[AB] Alliances - The Past and The Future
Erwin Schauman
Non-Presidential article of the author's view on the global alliance situation.
No marmosets, no presidential statements, very few jokes. Still, give a vote for the effort!
Soundtrack - right click and open in a new tab to listen while reading!
THE PAST CREATED OUR FUTURE
Not so long ago we lived in much simpler times. We knew exactly who was our friend and who was our foe. It was us vs. them. It was a world of clarity, a black and white world, but a world I dearly miss...
The twin alliances, EDEN and Phoenix, offsprings of the forerunner alliances Atlantis and PEACE, waged an infinite war against each other, sundering the world in to two equally strong rivaling spheres. The war between the factions for the domination of the eWorld lasted for over a year with the winds of war periodically changing to favor the other side to keep things interesting. It was a war of total conquest and unrestricted warfare where winner would have taken it all.
It was a Golden Age of eRepublik when activity was at its peak and new leaders emerged to lead their glorious forces to battles for resources and to quench their lust for revenge. The war was fought on all fronts and it spared nothing – economies were laid waste, governments were couped and overthrown, nations were destroyed and stripped of their wealth... All the while the media section was active and filled with alliance propaganda, lies, fiction and if you were really lucky, facts.
The struggle sired infinite legends of selfless sacrifice, heroism, gallant victories, as well as crushing defeats.
War never was as fun or as deadly!
And we loved every moment of it.
But nothing lasts forever. The winds of war started to favor EDEN too heavily, and in one fell swoop the morale of Phoenix was crushed in a string of defeats. The alliance started to collapse as internal issues rose that caused irrevocable rifts between the member states.
In the end, Phoenix was no more. EDEN lost its counterpart and, at the same time, much of its reason and motivation to fight. It too, started to crumble, and new factions emerged from the two.
The world shifted from a bipolar world to a multi-polar world.
Or has it, really?
THE STORM AFTER THE CALM
”Lets make a deal never to attack each other...”
The world has now entered in to a chrysalis period, where the nations of the world have encased themselves in a cocoon of indecisiveness in order to protect themselves from the difficulty of choosing a side. It seems that to many that is something to avoid like plague.
Perhaps it's due to emotional attachment to the old ways, or perhaps it's just calculative waiting for something cataclysmic to take place to springboard the nations to a final decision on whose side to fight on.
Regardless, sooner or later something has to emerge from the cocoon. Something is evolving under the tough shell, but it remains to be seen what.
Meanwhile, blind eyes are turned to the rape committed by old brothers-in-arms against now current allies. Their pleas for help go unheard, the unwillingness to fight against a former friend halting the arm that should be raised in defiance of such atrocities.
Alas, the comatose elitist leaders of the nations, unlike Margaret Thatcher, lack balls.
They choose inaction.
ALLIANCES – BROKEN TOOLS TO BE DISCARDED?
Fondling inappropriate buttocks, no matter how willing, is still inappropriate
What the world has now is three major alliances - the Erepublik Defence & Economy Network, remnants of the victorious nations of the previous world wars and holders of the legacies of old.; the Pan-American Alliance, an US lead upstart alliance that has been rapidly expanding its sphere of influence; and the New World Order (name still bending), a so far impotent attempt to unite the strongest nations of the world to prey on the weak.
All of these alliances share the same weakness, the same fundamental flaw - they consist of members with mixed loyalties, born from the age old conflict that molded the whole culture of the eWorld.
The member states are unable to let go of the past and instead embrace it like a toddler embraces his mother's breast. Even if it means going against the alliance policies, leading to a situation where alliances... are no longer alliances. The more accurate description is a bloc of countries that cooperate as long as it fits the individual needs of the country, and as long as alliance decisions do not go against the collective conscious of the nation in question.
Gentlemen, it simply does not work. How could an alliance, where the members do not fight for a common cause but simply cooperate when it serves their selfish needs, ever amount to anything? Without a common enemy, without a common vision, alliances cannot fulfill the role they are meant to fulfill - unification of nations under one ideal, under one vision, under one purpose.
In the current state of affairs, alliances have no reason to exist other than to stroke the egos of the few alliance bosses who role-play their part. Same could be achieved without the alliance structure, through bilateral relations.
It would be much less hypocritical, as well.
SUMMA SUMMARUM
In practice, alliances do not exist anymore. Not as they once did. The rules have changed and nations now ally themselves with any nation they feel can help them, regardless if those nations are hostile towards other allies-on-paper.
This is the situation many wanted to see a long time ago when the game was still fresh – a re-enactment of the 30 Year War where nations switch sides more often than Lady Gaga switches her style.
But looking at the situation we are in now, one has to pose the question, is this really what we wanted? Did we really want a chaos like what ensued after the collapse of the Roman Empire? Where is the spirit of the old, the vision that moved entire armies just for the delight of causing destruction and anguish to the enemy? Or has that become obsolete too, and we must now get used to a gray world of backroom deals and backstabbing?
It remains to be seen if after the chrysalis period nations adapt to the multi-polar world and forgo their old allegiances in favor of showing loyalty to the alliance they now are part of, or if the resistance towards change is so heavy that we are forced to descend back to the old order and continue the age old war between the same two super blocs, like it was in the Golden Age.
Or will we perhaps eventually see the rise of true alliances, consisting of members that share a common goal, ideology and vision? Alliances, that transcend over the boundaries of mundane desires, and create a legacy unrivaled by what we've witnessed before.
Time will tell.
Comments
I have read it!
great arcticle!!! (and soundtrack!!!) it's quite the photography of the e-world as far as i've understood it. In a situation like this words like ideals loyalty and common goals are rubbish and the only thing left to do is try to fight the power of some tyrannic nations ( serbia?? v.v )and do what we have to do to ensure the power of finland!!!
Voted, m i the first???
Agreed, we need that black n white world back
Lady Gaga reference roxs 🙂
correction IN THE WORLD words like deals loyalty and common goals are rubbish NOT FOR ME we are forced to be some kind individualist
Let's just go back to EDEN / Phoenix or Atlantis / Peace GC and have some wars again. The current situation is killing the game, I am all dressed up but has no place to go!
hardly voted : P
Mundus vult decipi, ergo decipiatur.
I really enjoyed this article.
Ordo ab chao.
But I would rather quote Nietzsche in this matter. xD
vote,nice soundtrack btw
V+S...
great article and music,
it will al change like dunes on desert wind, but sand is stil sand.
i didt play in time of clarity i think this is also interesting
this game is good simulation of us all and show difference between old and
new players
This is so true...
There is a serious lack of quality articles like this one. Great work.
"Time will tell."
x2
EDEN is the alliance standing from the Old Kings time and the other two are just "les nouveaux riches "
Time will tell .
I think we agree, the past is over.
Excellent!
Alliances will never be the same. Not since PEACE destroyed Atlantis.
Damn it, I lost the comment that I just wrote, :fuuu:
Keeping it simple: long live the grey world.
I never liked the bipolar world, it would be awesome to see total chaos, but what I would like to see the most is a multipolar world (let's say, 3 or 4 groups), that might be worth watching, as it will be something new, not just a sort-of virtual reenactment of the Cold War.
I hope in the future, the strategist of the attacks might have to watch their steps, there might be a hidden enemy, waiting until you get exhausted to attack even both, you and your foe. Strategy might had almost dissapeared from battles, let's bring it back to the international relationships, with a twist, : P
@Purohueso: Yes, a multi-polar world that is *worth* watching. What we have right now isn't exactly the pinnacle of excitement. Lots of sabre rattling and side-switching, very little actual advance in any direction. The alliances just aren't united enough to operate so that a world war could fully begin. It's just pitched battles here and there and none of them have much value.
Of course, that might be more due to the simplification process that the admins have undertook, instead of the fault of the multi-polar world. There's less excitement in battles because there's less to lose and win.
@Porosus: I blame the Brits for that.
Yeah it wasnt PEACE who destroyed ATLANTIS it was the member countries who wanted to split. I should know quite well as I was there to vote breaking up the band.
@Gabriel: True. However, he does have a point in the sense that Atlantis broke up because it wasn't able to win battles and put actual effort behind its actions. It was an ineffective alliance and those tend to die when someone shows the weakness for everyone to see. That someone was PEACE.
It's similar to what happened between EDEN and Phoenix. EDEN showed the world how disorganized Phoenix was at the time. It put the ball rolling that eventually made the Phoenix member states accuse each other for the failures, which ultimately lead to the dissolution of the alliance.
It's the way things go. No alliance has ever been wiped out with total conquest. In fact, history has proven that it has the exact opposite effect, and it brings the members closer together. All alliances crumble when they lose the ability to work together, to put effort in to it, to organize, organize, organize.
If you get a particularly crappy HQ and unmotivated, inactive presidents for a period, and the enemy capitalizes on that, then that's it. Game over.
o7
So nice to have finally gotten some background on this game.
i am a turk. i want alliance efinlandia and eTurkey.
hail friendship eFin & eTurkey.
@Video Jack: Aye, it was not only the culture that changed in the game. It was also the game itself. Many things lost their value and even the game itself became gray. The users just adapted their ideology to that.
Resources still play a role, even if that role is far more smaller than what it used to be. +5% increase in production does not do much to the individual, but on national level it theoretically means circa 5% increase in monthly profits to the state. That can be a lot or not, depending on the size of the economy.
Of course, since regions no longer host companies and only ever provide a 5% bonus, there's really not anything epic about conquering them. People have to now draw their excitement from roleplaying and giving fictional value to battles to keep themselves entertained. But perhaps that too will be just a momentary phase before the eventual collapse of the game itself.
Voted!
The future is in the future, and the past is different one.
chaos of The eWorld o/ That we has waiting very long time o/
I am sorry, but I don't agree that this kill game. We only need one big war and then game came back to life. We can see how Poland will continue to America and it has conquest Mexico already and now its maybe attack to PaNAM. No one can't know, but I think this is very good move for long period. Game killing itself, no new alliances.
One advice: Goverments have to tell more to people. They want know, because this is historial moment, if this game will rise sometime.