From A-A

Day 2,313, 13:38 • Published in South Africa South Africa • by Wilpanzer

It has become a real challenge for the citizens of eSA to comprehend the emerging political dynamic. Some people see our situation as a last stand, some see it as a political prison and others may see it as an impractical and dull endeavour.
With the Lazocrat incursion our political situation has become totally depolarized. It has changed our society and united us against the external threat.

It’s obvious what the Lazocrats are trying to achieve, but what has been catching my eye since day one is the underlying conflict in world views and ideologies. At first, I perceived it as a conflict between the free world and the tyrannical, but as the days go by and we read more Lazocracy comments and assess the real life situation in Turkey it becomes apparent that we are worlds apart from these people.

I’d like us to follow the dynamic of Lazocracy, not as organization, but as community.

1. Community
Initially one could compare Lazocracy to former IA, GPN in eNetherlands or any other large party in the eworld. One of the main characteristics is the infamous minion theory. When members of a party shy away from the public eye, but still commit themselves to voting and supporting their outspoken leaders without supplying reason or justification, other parties perceive it as a semi-dead crab in a hidey hole. However, Lazocracy is a mercenary organization. You’ll see a lot of faces in battle that you’ll never see in the community or politics.

2. Solidarity
Solidarity is a central idea in eRepublik. Through the use of uniforms a party or MU member not only associates with a specific party or MU, but he/she also shows commitment. Lazocracy takes this idea to the extreme by requiring members to have the exact same avatar. It’s an idea of extreme collectivism where everyone has the same voice and face. A heavy emphasis is put on an individual’s association with the organization, and therefore there’s no use for a non-lazocrat to establish a connection with a lazo for a lazocrat just embodies the face of lazocracy. Lazocracy make very little effort to establish uniqueness and individualism.

3. Drivers
Now every polarizing force has a set of “drivers”. These drivers are motivators to the highest possible extent. Examples can range from the thirteen colonies declaring independence as a result of republicanism, the French revolution as a result of economic equality or Imperial Britain expanding colonies for the sake of imperialism. In-game these drivers are exponentially simplified. Basically you have countries expanding to become empires and countries fighting for independence or sovereignty on the opposite side. Lazocracy is one of the exceptions in these cases. They may seem “baseless”. They go through extreme lengths that usually involve real life money investments, to achieve the most ineffective goals. The question is what is their prime driver? If they take power, Argentina will still want to “rent” eSA’s regions. eSA will still be weak, because there’s absolutely no balance throughout the divisions. Why go through all the effort to taunt and bully a nation of no more than 30 highly active citizens?
It’s possible that lazocracy has a few ideological and practical drivers, but of these drivers there’s a clear lack of constructive characteristics. It’s like a 10-year old troll with a VISA. He uses all that power to destroy and break existing systems and environments, but has no means to capitalize on his victories – he won’t know how to achieve a long term victory. His efforts are exponentially higher than his rewards. It’s like wiping out all of your opponent’s units in chess, but being unable to get a check-mate.

What helps me sleep at night is the thought that “peasants” have achieved more concrete goals in eSA than what the Lazocrats will ever achieve – in their current mindset. Whether it was Brazos, Indos or Slavs… they came to eSA and accomplished what they set out to do. They started out small and ended up big. Lazocracy already has everything a merc group would need. The only thing they will acquire in eSA is responsibility. Lazocracy has had to endure a gruelling political fight against 30 active citizens and 80/90 two-clickers.

…and guess what? If they take our presidency and congress they’ll still have to contend with 30 active citizens and 80/90 two-clickers. This is the first time in an online game that I've observed a malicious group willing to do anything to gain an extra liability…

Thanks for reading. This is just my perspective, but really, looking at it this way – there’s no victory for either side.