sparkleA’s Election Post (April, 2019)

sparkleA

Citizen
About Me
Hey guys! For those of you who don’t know, I’m sparkleA, Sparkghetti, and most often Sparks. I’m a Senior Administrator and Minister without Portfolio (Adviser). I joined the server in late July 2017, so I’ve been playing for about 1 year and 8 months.

Qualifications
I’ve had a lot of experience on this server as a Member of Parliament, Minister, and Senior Administrator, so I understand how the server works and what I can do as an MP to benefit the server as best I can. My time as an MP lasted over a year until I decided to take a break to focus on other aspects of the server and government. I’m active on the forums and especially Discord, both of which are important to being an MP. If you elect me this April, I will work hard to improve the server and correct the issues you all see in it.

Past Bills
Since I’ve had over a year in Parliament, I’ve had the opportunity to post some motions, which I admit not all were passed. Here are the 9 that did make it into law (ordered chronologically, from oldest to most recent) so you have some of my previous work to look at when considering whether you should vote for me. Please note, I also collaborated with others on some bills, so they aren’t listed under my name nor here, but I still do work with others in Parliament to get stuff done. I have even assisted with motions during the time I wasn’t in Parliament!

Allowing wood in construction of suburbs houses - This motion was a very simple concept that changed the law to allow wood when used well in the suburbs and was passed 7-0.

Replacement system for MPs - Contrary to the previous motion, this one is much more complicated. Basically, I created a system in case MPs resigned, or in another way were removed from office, so that all the seats in Parliament would be filled. Passed 10-0.

Stealing Edit - Increased punishments for stealing. Passed 9-2.

Pets in Apartments - Previously no animals were allowed in apartments, but after this bill, dogs, cats, and parrots were legal apartment pets. Passed 11-1.

Harassment Penalty - This bill made harassment illegal and had very detailed punishments for it. Passed 11-0.

Motion Wait Time Edit - Before this bill was passed, motions needed to be on the forum for five days before they were put into the two day voting period. I thought that was way too long, so I changed it to a 24 hour waiting period before two days of voting. This has since increased to 48 hours. Passed 10-0.

Allowing only farmers to sell crops - I decided to make this bill as a compromise to the Parliamentary debate as to whether only farmers can have farms at all. In an in-game poll, this was the most supported option by the players as well, which I made sure was true before I posted this motion. To summarize here, although you should really read the bill to try to fully understand it, only farmers were allowed to sell crops directly to players and only farmers could buy or sell crops through a chest shop. Passed 5-3.

Two Jobs - This bill allowed players to hold both a university/regular job and an aqua/departmental job. Passed 5-0.

Parliament/Cabinet Secretary Vote - This bill was accepted, but not exactly implemented, as the Parliament Secretary doesn’t do much of anything and the Cabinet Secretary isn’t elected. If you elect me, I will do my best to enact this bill and promote transparency in the legislative branch, whether as the Parliament Secretary or working with them. Passed 7-0.

As you can see, I have had a variety of ideas that I believe benefited the server as a whole. You can also check out the denied/invalid subforum here to see what other motions I tried to get passed and you may notice some similarities between my old motions and some bills made after that. But my past isn’t the only indicator of why you should vote for me.

The Issues
Guns/drugs - not really necessary, and could hurt the family friendly climate. But, guns could be an interesting addition to go with the Department of Justice. I would have to see the public opinion on this one before voting, but I’m definitely leaning towards no, especially on drugs.

Government shop - the gov shop is made to be expensive to buy and cheap to sell to encourage players buying from other players, so I think the prices should increase to decrease government dependency.

PM/DPM - the Prime Minister should always remain Koal as, in my opinion, he is the only one who can execute this position’s tasks full time. The Deputy Prime Minister (currently Kat) should be appointed by the PM and approved by Parliament. They should be able to be removed by a Vote of No Confidence.

Candidate restrictions - as you can see from the fact that I assisted Kat with her recent bill to restrict members of the executive and judicial branch from running for Parliament unless there are under 10 other candidates in the election, I support restrictions to one branch in most circumstances. However, with the current server population, I oppose term limits. We do not have enough players to restrict our MPs to only one term, but if the people want them removed, they can always vote them out.

Realism - although this isn’t a hot topic issue, basically everyone wants to promote it, I also believe realism is incredibly important. In fact, realism drew me to this server and caused me to stick around, at least in the beginning. Now, the community also keeps me here, because without you guys, I would never have gotten to where I am in this server. So thank you guys.

Closing Remarks
Whether you vote for me or not, thank you for taking the time to read my post. Although it is possible I will not be put into the running because I am a Minister, I still thank you all for the opportunity. Remember to put a little Sparkle in your Parliament ✨! Thank you so much!
 
Do you plan on being more active on the server as I rarely see you online? Also do you support a bill making it mandatory to post a community poll showing the bill and the information 1-2 days before the official bill is voted on by parliament?
 

sparkleA

Citizen
I do plan on being more active on the server. Currently, I've been dealing with some personal issues, but once the server is back up and running, I will have more time to play because things in school have been quieting down. However, I don't believe in-game activity is the most important thing to being an MP. Being active on Discord and the forums can actually be more important for the job. But yes, to answer your first question I will become more active in-game to the best of my ability. As for the second question, could you elaborate/clarify? Would this poll be in-game or on the forums, and would it go for every single bill, because I can see how that would get out of hand, especially for bills that no one opposes. Perhaps if a player doesn't support a bill, they can get a poll started for it.
 
I do plan on being more active on the server. Currently, I've been dealing with some personal issues, but once the server is back up and running, I will have more time to play because things in school have been quieting down. However, I don't believe in-game activity is the most important thing to being an MP. Being active on Discord and the forums can actually be more important for the job. But yes, to answer your first question I will become more active in-game to the best of my ability. As for the second question, could you elaborate/clarify? Would this poll be in-game or on the forums, and would it go for every single bill, because I can see how that would get out of hand, especially for bills that no one opposes. Perhaps if a player doesn't support a bill, they can get a poll started for it.
It would be mandatory for parliament to post a community poll on the forum 1-2 days before parliament votes on the official one. This will be done for every single bill that is being passed by parliament for many reasons. The first reason is I feel parliament passes bills without even knowing how the community feels on the subject. This prevents parliament from saying the community wanted a certain bill when the posts and votes prove otherwise possibly. It also allows for the community to take part in the "Democracy" as it is a human right. Yes a player can make his own thread if he feels the bill is bad but it will be on a much smaller scale compared to actually implementing this. Also when parliament introduces a bill they usually vote for it very quickly and leave players without time to leave feedback or to vote so I feel 1-2 days is a fair time for everyone. The parliament or the parliament member who wants a bill passed will write his bill normally but he will post it in a new "Community Bill Review" area on the forum and when 1-2 days pass he will then post it as they currently do and they vote on it. The community will not necessarily force parliament to vote yes or no but in the case that parliament does abuse their power to pass a bill the community will have proof. Parliament members should be patient because 1-3 days to hear out the community and to decide if the bill will be passed is very beneficial to everyone.
 

DerpGaming20_YT

Citizen
Donator
DerpGaming20_YT
DerpGaming20_YT
Tier4
It would be mandatory for parliament to post a community poll on the forum 1-2 days before parliament votes on the official one. This will be done for every single bill that is being passed by parliament for many reasons. The first reason is I feel parliament passes bills without even knowing how the community feels on the subject. This prevents parliament from saying the community wanted a certain bill when the posts and votes prove otherwise possibly. It also allows for the community to take part in the "Democracy" as it is a human right. Yes a player can make his own thread if he feels the bill is bad but it will be on a much smaller scale compared to actually implementing this. Also when parliament introduces a bill they usually vote for it very quickly and leave players without time to leave feedback or to vote so I feel 1-2 days is a fair time for everyone. The parliament or the parliament member who wants a bill passed will write his bill normally but he will post it in a new "Community Bill Review" area on the forum and when 1-2 days pass he will then post it as they currently do and they vote on it. The community will not necessarily force parliament to vote yes or no but in the case that parliament does abuse their power to pass a bill the community will have proof. Parliament members should be patient because 1-3 days to hear out the community and to decide if the bill will be passed is very beneficial to everyone.
The American democratic system for congress/the senate is the most similar to the BC Parliament I feel, so I will go off that. The way the system works is the people vote for who they want in congress/the senate for their state, and then the elected people vote on bills. On the server, it’s the same system, having a mandatory poll for citizens to vote as well would basically mean the rewriting of the whole Parliament system on the server.

Anyways, there’s often discussion in the Political chat on discord about bills that people do not particularly enjoy, giving parliament members a chance to add or remove things to their bills if they see public ‘outrage’ on a bill they’ve created.
 

William_CTO

Creator of Dark Mode on Forums
Donator
William_CTO
William_CTO
Tier4
Being in game is very important, actually. If you just sit in "office" (aka Discord) without actually going into town and seeing for yourself, how can you say you have the best interest of players? Currently you aren't living with the population per se, and with school and life getting in the way, your previous lack of participation is partly excusable. However, school picks back up; will you be active then?
That aside, you presented your case well. I still have a few questions for you.
  1. Guns/drugs: You said it would be interesting for the DoJ. Would it be interesting for the citizens who wish to live a more peaceful life? How will this improve the community as a whole? We already have weapons to protect ourselves, or battle.
  2. PM/DPM: Please elaborate on this. I'm not sure why the current system needs to be changed.
  3. Realism: You just said you like realism, but didn't make an actionable statement. Is there something lacking that would mesh well with Minecraft?
 
For the Guns/drugs the majority of people I asked definitely supported some sort of drug system system but cabinet ultimately decided no. I support guns and more crime being added as it adds realism but it should only be implemented in a way that only effects the people who want to take part in it. This is directed towards sparkleA and nobody else so don't reply to me on this thread.
 

sparkleA

Citizen
FriedPotaters: That seems like a good idea, and the poll could occur during the 2 days a motion is on the forum before becoming a pending bill. If I am elected, I will be interested to work with you on this. I do see what DerpGaming20_YT means about representative vs direct democracy, since we have a representative democracy, but this wouldn't allow non-MPs to vote directly, just show their representatives what they approve of.
Guns/drugs: We decided against it because of the repercussions of adding them. It adds realism, but not positive realism. Minecraft is supposed to be an escape from reality, so adding something like this would affect everyone, and not necessarily in a positive way. For such an influential decision, I'd be looking for an official poll with a large majority.

William_CTO: School does pick back up again, but I will be active then because the issue wasn't that school took up all my time, but that I wasn't able to manage it. I've figured out how to do that now, so I will free up a lot of my wasted time. I hear people's complaints on Discord and when I am in-game I see issues as well, making sure I take into account what people want.
Guns/drugs: As I stated in my post, I do not support guns/drugs and I don't think it would improve the community as a whole. I included that it might be interesting for the DoJ because I do think there could be positives, but I also believe the cons would outweigh the pros.
PM/DPM: This wouldn't really change the current system at all, it's just a policy opinion I have, not a motion idea. It's unclear if the DPM can be voted out with a Vote of No Confidence, but I don't think that will actually ever happen because our DPM is clearly doing a great job.
Realism: The fact that nothing happens when people die is something I feel is unrealistic.
 
Government shop - the gov shop is made to be expensive to buy and cheap to sell to encourage players buying from other players, so I think the prices should increase to decrease government dependency.
In a way I support this but on the other hand I believe more items should be added to the shop to buy but more expensive so it works out for people who want to sell their own items cheaper than the shop and for people like me who have issues of getting massive quantities of different blocks on demand.

What is your opinion on emerald trading, do you think it should be nerfed or is there another way to balance the future jobs?
 

sparkleA

Citizen
In a way I support this but on the other hand I believe more items should be added to the shop to buy but more expensive so it works out for people who want to sell their own items cheaper than the shop and for people like me who have issues of getting massive quantities of different blocks on demand.

What is your opinion on emerald trading, do you think it should be nerfed or is there another way to balance the future jobs?

I don't believe more items should be added to the shop. Not having every item in the shop works out for people who want to sell their own items cheaper because the shop just doesn't sell them, so people have to buy from other players. I support lowering the sell prices of items in the gov shop, so that would include the sell price of emeralds. There should be some sort of way to increase dependence on other jobs, such as job specialization, which I definitely support. Job specialization with the miner job or other gathering jobs would be up to Cabinet, but owning farms over a certain size limited to just farmers could be something Parliament can change.
 
What is your view on the bill allowing farmers to only sell crops when someone can switch their jobs multiple times to sell crops? Should a longer time between switching jobs be added or should it be kept the same? Should the farming shop be buffed or removed as nobody uses it because of multiple players buying crops?
 
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