Thanks for the active discussion! I am here replying and, well, defending the idea suggested by the scribes :-)


(1) The point Leela raised, one not being sure as to which to choose - well, I for one have to say I cannot clearly choose which area interests me the most. Many are so interesting! But the "barriers" of neighbourhoods should not be taken as too exclusive. We are all interested in Roman history - if we were more interested in Mesopotamian history, we would probably be Babylonians, right? And it is not like someone living in Campus Martius cannot discuss Latin ever again. A person who occupies a house in where the scientists, engineers and architects live can surely discuss Roman mythology as well.

This is just to help people meet others with similar interests. And I surely hope it will be a possibility to move from a neighbourhood to another, that the first choice would not be permanent but could be altered, in the way a group membership can.

In addition, other terms of division are not as promising is the one based on interest is. Division based on site currency might in many cases be dividing them by their site activity - which as such is of course a wonderful thing and should be recognised, but I think this kind of a division wouldn't be very helpful either. Division based on their last name will not help in any way either - and as a matter of fact, I would hate to see some of the families going all so more noble, say, the Sergii as opposed to us very humble Flavians. LOL


(2) What comes to the point Paullus brought up, that 9 is a high number, it is our firm belief that Rome, the biggest and rapidest-growing city at AW, can surely survive 9 neighbourhoods, especially considering the particular nature of three of them. There are enough Romans to be divided into six interest areas! That is only one in addition to the suggested five. Moreover, I feel it is only reasonable to have the city of Rome covered well and "historically" at first - not neglecting parts of the city.


(3) What comes to Pompeii and other possible areas - it is also my firm belief it is not yet time to build a whole empire. But if this plan is somewhat made true, I hope soon after we can see enough interest for expansion. In addition, I think it would be clever that people who already have a home in the city of Rome can also have villas and residences in other cities or areas. And Pompeii and Etruria would surely be the two places I would start developing after the city is covered.


(4) The idea behind this suggestion to arrange the housing slightly differently for the citizens and the patrons is that patronage still should be awarded. Please, let us not get into the patrons versus citizens discussion here! We all know how it is like. I have been a citizen for a long time, and I know how it feels and EVERYONE here, Jot included, knows what it is like. But two years ago this site was to become subscribers-only. We have come a long way and citizens are given at least something - I know, it might feel like not enough, but it IS something.

One of the ideas suggested in these discussions was that the citizens and patrons occupy different areas based on their social standards. We think that doesn't encourage community building and work together.

But as Paullus said, the patrons are the people without whom this site would not survive. And for their support, they should be awarded in some ways. The slight difference suggested here is, I think, a suitable way of encouraging the patrons but still taking the citizens into account in a democratic way.


I hope this answer appeases many concerns!