Join the new world

First off, I'd like to apologize for publishing this on my own newspaper, which is limited to my Citizenship for Russia. As soon as we PTO the hell out of Vodkaland, I'm gettin' my eU.S. Citizenship back for publishing reasons.

Greetings, everyone. Been quite a while since I've written an article on eRep. I'd like to start off by giving a little background about myself, for players unaware of who I am.
My name is Blue Holt. I served in the eU.S. Military for over a year. I was a Major in the eU.S. Army and an eU.S. Marine twice. Then again, once you're a Marine, you always are and will be a Marine.. so "twice" really doesn't mean much.

Currently, I am inactive in Military affairs and have retired. Perhaps I will return one day, but other things IRL and in-game are calling to me. Yet, because of this yearning to go beyond one aspect of the game, I've been struggling to become more active again, as I once was throughout V1 and some of V2.
A medium of eRep I have loved since my eBirth has been the Media Module. At heart, I am a writer as much as I am a musician. If anyone knows me, I'm a passionate musician. However, eRep doesn't have a Music Module, so I'm left to compete with many great writer's as an outlet of self-expression.

And as many know, I cherish the ability to move information around on eRep. I shout ANYTHING that catches my interest, to help better my friends, allies and the good ol' eU.S. of A.

Apologies if I'm rambling now. It's been a while.

Anyways, eRep has always been about entertainment. People get hooked to eRep for many reasons. Whether they enjoy the community, are looking to exercise their ambitions, or are simply playing to get away from real life for a few moments a day.
Regardless of how you play, eCountries are always in motion, exchanging information as fluidly as the Admin tweaks the modules. For better or for worse.
eCountries are ALIVE. They are breathing, growing, living entities that are only alive by the will of the people. They take on the characteristics of the people and remain an embodiment of their voices and their actions.

All in the name of Entertainment.

An article recently came to my attention, of a young lad who made something interesting in the name of Entertainment.
What he made was a tool of measurement of ourselves. Granted, just how accurate this tool is can be up for debate, BUT the people of the good ol' eU.S. of A. seemed to like it.
Everyone was entertained. Not only that, but I believe the census of those that enjoy their results only help increase the validity of this tool, if not by a little.

However, a trend in how many people seem to take against one side of the measurement is a cause for some concern.
I'm not a scientific kind of guy. I wish I had the patience to survey everyone who took that test, put some charts and graphs together, figure out the standard deviation and come out with some serious results for ya.
From simply gathering results on the comments alone, though, the participants seemed to lean much more towards a playing style know as "Game-Mechanics".

Game-Mechanics is a playing style in eRep to which a player generally participates using the in-game tools provided to him/her to achieve results.
On the other hand, Role-Playing is a playing style in eRep to which a player generally participates using an outside source of tools to achieve results.
There has been much debate about which "Style" is the best.

But this shouldn't be about which is better. Life is not always about who is superior or more correct, whether it's in the flesh & blood or the digital realm.

All life is about variations. Take the eCountries, for example. As long as I have been eLive, the mood and concerns for every eCountry has changed.
While each will change, all will always be a variation of another. No two eCountries will ever be absolutely alike.

This is what helps balance the game. What makes it fun. What makes it exciting.
Even the eRep Admin's know how to make something "fun".

What I'm prying at here is the current mood of the eU.S. When one side tends to dominate a part of this game for far too long, that side WILL collapse in on itself.
Don't fret. I don't mean that there will be complete chaos and anarchy in the eU.S., nor am I advocating for it. Instead, because of a tip in the balance of Game-Mechanic style players, the Role-Playing style players have all been driven away or have quit indefinitely.
A symptom of this? ...Retention problems.

Tons of it. Apparently we're dealing with it more than ever. We have always had poor retention. It's a known fact.
With this case, we're now aiming to claim some fresh meat. All fine and dandy. Having more players is an infinite goal of each eCountry.
But how do we keep them? What made so many people stay before? Is it community?

No doubt! Community is huge in this game, because the game DOES get boring by itself!
BUT! ..You cannot believe that community alone is going to remedy it all. Community is finite.

But drama? But Us vs. Them? But scandals? But gossip? But Entertainment?
That's what truly extends the shelf life of a populace.

I have no gripes against Game-Mechanics and those that play with that style. I find myself on-the-fence at times, even if I do lean towards Role-Playing. I see the merit in both.
It's obvious, though, that with a majority of players being enthusiastically FANATICALLY for Game-Mechanics, the game envelopes itself into a state of being unbelievably BORING!
What we need is to focus on our Role-Playing brethren. We need them to flourish once again.

Great names, and friends, like Gaius Julius, Astra Kat, and Eugene Harlot (Yes, even the exalted Harlot Role-Played to some extents) have made a lasting impact on us all. For good reason.
They MADE the game using Role-Playing as a tool, just as Game-Mechanic players use the game itself as a tool.
How can they be so different if both are so essential? How can they conflict if both are so productive?

This is not about extremes. This is not about one side dominating it all. This is about variation. This is about Entertainment.
This is about eLife.
This is just a take on things to come, as long as we are not in balance. Things will only get more boring. If we don't intervene now, more and more of the masses will eDie off.

YOU ARE THE KEY. Take 5 minutes to develop a characteristic beyond the norm. Make the game interesting.
Please, exercise common sense, of course. But this eWorld? It is fantasy. It is a playground. Treat it as so.

Make Yourself. ~
EDIT: Fill out this Form! Help solve the Retention problem!