The latest
event in preparation of the upcoming game Chronicles of Elyria (now that we’ve
overcome the plague) is map voting. It’s an extraordinary opportunity for the
future players of this game to vote on, and determine, what the map of the
world (well, the starting continent) will look like. And each server will have
its own unique map – making for a very different game depending on which server
you play on. Of course, to me, the most interesting part is how the community
reacted.
I can’t
speak for the whole community – only the small piece I interact with – but I
suspect it’s a fairly accurate representation of what happened elsewhere as
well. It all started with the releasing of the maps...
I promptly
looked through all the maps. Taking into consideration the needs of my kingdom,
duchy, and county, I promptly narrowed what I felt would be the best maps for
us down to 3 or 4. Within an hour, I had chosen a favorite, which matched one
of the favorites of the count of my county.
At the
duchy level, we had a discussion on each of the maps. I was happy to see that
the map I’d chosen was also popular at this level of our organization, and I
believe it even made it into the top three.
After a few
days, there was a meeting of all the duchy leaders at kingdom level. Each of
them had brought their favorite maps – and then they selected the map that they
felt suited everyone’s needs, and announced it to the community at large –
saying they were free to vote however they wished, but this was the map the
leadership felt would be best for our kingdom’s needs.
I was
surprised, and disappointed, that the map was one that hadn’t even been
seriously considered in my duchy. I wasn’t fond of it at all, and I wasn’t the
only one. A fair number of people were expressing their disappointment in the
choice, and demanded answers from the leadership.
Our king
then answered the questions, expressing that this map wasn’t the best pick for
anyone, however it was the map that best suited the combined needs of all the
groups in our kingdom. He went into further detail about the process that was
used, and it was more than enough to make me (and others) accept this map. I
promptly switched my train of thought to figuring out how to adapt to this new
map, and I was satisfied that, while it was far from the best map, it was quite
adequate.
And, as
usual, it got me thinking about the whole scenario, and applying it to the
world at large. No matter what decision is made, at any level of an
organization or a government, there are always people who speak up and are
unhappy about it. It always seems the most remarkable when the leaders, who made the decision in the first place,
are unhappy with it – why would they make the decision if they knew it wasn’t
great?
Often (not
always!) it comes down to being a compromise. The more people you add to a
group, the harder it becomes to make everyone happy about any one thing – and it’s
outright impossible to make everyone happy about multiple things. So, in comes
the compromise – the decision that nobody particularly likes, but is the best
that can be done to make everyone happy.
Yet, so
many people insist on raging and being angry about these decisions. They will
shout their anger to the world at large. Strangely, I don’t blame them –
because the only thing that is usually presented is the decision, not the means
of reaching it. Once a decision is made, it tends to be presented as the best
option available, even if it clearly isn’t the case – the goal being to show
confidence in the decision. I can’t help but wonder, would it work better if
the leadership expressed that it was a compromise? It seems like people are
more willing to accept a decision that’s a compromise if they know that’s what
it is (provided they actually care about trying to make as many people happy as
possible). At least, that’s how it worked out in the case of my little Elyrian microcosm.
Check out my YouTube channel where I tell the stories of my D&D campaigns.
Also, make sure you check out my wife's blog and her website.
If there's any subject you'd like to see me ramble on about, feel free to leave a comment asking me to do so.
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