Civic life

What this is

Civic life is the everyday business of the towns: rating your mayor, raising matters at the town meeting, sitting on a jury, walking a neighbourhood watch shift, answering the question of the day, and hearing from your family back home. Most of it is new every day or every week, so there is always something waiting when you come back.

Everything you do here earns civic marks. Civic marks are not points; they are your record as a citizen, and they decide your standing in town.

Where to find it

Open the game menu, choose Village life, then Town and law. Every part of civic life sits inside the menu it belongs to:

The Governor's Mansion: the town today, the petition box, and proclamations.

Mayor, then choose a map: approval, the mayor's word, town projects and the town meeting agenda.

Notice board and local rules: the pinned notice, neighbourhood watch, your letter from home, your citizen's record and the weekly civic marks.

Courts, contests and what people want next: jury duty and the case of the week. Inside it, Ideas from players holds the question of the day.

Your radio: use the walkie talkie from your bag for call signs, the channel scan, the roger beep and your group chats.

The town today

In the Governor's Mansion, choose The town today. It reads you one page with everything that matters: the governor's latest proclamation, your map's mayor and their approval, the mayor's word for today, the pinned notice, the town project, and what is still waiting for you today.

The petition box

Once a day you can hand in a petition to the governor: a short request or idea, in a sentence or two. When the governor answers it, the answer comes to you as a letter and is posted in the mansion for everybody to read. The governor and the deputy find the waiting petitions in the same mansion menu.

Proclamations

The governor and the deputy can issue a proclamation to the whole land, at most once every six hours. It is read out to everybody, written into the governor's public book, and players who were away hear it once when they next come in.

Rating your mayor

While you are on a map that has a mayor, you can give the mayor your rating once a day: approve or disapprove. The mayor's menu shows the approval over the last seven days, and how many people rated. The first rating each day gives you ten points.

The mayor's word

The mayor can give the town a word for the day: news, plans, a thank you. Everybody on the map hears it, and anybody arriving that day hears it when they come in.

Town projects

Every map has a town project, such as benches around the square or a footbridge over the stream. Anybody standing on that map can give 50, 100, 250 or 500 points towards it, up to 1000 points a day. These points are spent; they go to the town, not to a person. When the goal is reached the project is finished, everybody on the map hears it, and the next project begins. You can see what has been built and who gave the most.

Once a week you can vote for which project comes next. Projects never built before always come first.

The town meeting

Each map has a meeting agenda that starts fresh every Monday. Once a week you can raise one matter, in a sentence. Other people on the map can back it, and the mayor answers each matter on the record. When the mayor answers, the answer comes to you as a letter. There is room for eight matters a week.

Jury duty

Every day a new case waits for you. You hear what the person is accused of and three things the court heard. Listen carefully, then decide: guilty or not guilty. Every case has a right answer hidden in what was said. Serving gives you points, and more when your verdict is right. Your record keeps count of your right verdicts in a row.

The case of the week

Each week there is one bigger mystery with four suspects. A new statement comes out every day from Monday to Saturday. Name the one you think did it; you can change your mind until Sunday night. When the new week begins, everybody who named the right person is rewarded, and you are told who it was and why.

The question of the day

A light question with a few answers, new every day. Answer it once a day, then guess which answer most people will pick. The next day you hear the results, and a right guess is rewarded. Answering seven days in a row gives a small extra reward.

The pinned notice

The mayor can pin one notice to the top of the notice board for seven days. It is read first on the board, and everybody arriving on the map hears it once.

Neighbourhood watch

Once a day you can take a ten minute watch shift on the map you are on. Walk your streets. About every two minutes something needs your attention, and a menu asks what you do. Choose the kindest, most sensible answer. You must keep moving, at least ten steps between calls, and stay on the same map; leaving the map ends your shift. If you leave the game halfway, you can start the shift again the same day. Five calls make a full shift, and you are rewarded for every call you handled well.

Letter from home

Every day a letter from your family arrives in your letters when you come in, with a few points tucked inside. If it did not arrive, open the notice board menu and choose the letter from home.

Your citizen's record

Civic marks come from jury duty, watch shifts, rating your mayor, the question of the day, petitions, town projects, the town meeting and the case of the week. As they add up your standing grows: Newcomer, Resident, Good neighbour, Trusted citizen, Pillar of the community, and Town elder. Your record shows your standing and everything you have done.

Citizen of the week

The notice board menu lists who has earned the most civic marks this week. When the week ends on Sunday night, the top name is announced as citizen of the week and receives 300 points. You can switch this announcement off in Privacy options.

Your radio

Use the walkie talkie from your bag. You can choose a call sign, such as Eagle One, and people on your channel hear your call sign with your name after it. The channel scan tells you which of the nine channels are busy and how many radios are listening. The roger beep plays a short beep for everybody listening when you finish speaking. You can also hear a list of your group chats and who in each one is in the game now.

Rewards

Civic rewards are small and have a daily limit of 500 points for each player. Nothing here gives credit.