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Fellow eRepublikans,

You think that I don't even mean
A single word I say
It's only words, and words are all
I have to take your heart away
- Bee Gees

Let us talk of words – big ones and small, harsh and kind, powerful and meaningless – for they are the primary tools we have to change eLife for ourselves and others. We use them to persuade, to encourage and exhort, to chastise or even destroy, to express love, joy, anger and contempt. Whether it is in the media, in shouts, on fora or IRC, words are the means by which we achieve our ends in eLife.

There are some writers who have particularly influenced me in this game, including in no particular order mittekemuis, Phoenix Quinn, Johnobrow Dadds, Konrad Neumann, Arjay Phoenician, and others, living and eDead, and this is only a small sample of all the writers I respect and admire. Some of you can name writers I have not even thought about. For me, each of these writers offers new ways to look at the game and the way we interact in it.

The question is, how do writers like this influence us? Is it by their fancy language? the excellence of their ideas? the sexy pics carefully interspersed in walls of text? I like words, including big ones, and have been known to use a few jawbreakers myself, but often the biggest impact on the reader is created by simple direct language (and no, I am not talking about the kind that needs asterisks to pass the language police). Also, as each of those I have named can tell you, walls of text, while fun to write and sometimes necessary, often do not get read, and so their influence is sometimes not what it could have been with a shorter article. The excellence of ideas, likewise, may either be lost in a plethora of words or overwhelmed by the shock value of the language employed by the writer. And as we all know, “sexy” is in the eye of the beholder. Not all readers are young, male and straight. Nevertheless, it is undeniable that their words and they way they use them do influence people. What are some of the ways words can be used to bring about change?



Loaded words
One device that can be effective in game, as in RL, is the use of emotionally charged words or labels that categorize us or our opponents at least in one another’s minds – words like prolife/prochoice, fair/biased, truth/lies, justice/power abuse, etc. This loaded language enables the reader to stop thinking about what you are really saying and simply react based on the emotions you have inspired. For instance, if someone is telling you that your employer or the state is profiting at your expense, you may join the angry crowd chanting that this is unfair rather than checking to see whether the accusation is really accurate.


Note: Pravda means truth. Izvestia means news.

Hidden language/jargon
Many writers in eLife and RL use words and abbreviations that are not easily understood by the average person outside a certain select group. Sometimes this is unintentional. We get so caught up in the language that seems normal to us, we forget others don’t see it every day. Other times, it is not so innocent. We use this language to make ourselves seem more intelligent or to talk down to our readers and make them feel on the outside of our exclusive group. This may have several effects: The reader may assume you are really as intelligent as you present yourself, even though s/he doesn’t understand what you are talking about. This, in turn, could cause the reader to accept your message without understanding it, or instead, to feel excluded and react in an angry manner. Another possibility, maybe even more likely in this game, is that the reader will stop reading and dismiss anything you have to say.



Words as weapons
Some time ago, I addressed a topic in this newspaper that I think we need to revisit – the power of words to wound, particularly in relation to the game environment. This week, I was reminded again how easily we hurt one another. During the eBelgian impeachment vote and subsequent debate on the forum, a lot of heated words were written on both sides. At one point, I left the forum in tears over a brief but very pointed remark from another citizen. It took some time and some rational talk from several friends for me to see that remark probably wasn’t intended for me. When we are emotionally involved in a discussion, sometimes we don’t realize the impact of things we say on others. When we get that passionately involved, maybe it is time to step back and get some perspective by going out into the real world. Even if we don’t do that, we need to think before we speak: Is what I am saying true? Is it fair? How will it be understood by the people reading it?



Words have power. Use them well, and you can change the eWorld. Use them unwisely, and you can destroy yourself and others. Be creative, have fun, and make a difference!