My View of the Alphaville Elections
by Alphaville Herald on 20/04/04 at 3:16 pm
By Peter Ludlow
I’m dropping out of character and writing this under my real life name so that people will understand that I am being serious, but also because I am discussing this at a “meta” level. These comments are about the game; they are not in game.
First of all, I am quite certain that a mechanism was in place to ensure that Mr-President would win the election. This is consistent with all the facts that I had leading up to the release of the chat logs, and the chat logs corroborate this conclusion. The failsafe mechanism may have been initially designed to respond to potential attempts by the Richardson camp to flood the polls with outside votes. On the question of whether the mechanism was utilized or not we have only circumstantial evidence but it seems plausible that it was, and that this accounts for some of the voting patterns witnessed. On the further question of whether the primaries were fixed, we have only the implication that they were, but based on my familiarity with Mr. Soprano, I would conclude that there was some “there there,” which he was using as leverage on Mr-President.
Second, however, and more importantly, I don’t believe that any of this need reflect negatively on the typists behind JC Soprano and Mr-President. I think that both Jeremy Chase and Arthur Baynes are good people. One has openly chosen to play a mobster. The other has not so openly chosen to play a corrupt politician in the spirit of JFK, who allegedly relied on the mob to help fix the election results in certain key precincts. If Mr. Baynes wants to roleplay that way he is free to do so. On the other hand, if it is part of their game to fix the election, it is certainly within our place as fellow gamers to expose the fix.
Originally I sat on the election-fixing evidence in my possession. What we had, in effect, was a three-player game including the mobster, the corrupt politician, and the in-the-know newspaper guy who knew the inside story but sat on it to protect his “confidential sources.” On Friday, however, I spoke with Henry Jenkins of MIT, who was interested in broader aspects of the Alphaville Elections. He wanted to know if this sort of political roleplay (in the Alphaville Government Elections) was preparing people for political life, or whether it was just an escape from true political engagement. I remarked that for younger players like Ashley Richardson (14 year old Laura McKnight) it probably was a kind of rehearsal for future political involvement. When I returned to the blog after talking to Professor Jenkins I found a number of players ridiculing Ashley Richardson for being a “poor loser” etc. The conjunction of these events made me think: did I want to continue roleplaying as the cozy inside journalist, rubbing elbows with Alphaville’s power gamers and protecting them while wrapping myself in the mantle of “journalistic ethics?” What kinds of lessons were we teaching Ashley and other younger players about political life? What would it say if we messed them over and left them with a sense that there had been no fair play, and that there was no way for the truth to come to light?
In the end, I decided I didn’t like that game — I didn’t like the game of the bourgeois newspaper guy hanging at the country club with the successful politician and the successful mobster. The game platform offered me a choice in how to play. I chose to play my way; I chose to release the story. Sorry if it upset the apple cart, sorry if it messed up The Alphaville Government, and sorry if it made JC angry, but the game was going all wrong. It was a game for sure, but nothing is ever *just* a game. Games have consequences. Games also give us an opportunity to break out of the roles and actions that we might be forced into in real life. I decided to take advantage of that opportunity. I freed my game.
Cocoanut
Apr 20th, 2004
What facts that you had leading up to the release of the chat logs?
coco
Mr Hugs'
Apr 20th, 2004
Well…I dont believe he cheated and Ashley is a “poor loser” It doesnt matter if he cheated or not if he won fair she would of said the same thing.
Mr-President
Apr 20th, 2004
::applauds::
Urizenus
Apr 20th, 2004
>What facts that you had leading up to the release of the chat logs?
My own chat logs.
JC Soprano
Apr 20th, 2004
I’m just gonna say this, I gave Uri the log as I said in other posts. I only showed it to him for the humor of it (The AVH comment and the the joke about blackmailing the press), which is why I made him give me his word he would not try and use it.
Sure I joked about how bad it looks and what a story would be, but Uri still gave me his word he would not use it unless I ever gave him the ok, which I never did and which is why I felt confident enough to send it to him. He gave me his word as a friend and as a journalist.
Now however, I do applaud Peter for stepping out of character.
JC Soprano
http://www.thesimmafia.com
I ain’t mad, just surprised
Cocoanut
Apr 20th, 2004
Then show me your own chat logs if you expect for me to believe that Mr. President rigged anything.
And while you express concern for Ashley, how about some concern for Mr. President? He’s not exactly old, you know. If you are going to act as judge, jury and executioner in his case, consider what damage that could do a person his age if he has NOT done all the cheating or thinking about cheating or reserving the opportunity to cheat that you accuse him of.
Not to MENTION the fact that I have no doubt you intend for this to be all over the real world media again, this time portraying Mr. President as a cheater.
You got more evidence against Mr. President? Then show it to me.
coco
Ashtray
Apr 20th, 2004
Kudos to you, for expressing your personal opinion, a true Crusader. But this game isn’t set up to have any specific end or eventual outcome. When I say ‘game’ I mean it in broader terms, outside of this election business. It’s an ongoing thing… so saying ‘the game was going all wrong’ really isn’t for you, or anybody to say, Crusader.
It upsets me that kids are expected to get an education from games… and that it is widely assumed that the younger players are expected to get a sense of right and wrong from playing a game with many other players, most of which they shouldn’t be taking lessons from anyways and really aren’t fit to instruct them.
It would be really easy to say that this is the result of parents who aren’t paying close enough attention to what their kids are playing and what they are getting out of it, but in Laura’s case I honestly don’t believe this one to be true… but I must admit for a majority of the 9 10 and 11 year olds who play, I don’t believe this to be true. Teaching them that things run clockwork is a dangerous thing, because things don’t, as we’ve just seen.
Getting to my point… I don’t think ‘heroism’; in games amounts too much, and if it’s compromising your morals that much, then I’m sorry about that. You can’t expect everybody who plays to take into account the feelings and moral fiber of a lot of children, who on all accounts, shouldn’t even be playing in the first place.
~Ashtray
Laura McKnight
Apr 20th, 2004
Thank you Peter for doing the right thing. I may be only 14 years old but I am pretty informed about politics and follow them closely. So, I am not irreparably harmed or anything after what happened. I was already aware of how corrupt liars can run the country. I watch CNN and read the newspapers. But, really, thank you for being honest to yourself, to me and to the sims players.
JC Soprano
Apr 20th, 2004
Laura- Shut your fuckin mouth because as of now your really pissing me off right now. You are such a brown noser. What do you get for kissing Uri’s ass? Let me see…nothing. So stop being such a drama queen and acting stupid like you are. Really now, your 14 and yes you may know about politics but besides that you have no logiv and are a complete dumbass. Just shut your mouth for once and stop posting because you will never be paid attention upon.
JC Soprano
http://www.thesimmafia.com
Laura-Shut your mouth por favor
Ian
Apr 20th, 2004
Amen to that
JC Soprano
Apr 20th, 2004
Once again, someone without creativity. Why do you want to be me so badly? Your posting as me just proves it. But don’t worry, not going to do what you want and fight back with you, your not worth my time.
So with that said, if I have anything more to say about this post it will be done via my website and not here. Basically, if you see someone posting as me on here from this message on, the post is not mine and the person desperatly obviously still wants to be me. =)
JC Soprano
http://www.thesimmafia.com
It’s great to be loved. lolol
Anonymous
Apr 20th, 2004
The guy (or girl) posting as other people is truly is pathetic. Someone has too much free time on their hands.
Anomynous
Apr 20th, 2004
And the reason I dont poste my real name is because im scared that my ass will be beaten so please forgive me for whatever I say.
Anonynous
Apr 20th, 2004
And the reason I dont poste my real name is because im scared that my ass will be beaten so please forgive me for whatever I say.
Anonymous
Apr 20th, 2004
At least I can spell anonymous and don’t waste board space like you. Why don’t you take your childish antics back to the middle school you crawled out of.
Anonymous
Apr 20th, 2004
Once again Im sorry for acting like a dumbass everyone. I just can’t post my real name because Im a pussy. Well if anyone would like bend over so I can lick ur ass!…:)
Anonymous
Apr 20th, 2004
That’s why I have seen the Soprano guy try to get you to reveal your name, but you are the one hiding and being a pussy. Everyone here has seen it. You don’t reveal who you are becuase you are scared of some pixels on a screen. And you call me a pussy? Look in the mirror.
I choose not to reveal my name because I don’t even play. I find your silly ramblings amusing at best. Now if you don’t mind, your lowering my IQ.
Anonymous
Apr 20th, 2004
Your too funny. Anyways I dont play the game either so what makes you think I do play the game? Now your speculating. lmao. Anyways I dont have to lower your IQ it already lowered enough. Keep the posts going though because its pretty amusing really.
Dyerbrook
Apr 20th, 2004
Chat logs? But why are these accepted as evidence? They are so easy to fake…like it’s easy to fake a character (ahem).
Oh, there’s a difference between Peter Ludlow and Urizenus the character? I had no idea. And I’m still not convinced…
Ugh, utilitarian socio-political purposes to games,”preparing” people for RL politics? Ugh.
Did any of this matter? Some of us a) never saw these candidates; b) didn’t vote c) didn’t care and I dare say that was a majority. No wonder some players make emperors and tsars because all this silly president stuff is just a game…
I am still unconvinced that it is possible to “fix” an election. If Ashley’s relatives or friends helped flood the ballot boxes from outside the game, well, duh, the people doing the elections hadn’t applied some basic smarts to doing an Internet style voting mechanism using random words or numbered ballots or something like that to make sure stuffing was not possible like theworldvotes.org or whatever.
And I am ashamed of all of you lame-ass roll-players for refusing to use your creativity to a) make a campaign inside the game, and inside the game alone, using available game communications systems (what about old-fashioned door-to-door ward-heeling?) and b) making a mechanism for voting accurately and fairly inside the game. You had to rely on the Internet, your friends, Yahoo IMs, whatever. You couldn’t do it in the game. You couldn’t develop the criteria within game mechanisms and capacities. All this “analysis” by The New York Times and Prof. Ludlow is crap because they aren’t analyzing or measuring simulation and a Sims game, they are analyzing the ability of people to network on Yahoo and the Internet. “The Sims Online” isn’t really “The Sims Online” but a matrix of all kinds of other systems intersecting with it.
Like so many, you are playing *at* the game, but not playing the game, or the meta-game.
Dyerbrook
Jenny_Oh
Apr 20th, 2004
I have been following the election and the outcome very closely. I applaud Peter for his decision to blow the whistle.
While I remember TSO is only a game, several people I work with have commented on the improved clarity of my email since I started playing the game. While this was clearly not my intention when I started to play TSO, it is a good example of how a game influenced the real world… without any real intention from me.
I’m glad Peter pointed out there are real consequences associated with TSO because there are. As citizens of Alphaville we need to make sure that those responsible for this election fixing are brought to trial and removed from office if the allegations are proven.
Ashley has not been a sore loser and I also applaud her for not just keeping quiet and going away quietly. She has bravely withstood a lot of unfair slander.
I only wish that Al Gore had been more vocal as well, perhaps then the USA wouldn’t be in the mess it is in now. Now twice I have seen a man elected President who has made it there by bullying his way to power and refusing to listen to the voice of the electorate.
Ashley, you are a breath of fresh air and if you ever do get to Washington, I know you will do a great job.
At what point do we institute a recall and demand a new election?
I will be talking to my housemates about this issue and about enforcing a ban on those that we find at fault until an impeachment can be arranged. I would encourage everyone in Alphaville to do the same.
Jenny_Oh
Jenny_oh2004@yahoo.com
Ian
Apr 20th, 2004
^^^^ Bleeding Heard Liberal, WATCH OUT!!!
Bush bullying — Free country ..you just totally contridicted your self…Gore loss, Bush
won!
Anywho….if you love USA “so much”, You should know, all are innocent until proven guilty in a court of “sim-law”…
Ian
AVG PR
Mr Hugs'
Apr 20th, 2004
I highly doubt ashley would do good in Washinton. If she lost a election she would cry about how some one cheated…Mr-pres didnt cheat…and you “compliment ashley for just keeping quiet”..please, I dont think you have read the logs on here shes been bitching non stop..
And there is no compareson with AL Gore and Ashley..she gives us Democrats a bad name…
Laura McKnight
Apr 20th, 2004
Mr-Hugs’, you give us Democrats a bad name – Not me. You also need a grammar lesson. I’m sure I’d do very *well* in Washington if I decided to run for public office. It is patriotic to not just stand there and let cheaters and scammers hold office fallaciously – Go look that word up.
Laura McKnight
Apr 20th, 2004
Mr-Hugs’, you give us Democrats a bad name – Not me. You also need a grammar lesson. I’m sure I’d do very *well* in Washington if I decided to run for public office. It is patriotic to not just stand there and let cheaters and scammers hold office fallaciously – Go look that word up.
Jenny_Oh
Apr 20th, 2004
Keep it up Ashley… you have my support and I will be spreading the word to those WHO MATTER.
Registered Voter
Apr 20th, 2004
“gives us democrats a bad name”
Your not even a registered voter so how can you call yourself a true democrat? There is a reason why you have to be 18 to vote.
Mr Hugs'
Apr 20th, 2004
Who knew ashley was dumb enough to post the same thing twice..lmao
And about you doing “*well*” in Washington…keep dreaming…u can barely keep it together in a game i can only imagine how you are in RL…Stop beign self centered and give up on politics
Ian
Apr 20th, 2004
Well said registered voter…I can’t vote either, I don’t call myself Republican nor Democrat, though my *views* are conservative and republican like, I do not call my self a Republican. Ashley, thinks she is 24, and when she is, she is going to be unmarried with no relationship, unless the she is the one wearing the pants in that house, if you know what I mean. And ashley how can you compare this current country to Al Gore as president when there is a no comparison. While in the WhiteHouse, he showed NO leadership characteristics, and that is why he lost.
Punker
Apr 20th, 2004
*pops in Anarchy Burger (Hold the Government) by the Vandels*
RB
Apr 20th, 2004
Who cares? Isn’t that what you should all be asking yourself? I don’t see how it really matters. So a simulated election in a city of a land that 90% of it’s occupants did not even know it was happening was *alledgedly* fixed.
Get a box of tissues and get over it perhaps?
Fun is Fun. Lets not get too serious here like it was the real thing affecting 100′s of millions of people.
As long as Mr P and his AVG cronies enjoy the RP they do and have fun. That’s all that matters.
And that’s the bottom line, Cause RB said so. (wwe rocks)
- RB
Element15
Apr 20th, 2004
THE PRESIDENT AND JC SOPRANO ARE BOTH FUCKIN MORONS GET OVER IT
Anonymous
Apr 21st, 2004
Wow!
I’m starting to get so much of an inflated ego that you all want to be me too.
Just an FYI, I’ve trademarked Anonymous so if you all wanna use it you’ll have to talk to my lawyer.
Anony!
http://www.anonymous.com
Long Live Anonymity!!!!!!!
Mr. Hugs
Apr 21st, 2004
Jenny O – You better keep your mouth shut. Any more trouble and you’ll pay.
Got it?
Wired Guy
Apr 21st, 2004
I think that there’s a great deal more here that resembles Florida 2000 and U.S. politics in general than you folks are recognizing.
Whether Mr-President fixed the election or not, there are allegations that he did. And that has led to angry back and forths and denials from the principles, as well as heated exchanges from their supporters.
We may not see mobs storming the recount (if there is one), but there certainly has come to be an atmosphere of mistrust and misunderstanding.
Furthermore, several of you have argued that the the AVG election doesn’t matter because 90% of Alphaville citisims didn’t know or care about it. And while that number is awful high, don’t forget that one consistent truth about U.S. politics is that a majority of Americans don’t vote. So, using the same logic, should we not care about elections that decide who will run the country? I think not.
As an outsider, this stuff is fascinating. The real media is interested. Trust me on this one. I think if the debate over the election – misdeeds, irregularities, non-player voting or whatever it was that happened – calms down a little bit and any further information comes to light, you will see more articles.
I would urge you all to stop slinging mud at each other. Pretend you have a democracy here and behave like it matters. It is a good lesson for real life; it is a chance to show that something important can be built inside a game – and you guys are the ones making it happen.
So show a little dignity here, people. You’re on the cusp of history.
Wired Guy
Peter Ludlow
Apr 21st, 2004
Thanks Dan. Good advice.
Cocoanut
Apr 21st, 2004
I read the posted chat log and also the log from which it was extracted. I asked Mr. President for explanations of all.
The professor then said that he also had other chat logs in his possession we haven’t seen, which, taken together with the one we have seen, led him to conclude that Mr. President was guilty, at the least, of rigging the elections so he could cheat if need be.
Now that the professor – judge, jury, and executioner rolled into one – has determined for himself that Mr. President is guilty, he will tell that to real life media. And because he is a professor, they will give him more credence than he deserves.
This would be the same professor who has in the past, on this very web site, been certain I was posting as another poster on the AVH and refusing to come clean about it; accused me of rigging my own game shows on TSO or at least being “tempted” to rig them; and declared me to be “the single most morally repulsive griefer on the game.”
Now he has decided that Mr. President is guilty of being a liar and a cheater.
Think about it, folks.
coco
Urizenus
Apr 21st, 2004
Coco, if you didn’t exist, we’d have to invent you!
Mr Hugs'
Apr 21st, 2004
First of all.. “mr. hugs” is not me…patheitc sum1 has to act like me and are to afraid to show their real name
Laura McKnight
Apr 21st, 2004
You are right about mudslinging and dignity but it is never wrong to speak out when something unjust has happened. It states in the Declaration of Independence that it is our patriotic duty to speak out and denounce those who would destroy democracy. Rigging elections falls into this category. If the AVG is a democracy then Mr-P is a sorry excuse for a leader. This may be a game but it is funny how it mirrors society and American politics as closely as it does! I think Rumsfeld got in trouble today for doctoring a transcript and trying to cover up what he said to Bob Woodward. Typical. Thank goodness there are some people who read the papers, watch news other than Fox and try to keep informed about what is going on in their government. This game is extraordinary in how it is a microcosm of our real life society. No wonder there is so much attention from the media. If people keep quiet the scammers, corrupt politician and idiots will run the show. The elections in November are in danger of being sabotaged and this game could teach the American people a thing or two about computer voting and rigging. Read Vanity Fair – April “Hacking the Vote” — facts that are pretty scary.
Also Anonymous
Apr 21st, 2004
Stop sounding like a high school lunch room. I don’t play the game, just get a kick out of the absurdity of this.
bleh
Apr 21st, 2004
Ashley you wont be able to vote until the 2008 elections quit your bitchin … Your view doesn’t count because you don’t even know what the real world is like. Jesus christ you still live with your parents.
Zerg
Apr 21st, 2004
What strikes me is that JC Soprano, once again, is a wiz at getting media interest in a game he doesn’t even play. The last time I looked (and every other time) he had 3 people in his “mafia”. I guess I’m glad … that’s what this game really needs … less mafia.
RebRachman
Apr 22nd, 2004
I think the lesson to kids about real elections is pretty realistic. I currently am running for a position in a local political party where I live, and let me tell you about non-rigged elections: they don’t exist. Even where there is no technical way of rigging elections, the whole way things are set up is determined by the politicians themselves. If you are really interested in election rigging in America, look up the term gerrymandering in your dictionary on the web. In most states, there are only a handful of districts which are truly contested, due to so many years of gerrymandering. I am proud of Alphaville for letting a budding politician get a taste of what it’s really like out there. I am also proud of Ashley for standing up for herself and what she believes in. If more real life politicians were like that, we’d be in good shape… unfortunately we all have to live in the real world where the stakes are higher.
Candace Bolter
Apr 22nd, 2004
“I freed my game.”— I like that a lot; it has revolutionary ring to it. Also, I think it’s good that you decided to bring this to a meta-level and right that you spoke as Dr. Ludlow. I have a bad habit of mumbling at an inaudible level when I’m passionate about something, but don’t want to hurt anyone’s feeling, “upset the apple cart” as you wrote. I guess I’m fairly introverted, shy, whatever. When I go into that particular mode with a friend whom I love dearly, he takes that as his cue to say, “Candace, if you’re going to say shit now, you’ll do it out loud!”
It’s not the easiest thing to do: to look people in the eye when you don’t want to hurt anyone, so I respect that.
Anyhow, away from the endlessly boring personal anecdotal to the rather interesting meta-level: I think the crucial question is exactly what started you thinking about this, Henry Jenkins question. I would like some more thoughts on that. Do people see this as mere role-playing or is it performing the functioning of preparing possible future political leaders? If it’s the second, then I think we should pay it some heavy attention. However, I’m skeptical that is performing that function. I know Peter and I are kind of on different sides of a general divide regarding how people see these games, and how much they take away from the game to incorporate into their real identities. I don’t deny that people *can* invest a lot into this game, they might learn various ways of interacting, but at the end of the day, I think most people take away with them from the game the thought “…but it’s just a game.” In other words, what is appropriate in-game isn’t usually gonna fly outside (nor perhaps should it). I see this as applying to the political realm as well. I may very well be wrong, but I don’t believe many would see an on-line gaming election as highly relevant to real life elections. I would think that one would naturally see a difference in being the representative of a “Sim community” as opposed to a local/national real life community of people. If I am wrong, and people are experimenting with ways to bring in-game political lessons to real life (*not* vice versa), is that a good thing? Do we want real life representatives who had a large measure of their political schooling in gaming environments?
If people could step back for a minute from the particulars of this Alpha’ election, and share any of their thoughts on those above questions, I would really appreciate it.
-Candace
Iz
Apr 23rd, 2004
Wow. Its amazing. Are all American children taught that politics is just like religion? How is watching one news agency better than another, as long as you watch a mix of them to get the most balanced view, including a few international ones? I for one am scared that children like this will be allowed to vote one day. Taught to vote one way from day one, and will never make up their own minds. Sad.
Onlooker
Apr 23rd, 2004
This situation in Alphaville is certainly interesting and I can understand why it has attracted attention from the real world media. Corrupt politicians, election rigging and nasty personal attacks on anyone who complains about it are right out of our own newspapers and the news shows that cover American politics. I totally applaud young Ashley for having the courage and conviction to speak out. A 14 year old clearly out maneuvered and out campaigned a 21 year old ticket agent! That’s the humorous part. Of course, he did not allow her to win the election – - he made sure that many of her votes were blocked and it looks like he supplied himself with quite a few votes to make sure he’d come out the winner. Sounds like real life to me! Remember Florida in 2000. I know the game is a game and the characters are fictitious but as Michael Moore stated in his Academy Awards acceptance speech for Bowling for Columbine — “we live in fictitios times…with a fictitious president” — Well, what’s different about Alphaville and how Mr-P won his reelection? He rigged the election – that much is clear from Uri’s logs. He is a fictitious president in a fictitious game. Here, however, we have a young girl who has the courage and integrity to stand up to him and everyone else (they sound like a bunch of nasty middle school boys to me!!) and tell it like it is! Al Gore should have half the courage of this kid! Brava Ashley/Laura!! This is important and you are not a sore loser — you’re just right.
Onlooker
Apr 23rd, 2004
This situation in Alphaville is certainly interesting and I can understand why it has attracted attention from the real world media. Corrupt politicians, election rigging and nasty personal attacks on anyone who complains about it are right out of our own newspapers and the news shows that cover American politics. I totally applaud young Ashley for having the courage and conviction to speak out. A 14 year old clearly out maneuvered and out campaigned a 21 year old ticket agent! That’s the humorous part. Of course, he did not allow her to win the election – - he made sure that many of her votes were blocked and it looks like he supplied himself with quite a few votes to make sure he’d come out the winner. Sounds like real life to me! Remember Florida in 2000. I know the game is a game and the characters are fictitious but as Michael Moore stated in his Academy Awards acceptance speech for Bowling for Columbine — “we live in fictitios times…with a fictitious president” — Well, what’s different about Alphaville and how Mr-P won his reelection? He rigged the election – that much is clear from Uri’s logs. He is a fictitious president in a fictitious game. Here, however, we have a young girl who has the courage and integrity to stand up to him and everyone else (they sound like a bunch of nasty middle school boys to me!!) and tell it like it is! Al Gore should have half the courage of this kid! Brava Ashley/Laura!! This is important and you are not a sore loser — you’re just right.
Onlooker
Apr 23rd, 2004
This situation in Alphaville is certainly interesting and I can understand why it has attracted attention from the real world media. Corrupt politicians, election rigging and nasty personal attacks on anyone who complains about it are right out of our own newspapers and the news shows that cover American politics. I totally applaud young Ashley for having the courage and conviction to speak out. A 14 year old clearly out maneuvered and out campaigned a 21 year old ticket agent! That’s the humorous part. Of course, he did not allow her to win the election – - he made sure that many of her votes were blocked and it looks like he supplied himself with quite a few votes to make sure he’d come out the winner. Sounds like real life to me! Remember Florida in 2000. I know the game is a game and the characters are fictitious but as Michael Moore stated in his Academy Awards acceptance speech for Bowling for Columbine — “we live in fictitios times…with a fictitious president” — Well, what’s different about Alphaville and how Mr-P won his reelection? He rigged the election – that much is clear from Uri’s logs. He is a fictitious president in a fictitious game. Here, however, we have a young girl who has the courage and integrity to stand up to him and everyone else (they sound like a bunch of nasty middle school boys to me!!) and tell it like it is! Al Gore should have half the courage of this kid! Brava Ashley/Laura!! This is important and you are not a sore loser — you’re just right.
BONZAI
Apr 23rd, 2004
Onlooker, you have it right! I am glad that someone is looking at this and seeing it right! This kid is amazing and very mature for her age. She has more on the ball than half the poticians in Washington. They could learn a thing or two from Ashley Richardson.
BONZAI
Apr 23rd, 2004
Oh one other thing, Onlooker, you only have to click on POST one time! I like what you said though!