Lazarus has redefined what it means to be a Sinker over the past few years. Rather than the term referring to its status as a GCR opposite that of a Feeder, ‘Sinker’ might as well now pertain to a Mad Max-esque Lazarene wasteland where nations sink to a grisly demise.
It’s been a running joke for years to playfully call Laz the “sleepy Sinker” but, at this point the region is looking more and more like everyone’s favorite Disney princess.
This can’t be attributed to the actions of one person, but it definitely is a direct result of mass inaction. Anytime you hear anything about the region — because, let’s face it, you don’t often hear anything from them — something’s either gone awry or they’ve changed themes again.
Foreign specters continue to attempt to haunt the region, but, thankfully the one thing Laz has going for it is its old guard’s unwillingness to budge on internal matters (that’s if you can get them all in the same conversation).
Prime Minister, Vice-Delegate, and Chief Forum Administrator New Rogernomics is constantly performing chest compressions on the ice cold corpse of a community Laz has left to offer. Things could only look more grim if the region had a toetag.
Often we hear Lazarene citizens heralding this as a period of stability, the calm after the storm. Unfortunately they’re mistaken, but I suppose it’s easy to look at stagnancy as a positive thing when the only other thing your community knows is civil unrest followed by coup d'état after coup d'état.
Remarkably, Laz has suffered little unrest that they’ve been unable to suppress these past three and a half years; all thanks to the efforts of a handful of citizens, most of which happen to be Guardians or already involved in the government. Citizen involvement is also at a near all-time low and the region has zero international presence: a fact that some try to disguise as a lack of gameplay involvement, contending that the region is more focused on internal matters including roleplay. This is not the case.
The region has seen its fair share of bad actors: NPO, defenders, raiders, imperialists throughout its existence; overall, spheres of talented players if they weren’t there for the wrong reasons. Laz’s attempt to rectify this was by going neutral, effectively vanishing off the face of the Earth. Please note that my criticism doesn’t inherently lie with the fact that the region is uninvolved in gameplay and its everyday feuds; actually, I think that for a short period of time keeping to itself was in the region’s best interest. However, that time has come and gone.
What gets me is that no one in the government has an issue with this, maybe because half the time ministry positions are occupied by the region’s floater citizens of the month or by its Guardians. The last few Lazarene cabinets have been composed of assorted imperialists, Europeians, Rejects, and even the odd couple of warzoners. Whoever can weasel their way in fast enough, I guess. However, this isn’t the case for the region’s current roster of officials, that role would have to fall to its endorsees and a Court Justice.
In an attempt to pick up the slack, various last-ditch efforts have been made, one being The Lazarene Gazette’s absorption into the Foreign Affairs Ministry. The Gazette, a failing paper, merging into one of the two semi-active aspects of the government seems like a no-brainer, right? Overall a decent idea but poor execution, especially with the paper’s continued “promise” of editorial independence. “The political neutrality of The Lazarene Gazette of course will not be interfered with, as it is the voice of private citizens on their government and region” isn’t a misnomer, it’s outright BS. How could government-run media ever be neutral in the first place, who runs the paper? The Vice-Delegate. Would a Lazarene citizen submit a piece critical of the region to the person that runs it? The thought is ridiculous. Maybe you’re thinking “she doesn’t know what she’s talking about”. Prove me wrong.
Another recent topic of discussion in order to spur activity has been over whether Laz should operate a frontier. I’ll keep my complaints to myself and simply leave it to you to decide whether or not you think Laz has enough resources and individual commitment to run not one but two regions; leaning towards no on that one considering the recurring theme of officials being removed or vacating their offices due to inactivity.
Laz has also recently adopted the Treaty of Styx, a “…treaty of alliance and friendship” signed between the region and Europeia. It’s great that Laz is striving to once again reach those tenets of cooperation and collaboration, however, the treaty is awfully clunky, going as far to even legislate a WA drafting process and an impending cultural event in order to celebrate the document’s ratification, restrictive and unnecessary.
To be frank, these efforts aren’t good enough. Two or three people can’t actively manage a region. What happens when the Delegate and Vice-Delegate take a break from the site or outright leave? Laz needs to put up or shut up, it’s imperative that it builds off of its past community engagement efforts while ultimately reopening its government to its minnows before the region mirrors its past so it can have a future.
