Agony, Ecstacy and Exigesis

Day 1,926, 21:17 • Published in USA Canada • by olivermellors

Hello fellow team members.

It is written, over and over, that we face a PTO threat. It has become a creed. The stone tablets are on order.

Many of you wish a return to full bonuses. A large number want lots of war, viable military strategy, effective tactics and martial success. Plenty hope to attract the strongest players presently in the game and retain new promising bodies. Most of us like to play honestly and in good faith. We haven’t had much of this for a long time now.

When I started playing this game, the Political Takeover was justifiably feared. The PTO involved a foreign team using game mechanics to achieve control of the political structures of a foreign team. We don’t face a PTO. At worse, what we see is an American player using game mechanics and persuasion to achieve a domestic political goal. That is what all our politicians do. Describing his campaign as a Political Takeover is an error verging on dishonesty, and is now a matter of faith.


I don’t like RGR’s game play style. I don’t like him and I don’t like what he has done, what he is prepared to do or what he models. So I don’t vote for him. I urge you to follow suit. But I’m not buying the “PTO” label either. RGR’s sole motivation is to become President. I don’t trust such a player. He is not alone.


Here is the huge leap: “leaving aside my distaste for RGR”. On days I can make that leap, I ask the next logical question: “what does the AFA stand for”? I find interesting answers. Increasingly, their party members are making a case for their policy, and developing a policy which goes beyond RGR’s ambition. To the extent that these can be uncoupled, the party will enter the mainstream.


It is in my interest to have a large group of fellow players honestly discussing policy. If the AFA can contribute to that discussion their participation should be welcome. It goes without saying that they wish to eviscerate established parties, dominate the political landscape, promote their brand and vision. It needn’t be said because it is precisely what every political party aims at. And it is precisely why the PTO moniker, inappropriate as it is, was trotted out and continues to be used as the single most potent weapon to … eviscerate the AFA, dominate them and the political landscape, attract voters and win political victories for “unity”.


I’m not voting for the AFA anytime soon. Not because “unity” has been competent, wise, honest, fair or useful. First to claim that ground should have a pretty long run, and the chance to create a minor masterpiece.