To Award or Not to Award
Senate Debates Darcness's Ovation
By Lime
In her final speech to the region as First Minister, Dax awarded three individuals including nominating Senator Darcness for an Ovation. In her speech, Dax spoke of Darcness’s service in all three branches of government serving as a President, Vice President, Cabinet Minister, Justice and Senator. Dax also spoke of Darcness’s work as an admin stating that “he's MOST notably served our region as an admin.” Many citizens congratulated Darcness in response to Dax’s speech with most calling it a deserving honour and this suggested that his confirmation in the Senate would pass easily. However, his nomination for an Ovation has received a more even-handed response from the Senate.Senate Debates Darcness's Ovation
By Lime
While the first five Senators to speak after Darcness’s nomination were supportive of the Ovation, Senator Sopo took a different stance. He argued that the region has firmly made sure that the Admin Team and Outside of Character (OOC) matters are made separate from In Character (IC) matters, including the work of our roleplay government, and therefore this should extend to our awards as well. He noted that Dax’s primary motivate for nominating Darcness was because of his work as an admin and while Sopo made clear that he highly valued Darcness’s work as an admin, he argued that the OCC/IC divide must be clearly maintained and that therefore any consideration of Darcness for an ovation should be based on his IC work and not his work as an admin. Sopo even provided a short Discord transcript where Darcness himself says “Most of my 'important' stuff is OOC. Getting an IC honor for that would be weird.” Sopo then hinted at his opposition at awarding the Ovation, stating “I don't think Darc's in-character work has yet seen its peak.”
Following Senator Sopo’s comments, Senator Prim said that he was still in favour of the Ovation, saying that he considered awarding Darcness an Ovation during his term as Chief of State. He did, however, concede that if Darcness himself did not believe his IC actions were deserving of an award then that discussion should be allowed. Senator Calvin Coolidge admitted that he felt “hesitant” at giving an IC award for OOC actions but argued that this has precedent, highlighting Chief of State Pichtonia awarding the entire Admin Team the Order of Republica when he served as First Minister. He stated that he was willing to have a discussion about ending this precedent but argued that Darcness’s IC actions were still deserving enough of an Ovation. First Minister Dax then repeated many of the points Senator Calvin had made, arguing that precedent for this existed, highlighting the actions of former First Minister Pichtonia, while also stating that the Ovation of r3n was largely based around his work as an admin. She then argued that to end this precedent during Darcness’s nomination and only recognising him for his political actions would result in a “lost opportunity to celebrate his many, many contributions.”
Senator Deepest House argued that the cases brought up as precedent were historical outliners and that overall, such a nomination for an IC award based mainly upon OOC actions was unusual. However, he also argued that Darcness had served his political career with distinction and while he questioned if an Ovation was being granted too early in Darcness’s career, he said he would not oppose granting Dracness an Ovation. Senator Darcness himself took to the floor after Senator Deepest House and gave a dramatic first line, stating “I think awards for administrative work can be... dangerous.” He argued that the nomination by Pichtonia was “borderline” acceptable because the award went to a group rather than one individual. Referring to the Ovation of r3n he highlighted that since r3n’s Ovation the Admin Team has been far clearer on the IC/OCC divide and that while he himself likely would have voted in favour of r3n’s Ovation at the time, had such an Ovation been proposed today he would be unsure if he would vote in favour of it. He concluded by reminding Senators that both he and r3n had completed great political work within the region as well as their work as admins and stated that he was open to questions that Senators may have regarding his political work.
Speaker Lloenflys is currently the last Senator to comment on the nomination. He told the Senate floor that he did not see a clear black and white line between IC and OOC, and that both his IC and OOC personas were the same person. While he stated that he understood why some players within the region wanted a clear line between IC and OOC especially with regards to admin work, he argued that Darcness’s work as an admin was “no less an element of our [IC] experience as the maintenance guy who keeps the lights on in the United States Senate is.” Therefore, he argued an IC award such as an Ovation was acceptable as recognition of OOC work. He concluded his time on the Senate floor by stating that he would vote in favour of awarding Darcness an Ovation.
EuroWeekly has reviewed the current discussion within the Senate surrounding Darcness’s Ovation and has ranked each Senator on how likely they are to vote in favour of awarding the Ovation.
| Predictions | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Solid Aye | Lean Aye | Abstain | Lean Nay | Nay |
| Lloenflys Calvin Coolidge Prim Peeps Olde Delaware | Deepest House Rotasu | Darcness | Sopo | |
Speaker Lloenflys has said on the Senate floor that he will vote in favour of the Ovation while both Senators Calvin Coolidge and Prim have indirectly made clear that they will vote in favour. Senators Peeps and Olde Delaware have not commented since Senator Sopo raised his concerns, however both stated that they would vote in favour when the Ovation was first proposed, and it seems unlikely that they will have changed their minds. Senator Deepest House has said that he would not oppose the Ovation, but he has not said that he would vote in favour of the Ovation. Because he has not directly said he would in favour of the Ovation and overall he appears neutral towards it, we cannot rule out an “Abstain” vote from Senator Deepest House, and while we believe he will likely vote in favour we are not confident enough to place him in the “Solid Aye” category. Senator Rotasu has not spoken on the Senate floor regarding the Ovation however has liked the comments in favour of the Ovation made by Speaker Lloenflys. Therefore, we find it very likely that Senator Rotasu will vote in favour, but we cannot make a full prediction until Senator Rotasu comments on the matter himself. Senator Darcness, following tradition, has stated that he will vote “Abstain” on his nomination, placing him solidly on the “Abstain” ranking. Senator Sopo appears to be the only Senator that may oppose the Ovation. While he has not explicitly said how he will vote, he has raised concerns about the nomination and hinted that he would oppose it. However, he could still abstain from the vote and has not made explicitly clear that he will oppose the Ovation.
EuroWeekly will continue to monitor the discussion on the Senate floor and will inform our readers of any major developments.
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