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An Introductory Note on Realness

Neither Phoenix Quinn (PQ) nor RF Williams (RFW) is real.

Though they both sometimes deconstruct aspects of the Real, which is to say, examine the ontological nature of the symbolic order of "things" that make up our collectively-acknowledged mental construction of "reality", neither of them is a professional philosopher, a psychiatrist, or even a graduate student.

In other words, both are, even after all these years, rank amateurs.



It is true that these two (well, three, really) eRepublik avatars are or were played by the same real life person -- on old fart named Dave.


Dave, imagining what "e-realness" must be like.



Three, really, because, just before disappearing forever from eRepublik soon after the RL election of the Big Orange Turd in the RL USA, PQ changed his name to Silas Soule.

Captain Soule was a mid-19th century US Army officer who refused orders to kill Native Americans. He was eventually murdered by his commanding officer, against whom he had testified in a trial that attempted to condemn the Army massacre of Cheyennes at Sand Creek, Colorado on Nov. 29, 1864.



Silas Soule


That renaming was a symbolically "real" nod to the modern Abolitionist movement, as well as a literary foreshadowing of PQ's imminent demise.

Soule was a staunch Abolitionist. A friend of John Brown, his family home was stop on the Underground Railroad and Soule fought with the anti-slavery forces in Kansas. He attempted to break Brown and two others out of captivity in Charles Town following the infamous raid on Harper's Ferry.

Would have succeeded too, except the captives told him they preferred martyrdom, hoping it would spark a full-scale just war to end slavery. Which, of course, it did.

Silas Soule was a frequent visitor to Boston, a hub of Abolitionist activity, and a friend of Walt Whitman.

As RFW fans doubtlessly recall, RF took a long leave of absence following Day 4197, in an ode to Whitman -- "Just Another Day in May". It was a subtle jab at the tiresome "rage quit / I'm outta here" style of farewell soliloquy, using instead the gentle militance of Whitmanesque free verse to craft a promise and a claim...


"Remember my words, I may again return. I love you. I depart from these materials; I am as one disembodied, triumphant."




RF Williams, named in honor of the modern-day abolitionist Robert F Williams, is neither a multi nor a clone of Phoenix Quinn. They are separate characters who "exist" and "existed" sequentially, in a time continuum. Albeit, an e-time e-continuum, a universe that may have slightly different rules of physics from the Earth-standard universe.

RFW is sort of a milder, chiller e-reincarnation of Phoenix Quinn. And he's been cast in the role of the curator of PQ's legacy.


Robert F and Mabel Williams



All of which is to say that Dave, if that really is "his" real name, likes to "play" eRepublik as if it were a conceptual performance art platform. Where the whole gist of it is not to "win" the game, nor "collect points" in some "traditional" sense.

Rather --- to promote the brand "PQ".


This more-than-a-decade-long performance piece will help to lay the basis for the success of Dave's upcoming sci-fi novel, which he hopes will draw an audience based on the cult status of its references to eRepublik and to the old RPG game Gamma World.

Thus enticing some Hollywood types to buy it and make into a blockbuster mini-series.




One of Picasso's early paintings, reminiscent of the Old Dutch Masters style. The sick patient, obviously, is eRepublik. The sister-nun holding an infant represents the wigs hoodwinking noobs into playing the game -- and the cuppa tea laced with poison in their hand represents a "spring thing" that has the effect of gumming up the Top Five Articles with junk. The doctor, obviously -- duh -- is PQ.



As several scandalized critics over the years have stated -- sometimes ad nauseum but of course creo quia absurdum est -- many of the "works" attributed to PQ (and to RFW for that matter) have been pastiches, mash-ups, take-offs, cut-ups and alterations of real-life writing, songs, plays and so on.


Scandal!!


Sometimes adaption to the cut-out context to the "New World" was obvious.

Sometimes it was more esoteric.

PQ and RFW repeatedly explained why they sometimes took this approach, both in explicit terms and via smarty-pants references to Deleuze, Vonnegut, Picasso and various obscure occult-anarchist types.

Nevertheless, some dull critics unfamiliar with the development of art found this approach to playing a rather mundane online browser game akin to criminal activity.

Or something. God knows. But they bitched about it.




Not actually Dave. ...or is it?


Despite the layers of psychodrama involved in deciphering such accusations, which can require a concerted effort to not be nasty in return, rumor has it that "Dave" has always, in fact, been totally delighted that his "art" was considered to be "scandalous" by some players.


As you Hollywood types know --- there is no such thing as bad press.




But enough of that. Let's get to the meat of today's topic.


The Interview

In celebration of something or another. We're not sure if it was Eid al-Fitr, or Dave's second COVID vax shot, or some unexpected eigenstates arising in the after-universe where PQ still "exists", the writing staff here at Radio Free Dixie were startled out of slumber when none other than PQ himself walked in the front door yesterday, just like it was an ordinary day in May and he hadn't vanished off the face of eRepublik several years ago.


PQ: "Howdy, y'all! I'm here for the second interview."


Everybody in the office turned and stared at RF, who of course had claimed to have interviewed PQ on the night of the Full Moon preceding All Hallow's Eve, in a woodland meadow somewhere in Massachusetts.


RFW: "Ah!" (A long pause ensued, during which they eyed each other somewhat warily.)

PQ: "Ah-ha!"


RFW: "Ah-hem. Yes. Umm. But isn't this a bit unfair? You are well known for having both questions and the answers."

PQ: "Teachers, lawyers, preachers, actors, players. We all lead the witness, serving some ego need. You know how it goes. In love with ones' own voice."


RFW: "Uh-huh. OK. Well. What's up?"

PQ: "That's your question? I return here, at your request, for a visit from Another World and you want to know 'What's up?'"?



At this point there was something like a cosmic disturbance in the e-Force.




It was Shiloh13, the Commander of Bear Cavalry Resistance Forces, charging into the office yelling, "HAVOC is on! Let's go make a bucket of Croat tears!!".

Then charging out again, a heady aroma of blood, sweat, tears, good German beer, and good California ganga wafting out after him.


The entire staff of writers followed the charismatic Resistance leader out the door, scattering every which way to engage in acts of sabotage and revenge against the vile Occupiers and their minions, shouting "Ursa Fi!" at the top of their lungs.



Except for RFW, who'd seen it all a million times, if not in this e-life, then in a previous one. Like, say, in the one still standing in front of him, who had a sly grin shifting back and forth across his ancient visage.



PQ: "Cool. OK. Now that it's quiet. You were going to ask me about art and eRepublik, remember?"

RFW: "Sure. ... ... ... Of course! Well, umm, let's see, from studying your Prison Notebooks, it is clear that you loved the platform, but hated the game. Is that accurate?"

PQ: "We can teach technique, mechanics, how to use the materials of the game. We can show someone 'how to play the game'. But not why. Or what to do with it. Koji Wakamatsu directed his first film by cutting pictures out of magazines, which he showed to the cameraman to set up the angles and shots for each scene. Playing eRepublik is about imagination. One must be socially and poltically engaged, resolutely anti-authoritarian, with deep curiosity, and have a need to share what you're seeing or not seeing."




RFW: "So not playing the admin's game is a political statement?"

PQ: "The default ludic model of eRep is a puppy mill. It seems to provide cute little toys that jump around with their tails wagging, excited to run out and play, eager to please, to be petted and given their rewards. Yet it's a cruel environment. All too often the animals become malformed, or have psychological problems, becoming depressed or overly aggressive. Someone who is 'trained to behave the right way' may not last long in the real make-believe world of international warfare, imperialism, colonialism, nationalist hoo-ha and gross inequality."




RFW: "So what exactly is your proposal?"

PQ: "Boycott eRepublik's standard model. Turn the platform into a creative tool to promote your own story."

RFW: "What does this accomplish?"

PQ: "Not relying on 'Big Daddy' to define your 'win' turns you into a fully functioning autonomous actor, with something like artistic agency. You have nothing to lose and everything to win with this approach: freedom and dignity. I don't advocate abandonment or withdrawal. Although 'abandonment' can also be understood to mean 'without inhibitions', unboundedness, which I see as a positive direction."




RFW: "How would we go about encoraging this style of play?"

PQ: "Something like a guild system maybe. An organization, or series of organizations, that build up relationships that allow players to continue playing comfortably -- something like the Producer Co-ops that the SFP 'Dual Power' faction has promoted, for example-- but more importantly and fundamental, something like really active "writers guilds" that promote "on the job training" in the skills needed to cook up some real fun.




RFW: "Why does anybody need to be guided or trained? Isn't every player an artist?"

PQ: "Debatable. One needs to examine the evidence for statements like that. Even when admin ponies up desireable rewards for publishing, the vast bulk of what is produced is just total crap from an intellectual and aesthetic perpsective. We do also see some really fun and interesting conceptual work at many different levels. We also need to be careful about co-dependence -- you know, creating a situation where players feel too tied into a given approach or mentor. And we also need to be wary of teachers who only teach capitalist spectacle."

RFW: "Pretty harsh!"

PQ: "Generally speaking, experts need to be paid serious attention to, then rebelled against. That's how science, art and mathematics progress."







RFW: "Someone once said, 'Art proceeds through hate not love. Learning to hate masterpieces is what produces super-masterpieces.'"

PQ: "While institutionalized critiques are often themselves derivative and uninteresting, it's true that irreverence is liberating. I was always a bit of a brat and a smarty-pants in eRepublik. The proof of the pudding is if that irreverence translates to a broader audience. I got to the point where, in the few cases where I'd written something really interesting or hilarious, I'd read it out loud, or quote from it, to friends in the Other World. You know. The one where Dave lives. If I got a strong reaction there, then I knew I was on to something."



RFW: "Are there bad or toxic teachers of an irreverant approach to eRepublik?"

PQ: "Certainly. And is not always clear either. Some have both good and bad qualities. I'd offer, purely on an anecdotal basis, that mentors with rich real life experiences probably make better in-game teachers, in the sense that we're talking about. If your mentor is a dentist who never does anything but fix teeth, and has never done anything but fix teeth, they're probably not going to be the best instructor on how to approach the beautiful in hard, harsh way."



RFW: "Are you evoking Poe there?"

PQ: "Yes. Poe was a genius. And Kafka too. Though Kafka was funnier."



Franz Kafka, who is not a member of the SFP, but often giggles to himself anyway.





RFW: "So what's your advice?"

PQ: "Don't follow the herd. Join a group that promotes a creative approach to game play. Look for players who do the same. Don't be too concerned about game mechanics. Keep your eyes and ears open. Seek out ways to actually enjoy the game. Don't worry about 'winning' on admin's terms. Take Leary's advice: Tune in. Turn on. Drop out."






At that point, PQ slowly dissipated into a purple haze, which then wafted slowly out the window and thorugh the still-open front door into the mad streets, thick with rebels engaging in all sorts of subversive resistance activity...



Artist's rendering of the dissipation of PQ.



Which left me with the job of typing this up and getting it out through our samizdat network.





The Writer.... or is it?