If you've played MMO's, you might be familiar with the terms "PvE" and
"PvP". If not, I'll briefly explain them.
PvE is player vs. environment. It refers to games where your enemy is the
world around you, such as computer-controlled monsters. PvP is player vs.
player. Here, your enemies are other players. These two types of gameplay
have parallels to political stances, where PvE is liberal and PvP is
conservative.
Liberals think of people as allied together against the bad parts of the
world. Our common enemies are such things as starvation, disease, and
misery. People are fundamentally equal, the economy is a positive-sum game,
and the goal is to move us all forward. So long as we're *all* doing
better, we're *each* doing better.
Conservatives think of people as pitted against each other, perhaps allied
in mutually hostile factions drawn along ethnic, religious, and national
lines. Our enemies are other factions. People are fundamentally unequal,
the economy is a zero-sum game, and the goal is to move to the head of the
pack. So long as you're in front of others, it doesn't matter how badly
we're all doing.
This is a simple model, but it fits rather well and explains the
fundamental differences between the two political poles.