Congratulations! You've just been successfully voted into Mayor job! But what will you do with your city? In this article, we'll cover a few of the Mayor's powers, general archetypes, responsibilities, and rules. I'll also give varying suggestions and opinions on how to best lead your city into a brighter future, a chaotic anarchy, or a submissive collective. The choice is yours! So, what do you say, Mr. Mayor? Ready to get started on your term in office?


First things first, when making the transition into office, let the public know what the laws will be as soon as possible. The people like to know the boundaries of the legal system so they can follow (Or break them) to the best of their ability. These could be default laws, an alteration of default laws, or laws made entirely by you or your citizens! When setting laws in place within your city, a general pattern is:

• Guns - People like to know what they can and can't have in public. Guns are a major part of most citizens' lives.


• Drugs - Nearly as important as guns, dealers and citizens alike need to know what they can and can't be seen selling/buying!


• Other - With the more pertinent laws out of the way, it's a good time to set out a few of your own custom laws. These will be covered later in this tutorial

It's a good idea (If you're of Respected rank or higher) to place your laws in an easily-readable spot on a Textscreen. (Textscreen can be found the Tools menu under "Del's Tools" along with Keypad and Fading Door.) This makes things convenient for players who are just joining or didn't get to hear the laws for some other reason.


As the Mayor, you're almost always the center of some kind of attention; whether it's positive or negative is up to you. Here, we're going to cover some things that can make or break your reputation. Decisions will always have consequences, and not everyone can be appeased by the choices you make when governing your city. High on the list of popularity is what laws you've put in place. Let's face it - people love freedom. Take that away from them, and they're going to react harshly (Or even violently)! But remember: For every action, there's an equal and opposite reaction. Let's take a look at a few examples of causes and effects to see what I mean.

Cause: You set a law in motion that makes all weapons illegal.
Effect: The CP become more actively involved with protecting you, as you gave them a more interesting job. Crime plummets as the officers work increasingly more efficiently.
Effect: The Red and Blue gangs are outraged, and opt to try to assassinate you (Or hire someone else to do it for them). You are killed as a result, and your time in office is over.

Cause: You make everything legal. No one would want to kill a mayor who gives absolute freedom, right?
Effect: Right! The citizens are happy, and you have little trouble keeping things under control, due to the lack of armed hooligans.
Effect: Wrong. Your officers are given nothing to do, since they cannot act for anything less than murder, and they place a bounty on you as a result. Having the keys, they allow the hunter access and he kills you.

As you can see from these scenarios, not every choice is as straight-forward as it may seem.


In this section I'll cover one of the most potentially lethal situations you will encounter as mayor... being held at gunpoint. As I said in "Your Public Image", not every side will agree with decisions you've made. The most deadly of these people are the two gangs, as they have the ability to raid the PD, and kidnap (Or assassinate) you. So, how can you prevent this? Let's find out!

First, let's do my favorite... scenarios! Complete with quick fixes on a nasty pinch!

• What happened: The Red Gang has mounted a full-frontal assault on your police station! Your police force is dropping like flies trying to defend it, and you are killed inadvertently in a flurry of gunfire from both sides.
  How you can prevent this: Spend a little extra coin to outfit your CP with SMGs (Or even assault rifles!) The extra firepower will be invaluable when the hordes of gangsters in your city are beating down your front door.


• What happened: The Blue Gang has gone through the sewers and broken in via the secret PD entrance. They sneak in while the other CP are called to a diversion created by a teammate. The successfully take you hostage, and you are held at gunpoint for several minutes until you are ultimately killed.
  How you can prevent this: The simplest of the plans, build a self-defense barrier. This should be quick to activate from your side, but take as much time as possible for an invader to open. These extra seconds will be life-savers as you call to your police force for help. A second option would be to use the PD bunker (Go to the top floor, and take the elevator down). This places about 4 more doors, and an elevator shaft between you and your assailants. Posting a guard around you at all times is a good idea.


• What happened: Your CP have betrayed you, and let in an armed gangster to kill you! He asks for a gun license, and strikes the moment your back is turned. You are killed and your position forfeited.
  How you can prevent this: This can be a tough situation to escape from, but it can be done. Firstly, it's good measure to keep at least a handgun on you at all times when being Mayor. This ensures you'll always have a means of self-defense if your CP have betrayed you, or are otherwise unavailable. Take extra precautions when dealing with citizens you think might be dangerous, including making a sort of "Safety box" you can hide in. This can be done by simply putting several transparent props (Such as glass) around you. Make SURE you place a keypad on the outside, though!

The MOTD outlines a few rules on being a Mayor; in this section I'll explain a few of the less-known rules, revisit some high-priority rules, and address a few grey-area situations. I will also cover some examples of one of the most difficult aspects of Mayor job... Creating custom laws. But, just like with laws, let's cover our bases first!

Let's go ahead and start with one of the simplest yet most misunderstood rules on our journey - Metagaming. As defined by the MOTD, Metagaming is using information not available to your character to conduct your RP; an example being raiding a home as a Civil Protection because you saw sparks from a printer flying through the walls. Let's apply this rule to a Mayor-related example. The Mayor makes a law that all birds should be killed on sight... Is this metagaming? If you answered "Yes", you'd be correct; you see, the Mayor created a law targeted at a specific class. Shooting someone based on class, skin, or circle color falls under the category of metagaming (Except in certain circumstances) and thus, a law requiring such cannot be put forth. Let's try another example!

The Mayor passes a law that no one may advertise for illegal weapons via "/advert" channel... Is this metagaming? If you said "No", you're correct again! The "/advert" channel is meant to be an in-character chat frequency, therefore restricting its use to advertise illegal goods or services in perfectly within the bounds of information available to the Mayor's character.

Proper use of your power

Throughout your term in office, you'll come across many requests directed at you for various things around the city. Two of these are gun licenses and warrant requests; you also possess the ability to start lotteries, initiate lockdowns, and make somebody wanted. in this section, I'll go over what these powers do and give some helpful tips on when to use them.

• Your first power: Granting gun licenses - You'll get this request many times during your term. Granting someone a gun license is, as the name implies, giving them a license to carry any weapon they choose without consequence. These are often sold to the general public for an amount of the Mayor's choosing, however it IS recommended that you thoroughly question everybody before you grant their request. Remember: Not granting someone a gun license based solely on their class is metagaming!


• Your second power: Approving warrants - Where there are locked doors, CP want in - it's the truth. But when should you let a Civil Protection invade one of your citizens' homes? Always make sure to speak with the CP BEFORE approving the warrant! Ask them if they spoke to the owner of the house about gaining entrance already. Make SURE they have some sort of reason to suspect the house (A locked door is not enough)! Don't approve the warrant unless you're sure beyond reasonable doubt that the CP has reason to be suspicious!


• Your third Power: Starting lotteries - Fairly straight-forward. Put out plenty of lotteries to keep the public happy; it doesn't cost you a dime. What have you got to lose?


• Your final Power: Making people wanted - Granted, police can do this as well... however you won't usually be out on the streets, so it's doubly important for you to be sure you know who you're wanting, and for what. Don't just instantaneously believe what other citizens, or even your CPs tell you; their stories can be one-sided.

This article has given you everything you need to know to be a successful leader in the tough world of downtown. Now the question remains... how will you handle your city? With grace and benevolence, or with an iron fist? The choice is yours as you shape your city with your charisma and charm, or your fury and darkness. So, what do you say Mr. Mayor? Ready to get started on your term in office?

beautiful guide trout

I'm a little sad there wasn't anything on being successfully kidnapped, and how to survive while being held at gun point.
There's always some chance I'll be standing mayor's office holding him hostage, and he'll just stand there without following my orders; getting shot in the process.

This was awesome though, I liked the pros and cons of gun laws. It's always nice to know the consequences of having bored patrol men.

Fantastic article, Trout! Check your PM's!

This Article Is BAWSS

This is amazing trout, just amazing.

I have my own tip, The Scenario goes like This: You Are Being Held Hostage by (Insert Faction or Person Here ) for a $2000 ransom ! You Are A Pathetic Little Noob that is Completely New. As always, nobody pays ransom. You are Killed (by John FluffyCrochNutts III ).

WHAT YOU DID WRONG: Before You become Mayor, AT LEAST have $15,000 minimum in your Bank Account. Therefore, In Order Not to Kill in a Hostage Situation, You can Pay your Ransom, Bribe the Person or Bounty Them.

That tip help me a lot today (a.k.a. 3 times)
-Nexus Hornet

Lol. I remember being held at gunpoint as mayor and the CP ignored me. Luckily i had a m4 and destroyed the Red G's that tried to kidnap me, but then they demoted me(SUCESSFULLY) for RDM. pfft

Successfully kidnapped...

Reminds me of that time when I was mayor(and very new to the server) and you kidnapped me and locked me in the basement for almost an hour, I rebuilt my office down there and a drug dealer kept coming and giving me drugs. That is how to be successfully kidnapped.

That sure was a nice guide,but one thing left bothering me. People really don't care about drugs in RP anymore. it's a good thing you get anything sold even to a millionare bored admin.

Great article!

You say something about a PD bunker how exactly do i use this?