Plato's Most Epic Fail
Gnilraps
Town with No Cheer (Mandatory listening)
Day 2618 of the New World
January 20, 2015
Well, Plato has gone and done it again.
He consistently makes decisions that disrespect his player base, shows his misunderstanding of why we play, and proves that he has no clear direction for the future of this game.
Today he announced that unless an Epic battle is between 49% and 51%, there will be no double Prestige points given. In a vacuum, this wouldn’t be such a big deal. But given the circumstances and his stated reason for this decision, Plato has just confessed his incompetence.
I’d like to explain.
A brief history.
Epic Battles were introduced in October of 2014 (On Day 2523) with the “Epic Warfare” Tournament. Prior to that, there was no special designation for Epic Battles.
Epic battles initially awarded 3x Prestige Points per hit regardless of where the wall was.
3x Prestige Points per hit.
Players were so excited by this tournament that we crashed the eRepublik servers. Several times.
Why do players like to get 3x Prestige Points per hit? Because more Prestige Points results in better awards. It’s not rocket science.
In his massive apology to the eRepublik community, Plato promised to learn from this tournament.
...we’ll do our best to learn from these difficult times. -Plato, Oct 30, 2014
What we all hoped Plato would learn had nothing to do with server load. We expect that in a game which charges money for ingame incentives, that income will be used for appropriate technical infrastructure.
No, what we all hoped Plato would learn was that his transformation of eRepublik from a social browser game into a button-clicking-pixel-fest had been accomplished.
But what did Plato actually learn? The answer to that is terribly confusing.
One thing is for sure, Plato had what he wanted.
In the early days, Plato lured an eager and growing bevy of micro-communities into a game that offered a sparse gaming interface with open-ended social possibilities. The real “game” was achieving community-oriented victories that would ultimately be reflected on the battlefields.
Once Plato had his player base, he began making changes to the sparseness and open-endedness that had caused eRepublik to become one of the buzz browser games in the world. Plato began to exchange organic features for canned clicks.
Gone was the region-based Congressional Election process that had created a cottage industry of community activity. In its place - log in. Click. Log out.
Gone was the worker skill that had created an actual economy - a greatly differing economy from Nation to nation. In its place - log in. Click. Log out.
Gone was the commune-advantaged-economy which awarded working together with products that could be produced for greatly reduced cost. In its place - log in. Click. Log out.
Gone was the necessity to coordinate what few battlefield hits you could afford each day so that your national objectives had the greatest chance for success. In its place - log in. Click. Log out.
I could go on. But the gist of this is that Plato, over time, very systematically changed eRepublik from a social browser game into a pay-to-win button-clicker.
Clearly that's what Plato wanted. Clearly, at least until now, that's what Plato learned.
Now I am not claiming that everyone who continues to play this game is playing pay-to-win. However, it would be foolish to ignore the fact that all of the changes, events, tournaments, updates, and offerings directly create a super-class of money-spending players called “whales”. And the Whales enjoy all of Plato’s benefits.
This last tournament is obvious proof of the thesis. It was an invitation to unlimited spending.
All it took was for a few Whales to coordinate enough damage to send a battle into Epic. The walls were very easy to keep within the 49--51 parameters, so we enjoyed 4x Prestige Points.
4x Prestige Points per hit.
We all know the rest of the story. Surely there isn’t a week in eRepublik history that saw more raw damage than this past week.
And the social-only players? Even they benefited from the Whale's pursuit of Whale-bonuses. Plato, geeze, you got it right. Throw out krill and even the minnows can feast.
But the idiot Plato has completely misunderstood the result of his own success.
What was the carrot that encouraged the minimal coordination necessary to send these battles into Epic?
4x Prestige Points. Krill. Whale food.
Who were the individuals who were accomplishing the coordination? Was it the remaining class of players who enjoy what is left of the social structures of this game? LOL no.
It was the Whales. Whales who rarely take interest in "coordination" UNLESS THERE'S WHALE FOOD.
Whales coordinated damage because Whales love 4x Prestige points.
HELLO? PLATO? DO YOU UNDERSTAND?
You have, at every turn, malformed this game into a Whale Party. You are at least smart enough to design events for Whales to Whale.
NOW WHY DO YOU KILL OFF THE EPIC BATTLES?
Plato. Don't starve the Whales.
Are you stupid?
I truly don’t understand it.
According to the new update, Epic Battles will only award 2x Prestige Points if the battle is between 49-51%. I lack the technology and archives to estimate how rare this has been in the 10 months since Epic Warfare, but I’d estimate that less than 30% of Epic battles have been within this range for any decent period of time.
Does Plato expect Whales to send battles into Epic when there is a 70% chance that there will be no reward for doing so?
In the early days of eRepublik when this was a social browser game, this change would have made total sense. Force our micro-communities to coordinate to a superior level and offer a meagre reward for doing so. PERFECT. Today’s update would have fit perfectly into the eRepublik of 5 years ago.
But in a click-fest? IT IS THE SUCKIEST UPDATE EVER.
It is an EPIC SUCKFEST of an update.
Trust me, Plato. I’m one of your Whales. I hate you today.
Never before have I ever endorsed a mass community boycott. And I am not doing so today.
However, I believe Plato has just created a de facto boycott.
He has de-Whaled eRepublik at a time when Whales are the ONLY THING KEEPING THE SERVERS RUNNING.
What a moron.
I predict that Plato will revoke these changes. Either that, or after a couple of months of reduced revenue (I know many Whales who will be skipping the next round of Packs), Plato will see his stupid error and make some other change which will even further Whalize this game.
Here are a few suggestions, Plato:
1: Whale Pack - 9.99 euro = 4x Prestige Points for 30 Days
2: Orca Pack - 9.99 euro = Damage Limiter. Fire Button only works when wall is 49-51%, then Fire Button makes 30x hits per click. Lasts 30 days.
3: Humpback Pack - 9.99 euro = Automatically increase the wall by .1% with each fire of your weapon. Lasts 30 days.
4: Great White Pack - 14.99 euro = Instantly make any battle Epic. Single use.
I can go on. But I would bet dollars against donuts that all of these horrible ideas AND MORE have already been discussed in Plato meetings.
But I have a final point to make.
Plato has lost his way.
He has no actual vision for where this game is going. This is not the first time he has instituted changes that have undone previous changes.
V1 - V2 - V1 again
Housing - No Housing - Housing
No WAM - WAM - No WAM
No Epic - Epic - SUPER EPIC - No Epic
I could think of more, but you get my point.
Plato has NO DIRECTION for this game. His decisions are made shortsightedly.
Basically, eRepublik Labs is leaderless.
I am curious to know how the community feels about all of this.
Who’s ready to quit?
Who’s gonna hold out?
Who has hope for a bright future in this game?
Who is gonna go into two-click mode?
Who is gonna stop Whaling?
Plato, listen: I am done spending money on you. I am officially looking for a new game. Congratz.
Want to Put This List of Government Press in Your Newspaper?
(Custom) Tracker courtesy of Mike Ontry's Hit Tracker.
You may now return to your regularly scheduled clicking
Comments
NEEDS MORE GREELING!!!
Shut up and buy a pack.
Also, you say Plato has no vision?
http://prntscr.com/8bagab
http://www.erepublik.com/en/main/latest-updates/0/224
hi
LOOL my prediction has already come true.
Plato is directionless.
eRep is Leaderless.
GNILRAPS IS BOOBLESS
Dude, just F'n excellent piece of article!
Gave up whaling a year ago, been in mostly 2-click mode most of the last 6 months - the only thing keeping me here is some of the people.
I am merely a very bored clicker. One day I will count, perhaps it is about 12 actual clicks 😎
+1
THEY HEARD US ON THIS ONE ! ! ! !
NOW LET'S WORK ON GETTING RID OF THE IGNORANT DICTATOR MODULE.
That has nothing to do with this article...
Plato's brain-farts are the most exciting thing about this game. Why would we want them to end ?
Vote
EREPUBLIK® or EPAYMENT???!!!
http://www.erepublik.com/en/article/erepublik-or-epayment--2548366/1/20
It makes you wonder does anyone at eRep actually play their stupid game? Do they understand what motivates a player to buy their stupid packs?
I see zero evidence that they do with this update. I'm not boycotting, I'm making a game decision that the return on investment is no longer worth the investment, and result is the same.
great article. o7. btw meagre? how many words do you know mr. chomsky?
I'm quiting... Bye to everyone
So long, and thanks for all the fish
I love you Gnilraps!
LOL
Plato has reverted the changes but promised to invent some new stupid changes. He definitely dislikes the current state of things
bait and switch.
he will show us something nice and shiny and without substance and in return change epic.
Next, we will get the Blue Baron. 😉
http://i.imgur.com/crtBaK1.png
I made a copy of your ticket and claimed the same. Hope you don't mind.
I've not had an answer yet.
...sadly you probably won't and if you do the answer will be no.
These tiny winy updates and take backs are just stupid.
And the weekly events and tournaments are a waste of time, well except for the storage....
Great article
I really liked your still of typing🙂
Great article, nice style!
v+s
o7
I stopped putting money on this game a long time ago, keep coming back sometimes and hit a few times, other than that, 2 click.
Can't say better than you did, what are my feelings now about this.
I don't give a f*ck for this game and I don't care for what pluto does.
Strictly a 2-clicker.
Brilliant article.. precise to the point (or to the lack of one from Plato) 😃
Now that eRep Labs reverted that stupid decision, let´s see where this will go...
o/
This is by far the best article I have read in a long time. Thank you for the amazing read!
Great article!
Personally, I think I speak for a lot of players when I say I would like to go to log in one day and see that the game is gone. I think most players like me or even yourself stick around due to the money invested in their account and the fact that people rely on us. If I was the ordinary two-clicker, I would have packed my bags and left a long time ago. I don't spend anymore money on the game and find phone apps more rewarding than eRepublik. All games inevitably die, but "Plato" certainly has helped lead this game to a more painful death than was necessary.
For me it isn't even the invested dough, it is solely the fact that people rely on me. I'd walk away tomorrow.
Hm. Interesting. I haven't invested on single U.S. dollar on this game and I FN love it and will probable hyperventilate if I ever come here and the door is locked.
It is truly an excellent game. There is so much potential for real world revenue streams in this game it is a virtual -pun intended- gold mine. I blame the idiots that bitched so much about 'eRepublik Rising' that it was stupidly rolled back to the crappy push the FN wall 'War Game' that the whales all wanted.
Now the Whales are tired of paying, we all knew -at least I did- that eventually they would get tired of sliding that plastic; I know I would. So now what?
My vote goes to upgrading to 'eRepublik Rising', just saying....
v
Good stuff 🙂
Never payed, never will, never felt better
I only come here for the comedic relief 😃
Wow. What an article. Love it.
great article
I'm not sure what an epic battle is
...and at this point I'm afraid to ask.
Great article!
I completely agree about everything.
Some good $hit there written on that page