There's a game I play called Elite Dangerous, which is a space sim. The game has an almost to-scale representation of all star systems, which are governed by various political factors. Throughout the lifespan of the game, the political influence can be built or destroyed, with additional star systems being added to one party and removed from another. This is an ongoing operation, which is impacted by the coordinated efforts of individual users to either undermine or promote their chosen political faction. Over time, some political territories expand and others contract. 

I believe there is opportunity to introduce such a system into MR, focused around the Mayors and their influence. There could be three or four established political parties across the country, which have nominated candidates in each city. By backing a candidate, users or crews would reap the benefits of having their preferred party in office. The controlling party across the country would bring wider benefits for those users/crews affiliated with them.

There is a ton of potential for how this system could work, the impact it can have and the activities it introduces. Here's a few I've scoped.

Regular Mayoral Elections

• Mayors are elected each month, or as random RP events 
• How popular a mayor is within a city depends on:
  • How many Promotion activities the candidates supporter have completed
  • How many Undermining activities the opposition supporters have completed
• Why you/users/crews/cities would back a particular mayor would be dependent on their policies and the pro/cons to users of having that person in office

EXAMPLE TIME.

Candidate #1 is Martin Eden

Labor Union Party

Mr. Eden is a jumpy soul who is easily intimidated by the higher ups within the mafia world. He feels pressured by his poor background to support business owners and is spineless, so lets the police force run itself.

• He would lower tax rates for Godfathers
• He would grant additional experience for popular threads in the BD
• He would place little limitation on the police force, which makes them a wildcard and could either:
  • Go over the top with crackdowns on crime, making busting, crimes, dealing harder
  • Go soft and let things slide, fewer wackbacks, easier crimes etc

Candidate #2 is Shawn Rutt

Conservative Vision Party

Mr. Rutt is of the opinion the higher ranks of the mafia have too much power. He's got a cocaine habit so stays in touch with local dealers, and goes easier on those who associate with them that are not too involved with the mafia.

• He would increase Godfather taxes
• He would reduce the amount of money made from Organised Crimes
• He would make drug deals and crimes more profitable for Wise Guys and below
• Wise Guys and below would be granted greater protection than the made members

Candidate #3 is Liz Howells

Progressive Party

Ms. Howells is a ball buster and an ex-prison warden. She expects the best from the police force which makes them efficient in some areas but not others. She understands the balance the mafia brings to the streets, so largely stays out of the way.

• She would cause the police force to slack in crimes, heat, and other general arrests. Drugs prices would also go up
• She would have her contacts at the jails make it harder to bust by increasing the number of guards 
• She would have the police clean up the streets, reducing RIA's and increasing wackbacks

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These are by no means polished examples, but more a taste of what we could affect by having a political influence in play. Once the candidates and their associated party's are known, the users will begin to coordinate efforts to get one of them elected.

• Promote activities increase the chance of an official getting elected
• Undermine activities decrease the change of an official getting elected
• These activities use the same timer, so you can promote or undermine
• You are not restricted to your own city, and can meddle in the elections of other cities if you wish 
• Additional crime to Petty and Felony is created, "Political"
• Additional Organised Crime is available, "Political Organised Crime"

EXAMPLE TIME.

Political Crimes cost a negligible amount of money, as much as Petty and Felony crimes make you 

• Promote
  • Small time crimes that you build up to through ranks. Examples: Distribute Fliers, Provide Security for political aid or Fund a campaign rally
• Undermine
  • Larger crimes that you build up to through ranks. Examples: Deface campaign HQ, Intimidate officials, Commit arson at a campaign rally
• Political Organized Crime
  • Large scale crimes with multiple users, make significant dent in the promotional/undermining of a candidate

Undecided Voters (This idea needs more work)

• Instead of dealing drugs, voters could be "moved" between districts to try to sway the vote
• Number of units decides how many voters you can influence
• How to match up with the Promotion/Undermine activities?

Larger Scale Impact

The wider impact of this could be increased if a particular timezone (West, Central, East) has elected matching political parties. If both New York and Philadelphia have coordinated to ensure officials from the same party are elected, the benefits they feel. Alternatively, if both cities have been undermined by others, the impact would also be greater.

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Ultimately this idea is about finding the balance of benefits to drawbacks, while finding something which splits opinions so there is something to battle over. Forum VIP is currently one of those things, including VIP Mapping. This could be a good next step to introducing something to work for that has a significant impact. Depending on how deep you take it, there could be much more detailed areas of mayoral influence. This means the player groups that benefit or are impacted by the results of the election could be diverse in the way of which groups of people the candidates target:

• Characters of a certain age group
• Characters of a certain stat (defense, wack, stealth answers)
• Certain crews or districts

Also not explored here:

• Coordinated efforts of one city to undermine the election in another city. Force election of a candidate that weakens the city
• Extending influence of a candidate to multiple cities or districts
• Role play potential for campaign rallies to try and win over supporters
• Assassination or intimidation of a candidate, the cost and effort required

Anyway, thanks for your attention, this has been fun to write.

Lord Mezzo, it is quite an intriguing concept that you introduce here, which indeed has a “ton of potential” as you phrase it. The details require plenty of discussion, which I gladly participate in. But first I gotta ask; what do you want out of this?

Your recent horse racing events are quite the inspiration here. What you introduce with the event is amazing and brings benefits for those who participate. Fuck, what else do people need, you’d wonder; be mediocre or take glory. But as it turns out, people are okay with being mediocre. But to truly get traction one needs to change the setting. Play or die. Or let’s tone it done: Vote or draw the short straw.

Now try and define the short straw. If you get it, you’re at a disadvantage. Severely. The potential you recognise isn’t that there’s more to have for people, but rather that there’s less for people. This game has always been political, but there was never a mechanic that could change the pace of things. In a time where your community shrinks, introducing a mechanic that promotes activating people to rally for a cause is a good thing. Recent times showed once more that being part of a city, being loyal to a Godfather, doesn’t mean shit. We assume loyalty, but it’s unfounded and therefor the true appreciation of leadership doesn’t have a noticeable effect.

Introducing a system where the few need to rally the support of many to unlock benefits, that would be pretty great. Loyalty is a massive concept in our world, but never paired with a mechanic beyond the CL loyalty, which … well, I never saw to be a differentiating factor. Imagine that actively following the political preference of a CL / GF by majority of a crew would lead to a bonus, aka a times one efficiency on BGs. But a lacking support leads to a reduction in BG efficiency. At that point ¨Not having a relation” with your members becomes a problem rather than the consensus.
 

That asks the question: “Do we want anything that changes the consensus?” We’ve got rank up and do something about it after all. Well, yes. We’ve got that, but that’s really reserved for a few involved and only shows on the moment of eruption, but doesn’t affect the game beyond moments of power-change. The dedication required tends to happen in the shadow, while introducing a system like this, that unlocks a N factor for a game mechanic like wack/defense of 20% could drastically change the potential of a Don with 50 loyal supporters vs a Godfather with 90 sleepers.

At the end, do I like your idea? For sure Mezzo, but I only see an adoption that is relevant if the impact goes far beyond that of the Bodyguard Training found in the profit menu.

All very interesting suggestions.  Maybe we could even take it a step further.  What if we inserted a "friend of ours" into the office of mayor?

I am going to bump here because I like the idea of a more involved game. This would also allow different families to have different agendas and to have some competition there. Granted, some families/crews will also make deals as this would allow for them to essentially control the political process like a good OC group. 

It could also increase friction between crews which would make some things interesting.