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As part of reforming the RP and government forums, I'd like to also look at how we can make the family system better.

Right now, families are very informal...you register your family in one topic, and announce you've joined a family or would like to join one in another. Beyond that, I don't know how most families function or what people get out of them. So I'm asking you...if you're in a family, what do you get out of being part of it? Is there something you enjoy about being in your family? And if not, what kind of experience would you imagine having with your Wintreath family? And beyond that, how do you think families could be better used in general? If you have any ideas that involve families, feel free to post them here too.

Thanks for your input in advance!

Personally, I know nothing about families in Wintreath or how they function. However, I do know that as a monarchy (to put it very, very loosely), our people take pride in the Ljufving royal family. It is something of a national identity, a mark of who Fylkir Pjotur or Heir Apparent Beinlaus us and where they come from. I think that families could function as sources of political power, and thereby political competition, within both the Landsraad and the Riksraad, if it gets to be that serious of course. Just my two cents 

The only problem I have with political families is the same with political parties, in that while it's a competition for people in those families, it becomes a sort of unfair area for people who want to participate in elections but don't want to join whatever two families end up as the most popular (which will most likely be what happens) or worse...we have a massive mega family that just ends up dominating every single election since they have the most power due to their massive size/popularity.

I personally think families should be kept strictly to RP and out of politics to avoid building resentment, for one.  RP family feuds are fine, potential feuds between members in families because of political reasons strike me as infuriatingly annoying as the RL political divide we see in places like the US between the two major political parties.

Imagine the Wintreath equivalent of the Habsburgs, lol.

I get your point though and I think that you bring up a lot of interesting points. Only reason I mention families with politics is because a while ago, I remember Wintermoot mentioning that he wanted to turn the "town" concept of Wintreath into an actual government body or something along those lines.

Valeria came out of the Hyperians who joined Wintreath, and then the surrounding social group which we absorbed. It's worked very well in that regard, as a social group going back to a certain time and age with a set of shared experiences. We also have a shared lore and family tree which fit into Weissreich's Wintreath lore which was nice, and also have had some collaboration in Minecraft.

One thing that I've seen that I believe works for families in other regions is rather than having a specific family topic, registered families (they usually registered with the government and were pruned as necessary) were afforded a sub-forum for posts of their choosing. Things like their residence (like what exists here), family history (trees, logs, important events, honor), any roleplay/rp info, and even family-sponsored social events/invitations (in and OOC) were kept there and they were often moderated by the head of the family or their chosen steward to ensure things didn't get too hectic. 

I think a lot of newer people come in with a very specific idea of how families operate because there are so many roleplay-esque aspects that apply to them but wind up confused by the actual content (speaking from experience when I came here). I think having a means of organizing it and being able to easily find information from respective families in a similar way could open the doors to newcomers in a much more user-friendly way.

Non-family oriented threads could exist, of course, and might see more use if incoming members have a clearer idea of what they can expect, the character of the groups around them, and a vetting system for both the old and new to determine which groups they would most fit in with. We've seen some familial bouncers, and hell, I've been a familial bouncer. Not every family wants to develop in the same way and not every player wants to interact with families in the same way, and I think being able to expand upon family info and share goals, values, games/events in that way would bring more to the table. 

My experience overall with families has been alright but not notable- most of the time it's just a name and perhaps a friend or two along the way. While appreciated, I know it could be built upon. 

Wow, it's hard to believe it's been 3 months since I started this topic. Time sure does fly by. Thanks for bringing it back up.

The overall feedback that I've gotten mostly confirms what I suspected: Wintreath families haven't really made an impact on anybody. It seems like the families that people get the most out of are ones that are centered around people who are already friends, and I'm not sure being a family really impacts that dynamic at all. They would likely have their own group and do much the same things anyways. Otherwise, the feedback that I got was that family-specific players like private Discords are generally inactive and doesn't really add to their experience.

I think part of the problem is that we don't have a vision for what role families could have in Wintreath, beyond being groups of friends that occasionally take on a new person they like. I have some ideas for giving them a role in RP ways, which I kinda touched on here, but it's not something I've revisited since then. I would certainly like to though...I think the Freeholder system could be awesome.  Otherwise though, besides new friends it's not clear what a new person would get from being in a family.

I also think part of the problem is that at various points we've had too many recognized families...we have had a lot of families of one or two people, which are the most likely to be inactive and die out. I've considered only recognizing noble families, and/or making a requirement that at least 3 Citizens must sign onto a family before it's recognized. I think it would help if there were fewer but higher-quality families, and might spawn a more competitive environment between the families.

I also agree with @Marzipan that things need to be more organized, which is ironic given that this topic spawned from a project to organize the government and RP forums.  At this point I'm not sure how many people know that families are even a thing, much less which one would be best for them or why they should join one. What information does exist is scattered about and not easy to find.

One thing that I've seen that I believe works for families in other regions is rather than having a specific family topic, registered families (they usually registered with the government and were pruned as necessary) were afforded a sub-forum for posts of their choosing. Things like their residence (like what exists here), family history (trees, logs, important events, honor), any roleplay/rp info, and even family-sponsored social events/invitations (in and OOC) were kept there and they were often moderated by the head of the family or their chosen steward to ensure things didn't get too hectic.

Something that's in the works (at least in my head) is the ability to create and rent locations (subforums) in Wintreath using krone. The idea is that they would pay so much to create the subforum in The Wonderful World of Wintreath, then pay a monthly cost to keep it maintained. A private forum would cost a bit more than a public one, but would come with the ability to include whoever they wanted in it (initially by letting me know, but later on something like the Citizenize ability that lets the Cabinet give people Citizen role). It wouldn't automatically apply to families, but it could definitely be used for that purpose.

I've also thought of providing private Discord channels, but at this point I don't know if I'd rather it be purchasable with krone or a donator perk.