The thread lives! It’s good to see it hasn’t withered on the mycelium. It was my hope that this thread might become a macro analysis of which candidates are a fair match, over the whole player base, divorced from individual preferences. Apologies if I don’t answer everyone’s points by username. I’ve read them all.
[quote=Lady Sapho Byron][quote=Vexpont] What doesn’t matter IMO: a candidate’s platform, the extent to which they’re expected to stick to it, revelations about their past, or the plausibility of their running at all … Do they matter? I doubt it.[/quote] Oddly enough, these are the very things that, variably, make the Election my favorite festival and strongly influence for whom I vote. Also, candidates lacking plausible reasons for running (that is, reasons inconsistent with their character development) would make me extremely cross.[/quote] All the things you describe are indispensable for creating atmosphere and enjoyment. I just wonder if they’re important in deciding who wins. Over the entire player-base, there’s going to be a lot of averaging-out, and our collective preferences will be simpler than those of any individual. Hence my suspicion that the two most important factors influencing which candidate wins are basic: sheer familiarity, and charisma/coolness.
(Also, when I said ‘plausibility’, I meant within the canon of the game. For example, Rubbery Men are despised, feared and persecuted by ordinary Londoners and could not plausibly stand for Mayor. Would that in itself stop any player voting for one? The quick-n-dirty poll on this board suggests not, and I reckon the same probably goes for devils, and snuffers who couldn’t plausibly risk being exposed.)
[quote=Vavakx Nonexus]It also happens a lot that one candidate just becomes the Widely Accepted Moderate Choice (they often support the simpler factions like Society, Church or Docks, too) and every debate about platforms and public benefits ends up swinging their way (cough cough Jenny cough cough DTC cough cough).[/quote] Jenny and the DTC make an interesting comparison IMO, since as you say, the core of their campaigns were pretty similar. But one of them is a sexpot former battle nun who’s familiar to players at least from sidebar text, and the other is a trad-CoE (OK, maybe the somewhat less trad Church-of-Neathland) social reformer who urges temperance (which for many US players probably translates as ‘a Prohibitionist, more or less’). Jenny is both more familiar, and hugely more charismatic.
[quote=Sara Hysaro]I’d be rather surprised if the Fallen London setting changed in a significant way due to the elections. It’d be a fair amount of work to constantly try to make sure all the existing content was consistent with the current state of things, as opposed to mayors simply affecting London in a smaller, more contained way (like Jenny’s school).[/quote] Exactly this. It’s going to be difficult to create a startling revelation that won’t significantly alter a major NPC’s personality and allegiances. The Implacable Detective’s Parabola connection is as as daring as it’s got, and even that became ambiguous (I got the impression it had been tweaked at last minute).
Candidates can’t follow through on their campaign promises in any way that seriously alters the setting – and we don’t really expect them to. And content like The Dilmun Club needs to have a shelf-life of years, long after the ripples of having a Dilmun member who’s also an Election candidate have dispersed. If I were an FL writer, I’d be very reluctant to create a persistent election-linked Quality just to achieve a neat effect in the Dilmun Club.
[quote=On the Election Data thread, Jenson Shepherd]On a macro level the final results in both elections mirrored the midpoint polls. It’s sort of a shame that the second half of the election is just a slouch to its inevitable conclusion.[/quote] This is what I 100% agree with. I’ll back a candidate I know for sure is going to lose if they’re the best RP fit (and wisely, there is no in-game downside to backing a loser). But I’d still like there to be some uncertainty about who is going to be the victor, and for that, you need candidate trios that won’t result in an early favourite holding the lead for a fortnight, while the writers scrabble to keep up an air of suspense.
Ideally, it’d be great if people could suggest two candidates they consider fairly matched, or three who’d make an interesting set even though one was the unfavourite. From my own paltry efforts, multiple sets of three fairly matched candidates are very hard to construct.