Interview with Eli of The Meritocracy

1. So what lead to the refounding of the Meritocracy?

Our members had got to the point that the mechanisms in place for resolving disputes and working through the various political issues were no longer sufficient for the task. The quality and tenor of our debate had become personal, vindictive, and vituperative even. Winnipeg, our founder and benefactor in this fine site, and I thought that a reset with the opportunity to re-establish our community with the ideals of old being our goal.

2. What is the difference between the old and the new Meritocracy?

We are radically exploring the new opportunities for RP and game play that this change has presented us. We have members that are going their own way in forming rival governmental groups within our own region and we are going to structure our forum to allow for that. (I of course in my pompous windbag way will advocate that everyone joining ratify the Meritocratic Accords as the only true representation of the Meritocratic Ideal.) The other organizations within that has support is the Meritocratic League. That organization will have the opportunity to compete for members within the region.

Sound confusing, well I guess it probably is. We are emerging from a chaotic reformation process and are doing our best to not limit the freedom or the RP/game play experience for any of our players.

3. Will you still be opposed to UN status in the region, and what is the reason for that?

We are talking about allowing UN membership. Our idea is UN membership with absolutely no power to the delegate, should one ever be selected. It has been so long since I've been in a UN based region that I've forgot those mechanics, but my recollection from my time as a delegate is that the founder can maintain all power for him or herself. I've personally not looked at a UN resolution in over a year.

4. How will the new government deal with the problems of Duality, in reference to members being active in the Meritocracy and in other regions?

We welcome nations from all regions to come visit us at The Meritocracy, http://merit.nosync.org, how is that for a shameless plug? Our only hope is not to become just another battleground for the invader/defender crew.

That said I do think our group has some common ideals:

1. We believe in Freedom. We believe that Freedom includes the right to participate in choosing the government of a nation's region. Often times to some, there are gray lines in NationStates in that regard. There are things like what is legal for game play that make Freedom irrelevant in some regions. I don't, and I believe the vast majority of our members don't approve of those type governments. After all we are allowing, permitting, encouraging, multiple organizations under our own roof to make sure that the freedom we espouse is provided for our own members.

2. As for Duality we do not allow others to define that concept for us. In my view we shall respect the right of players to have multiple nations within the game. We only ask that the player, if he or she wants their member nation here to be considered a separate entity from their non-New Meritocracy nation, that they play it that way. I have nations that I play completely separately from the New Meritocracy and whose identity is only known to me or a few others. I also have a nation within The West Pacific that I have revealed to be Eli's. That nation is Wickedly Evil People, I didn't want my good friends at TWP to think I was trying to pull a fast one on them or anything. (like anybody could!!)

You can find the Meritocracy forums here. The link is also included in the list of regional forums on the right side of this site.

Thanks to Tresville for helping with the questions!