Portrait of a Player

Day 2,317, 01:24 • Published in USA USA • by Aeriadne


Enjoy the album. I know I do.
TL😉R Warning
This will not be a short article, nor will it be very funny. But it is perhaps one of the more important ones I've written. So please, bear with me.


Visual pun. And I'm done.

As you've probably noticed, there's been a bit of a to do in the WTP. It seems long time rabble-rouser and quirky Croation Valiant Thor went a bit rogue. I feel the need to make mention of the Croatian part because the official word is that he's a Serbian PTO. All around the media, it is being shouted that the WTP has been infiltrated, that there's been a great betrayal, and that the Serbians are once again on the march.

This is not true, at least not in the way you think.

And if you'll allow me to explain, I'd like to tell you why it's wrong to assume that just because someone screws over a party as thoroughly as Valiant Thor has does not mean they are a PTO.

Some Background
To understand what's happening right now and why I even care at all, you're gonna have to look into a bit of my history, and by my history I mean Athanaric's.

Three years ago, I was in a bad place. For months, I had been on the rise, working to ingrain myself in the meta and government, and finally I had been voted as Party President of the UIP. The first two months were choice. Much fun was had, and a lot of friend time memories were made. That winter was golden.

But by the time spring came, I began to be discomforted by what I was doing. The UIP was my party, but it wasn't what I wanted it to be. I had goals, ideas, and ambitions, and I wanted them fulfilled. I tried to change the UIP into something it wasn't and something it simply couldn't be.

They railed against me, and rightfully so. I was getting into my own head and going down a hard path against the group of people I cared about the most. The only problem was, that no one wanted to follow me. I had great ideas, but every time I tried to expound on them, I lost ground and faith.

Why could no one see that what I wanted for the party was best?

Why was no one willing to follow me?

And so I railed back against the people I cared for. If they were going to shut me out, I was going to shut them out. I whored the party name out, mocking the pride with my mechanical advantage of having been PP. I made a public spectacle of my disdain for my own party and how they were treating me. And when the smoke cleared, I was very unwelcome.

I walked away from the group of friends I had alienated, and they in turn have never forgiven me. Three months back, I asked Pheno Sony and Kazeal for forgiveness. They said they still don't trust me.

And honestly? I don't blame them.

Flash Forward to Today
Valiant Thor is not a Serb. Sure, he put Serbs on the WTP ballot, and we all jumped on the bandwagon to fight the PTO like we've been trained to do. 10/10, we responded well. In about a 24 hour period, the right moves were made by people to curtail all damage that his messing with the WTP could have caused. Our response was great.

But our reason for responding is wrong.

I'm going to share a document with you, and I'm gonna be totally up front and acknowledge that I have the author's consent in sharing it. These are the logs from a WTP meeting last Sunday. This is before the storm that just swept the country, before Valiant Thor PTO'd.


Each of us has different pressure points. I want to think of yours, and what makes you stressed in playing this game. Whether it's dealing with stupid people, or how trrbl elitists are, or how your Battle Heroes get constantly sniped, everyone has a button that gets pressed at some point.

Valiant Thor is a bit of a conspiracy lover. Anyone who has been following him in the media or talks with him knows this. And so, put yourself in that mindset, momentarily, where the thing that pushes your button the hardest is now lit up.

Put yourself in his shoes: you've just discovered that Gnilraps, presidential hopeful for the month of March, went to the AFA, the number one threat to your party's existence, and begged for votes.

The seed is planted, and so you try to get others to see, to validate your point of view.

People who believe in conspiracies don't just lay it out. In the mind of the finder, it's about leading other people down the same path you just followed. You want them to arrive at the same conclusion you just did because it will be empirical that way.

"Of course Gnilraps just sold out the eUS for votes. Everything points to it. And if I just show other people the same thing I just saw, they'll see it too."

That, above all else in this moment, in that meeting, is Valiant Thor's thinking.

It doesn't matter the conspiracy he believes in doesn't really exist on the level he supposes. He has spotted evidence of a threat against his party, the one he was just put in charge of, and he's trying to show them that they're all in danger.

I don't know what he had planned after that. I can only speculate. But I know he had a plan. He had ambitions of what would happen, a glorious dream of showing the evidence to everyone and them rallying around him.

He saw the WTP rising up to fight injustice, to take down this web of lies and back dealings, and he saw himself leading the charge.

I know what he's felt, because I've been there.

Down the Rabbit Hole
When you play this game long enough, you build a narrative for the world in your head. It's hard not to. And of course you build a narrative for yourself.

You are the economic genius, pulling at the strings of all the world's markets.

You are the alliance manipulator, hanging with the big dogs and calling shots in meetings.

You are the justice bringer, the one who fights in resistance wars and who seeks out truth and liberty.

This game is wish fulfillment, sometimes on a very private level. And sometimes that dream crosses a line.

We want our head narrative to match the game narrative, what's actually happening. And sometimes, we feel powerful enough to make it seem that way. Some of us are able to change things, to make new narratives out of what is occurring. It's all about how you connect the dots.

There've been times, and I know others have had them as well, where I've seen my own headcanon and wanted it to be true. True beyond all else, beyond both fact and reason. Some people's minds don't work like this.

Valiant Thor's does.

He is a good writer, a good troll, and a person who has been intimately involved in ATO operations in this country for months. And he's been great at it. So it stands to reason that of course he would put Serbians on the ballot. That's how you cause the most damage.

That's how you break away.

Because occasionally, when those of us who follow our headcanons for too long are faced with the overwhelming evidence otherwise that they are not true, the only thing left to do is burn bridges.

And Valiant Thor did that.

A Different Kind of PTO
I genuinely believe Valiant Thor wanted to be the best PP for the WTP that he could be. Furthermore, I don't think he's ever been a sleeper agent, or a Serbian spy, or any of the stupid things people are saying.

All he is is a man who had a vision but could not get other people to see it.

The media will tell you otherwise. We'll rally around the old cry of "Stop the Servs" and say what a glorious ATO we all had, and how great our system works. And it does, it works very well. But right now, a small part of me feels sad.

Because I know exactly where Valiant Thor has been. And he will never regain the trust of the people he wanted to work for, and make a great party for.

Maybe this article will change that somewhat. Maybe some people will reach out and try to talk. I doubt it; he's done his damage. The ashes are now falling into the river, and he's on the other side. Ironically, he has destroyed his party in a way he probably never intended.

It will take at least two months for the WTP to fully put itself back together after this. There'll be constant messaging campaigns urging people to move here and move there. Some people will be lost in the mix. They'll join other parties and stay, or quit the game entirely. Things get lost in the chafe of cogs. And while they rebuild, they won't be able to field a POTUS candidate properly. Whatever WTP candidate that might've wanted to run this month will be affected by this.

And I'm sorry for that. I'm sorry for the WTP that they have to go through this, and honestly? I don't know how it could have been curtailed. Cus I've only ever been on the other side of it, walking away from everything I built up while it licks the sky with flames.

Perhaps I'm being too dramatic. And perhaps I'm being too speculative, and this is all entirely wrong. But then again, what makes good media?

The Moral of the Story
This week, a party was hit hard, and a player lost their public face. Not forever, necessarily, but certainly for a very long time. He's certainly proved to be a threat, or at the very least not capable of what we (and he) probably thought. And his actions are now warranting the proper response. And tomorrow, we'll have a nice big Congress, and Canada won't, and then the CP candidates will announce.

The great game goes on.

If there's anything to be gained from this tale, it is understanding. Understanding that not every player in this game thinks the same, and not every narrative in our head matches up. Understanding that not every PTO is a Serbian conspiracy to bring our nation to its knees, and that not every player can control their own emotions sometimes.

We're all humans, sitting behind keyboards, pretending to be something or other in this vast e-world. Try to remember the first part, and the rest will make a lot more sense.

Thank you for reading.