As we await the curtain to fall upon what was one of the most civilized elections in history (well… a four year old history, but still), I was wondering what people liked and what they wished to see done differently. Step into this spacious Veilgarden cafe and make suggestions!
What I really hope for is for whoever wins this election to actually have at least a minor effect on London in some way. Beyond that one Opp card of course.
I would love to see a bit more interaction between the various campaign “professions” and the public; the most notable campaigners, with the largest reputations, should be prominently visible and thus made conspicuous targets for fixers and the like. I’d like flash lays and high-reputation storylets to reveal progressively important revelations. And I’d like the candidate cards to be moved to storylets, so that people aren’t doubly dependent on the RNG (once to increase Reputation, and once to get the necessary candidate card) to interact with a candidate.
My own feedback is separated into mechanics, and story.
Storywise, the candidates were very interesting (lots of people had asked for Ms Plenty to run!) and connected to mysteries that had not been touched in an election before. However, you had to be an FL loremaster even to speculate what their plans were about. I don’t know a single thing about Plenty that I didn’t know before; I only got a glimpse of the Carnival, despite two candidates being from there.
Like most, I expected the second week to answer some questions, or at least add to the mystery. But then at the second week, we got nothing at all. That could work for a straightforward candidate like Feducci, or Virginia, or the DTC… there is fun to be had with new revelations but their personas stand up for themselves. For people of mystery like Plenty or Shoshana, I got the impression they were left hanging.
On the other hand Virginia was very true to the picture we had of her, and very emblematic of the role Devils play in FL. Best depiction of a senior one outside ESs.
Mechanics wise, I wonder how many people want the same things as me:
-The candidate cards should be pinned, or at least summoned once you get 5 reputation. You risk not getting them enough times, and even if you do you need a spreadsheet to remember what option you played on whose card. I gave up and read the threads some helpful people had combined.
-Flash lays are fun but once you do three of them you are basically done. Given they are multi-actioned, with menaces requirements and hard, I doubt they should be the sole source of info. Heists and Detective cases (case notes!) seem tailored to this event. So would a newspaper - they are really underused, and it makes sense for POSI to have an extra weapon!
-The profession you choose should give you something to do. An extra card? A choice in the election storylet? A boost to other mechanics?
-The candidate who won should leave something to mark their tenure in the end. Maybe not what they promised, but something related to what they actually did in the end.Then elections would be an actual vote of what you hope to see change in London. Otherwise, ennui settles in.
edited by Jolanda Swan on 7/29/2019
edited by Jolanda Swan on 8/27/2019
I very much appreciate that this year, we chose the Candidate after doing a week of skulduggery. I know this was suggested by players in years past, and it went as well as I expected: certain aspects of the candidates’ secrets were relevant to making an informed decision.
I think Plenty and Shoshanna were a little too… not similar, but entwined? I kinda felt like there were two-and-a-half candidates. As the election went on and I learned more about Shoshanna, I appreciated her more as an independent character (which I had not before the Election), but I still feel that there was too much personal connection between those two, while Virginia was more independent.
I very much liked the characterization of Virginia. It built upon what we already knew about her and staid true to that, but it also helped flesh out her motivations beyond “she’s a devil, duh.” Which she is, but she’s more than just a devil. Or so I have been led to believe, which is what earned my vote… wouldn’t be the first time a Devil strung me along.
Shoshana was a great surprise. I called her a "dark horse" after her candidacy was announced since she’s a character one meets pretty early in the game, but never learns much about. She’s been hardly more than a rather generic NPC for years. During the past two weeks we finally got to know her and she turned out to be quite a nice lady with surprising abilities. This is definitely something FB should think about doing again for future Elections - using them as a chance to "flesh out" NPCs that have been around, but mainly on the fringes of the game, for a while.
The quality of the writing, i.e. the characterization of the candidates, was very good (I’ve commented on typos elsewhere). Virginia especially was a joy to read - how can one not love her and despair? ;)
The fact that the Flash Lays don’t change at all from day 1 isn’t great. We should either get a new Flash Lay result for each candidate in the second week, or - my preference - an Investigation in addition to the Flash Lay, as we had in previous years. Getting "only" two new options on each candidate’s card in week 2 (one of them for Fate) did let a bit of steam out of the whole thing.
Card frequency: while the Reputation-increasing card was extremely frequent - so much so that I sometimes left it in my hand to stop it from constantly appearing - the candidates’ were very hard to find during the first few days. This got better for me afterwards, but I understand not everyone was so lucky. A more balanced approach would be welcome here. And maybe we should have the opportunity to "summon" candidates for a few points of Reputation, just to make sure everyone has a chance to actually play all the storylets on these cards.
The new items were nice. Finally, some new Gloves!
In general, I’m pleased with this Election. Maybe it was the first one I genuinely enjoyed. If it seemed quieter around here than in previous years, I for one am not complaining about that. :)
Thank you for starting this thread, Miss Swan! We may have been on opposing sides of the election, but I certainly agree with all your points here, particularly the Mechanics ones.
Being fairly new here, this was my first Election (in fact, my first holiday Event at all in FL), so I went into this blind as to how it works. The scarcity of the Candidates cards was EXTREMELY frustrating. In the first week, I drew Virginia twice, Shoshana once (right at the end of the week) and Mrs. Plenty not at all. Fortunately, things were a bit better in the second week, but like you, I had to depend on other people’s spreadsheets to read the stories. Access to those cards SHOULD be easier. Yes, earn Rep, but the cards should be summonable, or constantly available as an option on the election storylet.
I ran the Flash Lay ad nauseum, and agree that Heists, Cases and Career-specific options would have helped a lot! As a Fixer, the only Career-specific things I noticed were a couple of post-poll interactions with Mr. Huffham’s pollsters. I did the anti-Mrs. P. puppet show a couple of times, and the anti-Mme. S. mockery once or twice, but were those restricted by Career? They should have been, if they weren’t. And similar options only available to Campaigners, and Agitators. It didn’t really seem like your Career choice made any appreciable difference. Everyone grinds Flash Lays for Reputation, and gets the same card options. The only difference was in the second week with one extra option for “your” Candidate’s card. Maybe Agitators should do Heists, Fixers do Cases, Campaigners “wooing” voters with the Fascination mechanic, Speechwriters using the Veilgarden novelist approach, etc. Just a thought.
The items were very nice, but getting one Career-specific one the first week, and one Candidate-specific one the second week, might be better. Particularly if the first week one is able to summon the Candidate Card!
It just seemed like more of the Election took place on the Forum than in the game. And while this is a delightfully civilized and gracious group here, a bit more meaningful in-game election work would be appreciated.
Overall, I found it fun, but increasing the access to the Candidates Cards (especially in the first week) would have reduced frustration a good bit.
One nice thing is that nastiness of the first two elections seems very much a thing of the past, owing to the different mechanical structure.
One man’s nastiness is another’s hearty debate. Personally, I was very much disappointed by the notable lack of interest and activity this year round - pretty much the only thing worth mentioning is Azothi’s defending of Virginia; one person arguing for their candidate, and a few people replying. A far cry from the past few years.
I’d just like to point out that there’s an entire subforum whose entire purpose is to act as containment for active debates, so people are completely free to avoid it if they don’t feel like debating politics. Nothing else important happens here - all the announcements and mechanical discussions are in The Bazaar, and non-debating lore discussion is also often found there.
(Then again, maybe there was actual nastiness I am forgetting - I don’t remember noticing anything like that though in any election at all, except maybe some isolated posts nobody really paid attention to. Do correct me if I’m wrong.)
I don’t recall the precise specifics, but the first year or two did get a bit overly heated - tempers lost; words said that might better have been left unsaid; what have you. Of course, those years saw platforms that bore the greatest resemblance to real-world politics - a real election is unlikely to see the three major proposals be “refine the human soul”, “keep Paris elevated” and “celebrate South London’s fine cannibalistic traditions”.
Wonderfully put.
Mind you, given the current climate, even Virginia vs Shoshana had enough real-world connotations, (I know my distaste for a Devil candidate stems in part from real world shenanigans) but the characters were Neathy enough that you could ignore that.
Oh, if you’re looking for it, anything feels like it has real-world connections. Also, it’s always good to remember that, to someone in the opposing party, the one you support looks like a Devil candidate.
(Except in London, of course, where the Devil-candidate is usually fairly obvious.)
Bah, what’s a temper lost in a good debate? Then again I was a Contrarian voter, and we all know what he’s can do to a Whiskered Admiral, and I can see that some people might not appreciate that. (Then again, something something dedicated containment board people are free to avoid - though I’ll concede that it didn’t exist yet during the first election, IIRC.)
Regarding resemblance to real-world candidates, the closest parallel I personally noticed was Feducci’s tangent resemblance to a certain political figure also known for being bombastic, throwing around promises of grandeur, and having questionable foreign ties and a multitude of unsavoury stories from the past. But he turned out to be immensely popular, so clearly the correspondence wasn’t too striking. I honestly don’t remember any other parallels being drawn (unless you count "acting against what amounts to literal hellish occupation, which is demonstrably and objectively detrimental = toughening of policies against peaceful immigrants", but Southwark’s character and campaign didn’t really match in any other aspect). I certainly can’t think of any real-world teetotaler candidates, or any serous candidates founding their campaign on strenghtening the police force, or candidates promising a middle path between destruction of all law and slavery to space bats. Maybe I’m just oblivious.
Anyway I concede that this is a matter of opinion and I seem to be in the minority, and certainly the last thing I want to do is to start an actual argument about real-life politics, so I’ll leave it at this.
Well, London politics has one major advantage over its real-world counterparts. After the election’s over, Azothi and I (or in past years, Anne and I) can sit down to coffee and enjoy ourselves. Nobody here (or at least nobody I’m aware of) thinks that you are a horrible person and the incarnation of all that is evil in the universe because you supported a different candidate. So by all means, let us raise a glass of Morelways to the politics of London!
[quote=phryne]Shoshana was a great surprise. I called her a "dark horse" after her candidacy was announced since she’s a character one meets pretty early in the game, but never learns much about. She’s been hardly more than a rather generic NPC for years. During the past two weeks we finally got to know her and she turned out to be quite a nice lady with surprising abilities. This is definitely something FB should think about doing again for future Elections - using them as a chance to "flesh out" NPCs that have been around, but mainly on the fringes of the game, for a while.
The quality of the writing, i.e. the characterization of the candidates, was very good (I’ve commented on typos elsewhere). Virginia especially was a joy to read - how can one not love her and despair? ;)
The fact that the Flash Lays don’t change at all from day 1 isn’t great. We should either get a new Flash Lay result for each candidate in the second week, or - my preference - an Investigation in addition to the Flash Lay, as we had in previous years. Getting "only" two new options on each candidate’s card in week 2 (one of them for Fate) did let a bit of steam out of the whole thing.
Card frequency: while the Reputation-increasing card was extremely frequent - so much so that I sometimes left it in my hand to stop it from constantly appearing - the candidates’ were very hard to find during the first few days. This got better for me afterwards, but I understand not everyone was so lucky. A more balanced approach would be welcome here. And maybe we should have the opportunity to "summon" candidates for a few points of Reputation, just to make sure everyone has a chance to actually play all the storylets on these cards.
The new items were nice. Finally, some new Gloves!
In general, I’m pleased with this Election. Maybe it was the first one I genuinely enjoyed. If it seemed quieter around here than in previous years, I for one am not complaining about that. :)[/quote]
I agree with you about the Candidate cards. I’m not sure I even saw Virginia’s more than twice during the election.
Amen to that.
[quote=Siankan]Oh, if you’re looking for it, anything feels like it has real-world connections. Also, it’s always good to remember that, to someone in the opposing party, the one you support looks like a Devil candidate.
(Except in London, of course, where the Devil-candidate is usually fairly obvious.)[/quote]
You are absolutely right, and it shows in the way we treat each other in real-life political situations. So this year’s London election was a relief: the forums felt like a game, and not like a comment section!
Now there are "August, don’t go away!" posters all over my city IRL… And it makes me miss the Contrarian even though his card is still unchanged.
I like your city.
Just a jot - re: Card Mechanics: i, myself drew ONLY Mrs. Plenty’s card, & often - relegated to interacting with MY Candidate, Mme. Shoshana, at her Carnival tent (with added Roleplayed Captioning, in Journal) … ((Mind, i HAVE been playing with but one card-slot open, if that, for months - so, a statistical outlier, in any case.))
-:- Y. "Drazzle" F. Psmyth -:-
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edited by Doctor_Static on 8/14/2019