[Appleby] On States and Societies

Day 2,976, 06:02 • Published in United Kingdom United Kingdom • by Sir Humphrey Appleby


Good afternoon gentlemen! Hope 2016 is treating you all well so far.

Apologies for the relatively long rant in advance – the recent media fallout over the role of nifty has rather prompted me to assess the current strength of our society and indeed the games community in general (spoiler: things are pretty shit). I expect the distraction of infighting amongst ourselves does wonders for the game admins as they continue to do sod all and rake in the relevant revenue - the key question however is how long this is going to go on.

Let us for one moment completely disregard our tribal politics and focus on the structural integrity of the game:-

The majority of us are well aware that the game is physically shrinking – more leave each day than there are signups to replace them. Gold buyers finally realize their sexual organs aren’t getting any larger and make the momentous decision to cancel their direct debit. Less and less people are interested in helping out, and less are around to train those that are.

It is a recurrent theme of debate over how long we have left until the cash cow can no longer afford its own server, let alone funding the masses of failed games developed by eReps pay-to-win owners instead of developing eRep itself! When was the last time there was an update you thought they actually bothered with beyond pissing about in the boardroom?

So given how utterly hopeless the games prospects is, where does our tribal politics fall into it?

It doesn’t take a political philosopher to point out that, given the extreme simplicity of the current political module, we have more or less arrived at a functional middle ground that most are happy to work with (constitutionalism). The problem therein is that there is now little to actively oppose as a political group without looking ridiculous. Or more directly, there is so little drive for reform on a game that is slowly dying that none can effectively be bothered to change it.

Essentially, we’re locked in a race with the clock. The smaller we get, the steeper the climb, the harder the push etc. So what is an appropriate course of action in these circumstances, aside from doing a runner? It’s a lot easier than you think… Offer to help!

People have seemed to have got hella pissed off at nifty recently because they have the gall to win democratic national elections and put themselves forward for roles of responsibility. To add insult to injury, they respect the congressional system and have a healthy damage average as a functional military unit. They also have a couple of choice c**ts amongst their ranks; and are thus fair game as a collective group. They were also known as Wookies Hairy Backside before someone had the indecency to point it out.

They are a group of friends desperately trying to stave off the slow death of the community many of them have participated in for years. They are, like everyone else, vulnerable to failings as individuals. They are, like everyone else, frustrated at the directionless inertia of game development. And what seems to set them apart from most is that despite this they are regularly in the vanguard, they are taking up the gauntlet and they are mostly weathering the occasional shitstorm that responsibility throws our way. Half of us are inactive twats. But we seem to stand out because we’re making all the (bad) decisions.

So break the narrative. Sign up to a ministry. Channel energy spent in complaining into construction. Fight back bro.

Apologies for the rant, will shut up for a bit >_

Apples