Maybe I'm a Dreamer
Civil Anarchy
Greetings America,
Civilized Anarchism, at your service.
Before I entertain you with the usual display of enthusiasm towards a political position, allow me to take a few moments to share with you a subject quite dear to me, something I've been unable to ignore, a realization that simply won't go away.
eRepublik is a massive online social strategy game by definition, and over the past year or so, an increasing majority of citizens have been championing this very definition, of a game, nothing more. Citizens rallied around the ideals of Game Mechanics shortly after World War Three. Many believe, that eRepublik is simply a game. Something to be won. A place where you can do anything permitted within the coded walls that make up eRepublik, and nothing more.
And then, there’s the ever decreasing minority of people in this game that have been labeled, Role Players. This is a rather broad category of people, for it can contain anyone from the player who uses Real Life politics exclusively in their eLife, to the simple person attempting to follow a set of Morals within the game.
Without these two sides, eRepublik cannot exist. A simple rule of the universe, the Unity of Opposites. The balance between these two ideologies is almost never equal, nor do we truly need to achieve that balance in order to survive. However, we're being presented with a crisis. Not one of external forces, nor even one of the game dying through Administrative failures and Fubars.
We are dealing with a collapse of the balance that supports our very society. A total victory of one side over the other. Role players, Morals and Ethics, the champions of imagination and creativity in our eWorld, are disappearing. For the most part, the eUnited States seems to not care. And truly, who's to blame them? The champions of Role Playing that still exist have deteriorated into people who either will not give up their Real Life politics, or people pretending to be those champions in order to garner support from idealists and new players who haven't seen enough contrast between good and bad to tell a difference any longer. Rarely do you hear someone speak out at the death of the role players, and in all fairness, they're not without sin. But without this balance, without these player created attributes to the game, eRepublik will deteriorate into a mass of people simply attempting to win the game through whatever their basic definition of winning will be. Such a reality hurts kills the society that we value so highly. Our society is what keeps eRepublik alive, not some trivial update that the admins create. A combination of people playing to win, and people living in this New World for their own reasons is what originally created the society of people we enjoy. And the very same society, that is slowly dying in our arms.
I have spent 15 months playing this game. Or rather, I have spent 15 months living this game. I've been at both extremes of the Morals and Mechanics spectrum. When I first began playing eRepublik, I was a guy who didn't know what to do. Eventually, through the tutelage of the SFP, RL spilling over into the game, and disappointment at the current Administration, I became a role player. I saw everything good I could do for the country. I envisioned great things that I thought I could do, some of them stupidly naive, but great dreams nonetheless. I went through the game believing I could change things, believing that I could create this great Dream I had in my head. These were the greatest moments of my eLife.
Then, reality struck. During my first presidential run, I put myself out to the country with these dreams, hoping that they would return my enthusiasm. Few did, most disagreed. My experience was called into question, for good reason really. People asked how I fancied myself able to run the country when I simply had no executive experience, a very valid concern towards a presidential candidate. I was defeated, by a large margin. This defeat repeated itself during the following month, convincing me a change was needed. In my possession was enthusiasm, but the country needed the experience and reliability of someone who knew the system inside and out. Due to this, the path that needed to be taken was obvious. My experience had to be augmented. I took every job I could, made every political ally who would support me.
I started playing the game, instead of living it.
I gained political power. Congressional access. Cabinet access. Respect, or so I thought.
And the more time I spent becoming a game mechanist, the worse the game became. I began to lose my enthusiasm. Dreams became distant memories. I stopped having fun, and I started working. In the beginning I thought I could keep my ideals, and keep my dreams along with me while working the game mechanist way. But its a slow process, and you never notice the deteriorating effect until someone grabs you and yells "Look at yourself!" (metaphorically of course.) It took an old friend, and a gradual realization to do this for me. This is not the way I want to play the game anymore. This is not the way I want to look at the eWorld any more. Thankfully, I haven't passed the point of no return. I'm going to change. And I'm bringing the country with me.
Without further ado, I Civil Anarchy, hereby declare my candidacy for the office of President of the United States of America. I have seen so much of this country, of this society, of the people I love, to allow them to simply fall off the balance. I'm changing my ideology. I'm moving backwards. I'm going to find the balance between Role Players and Game Mechanists. The true medium of Morals and Mechanics.
I apologize if I've bored you with sentimental stories. I apologize if I've offended others through this declaration. This story, this ideology, is not meant to attack either Role Players or Game Mechanists, but to attempt to find the balance that our country so desperately needs.
There will be a series of articles published in support of my candidacy, in various forms, be it through policy, cabinet, qualifications, or others.
Thank you for your time, America.
Comments
no
Deja Vu!
Good luck.
Playing roles is more than just pushing your warped opinion of morals on an internet game. I pretend to be Der Fuhrer, and I don't bother anyone with it. UNLESS YOU CROSS MY PATH. CHS, Custard, and others like them are nothing but annoying though.
arent you for like Communism lol? 😛
I don't think he's talking strictly about fictional role playing that many do, either for the lulz or because they are that deranged. When I think about the types of role players he wrote about I think of people like Rhane, Acestriker, and me to an extent. People who hang around and enjoy the social game while not focusing directly on the game mechanics. I've never made a lot of money, never had a newspaper, trolled the forums a lot and basically that's it. I'm not worried about trying to be the best at this game, because playing like that just sucks.
brilliant
Good luck! This game could use more idealists imo
Good luck Civil. You shared some valid thoughts. I've never understood the Role Play vs Game Mechanics thing myself. We can only do what's allowed mechanically, but what we do in the middle just seems like flavor to me. Never seen the problem/debate.
Are you asserting that no one else has yet found the balance? I'd disagree, tbh.
Nah Kazeal, I'm saying I haven't, and the country as a whole hasn't.
That's where SEES comes in.
tl;dr
going through something like this myself atm... gl CH!!
I don't have people in my life who behave like some people do in this game. I'm having trouble making that separation, accepting that it really doesn't matter whether these people are really this screwed up or if it's just game persona and antics.. I'm just glad they're not next door to me. http://www.erepublik.com/en/article/mm-ba-ba-de-1500077/1/20
“Facts and truth really don't have much to do with each other.” -- Wm. Faulkner
Yesssssssss!
The players, Der Fuhrer for one, who cling to game mechanics are the biggest role players in the game...every time you go onto IRC or visit the Forum they are role playing, anything you do outside the game is role playing... you go there a pretend that you are a government and decide who will be the authorized candidates...you decide what our taxes will be...you decide who the enemy is...Pizza the Hut, but not glados...ever wonder why over 11,000 American citizens are silent...now I know that some of those are dead citizens...but I would venture to guess at least 25% of them are live...that is 2974 citizens of which only 964 voted...the reason they don't vote?...the parties pick the candidates and then send voters to make sure they win...the worst of the lot is s.e.e.s. who role play being the Nazi party with Der Fuhrer telling America what is best for us...the way you act here in this game is how you act in RL and you can deny that all you want...a Tiger can't change it's stripe and you can't stop being you...
BTW...good luck with your Presidential run Civilized Anarchism...
Ya darn commie.
Maybe this account will have better luck than the last one? *shrug*
Good Luck
the base image for your eagle is my desktop background
Civilized Anarchy is what we need!
Whatisthisidonteven
What Halfie said.
Good luck Civil its nice to see someone pointing out our strengths as a set of players, even cryptically, that we aren't a group of players we are a community.
S.E.E.S. is a hybrid of mechanics based role-play, CHS. We don't deny it and never have. In fact, your point is exactly what you don't get. It's not that we worship Hitler or whatever you think, or prefer to think.
It's that mechanically, a fascist approach offers vast benefits. Everything you complain about is nothing but an interpretation based on that. But I've explained this all before. I'm beginning to suspect you're complaining for the sake of complaining.
Anyway, back to the Civ's article. This is a good point and I think that we all need to find in the game what appeals to us. And, though I'm sure there's been more than enough over-reaction, I think the complaints come in when the role-playing begins to interfere with our ability to operate as a nation.
It's important to realize that our opponents in this game aren't having this conversation and if America falls, I suspect few of us will be having much fun.
Good luck to you in your campaign, my friend.
Hoo boy, where do I get started here. Well, if you wanna call it role playing, there is good role playing and there is bad role playing. Most of what we see in this game is very bad roleplaying - Le Bad Personae. CA's generally been a point of light and inspiration, though I certainly can't account for his personal quest or his journey. I've had my own share of difficulties, though I would say that you pretty much get out of this game what you put into it. Emerick and his minions mess this game up by trashing the place up with trashy values and ersatz symbolism. The whole Dioism racket is just a fraud - a joke perpetrated by 17 year olds on 13 year olds. eAmerica is a failure, a huge, colossal failure - perhaps it is mistake to try and fix it. I do admire CA's persistance on this point, but as long as you compromise with the insanity, progress just won't happen.