*A Treatise on the Structure of Government Systems in Online Simulation Sports League

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Scenario Breakdown with Bex 

So here's a worst case scenario for you:

Some new member joins who's really into Kill la Kill, they call themself "Lady Satsuki" because anime can even make fascism look sexy. They invite a couple of their friends into the league and they're all pretty damn active, not just in terms of TPE gaining, but in general NSFL Discord. People know them. Lady Satsuki decides to apply for HO Intern, then within a month they make it into the full HO. 

So to start off with, while visibility is a big factor in things, you need to be doing more than just talking. You have to show an interest in and aptitude for leadership and league improvement. You need to have the majority of HO believe in that aptitude. You then have to apply that aptitude throughout the intern year and show that you have the skills, and frankly, the temperament, needed for the job. 

Then there needs to be an opening. Generally, ISFL HO in its current iteration has up to 5 standing members. 4 regular HO, and the commissioner. There's no reason for us to add a sixth person, so unless one of the existing is stepping down, our Lady Satsuki is either going to have to wait for a spot by extending their internship, or returning to civilian life until a spot does become available. This is in addition, of course, to the DSFL HO, which currently has 4 members, 3 regular HO and the DSFL commissioner. 

Bex likes them cause they're funny. She steps down another month later because she found something else better to do or she's just sick of all your shit. She says she wants Lady Satsuki to be the next commissioner. And that's when shit goes down.

Generally, I would not be making this decision on my own. With HO decisions, we work collectively to make staffing decisions. While my opinion is valuable, I would ever be naming someone as my replacement without support from the rest of my Head Office. And while yes, I took over after a short time frame, the league is in a healthier spot and it is exceptionally unlikely that it would happen again. I plan on remaining in Head Office as a regular member after my successor takes over to provide mentorship, because commissionering is fucking hard and going it alone sucks. If Satsuki is seeming like a problem early on, there are protocols for removing HO and commissioners. 

Lady Satsuki and their friends begin filing into the ISFL HO. Satsuki appoints one friend, call em "Matoi", to be DSFL commissioner and Matoi picks their new HO members. 

DSFL HO is a position hired by Head Office, not appointed by the commissioner. Satsuki would need to 1) have the existing DSFL Commissioner departing, and 2) have the entirety of Head Office approve the appointment of Matoi. Then the *entire* DSFL HO would need to depart in order for Matoi to select their own entire DSFL HO. 

Satsuki does the same by adding "Mako". There were only three of these people originally, but somehow they keep adding really new members. And eventually they implement a buy-in for GMs. In order to be GM, you need to pay real money to HO ("to help pay for the site"). This passes through HO unanimously.Some of the newer GMs are somehow also for the reform. People begin to leave the league because of this.

You continue to need departing members in order to get more people in, still needing majority vote. You also have to face league criticism if you're not including the HO intern year for these friends. And trust me, the community will not be quiet about it. If the community is loud enough, here is where we might see the league owner step in, or the head of appeals. Both figures exist to help prevent corruption. 

The GM buy-in will not happen so long as I'm the one paying for the site. (I'm not planning on going anywhere) So we're good there. Also the idea that GMs would simply let it happen is pretty insane. The league is free. We are all interested in it remaining free. Heck, we have trouble passing easier rules all the time. Look at the last few rule summits. 

And eventually someone finds out that all of HO was just two people, all of the appeals team was just one person, and half the GMs in the league that had mysteriously gone missing after supporting the changes was also one of those three people. Lady Satsuki and their crew just destroyed the league and made a bit of a profit on the side.

How do we get to the point where appeals is all one person? HO has no say in appeals hirings at all. We are completely separate. So even in the event you somehow manage to take over HO, you'd still have no say on Appeal team hires. 

Now, none of this is to say that our system is without problems. I'm just popping in to respond because as with most complaints about it, it wildly exaggerates the possibilities for exploiting the existing system.

Are these protocols and practices you mention actually written out in some sort of public charter or rule book that is available to everyone or is it just a "general understanding" among existing HO members? Cause the rule book says nothing about how HO functions and that's a big part of misunderstanding how HO works.

Also it's a "worst case scenario". But we've been seeing a lot of really weird "worst case scenarios" in the world recently so it's worth it to consider them.