Join the new world

Today I write you, not as your President, but as a conceirned citizen. Denmark is alive and the outlook for further progress is not entirely pitch black - as it has been previously. Indeed, today Denmark can once again bolster a few quite strong names among its ranks. Both IRL-Danes and international players contribute to our country, making it a vibrant and alive country - if we allow it to be, and act accordingly.



We have to analyze the problem that new Danish players are facing, and then think of what we can do to help the problems and speed up the process of getting into the game. What makes players stay on? What parts of the game are alive - what are dead, and what can we do to change that? It once again comes down to the old Kennedy saying: "Ask not of what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country."

First of all our message to new citizens have to change. We established that a few weeks ago - and the discussion came to a grinding halt. We have to pick up that debate and make sure the actual message changes. Pronto. That's something we can achieve in 24 hours. As Party President, I'm not actually allowed to vote on the matter - but you can rest assured I will make sure I put enough pressure on our congressmen to make it happen.


Perhaps we could use the Mazlow staircase to somehow come to some conclusions as to what seems to be the problem in eDenmark. Since players aren't living in a very hostile environment, we can snap step one (physiological) and two (safety) together. Step one is then safety from dying, which means people have to get paid.

The average market wage (top ten salaries divided by ten) has risen from 4 DKK a few months back to peaks around 11 DKK. Today you can get a job that pays around 12 DKK without much trouble - and once players get into the Welfare program, Security is no longer a problem for most players. If they do have problems, they're going to need a credit card. That's something we can't quite help with.



Next then is social needs. It means to be part of a group, to have a recognized place in a community and to feel attached to the group. Denmark is a small group of players, who are really tightly knit together. We rig elections and run the show from behind the curtains. The problem, which we have seen a few times the last month, is that new players cannot find their way into the community. Personally I have always had a weak point for the political aspect of the game. If it's broken, then I lose quite a bit of interest in playing.

The PTO-situation is no longer as big of a crisis as it was a few months ago. Gold mines might have been the best way of relieving us of that problem. Still, we're facing the problem of irrational voting. Parties who do nothing get a lot of votes, parties who are struggling to make their voice heard are not given any sort of reward. This is an activity killer. This has to change.

Denmark has seven political parties, and yet only two have released manifestos the last six months (don't really call Apperture's thingy a manifesto...). Believe me when I tell you this, new players: there is room for opposition in Denmark. We need new players to question our ideas and programs. Most importantly, we need to cover the political spectrum so that new players can identify with their ideology and join the ranks of a party accordingly. Personally, I don't care about the political color of the parties - or their do's and don'ts. The point is that we need a more clearly divided country. That might be the only way to make the game work for us.

We could, of course, try to re-vamp the old Wolfpack™-system, where we bunch new players together with a mentor and create small groups of new players. Personally though I don't remember this being much of a hit, and it takes a lot of work. Other options can of course be explored.



Next is esteem needs, and I think we could change that into nationalism. It might be a bad word IRL, but I think it's necessary to divide Denmark away from the rest of the world in as many way as possible. This secures us in term of PTO's, but also indoctrinates players in the importance of public office and citizenship management. A love for Denmark is not a bad thing: a hate for the exterior is.

A functioning country is something to love. A broken ain't.

Self actualization is a hard concept in terms of psychology, so let's just keep it at self actualization - meaning you should be able to accomplish your personal goals in Denmark. All branches should be open for office - economy, society, military and political. This should be the fruit of all the before mentioned. That is, if we get the rest of this list ticking - we're going to see a lot more stars born.



This is my vouch, as Party President: Vanguard will lead the charge in creating political diversification. I will throw kids in the deep end of the pool, and keep myself out of actual office as much as possible. My hope is that other parties will respond to this and start steering away in other directions. I'm hoping to see new players asking questions and trying to build bridges between eachother.

Build with me, Danes. Roleplay. Think. Be creative. Stay active and don't give up.

Here's Vanguard's long term goal - TWO REGIONS ON JANUARY 1st 2014!!