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DANCE LIKE YOUR E-LIFE DEPENDS ON IT



PAIN has an element of blank;
It cannot recollect
When it began, or if there were
A day when it was not.

It has no future but itself,
Its infinite realms contain
Its past, enlightened to perceive
New periods of pain.

-- Emily Dickinson


Life is full of afflictions. Players enjoy eRepublik -- despite its flaws -- because it provides a welcome respite from the tedium and concerns of everyday living.

We can play the game only for ourselves. And that's fun. The New World provides some relief from the inevitable "new periods of pain".

Working for myself as manager of my own company, for example, can make me feel like an independent entrepreneur. Look, Ma, I am getting "rich" and nobody is exploiting my labor! Woo-hoo!

But work -- and e-work -- has a social aspect too: collaboration, working together for a common goal, team work. That stuff is fun too. We need it and crave it. That's why people like team sports. It's why players enjoy things like the military, militias, political parties and so on.



PQ pontificates

One thing that gives me joy is the Socialist Freedom Party's focus on programs that build up that esprit de corps, that sense of group accomplishment, while still encouraging individual initiative.

Take, for example, the SFP Co-op companies. A quick flashback... The SFP was one of the groups that pioneered the idea of "low-wage communes" back in V1. You work for a low wage and the group benefits by the distribution of "stuff": food, guns, etc., right? The concept has been widely adopted by military outfits and others.

But it has some flaws. For one thing, with the demise of org-based companies, it is harder to put a collaborative management structure in place. And donating goods to members is just plain tedious.

So the SFP is now experimenting with a variety of "co-op" or profit-share approaches. The idea is to share all or most of the profit from an enterprise with the workers. Pretty simple really: maximize the workers' income and let them decide what to spend it on.

Companies pursuing this kind of approach include:
* Civil Food
* SFP Communal Grain II
* Syndicalist Oil
* Harmonic Iron Works
* Ho Chi Minh Trailways
* Workers Weapons

Of course, the SFP are not the only people looking into ways to benefit the group as a whole. But they are persistent in looking for these types of opportunities. And it's rewarding to be part of a group of people who share their experience trying this kind of thing.

Personally, I've always enjoyed this think tank/laboratory aspect of the SFP.




One more note...

The SFP supports government programs aimed at improving the welfare of the citizens, things like "Meals on Wheels", mentoring programs and such. But they don't wait around for the government to act.

Check out, for instance, the Rainy Day Food Program. It is a free service of the Socialist Freedom Party. Hungry? Low wellness? Let us know and help is on its way. Simple as that.

And by separating out the organization of work from the distribution of goodies, it's actually a more efficient system than the old-style commune approach.

So please, of course, enjoy the game on your own terms.

But also consider what you can do to reduce the "infinite realms" of affliction endured by other e-living creatures while you're at it. Join a team. See what you can accomplish together.

I think you'll find the rewards are great.





Freedom Writers