Goto steps onto the streets and clears his throat. He is about to make a little speech about something that had been bothering him for a while. He begins by stating the points he's going to make: 

1.    The Pariah City

•        The doubtful standards
•         The advantages of joining

2. Warlordism

•         The inevitability of conflict 
•         The denunciation of stability
•          Sowing the seeds of conflict

3. The Sandbox

•          A fake city
•          All filler, no killer.
•         Evolution?

1.       The Pariah City

The doubtful standards

As we know, no rules from the outside community will be enforced upon LA. This means that in certain respects there will be a decrease or lack of standards. For example, no rules about member ‘whoring’ will be enforced.  What if someone is fresh off the boat and is immediately given a wrong impression by someone from Los Angeles? Do we want a city which won't be bound by rules most find reasonable? I'd be pretty confused if I some leader 'bumped into' me if I was still a civilian.

Goto steps onto the streets and clears his throat. He is about to make a little speech about something that had been bothering him for a while. He begins by listing the points he will make in his speech:

1.    The Pariah City

•        The doubtful standards
•         The advantages of joining

2. Warlordism

•         The inevitability of conflict 
•         The denunciation of stability
•          Sowing the seeds of conflict

3. The Sandbox

•          A fake city
•          All filler, no killer.
•         Evolution?

1.       The Pariah City

The doubtful standards

As we know, no rules from the outside community will be enforced upon LA. This means that in certain respects there will be a decrease or lack of standards. For example, no rules about member ‘whoring’ will be enforced.  What if someone is fresh off the boat and is immediately given a wrong impression by someone from Los Angeles? Do we want a city which won't be bound by rules most find reasonable? I'd be pretty confused if I some leader 'bumped into' me if I was still a civilian.

I am was also concerned about following the ‘unwritten rules’ of this world of ours; such as (funeral) respect. Since even a Los Angeles leader has shown disregard for this unwritten rule, I had worries about his associates following these guidelines. However, recent events have shown that such disrespect will not be tolerated by the other cities; and this is a good thing. This shows that there won't be a total breakdown of basic standards in LA.

The Advantages of Joining

If you’re not going to set up in Los Angeles yourself, what is the advantage of joining someone in LA? I can see only one advantage, and not for the greater good: A perfect opportunity for potential rogues and other undesired elements licking their lips, seeing a perfect hiding spot. Who wouldn’t want to join an isolated city to hide? Especially since their actions might have more consequences for their host crew/city down the road. Quoting Godfather Curtis:

The external community will not be interfered with in any way. Any attack on a member or crew from the other cities will result in full scale retribution from the offended crew and (if they so chose) their district and possibly even the rest of the community. Retribution will only be dealt to the crew that perpetrated the transgression. No other crews in Los Angeles will be affected. 

Let's say that someone is completely new to this thing of ourswhy would someone want to join Los Angeles at all? The city has no voice in national matters, and you will never serve under a Godfather. There is a limit placed on the amount of crews and the number of members within those crews, and there are a lot more restrictions than if you would be part of a ‘normal’ city.

Thus I ask: What is the advantage of joining a LA crew? Will LA ever become anything more than a pariah city, isolated from the rest of the country, having nothing to offer new associates that other, normal cities can probably do better?

2.       Warlordism

 The inevitability of conflict

I think conflict, war, destruction and stagnation is inevitable for Los Angeles. With the influx of new crews, there will always be someone who wants to stop the ‘hordes’ from invading ‘his’ city, and will remove them without consulting diplomacy. I think that there will always be war when you shove random people together in an open city. Even if peace seems to last, the limit on crews will force people to war each other, only to make room. Will LA inevitably descend into an endless cycle of chaos?

The Denunciation of Stability

To be clear. I had no intention of promising stability. Reply by: BlackBlack at Mar 14, '15 04:06

To me, this confirms that the LA project will always end up in instability, war, and then rebuilding, only for war to happen again. There is no deadline, if I am correct, so people can just keep joining the city if they desire. Will there always be some sort of ‘horde’ invading the city?

And what if the gun strength of two leaders isn’t large enough for them to kill each other? Will they shoot at each other’s members, waiting for the other to give up? Will an uneasy peace be made out of necessity or will there just be no growth at all, just death?

We also say another option; a duel. But then, if no protection order is made for the members, it will still have the same effect. Now we one single ‘warlord’ in Hollywood and someone in Savannah, a district with no rules.  In the end I think any kind of effective growth and stability within LA is impossible. 

Consigliere BlackBlack is dead. DominicG is currently the only leader left in Los Angeles. That means that 80 % of the participants died. 60 % of the participants died due to fighting each other. And Dominic - or so it appears to me - is representing the isolation of Los Angeles perfectly. He was not involved in the inner Los Angeles war, and he has made no comments on these things. The first week of the project has, as expected, brought only death.

Sowing the seeds of conflict

Residents of Hollywood who are mugged by other crewed residents of Los Angeles have Hollywood's full support in shooting the mugger within 15 minutes of the event.

Posted by BlackBlack on Mar 14, '15 02:15

Of course the leaders of LA are free to make their own rules, but I think this one illustrates my point perfectly. I feel this rule will encourage tension and it takes a right away from LA citizens. Do all LA leaders agree with this rule? Will they (he) stand idly by as a Hollywood resident shoots someone from Savannah? Even as the next rule says not to complain if you get mugged, and that Hollywood will not deal with PP disputes, although it sowed the seeds for such a dispute. And not just a money dispute, but a dispute that might end up with someone in the obituaries. But now, with the death of BlackBlack, this rule is gone. However, now there are no rules in Los Angeles at all. Hopefully someone will come to the Wild West to establish some sort of order. No growth will be gained if the West is too wild. But perhaps there isn't meant to be any growth at all?

3. The Sandbox

A Fake City

Perhaps my biggest point is that Los Angeles is essentially a fake representation of our world. While it may have no (big) impact upon the outside world, it is still one of the 6 cities given to us by the gods. I feel that with this project that space is essentially wasted.  The level of organized crime in Los Angeles can never be compared to that of ‘real’ cities. There won’t be any really big families in Los Angeles and there won’t be any Godfathers. In short, it’s an imitation of what a real city could be. It looks like a parody of our great cities.

All Filler, no Killer

I think this project is here to make the community feel like something is happening. Plans are made for the city of Las Vegas, and Los Angeles is being filled for no other reason than to fill it.  Are there any real advantages to this project?  Or is it just to fill a city which would perhaps be better left unfilled? No real and accurate representation of organized crime can come out of this city. To me it looks like a child trying to paint the Mona Lisa. We appreciate the child's effort and are perhaps proud of it's accomplishment.  But we don't consider the artwork to be as magnificent as the original. While I do certainly see this project as interesting and perhaps amusing, I don't think anything above average will come out of it. But perhaps that is the point. 

Evolution?

And my final point; if the project is (somehow) successful, and a strong, unified city is presented to the outside world, will the restrictions placed on LA be lifted? Will they be able to grow and work like any other city?  If not, what is the point of the whole project? Or will they just be removed, to make place for someone the other cities know and trust. I fail to see how filling up a city with random people will bring us anything except a cheap form of amusement and perhaps a feeling of superiority. Having such a city, isolated and all, makes it easy for others to - in want of a better word - bully it, in the streets for example.

Also, Los Angeles is supposed to have no connection to the other cities, but we all know this is simply impossible. There will always be some sort of bond between the guy in Los Angeles and the crew/district & city he came from. And thus, I think total involvement and 'sitting on the fence' from other cities is not entirely realistic. In some way, what happens in LA will always have an impact on the rest of the world.

Is the point of this project to remove the less patient among us from our midst; to get rid of them? To give some parody of authorization upon them so that they can finally lead a crew, even if that crew size is limited, and that they will never be able to rise to the highest rank? Is this a cheap form of gratification for those that hunger for a crew; but which will inevitably leave a bigger hunger than before?

So is this some sort of project for someone who wants to be a leader but who isn't quite qualified? I feel like Los Angeles is a big sandbox, for all the children to play in, but the children know they will never be able (or allowed) to build that beautiful sand castle they always wanted to make.

Although Weebl had shaved himself that morning he already had a small beard again by the time the speech was finished.

"Goto, you name a lot of valid points and honest thoughts. I won't address them one by one, cause this discussion would get chaotic, but I'll address your skepticism towards this projects which I fully understand."

"The intention of LA is to be an experiment. There have always been individuals or groups that do not like the direction society is being pushed in. LA is meant for those and other adventurers to build something differently, something they believe in. Although we believe for what we created and maintain in the other 5 cities, LA can be a ground to prove other approaches to building a society might work also. The purpose of LA is not to create an imitation of what we deem "good", a Mona Lisa if you will. But what they create can be abstract, realism, chaos. So don't worry, if it's not gonna be the same as the Mona Lisa. LA shapes as they see fit as long as it doesn't harm the outside community. Your worries exist, because you compare LA with the other cities, but it's not the same thing."

Weebl remembered the days he was walking on the beach on one of his many travels before continuing to address Goto.

"I see LA indeed as a sandbox. When kids get into a sandbox, they create chaos, sand goes everywhere and even outside the box. Parents get mad and warn the kids they shouldn't let the sand out of the box. The kids listen, learn, grow up. While they do, they are still in that sandbox, but work with more care. They start building sandcastles, according to their own creativity. Put two kids together and for sure their castles crash down quickly. But they will learn more and start working together and build a bigger castle with their combined ideas."

"Moving on to one of your other worries about the incentive for participants if they are never allowed out of the box. As clearly stated, it's not a contest and you shouldn't try to push a discussion to that point as it's not relevant now. I like how Curtis used the phrase "There are no carrots dangled.". Let's keep it like that for now. The Wild West is a gesture to youngsters to get out there with their enthusiasm and create a world as they see fit. It's a place for people to learn. Participants might grow aware that what the other cities do isn't so bad after all. Or perhaps the outside world can be surprised at what LA might achieve. Perhaps if kids have outgrown the sandbox, they are given a treehouse to build something bigger and who knows, they might end up with their own house in a big city. But for now, I suggest, holster your worries, for it's just a sandbox we're looking at. If the sand gets out of the box, the outside world will respond. We've seen that already."