What parties should do

Day 938, 20:00 • Published in USA USA • by ligtreb
Important Note from the President: Begin evacuating from Karnataka to California.

I'd like to congratulate all the new Party Presidents on their victories. As much as many of you hate partisan politics, game mechanics dictate they are a necessary part of the game, as five parties are needed to run Congressional candidates, and all parties have a say in Presidential elections.

It's important to keep the role of what a party should do in mind.

1) Keep your members active. Your party should have a purpose, something that keeps members coming back. This can be active forums, IRC, militias, projects or anything that gives people something to do. The game itself provides only so many buttons, parties must help retention and activity. Militias will become even more important as v2 arrives with battles that require coordination.

2) Run quality candidates, and get the best ones elected. Congress, despite all the people who make fun of it, is important given the game rules. They control the budget and must approve any alliances. More than that, Congress often serves as a stepping stone, a place where the Executive branch and the military find new promising talent and bump them up to important roles. It's up to the parties to make sure they keep sending good people to run for office.

This doesn't mean that you should win as many seats as possible or that you should snipe other parties' good candidates. It's important for the parties to work together to avoid the nation's best candidates running against each other. While a friendly rivalry for fun and lulz is acceptable, no two Top 5 parties should ever be at war with each other.

This applies to Presidential elections too -- party endorsements carry a lot of weight, use them responsibly. Ask questions of the candidates, analyze them to make sure they're quality.

Some partisanship is good for this country. Too much is a disaster. Ultimately, we're all on the same team.

3) Reach out to new players. The easiest way for new players to get involved is often through their parties. Every party should have some kind of a team or system dedicated to new citizen help and outreach.

4) Your spot in the Top 5 isn't guaranteed. We've seen multiple Top 5 parties taken over and replaced in the past few months. To make sure your party stays in the Top 5 and relevant, you need active members and some kind of a primary system for Party President elections. If you have neither, your party deserves to be replaced for one who will be active and serve our country well.

I have started to see some increased partisan bickering, which is inevitable with more than 5 parties trying to stay in the Top 5 and there not being a major war. I urge all parties to continue to work together and continue to work towards increasing activity levels.

To the Party Presidents: Ask for help. Delegate as much as you can, not only does this help your sanity, but it might give chances for others to feel involved.

Thanks for reading.