Column for July 14, 2011

Recently I started playing a game on the internet (on Facebook, to be exact). I am not much for games. I have tried a few over the years. Some have interested me for a brief period of time, others not at all. This one, however, has kept my interest for a couple of months now. Quite honestly, I have learned a lot about the “ins and outs” of the game, and can see many parallels to real life.

The game is called “Glory of Rome”. It is a war game set in ancient Roman times. In it, you establish a city, build it up with various buildings, farms, quarries, and other sources of supplies needed to build up armies. The more buildings and armies you create, the higher the glory level you attain. One can attack enemy encampments, other cities, join alliances, work together with other players, and make it as much or as little as you see fit.

How is this relevant, you might ask? There are some things I see that pertain to real life. The first is that you have to start out small and take responsibility for your own growth. If you grow in this game, it is your own fault. If you stay small, it is your own fault. The same applies to one’s career and family. Sure, we all have opportunities that others do not. There are some people in life that seem to have opportunities handed to them and it seems unfair. In this game, however, you are directly responsible for your own growth and destiny, as are the vast majority of people in this world.

In the game, I choose to associate with an alliance. I have been a part of three alliances so far. An alliance is merely a group of people acting together as friendly people and the strength of the whole outweighs that of the individual. In any alliance, there are new players and more experienced players. There are players with a high level of proficiency, and there are those with a low proficiency level. There are those with a high availability of resources at their disposal and there are those who struggle with basics like food and building supplies.

When I did not like how the alliance was going in my first association, I quietly left. They were a weakening alliance and some players were leaving. Sometimes that is by necessity, sometimes by choice. I have the duty to myself to associate with those who would help improve my situation. My freedom of association is entirely of my choosing, provided that they choose to reciprocate and associate with me. I chose to better myself by associating with a better group of people. I was invited to join another group and they were much more like family. We all shared game strategies, resources, troop reinforcements, and did battle together. As I learned the ways of the game, sometimes at great expense, I grew in stature and power. I have always taken the time to help newer players learn what I have learned and share my bounty with them. In return, others have done the same with me. The third alliance came out of a merger between ours and a former enemy alliance with whom we were in a bitter war. Together, we are stronger and work well together. We can look over world and even American history and see the parallel. That is basically how the colonies became the United States of America.

I notice that all people who choose to help others do so at their own discretion. Nobody is forced into helping others, but those who do typically are the bigger players. Their success trickles down to other either less fortunate or less successful players. They are able to share their abundance with others without the need of a governing official requiring that we each give a certain amount of money to be redistributed to others. The benevolence proves the adage, “a rising tide raises all ships”. The same applies to the real world and our economic system.

In my cities, I am the dictator. I set tax rates in order to extract money from my citizens. I choose what and how many facilities I can build. I am ultimately responsible for the citizens in my cities. If I tax too heavily, the number of citizens will decline, happiness will decline, and my production of currency will decline. This hurts my troop support, the availability of fresh population for troop development, and hurts production on my farms, in my quarries, in my iron mines, etc. There is a basic economics lesson there.

If I produce the troops and population, I am responsible for feeding them. I don’t ask some government chancellor to feed my own population. If I birthed them, then I have make the upkeep happen, or they do not get fed. Why should anyone else be responsible for the population that I created? For my houses? For my transportation? If I take poor decisions, why should others be forced to pay the price to fix my mess? Others may give willingly to do so, but that is their prerogative. See the parallel to life and good governance?

Just from something as simple as a game on the internet, I can glean nuggets and parables of life, so to speak. By the way, if anyone wants to play the game, hit me up on Facebook. Just search my name and you will find me. Freedom of association is a beautiful thing.