It's a game. And the strategy is about sequence and priority.
The game is rigged,
but it's the only game in town.
November 6, 2018
Red versus Blue versus 3rd Party versus Null *
The most functional priority at this moment is to play the game as it is dealt. Because no matter the number of players, which team they play for, if they play for a team that has no chance, or if any players abstain… the team who wins tonight will still wield power as a result of the outcome of the game.
There are two dominating teams right now. One is doing damage to the field we play on. The other is trying to stop the damage to the field (at least).
The penultimate match for the current season started this morning.
*— I guess write-ins also? Or fourth or fifth parties.
So, here’s the game as I see it:
Red versus Blue. Capture the Flag.
It is two teams only (despite other teams hanging out near the field, even pretending to play). The game is "Capture the Flag". Every player is basically worth one point. Most players into the flag zone(s) before the time limit expires wins.
Before the game, whoever convinces the most people to play for their team (or removes the most players from the opposing team) has the best advantage to win.
It’s not a sprint, it’s a relay race. Each sprint is a serious part, but we HAVE TO keep going.
Participation.
Over multiple seasons.
Beyond that, the most optimal priority is to use the rules as they exist to affect future outcomes by participating constantly and consistently.
Voting == participation.
There are other forms of participation (soap, jury, ammo, etc). But participation in the voting form helps ensure that the next game will be played, if not in a more fair way, in a way that at least *you* (or your team) find(s) more suitable. I would like to say ‘let’s assume all players participate in an effort to make the game more fair next time’, but that would be childish of me. Some people will cheat. Some will manipulate the system. Some will manipulate the players. This is how this game has worked thus far.
So then, if you choose third party or choose to abstain… Your only input in the game is to skew the Red versus Blue outcome. While it would be nice to have the option, you can't just vote to [ make the game fair ] in a magic wand/silver bullet sort of way, where each team has an equally probable outcome (3, 4, 5, 6 teams… and on and on).
Right now, you have to participate for the team that is most likely to move the pieces into your perceived optimal and/or fairest position for the next game and the next game. Because there needs to keep being next games.
Next game, if you stay motivated and involved, you should have gleaned enough to know which team is the best one for you to participate for. And the time after that. And the time after that. So it’s incremental. Your involvement via support, via activity, via results. You evolve the system you’re a part of, or it stagnates, withers, and crumbles.
Right now our increments are the Red and Blue teams trading positions, over and over. I don’t like it as much as anyone else, but that is the reality of the situation.
I’m not saying disruption of that is impossible. I’m not saying I don’t want that disruption to happen.
It IS possible. I DO want that disruption.
But from a mile up, right now, in this very moment, you’ll see the Red and Blue teams fighting it out. The Green team and the White team… They’re not even taking significant chunks of the board. As for any other team color… I’m not even sure we could see them from this far up.
So swallow your pride. Your logic. Pick a color. Get in the meaningful part of the game- not forever, not permanently. Don’t sign a pledge to only ever back the Red team or the Blue team. Start working on the Green team. Or start the Lavender team.
But play the game that got dealt this morning. Play it because it matters so, so much… because it 100% does.
You’d have to be blind or complicit not to see that one side is breaking the rules right now. And that their primary strategy is to keep playing it like it’s about ONLY winning or losing.
But this isn’t a W/L, Elo number, zero-sum game. It’s a long, long, seasonal, recurring and stacking game.
ALL of this is predicated upon the idea that the game is worth playing. And it's only worth playing if the players participate. And the only outcomes that truly, truly matter are the ones that aren’t skewed or manipulated.