It's a very rare time in the world right now, to say the least. With world governments talking about covid-19, there is one great nation on its feet: the United States of America. As Wall Street receives cash injections while workers worry about losing their jobs, it has fallen on local communities to care for one another. I've found that the spirit is reflected in the games I play. It's especially true inside Final concept XIV more recently as players work together to rebuild the city of Ishgard.
In Final concept XIV, Ishgard is a theocratic nation fighting a long war with the Dragons. It was a war based on poor communication and deception, and it left the capital devastated. That battle was resolved in the first expansion of the game, Heaven, which appeared in 2015. Parts of Ishgard are still wrecked ever since, and weren't until the most recent expansion players begin the rebuilding process. In practical terms, this means that players must engage in special design activities to create unique objects. It is a great way to develop skills like carpentry or cooking while also earning cool money for riding or clothes to wear. Many players donate – sometimes with special “capped” events where everyone is focused on a single activity – the rest of Ishgard is restored. Servers continue at their own pace. My personal server, Balmung, is a well-known social server for performing and playing. Our progress is slow.
As I see Ishgard grow and recover, the world outside my computer seems to shrink. Covid-19 was first seen in Wuhan, China in December and since then, it has spread to another area and is now officially recognized as an epidemic by the World Health Organization earlier this month. Some countries have eliminated more equipped to manage the epidemic than others. CNN reports that, for example, South Korea has been able to keep mortality rates from this virus very low compared to Italy. Here in the United States, many people worry that the virus will become more severe due to the slight reaction from the federal government and the Trump administration, who seemed to be very ambitious. it plays down the spread of the virus and to protect markets rather than using broader measures such as aggressive tests to diagnose and treat patients. Many workplaces have created work from home policies, icompanies that are no different in the gaming industry. But working from home is a luxury, which I am also allowed because of my work. Some lucky employees. Gig workers and the people who deliver them continue their grind, and many local businesses like food markets remain open. Currently, restaurants are available according to the rules they are limiting their resources, as public gatherings over a certain number of people are shut down. In some cases, the staff is there please take unpaid leave breaks. Students are removed from campuses as classes close or online, and some universities, by their strange and cold decision rejected by housing developments during the epidemic. Cities are the same San Francisco we urge citizens to live in houses, even though the number of homeless people has not yet been sufficiently calculated
The people in charge of the system never had the desire to fix it. In fact, the system was not designed to accommodate something like this. American society, backed by the power of the dreaded capitalist cogs, is built in such a way that the vulnerable remain insecure and the wealthy remain wealthy. Covid-19 puts this. The preventive actions taken only serve to highlight how complicated our laws and regulations are. We could always get rid of old and vulnerable prisoners in our prisons. We can always have limited expulsion, especially for those who are sick or in desperate need of assistance. And we would stay, if politicians wanted to do it, to get money to reform our health care system. But, again, that's not how the capitalist system works. In essence, the program is designed to keep employees alive long enough to profit from them, to ignore others to the point of death, and to keep the most powerful people safe in their positions. The game has always been rated. The people who mold it are the people who must, as it were, improve it. Instead, Americans are left to test the virus, jobs are threatened, and political parties are very proud to be exposed to this sham.
This is not news. The reality we are facing may have a new dimension but the foundations for the long-standing foundation. Like a sad old church building, it was there for everyone to see. The only way it will be to rebuild and rebuild is to redesign our facilities into something more equitable and efficient. There will be no politicians working in the United States to do this, and it will not be our president who stands up for the fight against the virus. There will be local leaders, unions, doctors and nurses, charitable organizations, and volunteers. As I enter Final concept XIV from time to time and watch the dreamy city rebuild the pieces, this has never been seen.
That sounds silly as I type it. Restoring a digital city is nothing compared to organizing local freedoms in the real world. However, the similarities are as good as anyone's seen. Ishgard was an unstoppable, war-ridden nation that posed a serious threat. That threat eventually revealed the fragile nature of the ruling class of respected officials and clergy. Ishgard's injuries did not fall at the feet of the working class and the poor. It was the result of solidarity and violence from the ruling class that sparked the wrath of the dragons. And while some leaders rise to the summit to spearhead the rebuilding effort, the task of doing low-level work eventually falls on the players.
The result has been a quick and positive effort when designers distributed new gear, cooked junk food, and collectors shared additional items such as wood and ore with anyone who wanted more. The Firmament, the Ishgard area where design efforts are concentrated, has become a truly collaborative environment. Quick response and recognition transformed you from a garbage can into a clean space. The staff area is filled with vendor booths and new benches. The central courtyard now has flowers and a fountain. Non-player characters have penetrated the space, roaming and adding new life and energy. The unanimous consensus among the players is that we are building a new district of players' houses. Housing is itself a major problem in Final concept XIV, because sometimes teams sell out whole districts. The process of finding a home can take a day to sit on your computer, hopefully you are lucky enough to win a bid or click the buy sign before someone else does. In building Ishgard, this problem will hopefully be addressed.
This will eventually need to be a solution in the real world. While local governments are moving to ensure a quick screening of covid-19 cases, neighbors and communities will have to come together to fund businesses and re-cook food kitchens. As students and others are forced to evacuate, those who can save space for friends or strangers will have to climb to the plate. The special will not work to save the weak. Even if they take action, it can be a sign. This morning, former New York City mayor and former president Mike Bloomberg donated $ 40 million to fight the disease. An estimated $ 60 billion. Sever Foods, an Amazon grocery store Jeff Bezos, asks employees to "donate" their time to each other. If she wants, she can donate thousands of dollars to one of her employees and still have billions of dollars. If the White House wants it, billions of dollars to markets and factories can go directly to citizens.
Inequality is not a sign of capitalism. It's a feature. In difficult situations, this truth becomes even clearer. The solution is exactly the same as you think: raise one another. Work as a community of connected people to protect and inspire the poor. It is a very difficult task to build a believable city The last idea, but if Ishgard can recover from dragons, we can recover from this.
