From the wiki:

2) If you have not activated a Durden mapping credit, but your district is at the top of the VIP forum rankings for your city, the Durden Mapping page will give you the name of a Durden you can shoot. You will not be able to use this feature again until your shot timer is down to zero.

I just want to suggest a quick change in the way that the free Durden Mapping is awarded to the Top Posting Districts.

The way it is now, only 50% of the player base should receive free mapping due to their Roleplaying activity, this is good. The problem is that cities that barely post anything at all will receive free mapping, leaving districts that are much more engaged into the game with empty pockets simply because they are a few points behind their neighbors.

I understand that the idea of spreading the mapping between cities helps in overall population spreading, but it is not fair or realistic that districts should compete for information if the means to get that information is interaction.

A much fairer and logical approach would be:

To get the median value between all districts first, and then award the districts that are above that median with the location of the Durdens. This way 50% of the players are still getting Durden Mapping as a reward for RP and Forum Activity but in a much fairer and logical way.

I think this is a great suggestion. Offering it to the top half of districts (or even the top third of districts, based on the old setup), irrespective of city, seems more fair and less arbitrary. 

What are the chances the bottom half just won't bother trying at all?  Especially when certain districts will be topped with speakers while others arent?

So are we penalizing people for their effort? Telling them its not good enough and they should just stop?

Cherry, I agree with you in one thing, we are penalizing people who are actually trying.

But the chances of the bottom half on the proposed method not trying at all, would be roughly the same as the bottom half we have now not trying as well.

The difference is that the bottom half on the system we have now is already not doing a great job and yet they receive the bonus. When in the system I proposed all the districts that are receiving the bonus are competitive to the extent that they meet the top half of all the interaction that happens in the game. Ensuring that those who receive the mapping are actually engaged, and not receiving the bonus because they're lucky enough to be in a remote place where there is no competition.

Summerlin (405), has more points than any other district, besides it's neighbor. It has more score than the Old City District - PH (40), the Downtown - DT (87) and the Downtown - LA (122) all combined and yet these districts are receiving the mapping when Summerlin isn't. The same happens to Manhattan. These are just examples.

If we create competition inside each city, we enhance a single city's engagement in RP. If we make the competition happen across the board it will have a broader effect I believe.

Cherry,

What happens to the bottom half now? Is the current system "penalizing people for their effort" and "telling them its not good enough"?

This suggestion isn't changing anything about the way the reward is calculated or distributed, other than removing the restriction of "one winner per city" to be more equitable.

I very much like this suggestion, Jones.

I mean I'm probably biased, but I completely support this suggestion. 

If you look at Philly, Detroit, and Los Angeles' numbers and completely add them up they do not surpass Summerlin. That is 3 full cities compared to just a single district. 

I think this kind of change would push districts to be more active in the streets and business districts. So not only would this change reward those districts who are continually active, but it would hopefully push others to get more active. 

Now you can say this change may discourage some districts, but Summerlin members have continually posted knowing that there is little chance of surpassing our neighbor. I mean, if districts were so motivated already by the current system then I do not think we'd see some of the low numbers that we have. 

Should we really be rewarding crews for not being very active in the streets and elsewhere? Some of the districts can have one crew member make a single post very rarely and keep their lead without a problem. If we made this change and your district lost mapping then it is up to you as a Crew Leader to not only get your members more active in posting, but to be more active yourself. Yes some districts/cities will recruit more people who are active in the forums, but that just means you did a poor job of either recruiting those type of people or encouraging your members to try. 

The forums are a huge part of this game and we should really be rewarding the ones who try to keep them thriving. 

I think this will most likely have a more negative impact on the streets then a positive.

Cherry, how?

I also support this suggestion, Jones. Good thinking cap!

I've been on a fam or 2... that never shared the mapping with their people. So much for the chain of command putting their people to work.