ToBu - I Actually Care
(more rules for the Committee, less for YOU)
(more rules for the Committee, less for YOU)
Who am I?
I started participating in WV way back in WV27, when OOCs ran to 30+ pages and a different host of characters was around posting national finals and commentary. The WV culture back then was much more informal, with all the good and bad consequences that precipitated from that mindset. I'm glad that the bad bits from that era (namely the fact that contests had a tendency to stretch out for quite some time, at one point lasting three months) are over with, but I feel like other parts, the fun parts, have died along the way. More on that later.
In terms of hosting experience, I have hosted WV36, which I have heard described as one of the better/best contests in terms of hosting, and co-hosted the latest contest in WV55, which managed to simultaneously be over-the-top while not taking itself too seriously. I also spearheaded the WV40 Best Of special edition, building off Ekoz's suggestion to make it a reality, and thus inspired the creation of the WV50 Your Favorites special edition. I have also held a seat in the Committee before, from WV41 to WV45. I provided a voice of moderation, flexibility, and experience to that Committee, even rewriting the OP to include a friendlier, more welcoming tone which can still be seen today.
And yes, I've also won WorldVision a few times. Not recently, but hopefully that'll change soon
Why am I running?
Having been involved in WorldVision since WV27, the longest out of the currently running candidates, I have a unique view on the journey that the contest has taken over the years.
To be honest I wouldn't have run if it were not for the current WV atmosphere. I believe the way the contest is being run has become too cold and unfriendly to players, and the current philosophy in regards to rules (and those from certain Committee members as well) are absolutely not conducive to a fun contest game that people will want to join and take part in.
My goal is to make the Committee more accountable to the people; hence my secondary slogan. The Committee should do its best to help include people in the contest, within respectable boundaries. People have busy lives, and we should respect that and understand that WorldVision can fade to the background sometimes, where a timely notification will help immensely in participation. I will push for a requirement for Committee members to send a 24-48 hour warning/notification telegram to those who have not yet posted their votes in the contest thread. I have experienced a situation myself where I had misremembered the deadline and received a notification telegram less than 8 hours before the deadline… when I was sound asleep with a 2 hour commute and an 8 hour work shift ahead of me. Thus the deadline passed without my knowledge, as I was only able to log in and view the warning TG a few hours after the deadline had passed. With the rules being as they are now, I was disqualified and then banned from the next contest, a punishment originally meant for those who intentionally refused to vote. Yes, this punishment system is flawed- my resolution will help those who do intend to vote, actually make it on time and thus avoid harsh punishment. I will be open and willing to discuss changes to the punishments as well.
I will also push for greater host freedoms. Primarily, this will be in the form of allowing hosts to use either the 20:00 official Committee deadline as a cutoff for votes, or using the posting of the final results/conclusion in the IC contest thread as a cutoff. This leaves it to the host on the question of whether to give some leeway or not, as often the host is not online at the deadline to post the final results immediately. I am open to suggestions similar in nature to this proposal.
My push will also extend to the inclusion of the host on decisions and controversies discussed by the Committee that directly relate to the hosting; if I recall correctly this used to be the case but right now it's not very clear if this is being done.
Of course, I will also push for higher flexibility in rule-breaking decisions, and I will be taking context and intention into account when deciding on my stance on an issue. Everything has a context, and that context is important. Especially when consequences and punishments get involved.
On a related note, I have spoken with those who believe that the Contest and Committee elections have become too politicized, and agree with their point that the elections have become too similar to those of a university student council, and too far from what it actually is*. We will work together for a more open and friendly future for WorldVision.
WorldVision is not a class. It is not a job, nor is it a government election. The way deadlines are handled, and their consequences, should reflect that.
WorldVision should be relaxing, not stressful. It should be a place that focuses on creativity and self-expression, not one that is overly constrained by expectation and obedience.
Remember who we are as a community. Remember what WorldVision is. Remember what we stand for.
I am ToBu, and I actually care.
I am ToBu, and I actually care.
*if we became an actual organized event with sponsors and such, I would be fine with the current system of hard deadlines and extremely hard-and-fast rules. However we are not and likely will not be so for the foreseeable future, and thus I will be open to more flexible deadlines, along with making the Committee less cold and removed from the other players in both tone and personality. We're all human beings, and we should act like we're human.
- whew that was a lot to write and read. If you have any questions or comments, hit me up! I'm available through TG and Discord; now that finals are over I'll be on more often
