Join the new world

This article is the second part of my series about different types of players in eRepublik; Powergamers, Casual gamers and role-players. In the previous article I presented my own history from this perspective, and in this article I will present my definitions of the different types, as well as some problems relating to the definitions.

Powergaming

Powergaming in general can be defined as: “-- a style of interacting with games or game-like systems with the aim of maximising progress towards a specific goal, to the exclusion of other considerations such as (in video games, boardgames, and roleplaying games) storytelling, atmosphere and camaraderie. Due to its focus on the letter of the rules over the spirit of the rules, it is often seen as unsporting, un-fun, or unsociable. This behaviour is most often found in games with a wide range of game features, lengthy campaigns or prize tournaments such as role-playing, massively multiplayer or collectible games"
(Wikipedia)

This definition suits mostly well in my opinion for eRepublik powergamers, but it needs some specification. “Certain goal” in a political, economic and military society simulator can vary greatly from personal gain to “best of all”. Also “maximizing progress” can mean anything from stealing the treasury for onself to having all-inclusive welfare program for all citizens. “Focus on the letter of the rules” applies in some ways, but in some cases “letter of the rule” is too restrictive, and in my opinion is enforced more by role-players than by powergamers.



In my opinion a (“good”) powergamer in eRepublik politics is working for the greater good. She has little or none interest in her own status, but if she realizes that no-other is able to do what is needed, she can be ruthless in getting to the position where she has the greatest impact. It is thus ironic that people who actually care least for personal gain often end up having the greatest personal gain, but in many ways this is logical; if you are deemed reliable, hardworking and at least somewhat bearable personality, you will get more and more stuff to do.

Powergamer politician is not always the liked one, though. As public opinion might demand decreases to taxes, more MPP’s, joining alliance X, warring with country Y or increasing the amount of CC’s used in CO’s, the Powergamer with her carefully planned Excel sheets and long-term point-of-view over all matters could, depending on the situation, oppose all of these matters. A Powergamer is willing to do un-popular choices when it simply is the only sensible option for the country.



Long-term perspective is one main thing that separates a real powergamer from other types. When everybody else is chanting in the name of “change, fun and something different”, the powergamer asks: “does change always gotta mean destruction? Is it really more important to have fun for a day than to have trustworthy status in foreign politics for years? If you want change, could you please explain me what exactly is there to change in the current situation?”
Powergamers are notorious for being “elites”. In countries where a small group of like-minded players keep the power from month to another, usually almost periodically, there is a public outcry against the “ELITES WHO ARE RUINING THE COUNTRY”. The way a powergamer sees governing a country in eRepublik is that people who really have something to give are also willing to sweat for it. They have extremely high respect for players who are like they are: hardworking, altruistic and – able to take orders without too much murmuring. It is so that best way to enrage a powergamer-ruler is to be a rock in the wheel and not contributing. A powergamer with a vision can be blind to visions of others, especially if they are colored with short-term idealism of role-players.
Powergamers tend to end up in conflicts with other groups. It is somewhat common to see that a powergamer becomes arrogant. Her arrogancy is often caused from being right too many times when she was ignored by populistis and the she had to clean everything up. Eventually it is possible that a powergamer distrust all but those she considers also powergamers with similar vision, her loyal “followers” and just plain friends.



A powergamer can be mistaken, make errors and thus be disastrous for the country. She is a human being after all. Even being “right” might mean damaging the society. eRepublik is a social game, which can function only if there are people playing it. For other playing types, casuals and role-players, other perspectives than tedious long-term success nonvisible in everyday life are often more important. If the group of powergamers manage to cement their status for long enough, it might lead to boredom among citizens, and eventually quitting the game, or leaving the country. Powergamers sometimes realize this, and allow “opposition” to try their wings, offering their help if needed or wanted. Some powergamers realize, that in a long enough perspective nothing is final, people change and all mistakes can be mended. So giving up the power for one, three or twelve months is not end of the world – she will be back.

Role-player

A role-playing can be defined as follows: “changing of one's behaviour to assume a role, either unconsciously to fill a social role, or consciously to act out an adopted role.” or “Role-playing can also be done online in the form of group story creation, involving anywhere from two to several hundred people, utilizing public forums, private message boards, mailing lists, chatrooms, and instant-messaging chat clients (e.g., MSN, Yahoo!, ICQ) to build worlds and characters that may last a few hours, or several years.” (Wikipedia).

In eRepublik role-playing focuses mainly to politics. Some attempts at military or economic role-playing exist, but they are not the focus in this article. The definitions above fit eRepublik role-players pretty well. A role-playing politician usually assumes certain role, like a communist, opposition leader, nationalist etc. They tend to seek ways to extend the game beyond its original limitations; forums, IRC and VOIP-channels.



In my opinion a role-player deviates from a powergamer by having considerably shorter point-of view. He is in many ways a nemesis of the powergamer. The role-player is the one inciting masses in the media to end the reign of the elites, corruption and offering marvelous changes to the lives of everybody. In many cases role-players adopt whichever role is likely to gain them support. While this makes them populists in political terms, in general I see them as role-players. Following the role-players for years reveals that they can be supporting matters they had been opposing heavily before, depending on where the wind is blowing from.

For me a role-player can have a self-serving goal as well as imitating the powergamers in maximizing the greater good. For him the most important thing is the excitement of interaction. He thrives from conflicts and often excels in verbal skills. He is usually charismatic leader, who knows which rope to yank to make casuals chant his name. Alas, personal status is not always what a role-player wants. Sometimes he aims at creating a community around some ideology. He might be the centerpiece of the community, but for him matters the most that the community gains as much power as possible. This will generally collide heavily with powergamer, who despises such ambitions.



Role-players are not always (maybe not even in general) harmful to society. It can be argued that in eRepublik role-players in politics are essentially needed in order to keep the game interesting. Role-player seeks fun, change and new things, and is extremely active in making up innovative solutions to problems he often also makes up himself. Referring to the “letter of the rule” in powergamers Wikipedia definition, it is sometimes the role-player who ends up setting up external laws and courts. For him the society is much greater than the game, and a real society has rules to follow. These rules are not without problems, and the role-players enjoy long debates over matters like should illegal NE result in 1 month or 6 month ban to the forum.

Powergamers very often take part in the activities created by role-players, as they worry that if they didn’t, the result would be damaging. Ironically maybe powergamers tend to be significantly more active in forums and on IRC than the role-players. Again this is logical, since they end up with the power, and the public demand them to be active. And being active means answering the accusations and wild change ideas presented by role-players.

Role-players in general are in my opinion good counter-weight to powergamers. It is necessary to offer powergamers a chance to take breath and step aside. Role-players tend often also to prove a point by acting just the opposite what powergamer had been saying all along, and in the end failing horribly. Completely different matter is, how long the casuals remember this, as new role-playing opposition leader arises.



Worst scenario created by role-players usually takes place, when the role-player has assumed a destructive ambition. For him only thing brining joy is to see powergamer and her work burn out and die. The “butthurt” is his fuel and empty national treasury is his dream. While he might justify his actions with varying points, this often causes people to lose interest in the game, and eventually quit. If these kind of role-players gain a prominent status in the country, it could mean a slow death, as the country has no foreign policy, it has no money and media revolves around trolling and personal fighting, often including vulgarity. As casuals who think they don’t need to see such stuff quit and leave, the community slowly degenerates into small inactive group.
Much like powergamers, neither role-players should exists alone in a functional community. It could be argued that a community with several (non-destructive) role-playing groups and at least one major powergaming group together form the ultimate eRepublik experience. However, the casual players between these groups will in the end decide, as they tend to have the greatest voting power.

Casuals

Casual gamer can be defined as follows: “A casual gamer is a player whose time or interest in playing games is limited. Casual gamers may play games designed for ease of gameplay, or play more involved games in small groupings of time, at a slower pace than hardcore gamers” (Wikipedia)



In eRepublik terms casuals are most often referred to as two-clickers. They are generally accepted as the People and they are the target of in-game propaganda in media, shouts and messages. They are the group that in the end decide who wins the elections. In some countries it can be argued that majority of the voters are not casuals, and while this notion might be true, it is a special case and not in the scope of this article.

For a casual gamer there the interests are mainly fighting, training and working. They are not interested in meta-gaming. They are however usually interested in their current-state wellbeing, in terms of tanks, cc and gold. If they lack any of these, they tend to vote someone promising more. As this often is the weapon used by role-players, casuals are target for the powergamers, too, who try to convince them that instead of voting for X they should vote for Y because of varying reasons. As casuals are all people and no people in general, the effects vary. In some cases casuals sell their votes to highest bidder and in some cases they emphasize the power-gamers, or role-players. Generalization of the casuals is in my opinion both irrelevant and futile.
Both powergamer and role-player wish that casuals act in their favor. They also often do everything to activate casuals to become one of them. It is worth noting that several casuals are former powergamers and role-players, who might activate when time is right.



Casuals have been, are and will be important part of eRepublik. They are the workers, soldiers, voters and members of everything eRepublik is all about. Success depends often on the ability to mobilize the casuals, not just the actives in the forum.

Some limitations

These gaming-types are very wide and on general level. It is often impossible to know if a certain player is a powergamer or a role-player. Sometimes a role-player thinks himself as a power-gamer, and vice versa. A devious role-player can be convincing that he is only acting in the best interest, but in reality just wants the CP medal. Opposers of a player might also create a different picture of him than what’s reality.

The question of personal gain is maybe the biggest controversy in this article. It is a valid notion that in games in general a powergamer should maximize her own progress, as in achieving all medals, reaching Titan*** etc. Thus it is plausible that a player is role-playing in order to reach CP-medal just for achievement. In my opinion eRepublik is most of all a political game, and for me powergaming does not mean the progress of one player, as it is in my opinion more likely to be a attribute of a role-player.

Changing game-styles is not impossible either. A role-player might eventually start to agree more and more with powergamers, and become one himself. Same is true for powergamers. To make things even more complicated, a powergamer could use role-playing tacticts to pursue longer-term goals, like more interesting community, or just simple counter-weight for other powergamers.

Casual gamers can also be very destructive, if they adopt a will to cause as much chaos and destruction around them as possible. These casuals don't really have ambition for themselves or anybody, but they can sometimes be seen aligning with destructive-ambitioned role-players.