Eventually Sense Overwhelms (Part 1)

Day 1,863, 16:10 Published in United Kingdom United Kingdom by Lord Lewis Cromwell


Hi everyone

It's been another interesting congress election his month, the largest party lost out to the cooperative powers of TUP(+UKRP) and New Era(+PCP), and One Vision didn't offer tanks for voting so lost out to ESO's quality and staying power of core membership (mwahahahahaaaa, but seriously, good job all).

What I'd like to do now is go through how I, a relatively successful and non-partisan guy, who disagrees with spiteful politics for the sake of conflict the likes of which we've seen over the last few previous months, think we can bring about a successful and (most importantly) inclusive community which can easily exist for us, organised by topic for ease of reference.
I hope that by explaining this stuff we can come together a bit more.




New players
What we have:
New players are used as some kind of commodity to show that a party cares about the vulnerable. We promise that new people get priority in congress elections, party president (PP) elections and so on in a lazy bid to appeal them for party membership under the guise of "retention". This is a reaction to the idea that old parties and cliques held a monopoly on the country and nobody else, new or old, had a chance.

What I want:
Everyone to get a chance. The side effects of focusing only on new people in bids for membership and gambling on retention is either the hypocritical outcome when experienced candidates are selected or the unfair denial of opportunities for said experienced candidates with unknowns in their stead, when PP's pander to popularism and deny the country's experienced and dedicated when they step forward.

How to achieve improvement:
Take the responsibilities of recruitment and retention away from PP's again, making every one of us responsible for keeping and retaining new players' interest in the game. I know that when I and many players who have been around as long as I have started playing it was an engaging and welcoming community which kept me here, not being handed every medal, tank and position possible in my first month. Likewise when I complete a game quickly I rarely play it again, which is something to avoid.

Giving people opportunity based on will and merit rather than status is the only way to ensure and promote proper efforts are maintained for the best of our nation, and still allows the young and willing the same chances should they really want.




Party Politics
What we have:
"Sides" is enough of a bad word. Saying one thing can now result in being labelled as on one "side" or another for a while. A minority felt that another minority was in control for too long and fought passionately and spitefully to replace them. Now that another minority thinks it's in control and that the previous minority is actively working against them, this cycle will do nothing but repeat itself and therefore no change will occur.

What I want:
People to stop believing the hype. The bigger picture is that we all have the same flag on our profiles, every party has talented people full of potential and many of us are capable of working to be the best our nation can offer, evidenced by the fact that there has probably never been a cabinet consisting of people from only one party. Likewise, every party has people who believe the crap they hear about other parties when spiteful people exaggerate their misgivings callously, and enable this type of divide to grow. That must stop.

How to achieve improvement:
Appreciate eachother for who we are, not because of party. People aren't wrong for being a member of another party, we have different groups of different people in our overall team for a reason and only by accepting that can we get along. Some people lately have been even paying people to join their parties. I personally disagree with that principal but in essence they can do what they want, one man's corruption is another man's due payment, I can only warn that such members are rarely anything but temporary when compared to members who join a real party like ESO (shameless plug!).

Digression aside, different and diverse parties are vital to an active and engaging community as long as respect is maintained, insults and beration are not. We must accept that or we will never grow; throwing spite around will continue to limit us.




Foreign Stuff
What we have:
Many long-term and stalwart allies who have always respected our nation for our community and dedication to fighting in and supporting alliance battles. Even in the past we've changed alliances and maintained friendships thanks to the bonds our community has made, because they respect our independence, our excellent people and strength of diplomacy as evidenced lately in our founding membership in the TWO alliance. Certain threats of change and in-fighting reduces that respect, however, and we must be careful not to "do a France".

What i want:
Continued improvements with our neighbouring countries to further secure our border, with strategic options. We're now blessed with a strong alliance and allies and must not jeopardise our position with them by making half-baked invasions, backed or not. War might be a bit more fun than peace, but long-term victory is not only a lot more satisfying, it is entirely possible.

How to achieve improvements:
Every campaign we undertake needs a reason and a plan. Why are we fighting? What do we do when we win? How will we hold the regions? What else will drain our damage? In order to make sure these questions are answered effectively we not only need to coordinate with our alliance, we must also have that coordination passed down to congress before campaigns begin, so that everyone can have the answers they want when they want them, giving more people some excitement and engagement in our campaigns in turn motivating them to fulfil their military potential.

Furthermore, we must maintain a diplomatic presence in our neighbouring countries' communities in order to keep them reminded that we are ourselves a worthy neighbour to keep on good terms with. A strong, representative presence in other countries attracts people to us and leads on to my next point.




Citizenship checks
What we have:

More hype and personal attacks led to the abolishment of a working, effective security system for our congress to easily follow (Keers) and now we have something of a mess, with a similar system being "tested" with almost exactly the same ramifications, process and the only difference being the less secure use of gdocs.

Some people use citizenship passes and policy as some kind of selling point, or just a flat statement, whether telling people to ignore what other people agreed to use in order to maintain our national team's ability to run unhindered, or by defending that system in order to defame congressmen who exercise rights bestowed upon them.

What I want:
Congressmen to be aware of why citizenship matters, what kind of ramifications it has and the extent to which some people in the game have gone to in the past to damage a country (mostly bigger than our's, and just like us with enemies far away) by abusing citizenships and the naivety of fresh congressmen. I want this done without bullying or belittling congress for making decisions.

How to achieve improvements:
Our CP's obviously want to help secure our interests and so should appoint someone and a team of volunteers dedicated to flagging up malignant applicants. With all the methods of communication at our disposal now such knowledge can easily be spread to congress. This enables choice for the CP in who they choose and congress are enabled with the ability to listen or not. Likewise if a PP wants to be responsible and let citizenship decisions affect a congressman's next priority they can, and the chain of cause and effect is truly the only enforceable rule.

I would also like to promote the continued use of a simple, public forum thread for each congress month, detailing when and why someone accepts and, more importantly, see how many passes a congressman has left upon accepting someone. The ability to communicate this and think for the wider nation rather than the self certainly shows the differences in intentions between people and give further meaning to PP's job of prioritising at congress election time. Likewise a CP who doesn't care about citizenships or a PP who doesn't care about how congressmen representing their party act can then exist to be judged in voters' eyes, a freedom of a democratic system.




The Forums
What we have:
A highly functional but now mildly popular community tool, which exists out of necessity, endorsed by the makers of eRepublik, run by members of the community for members of the community, that some people vocally speak out and work against because in the past they were also used to establish (democratically) the best methods for us to run the country through agreed procedures, and others defend because the tool is essential just to establish a community and communicate with eachother easily.

Examples against their usage get exaggerated, however the few issues which some genuinely dislike using them for do (or at least, did) exist.

What I want:
People to make up their own minds.
Too long have close-minded people acted as though forums are unnecessary (while some recently made their own to contradict themselves and prove their necessity) and tried to convince the more casual player that their only use was to inundate everyone with RP legislation, bad forums are bad terribad etc.
I want people to have fun and share ideas together, discussing openly using every tool available. Articles are labelled "published" for a reason, they are not discussions - comments are not discussions. There is no greater tool for discussions than forums and a community needs discussions to thrive together. If you're not communing, you're not a community.

How to achieve improvements:
Just use them for what they are. I will remain on the moderation team for as long as possible to ensure moderation is no longer an issue. We no longer "legislate" the majority of government and haven't done for a long time despite what campaigners say. Use the best tool for the job, be a part of the community you want, contribute before complaining about lack of contribution and make the community stronger.
If you still don't like forums in general, at least respect the people who do. Likewise if you thought that all forums were for is legislation you are entirely missing the point of a community-driven game.




These are a few things on my mind. There are more but long article is long. I'm thinking about running for CP but until then I want to focus on being a part (and hopefully an improving part) of our community - to include everyone, to drop people's biases and get everyone to realise that every single one of us counts towards building the community we so need.

Be cool, stay cool

LLC