CPF Sheep, MDP Zombies

Day 2,648, 11:26 • Published in Canada Canada • by Alias Vision

The problem with writing in stream of consciousness (beyond typos and bad grammar) is that often your points are not as well crafted as you would like them to be. When that happens the message can be lost or misunderstood.

I hope I will not be misunderstood.

Things certainly change fast in Canada. Or should I say, they transition from one set of behavior to another very quickly. Not so long ago we were wiped and doing our best to operate as a unified front. Before we were even completely liberated we were moving towards our usual anti-social (read inter-party rivalries) behavior. Actually that's a loaded term, let me attempt another angle.

We were back to manufacturing conflict in an attempt to keep everything interesting and engaging.

Before getting into the state of the CPF and the recent PTOs and moral sapping elections, can we make one thing crystal clear? DMV and Rylde's actions are a footnote compared to the potential lasting damage that Oinyo's international campaign can have. There is literally nothing more difficult in the New World than building, nurturing and maintaining positive and productive international cooperation. It can take an administration the whole month of talking to convince another country to trust you and that you are worth their time. On the flip side it can take a single person with an ax to grind a single day to destroy all that.

You want to help the CPF? Then don't equate its current situation to Canada and especially don't elevate the individual above the whole (which is what ransoming Canada's reputation in exchange for Rylde's head amounts to be).

I've been PP of one man parties and I've also led 100+ members. In every case the biggest challenge has always been the same. The most difficult thing is motivating and engaging a plurality of members and getting them to participate (read into that what you will). It is also a near universal truth that every party has a core of active, dedicated members. It's why anger flares when there are takeovers and it's that engagement that can turn to quitting outright when things get imposed by outside forces.

The laundry list of issues that Rylde in particular and the MDP in general have against the CPF is posturing. There are only two outcomes to what has happened the past couple months:

1. The CPF is destroyed and slowly fades down the rankings as members move on and are absorbed in other parties.

2. A significant enough percentage of the membership rises up to retake the party and kick out the outsiders.

Both outcomes will have similar results. A portion will quit, a portion will move on and a portion will fight. Both outcomes will result in bad blood between the CPF and MDP. Permanently in some cases.

You can't hold membership numbers against a party because there are no game mechanics that allows us to manage parties in that way. Attacking the CPF for bloat is about the most counter-intuitive thing there is. Assume you manage to kill that bloat, assume further that you destroy the CPF because it can't or won't reform itself. You would like it to be perceived as a good thing but where does that bloat go? To the next highest profile party, to the MDP.

So your ultimate goal is to transmogrify a party of "sheep" into a party of "zombies"? Will you then destroy your own party for the sake of Canada? And for those tempted to say that it would never happen that way, it will. Canadian political history is littered with examples, pick any one you like.

DMV broke the illusion of the biggest party in Canada. His successful election should have signalled to everyone that the eroding community is nearing a crisis point. DMV could and should have used the opportunity to build something, he is very capable of doing so. But he chose not to. Why? He would have to answer that himself but I'm starting to wonder if part of the answer is that not enough was left to salvage.

When Rylde turned the trick again the following month with 30 votes it shouldn’t have surprised anyone. But it did. I for one was completely taken by surprise. It wasn't as if the CPF was running a bland candidate. It wasn't as if the warning shot hadn’t been delivered across the bow already. So how could this happen?

Apathy, erosion, opportunism. Apathy from the party leadership, erosion of the player base at large and opportunism from those outside looking in.

Rylde should be confronted and criticized but not for his win. What he should be held accountable for is the destructive nature of his actions when what is most needed right now is more community and building. There is only one right answer to the CPF and that was time and effort.

So where does that leave us? By us I mean CPF members that were not part of either PTOs. It leaves us with a choice to leave or rebuild. Either way it will require time and effort and either way it will engender tension with the MDP.

If you want to be part of the CPF (and really this should be understood to be true for any and all parties), you should want to participate in a minimal way. The damage of DMV and Rylde has already been done, no sense being outraged by it now. Better focus on the way ahead and where each one of us wants to be.

CPF Sheep.

MDP Zombie.

Other.

Choice is ours.