Information Renaissance: Rebirth from the Flam(ing)

Day 573, 17:06 • Published in Australia Australia • by Edwina P. Montague III

Not long ago I was begining to wonder if I had reached my limits in this game. I had reached a few milestones, joined a political party, left a political party, joined the military, fought some good fights, trolled the forums and popped in and out of IRC. I began this newspaper in search of some intellectual stimulation from this game. It is a lonely experience at times.

The news had become more and more myopic in its vision. Internal political (and perhaps personal) battles dominated the headlines. Flaming was the beginning and end of the eWorld. It was all becoming rather redundant. It all felt rather pointless and I wasn't much more than a "two click" citizen.

The government recently changed and the same old show appeared to go on. New name, same play. We had an "exciting" yet brief Resistance War and we all embraced our success. Yet, I still felt flat. Nothing was moving or changing. The game was becoming stale.

Particularly bored one evening, I wondered into the IRC forum to see what was up. The usual ghosts were hanging out in the "margins" and one or two individual conversations were playing out. In an effort to stimulate some conversation and keep myself awake, I popped into someone's conversation and asked some questions that may have seemed abrupt and rather intrusive at the time. (for all the wonders of technology, text can lead to many misunderstandings as tone is completely lost). A heated discussion ensued.

Why was I so agitated? I think that, ultimately, I felt that even though I had been playing this game for a few months I stil felt completely out of the loop on many of the important game concepts. I always felt like I had to ask questions to figure out why this or that was happening. I had to search for the answers whilst everyone else seemed to already know. Frustration had been building, disguised as boredom and disinterest. Luckily some members of the current government, our PM included, were in the room and entered the discussion. They began to see that perhaps a need for better communication was needed between the government and their citizens. We weren't all members of the Senate or part of the policy makers and we really needed to know more about how the goverment agencies worked and what we needed to do. Too much had been assumed, we all just KNEW what was going on. Surely the Wiki and the Forum were enough, right?

Well, I have been extremely pleased to see a renaissance of information in the News from our ministeral departments lately. The work of the Minister of Information is very impressive and the Department of Defense has recently helped us all understand the military just a little bit better. There has been a flurry of political manifesto's being published by the party leaders. Information is FLOWING! It has been very exciting. The community is coming alive again.

As part of the media in eAus, I feel that the newspapers are really the heart of this community. It brings everyone together, talking, thinking and informing. I want to see it grow in its capacity as mediator between the government and its people. It is the mainstay of any democratic country. I applaude our governments recent efforts and I hope that this information renaissance is just the begining. I, personally, feel that the game is coming alive again for me and maybe it may just be doing the same for others previously "lost" like me.

Let the communication flow.