The White Knight

Day 4,555, 08:38 • Published in USA USA • by PigInZen
Alternate Title: Why Can't We Be Friends

A quick digression: when the original came out I think I was in the third grade, or heading into it. In high school I became a huge second-wave ska fan, so the Smashmouth version really speaks to me...





What's a White Knight?

White knights are friendly investors that takes over a existing company that is either struggling or under threat of a hostile takeover. With the former the white knight assumes much of the financial risk of the struggling company. With the latter the white knight usually offers a more advantageous deal. In internet language the term "white knight" carries less complimentary definitions. Usually it refers to someone of low self esteem who comes to the unsolicited aid of women, chivalrous style, even while promoting the absolute equality of women. Finally, according to the fine folks at dictionary.com, a white knight defined as "a hero who comes to the rescue, or a beleaguered champion who fights heroically for a cause, as in politics."

I was labelled a white knight by Harrison Richardson very shortly after starting to play eRepublik. While "hero" or "beleaguered champion" are a bit of stretch to describe me, my goals in game have been quite specific and consistent: encourage unity and cooperation in gameplay while fostering goodwill and openness. It's why I've left the statement in my profile the same for many, many years:

"Having resentment is like drinking poison and waiting for the *other person* to die. --Carrie Fisher

This game isn't hard. Rule #1: don't be a dick. Rule #2: follow rule #1."

It's why so many articles in my paper talk of teamwork and eschew politics. It comes naturally to me; my eRep persona is who I am in real life: humanist, accepting, and always promoting doing the right thing.

When I re-joined eRep over 700 days ago, around day 3840, I made a few promises to myself if I was going to play eRepublik again.

It would not be a temporary choice, for eRep is a long-term game.
I would avoid zero-sum politics.

But the most important part? I could not change my approach, since it is literally who I am in real life. Not my job but rather my personality.



A Political Journey

I found that after re-animating my eRepublik account that I just... couldn't be a part of any of the existing Top 5 parties. Not because I didn't have friends in them all, no rather because I didn't want to accept the political baggage associated with the various parties as my own. Look, it's not as bad as it used to be and this is mostly due to the a few polarizing players quitting the game. I really do not want to rehash old political feuds that are probably better left dormant. Let's just say that there were real feelings behind those political rivalries and those feelings were not friendly in nature.

Because of that, however, I went and contacted a very old player who still controlled a very old eUS political party which used to be Top 5 but had fallen deep into the ranks of the "sixth parties." My goal was to create a place for people who didn't want to engage in the domestic political battles of old, but rather for those who sought to escape those old battles, those old labels. A party dedicated to national unity and teamwork.

This is not a recruitment article. Recruiting people to political party is a fool's errand. There is very little of substance that a political party can offer to its members. Yes, parties can serve as retention pockets, providing aid in the form of housing, food, weapons, co-op/collective work, and social connections. Some parties reinforce this with an MU. But most or all of those things are available in the game as a whole. So why the importance of parties?

Power. The power to decide things, both in-game and out.



A Nation of Selfless Citizens

There are dozens, maybe even hundreds, of eUS citizens that are committed to the team that is the eUS. People that have been here for years, day after day, week after week, month after month, doing the tasks that keep the country going. These people are the heroes.

Let me encourage each of you to put aside self-aggrandizement. Put aside the pursuit of power for power's sake. It's fleeting and doesn't last. There currently exists in the eUS community a threat from within, one that strikes to the heart of both community and legitimate play. I will have more on this in the near future but please, I implore, you all to look around and see the community that exists and the collective value that we bring when we work together not for individual goals, but rather for common goals.



Thanks for reading.

PiZ