Overview
Of all the guides that have been written for this game, none has ever addressed the subject that I am about to address. Nevertheless, it seems to be a subject that even veteran players need education in. For all intents and purposes, this guide will probably be something that people don’t bother reading. However, if you do find yourself reading this, there is a good chance that you are a new player or you are a veteran who holds similar values. If you are a new player, pay good attention to this guide as it will make your in-game life a whole lot easier. You will earn respect not by cocky, arrogant speeches that insult other players and factions. You will earn respect by the respect that you show to other players. Thanks for reading. The principles that are listed in this guide are nothing new. They trace back to the finest of military traditions. In writing this guide, I have drawn on the ancient honor codes of the Spartans, the Greeks, the Romans, the British army, Napoleon, the Japanese Bushido code, and the United States’ Army Honor Code. These principles are not just words. They must be a way of life, something that is ingrained in the very fabric of your existence. An honor code is not just a bunch of bylaws. It is a law that you must build your character on and it means that you must answer to yourself for your own actions. When you violate one principle of the honor code, you violate them all.
Loyalty
No honor code can exist without this. Before you can be loyal to a group or to other individuals, you must be loyal to your own standards of character. If you betray your own standards of character, you will betray others. Loyalty is more than just words and a pledge of allegiance. It is demonstrated by actions. When you commit yourself to fight a common enemy, you must remain faithful through the hour of defeat as well as the hour of victory. For leaders, this means leading from the front even when you are on the wrong end of an asswhooping. Remain faithful to the faction that you choose to engage in politics.
Duty
I am a soldier. I fight where I am told, I fight when I am told, I fight whom I am told, and I win where and when I fight regardless of whom I fight. You may disagree with the decisions that pit you against an opponent. Hell, you may even disagree with the tactical plan. However, you still have an obligation to perform your part. By not performing your part, you are spitting in your friends’ faces and abandoning them. It is better to face death and torture a thousand times than to burn in a mental hell for failing to do what you are supposed to.
Respect
In life, there will always be people who are deserving of respect more than others. There will always be people who do not deserve respect at all. These people espouse your cause or they may be your enemies. Regardless of who they are, you must treat everyone with courtesy. You don’t have to be licking their boots, but you should not be making personal insults against them. Most of the players that you meet in the game possess the same passion and interests as you do. They just espouse a different faction. You do not have to get personal. Remain professional in your dealings with them over the game’s politics and the battles you fight against each other. Who knows? You may even become friends on Steam. Do not personally attack people within your faction for holding a different view on the course the faction should take. You both have the faction’s best interest at heart. You just disagree on the means to obtain what is best for the faction.
Selflessness
Sometimes, you must sacrifice your own ambitions to help the faction win. For example, not everyone can be faction leader at the same time. Content yourself with a lesser role. The time will come soon enough for you to get your chance at leadership. What is important is that you keep the faction on course and safe by working as a team with everyone involved.
Honor
Honor is not how hard you fight the enemy. It is how you behave each day. Your character is the most important thing you can possess. A good reputation opens a lot of doors for you while a bad reputation closes many doors in your face. However, the most important thing is how you live with yourself. You must be able to morally justify your actions to yourself each and every day. The code that you live by is what provides the moral basis for your character. You must make every one of these principles alive in your life.
Integrity
War will always offer you an opportunity to be disloyal, break rules, and behave like a bastard in every sense of the word without experiencing any consequences for it. While I am no saint myself when it comes to following regulations in the heat of battle, I have never violated the principles of the honor code. Your integrity is what you do when no one is looking. Backstabbing is a common occurrence among “friends” in the game. If you give someone your assurance of loyalty, you must hold to it even when they cannot see you.
Personal Courage
Without the risk of physical harm occurring to you in the game, what is there to be courageous about? Other players will constantly tempt you to conspire to violate your personal honor code. They will threaten to blacken your name and have nothing to do if you do not go along. However, if these players are truly your friends, why would they threaten you with that in the first place? Personal courage in this game means taking a stand for what is morally right according to your honor code even though you may be the only one who is remaining. In the end, you have to answer to yourself for your own actions and how you account for them is the only thing that matters.
Final Thoughts
Each of the principles that I expounded on can be distorted to justify a stubborn stance on a position. However, it will not make you morally right. What is morally right is something that you must answer for with your own conscience. You may stifle your conscience, but it will still nudge you when you do wrong.
I don’t expect a lot of people to get to this point in the guide. If you do, I hope that you are still willing to follow these principles. Finding a person with character in this game is very hard as they are few and very far between. Whether you are a new player starting just starting out or an old player who has been around for some time, my advice is to show unfailing courtesy to every player, remain loyal to your faction, and answer to your own conscience for your actions.
I am not the first of my kind. I may be the first to write extensively on this subject, but I am not the first person to follow these principles. While you may walk alone as the sole person you know in this game who follows an honor code, you are not the first person to do this and you won’t be the last. Keep the faith, ladies and gentlemen.