About the Galactic Senate

Galactic Senators are community representatives that work in tandem with the SWG Restoration Development Team to help shape the future of Star Wars Galaxies Restoration. The Galactic Senate plays a crucial role in the overall success and development of the server by allowing real, dedicated players to have a direct line of communication with the Development Team and provide experience and knowledge that is often missing from the development process. Player perspective is invaluable to the Development Team, and the Galactic Senate is often the only way that the Development Team can get that perspective. Throughout the years the Galactic Senate has helped shape countless features and changes to the game, and has been a vital part of the overall success of the project.

The roles of the Galactic Senate include:

1. Helping the Development Team prioritize items on the roadmap, important bug fixes related to their constituency, and Player Voice suggestions from the community.
2. Representing the interests of their constituencies by acting as a collective voice, consolidating the vast amounts of feedback and suggestions from the community into actionable items for the Development Team, using their own personal skills and experiences to best represent their constituency.
3. Acting as a group sounding board and focus group for the Development Team by participating in advance briefings or early tests to provide feedback on new concepts or changes.
4. Raising relevant in-game issues that Staff may not be aware of, and doing their best to talk sense into the Development Team when necessary.

Senators are not responsible for voting on or approving ideas or changes, rather they help the Development Team focus on specific items and provide feedback. General suggestions are crowdsourced through PlayerVoice, where any member of the community can share ideas for changes to the game for voting by the community, which Senators can then advocate for directly.

Terms in Office

Senators are elected for a 6-month term. The terms for the current Calendar Year are:

• Term 1: March 1, 2025 to August 30, 2025
• Term 2: August 31, 2025 to March 1, 2026

Senate Seats and Constituencies

Senators are elected to represent groups of players by their playstyles. There are a total of nine elected seats which represent players as follows:

• Combat Senator: Represents the intricacies of overall combat balance and skill tree related issues. As needed, they will also be able to call upon Combat Envoys to represent specific combat playstyles.
• Specialist Senator: Represents the needs of profession-specific content like Bounty Hunting, Slicing/Underworld, Creature handling/taming, Scouting, and so on.
• Force Sensitive: Represents the needs of Force Sensitive and Jedi players, the unlock process and visibiltiy mechanics, Force Ranking System, and the Inquisitorius.
• Social Senator: Represents the social features and playstyles, such as Entertainer, Chronicler, Storyteller, Guilds, Player Cities, Roleplay, and Events.
• Crafting Senator: Represents all Crafting playstyles, such as the Artisan professions, Bio-Engineering, Reverse Engineering, Resources, and the Player Economy.
• Space Senator: Represents all JtL playstyles, such as space PvP, PvE, Ace Pilot systems, and Ship Parts.
• PvE Senator: Represents all general ground PvE oriented playstyles, including endgame instances and loot systems.
• Imperial Senator: Represents the needs of the Empire in the Galactic Civil War.
• Rebel Senator: Represents the needs of the Rebellion in the Galactic Civil War.

In addition, there are a few optional Special Envoy seats which may be filled by special processes, such as staff selection or Senate vote. They may overlap with other Senate roles as well, or remain unfilled, depending on circumstances. They are:

• New Player Experience Envoy: Represents the needs of any new players, including the Helper community program, tutorials, and other introductory game content.
• DPS Envoy: Represents the Damage focused professions of the Combat Diamond: Commando, Berserker, Sniper, and Fencer.
• Crowd Control Envoy: Represents the Crowd Control focused professions of the Combat Diamond: Pistoleer, Ranger, Smuggler, and Carbineer.
• Tanking Envoy: Represents the Tanking focused professions of the Combat Diamond: Lancer, Teras Kasi Artist, and Bounty Hunter.
• Healing/Support Envoy: Represents the Healing and Support focused professions of the Combat Diamond: Doctor, Combat Medic, and Squad Leader.
• Distinguished Representative to the Senior Advisor for Development: Advocates for the needs of Aconite.

Eligibility for Office

In order to run for and maintain a seat in the Galactic Senate, a player must:

1. Have been actively playing for the last six (6) months. Each nomination will be evaluated individually, but a general rule would be an average of 5 hours of playtime per week over the course of the last six months.
2. Not have any recent disciplinary actions taken against their account.
3. Have regular availability to participate in ongoing discussions in Discord.
4. Agree to follow and continually adhere to the Galactic Senator non-disclosure agreeement.
5. Note that the Staff may exercise reasonable discretion in not accepting a nomination based on other circumstances not listed here.
6. Senators are limited to two consecutive terms in the same role. After two terms, they must either have a break in service of one term or may run for a different seat, but under no circumstances may they hold the same seat for more than two terms in a row.

The Nominations and Elections Process

Nominations open before the following senate term starts. Any player may nominate themselves. After the nomination period closes, all candidates are announced.

During the campaign period, candidates have the opportunity to share a position statement with the community and run campaign activities. The Staff may coordinate specific opportunities for all candidates, but most campaigning is entirely up to the candidate themselves.

Everyone is limited to casting ballots once per seat per account. In other words, your account can only vote for each senate role once, regardless of what professions each character on the account qualifies to vote for. This includes the seats for which all characters may vote.

Candidates must be elected by an absolute majority of votes, not a plurality. Meaning, a candidate must have greater than 50% of the total votes cast to be elected. In the event of a tie between two candidates where they are more than two candidates or a non-majority, a runoff election will be held to determine the winner among the two candidates with the most votes cast for them of the candidates.

If after a runoff election has occurred and no candidate has the majority, the senators that were elected by majority will vote to determine who will win the seat. In the event of a tie of the elected senators in determining the winner, the Staff will cast the tie breaking vote.

The winners will be announced after voting has closed and a special server-wide event for the inauguration of senators will take place the first day of their term.

Senator Benefits of Service

For their service, Galactic Senators receive the following benefits:

• All characters on the account of an elected Galactic Senator will have an overhead title tag “(Galactic Senator)” appear above their name. This title tag is not removable, appears on all characters, and does not use the “Character Title” slot. When a Senator is no longer in office, they will receive a “Former Galactic Senator” character title and will no longer have the overhead title tag that is reserved for Senators currently in office.
• All Senators, upon inauguration, will receive on a character of their choice, a Senate Pod Vehicle, which is an exclusive, permanent vehicle reward available only to elected Senators.
• Senators are identified in Discord with a gold name.
• A single Senator each term is awarded the Senate Medallion of Superior Service by the Development Team in recognition of a Senator who has gone above and beyond their duties to support the project and development initiatives. The medallion is a unique, wearable medallion awarded to all characters of the Senator's account and features a one-time customizable stat mod.

Senator Non-Disclosure Policy

Senate meetings and conversations with the Development Team are confidential, as is any other information that may be shared with a Senator that is not widely public knowledge. Senators who breach confidentiality will not only be violating the credence of the Senate program but also our Terms of Service and will be subject to disciplinary action.

Inactivity

Senators are valuable to both the development team, and the community - as such they are expected to remain active for the length of their term. Going 35 days without logging into the game or notifying their fellow senators of their absence may result in removal from office.

Complaints and Disputes Regarding Senators

In general, the Development Team will not intervene in complaints about Galactic Senators unless conduct amounts to violations of these policies or our Terms of Service. The Development Team believes the appropriate recourse for players who are unhappy with their Senator is to take their frustration to the ballot box during the next voting period. Notwithstanding, the Development Team reserves the right to intervene in any conduct which could potentially harm the integrity of the senate program or project and may change the program guidelines at any time.

Removal From and Vacancies in Office

Senators are representatives of our community. As such, misconduct resulting in infractions or suspensions, inactivity, breaching confidentiality, or participating in any other behavior that would reflect negatively on the SWG Restoration project may result in dismissal from the Galactic Senate program. If a senator has been removed from or leaves office, The Development Team, in consultation with the Senate, will determine an appropriate course of action to ensure the constituents maintain their representation and senate activities are without disruption.

Past Senators

Spring 2022

• GCW: Drak
• Melee: Rozay
• Medic: Ralna
• Ranged: Oxian
• Social: Skyde*
• Artisan: Suma
• Outdoors: C4rp3 Noctum
• Space: Narmy
• Hybrid: Silayn
• PvP: Rohlan

Fall 2022

• GCW: DJ Gonk
• Melee: Rozay
• Medic: Ralna
• Ranged: Remis
• Social: Skyde
• Comms. Programs: Seilene
• Artisan: SoloWest*
• Outdoors: Latt
• Space: Jinx
• Hybrid: Prudii
• PvP: Rohlan

Spring 2023

• GCW: Pete
• Melee: Banth
• Medic: Ralna
• Ranged: Remis
• Social: Daesha
• Comms. Programs: Daesha
• Force Sensitive: Rohlan
• Artisan: PhilmorALF*
• Outdoors: Lootenant Dan
• Space: Sabatho
• Hybrid: Colonel Meow
• PvP: Volkish

Fall 2023

• GCW: Versatti
• Melee: Azkul
• Medic: Civic
• Ranged: Kreeve
• Social: Ludd
• Comms. Programs: Nurian
• Force Sensitive: Booyai
• Artisan: PhilmorALF
• Outdoors: Killaprawn
• Space: Skeptaria
• Hybrid: Shintu
• PvP: Telrain
• New Player Experience: Banth*

Spring 2024

• GCW: Telrain
• Combat: Remis
• Science: Dagis
• Social: Rinna
• Force Sensitive: Booyai*
• Artisan: PhilmorALF
• Outdoors: Pansuri
• Space: Illesia

Fall 2024

• Melee Combat: Ventus
• Ranged Combat: Encore
• Support Combat: Fezix
• Outdoors: Tawa
• Social: Daesha'fenn
• Crafting: Yarr
• Space: Maxal
• PvE: Chupa*
• PvP: Mindova
• New Player Experience (Envoy): Banth
• Force Sensitive (Envoy): Booyai
• Normie (Envoy): Azkul
• DRSAD (Envoy): PhilmorALF

*Denotes winner of the Senate Medallion of Superior Service