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        Team Games >> 2010 Arimaa World League >> Charter of the Arimaa World League Association
        
(Message started by: megajester on Jun 6^th, 2010, 2:17pm)

Title: Charter of the Arimaa World League Association
Post by megajester on Jun 6^th, 2010, 2:17pm

Dear League members,

The Arimaa World League has been a resounding success, thanks to your support. With the end of the current League fast approaching, we are all wondering what changes could be made for future seasons to cement this achievement.

The first League was an experiment, so it took the form of everybody chipping in with their ideas and me doing my best to accommodate all of them in a final draft of the rules. This was great the first time around, but with the expansion of the membership it seems a sensible idea to find a more streamlined way for decision making that's still democratic and basically satisfactory for everybody.

To that end, after consultation with Omar I am pleased to announce the first draft of the Charter of the Arimaa World League Association (http://arimaa.com/arimaa/mwiki/index.php/Charter_of_the_Arimaa_World_League_Association).

Hopefully we should be able to put this into effect before the end of the present season so we can start planning for the next one. I'm thinking two weeks (until June 20th) should be enough to get everybody's "two cents worth." Please feel free to share your thoughts.

Thank you.

Title: Re: Charter of the Arimaa World League Association
Post by Nombril on Jun 6^th, 2010, 6:54pm

A few thoughts and questions:

Are we really so big of a league that we need to add administration? (Personally, I'm enjoying playing games, and would rather spend my time there than on developing more league rules! The points budget is already more complex than I want to pay attention to... that is why the captains make the big bucks, right? ;) )

If you are concerned about the acceptance of a league "dictator":
a. I haven't noticed anyone complaining.
b. Is it possible to have an anonymous poll on the gameroom announcements page? You could use this to find out what is holding back people from participating (time commitment, dislike of the format, etc.). Or get other opinions in a more orderly fashion.

It appears to me that the league has been successful so far. Most of the games have been played. People are getting out of bed early and/or staying up late to watch the games. Star players are providing live commentary. More people are signing up as the season progresses. What more do you want?

(EDIT: I'll play either way... if enough others are more civic minded than me and want to pitch in with the admin side of things, I suppose something like this will be needed eventually.)

Title: Re: Charter of the Arimaa World League Association
Post by megajester on Jun 7^th, 2010, 5:21am

For me, the charter idea is just a way to make decisions faster and in a way that nobody can possibly disagree with, even retrospectively. At present only one member of the "Administration" would need to be involved with actually running things (at the moment, me), the rest can just be trusted members of the community who are given a say.

I was concerned that I don't carry the kind of weight to make executive decisions in line with my personal vision, when there might be some with a different vision. I certainly didn't have that kind of weight at the beginning, but perhaps now the League has worked so well I've earned it. In any case I want the League to be a true community institution and not just my baby, both because I believe it will work better and because I want something that will keep going if I'm ever in a position where I can't run it any more.

I forsee the committee only really being needed to evaluate and approve tweaks to the rules, and resolve any disputes in mid-season like what we had with Sanzo-Korhil game. I feel sure I could secure the confidence of the committee to vest most executive powers in me, so they wouldn't actually be all that busy.

So in effect, the only difference the charter will make is that I'll now be negotiating with a panel instead of the world and his wife. Of course, we couldn't do without all the valuable suggestions from the community, but having my decisions approved by a panel will be a safeguard against any disputes or hard feelings.

Title: Re: Charter of the Arimaa World League Association
Post by megajester on Jun 19^th, 2010, 3:20am

Perhaps the Charter arrangement would be better suited to more long-range planning.

There have been suggestions that when this League ends we could start with another one. Seeing as there have been no real objections to my "benevolent dictatorship", to use Fritzlein's expression, I think it'll work better for me to just ask the captains what they think about having another League with the current rules. If they think they'll have the manpower over the summer and there are no major issues with the current rules, we'll just start over.

Title: Re: Charter of the Arimaa World League Association
Post by Fritzlein on Jun 19^th, 2010, 11:46am

on 06/19/10 at 03:20:30, megajester wrote:

There have been suggestions that when this League ends we could start with another one. Seeing as there have been no real objections to my "benevolent dictatorship", to use Fritzlein's expression, I think it'll work better for me to just ask the captains what they think about having another League with the current rules. If they think they'll have the manpower over the summer and there are no major issues with the current rules, we'll just start over.

Yay! And if the burden on the dictator and captains is not too great, I suspect there would be enough player interest to have one round every week instead of one round every two weeks. My hunch is that players who are available for 50% of the rounds every alternate week will be available for 50% of the rounds every week. Player availability would go down only if playing one week was enough of a drain that folks needed an off week to recover from it. But I'm guessing it is scheduling conflicts more than recovery time that is limiting availability. If I'm right, than the only real obstacle to an every-week format is the administrative burden.