Hey there! I have to admit, I can't remember the last time we had such a competitive election for anything, where I couldn't make a decision after giving it a few minutes of thought. So after reading everyone's campaigns, I have some questions...some are specific to you, and some I'm going to be asking everyone running.
1) You mentioned that you wanted to strengthen ties with Mafia Universe...what form do you imagine that takes? Is it like NationStates foreign affairs where we send them an ambassador and our dispatchies, or do these ties take other forms? You also mentioned the possibility of outsourcing tutorial games to MU...does it take something away from our own Werewolf scene if we have to be reliant on another site to teach our players?
2) As a candidate who is running on working more closely with other Werewolf communities, I wanted to pick your brain on something...how can we make Wintreath a more attractive place outside of Werewolf for the people from those communities? We have a number of players from elsewhere who have invested a lot of time and made a lot of posts in our Werewolf games, but they haven't really become part of our own community. How can we change that? I understand this isn't necessarily a responsibility of the Thane of Werewolf, but I think tackling this would go a long way toward making our own community more vibrant and resilient (and less NS-dependant).
3) Speaking of NS, we're involved in quite a few areas that compete for time and attention, especially from me: NationStates, Werewolf, and other forum and Discord games. If you had to split the time and energy we put into each as percentages (so they add up to 100%), what would that split be and why? Do you ever foresee a time when Werewolf is a more prominent aspect in Wintreath than NationStates?
4) One of the unique aspects of the Summer season is the Summersend festival, which happens in August. What sort of Werewolf-related ideas and events are you thinking for the festival?
5) You're the only candidate who gave any mention to building out a strong leadership team for the future...how would you go about doing that?
6) Overall, I feel like you're running as a facilitator or coordinator...someone who doesn't plan to be as hands-on as some of the other candidates, but will bring people together and delegate. Is this a fair assessment? If so, what do you feel are the benefits of that approach?
7) All the competition in this election is stiff...what do you bring to the table for Werewolf that none of your competitors do?
Thank you for your answers in advance!
1) No, it's nothing as formal as that, lol. They would have very little interest in most of the things we post in our dispatches, and they also wouldn't really be all that interested in sending an ambassador of their own. Strengthening ties can be done rather concretely by having our own subforum on MU, and hosting games there to pique their players' interest in our style and culture when playing Werewolf, and this can have the impact of getting some of those people to go on and play games on our own forums, too, which has already kinda been happening even without a formal presence on the MU forums. MU is best not to think of as a singular entity, but a nexus that connects multiple disparate communities who all share a singular interest: Werwolf.
And no, I do not believe it takes anything away from our Werwolf. We simply don't always have the man-power to make mentor games feasible, and these mentor games are usually very straightforward and vanilla, anyway, so our own unique flavour of Werewolf would still always be alluring. It would, in fact, benefit our new players as they can get exposed to mentors who've been at this for decades, in some cases, and who also dedicate a much larger portion of their time to Werewolf than we do, so it would strengthen the start our new players receive, make them aware of many different play styles from the get-go, and allow them to hit the ground running with our own more intricate games when we host those.
2) Hmm, well, I think a good foundation has been laid by Marzipan for this, actually, since people from these communities wouldn't be all that interested in elections and politics and NS and shit, but they do love playing games, and Among Us, One Night Ultimate Werewolf, etc. would be great ways to get them involved with our Discord community. @Dolby actually has his own Discord where a lot of these types of games are played and organised on a regular basis.
3) My answer probably doesn't mean much, lmao, since I thoroughly detest NS, and have for years. I think it's a cancer we can't get rid of soon enough. That said, no, unless we find a central identity completely separate from NS, I don't think it's realistic to think we'll ever move away from it completely. I have seen some people who join us for NS and stay because of the community, though, and in one case, Anubhav, actually stay specifically because of games like Spyfall and Werewolf, though. Actually, that reminds me, we should introduce Spyfall to MU, as well, and this ties in with an earlier question on how to strengthen relations with MU.
Oh, I realise I didn't answer the portion about whether Werewolf is a realistic replacement for NS: nah, probably not. There are hundreds of people active at MU, and more added every day, but it still doesn't quite compare to the number of people who are active on NS.
4) I have never been much of a participant in the Summersend festival, but a solid activity generator is always a quick Werewolf game with a twist. I'm sure the same could be done again.
5) Well, informally, at first. I would leverage the great ideas we have already had from all the candidates running for election, and definitely get them involved in a sort of informal council. The things unique to their campaigns would be things they are uniquely suited to carrying out, and I would try to make sure they are empowered to do so, with as few obstacles in their way as possible. Eventually, I would hope to prove the need for Werwolf to be its own ministry again, which would allow for a few thanes.
6) Yeah, I'd say that's fair. Beyond my own concrete goal of establishing a mentorship program and expanding the toolset we would need to continue to be competitive with MU when hosting great games, I don't wish to pretend that I, alone, have great ideas for how best to bring Werwolf forward. I wish to leverage our community's skill set and unique visions to bring Werewolf much further than a lone architect possibly could.
7) It is indeed stiff, and honestly, there are people with a lot more ideas than I do who are running fantastic campaigns. What I bring is my natural leadership abilities and a wealth of experience with Werewolf, as well as a drive to get shit done and plough through all obstacles. I plan to do all of this even if I lose the election, anyway, lol. And lord have mercy on anyone who tries to get me to shut up.