Games and Politics
by eurasia1011 on Comments
There's always a time when an online game faces trials of different kinds; sometimes technical, sometimes community or whatever. Usually, if the problem's technical, the developers fix it (sooner or later). A community problem on the other hand is trickier to fix. It's times like these that the GMs usually step in to glue things together. So I log into Luminary and since I haven't logged in for about a week, I was surprised at how much the forum was in chaos with several angry players. What was the big commotion about? The most recent GoonZu election. Apparently, everyone was excited about the election for the new "server leader" only to find that a bug in the election prevented a large number of players to cast in their votes. Some players were crying out "The elections got rigged!" and a bunch of others were cursing everything from the high heavens to the rocks outside their garden from their frustration. It's a little funny how players get so worked up about it. But in a game that focuses on politics and economy, something like a server-wide election is no small matter. Much like real-life politics, the people are making their voices heard. It's pretty amazing just how vocal the players can be about their concerns. I'm worried that players might start to revolt against whoever stands in their way, GM or not. Personally, despite the issues, I think that it's a healthy thing that players are taking steps like starting petitions for a re-election. If players can do what they do in-game in real life, maybe they're potential politicians in the future. I believe in democracy for a mature population so if players are able to become responsible because of games like Luminary, then we might be taking steps in the right direction. Back to Luminary, the forum was still echoing "Re-Elections!" and the stand of the Global Luminary team was still firm on asking the players to cooperate with the turnout of the elections. I imagine the GMs must be swimming in requests and messages from the players regarding the issue. Election period is over but the number of unhappy players remains the same if not getting higher. I'm somewhat doubtful that the decision will change but players are pretty stubborn too. This season's election is probably one of the most exciting ones to remember. One way or another, I'll support the winner because I believe in a government of laws not a government of men.
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