[SFPOM] Release #13 The Dictatorship Debate

Day 2,904, 10:06 • Published in USA USA • by Lunete2.0

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SFP Official Media Release #13
Place: SFP Headquarters
Date: 02/11/2015 (Day 2904)

Welcome to SFP Official Media!

Today’s agenda includes:
The Defensive Dictatorship, For, Neutral, or Against?

*Editor's Note: This article wants you to make up your own mind. You have all the resources from some of the strongest minds in the game, who have given you their arguments as to why this controversial situation should, or should not be maintained, you can make your own choices, we have no agenda other than to make you think, and think for yourself. Ignore the propaganda that tries to tell you what to believe, we've gathered a number of people here so you can make your own informed choices with as much of the information as is available to us.



Tyler Bubblar
Federalist Party

When Plato in his infinite wisdom decided to drop the Dictatorship mechanic on us in lieu of fixing the economy a problem was created. That’s how it is in eRepublik instead of making a game that has a very obstinate player base better to reward such loyalty and attract more players the admins seem to do everything in their power to make gameplay worse.

It did not take long for many to realize the implications of a hostile Dictatorship in the eUSA. Taxes at 25%, those funds would be under sole control of the dictator, this Dictator would also have access to hundreds of CS Passes allowing them to import their own top 5 Party over night. That last would ensure that even if we were to succeed in removing the hostile dictator we would once again begin the long war of attrition that we saw when Ajay had a following of near one thousand. Something had to be done.



So it was that the idea of placing then President Wild Owl as a defensive dictator began to be bandied about. So a law was put in place that would render Congress to a semi permanent shadow status. This was not unprecedented, there is an amendment to the eUSA Constitution which allows for a formation of a Shadow Congress in the event of a wipe preventing in game Congress elections. The Presidents of the Top 5 Parties would send a delegation matching the numbers they won in the prior Congress election to run the Government from the Shadows.

This was the intent of the Defensive Dictatorship. The elected CP would take over as CO of USAF (which is standard practice), however, by taking the CO post in USAF it would also allow a seamless passing of the dictatorship torch to the newly elected CP. Congress would continue to propose, vote on, and pass laws via the eUSA forums. Under the statute of the Defensive Dictatorship the CP would be bound to use their Dictatorship powers in accordance with the legislative will of Congress.





It it is a fragile contract that depends on the voters of the eUSA electing candidates who will honor said contract. So far we have been successful in doing so. It is not a perfect solution, but it does serve as an important layer of protection and early warning system against hostile military takeover. Enemies would need to remove the current dictatorship triggering a 10 day cooldown before they could attempt to install there own. This is far preferable to the bare few hours of warning we would have without the Defensive Dictatorship.

As I previously stated it is not a perfect solution. It places a great deal of trust in the CP. It eliminates the in game gold and buttons awarded to members of Congress, however Democracy is able to go on via forum votes. CPs that do not honor the stipulations of the Defensive Dictatorship will without a doubt find themselves impeached and overthrown. As one of the individuals who has held the mantle of CP/D in the eUSA I can tell you from experience that it is not a responsibility taken lightly. My good friend Aramec who is also a former CP/D, waxed eloquent about his own awareness of both the extreme need to honor the contract the CP/D has with the rest of the eUSA, and the necessity of a Defensive Dictatorship. I think he conveys his message very well.

In conclusion I think over the past half year or so the Defensive Dictatorship has not just proven it’s worth, but also shown that it is a workable arrangement of Government as long as we elect trustworthy and honorable CPs. I do not believe it is too much to ask for members of Congress to give up 5 gold a month and their in game buttons in order to provide the nation with a valuable protection.


Paul Proteus
Federalist Party

"It's pretty clear at this point that the Defensive Dictatorship is an obvious tactical move, it protects our democracy from foreign powers and protects from any threat of PTO. The way game mechanics exist, it remains necessary, and as the past few months have proven, our game experience hasn't changed at all (except maybe Congress gold). Our "democracy" works and is safeguarded.


All of the congress gold I was totally planning to donate to the DoI or uh somewhere, totally...

Arguments that I've seen against the dictatorship are tend to stem entirely from an unwarranted fear of the metagame, a failure to comprehend game mechanics, or an adherence to a form of role play that values inapplicable RL values at the expense of pragmatism. While I doubt anyone reading this who is fervently opposed to the DD will be particularly swayed reading this, and even treating this as an issue seems to be somewhat legitimizing of something that doesn't really deserve it, the Dictatorship is doubleplusgood yo, and until everyone's ready to actually do something interesting and burn this game down, actually playing in an intelligent manner is probably worthwhile, #Paulsez"



MrCarey
Federalist Party

One of the continuing concern I am seeing here is that DD kills new player involvement. That just isn't true. The CP still chooses who they want for their cabinet, congress is still elected as it always has been. There are new players in cabinet positions all the time. DD has nothing to do with player involvement other than congress people not being able to click a vote button in-game. While that's true, congress people still get to vote on issues, so really, it's a wash there and the fact the in-game button is gone is irrelevant.

It's a game. Dictatorship in the game (at least in eUSA) does not mean the same thing as RL. The CP has no more power now than they did prior to the Dictatorship module. Yes, it's an ugly word, but so is war - and we love getting involved in that in this game. Take away the title of Dictatorship and the mechanic (as we use it) is purely a defensive cushion. Take away that cushion, and you're opening the nation to a severe threat from other nations in the way of MTO. All that needs to happen is a country attack us and install their own dictator. You think there's no advancement or inclusion for new players now? Wait till that happens.

I strongly urge you all who are in favor of dismantling this key defensive module to reconsider the true and actual pros and cons.



Franklin Stone
Socialist Freedom Party

As an American Citizen in eRepublik I have always stood for Freedom, for open and completely transparent Government Democratically Elected in game; a Congress Democratically Elected to effect change within eRepublik. This is the principle for which I believe the Socialist Freedom Party stands, the SFP stands for Freedom and against Dictatorship; my deepest belief is that the Defensive Dictatorship has stripped Americans of the right to be represented by their Elected Congress Members; when was the last time your Congress Members could vote against a tax raise in game? In fact, when was the last time they could vote against a Mutual Protection Pact (MPP) with which your Party disagreed; in game? If my memory serves it was when Wild Owl became First Defensive Dictator or no?

Under our current Foreign Affair Policy, directed by Wild Owl; America seems to have balled up in the fetal position. We have certain MPPs that seem to serve no other purpose than to appease someone, even our Military Policy seems to be in the pugilist position; crouched down behind the shield of the DD our fist covering our faces. However the worst part of the DD is the fact it allows an outside forum to rule by a 'tyrannical majority', it allows a 'meta government' who believes this game is dead or at least dying and they wish to suck out what life remains in eRepublik.

Many have said the the Dictator Module is a game mechanic fact and therefore should be used to defend ourselves, it is also a Life Mechanic used by Fidel Castro who -IMHO- told the Cubans it was for their self defense also; Totalitarianism is as evil and vile in eRepublik as it is in real life and should be scorned by all. First it was if you don't believe in Dio, then you are a Heretic and need to convert and be cleansed by the sand or we will eliminate you. Next it was America needs a Defensive Dictatorship to defend our Homeland, when what they really mean is; 'It gives the outside 'meta government' 10 days to retain our power.'

Now as a Pagan my beliefs do not allow me to kneel before nor pray to a deity, I have no graven images hanging on my walls; now Butch The Cat believes in the Golden Cat Bowl that mysteriously feels up every morning -but that's another story. As a member of the SFP, a party which believes in Freedom for all and stands against Dictatorships World Wide; my duty lies with the People and to my beliefs. Personally I stand against the DD on my principles, I stand against it because it denies America of its in game Congress; America as a whole should stand against it because it allows an outside group -most of whom don't even come in game- to retain complete and totalitarian control over eRepublik.


Tom Cauchon
Socialist Freedom Party

When Plato first announced the Dictatorship module, I was angry. I’ve been angry with Plato before, but this time I was legitimately angry. I’ve always stated that my political stance revolves around improving the game for younger players and getting them involved.
I am a younger player than most. I haven’t forgotten what it was like to not have Q4/4/4/4 training grounds. Starting out a new profile is an arduous process, with little room to improve your standing on anyone else in the game, save if the other people that are better than you quit. I’ve logged in nearly everyday for the past 10 months, starting with a profile at 4k strength that I began in 2012. I still can’t compete for Battle Hero medals, or turn battles in the Military module. I can’t sell tanks for profit with a Q1 Wep Factory and a Q2 Food Factory with no employees. The only thing I could do was reach out to my party members and become involved in politics.
I realize that in Erepublik we often toe the line between RP and playing to the game mechanics. I recognize fully that many play this game in a form of role play, supporting things in game that they don’t necessarily philosophically believe in in real life, or supporting things in game that they do believe in philosophically in RL, yet go against the rationale of the game mechanics.
I think, too often, we forget that RL plays a larger role in this game than we think. Consider a new player, a RL American moderate, enters this game, a “politically-based” game. We’re attempting to simulate the real world in an e-world, are we not? Most new players have no knowledge of this game whatsoever. So, when they enter this game, they first learn that we have a dictator. First question they ask, “why do we have a dictator?” Someone expands with a lengthy explanation that the new player cannot begin to understand. 4 days later, the player quits because they think a dictator is stupid. I have no statistics to back this up, but this is truly what I believe.
New players quit because they are turned off by joining a political game in which a dictator reigns “supreme” and they cannot understand the merits for having a dictator.

Cheers.


Kevin Sheridan
Socialist Freedom Party

Pro's are easy so I'll stick to Cons:

The DD symbolizes the total dependency of the eUS community on game mechanics. Community and collective action have been replaced with mundane manipulation of dysfunctional game features. We have gotten used to relying on micro-tactics instead on strategic planning. We don't confront threats, we avoid them. We choose boredom over fun and our community is further eroded.

The DD is also just another step towards alienating the meta government from the wider in-game community. Votes are no longer transparent in-game. Congressmen are no longer relevant in-game and ordinary citizens who don't visit eUSforum have no idea what's going on. The undemocratic "censure" tool which is often abused, is now even more powerful.

Face it, some of us are role-players. Some like Dio, some hate Dio. Some fight from freedom and find the very concept of a military dictatorship to be an abomination.

Two minor cons. No more 5G from congressional medals, no anonymity in congressional voting processes.