A Tale of Two eCitizens

Day 2,030, 11:09 • Published in Belgium USA • by MaryamQ
Author’s note: Any resemblance to the work of a known author, living or dead, is coincidence – really!

It was the best of games, it was the worst of games, it was played in wisdom, it was played in foolishness, it inspired belief, it inspired incredulity, it was a bringer of Light, it was a bringer of Darkness, it gave hope, it gave despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going straight to Dio, we were all pig disgusting – in short, eLife was so like Real Life, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.

Into this eLife, on or about the significant day 2000, two young citizens were eBorn. The first, who wished to be called Chuck D., was seemingly born into the elite. In truth, he worked to make the right connections, was nurtured by the government of his country and by his chosen party and MU, and advanced quickly. He did his best to follow the rules, with the expectation that he would be justly rewarded for doing things the right way, and in fact, it seemed that he was. He worked, trained and fought regularly, used all the supplies that were offered to him, and was rewarded with increased rank and even the occasional medal. He opened his own newspaper, where he started making intelligent and sometimes witty comments on life in the eWorld, and gradually his subscriber list and his list of friends grew. He became active on the forum and IRC, where he got to know his fellow citizens and was soon on track for a political career. He became nationalistic and dreamed of an eEmpire centered on his home country. Most of the people he met considered him a good guy and a model citizen.


Our young friends at eDay Care

The second citizen, called Syd C., started off in very much the same way, taking advantage of the help offered by his fellow citizens, but he had a persistent feeling that something was not quite right. He noticed things – disturbing things – going on around him. For one thing, it did not take him long to realized that no matter how hard he worked, trained and fought, he was never going to catch up with players ahead of him who were doing the same things just as hard or harder. Clearly, there was no way for a newcomer to win in this competition. He was never going to be a media mogul, either, unless he bought subscribers, because his paper was only seen in his own country. Additionally, he encountered Jack, the leader of a group of players who seemed to have no eLife goal except to make others unhappy. They continually sniped at those who were not part of their group, calling names, attempting to PTO other parties and other countries, and throwing mud and random accusations at anybody and everybody who seemed to stand in their way. Syd was certain he could never out-troll these trolls, and what’s more, he really didn’t want to play the game their way. He thought about trying a different eCountry to see if things were better, but he soon discovered that the only real difference was scale.

Syd was on the point of eSuicide when he discovered that he was not alone. There were others who also were in search of something better. A chance acquaintance directed him to articles such as Sisyphus and Don Quixote Walk into a Bar… He had the feeling that most eCitizens were more like Sisyphus than Don Quixote, doing the same things over and over again, and never getting anywhere. Of course, Don Quixote was not getting much of anywhere, either, but he seemed to have more fun on the journey.


See? Doesn’t that look like fun?

And this is when Syd discovered what Chuck maybe never will – since you cannot win at this game, you must make the journey its own reward. He started looking around more. He found players, many of them good writers, who fought for causes, or reached out to help others, or just stayed for the friendships they made. He found that it really didn’t matter what color your country was on a map, and that many of these people remained friends regardless of parties, national boundaries or alliances. He realized that, when you have such a circle of friends, the Jacks of this eWorld become irrelevant.


Syd and Chuck enjoying a drink together

So they continue to this day and beyond. Neither really understands the other’s way of playing, and both of them really do not understand Jack. What they have in common is that each feels successful on his chosen path and that, after all, is what eLife is all about, isn’t it?