Shake up the committee!

It's been a while... Here we go, a "Let's change how the committee works!" thread. I'm going to keep this away from conspiracies and insults as much as possible. Obviously, this is subjective, as most topics are, but I'd prefer this not to just descend into nonsense. I'll preface this by saying I have nothing against anyone in the committee though I don't see eye to eye with some of them, this isn't just a personal vendetta even though there was a recent catalyst that set me off thinking.

The committee should be a voice for the players. Representing players who play the game in different styles, for different reasons and with different goals in mind. Essentially a group of people who know how it feels to be at different stages of the game and know what the average player faces and goes through. They're there as a sounding board for ideas and suggestions. They are Cheds eyes and ears in the game and a voice for the players, speaking to the developers.

A long time ago now, about a year, Ched said he would look into diversity in the committee and it pretty much never happened.

It's got to the point now that anything said about the committee is shut down instantly by those involved and those speaking up face a barrage of insults and misrepresentation of points made. It's not helped by the fact that a lot of what is said is insane and spammy, but the points raised are never answered. I'm not going to bring specific points up in this thread but there's a very clear, recent, example of players getting insulted instead of reasoned with because they dared to bring into question one committee member's motives.

Now, I fully agree that the committee is not the most important thing in the world but they do have a role within the game. And the whole concept has gone stale. Ched's view of the game must be so warped judging from how the people representing us speak in the public forums. I'm sure I'm not the only one who feels like this.

How can we shake things up?

I have two suggestions that I will just leave here that I think would shake things up a little. This is in General Discussion, though, not in suggestions because I want other people's input. Including players that just sometimes come into GD and don't spend all day in the forums. What suggestions do you guys have? My suggestions might be shit too, I'd like them to be discussed.

1) Open the committee forum as read-only to all. Obviously, controversial or potentially dangerous threads for upcoming developments in the game could still be hidden, but they could perhaps open up and become visible with the release of the update. Of course, they'd be marked as invisible for those who have access to them. "You don't know what happens in the committee." Is a rebuttal often thrown about, and this would solve that. The general player base who are interested enough could easily see whether or not their opinions are being represented and it would put an end to stupid rumours (or, less likely, confirm them). It would also keep the current committee on point.

2) Have a rolling committee. Some members have been in the committee literally as long as I remember. The average player is not in the committee, the committee is full of people who are not average players. It's a paradox. Obviously, there would be similar stipulations as there were before: strict rules would need to be in place for those in the rolling committee. It's a much larger selection of players which are basically subbed in and out. The have same expectations and duties as they had before. If you find something that can be abused, report it. Keep confidential things confidential. **** up, bye bye. As the precedent has been set.

The only other option to shake things up and make me, at least, feel like more players are being represented is to actually just shake things up and get different players into the committee as was said before but never happened.

A few "inb4"s:

You just want karma.

You are so dumb.

You're salty/ butthurt.

You just want ______ (insert any ridiculous reason for wanting a better committee that misrepresents what I'm actually saying) and that's not a good reason to change things.

Committee conspiracy...

Poophead.

BINGO! (Thanks Sky!)

Thanks for reading if you got this far. What do you think on the topic?

edited: Sorry Marlon, there was no need to be a dick.

What a PoopHead.

lol

I don't think the committee should be viewed as representing the players in the sense that it needs to be democratic, I see it mostly as something Ched apparently needs when he wants to discuss some ideas in confidentiality. That's why I'm not particularly concerned with the lack of transparency. Because the need for confidentiality rules out transparency anyway.

That's a valid point. Though I'd say from the thousands of players there are a few hundred that could do alright in the committee and would represent a wider selection of players.

Just more fluidity at all would be an improvement over the stagnation we have now. It wouldn't even necessarily have to be a one-time thing and done either, "rolling" suggests it could be back and forth, in and out.

What would you suggest to change things up or do you think there is no valid point here?

I don't think it would change that much being that ched does what he wants no matter who votes on things. With a less experienced committee the outcome could be far worse.

Tl dr

*Fart*

Saw the name of the thread and came here expecting it to be a shit Marlon thread, only to discover in reality its a shit cathead thread [:sick:]

Cathead, we played wolves and sheep together 3 years ago. I know you're a decent fella. I don't know much about the committee to be honest, nor am I that bothered to. What's troubling me here and on yesterday's drama thread is this so called 'recent catalyst' being attached to the committee, or some of them. For our faction at least it was nothing to do with anyone on the committee. It was obvious how it worked last year (PP) (if you or anyone else interprets that as 'you're thick' then that is pure misinterpretation) and as a faction we decided to see if we could make use of that a bit. I don't even think we have anyone on the committee in our faction, or any staff for that matter.

So your committee points may or may not be valid I don't know, but please don't use our strategy for this years elimination as one of your main grievances because it is just plain wrong. No attack intended here, just trying to unmuddy the waters a bit.



And on yesterdays threads there was BS being thrown in both directions as usual, not just one, fairly standard stuff like many other threads really. As usual if someone gets verbally attacked they will either ignore it or defend themselves.



cheers

I think making part of the forums available would be cool. It would be a good insight into what goes on behind the scenes, i'd definitely read what I could. A nice intersting thing to read above the rest of the forums. Or give it a page in the city hall.

Make the names generic or blank maybe? To stop backlash and keep anonymity.

"I'm going to keep this away from conspiracies and insults as much as possible."



"Marlon, keep your shit memes out of here"



Good job...

On a Friday I go to a club a few beers. This club I frequent has a committee. And during the year we hear the same people complain about how the committee is making poor decisions. Yet, when it comes to anyone actually spending their time ON the committee the same moaners become surprising quiet. Very quiet...

So we're left with two options.

Either put up and JOIN the committee. Or... Lobby to get rid of the said committee if it IS so corrupt and awful (which I don't think it is).

Whichever way, as I find when I'm having a drink on Friday night and watch these old men with their half pint's of mild, those that moan don't actually contribute anything to the club... Other than their hot air.

One could argue calling Marlon's memes shit is more of a complement as they are generally worse than shit.

[image: i.gyazo.com]


CatHead disliked your post
Shake up the committee!

Cathead I still love you :(

I think I must have misrepresented myself yesterday (or at least have been misunderstood) and I genuinely didn't want to bring this into here.

I don't blame the committee at all for what happened yesterday, or any of the PP shit. Though the way they jumped to each others aide, throwing insults and not reading the points being made was disconcerting. I blame it on individuals who happen to be in the committee (and in my opinion, now shouldn't be.) It's not always 'blame one, blame all' and yesterday I was certainly trying to just blame one.

The committee should be held to higher expectations than others since they have the ear of the game's creator. To see a committee member showing off that he was involved in a ploy to get around restrictions in a monthly competition that we've all been looking forward was just too much.

Admittedly, to conflate things further, the catalyst was getting shat on by the rest of the committee and having my (in my mind valid) points warped and silenced in a very frustrating way.

Thank you very much for your reasoned approach here, it's appreciated. I don't want to be stuck head butting everyone trying to get what I'm saying across. It doesn't work. I hope I've been able to express myself a bit better with this post and I hope the thread can go back to the topic at hand, which is a well trodden one: The committee and potential solutions to what I see as problems with it.

shithead thread, perhaps? :D

I would happily join the committee. They invite you to join now apparently, though, otherwise I'd send my application and get rejected today.

Getting rid of the committee is an option, certainly. But I don't think that's for the good of the game. Why so black and white? Is there nothing you could think of to improve the committee in either your pub or on this game? Are they perfect?