[CW] Platform for President of eCanada – Part One: Our Community

Day 1,840, 13:10 • Published in Canada Canada • by Foxfire

During last month's election I led with an article that I felt was the most important point of my campaign.

The understanding that eRepublik is a game and that respect in our community should be both universally given and received. As the campaign progressed, the feedback I received was mostly positive to my economic and foreign policies. The initial article was somewhat regarded as a feel good piece verses an actual policy.

Please make no mistake; respect is the most important element of my campaign. We are a community. We rise and fall through our mutual efforts to work together or destroy each other. No amount of policies or good ideas will help or save a country that works against itself.

Words have power. Power to motivate. Power to bring us to our worse.

Words online in the absence of accountability that online anonymity creates can have consequences that can be devastating. Online bullying. Cyberbullying. Trolling. Any online behavior that is meant to intentionally anger or frustrate someone else in order to provoke a response or result.

eRepublik is a community driven game and our community is subject to these same online issues. It is the people that create the content and the experience of eRepublik, whom without eRepublik would be the online browser game equivalent of tic-tac-toe. When that content is negative it is our game and our mutual experience in that game that suffers.

Individuals whom conduct themselves in a negative way towards others will profess that this is ‘a fictional world’ or ‘It’s fun. It’s how I like to play.’ They are correct. This is a fictional world. A fictional world with real people in it no different than the people in your own life. How should they be any less deserving of your respect?

While an individual may enjoy aggravating another or pursuing their own agenda through tearing into another player, the cost to the community is greater than one person’s enjoyment. National domination through bullying tactics has been tried repeatedly and repeatedly it has failed.

If we need to qualify the value of this respect, beyond the value of basic and simple human decency, it would be this:

A negative environment drives players away from the country and/or from the game.
Lower player population equals a lower tax base and a weaker fighting force.
Lower tax base means less government funding for government project and MU funding.

Although real life is filled with truly cruel people that delight in cruelty, as a game, we do not have to have to the same cruelty perpetuated in what should be a recreational activity for mutual enjoyment. As a game, what is wrong with making our community a positive experience?

Political parties will rise and political parties will fall. Governments will always change. But as a team under the banner of Canada can we not afford each other the basic respect due to each other as players who simply enjoy the game? Although eRepublik can never be “won”, when you are not willing to afford the very basic level of respect towards your fellow players we all lose.

Respect always.

Foxfire
The Canadian National Monkey, Clan Wolf, Forward Canada, Canadian Progressive Front and United Party of Canada Candidate for President of eCanada