Join the new world

I was not here for the beginning of Scrabman's time in office. I will be here for its conclusion. This presidential election will mark the first change in administration since I, and probably many others, joined the game. I wish Scrabman well in his post-presidential life in the New World. But now is the time for some reflection on his term in office.

In reviewing what I have seen, I think the most telling characteristic of Scrabman as chief executive has been that he has the courage of his convictions. What I mean by this is that he is willing to make decisions and live with the consequences of those decisions. Arguably, many of the decisions did not turn out for the best, but also quite arguably many did. When you have the courage to make decisions, some will be right and some will be wrong, and you hope your judgment is, on the whole, sound.

What is hard for many leaders to accept is that their controls over the levers of power do not guaranty desirable outcomes. By way of example, let's consider the dismantling of Germany by Sweden and Poland. I suspect that this outcome was not what Scrabman ideally desired. That said, the options available to him were limited. When faced with several bad options, Scrabman may have decided that sewing animosity with Sweden and Poland would be worse than accepting the demise of Germany and keeping ties open with the surviving powers. I will await his memoirs to confirm my hunch.

What is hard for many observers to see is that correlation does not equal causation. It is true that Scrabman was in power when Atlantis collapsed. Future histories will discuss how much of this result is Scrabman's "fault". But perhaps Atlantis was inherently weak and would have collapsed whomever was president. Scrabman's actions or inactions may not have caused the collapse, there may just be a correlation between the events not a causation.

Over all, I believe that Scrabman did a sound job. He understands the mechanics of the game and played it to the best of his abilities, with able assistance of others in key positions. If I have one criticism, it is that he did not take more aggressive steps to put a dent in the horrific attrition rate this game suffers among new (American) players. Quite frankly, if we could keep more of the people who start playing the game interested beyond the first few days, our eCountry would be immensely better off. I would urge Scrabman's successor, whomever that turns out to be, to take a look at what can be done about this issue. This is a good game, but its current leaders are not selling it to its newbies very well.

Enjoy your retirement, Scrabman. It is well earned.