Maybe I'm a Dreamer

Day 1,010, 21:50 • Published in USA USA • by 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.