Summary:
I think one problem with the way the Senate does things, that causes so many feelings and odds, is it doesn't run like a real parliamentary body where something is introduced, debated, amended, and only then put to a vote. In this case, it's like most things are drafted unilaterally in a vacuum as an individual, which is not ideal, and this happens irrespective of whether they claim, or their character claims, to be a discourse-focused or imperialist or what have you. In a best-case informal collaborative situation, there are still the limitations of with whom it is shared beforehand and who bothered to respond being a subset of the electors, which is tantamount to a closed-door committee: better, but still not ideal, even if someone tries their best to get as many and as diverse of eyes on it as they can, even if it's an open comments OOC thread. Then, the bill is
immediately put to vote.
Proposal:
- I think if we used something more akin to actual parliamentary procedures for amendment and ratification, the things that come through would not only be more refined, but also more representative of what Yamatai as a living simulated nation wants and needs. Actually RPing out the debate, amendment, and other parliamentary apparatus that occur prior to the vote, made formalized because it's part of participating in the Senate, would increase perceived stake and put the in character details and consequences forward over the meta and OOC.
- All of us should also strive to be actively mindful that Wes is the ultimate arbiter so there ultimately is no meta except what he thinks is best for Star Army whether that's to let Senate choices stand as is or put his finger on the scale either one: we're just playing a game that seems like we're making decisions and it so happens that most of the time we act as if we actually did make a meaningful decision with real authority in our play.
Addendum:
Also also I really want to let it be known that essentially everything my Senator character introduced was to salvage the non-objectionable stuff that sank along with Mochi's bills because of those objections to certain parts of it, which I excised, because a lot of the non objectioned stuff was quite useful, if not in some cases essential. Or where things needed clarification, I extended them. Mochi's last few bills, which I revised as 116a and 117, attempted to tackle very complex subjects, which is why they were so long and involved compared to our usual short and sweet bills, even before I added a whole lot of words to their text. I was also playing a very anal-retentive Senator, as opposed to the shiny happy movie star who is in there now, so OOC and IC were very aligned during Hitomi's tenure, and we were both in concordance about being highly critical in our standards for such ambitious projects. Both of us are the sort of people who it hurts our necks to look down and everything is much easier if everyone else is elevated instead. 116a was basically passing near-unanimously, Mochi had a question, I got sick, and he got banned before I was back. I am also a bit put out about that, though this may not be the arena for that grievance. There was another one I was working on too, I think that came out of 115? Anyway, without the change to procedure I am talking about in my summary and proposal above, this will keep happening. Someone will have a bill that's a bunch of good ideas and bad ideas put together, everyone has to vote on it immediately, and it goes down, taking the good along with it. Rinse, repeat.
tl;dr:
Read it.