[HJ] American Military Party: Our Name, Legacy and Future
Alexander Valkor II
Hey AMP.
I started this topic hoping to spark a discussion about the party, our identity and our future.
Since the AMP was founded spring of 2011, I've seen the party go through significant changes in our identity, culture and membership. When Haliman and I founded the modern AMP from the ashes of the US Defense Party/Fraternal Brother, the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the entire eUS Military had been amended out of the US Constitution.
Needles to say, there was substantial turmoil now in our military structures. One side, lead by individuals such as Pfeiffer, went on a crusade of sorts to destroy it, while Emerick was elected President and chose to work with the eUS Military. From that point, we noticed that the eUS Military (now a private MU) and other militias (such as EZC) didn't have a specific party designed to advocate for militia support and diverse, competitive MUs. For those that don't know, my Deputy Chief of Staff at the founding was John Jay, a member of EZC.
Some of our new members also came from SEAL Team 6 (though I can't remember their names off the top of my head). Needless to say, the eUS Military ended up being the largest chunk of our membership due to it's incredibly massive size and that it was the most politically agitated following the creation of the United States Armed Forces.
Our goal was to ensure that members of the private and national MUs were represented in Congress. We even worked with communities in the party based on party membership to help foster a better understanding of their needs. This was done informally until I left. I don't know if that continued after I left the leadership.
Since then the party has shifted. We've gone away from supporting individual MUs towards supporting large scale government interaction. An example of this is the massive WAM taxes, which are frankly unparalleled. The justification is learned lessons of warfare over the years. The eUSA has a few Whales and credit card players, but we've learned the hard way the best possible way to defeat our national security threats must include a substantial reserve of funding in case of war.
This has shifted our national policies (domestic and foreign) towards being more risk averse, fighting only minor conflicts that don't offer substantial losses with failure. It also means we've shifted from empowering everyday players towards empowering the government. There are a lot of new player support options, but there is also a lot of "advice" on telling D1-D3 players how to play the game. These issues (unable to make money while WAMing with most companies, training as a D1 player, not fighting until you're D2, etc) are largely a result of Plato, but are exasperated by our national policies.
Some will argue that COs will "get the money back to the players", though this tends to favor D1-D3 tanks (not everyday players) or D4 players, who've been playing for years.
That debate is for another thread. This thread is meant to discuss how the AMP has handled that transition. Going back a bit, we started with the goal of empowering private MUs and average citizens. We supported policies that enabled commune work and gun distribution. Now we embrace changes that shift that empowerment to the national government. As a whole, the America Military Party is just an old brand name that stuck with a party that looks nothing like it's predecessor and honestly has no real identity tied to our name. We are American, sure. We are a party, yes. We're not the military party anymore though.
So with all of that in mind, what do you think we should do about it? Our identity is disconnected from our members and our history. "AMP" no longer represents where we stand or where we're going. I was Chief of Staff when the party blew into the Top 5, becoming one of the most powerful political parties in the country. Now I've seen us drop steadily into the 6th slot. We're behind the smallest T5 by a margin equal to about 1/3rd of our membership.
The party must rebrand it's identity and develop a new platform for the future. We need to work towards creating a new legacy or we're going to find ourselves looking back when the party is truly dead and wonder how we got here.
Signed,
Alexander Valkor II
aka- Sir Valaro Volcrum
Co-Founder of the modern AMP
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AMP: Name, Legacy, Future
http://www.erepublik.com/en/article/2565889/1/20
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Great article. There has definitely been an evolution of each party and where its headed in the future.
Thanks for the commentary Wooky Jack!
I agree with Wooky. All parties undergo evolution because of the fluidity of players entering/exiting the game and the fluidity of players in participation levels. I think this is natural and healthy, but can also be a source of frustration for players who built these parties on certain ideals. To see each party move farther and farther away from it's originally ideology is both progress and detriment for it's players.
+1 for you buddy. I read it all, and your article is definitely well thought out and good information for someone like myself who plays this game every day with an open mind. Members, such as myself, have moved around through the years, may have possible had some dealings with the eUS army branches and AMP, and while I wasn't a fit there at that time, I had no real idea of the transition within the AMP party itself.
Thanks for the feedback Derek!
I miss the old AMP, people used to check in and see how you're doing. Over the last 2 years now I've gotten only ads to vote, nothing about re-engaging players into party activity. I really miss that.
I know what you mean Eric.
My lovely poor Party. What an horrible death...
It's not dead yet Mister Y.
Don't worry they were mapping DNA
Thanks for the info, I'm always interested in the histories of things. To be fair though, this entire game has experienced massive shrinkage in the past few years as people lose interest and move on to other things. It's hard to be an upwardly evolving entity when everything around you is going through attrition. That being said, there's no excuses for not trying. Maybe just an old fashioned roll up your sleeves recruitment campaign could work towards getting the party back in the top 5, if being a stable presence in congress is the goal. If that's not the goal, other things could work like some sort of rewards or commune system. It's not necessarily a bad thing if you want to be results oriented and more away from the founding ideals. On the other hand, if you want to get back to your roots, then you have to re-focus your energies on people who are simply here for the military aspects of the game and just focus on getting some sort of enjoyment/camaraderie/socialization out of that even in the absence of an end strategy. I don't know, just throwing some thoughts out.
Looks like an interesting discussion.
Merge with WTP plz.
No.
lold
NO.
Thanks for all the endorsements guys. I appreciate it.
YO
Hey bro, what's up?
I really appreciated AMP back in the day. I endorsed because you are spot on, the party is nothing like it once was. Shame really, but falls under the heading of "whatever". Looking out for the individuals best interest, whether tank/gold buyer, new player or long time 'free' player, has always been my goal. (FWIW I've been all of the above.)
I hope AMP will become whatever it's members need/want.
Thanks for the endorsement and for the feedback dill.
Id also like to point out that while I am a forum member, every time I try to access that part of the eUS forum it tells me I'm not allowed to access it.
Post for access here: http://eusaforums.com/forum/index.php/topic,32510.0.html
Good read. I enjoyed the detail and commentary
Thanks for the feedback nick!
FIST
Sup bro?
Good article, will be interesting to see what happens in the future.
The party dies or it rebrands and finds a new destiny for itself.
Should be an interesting journey.
Forum discussion was moved to public. Anyone should be able to view it and comment on it now.
http://eusaforums.com/forum/index.php/topic,37519.0.html
cash