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The anti-forum coalition is against metagaming. In a more or less recent article, Ares Sun argues the problems of metagaming. However, I disagree with many of his premise. He argues metagaming is a problem as it creates factionalism and the creation of the elite. While this is a legitimate concern, I will argue it is inevitable for elites to form. Even if we abolish metagaming, people will still form factions and a leadership within such faction will form creating elites within different factions. The game itself is based on a representative model of governance and the very notion of the existence of government creates the notion of an elite. Even if we are to rid ourselves with metagaming, we will still face inequality.

Is discrimination bad? It really depends. Because there are different ideas and visions of reality, discrimination is natural. We just need to make sure the discrimination is just. There are just and unjust discrimination. Discriminating people due to their race, religion, gender, etc is unjust. However, you will most likely refuse an open heart surgery from a janitor or an aerospace engineer with no knowledge of biology. The same can be said of our politics. Certain people rise to fame and power due to their understanding, social network/ capital, and the time needed to be an elite. People also discriminate ideas. I might prefer environmental security over short term economic growth. This too is a form of just discrimination. Therefore just forms of discrimination will create just forms of inequality. Therefore, it is important to allow equal opportunities for all who wish to participate. The moral thing to do is not to secure absolute equality but to secure fair and equal opportunity. Metagaming is a tool and platform for equal opportunity.

Metagaming is the liberator as it allows many newer and inexperience players to obtain the network and knowledge to obtain enough social and political capital to be an leader in politics. Metagaming is the great civic tool for socialization where ideas and information is exchanged. It offers a lot more tools for us to communicate information, resources, and organize for the betterment of the community. It is also a great tool for socialization and teaching the norms, traditions, and the decorum/ rules of the game. Metagaming is the means to obtain social capital and trust needed for a successful political career. All in all, metagaming is a great tool for both education and communication.

While these tools are not perfect, there are more positive than negatives. I understand the concerns of some members of our community who is are anti-metagaming. They portray great images of corruption, hunger for power, and play to pay politics; however, this is just factionalizing and a form of metagameing. The game eRepublik never intended base on game mechanics to be a direct democracy. The dream of a communistic/ anarchistic utopia itself is a form of metagaming. I am not against the notion of having a dream. For the dream [metagaming] gives this game purpose and community. Metagaming is the glue and foundation of both the eIndividual self as well as that of community. To kill metagaming is to kill this game itself.

If the game is without metagaming, some of the features of the game will not exist today. Back in the good old days, things like alliances and military unit/ commune did not exist. It was the metagaming aspect of the community that allowed these features to be the norms of the game. The same can be said about the chat feature of eRepublik. If people did not metagame and use the IRC, these features would not exist.

Overall, metagaming enhances the game experience. The premise of metagaming forms factions is false as it is a natural human behavior. We also need to look at inequality in an objective way as not all forms of discrimination and inequality is bad. It is human nature to discriminate either rationally or irrationally but the only duty of the community is to secure equal opportunity for all. The metagaming tools like the forum, IRC, google docs, etc are great forms of liberation for new and experience players as it allows people to communicate and form social networks needed in politics. While these tools are not perfect, there is an overall benefit to metagaming.