In this poll we try to gauge how much support the Topsy King would get if placed up against His Amused Lordship and an unknown third party candidate.
The thing about having the Topsy King as a candidate is that most of the interaction with him (and hidden depths to his character) is in the Heart’s Desire Ambition, so people who didn’t choose that Ambition will have a lot less interest in him because he simply appears to be one of those "look at that hilarious crazy person" characters.
edited by JimmyTMalice on 8/7/2016
JimmyTMalice makes a valid point. As a non-Heart’s Desire person I really don’t care about the Topsy King at all. He’s the least interesting of the four crime lords the Cheery Man talks about – Feducci may be roundly hated by all but at least his interesting.
The other part of it is that the Topsy King in his current state is in no way capable of running the city as a proper mayor. Though I really like him as a character and his backstory does really touch me, I simply cannot justify voting a madman into mayoral position.
On the other hand, His Amused Lordship seems… profusely dull. There is quite little to him, except having a booming laugh, I find, unlike the Topsy King. Well, this is what the election is for. But in their current states, I’m much more eager to vote for our Flit-Occupying Monarch.
P.S. At the very least, this match-up make for an interesting headline. The Lord vs The King. We’ve got a real aristocracy theme going.
edited by Vavakx Nonexus on 8/7/2016
I would probably vote for the Topsy King or a third party, depending on who they may be.
I find it interesting, I wouldn’t vote for the Topsy King BECAUSE my ambition is Heart’s Desire. His story is just tragic and, in my opinion, Topsy’s silliness accentuates it. Now, if somehow I could vote for Tristram Bagley, I would entretain the idea.
As for His Amused Lordship, I’d definetely vote for him: friendly guy with booming laugh, but who is serious when talking about serious matters; a member of high society who not only engages in free thinking and scientific studies, but also encourages (and probably finances) it; a man who seeks the source of immortality not to misuse it or exploit it, but to preserve and protect it. This is the guy I’d like to see running the city.
I kind of disagree with the sentiment that users that don’t have the ambition Heart’s Desire would not be interested in the Topsy King. Even if you don’t know his backstory from that ambition, there’s a few context clues that show he’s more than just a "crazy man." At least for me, I knew it was interesting that most storylets with him involved would increase melancholy and the fact that he has such a huge following in Flit makes me want to learn more about him. But if we view this on less of a literary note and more on practicality than yes, not many would want to vote for the Topsy King because most would assume it would be a tragedy in waiting. That said I can understand why some players would feel as if that is all that needs to be known about him. I just personally don’t think Ambition exclusive or even fate locked content is a good way to include or exclude a character for next year’s election. Especially when not everyone may have access to that content.
I think whoever would be a third party candidate could change things though. It just depends on who exactly would be running alongside these two candidates.
As hillarious as the notion of voting the Topsy King looks, he seems like the ‘protest vote’ kind of guy, the one you vote if the other candidates are dull or too obviously evil. What, realistically, people were expecting him to do as a mayor other than being a comedy relief to us as player and a nightmare to us as characters?
I don’t know, I feel like the only way to ensure a balanced election is giving deeper platforms to the candidates. I know that now, it seems like a good idea to only put popular characters to compete, but just because a character is popular, it doesn’t mean that people will vote for them. See the Bishop: lots of people like the character (I like him, for instance), but ‘I hate devils’ is not a compelling platform. It’s barely a platform. Is he so obsessed with devils that he didn’t think of doing anything else during his time as a mayor? No promises to society, no stances on crime rates, no nothing?
I briefly considered the Contrarian, but spouting ‘self-governance’ and burning effigies of other candidates isn’t a platform either. Again, what he really wanted to do? What he would promise to do as soon as he won? Just sit in the office debating all day? I think not, but he never implied otherwise, so how could I know? Jenny was the only one that more or less said what she wanted to do as a mayor: helping the poor. Perhaps she was lying, but at least I knew what she was planning to do and could say if she really did what she promised or not. The other two? No idea.
I would like to concur with the above comment.
[quote=Professor Strix]See the Bishop: lots of people like the character (I like him, for instance), but ‘I hate devils’ is not a compelling platform. It’s barely a platform. Is he so obsessed with devils that he didn’t think of doing anything else during his time as a mayor? No promises to society, no stances on crime rates, no nothing?
…
Jenny was the only one that more or less said what she wanted to do as a mayor: helping the poor. Perhaps she was lying, but at least I knew what she was planning to do and could say if she really did what she promised or not. The other two? No idea.[/quote]
I found the Bishop’s platform very compelling and easy to understand. He was running to sharpen the divide between London and Hell.
And here I thought I was the only one who used to mix those two characters up :P
I think the Topsy Kings loonie nature has been somewhat exaggerated. After all, he’s not locked up in the R.B. Instead, he presides over an organized criminal kingdom of sorts - complete with gang members, well defined territory, retaliation for infringement of said territory, and entertainment (the Topsy-Trot!). He can clearly reason things out and communicate. And, say what you will about his Flit, his little kingdom doesn’t lack a sense of vision.
Well, one of the purposes of running His Amused Lordship would be to deepen his character beyond the laugh and the Mountain. If one had met Jenny before the election, would one have foreseen her running on a platform of helping the dispossessed and neglected? Or take the Contrarian, would one have guessed the full depth of his secret life?
It does have a pleasing symmetry, much like the Bishop and the Bohemian of the last election.
My answer is “I don’t know”, which isn’t a survey option! While I would enjoy reading about either of these candidates running for office based on their personas, I don’t instantly gravitate towards them the way I did Sinning Jenny before the election even began. They’re just two more of Fallen London’s very large cast of wacky male characters. I like them, and I think they’re entertaining, but neither of them jumps out and screams HAVE MY VOTE – and neither of them are as entertaining as the Bishop, at that.
And a third party candidate could be anyone, including people I actually dislike!
[quote=thedeadlymoose]My answer is "I don’t know", which isn’t a survey option! While I would enjoy reading about either of these candidates running for office based on their personas, I don’t instantly gravitate towards them the way I did Sinning Jenny before the election even began. They’re just two more of Fallen London’s very large cast of wacky male characters. I like them, and I think they’re entertaining, but neither of them jumps out and screams HAVE MY VOTE – and neither of them are as entertaining as the Bishop, at that.
And a third party candidate could be anyone, including people I actually dislike![/quote]
When surveying people, "Don’t know" is sometimes an option that is not "offered" to those being interviewed in order to determine which way they lean. Lots of people say they’re independent or undecided, but they actually lean one way or the other. If they really don’t know, they’ll say "I don’t know" on their own volition, without prompting from the question. Your response is noted ^_^
edited by Anne Auclair on 8/8/2016
Giving this a little bump.
I can’t really comment on “generic Third Party candidate” because, for FL purposes, how either of my characters how they’d vote would depend on who the particular third party is.
I also disagree about His Amused Lordship being one dimenisional or dull is not true either, any more than it’s true for the Topsy King (who I only really know from Journal echoes by others, since neither of my characters is working on Heart’s Desire). There have been random remarks by His Lordship that suggest that his rake persona hides a seriousness about doing what’s best for London. (Example: if you win the Singular Plant tournament, you can choose the “bad words” award, and he tells you, “this will protect you when green turns black.”
Anyone else?
I’d vote for Topsy King