Okay, we were a lot quicker than we thought! (See previous post for the expression of our gratitude for the discussion here.)

The questions cannot be answered at this stage, but the ideas can. Here is the concept worked on by the Roman scribes. Please read it through, and discuss!



The concept of neighbourhoods of Rome

The point is integrating several good suggestions per the criteria for the division on which neighbourhood one lives in, still trying to make sure it won't get too complex.

All the neighbourhoods would be in the city of Rome at this stage. We were thinking it would be a wonderful line to take if we could start with these, covering all the city and not only in part, and after a while, based on the interests and views of Romans, start spreading and starting colonies. Basically we can have the whole empire when there are thousands of active Romans, but the empire wasn't built in a day!

According to this scheme, Rome would be divided into nine neighbourhoods. Don't be frightened by the number before I tell you why! Rome is the biggest city at AncientWorlds and as it would be nice to

The neighbourhoods would be the seven ("historically accurate") hills of Rome (Capitolinus, Palatinus, Esquilinus, Quirinalis, Viminalis, Aventinus, Caelius) plus Campus Martius, and Transtiberim.

Capitolinus, one of the hills (including Forum Romanum) would be our city-centre where nobody actually lives. The Transtiberim (across the Tiber river) would be the area where newcomers, daylings and novices, reside until becoming citizens and being able to move to the area of their choosing. We can think of the 2200 sesterce limit, which one has to reach in order to become a citizen, also a limit for the member to get a "permanent" home in one of the hills. The Transtiberim where new members would automatically live would be our target of much happy welcomings and projects to make people feel welcome.

Palatinus, the palace hill, would serve as the home for our Roman demigods, probably us scribes too because we want to look flashy, and the richest patrons. Say, one has to reach 15,000 sesterces and one can, if one wishes, move to the Palatine.*

The rest, five hills and Campus Martius, would be the neighbourhoods citizens and patrons can choose from based on their interests. It would be far more beneficial to have the citizens pick their neighbourhood based on interests rather than, say, based on last names. People with similar last names or people who are all patrons or all citizens can be seen and met on the citizen listings and most prominently the ComPanel. People with similar interests are harder to track down.

Possible division of interests could be:
Latin and Roman literature
Arts and entertainment
Science, engineering, architecture, mathematics, etc.
War and military history
Religion, mythology, philosophy
Government, law, politics, economoy

Also, this suggestion entails the public constructions in areas (divided by interests) "house" Roman groups as well. For example, in the Campus Martius, the area we think could be for those whose interests are mainly in military and war history of Rome, groups such as "The Academy" and perhaps "Imperium" would reside - like, probably, many of the group's members. Same goes to all groups, based on their themes and the wishes of their leadership.

In the six areas of Rome where people, citizens and patrons, are divided by interest, there would still be a slight division between citizens and patrons. Namely, patrons, or their families, could live in domus - a full house - and citizens, or their families, in insulae, apartment buildings. This is not to annoy anyone, but to give patrons something they deserve for supporting the site.


How this could work in concreto

There have been lots of ideas for different things in concrete as well, such as adding a graphic of the neighbourhood to one's own page, and all of these are very good suggestions.

In Rome, the default neighbourhood for new members joining could be Transtiberim. Others - this could be done in free-form, or in the format in which groups are joined - could choose from the rest of the neighbourhoods.

What we thought is that this should still not resemble the group format. Here is an idea about how the Roman neighbourhoods could be visually represented.

On the Rome front page, there would be a map - like already on the Machu Picchu front page - and a listing (for those who cannot see graphics) of the neighbourhoods. Clicking on a neighbourhood-hill would take one to its page, which would first include a map of the whole area and a description of it (for the most part, about what kind of interests it houses).

Below this, on the same page, would be more low-scale maps of parts of that area, showing clearly individual buildings (such as "Aventinus North," "Aventinus South," etc.). Next to each area part map would be a listing of the individuals or families plus the groups or open boards the area houses. (Also the Roman open boards could be housed by constructions, preferably on the Forum Romanum at the Capitoline hill area.)

Clicking on a house on the maps would take one to another page about that house. If the building is a public one, the page would hopefully entail a description about it, its history, and images - in many occasions there are ready recreation images from the SPQR game! The public building page would also list the groups/boards the building "houses," and a description about them. Let's say the Temple of Mars at Campus Martius houses the Imperium group. Clicking on the temple on the map would take one to a page where the temple construction is described, and also the group residing there is described.

If one clicks on an insula, one would be taken to a similar sort of page with a listing of the individuals or families living there. Later on, these insulae could also include shops held by individuals - there could be an economy. Clicking on a domus would take one to a page describing who lives in the house - it is of course reasonable to think people can live as "families" with spouses, parents and children and brothers and sisters. Say, Max and Leah sharing a house. *G*


* Important note: because we do not wish this to diminish group activity, and considering the fact joining a group costs 250 sesterces, existing group memberships should count as 250 sesterces each.