HOPEing For Left-wing Utopia Which They Already Have...

Day 2,004, 17:54 • Published in Belgium Belgium • by Konrad Neumann


I really do not get the anger of the radical left? Are they angry because they are radical or are they radical because they are angry? After many months of seeing them in action and rhetoric, it is hard to understand why they are so angry. They claim that they are Marxist/ communist and base on how the game is, I would posit eRepublik for the most part is a leftist utopia already. That begs the question, why the angst?

Any real student of Marx and communistic theory would know that the main point of Marx is now the rhetoric. It is not about the romantic symbolism of The Communist Manifesto but the economic theory base on the works of both Adam Smith and David Ricardo. It is base on concepts such as the labor theory of value or the tendency of the rate of profit to fall. In many ways, Marx praise capitalism for it allows man to focus on being man and less on living base on subsistence. His only concern was the sustainability of such system as technology and progress/ evolution of production methods would reduce the need of manpower (consumers) creating an unsustainable system. Marx wrote of communism as the final step of history. For the main point of Marx is, history is the progression of modes of production.

You can buy his arguments or not and I do not agree with is end of history argument, I will not try to put this into the game context. Marx argues that under a capitalist system there will be crises which I most people will equate to recessions/ depressions which will cause great upheavals leading the way for a revolution. Game mechanics really makes this hard for while there are fluctuations in the monetary markets, money is no longer the main focus of "wealth." To use a Marxist view in eHistory, in the beginning people work for cash in company. Base on your work skills, it can be extremely profitable to work for cash if you have the skill. However, most people tend to suffer for their skills are far from ideal. As time progresses, the game changed focus from a neutral do anything type of game to a war game, the focus is no longer cash accumulation but wealth is strength. While eCash does buy strength, strength accumulation is mainly from RL money and less on game means. The revolution/ evolution of the economic system is the creation of the commune/ MU system.

The operators of MU in most cases operate at a lost. They tend not to make much game money and many have to invest their real money in it and not gain much RL or game cash back. However, the wealth here is social as well as strength. Overall you can say it is fair for all get the same amount of goods and the workers would get more value in the form of tanks than cash. Supplies trumps cash for players strive for tanks than cash. Our eBE citizen packs which aids players under level 30, offers not cash but of tanks and food. This is a system with no bubble as you will always have people who use credit cards to continue to fund MU's and state measures like citizen packs. The transformation and evolution from a cash market system to a supply base system is eRep's version of the great revolution. A peaceful and institutional revolution that changed the very nature and fabric of this game.

There is a certain levels of anarcho-syndicalism in how the MU system shaped the world. Since MU's are for the most part independent and does its own thing. Most MU's do not engage with other MU unless there is an urgent matter. The Germany FSK does its own thing and does not deal with BAD MU unless Germany is fighting a vital battle. This is true with MU's in the US and many countries as well. MU's create a macro-decentralized system of subsistence and governance.

Since wealth is mainly strength these days, the only inequality is the gap of strength. This is a systematic and game institutional problem and not that of the social. People can complain so and so has more strength but strength like age cannot be equalized. Even if you invest RL cash into this game, there will never be an equality of strength. However, people should not look at strength as a class. For like age, are you in the old class? It is counter-productive for strength is related to capital and time. It is a lot more rigid than that of pure economics. Also, the strong does not necessary own the means of production and many are self sustained. So it is pointless to "bash the rich/ wealthy" from this point of view as they are non-political and are self-obtained. It is not a monolithic entity or identity. Some people are just older and stronger than others and nothing more. I also think the concept of class is outdated with the current reality. The current reality like I said before is that of anarcho-syndicalism. There is constant fluidity between these communities. If I do not fancy MU X, I can always move to MU Y. If you can get more strength from a different MU, one can move to a different one willy nilly.

So why the rage? I do not comprehend the rage of some radical leftist in our community. They shout and make noises that there is tyranny. They declare our community an affront to their ideals. The question is how? How is it an affront to your ideals. Game mechanics and the revolution of the economic system created a leftist paradise already. I believe eBE is a leftist paradise but this is not limited to just eBE. For the game overall embraces and follows the ideals of left-leaning/ leftist people. There are two logical conclusion I posit for the cause of their rage. They either lack understanding of the thing they declare to embrace, or they are just envious of others.