"New faction creation process and representation" discussion thread.

[farmerman]

Various councils makes a lot of sense, especially with a step before official factionhood.

Perhaps make it so that the various members work together based on officially recognized groups. This would include official factions and unofficial groups that apply for a step 1 sort of deal. Then allow indies to apply to also become official voices. This gives official factions extra "power" in that they automatically get a voice. Then to make it more, give them veto power in the matter.

As to the creation part, allow anyone to post an idea for an official group, then work out a complex formula for determining how much of a deposit such would cost. Variables based on how many existing groups there are for that npc factions, how well it fits with the overall universe, size, etc. Then let them apply to be a recognized group. I imagine there'd be a bunch of these. Then have message dumps and recruitment and stuff threads in a section for those.

After some amount of time, then allow them to apply for official status. At that point, they'll have a track record, as it were, and if it's good, the admins could just insta-approve it (particularly in the case of unrepresented npc factions). If the idea wasn't completely solid or it was in a rather clustered area, then a feedback approval thread, like what exists now, could be created and discussions on how to improve and the merits of the faction could be discussed. My thoughts are primarily if they get to that point, they should be cleared toward officialdom pretty easily though, with only the heavily populated npc factions getting to that point (Corsairs, Outcasts, Zoners, etc)

To deal with situations like military factions, what about if the factions created systems to work with the indies? Step one would be ban non-faction individuals BUT work any indie group into the structure, regardless. The only requirement should be a logical RP background, though it would need to be followed. Even the long description of, say, "A battlegroup in Texas." could be acceptable - but given the brief description, they'd need to stick with Texas and adjoining systems, as an example. Then work all these groups into the overall ranking structure of the various house militaries.

To summarize: make official factiondom much easier, but require a several month trial period after being officially recognized. This would weed out most of the bad thoughts, or at least freeze them at a spot people can contact them if need be. The exception is for House Mlitaries, who I think should be more unilateral, but require them to introduce systems to integrate anyone willing to RP as that military in some manner.

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Faction info links: Samura Heavy Industries : LWB : Watchers