The Metropolis Project Charter (Draft Version)

This is a draft edition of the charter the project will adopt when it is formally incorporated. The contents are very much fluid and open to improvement, so please do not hesitate to leave a comment below with any questions, suggestions or criticism you might have.

Membership

Principles

Membership is based on making a contribution to the project, whether financial or otherwise, and allows a person to have a voice in the project's direction commensurate with the scope of their contribution.

Qualifications

A person can become a member in several different ways:

• Pledging and/or Donating: A pledge of at least 50 U.S. dollars will qualify a person for membership. Similarly, a donation of at least $50 will also qualify (see here for the difference between pledging and donating.) A combination of pledges and donations will also count towards membership, as long as the combined total is $50 or more.


The four types of membership.

• Subscription: A person can also qualify for membership by subscribing (that is, donating a set amount each month.) Subscribers can qualify for membership if the total annual value of their subscription is over $50. If the subscription is terminated before one year is up, (or before a total of $50 has been donated) the membership is cancelled; However, if the subscription continues beyond one year or exceeds $50 total donated, membership will continue even if the subscription is cancelled.
• Non-Financial Contributions: The project board may confer membership for other significant contributions to the project, such as volunteer work.

Levels

There will be four levels of membership in the project:

• Website Members: The most basic kind of membership, these are members who have registered on the website but not contributed otherwise.
• Pledge members: These are members who have pledged over $50, or whose total of pledges and donations exceeds $50.
• Shareholders: The highest level of membership, this consists of: People who have donated over $50; People who have been subscribers for at least one year, or whose donations by subscription total at least $50; Pledge Members who have confirmed their pledge (of at least $50) by providing payment information and giving permission to be billed directly when pledges are called in; or have a combined total of donations and confirmed pledges greater than $50.
• Special members: A special designation for people who have been awarded membership on the basis of a non-financial contribution.

Privileges

Each level of membership allows the member to participate in different parts of the project. Each level also includes the benefits of those below it (i.e. everyone can post to the website):

• Website Members can post on the site forums and contribute to discussions, but don't have any actual say in the project's direction.
• Pledge Members and Special Members can take part in deciding what the game will be like. They are able to vote on the game features forum and in general referendums.
• Shareholders, having made a concrete commitment to the project, will have the highest level of privileges. They are able to vote on game features; They are also allowed propose and vote on motions for referendum, and vote in the referendums themselves. Shareholders also have a say in the selection of the project leadership: they may nominate and vote for board candidates in the Nomination forum, and vote in general board elections. Lastly, shareholders are the only members eligible to hold multiple shares, as described below.

Multiple Shares

A member who makes a large contribution can acquire multiple voting shares, allowing them to vote multiple times in things like elections and to have a greater allocation of votes for game features. To acquire multiple shares, a member has to be a shareholder; Pledge members can only hold one share regardless to the size of their pledge. The number of shares is determined by the total of confirmed pledges and donations, on a pattern like this:

Terms (Time Limits)

Membership in the project is limited to a set period of time, which varies based on several factors:

• Registration on the website does not expire at all.
• Pledge membership expires at the point where the budget goal is reached and the pledges are called in (Members who honor their pledge become full Shareholders, those who don't have their membership cancelled and their prior votes invalidated.)
• Shareholder membership based on pledges or donations expires when the project is released (see Release Criteria.)
• Shareholder membership based on a subscription continues indefinitely until the subscription is cancelled. The subscription amount required to qualify may be reduced post-release.

Voting

Voting on the project is divided into three areas:

General Voting

The General voting section is intended as a place for large decisions relating to the project's overall direction. It will be divided into two subsections: Motions and Referendums.

Motions are proposals for referendum votes. They take the form of a yes/no or multiple choice proposal to be presented to the community. The actual votes for the motion, however, will be on a +1 basis. In other words, a member who supports bringing the question to a full vote will have one vote per share to vote for the motion (abstentions having no effect), which will be given a rating based on the total number of positive votes. Motions which accumulate a certain number of positive votes will be considered "seconded" and the question they contain will become a referendum item. Motions do not expire unless the proposer withdraws them, or the proposal they contain becomes obsolete. Both proposing on and voting for motions is limited to Shareholders.

Referendums are general votes, open to any Pledge Member or Shareholder; holders of multiple shares will have their vote weighted at that multiple. The individual votes can be either yes/no or multiple choice, depending on the motion proposed. The votes will be open for a preiod of one month after the motion is seconded. Referendums will pass based on the type of vote: an issue vote will pass with a simple majority, with abstentions having no effect. A motion to make changes to the project charter, on the other hand, will need to pass with three-fourths of the vote, abstentions being considered as votes for the status quo.

There are also several special votes which are included in the general voting area: One is a vote of No Confidence in the current project board (as described below.) Another is the final vote for the game's release. The others are the votes for developer selection as described here.

Design Voting

The Design area is where members can directly influence the game design. It's open to all Pledge Members and Shareholders, although only Shareholders are allowed to propose new features. There will be two subsections of this area: the main Features area and a smaller area for Decisions.

Features are individual elements of the game, presented in a set format (as a developer might say, they are "user stories.") They will remain open indefinitely. Members will be able to express a preference for the features they believe are most important; These highly-rated features will become part of the Mandate. Moderators will be appointed to make sure individual proposals are appropriate in scope (i.e., one proposal = one feature, not a huge wishlist.) Voting will be on a +/-1 format similar to that used on Stack Exchange sites, in which members would have one vote per share on any item, which could be either positive or negative.

Another part of the Design area will be the Decisions forum. This is a special area for issues on which a choice is necessary. For example, there might be two equally popular features in the Features area which are incompatible in their implementation. In this case, the moderators could create a decision vote between the two features to show which is preferred.

The Design area will also be open for the developers to propose features and decisions, as in cases where several design choices are possible and they would like direct feedback from the community.

Finally, it should be noted that the contents of the Design forums will change once the developer is selected and the game is feature-frozen for development. At that point, the Features area will be replaced by the voting area for release criteria, as described here.

Leadership Voting

The final area of voting is the Leadership area, where the project members can select the Board of Directors that will oversee the project. Both will be open only to Shareholders. Leadership voting will be spread over two forums, Nomination and Elections.

The Nominations area will be a place for individual members to put forth their name as a candidate. A nomination will have a standard format, including basic information about the candidate and statements about their qualifications, goals and vision for the project. Votes on nominations will be on a +1 basis, in the same fashion as the Motions forum. A nominee who receives enough votes will be moved to the Election area as an official candidate. At this point, they would also be required to verify any information about their experience, qualifications, etc. that appeared in their nominee profile.

The Elections forum will be opened when it becomes time for a general board election or by-election. The vote will take place as desribed below in the Board of Directors section.

The Board of Directors

The Board of Directors constitutes the project's leadership body.

Composition

Eligibility: In principle, anyone can become a director if they are nominated and elected. There is only one major restriction on board membership: Members of the development team can't be board members (and conversely, current board members are ineligible to become the lead developer.) This is to avoid conflicts of interest between the dev team and the shareholders.

Number of Members: The only definite requirement for the number of directors is that there should be an odd number, to avoid tied votes. The board will begin with five members, but will be able to expand its membership in even-numbered increments with a majority vote. New board candidates will be subject to member approval in the Elections forum.

Election and Term

Nominations: Board members will be selected from a pool of candidates determined by nomination. Candidates can be nominated in three ways: First, by being selected in the general Nominations forum. Second, by being recommended by the existing board. Third, incumbent board members who wish to continue serving following a dissolution will be nominated automatically when a new election is held.

Initial Election: After the project is incorporated, a provisional, three-member board will be appointed to oversee the initial setup. When that's done, a general board election whill be held. Members will be have five votes per share to distribute among the pool of candidates. The five candidates with the most votes will be elected to the board. The candidate with the highest total will become the board chairman.

By-elections: After the initial election, there are two special cases where additional by-elections may be necessary. The first is the resignation of one of the existing directors; In this case, an election will be scheduled for the open seat. The board will be able to nominate a replacement, but is not required to. The second case would be following a board decision to add new board members. New seats will have to be added in multiples of two (to maintain an odd-numbered total), and the board should nominate candidates for the new seats and explain why new members are needed. The community will vote on each candidate on a yes/no basis; abstentions will be counted as yes votes. Candidates from the nomination forum may also participate in these elections as alternate choices.

Dissolution: If a no confidence motion becomes a general referendum and is passed by the community, the Board of Directors will dissolve and a new general election will be held. Incumbent directors will be allowed to stand for re-election.

Structure

The board will initially have five directors, with one serving as chairman. The directors can form committees for whatever tasks become necessary, but there are three important ones that will exist from the beginning:

Executive Committee: The executive committee is the main "working" committee, overseeing the day-to-day operations of the project and creating a budget. If the project's chief executive is not also a director, he or she will be included in this committee.

Nominating Committee: The nominating committee will be responsible for determining if new board members are needed, and finding suitable candidates.

Audit and Compensation Committee: The audit committee will oversee the project's finances and be responsible for conducting annual audits, as well as setting the salary for the project's full-time employees. If the chief executive is also a board member, he or she will be barred from serving on this committee.

Responsibilities

The board will, in general, be responsible for making sure the goals of the projects are met and the interests of the members are respected. Specifically, their main responsibilities will be:

Oversight: The main task of the directors will be evaluating the performance of the project team and making sure that progress on the game is meeting expectations. This involves both setting targets and making sure they've been completed, as well as reviewing the work of the project management.

Budget Approval: The board will be responsible for approving the production budgets set by management, and auditing the project's finances. Compensation for management will also be set by the board; The Compensation committee will make a recommendation which the full board will vote on.

Community Relations: Another important responsibility is keeping the community up to date on the game's progress, and making sure the members' voices are being heard. The board will also be able to create votes in the Referendum forum to look for community input on important issues.

Transparency: It's vitally important that there be an open dialogue between the dev team and the community, and the board will be responsible for facilitating this. They will provide regular updates on the state of development, and make sure the community's questions are answered. Also, a detailed record of board meetings will be kept, including the voting record of individual directors, which will be made public.