On Anarchism and Content Creation

[Jaggid Edje]

My commander and I are basically identical in identity....Unless I'm playing a game that easily lets you have more than one character I tend to play the way I myself would within the framework of what the game is. There's still RP though, for example I wouldn't generally in life "choose" to be affiliated with the Empire but in game I am. The reason: The first systems I set up shop within in the game were Empire aligned so I consider my commander as being from the Empire. I have a certain degree of loyalty to whomever cared for me in my youth.

Here's where I fell on the test:

Spoiler

 

[Phisto Sobanii]

My commander and I are basically identical in identity....Unless I'm playing a game that easily lets you have more than one character I tend to play the way I myself would within the framework of what the game is. There's still RP though, for example I wouldn't generally in life "choose" to be affiliated with the Empire but in game I am. The reason: The first systems I set up shop within in the game were Empire aligned so I consider my commander as being from the Empire. I have a certain degree of loyalty to whomever cared for me in my youth.

Here's where I fell on the test:

Spoiler

View attachment 132592

Do your Commander in light of their service to the Empire. Could be interesting.

 

[znôrt]

Blaze your own trail and remember: the journey’s the thing!

i was doing that already in 2015 when it was not yet cool.

a knight is just a villain in shiny armor. go for the real thing, always.

ofc in elite anarchies are depicted as you would expect from a tale for kids in western society: the bad lawless guys.

 

[Jaggid Edje]

Do your Commander in light of their service to the Empire. Could be interesting.

The one for me personally actually fits that. I also have supported powerful entities that I didn't personally agree with out of a sense of loyalty. Just in my life it has been Corporations that pay my salary rather than a government entitity, but it's basically the same thing. I worked for decades for a company whose philosophies I consistently didn't agree with, and even executed and upheld some of those philosophies because I became a manager over time while working for them.

Honestly, that's a piece of the puzzle totally absent in that test. While it is testing one's philosophical leanings on specific things, it isn't all-inclusive of what makes up the human psyche, which means other characteristics it doesn't account for could completely override a person's leanings. For me, for example, Loyalty, integrity and honor trump everything else that I believe in, every time.

 

[Phisto Sobanii]

The one for me personally actually fits that. I also have supported powerful entities that I didn't personally agree with out of a sense of loyalty. Just in my life it has been Corporations that pay my salary rather than a government entitity, but it's basically the same thing. I worked for decades for a company whose philosophies I consistently didn't agree with, and even executed and upheld some of those philosophies because I became a manager over time while working for them.

I really love this paragraph because with the rise of powerful multinational corporations we've got a real challenge to the nationalism of old. Company above country - how wild is that? Then to bring it back into Elite you've got the Federation and it's way of doing things. Very good raw material for the old brain here.

Honestly, that's a piece of the puzzle totally absent in that test. While it is testing one's philosophical leanings on specific things, it isn't all-inclusive of what makes up the human psyche, which means other characteristics it doesn't account for could completely override a person's leanings. For me, for example, Loyalty, integrity and honor trump everything else that I believe in, every time.

A friend and I are talking about our responses on Discord right now and we agree the real deal isn't what you answered but why you answered it. Holds true for good role play as well.

 

[Rat Catcher]

Ok, so in real life I'm sitting in the mid-point of the bottom left... Pretty much a snowflake place to be

Now taking the philosophy of my Cmdr role-play I appear to have moved a little:

Spoiler: In-game Ratty

So IRL I'm a left-wing anarchist and in game moving a little right-wing tending toward neo-liberism... Hmmm, now I'm worried!

 

[znôrt]

so, let's unite my anarchist brethren! let's rise an arm.... oh wait!

 

[znôrt]

So IRL I'm a left-wing anarchist and in game moving a little right-wing tending toward neo-liberism... Hmmm, now I'm worried!

you just prompted me to take the test and i'm stuck on the first page:

"There is now a worrying fusion of information and entertainment."

Strongly disagree
Disagree
Agree
Strongly agree

this is embarrasing. i strongly agree with "fusion of information and entertainment", strongly disagree with "now", and have some doubts about "worrying".

help!

 

[Rat Catcher]

you just prompted me to take the test and i'm stuck on the first page:

"There is now a worrying fusion of information and entertainment."

Strongly disagree
Disagree
Agree
Strongly agree

this is embarrasing. i strongly agree with "fusion of information and entertainment", strongly disagree with "now", and have some doubts about "worrying".

help!

Good one that! Some of the questions you just have to 'take a view' on context rather than content

 

[znôrt]

Just guess randomly for maximum anarchism. Not even your brain can decide what you do for you!

you are a true master. don't ever have a disciple!

 

[Phisto Sobanii]

Ok, so in real life I'm sitting in the mid-point of the bottom left... Pretty much a snowflake place to be

Now taking the philosophy of my Cmdr role-play I appear to have moved a little:

Spoiler: In-game Ratty

View attachment 132632

So IRL I'm a left-wing anarchist and in game moving a little right-wing tending toward neo-liberism... Hmmm, now I'm worried!

Interesting! Why do you think that is?

 

[Midian Cabal]

you just prompted me to take the test and i'm stuck on the first page:

"There is now a worrying fusion of information and entertainment."

Strongly disagree
Disagree
Agree
Strongly agree

this is embarrasing. i strongly agree with "fusion of information and entertainment", strongly disagree with "now", and have some doubts about "worrying".

help!

So there's nothing to worry about.

 

[Rat Catcher]

Interesting! Why do you think that is?

My role-play has a character who makes a living by grabbing opportunity however it presents, has little regard for others sharing his space and kills for money. Businesses need to be prosperous as he is also a shameless & self-proclaimed 'Robin Hood' who steals from rich corporations to support the poor - being him, of course - basically a perfectly stable, shameless, well balanced inhabitant of such a dystopian future. Essentially, offer him money and anything goes

N.B. : Most of my encounters have been with NPC's... but I'm in your neck of the woods now, and playing in open - and have big guns


ETA: Real life me is a 'people person' who has spent most of their working life 'getting on' with folk of wildly varying ability and attitudes (40 years in IT!) and being accused of being left wing or right wing depending on the position of the accuser Pretty vanilla, actually 'like' people (but possible like dogs more...) and voluntary worker with learning disabled for many years too.
Not a 'nice' guy, just one who gets along and values others - even occasionally their opinions...

 

[znôrt]

must have messed something up:

Economic Left/Right: -7.75
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -7.44

 

[Ian Skippy]

you just prompted me to take the test and i'm stuck on the first page:

"There is now a worrying fusion of information and entertainment."

Strongly disagree
Disagree
Agree
Strongly agree

this is embarrasing. i strongly agree with "fusion of information and entertainment", strongly disagree with "now", and have some doubts about "worrying".

help!

The 'now' simply refers to the present, without making any statement about past or future. So if you agree that there currently is a fusion of information and entertainment, you're good with the statement regardless of whether this is a new phenomenon or not. Go with whether you agree it is worrying or not. If you cant decide either way, skip the question.

 

[Ian Doncaster]

The first time consider yourself and the world we live in in 2019. The second time consider your Commander and the world they live in in 3304. After you're done, give it some thought, then post your results here with a few sentences about the difference.

I think a problem there is that a lot of the Political Compass refers to issues which are "live" in 2019, and not in 3305.

There are plenty of characters in Galnet who quite clearly should inhabit the top right of the chart - Hudson or Patreus for example as representatives of various forms of authoritarian corporatism could hardly be anywhere else. But on a lot of the social issues which the political compass correlates with authoritarianism (they are in 2019, but a read of Galnet or the licensed fiction makes clear that they're really not in 3305), they'd probably look at you oddly for even considering it worth asking and give the "libertarian" answer. And there are a lot of those issues on the test. Entire pages of them.

I just answered it pretending to be President Hudson and got Economic 4.38, Social -0.82 which I think may illustrate the problem...

Similarly there's a pretty major political difference between, say, Hudson and Delaine ... but I think the compass questions would end up with them approximately in the same place because the distinguishing questions like "Executions of political opponents should be carried out openly and with pride?" are so outside the scope of the societies the 2019 compass considers that they're just not asked.

 

[Chaparral]

Anytime a player uses the rules to point out flaws in game design or mechanics, I think they are doing the community a service. If they do it with style like Zarek, I personally applaud it.

As far as "anarchy" systems, there are always local warlords using guile, fear, murder and theft to perpetuate their own existence and power. So, suggesting anarchies reject hierarchies is pretty much not valid. However, revolutionaries that seek to just tear down hierarchies and then walk away to kick over someone else's sandcastle - that might be a more appropriate moniker for you.

 

[Phisto Sobanii]

I think a problem there is that a lot of the Political Compass refers to issues which are "live" in 2019, and not in 3305.

There are plenty of characters in Galnet who quite clearly should inhabit the top right of the chart - Hudson or Patreus for example as representatives of various forms of authoritarian corporatism could hardly be anywhere else. But on a lot of the social issues which the political compass correlates with authoritarianism (they are in 2019, but a read of Galnet or the licensed fiction makes clear that they're really not in 3305), they'd probably look at you oddly for even considering it worth asking and give the "libertarian" answer. And there are a lot of those issues on the test. Entire pages of them.

I just answered it pretending to be President Hudson and got Economic 4.38, Social -0.82 which I think may illustrate the problem...

Similarly there's a pretty major political difference between, say, Hudson and Delaine ... but I think the compass questions would end up with them approximately in the same place because the distinguishing questions like "Executions of political opponents should be carried out openly and with pride?" are so outside the scope of the societies the 2019 compass considers that they're just not asked.

Great post, Ian. Did I commit a grievous RP sin by allowing the morals of my current time influence the present time of the game? Kind of like how a lot of Commanders have surprisingly good knowledge of the late 20th Century?

Yeah, probably! Haha. Good learning.

As far as "anarchy" systems, there are always local warlords using guile, fear, murder and theft to perpetuate their own existence and power. So, suggesting anarchies reject hierarchies is pretty much not valid. However, revolutionaries that seek to just tear down hierarchies and then walk away to kick over someone else's sandcastle - that might be a more appropriate moniker for you.

As far as I know none of the Powerplay groups favor Anarchy in any way. Some of them frown upon it very much (this was a key part of the Coma War conflict with Patreus PP). Heck, even Delaine doesn't like them.

With the Pilots Federation they eliminate System Authority, ATR, and the Crime and Punishment system. It's not done so Commanders have free reign of the place, it just means they are now responsible for policing their own systems. Don't need a parental figure to do it for us, which is the soul of anarchy.

Finally, you're totally off base on that last count. Coma was left in a stable situation with excellent support and we're currently living in Carcosa and managing the day to day affairs of the system with great success. Hardly "tearing down hierarchies and then walk(ing) away," is it?

 

[Lobey]

Interestingly I seem to be very close to Ghandi on that test - who knew he was so eager to blast Thargoids !

 

[WinterKing2112]

Yep, pretty much sums it up. The repetitiveness of the game eventually just kills it. Been to colonia - Twice! Eff me sideways! Fast travel, please! I've been there, I've discovered it, I legged it, twice. No more.
Want to engineer your ship? You better love the grind!



Yeah, about that - I think we all play a game to get immersed, to be in game! If I want to play an imagination game outside of the PC, I play D&D or Star Wars the Roleplaying game - with atmospheric landing, space legs, and create my own content that my players get to enjoy.
I play a game to impersonate someone - a dragonborn in Skyrim, a lone wanderer in Fallout. When I turn off the PC, I'm back in my chair, being the IT guy I am during the day who goes to bed after an immersive session. I won't yell Fus Ro Dah at the dishes in the kitchen, and I won't pretend my car is a space ship leaving the mail slot. What happens in game, stays in game. If I want my Sims to Woohoo with everything that moves because they can - stays in game. Doesn't mean I will Woohoo everything that moves on the count of 3.

I've been playing ED for a few months now. Love this game. When I get bored with it, like I did with Skyrim, Dark Souls and countless other fantastic games I eventually got bored with 'cos I played them to death, I will stop playing and move on, unlike the countless whingers on this forum who for some reason just cannot move on like normal people do!