for each round to the scorekeeper for comparison/verification. So in my opinion, anyone is welcome to participate.

Sentient species taste better...

well, an election is not needed per se, kinda like when you and I were nominated for our posts (scorekeeper, rules), we really had no other competition and we got seconded. So i guess what happens there is up to Kzinti and Neilo, unless anyone else would like the position, in which case an election may become necessary. If it does, we can run that concurrently with Round 7 as that position is not really needed til the end of a round anyway.

I like the Commissioner Emeritus, and to be honest, its kinda how I saw things going. I think I had mentioned at some point in some thread long, long ago in a galaxy far, far away that the choral board I had been on, the chairman for the previous term stayed on as the former chairman for the next term to help ease transitions. They had no official power, but were involved with all the dirty work. Emeritus would be a continual position obviously, but I think its a good one to have.

I agree. This is similar to the acceptance of a rule by the consensus of those that bother to contribute to the discussion subject to the condition that no one objects to the consensus opinion. This is in essence precisely how rulekeeper, scorekeeper and even vice commissioner came about so I do believe we have precedent for proceding in this manner.

Speaking of rules and acceptance by consensus. I posted a couple of items in the rules thread before the elections started that had appeared to be accepted by consensus and had simply been waiting any pending objection. Specifically, these are the voting rules discussed primarily by Kzinti, SB and myself, along with the proposed 1 week waiting period for any objection to be voiced against a published proposal becoming a rule accepted by consensus.

These both have been published without dissent for over a week now but the election may have distracted some folks so I want to give final notice for folks to speak now or forever hold your peace. With the commissioners approval of course. SB?

Congrats, Silver!
Not actually too disappointed because with my exams so close and other RL concerns, I would've been able to do far far far less then Silver or Mumble... So, again... congrats, Silver, drinks on you.

Now where's Round 7??

Also, I'd like to second KzintiPatriarch's and Neilo's nomination as scorekeeper.

I concur. For those that need a reminder;

MVL Voting Rules

1. Any MVL member can call for a vote among any number of competing proposals which must be seconded by two other MVL members to be considered official.

2. All votes will occur in the Galciv II Metaverse Leagues forum at the Core and notice must also be given in the current MVL Round thread.

3. All votes should run for a period of time specified in the OP of the voting thread. This period should be no shorter than 1 week or longer than 3 weeks. It's encouraged but not required that votes should be completed before the start of the next round of play if at all possible.

4. A valid vote requires participation by at least 50% of active MVL members. An abstention counts as participation. A proposal requires 60% or more of the cast ballots to be accepted. If less than 60% is achieved by any one proposal there will be a runoff between the two most popular options. The winner of the runoff will be the proposal that achieves a simple majority of votes cast with no quorum requirement.

5. Editing of your vote is allowed although any changes should be made in such a way as to make it obvious that a change has occured.

6. Once the time specified for the vote expires the thread will be locked to maintain an accurate record of the vote. The results of any vote are final and can only be changed by a subsequent official MVL vote.


These have been up for a while, and are just awaiting approval by default. If no one has anything to add, then I think Mumble should go ahead with these.