With the excitement surrounding Eclipse Phase Second Edition and the the discussions thereof, I wanted to take one more look at First Edition. Specifically, the supposed pro-Anarchist bias that keeps getting brought up. So I decided to calculate it just to be sure. I re-read the first 111 pages of EP 1[sup]st[/sup][size=9]ed.[/size] 4[sup]th[/sup][size=9]pr[/size], and noted every instance where that bias could be implied or inferred, as well as instances that countervailed such perceptions. I estimate this to be a reasonable scope, as later books were able to dedicate more space to nuance and counterpoints than the core book.
These evaluations are my opinion, of course, but I'm comfortable discussing or justifying any of the values I've noted below.
Biases are rated out of 3. "Pro" arguments support a balanced view, whereas "con" arguments propose bias.
(Conclusion at the bottom of this post)
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1/53
[b]Pro:[/b] Basic description of the game world.
[b]Con:[/b] The fact that this system is described as working at all could be an affront to pro-corporate readers. Favourable, fun verbiage.
[color=white][b]Bias: 0[/b][/color]
40/53
[b]Pro:[/b] Basic description of the game world.
[b]Con:[/b] Autonomists being portrayed as competent in scenarios that involve co-operation.
[color=orange][b]Bias: 2[/b][/color]
41/53
[b]Pro:[/b] Basic description of the game world. [b]Con:[/b] The word libertarian here might have been mistaken as an appropriation of the Libertarian movement, a darling of American-style right-wingers. [color=yellow][b]Bias: 1[/b][/color] 2/53 p18 Enter The Singularity: We still survive, divided into a patchwork of restrictive inner system hypercorp-backed oligarchies and libertarian outer system collectivist habitats, tribal networks, and new experimental societal models.
[b]Pro:[/b] I love this example of grey-on-grey morality. Excellent implementation of the unreliable narrator. A little obvious when re-read, but makes a great dramatic impact the first time you read it. [b]Con:[/b] The mention of "overcoming petty tribal bullshit" could be seen by some as an anti-corp inclination. [color=white][b]Bias: 0[/b][/color] 3/53 p.28 Welcome to Firewall p.29 What You Really Need to Know
[b]Pro:[/b] Obvious unreliable narrator, and eminently thematic, given that rep economies are a large factor in the setting (let alone in modern-day futurology). [b]Con:[/b] Major expository section of the book portrays an anti-corp perspective. [color=orange][b]Bias: 2[/b][/color] 4/53 p.32 A People's History of an Unfortunate Universe
[b]Pro:[/b] The corps are recognised for their struggle against the TITANs and the development of habs. [b]Con:[/b] Corp-friendly types might object to the corps being portrayed as exploiting the situation. [color=teal][b]Bias: -1[/b][/color] 5/53 p.55 Politics and Power:
[b]Pro:[/b] Here, the PC is described as more significant than the AA, and more unified. [b]Con:[/b] n/a [color=teal][b]Bias: -1[/b][/color] 6/53 The Planetary Consortium is the only major non-local political entity in the solar system (with the possible exception of the Autonomist Alliance, which is more of a mutual aid pact than a unified polity).
[b]Pro:[/b] Straight-forward exposition. [b]Con:[/b] First instance of the term 'Junta'. "Utopian" could be interpreted as either "seeking utopia" or "are utopian". [color=yellow][b]Bias: 1[/b][/color] 7/53 p57 Libertarian and Utopian:
[b]Pro:[/b] Basic description of the game world. [b]Con:[/b] Jovian Junta described as oppressive. [color=red][b]Bias: 3[/b][/color] 8/53 p.58 Keeping the Peace As a result, standards of justice vary widely from the oppressive police state of the Jovian Junta to the free market judicial courts of the Extropians in the belt to the community justice policies of the anarchists out beyond Saturn.
[b]Pro:[/b] Use of an arguably-legitimate form of legal sanction. [b]Con:[/b] Mention of 'serious crimes against the leaders' reflects some oppressive/militant societies such as North Korea and Thailand. [color=orange][b]Bias: 2[/b][/color] 9/53 p.60 Punishment Punishments are even more draconic in the Jovian Republic, where permanent execution and the destruction of all backups is the most common punishment for serious crimes against the leaders or large groups of the populace.
[b]Pro:[/b] Basic description of the game world. [b]Con:[/b] Some might have misread "the few other surviving examples are totalitarian regimes" for "the few other surviving examples [i]OF[/i] totalitarian regimes". [color=yellow][b]Bias: 1[/b][/color] 10/53 p.61 The Old Economy
[b]Pro:[/b] Aligns with modern futurology. [b]Con:[/b] "horror and pity", even if justified, are emotionally-charged terms. [color=white][b]Bias: 0[/b][/color] 11/53
[b]Pro:[/b] Basic description of the game world. [b]Con:[/b] n/a [color=white][b]Bias: 0[/b][/color] 12/53 p.62 The Transitional Economy
[b]Pro:[/b] Basic description of the game world. [b]Con:[/b] n/a [color=white][b]Bias: 0[/b][/color] 13/53 Transitional economies tend to be relatively safe places, since inhabitants cannot manufacture weapons more dangerous than knives, clubs, or similar primitive armaments. Everything from firearms to plasma weapons requires restricted cornucopia machines and exotic materials to manufacture. The proliferation of these items is strictly controlled.
[b]Pro:[/b] Clarification of the actual economic meaning of post-scarcity, allowing that scarcities do exist. [b]Con:[/b] n/a [color=teal][b]Bias: -1[/b][/color] 14/53 Though these are commonly described as “post scarcity” societies, some types of scarcity remain very real.
[b]Pro:[/b] Basic description of the game world. [b]Con:[/b] n/a [color=white][b]Bias: 0[/b][/color] 15/53 p.65
[b]Pro:[/b] Hardly sounds idyllic to me. [b]Con:[/b] Scum are protrayed as occasionally having access to material prosperity. [color=turquoise][b]Bias: -2[/b][/color] 16/53 p.67 Scum
[b]Pro:[/b] Describes both Old Economy and New Economy elite as capable of attaining prosperity. [b]Con:[/b] n/a [color=white][b]Bias: 0[/b][/color] 17/53 p.69 Private Habitats The most rare and exotic of all of the types of habitats are the luxurious private ones owned by exceedingly wealthy or high-rep individuals.
[b]Pro:[/b] Hypercorps are compared favourably with their predecessors. [b]Con:[/b] n/a [color=teal][b]Bias: -1[/b][/color] 18/53 p.70 Factions, The Hypercorps
[b]Pro:[/b] Basic description of the game world. [b]Con:[/b] Infomorphs and AI can be considered to be "owned". [color=yellow][b]Bias: 1[/b][/color] 19/53 The need for physical labor has mostly been reduced to tasks associated with habitat construction, terraforming, or deep space mining. Infomorphs and AIs are heavily employed (or more accurately, owned) as drone operators or virtual workers, and many administrative tasks are performed online via augmented reality, virtual private networks, and simulspace nodes.
[b]Pro:[/b] Basic description of the game world. [b]Con:[/b] n/a [color=white][b]Bias: 0[/b][/color] 20/53
[b]Pro:[/b] Forward projection of some current trends. [b]Con:[/b] Focus on the worst aspects of South American and USAian politics. [color=orange][b]Bias: 2[/b][/color] 21/53 p.75 The Jovian Republic
[b]Pro:[/b] Sympathetic portrayal of corporate entities [b]Con:[/b] Sympathy framed as alignment with anarchist values. [color=teal][b]Bias: -1[/b][/color] 22/53 Morningstar Constellation
[b]Pro:[/b] Basic description of the game world. [b]Con:[/b] n/a [color=white][b]Bias: 0[/b][/color] 23/53 p.76 Planetary Consortium
[b]Pro:[/b] Good and bad aspects of anarchism are presented. [b]Con:[/b] Another mention of "Jovian Junta". [color=teal][b]Bias: -1[/b][/color] 24/53 Autonomist Alliance
[b]Pro:[/b] Basic description of the game world. [b]Con:[/b] The fact that this system is described as working at all could be an affront to pro-corporate readers. [color=white][b]Bias: 0[/b][/color] 25/53 p.77 Anarchists
[b]Pro:[/b] Basic description of the game world. [b]Con:[/b] n/a [color=white][b]Bias: 0[/b][/color] 26/53 p.78 Extropians
[b]Pro:[/b] Good and bad aspects presented. [b]Con:[/b] Corporate-friendly readers might resent the "appropriation" of the concept of freedom. [color=teal][b]Bias: -1[/b][/color] 27/53 Scum
[b]Pro:[/b] Basic description of the game world. [b]Con:[/b] The fact that this system is described as working at all could be an affront to pro-corporate readers. [color=white][b]Bias: 0[/b][/color] 28/53 p.79 Titanian Commonwealth
[b]Pro:[/b] Justification for the Jovian Republic's lesser prosperity. [b]Con:[/b] Mentions of "Junta" and "protection money". [color=orange][b]Bias: 2[/b][/color] 29/53 p.97 System Gazeteer, Jupiter
[b]Pro:[/b] Basic description of the game world. [b]Con:[/b] Several mentions of "Junta". [color=yellow][b]Bias: 1[/b][/color] 30/53
[b]Pro:[/b] n/a [b]Con:[/b] Some of these names might seem like obvious pandering to left wing sensibilities, even though perceptions can changeover the years. Just ask Christopher Columbus or Marie Antoinette. [color=yellow][b]Bias: 1[/b][/color] 31/53 The Jovian Republic has renamed Jupiter’s moons after various neo-conservative heroes from Earth’s history. From closest to most distant, the moonlets are Metis (Bush), Adrastea (Fairway), Amalthea (Solano), Thebe (McAllen), Leda (Chung), Himalia (Pinochet), Lysithea (Friedman), Elara (Buckley), Ananke (Nixon), Carme (Kissinger), Pasiphae (Schilling), and Sinope (Garcia). All are tiny, between 5 and 100 kilometers in diameter.
[b]Pro:[/b] Basic description of the game world. [b]Con:[/b] Mention of Junta and prestige. [color=yellow][b]Bias: 1[/b][/color] 32/53 The largest of the moonlets, hollow Amalthea is probably the most livable sarcophagus habitat due to the large lake created from its icy core. Living on Solano carries some prestige among Junta citizens.
[b]Pro:[/b] Basic description of the game world. [b]Con:[/b] Mention of "Junta" and "notorious prison". [color=yellow][b]Bias: 1[/b][/color] 33/53 The Junta’s most notorious prison, Maui Patera Rehabilitation Center, is dug into a (mostly) extinct caldera wall north of the equator.
[b]Pro:[/b] Basic description of the game world. [b]Con:[/b] Junta. [color=yellow][b]Bias: 1[/b][/color] 34/53 p.100 Ganymede tends to swing more heavily toward the Junta, as its citizens still see the Junta-maintained infrastructure—accurately or not—as necessary in such a hostile environment.
[b]Pro:[/b] Basic description of the game world. [b]Con:[/b] Mention of Junta. [color=yellow][b]Bias: 1[/b][/color] 35/53 Now Hyoden has 2 million inhabitants, making it the largest city-state on Callisto and the largest non-Junta state in the Jovian system. Hyoden is itself heavily militarized, as the tendency of the local authorities to turn a blind eye toward operatives using their territory for forays against the Junta makes for uneasy relations with their powerful neighbor.
[b]Pro:[/b] Basic description of the game world. [b]Con:[/b] Mention of Junta [color=yellow][b]Bias: 1[/b][/color] 36/53 p.101 Locus Situated along the southern edge of the vast, rocky plain called Galileo Regio, almost on Ganymede’s equator, Liberty (population 7 million) is the Junta’s largest planetary city-state. It is closely tied to Liberty Station, a major shipyard and defense installation in geosynchronous orbit. Major industries include ship-building, space construction, fabrication, and security products and services. The Castle, the central security network point from which all surveillance data collected in the Junta is monitored and processed, is rumored to be in or near Liberty.
[b]Pro:[/b] Basic description of the game world. [b]Con:[/b] The fact that this system is described as working at all could be an affront to pro-corporate readers. [color=white][b]Bias: 0[/b][/color] ... 37/53 Locus is the largest cluster habitat ever formed. It is still growing, with over one million inhabitants in the habitat proper and another million in the nearby suburbs of scum barges and small asteroid stations.
[b]Pro:[/b] Basic description of the game world. [b]Con:[/b] Portrayal of a beautiful landmark in an Autonomist habitat. [color=white][b]Bias: 0[/b][/color] ... 38/53 A quarter of its total volume is cut out in a roughly conical shape all the way to the Amoeba, an immense, softly glowing sculpture at the center of the habitat.
[b]Pro:[/b] Basic description of the game world. [b]Con:[/b] Autonomists being portrayed as being notably fun-loving and having lots of free time to indulge in cultural interests. [color=orange][b]Bias: 2[/b][/color] 39/53 This space teems with small craft and people on thrustpacks or voidscooters as they cross the habitat, play zero-g games, or visit the free-floating spimes and sculptures that dot the area.
[b]Pro:[/b] Open admission of the dangers of unregulated habitats. [b]Con:[/b] Unreliable narrator presents an in-universe "excuse". [color=green][b]Bias: -3[/b][/color] 42/53
[b]Pro:[/b] Justification of Saturn's greater material prosperity, compared to Jupiter. [b]Con:[/b] n/a [color=teal][b]Bias: -1[/b][/color] 43/53 p.102 Saturn
[b]Pro:[/b] Basic description of the game world. [b]Con:[/b] n/a [color=white][b]Bias: 0[/b][/color] 44/53 p.103 For ships traveling to the far reaches of the outer system, Saturn is an important alternative to using Jupiter for gravity assists. Less restrictive than Jovian regimes and richer in resources than the Trojans, Circumsaturnine habs and settlements are important innovators in habitat design and cultural organization.
[b]Pro:[/b] Basic description of the game world. [b]Con:[/b] n/a [color=white][b]Bias: 0[/b][/color] 45/53 Profunda is run along anarcho-capitalist lines. Thanks to the rich supply of organic chemicals, its upper reaches are home to many of the outer system’s best-known morph designers. The Enceladian Glitter Bloc is said to have as much influ- ence over body styles as the Lunar fashion houses do over what people wear.
[b]Pro:[/b] Basic description of the game world. [b]Con:[/b] The fact that this system is described as working at all could be an affront to pro-corporate readers. [color=white][b]Bias: 0[/b][/color] 46/53 The habitats of Twelve Commons organize themselves primarily along open-source anarcho-syndicalist lines, with work groups and research pods acting as the basic political unit.
[b]Pro:[/b] Open admission of the possible ills of unregulated habitats. [b]Con:[/b] Portrayed somewhat favourably, like a diversity-friendly barrio. [color=turquoise][b]Bias: -2[/b][/color] 47/53 p.105 Phelan's Recourse
[b]Pro:[/b] Open admission of the potential dangers of anarchism. Autonomists being called a junta (!!!). [b]Con:[/b] n/a [color=green][b]Bias: -3[/b][/color] 48/53 p.106 Kronos Cluster
[b]Pro:[/b] Justification of Titan's material prosperity. Admission that New Economy projects can fail. [b]Con:[/b] n/a [color=green][b]Bias: -3[/b][/color] 49/53 p106. Titan
[b]Pro:[/b] Admission of serious crime in Autonomist territory. [b]Con:[/b] n/a [color=green][b]Bias: -3[/b][/color] 50/53 The St. Catherine Tong, the most dangerous native Titanian mob, is based in New Quebec. Titanian law is generally very permissive regarding individual freedoms, so the vices this gang trades in are of the blackest: snuff pods, stolen alpha forks, and nanoweaponry. A ready supply of fresh morphs bought from corrupt microcorp nursery administrators further fuels their rackets. The Tong is extremely violent and a major embarrassment to Commonwealth security forces.
[b]Pro:[/b] New Shanghai compared favourably to a supposed darling of the Outer System. [b]Con:[/b] n/a [color=teal][b]Bias: -1[/b][/color] 51/53 Nyhavn’s massive central dome, with its elegant blue towers and bioengineered parklands, rivals New Shanghai in size and ambition.
[b]Pro:[/b] Admission of displays of pride in Autonomist space. [b]Con:[/b] Titanian suburbs compared favourably with Mars. [color=yellow][b]Bias: 1[/b][/color] 52/53 At the same time, the squalid blandness that prevails in the Martian suburbs and outlying souks is absent; the dwellings and neighborhoods of the Titanian working class display a riot of color and design, empowered by public fabricators limited by none of the enforced scarcity of Martian economics. For all its idealism, the Plurality is not immune to a desire to showcase its achievements.
[b]Pro:[/b] Admission of crime in Autonomist space. [b]Con:[/b] n/a [color=green][b]Bias: -3[/b][/color] 53/53 There is an active underworld, despite the efforts of security forces, with the local St. Catherine Tong engaged in continual low-intensity warfare with triads from throughout the system.
[b]Pro:[/b] Basic description of the game world. [b]Con:[/b] The fact that this system is described as working at all could be an affront to pro-corporate readers. [color=white][b]Bias: 0[/b][/color] [center][b]~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~[/b][/center] [center][b]~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~[/b][/center] [center][b]~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~[/b][/center] Conclusion: So, after counting the totals, it seems like PHS is biased after all. By 1.2%. [i][u]Against[/u][/i] the anarchists. (-2/159) p.108 Fissure Gate The Fissure Gate remains in anarchist hands, operated and defended by the Love and Rage Collective. The gate is made available to almost anyone unless their rep score is tanked or they are pursuing commercial interests (ruling out most hypercorps). Support for gatecrashers is minimal—traverse the threshold at your own risk. Any discoveries made via this gate, however, must be shared for the collective good of transhumanity.