The Painted Veil

Day 2,555, 07:31 • Published in USA USA • by wookyjack

There is a serious issue that needs to be addressed and it very well concerns the eUSA community and its continuation to grow and prosper. It is a truth covered by a common misconception about this eCountry and its ‘leaders’ because they play it up to their advantage. There is a player who very few stand up to, for Dio knows what reason, but it has become a negative distraction. I took a look in the mirror first to ensure what I was going to say next is the truth, and there can be nothing further than the truth about what a plague this player is here in the eUSA.

tl;dr version? A player with national community level status should be held accountable for his discouragement of player ideas and initiatives because we already have enough retention and growth issues.

In this Free Online Multiplayer Strategy we emerge in a new world that needs us. I play this game because I enjoy most of the people’s company that play this game as well. I’ve already addressed why the overall game is struggling, and many other players have addressed concerns to this as well. Nostalgia brings up an important reiteration of necessary gameplay that seriously defined how hardcore erepbulik could get. This was a lot of fun, but now its gone. gnilraps, a former Federalist Party member, encapsulated the truth of why this game has lost half the battle in retaining its players all because Plato did not want to have to manage the political aspect of the game.

1) politics did not sell gold
2) politics created a lot of busy work for Admin that reinforced reason 1.

What do I mean? Plato wasn’t gettin his bang for his buck while the players were having a blast fighting a political war.

If you took time to read more of what gnilraps writes you’ll get what I’m saying, if you don’t already know. But what can we do? People will come and go as always and those who leave, more or less, will dismiss this game as a tragedy of time wasted. But there is an important detail. The eUSA community is not perfect, but it is pretty damn impressive. For the past 6 months plus it has enjoyed full bonuses and generally quite a few content, if not happy, players along the way. There are not many other communities in other countries that have accomplished this.

Lets look at the eUSA community though. There is a group of players in the eUSA that have spent a lot of real life money. Another group of these players from that group of $$$ spenders essentially hold the keys to how this country is run. People refer to them as elitists or power mongers or whatever else you can find in the thesaurus that will suffice to describe these folks. An even smaller group from that group of players, from that group of $$$ spenders, are still actively play the game and metagame. Who are these players?

gnilraps? No, he is not part of the elitists. Are you surprised? He’s just a guy having fun, helping players and waiting for the next illustrious reason to click, click, click to make it worth his time here. His venture to our acquisition of Greelingada was expensive, but seriously, who didn’t have fun doing that? Raise your hand. You will notice gnil is griefed by Plato’s decisions though, hence his constant writing proving Plato’s follies. When I first rebooted in February this year I found his new player guides extremely valuable...AFTER I spent all my energy bars and gold of course! I kicked myself for this, but I made it a point to bookmark these guides. Why? Because I didn’t want the next new player to come along and waste all their resources to drop less than 100,000 damage in a single battle. Such a waste, right? Thank Plato for that. Since then I have looked for better ways to educate the new crops that make it to erepublik, specifically through the Federalist Party and SHIELD. This is all I am capable of. I did this while being very well attached, and loved, by The Federalist Party.

Wild Owl is another player that upon five minutes of meeting him you might think he is an elitist, jerk and immature person. That guy was me and I assumed this about him. After a few months of talking with him and getting to know what his play style was all about I realized he’s actually the perfect ally to have in this game. Come to find out he is probably the most valuable player in the eUSA community. Don’t know what I mean? The dude has been Country President twice, and Secretary of State for just about infinite terms. The guy is truly an underrated wealth of knowledge and strategy that can be absorbed in a week...and sometimes there is too much to know! But he does it all. Recently, with his tutelage, I became more involved on the national level during and after my stints as Party President of The Federalist Party. This also had me privy to access to areas of the eUSA Forums I never knew existed. Pretty cool, right? The second half of this year has been by far extremely fun playing erepublik.

What prompted this article?

When Tyler Bubblar’s administration was coming to a close, and many wondered who would be the next Country President, I began to notice a pattern of complacency. After Molly and dmjohnston’s terms Tyler’s followed similar suit. Another thing I noticed was our lack of fighting eSerbia...eUSA’s biggest enemy/rival in erepublik. That still holds true, right!? Things were very hush hush regarding them. After eThailand MU (mostly eSerbians) attacked eUSA, on the real life anniversary of the September 11th, 2001 attacks in New York, we did nothing. The theme of their attack? Air strike New York and wear avatars depicting terrorists acts as such.

Game on, right? Lets get these suckas back!

Nah, the administration of eUSA did not bother seeking vengeance on the country that performed this failed attack. Nor has the following administration. Yes, the eThailand air strike failed because the players in the eUSA community aren’t going to stand for such intolerant game play such as that. Other eCountries came to our defense too. This was awesome! But what was a real disappointment, that was never pointed out, is nothing has been done about those players who sanctioned that attack. Well, at the least we can wipe those f****** of the map for a bit! The Country President of eThailand, and commander of the MU, is still there. And the MU that houses its aggressors still reigns supreme.

Evidence.
http://www.erepublik.com/en/main/law/Thailand/148666 (CP air strike and Commander of MU MIT)
http://www.erepublik.com/en/article/message-to-usa-1-2443390/1/20 (Captain of MIT)

But we did nothing. Now, allegedly, this attack was not sanctioned or supported by eSerbia whatsoever. Yes it was, no it wasn’t, blah blah. That is not the point. Why did we not retaliate against the hostiles? Why did we not pursue those fools after their failed air strike?! Most argue that it does not suit us financially or diplomatically. Well, I’ve got news for you. Who gives a ****?

Farmville gives a ****.

That’s right everyone. We’re playing Farmville. Gather resources, reset determination in the colonies we hold, and ensure we have flawless resources. The entire time I have been playing this year we were worried about a trifecta of ONE and TWO. Save money. Gather resources. Don’t piss off eSerbia or ePoland. Farmville. Farmville. Farmville. Well, THREE never came and we argue about the same stupid crap about taxes and its seriously taking a step back by everyone bashing each other over something so trivial. Why is it trivial? We have nothing to fight about except to fight with each other as opposed to taking our aggression out on another country!

You know? I could accept this; barely because I knew what was at stake by pushing the envelope of the leaders who are content with the way things run now. I could stand this until something became glaringly apparent that a member of this $$$ spending group showed me that he will never change his agenda. An agenda that suits him and only him because he puts himself before the country. His name is Pfeiffer.

Before I get into this next bit I will note that eventually the PDB’s of the following interaction will be released, god knows when, but when they are released just know that it is heavily edited, and that anything that probably looks bad or is not pertinent to public disclosure will be removed. The following took place near the end of Tyler Bubblar’s 2nd CP administration.

If you rewind a few weeks I did some things Pfeiffer and his followers will probably point out, but I already explained this publicly. I did not hide on a private forum board. Yes, I considered candidating a Serbian for Congress. I did this because I am more of an optimist and thought everyone deserves a second chance. I was also asked to do this because a majority of the leaders in the community had become jaded; they were caught in the safety of routine and it was necessary to poke the inactivity with a dead stick. My line of thinking was if the person has some sort of interest of adding value to our community why not give them a shot? Although it did not pan out the way I had intended I learned that letting a Serbian be elected to Congress was the worst thing that could happen in the eUSA community. I dodged a bullet and I can thank one of our great eUSA leaders Josh Frost that I had to re-think what was most important for everyone who spent time and money defending a serbian PTO. If you read this gem then you know exactly what I am talking about. I also retired my candidacy for POTUS because realistically I couldn’t just run on a diatribe of anti-Pfeiffer very far...although in my opinion it was very warranted.

At a certain point I was all for not disclosing stuff that took place in the Presidential Debriefing areas, that only members of the Country President administration have access to, but a recent bastardization of another player’s contributions and time provided to the eUSA community pushed me off my tolerance ledge. It was an absolute atrocious display of filth that seriously made me reconsider who are players with value and who are players that are pig disgustingly anti-community.

Tyler Bubblar’s Chief of Staff (Derphoof) was replaced by Pfeiffer a few days before the election that Oblige took...errr won...however you see it. Pfeiffer assumed the role and immediately began requesting information from the staff. Yes, the administration had become lackadaisical in the last quarter of Tyler’s term, but I mean when you’re done resetting determination of colonies and fighting a non-existent PTO you have to wonder what is there to play for, and we deserve a break, right? (Farmville, baby, Farmville TO THE MAX!)

I did not have a problem with Pfeiffer assuming this role. Until he started attacking another player. In this game we have an imaginary chain of command that is official when it wants to be. Pfeiffer was technically not Chief of Staff, as an appointment by the POTUS is necessary, but people who had access to read the melee that followed did not put up a fight to Pfeiffer’s demands. At first people complied. However it soon was out of hand when a controversial discussion took place between Pfeiffer and a staffer in the POTUS’s administration. In fact, it soon became a dog pile on this one player who spent hours of his personal time playing this game, creating an independent website, graphics and personal publications to try and get the word out about the Census Bureau. (Also, it should be noted that a majority of the administration did not encourage or shout on their feeds about this program although it showed some very good promise.) The player defended his actions, and what he had been developing the past month for this department. But Pfeiffer didn’t care. In his eyes the player wasn’t doing his job. Now keep in mind, this player had a supervisor he reports to in this administration. This supervisor kept mum before and after this ordeal. The player who was defending his actions to Pfeiffer was merely a deputy of the department, but his actions and efforts were not worth a damn. In Pfeiffer’s eyes, the work put into the department was a waste of time. As the player tried to defend his actions, other players soon chimed in condoning Pfeiffer’s remarks and soon it became a shitshow discussion filled with ad hominem. This is how we treat our younger players!?

I came to this player’s defense. Pfeiffer assumed Derphoof’s Chief of Staff role, but was never ‘officially’ appointed CoS. I had valid reasons to support my defense too:

1 Derphoof was fairly inactive in Tyler’s last term and many departments weren’t reporting in often to the POTUS. A replacement was needed, but no one stepped up. Eventually, Pfeiffer stepped up, I guess. In a term that was short of a dozen days left he began to light s*** up.

2 In light of this ‘inactivity’ Pfeiffer was addressing, he also singled out a deputy of a department, and began bashing him saying his work was essentially garbage. Yes, that is my description of Pfeiffer’s accusation to this player, but my choice of words are what I basically saw Pfeiffer’s remarks as. Now you might be able to argue that its good to kick the seat of the pants of a player who hasn’t been doing much for the administration. However, this deputy was not given a set of goals or direction or set of standards to adhere to that Pfeiffer was expecting to have been done after a few days in the CoS seat. How could this deputy have failed in his performance minutes after Pfeiffer was CoS? Although Pfeiffer’s sense of urgency was commendable it was also unwarranted so late in the term. Had Pfeiffer been CoS the entire term you might argue that this player had done ‘nothing’ but that is not the case especially considering this deputy would have known what the expectations were for at least 30 days. This player took the initiative from the start with some projects because for most departments there are basic guidelines, but its encouraged to make it the best with what you have available to you. Was there anything wrong with this? No, not until Pfeiffer said it was a waste of time. As far as anyone knew, everything was running swimmingly in this department until Pfeiffer had a say.

3 Pfeiffer was technically not Chief of Staff. The POTUS did not make this announcement or appointment, and what I did next was point this out to Pfeiffer: he was not listed on the ‘official cabinet list as CoS as well as in game’. Derphoof still was. All of a sudden things came to a screeching halt. I had called his biased, headhunting bullsh** towards a player that never had a chance to prove himself because anything that was done up until that point wasn’t worth a damn.

Oops!

Eventually Tyler came in and said the squabbling needed to stop and appointed Pfeiffer as CoS. Things quieted down, but the damage had been done. Also, it was clear what kind of crap this community has to deal with. And quite honestly its no fun to try and take initiative in one’s role on a national level when this sort of behavior by a ‘leader’ is encouraged.

Everyone, its pretty simple. We clamor and hoot and holler about a dying game and a diminishing eUSA community, but if you look at this one instance of how this ‘community of leadership’ can tear a person down, without legitimate authorization or justification, you have to wonder what the efff you’re supporting! If we had true leadership (like Molly and dmjohnston) and encouragement of initiative provided by players, we might say we are doing our jobs well, while Plato is failing at community retention on the whole. Furthermore, my examples of valuable contributions to everyone’s game play as provided through gnilraps and Wild Owl just goes to show that some other players just should keep their own prejudiced agendas away from the national level, as opposed to hindering a community of players that work together and try to enhance the community. There is no need for this type of player discrimination!

I am not saying the USWP does not provide a value to the community. I sincerely hope this is discernable in what I have just described above. gnilraps and Wild Owl are from the USWP. The USWP are a strong, reliant and a tough ass party of players that deserve such distinction. But at what point does it go too far, USWP? If this was the only time Pfeiffer has stepped on or berated a new player’s initiative, contribution and/or love for the eUSA community you have to begin to wonder when is enough, enough? One should be enough, but we have let this happen for years. Even before I came back earlier this year. You might think recent events may beg the question of what I am trying to prove, but Jude’s recent departure and personal attack on Pfeiffer is something I will never condone. If we are trying to hold another player accountable for their actions bringing in personal (RL) stuff is uncalled for.

Instead, I am at least hoping that a prestigious player of such talent and tenure as Pfeiffer can at least rescind his harmful tactics on a national level so there is no more demeaning and discouraging attitudes to our community of new and old players. If you think I am wrong about Pfeiffer I encourage you to say so below. Tell us all here out in the open that you fully support Pfeiffer and that this type of play style is acceptable in a national role that is supposed to be fostering and teaching players, not discouraging further community development. Tell us his ‘all-father’ contributions are the glue that will hold together this entire community of players together. But keep in mind that this is inclusive to how much he is a hinderance to new ideas, camaraderie and prioritization of where this country is headed. As far as I’m concerned, he is the most despicable and narrow minded ‘leader’ this country has to offer. It is up to us to separate this leech on the community and ensure we do our utmost best to continue educating and showing all players what the right way of doing things is along with the positive reinforcement. I know we are capable because almost every player I have met along the way has displayed this type of positive mentality in a national role. Everyone except Pfeiffer.