ROMA Gets Its First Social Groups (Late 06)

From ROMA Scribae

[[ This is the first part of a submission for Archaeolog archaeology blog (archaeology.org), but was too long so was much much cut down for the first part of an interview Torin did there. The uncut version here gives a good creator’s history of ROMA. ]]

Torin Golding:

"ROMA began to attract regulars. One day I was approached by a group of individuals who had started a Roman legion recreation group in SL. They wanted to set up a permanent home in the sim. I worked with their founder, Vectus Margulis, to give them a recruitment table in ROMA’s main plaza. That was the start of Citizen-run groups associated with the sim. Today we have over 20 different sanctioned Citizen-run groups, including a few other military ones such as cavalry soldiers, a navy, Praetorian Guards, a contingent of Amazons, a gladiator school, and Germanic barbarian tribes, and groups founded for mainly social purposes such as patrician family groups and one for gay and lesbian Citizens. "

"Additionally we also have a range of ‘official’ groups run directly by me and my associates that Citizens can join to enhance their participation in the sim and its events including a College of Priests and Priestesses, the ROMA Senate, a group of Entertainers, and a group for scholars of the ancient world. The College organizes ROMA’s festival events every month (see below) and often call upon artists, musicians, dancers, and actors of the ROMA Entertainers’ group to perform during them. The Senate also holds regular meetings to discuss sim issues and sponsors a weekly social on Fridays called the “Ave Weekend” party. The ROMA Scholastica Antiqua group organizes ancient language instruction and monthly research colloquia."

"These groups have presented specific challenges to the running of the sim. I have endeavored to maintain tight control on the public face of the sim. In SL it is often difficult to identify who is actually doing what, and who makes the decisions in any particular area. From the start I made it clear to our Citizens that without a clear hierarchy or with too many people trying to play boss, the sim would not survive. The schizophrenia of a place like the CDS Roman sim would make ROMA incredibly difficult to manage. So I drew up regulations that Citizen-run groups had to follow to be allowed to operate in the world I had created. My intent was to find a way to mutually support each other. In running their groups they had to agree to a code of conduct and make it very clear in their group description and organization that they were not officially part of the management of the sim. Even the so-called ‘official groups’ are not part of the decision-making process of the sim directly. As ROMA has grown, this strategy has paid off. Everyone knows who calls the shots and even with over a thousand Citizens, there are clear lines of organization and management."

"My official title in the sim is ‘City Prefect’. There is one authority above me, and that is the Emperor Julian Augustus. While that avatar does not normally take a direct role in the day to day management of the sim, he is the ultimate authority. This allows me to be the public face of management in the sim, endeavoring to act fairly and responsibly, yet with still a further level of absolute authority with even more of an authoritative voice."

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