We have decided to dedicate Summer 2012 to politics. The sphere we are all undoubtedly good at. The one that influences your life even if you don't actively participate in it. The one that is believed to be the great art of compromise.
The political life of Virtonomics will begin with the introduction of Political parties and mayors.
The launch is planned for mid August. Here are some details about what's coming.
I. Political parties
The political life is mainly centered around parties, which are analogues to corporations (creation, joining, etc.). The purpose of political parties is to fund political campaigns and nominate candidates for elective offices of the Virtonomics government.
Each political party can choose its political platform . Political platform in Virtonomics is a kind of a "specialization" of the party which determines its internal policy of the distribution of costs and income, gives certain bonuses, imposes certain restrictions.
There is a popularity ranking for parties in each Virtonomics city where they are represented (villa). The ranking depends on the costs of political campaign of the party.
II. Mayors
The cities will be administrated by the elected mayors nominated by political parties.
Voting includes votes by members of parties and votes by citizens and lasts 2 days (we are thinking of making these 2 days regularly fall to Sunday-Monday) The votes of the parties are taken into account in proportion to the level of influence the parties have in the cities; the votes of private persons are taken into account in proportion to the income of their stores and enterprises of the services sector on the day of summing up the results.
After the elections the winner officially assumes the office for a term of 3 Virtonomics years. There is no limit to the allowed number of terms. You can be a mayor of several cities at once There will be impeachments
Each city will have its own budget, which is going to be the mayor's responsibility (both: administrative and financial).
Income of the city budget includes:
- rent from premises;
- part of the companies' costs for building and modernization;
- assignments from regional budget;
- municipal taxes and charges;
- mayor's private assets (if the overall income is not enough to cover all the expenses)
Expenses:
- unemployment benefits;
- office employees' salaries;
- pensions, scholarships and other social payments;
- educational programs;
- Costs of city improvement and the maintenance of public order;
- one-time municipal projects;
- sponsorship from a mayor and/or his/her political party in case of city budget surplus.
A mayor can execute the following operations:
1. Change lease price per one square meter of office, commercial, storage, etc. premises;
2. Regulate tax rates and charges on municipal level;
3. Regulate the percentage of sponsorship payments of the political party;
4. Initiate major municipal projects - the sweetest part of the mayor’s rights which allows to change global characteristics of the cities: education and salary levels, population numbers, scientific breakthroughs of the city, etc.
5. Block for one turn the functioning of almost any kind of city enterprises. In this case the blocked enterprise will be in a vacation mode during an update.
III. Future
These are large-scale changes, which, however, don’t cover the whole possible political spectrum of Virtonomics. After the launch we’ll be gathering statistical data and your feedback, which will help us to decide how to further develop this sector or whether to develop it at all. For now, we see three possible options:
1. Organizing the chain of command: from mayors to regional governors, from governors to country presidents.
2. New opportunities for the mayors. For example, they can develop certain product lines, etc. in order to be able to better regulate the retail commerce in the city.
3. Better detailed model of the world. «Ecology level», «appeal for the tourists», etc. — these are the things that could make the game more interesting, and enhance the job of the mayors.
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