Pardoning Rolo - My thoughts
Day 1,554, 08:46
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Published in Canada 
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by
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by Chamrajnagar
For those who weren't around 16 months ago: For a brief history lesson, as I recall it, please find the causal situation at the end of this article
There is much to be said about forgiveness. Many cultures view it as the greatest and most difficult of acts, though coupled with the greatest of rewards.
There are a few ways to look at the act of forgiveness. Some see it as a chance to reconcile. Others see it as neglecting the issue that warranted the forgiveness in the first place. Still others view at as a way to put difficult times behind them.
Personally, I view forgiveness as the chance to reconcile. To me, forgiveness is as important as repentance in the healing of relationships. However, the offending party must truly BE repentant. Forgiveness means nothing to someone who neither desires nor acknowledges their need for forgiveness.
I remember the past; but I don't dwell on it. I don't view Rolo as a player that I despise, or that deserves all of the negative attention he gets. I don't, however, trust him. He has proven to overreact to situations. Personally, I believe the reason he robbed us during his impeachment 16 months ago was NOT, as he claims, his "severance package". I believe he lashed out at the community he felt wronged him by taking the lifeblood of a country in this game, at that point in time: its treasury. That it benefited him personally was no doubt an additional bonus.
Since then, I have participated in a handful of "un-democratic" actions to try and prevent his return to power, NOT out of vindictiveness, but because I felt that there was always someone running against him that would be a better leader. I have written propaganda pieces to casual players, which while not false, were greatly slanted. I have changed party allegiance for five minutes, merely to vote against him. I've always felt a little ashamed doing this, but convinced myself it was for the best.
Then, in June 2011, I decided to try and let him prove his worth. There was a large upswell in public opinion, and it was argued to let him prove he was a team player. I helped to vote him in to power, and he did a decently good job, given his limited access to congressional dealings. He was then legally impeached, in that all proper procedure was followed, and reverted to his old self. Since then, he has worked at creating public scandal (though in most, but not all, cases he was right to make a big deal about it), and attempting to prove his view that game mechanics are the only thing that matter in this game. Part of that view is the abandonment of traditional democracy, and exploiting public office positions for personal gain.
I, however, disagree with that view. To me this game is much greater than pushing the fight, work and vote buttons. I tend to treat others in this game with honour and respect, rather than viewing them as potential marks and using them to get myself further in this game. I disagree with underhanded tactics, backroom "sekretz" and (The) Deals. If I was pure game mechanics, I wouldn't be in eCanada. I'd be somewhere with 10/10 bonuses, making way more supply than I do now. I wouldn't have worked hard on issues I've felt so strongly about: EPIC, eHabitat for Humanity, HOPE, etc. None of these have advanced me further in the game personally, with the possible exception of EPIC's nomination for CP when I've ran. I've donated to many charities, usually anonymously, because I CARE about the advancement of other players in this game. I feel connected to other eCanadians, and I want us to grow as a country.
Our Supreme Court no longer has a criminal code. They rule based on one thing: "The principle of honesty and good faith". The SC is very much a RP institution that many view as unnecessary, but I think its presence lays an important foundation for eCanada society: that of ethics.
Personally I believe in the Game-Theory concepts of John Nash, specifically Nash equilibrium. In essence, it states that when all players act in the interests of the group as well, then they are all at least as well off than if everyone acted in their own best interest (assuming there still remains a purely competitive component).
All of this rambling leads me to two main points. Because of how I view this game (with a meta component), I am not willing to forgive Rolo until he's also willing to meet halfway. There have been actions I have taken against Rolo since his thefts, and I can't very well expect his repentance if I am not willing to apologize as well.
To Rolo:
I apologize for singling you out, and working to prevent your election (and hence perhaps your enjoyment of the game) in numerous races.
Brief background on why Rolo is even in a position to be pardoned
Rolo was elected CP in September 2010. Ten days in to his term, IRC chat logs were leaked that made it seem that he was colluding with some high-ranked officials in eCan (mostly party presidents, past CPs, etc) to rig the congress elections so that a team of "yes men" were elected. He viewed much of congress as useless, and wanted to completely reform the constitution and the way things were done. To do this, he needed a certain approval amount from congress, which is why he wanted to rig the elections with his supporters. Needless to say, Congress freaked out when they saw these logs and started an impeachment vote almost immediately, without the required 24h debate period, or even talking to Rolo to get an explanation/his side of the story. Rolo logged in later in the day, saw that he was going to be impeached no matter what he did, and liquidated all of the state-run companies at the time, and transferred all the items, cash, and gold to his citizen account. It is estimated that he took between 2000 and 5000 gold worth of currency, gold, and items. The Supreme Court however was only presented with hard evidence of approx. 960g worth of theft (assets that they could show went into Rolo's account). Rolo was permanently banned from the forums and IRC, unless he returned 960g to the government, in which case the SC would review his punishment.
There is much to be said about forgiveness. Many cultures view it as the greatest and most difficult of acts, though coupled with the greatest of rewards.
There are a few ways to look at the act of forgiveness. Some see it as a chance to reconcile. Others see it as neglecting the issue that warranted the forgiveness in the first place. Still others view at as a way to put difficult times behind them.
Personally, I view forgiveness as the chance to reconcile. To me, forgiveness is as important as repentance in the healing of relationships. However, the offending party must truly BE repentant. Forgiveness means nothing to someone who neither desires nor acknowledges their need for forgiveness.
I remember the past; but I don't dwell on it. I don't view Rolo as a player that I despise, or that deserves all of the negative attention he gets. I don't, however, trust him. He has proven to overreact to situations. Personally, I believe the reason he robbed us during his impeachment 16 months ago was NOT, as he claims, his "severance package". I believe he lashed out at the community he felt wronged him by taking the lifeblood of a country in this game, at that point in time: its treasury. That it benefited him personally was no doubt an additional bonus.
Since then, I have participated in a handful of "un-democratic" actions to try and prevent his return to power, NOT out of vindictiveness, but because I felt that there was always someone running against him that would be a better leader. I have written propaganda pieces to casual players, which while not false, were greatly slanted. I have changed party allegiance for five minutes, merely to vote against him. I've always felt a little ashamed doing this, but convinced myself it was for the best.
Then, in June 2011, I decided to try and let him prove his worth. There was a large upswell in public opinion, and it was argued to let him prove he was a team player. I helped to vote him in to power, and he did a decently good job, given his limited access to congressional dealings. He was then legally impeached, in that all proper procedure was followed, and reverted to his old self. Since then, he has worked at creating public scandal (though in most, but not all, cases he was right to make a big deal about it), and attempting to prove his view that game mechanics are the only thing that matter in this game. Part of that view is the abandonment of traditional democracy, and exploiting public office positions for personal gain.
I, however, disagree with that view. To me this game is much greater than pushing the fight, work and vote buttons. I tend to treat others in this game with honour and respect, rather than viewing them as potential marks and using them to get myself further in this game. I disagree with underhanded tactics, backroom "sekretz" and (The) Deals. If I was pure game mechanics, I wouldn't be in eCanada. I'd be somewhere with 10/10 bonuses, making way more supply than I do now. I wouldn't have worked hard on issues I've felt so strongly about: EPIC, eHabitat for Humanity, HOPE, etc. None of these have advanced me further in the game personally, with the possible exception of EPIC's nomination for CP when I've ran. I've donated to many charities, usually anonymously, because I CARE about the advancement of other players in this game. I feel connected to other eCanadians, and I want us to grow as a country.
Our Supreme Court no longer has a criminal code. They rule based on one thing: "The principle of honesty and good faith". The SC is very much a RP institution that many view as unnecessary, but I think its presence lays an important foundation for eCanada society: that of ethics.
Personally I believe in the Game-Theory concepts of John Nash, specifically Nash equilibrium. In essence, it states that when all players act in the interests of the group as well, then they are all at least as well off than if everyone acted in their own best interest (assuming there still remains a purely competitive component).
All of this rambling leads me to two main points. Because of how I view this game (with a meta component), I am not willing to forgive Rolo until he's also willing to meet halfway. There have been actions I have taken against Rolo since his thefts, and I can't very well expect his repentance if I am not willing to apologize as well.
To Rolo:
I apologize for singling you out, and working to prevent your election (and hence perhaps your enjoyment of the game) in numerous races.
Brief background on why Rolo is even in a position to be pardoned
Rolo was elected CP in September 2010. Ten days in to his term, IRC chat logs were leaked that made it seem that he was colluding with some high-ranked officials in eCan (mostly party presidents, past CPs, etc) to rig the congress elections so that a team of "yes men" were elected. He viewed much of congress as useless, and wanted to completely reform the constitution and the way things were done. To do this, he needed a certain approval amount from congress, which is why he wanted to rig the elections with his supporters. Needless to say, Congress freaked out when they saw these logs and started an impeachment vote almost immediately, without the required 24h debate period, or even talking to Rolo to get an explanation/his side of the story. Rolo logged in later in the day, saw that he was going to be impeached no matter what he did, and liquidated all of the state-run companies at the time, and transferred all the items, cash, and gold to his citizen account. It is estimated that he took between 2000 and 5000 gold worth of currency, gold, and items. The Supreme Court however was only presented with hard evidence of approx. 960g worth of theft (assets that they could show went into Rolo's account). Rolo was permanently banned from the forums and IRC, unless he returned 960g to the government, in which case the SC would review his punishment.
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"...on why Rolo needs pardoning"
Needs. Seriously? He doesn't "need" pardoning, pardoning is to be "considered", not "necessary".
SC is a waste of time and the last vestige of an outdated concept.
Sorry Addy, what I meant by that is why Rolo is in a position to be pardoned in the first place.
voted - nice and balanced writing - I'm abstaining from voting - not because I don't have an opinion, but because I don't have any other way of dealing this by myself - if a pardon is "needed" for people to see his true colors, what ever they may be, so let it be - but I'm abstaining as this is as far as I'm willing to go.
Cham is a sham!
"The Supreme Court however was only presented with hard evidence of approx. 960g worth of theft (assets that they could show went into Rolo's account). Rolo was permanently banned from the forums and IRC, unless he returned 960g to the government, in which case the SC would review his punishment."
Little correction for the history books. In fact he took thousands and that was proven. The court gave him a way to get back into the community by paying a fraction of what was known to have been stolen. He had to pay it back quickly however. The 960 gold figure, is NOT the amount proven to have been stolen. But that is all in the past now and of historical interest only.
olivermellors suggested 1000 Gold over 1 year installments, but I recalced to 960 to make it fit with 12. Plus, it was a good play on numbers with our infamous 0.69.
960 was a giveway deal to bring this issue to an end. The total was NOT based on the actual thefts, as oliver says above. The deal was so nice that Rolo thought it was a trap. As a result, he never even responded to the sentencing, even though there was a clause to allow him to tailor it to his needs.
People only remember the 960, but that was just one option of several ~ at least one was even better.
Whoever fooled him into thinking it was a tarp, well my hats off to you.
I was actually satisfied with the trial's result. In the end, it could have been better resolved if the forum admins had permitted Rolo temp access. It is fitting that Kronos is now overseeing the current fiasco
It was actually never proven that he stole anything.
Addy claimed he stole thousands, I wrote that Rolo admit to taking 12.
If all of the evidence were put under real scrutiny it would have never been accepted. In fact there were a number of pieces of evidence that the prosecutor asked be thrown out because they weren't valid and Oliver decided to edit and keep anyway because it hurt Rolo's case. These are the facts.
Muglack, put the evidence up to the light and it will still be the same evidence. Don't be a liar.
I invite anyone who wonders whether what Muglack says is true to listen to the Northern Exposure interview with Rolo. In that, you can hear Rolo himself refute Muglack's version.
I can't wait to see how this discussion develops by tomorrow. Well done Cham!
I respectfully disagree with you Cham. Though I welcome the fact that I can bribe cheat and steal my way into anything I want now, without any ramifications. YEY! This is exactly what will make the game better for everyone, good thing that, like Rolo, I am a rich citizen.
Rigour, claiming you did something, and proof being provided that you actually did are two different things.
I killed JFK. I was the gunman on the grassy knoll.
Well I said it, it must be true.
The only real "evidence" presented to the courts was the list of "Assets" that Addy provided soon after the theft. In his own "lists" he uses terms like, "pretty sure" and "I think this is what was there". Hardly hard evidence by any measure.
I know Rolo stole shit, and he openly admits it, but being found guilty doesn't prove you did it. For someone to say: "In fact he took thousands and that was proven." is a complete lie.
😁😁^LOL, you must have awful breath with all that shit spewing out.
DO NOT PARDON ROLO.
end of story.
Who can forgive ROLO, than those who are cheating themselves.
@Octavian, you care about this so much you didn't even vote
@Noob, just because I don't agree with you I'm a cheat?
IF People can buy in-game gold for real money, and Rolo stole in-game gold...
Does that mean Rolo stole real life cash?
Muglack, I hope you'll forgive me if I characterize your point as largely one of semantics.
I am not saying courts shouldn't do the best they can to have solid evidence. I am saying I don't think any deficiencies in the court process should be allowed to obscure the reality of what Rolo did. That is not in doubt, and is a matter of public record from his own lips.