Government

In Eco world, players can group together to create the leadership of the world they are on. Governments can range from extremely overbearing and intrusive to very minimalist based on how the players would like their government to act. As of now the government is responsible for the whole planet. Only one government can be active (which one is determined by house volume and tier of the room around the Capitol).

A governments main methods of interacting with the world is through Laws which can be set and altered by players who are permitted by the law to do so, and Taxes which can encourage or discourage certain actions based on what the government wants.

In theory one can create any type of government (democracy, dictatorship (autocracy), oligarchy, monarchy, technocracy). But since Eco starts as a basic democracy and a change must be approved by a majority of the players, it is most likely to sustain a democracy.

Government and politics in Eco is similar to the real world. BUT:

• players in Eco have a real life
• players in Eco can always decide to leave the server and play on a different one
• societies in Eco are quite small in general. Social effects will probably differ from real world (bigger impact, more dynamic)

Keep those three facts in mind when trying to apply real world theories (same is valid for economical topics).

A major concern for many governments is how to distribute the currency they have collected as taxes. Hoarding has either no effect (for player credit) or slows down and finally stops the economy (government minted global currency). One way to distribute money can be by offering public contracts (e.g. for building roads or public buildings). Sometimes, government sets up laws that pay people money for placing roads in certain areas of the map.

Constitution

The Constitution is the start of a new government. It defines the basic process for elections. The predefined Constitution is a basic democracy, which means that all changes to Laws, Demographics, District Maps, Elected Titles, Executive Actions and the Election Process must be approved by a majority of all players. These rules can be changed before the constitution is proposed.

A constitution is defined in a Capitol. Once the constitution has been proposed, all players have 24 hours to vote on it. If the majority of players have voted "yes", the constitution becomes effective.

Elections

The currently active constitution defines how elections work. If there is no constitution, a vote for a new constitution works as follows: Every player has 24h to vote "Yes" or "No". If 24h are over, or more then 50% of the players voted yes, the constitution will be accepted.

Elections are usually initiated at the appropriate government table (Government Office, Court, etc.). Elections for Elected Titles, on the other hand, are started at a Ballot Box. At the ballot box, any qualified player can run for an office for which an election is being held.

The voting itself is done in the Web Interface. There, a comment function can also be used to discuss the individual elections and optionally substantiate the argument with statistical evidence (in the form of graphs).

Laws

Laws are proposed at a Court. They are a comprehensive tool to influence the game mechanics of the eco server. Players can define rules via a simple "if X happens, then do Y" ruleset, which - if the law takes effect - will be applied to all players on the server.

For example, it is possible to tax or even prevent the hunting of certain animals or confiscate the properties of inactive players.

How the election process of a law works is determined by the constitution.

Elected Titles

Elected Titles are defined in the Government Office. A popular example would be a head of state (e.g. President).

Elected Titles can be granted a variety of rights, such as access to the treasury. In addition, the Elected Title can be used in other modules of the government (e.g. to give the President veto rights over proposed laws).

Treasury & Taxes

There are currently 4 types of taxes, all of which are deposited directly into the Treasury bank account:

• Sales Tax
  Customer pays tax for everything they sell, store owner pays tax for everything a customer sells, reducing total transaction outcome by equalizing selling and buying will not reduce tax
• Crafting Fee Tax
  When charging a fee for using their crafting station, the owner will be taxed
• Contract Tax
  When finishing a contract, the participants that receives payment will be taxed
• Direct Transfer Tax
  From bank account to bank account. People might transfer directly to each other in order to prevent being taxed. But if you tax this too much, using multiple bank accounts for the same player will be useless. Normally, the tax evasion risk is not big, so you better keep this tax low or even zero.

Districts

Districts are part of the laws system in ECO. They allow for laws that apply to certain areas only. Districts can be created or edited through a law proposal.

This is the process to create a new district:

• Log into the ECO client
• Go to the law menu (Default hotkey: L)

This takes you to the server web page

• Propose Law
• Set clause to: 'On law passed' instead of 'Prevent Action'
• Choose 'Redefine districts'
• Next to the map, click 'Add New District'

You can now color the areas you wish to define as part of the new district using the map itself.