By ZEU$
Last week, many of us saw a brief teaser on E2.News regarding a mysterious new Discord room and its enticing bourbons (https://www.e2.news/post/the-e2-alliance), which left many wondering what it was all about. The Earth2 platform is just over 4 months old and sometimes has its players thinking so far ahead, that it seems it could become a challenge for the game to keep up.
There are occasions where we are all pleasantly surprised by the ability of people to organize themselves, irrespective of the stage. Earth2’s top players, community leaders, and even some prominent content creators have banded together in an initiative called the Earth2 Alliance or E2A as it's popularly called – which states its objective as to mainly drive collaboration and fair conflict resolution among players and communities, as the game progresses in future stages.
One would not be mistaken to think whether this could potentially be inspired by something called The United Nations on Earth1 – which is described as the ‘intergovernmental organization that aims to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a center for harmonizing the actions of nations’.
To recall, the UN was formed after WW-II with the goal of preventing future wars. While we haven’t reached a stage on Earth-2 where literal wars are possible it isn’t far-fetched to imagine various communities developing conflicts of interest as the game develops. To this effect, the E2A initiative could be seen as a proactive move aiming to provide a platform for the peaceful resolution of conflicts. As you jump in some of the conversations inside the E2A discord, you hear some phrases tossed around like – ‘Principles of natural justice’ or ‘Protecting player investment and effort’ and one hopes the group may be onto something.
Such an impactful forum potentially is bound to raise questions in the general player base. What about the concentration of power, and how does one ensure fair proceedings on any conflict resolution? As one E2A member puts things in perspective, “The E2A is working very hard to develop generally accepted guidelines in order to offer impartial treatment and fair representation and involvement only in cases where bilateral discussions among members don’t work out and they seek E2A’s help and with skilled but neutral mediators of their choosing”
Well, sounds like a lot of work, and the involved communities will hope it really helps resolve future conflicts while steering clear of becoming a political battleground of the various guilds.
However, one wonders if there could be more to this
organization than just conflict resolution amongst players and communities. Could this body also evolve to represent the player interests in putting forth their suggestions to the developers or maybe drive player concerns – or are we guilty of thinking way over our heads?
Surely, all in-game eyes will be tracking the progress of this interesting organization, as more and more Earth2 communities become aware of this initiative. Seemingly, it’s hard to tell even as community leaders keep coming in, whether they see the hope the organization offers or just out of curiosity - what the top names in the game are up to.
Comments