SWG: Senate Reform Era

Details

Written by Exile

The SWG Producer is both hurt and bewildered. Shortly after his morning briefing with his staff he retires to his office and contemplates on the efforts his predecesors have done to fulfill the Emperor's wish. He makes his way to his floor-to-roof window at the far end of the room and stares into oblivion; lost in his thoughts : 'After all we have done over the past four years'...

He wonders what Grand Moff Tarkin, childhood hero and role-model, would have done in situations like these. He was well aware the Empire had ultimately failed, but this Producer would triumph where others have failed - he had taken suitable measures.

He turns around to face his impecably organised desk, clean to the point of containing merely an LCD 17" display with a closed docked laptop and a keyboard. A block of white paper is neatly and symetrically arranged at the center and his multi-purpose phone with enough keys to require a four hour course to use is on the right hand side.

From the corner his eye he notices one of the many red lights blinking. His secretary. Perhaps in some other universe a long time ago they could have been together, he pondered. He wasn't over joyed at her last botox implant but had to agree that some of her physical attributes made up for it. Yet, he knew that in this life he had other motivations, at least for the time being. He waited a few seconds before picking up the call - he was a busy man after all, he reminded himself.

"Yes?", he answered with a tone stiff enough to make a young intern cry.

"It's the Community Manager, sir. He wants to speak to you".
"He requests an audience?" he asked again in an attempt to show his secretary for the hundredth time how these meetings should be announced.

The Community Manager stepped inside the office holding a couple of folders on one hand with enough papers to make it look thick. He made sure that the documents containing colourful graphs and intelligent-looking numbers were sticking out.

"Please..." the producer pointed at the armchair right across his desk. This community manager had been specifically selected as a key ingredient in his action plan to squelch any remaining resistance on the forums; and one of the steps to reach this goal was to further divide the community. He had obtained mixed results, so far, but he suspected the CM appeared before him to ask for advice, or at least explain the last few episodes involving the senate which had ruined his early morning today.

"The Rebel senator...", he began, before he noticed the Producer in a verge of a nose-bleed. His arteries popped out in an intense red colour.
"Rebel?" he interrupted.
"He represents the Rebel faction in the game..." he explained.

The Producer studied the CM closely. He did not want to conclude for a second the CM was mocking him or thinking that he was stating the obvious. Worse still, he did not want to believe the newly appointed CM was soft handed to the point of implying that the 'Rebel' senator was not, in fact, a 'rebel'.

"The Rebel senator has not received our latest news on the zombie patch well...", he continued cautiously. "He is in fact representing what appears to be the large portion of the player-base, and...
"What will you do about it?" the Producer shot back before he could end the sentance.
"I was thinking perhaps removing him from the senate. It would then be followed by a long post on the forums detailing what has transpired: stirring up trouble, speaking against the community team, pointing out that zombies have no place in a Star Wars setting... Of course I intend to make it look as sympathetic and comprehensive as possible", he added as he searched for signs of approval.

The CM opened one of the folders and presented the action plan to the Producer, with due dates and actions to be taken by him.

"Gooood..." the Producer said as he was reading down the list. "Last thing we need are senators voicing their honest opinions, particularly if its echoed by the masses - impact?"
"The community will be once again reminded that 'excessive negativism' will not be tollerated, and the senate will be made an example of...", he pronounced with a grin. "Furthermore, I suspect some members of the senate might sympathise with him, and, if all goes as planned, we will divide the only section of the community which, up to this point, has mostly shown resilliance to change..."
"Very well".

Before the 'audience' was over, the Producer felt his day was finally making a turn for the better. He was smiling inside.

"Before you leave, please remind me of what we have done so far to meet the Emperor's wish"?

The CM leaned against his armchair. He looked at the ceiling in an attempt to bring his thoughts together and began to list their past endevours:

"We placed wings and hearts on Ewoks; we introduced spiders, pumpkins and bats on a halloween event; we have pushed for more instancing, namely battlefields, hoth and the dungeons; we have created the best loot players have asked for years and sold it to them via Trading Cards..." The list went on and when the Producer was finally convinced the meeting had been a complete success, the CM was dismissed.