Why Fit In When You Can Stand Out?
Gnilraps
The 506 - Gnilraps Speaks
Deepchill’s Announcement Article
Tritrekker’s Announcement Article
And now it’s my turn to chime in.
You already know the Easy Company history. We were formed in the early days of eRepublik, became affiliated with the Federalist Party, grew rapidly when Gnilraps took over, declared independence when Deepchill took over, became the #1 MU in eUSA, the #2 Air MU in the world, and have continued to be awesome under Carlos, The Norm, WhydoIbother, and Ubuntu21. CURRAHEE!
Now we have a political home of our own.
According to local historian Bob Boudahili, “In WWII, Easy Company was the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division”. So when we wanted to form a political party, we decided to become “The 506”.
Today I’d like to get practical. What does this mean for EZC? What does this mean for our membership? What does this mean for eUSA?
Most importantly, EZC will not change its culture of political inclusivity. We did not become great because we are non-political, we became great because we were a well-run unit where politically-minded citizens from all parties could fight side-by-side without letting politics become a problem. That will never change. EZC will remain diverse and politics-free. Members of any and every party will kick butt together.
But our diversity as an MU has, over the years, made us politically vulnerable. Whenever we’ve needed a unified voice in Congress, we’ve had to attempt to do so across multiple parties whose own political priorities do not always align with ours. When the game had a larger player base, this was less a problem. But as the active player base has diminished, the top 5 political parties have increasingly become dominated by a small group of powerful players who work hard to hang onto what is left. (There are exceptions, but they are few). We want to unify our voice and become a more potent influence in the American political system.
A Political Party in eRepublik needs to exist for more than just the private interests of a few power-wielding citizens. eUSA already has too many parties like that… ahem...
506 will be different.
As I share our core philosophies and values, I hope you will notice that some of them are reflected in other parties as well. For instance, our top priority communicates a Country > Party mindset. This is a value we recognize as being a core Federalist Party value. I know because when I was a Federalist Party president I used to write about that all the time. But we are going to express it a little differently than the Feds do because, well, we’re not the Federalist Party. So let’s look at a few of the core principles of The 506.
First Core Principle
Country > MU > Allies > Party > Citizen
As I already mentioned, we share the ideals of the Federalist Party in placing the interests of the Nation above the interests of our Party. We wish to further add that the health and welfare of our nation’s Military Units is also more important than the health and welfare of our Party. We further wish to add that the security and interests of our Allied Nations is such a crucial matter that we place a higher value on our Allies than we do on our own Party. To put it another way, we hold that each Citizen serves her Party which exists to preserve the health, security and welfare of eUSA, American Military Units, and America’s Allies.
Second Core Principle
The Game Exists For Community
It’s one thing to say that you play because you love the community you have here online at eRepublik. Almost every active citizen I know would say that, on some level, they have found and enjoy the community of citizens they play along with - be they “allies” or “enemies”. This isn’t real war, it’s a war game, and if we can’t imagine ourselves getting together for a beer and a game of darts, we are to be pitied. But at 506, we don’t just exist to enjoy the community that’s already here, we exist to create and build and beautify the eRepublik community. We, the members of 506, will take responsibility for doing good things that will venerate eUSA and its communities. We will be active on Discord, the Shout Wall, the Media, and the Forum. We will conduct giveaways, contest, and debates in order to bestow eUSA with a richer gaming environment. If you want to bitch about eRepublik being a dead game, go do it somewhere else. We’re ALIVE.
Third Core Principle
Politics Matter
All of us in leadership in The 506 have had extensive experience at the highest levels of government and international affairs. We don’t say that to brag, we point that out to say that we believe that the political atmosphere is one of the truly unique and enduring facets of eRepublik. It’s something that none of us has ever found in any other game. I have been around long enough to know eRepublik citizens that have highly successful careers in real life politics, economics, and other socially-oriented vocations. When you get involved in the political module of this game, you are truly gaming at a high level. This is not to say that you won’t run into mediocre eRepublik politicians. But if you want to play this game at a high level, it matters very much that you learn how to play along side with those mediocre politicians. And the lessons you learn while doing that will bless you in real life. 506 is going to encourage you, especially if you’ve never given it a try, to get politically active in eUSA. We are, after all, a political party.
Fourth Core Principle
No Bots. Not Now. Not ever.
I’ll be the first to admit that this is an issue I hadn’t given any thought to 6 months ago. I was primarily focused on damage output, not political gerrymandering. But when the issue was raised in Congress that cast light on the potential harm that can be done by military bots skewing the integrity of our political system, I agreed. In fact, everyone else in 506 agrees as well. And so we took action to make sure that our party (at that time called the “Mandalorian Party”) became Bot-free. We succeeded. As of the writing of this paragraph, we, the leadership of 506, know enough about each and every one of our current members that we can say unequivocally that we are a clean party. We also happen to know a few things about the parties to the north of us in the rankings, and we hope that those parties will take the example we have set and see to it that the bots are removed from their parties also. Of course, no party has any control over this because Plato has not given us those mechanics. But I can speak for 506 in saying that we have proactively and intentionally rid ourselves of Bots, and we call upon every other top 10 party to do the same. 506 is a group of real people playing the game we love.
Fifth Core Principle
~Be Disruptive~
To quote one of our leaders, “we are not OK with the status quo”. We play the same game you all play, and we enjoy it. We log on multiple times daily because there are things about this game that are perfectly awesome. This isn’t a broken game, not by a long shot. But this game does get broken when things stop happening. Think about it, the game is designed for potentially massive shifts in government every 30 days! There is no excuse for defending the status quo in a game that is designed to remain interesting by having people log in and do things. Heck, one of the biggest cries in the international community is that Asteria has become so dominant that it may lead to stagnation. I don’t agree that Asteria has reached that level of domination yet, nor do I agree that once they do things will stagnate. Plato always has a few tricks up his sleeve! Which leads me to another example, every time Plato shuffles the deck, it leads to a spike in activity. 506 is shuffling the deck. So when you hear people shouting some kind of nonsense about the importance of “preserving the status quo,” and, “the 506 is a threat” because we are mixing things up??? That is the exact person you want to flee from, because we at 506 know one thing: stasis kills this game. So we intend to be disruptive, because it will create fun and energy and a better gaming experience for everyone. You should join us and give it a try.
I know that this party will continue to flesh out its core principles as it grows and becomes one of the leading political forces in eUSA. But this is where we begin.
Now that you’ve made it this far, ask yourself a few questions.
Wouldn’t eRepublik be a lot more fun to play if you had 4 or 5 more reasons to log in each day?
Would you like to become part of a movement intentionally designed to make that happen?
Or to put it more succinctly:
You may now reactivate your AF.
Comments
https://www.erepublik.com/en/party/5061/1
Join the 506 Now!
[removed]
BOYCE AVENUE feat. MEGAN NICOLE
erepublik.com/en/article/2729218
😽
Speaking of being "disruptive"!!!
hey there
Hola Mr. Homeland security
I'll need to fumigate the office first.
Do what you have to do!
Join the 506! Let's make the eUSA and game a better place to be! o7
That's exactly what I'm saying!
good luck yo
"But as the active player base has diminished, the top 5 political parties have increasingly become dominated by a small group of powerful players who work hard to hang onto what is left."
Pretty sure that includes you.
"[W]e call upon every other top 10 party to do the same"
Glad we're on the same page then.
"You may now reactivate your AF."
OK, I laughed, 😃
Close, but not exactly. I left a T5 party to help form a 6th into reality in hopes it could be different. I also don't think any of the others in 506 with whom I've been working would accuse me of being power-clutchy, I'd guess they'd say I'm more the opposite. The greater community's loud response on throwing all of this on me has been completely off the mark, and I mostly find it funny except that it's a slight insult to the ones who actually did most of the work on this.
CURRAHEE!
But... I’m your bot... are you rejecting me now?
Other than that, this is a great article and spot on.
Why fit in when you can stand out?
Who let you out of your cage?
Let’s do it!!!!
CURRAHEE
Top 5 and GniKrap
WTP - PP (yes)
Feds - PP (yes)
SFP - completely alighted with GnilKrap
BSP - not alley at all
USWP - the party he left to find new party to replace BSP
to deny that this is what is going on, is to continue the long tradition a BullSit that the Top 5 has been cheering to as they drive more players away. How many times have seen GnilKrap article implying he is here to have fun with all of us? I see them frequently. And most of the time it is someone being run over (been me several times) later as the crap unravels (never actually planned well) someone else will be tossed under a bus. GnilKrap likes to remain faultless ....
follow Gnil and watch the activity shrink in the eUS
Hello again George.
good luck.
Thanks. And thank you for being one of my international friends.
FIST
The Easy Company trope was a clever shout-out to those players who might appreciate the military correlation. But.. this seems to be taking that trope a bit far. Stolen Valour doesn't just mean dressing up in a costume and pretending to be something you're not. Its also about exploiting military service and sacrifice for personal gains.
Are you honoring a brave group of fighting men who gave all or using their memories to make a few memes?
No.
No.
Because I'll just get in trouble as always.
~hyuu~