The Ethics of War - Real life vs eRepublik

Day 862, 11:43 • Published in Singapore USA • by Judean Princess
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Today I want to talk about something which has been debated in every country since day 1 of eRepublik. Namely, to what extent do real life values and traditions regarding war extend into eRepublik, and to what extent should we disregard real life morality when playing the game. This question is a difficult one, as it makes assumptions (namely that morality is objective and not subjective) which are debated even now in universities across the world. To resolve this, I will first outline what I consider to be the basis for the ethics of war, and then I will seek to compare these ethical beliefs to the ones which are commonplace in eRepublik. The point of this article is simply to enlighten people about the nature of war, it’s ethical subtext and its application in eRepublik, as well as potentially suggest the seeds of what could be a military ethical code in the game.

To begin I will be introducing something called Just War Theory. Just war theory (henceforth JWT) is the basis of modern military ethics as well as being a contributing philosophy to the various declarations of human rights made by the UN and Western powers since the end of the Second World War. JWT is based on the thoughts of the ancients originally, though modern JWT is mostly a synthesis of Christian scholars and modern theorists such as Charles Guthrie. JWT is based on two concepts: Jus ad Bellum which roughly translates as justification for war, and Jus in Bello which is essentially the proper behaviour during a war.

Just ad bellum- the precursors to war

Just Cause- war must have a cause which is just, such as protecting the innocent or establishing order.

Proportionate Cause- If someone burns your flag it is not a justification to burn their capital city.

Intention- You need to have good intentions. Invading to “protect the innocent” whilst raiding the treasury will not do. You have to have a just intention.

Authority- The decision must be made by the ruler or ruling body- not just a random general.

Chance of success- There must be a good chance of success

Last resort- invasion must only be undertaken when all other avenues (diplomatic and economic sanctions usually) have been tried and have failed.


Jus in bellum- how to fight a war

Discrimination- you must discriminate between soldiers and civilians. Wanton violence is uncalled for in war.

Proportionality- you must use proportional force to the task at hand. Unnecessary damage or loss of life is to be avoided at all costs. This includes revenge attacks.


These principles are the guiding basis of Just War Theory and the Just War Tradition. We can see straight away a connection between all of these- the sanctity of human life and the devotion to protecting it where possible. From this basis we can make the leap from real war to virtual, and identify the first stumbling block in the realism of eRepublik- the simple fact that citizens cannot die.



The ethics of war in eRepublik

In any war, the primary concern is to achieve your goals with the minimum civilian casualties. The point of war is to alter the balance of power by force- usually to remove jurisdiction of a certain region from the hands of one political entity and transfer it to another. To do that you fight with the opposing armed forces until one side wins. In eRepublik there are several pitfalls and abnormalities which skew this logic. Firstly, there are no civilians. Every citizen is a soldier within days of being born and can fight from birth. Secondly there are no deaths, no disproportionate acts of violence, no mass killing of civilians. This by necessity forces us to reassess our whole system of ethics, and indeed whether we need a system of ethics in the first place.

I do believe however that a system of ethics, or a morality of war, would be a good thing to have in eRepublik. Not to stop war, or even to limit it. But merely to establish the appropriate actions a country should take upon declaring war, and what the invaded country should expect from the aggressor. Some of you are probably wondering what I mean by this- after all I have already admitted nobody can die and all invasions are simply the changing of information in a computer server- no livelihoods are destroyed.

However I do think there are reasons to develop a just war code which we may consider, at least from a theoretical perspective. Firstly, if you are invaded, what are the reasons for invasion? For example, if invading for a resource, does the aggressor take the whole nation, or just the resource rich reason? Over time the opinion on this has changed. Originally for example, Romania and Indonesia occupied vast empires. Over time they came to realise that only key regions were necessary, and gave the others back to their owners (or lost them). Now mighty countries only occupy one or two key regions except during times of invasion when a bridge is necessary. It could be said that this is a moral basis to war in eRep. Many of the other ‘Jus ad Bellum’ precursors to war also apply.


Here are my Jus ad Bellum precursors to starting a war:

Reasonable Cause- the country may be attacked provided it is not allied with the aggressor, and provided the action has the intent of taking key resources. Invading simply to wipe a country for amusement is not a reasonable cause, neither is revenge.

Proportionality- Goals should be set by the invading country, such as the seizure of high iron. Once the goal is complete, the aggressive stage of the war is over and peace should be offered. If peace is rejected, the invading country may use force to close MPPs by wiping out the resisting nation.

Intention- Intention is incredibly important in eRepublik, because here like IRL politicians must be honest about why they have sanctioned the invasion. If the purpose is to secure a region, they must say so. Invading to ‘liberate’ a country then stealing high resources is a false intention.

Authority- For a war to be just it must be declared and prosecuted by the elected officials of the country. An independent military funded by the state is a betrayal of all citizens.


On a personal level I think that this is about the extent to which we could hope to get a consensus on war in eRep. However there are those who propose that other things should be added to the list of 'illegal' or unjust wars. Here are some of the commonly suggested tactics that people want to add to the 'illegal' list:

Political Take Overs- the infiltration of citizens into a political system with the intent to seize control of the country from its inhabitants.

Revenge wars- Attacking a country out of revenge or spite to destroy its citizens work rather than achieve an objective.

Wars of conquest- Some countries and citizens have consistently argued that the main purpose of war is to liberate 'oppressed' countries from occupation, and that other wars should be condemned.



Conclusion

In conclusion the ethics of war IRL were developed for one main reason: the protection of civilians. This makes applying any sort of ethics to eRepublik difficult and perhaps undesirable. However there are some basic ethics which we must consider. Trust and comradeship are the basis of this game, because nearly every dealing which involves money or items is based on trust. Trust of allies in war, trust of soldiers not to steal from the government, trust of governments not to steal from the people.

All ethics in eRepublik are based on this sense of personal honour, especially since the end of contracts. Ethics in war are based on this same principle of personal honour between the leaders of the warring nations. The worst wars are those where there is no respect between leaders and they fight out of spite rather than out of any desire to fulfil an objective. This is a game and we should remember that whilst we shouldn't make up rules to limit enjoyment, we shouldn't go out of our way to ruin it for other people. That kind of enjoyment - lulz - has led to many great failures and few successes.

The most important things to do in eRepublik are to keep an open mind, maintain friendly relations with everyone, even your enemies, and always keep your objectives in mind during a war.

I hope you enjoyed this look into eRep, be sure to subscribe for further hands on investigations of the World of eRepublik.


Judean Princess