Fair-Play...[RO]/[EN] - Updated

Day 582, 06:13 • Published in Romania Singapore • by Roscatul
RO

Am inceput sa joc eRepublik cu mai bine de un an in urma... Am primit o invitatie si am decis sa-mi fac cont, pentru a vedea despre ce este vorba, si in plus pentru a-mi aduce contributia la dezvoltarea unui joc de succes creat de romani... Prin “contributie” nu intelegeti ca doream sa ma implic in programare sau promovare... ci plecand de la principiul “si votul tau conteaza” am vrut sa contribui, prin simpla prezenta a unui user in plus si prin niste eventuale idei... Si asta pentru ca programul din RL nu imi permite sa-mi dedic mult timp acestui soi de activitati.

eRepublik m-a cucerit destul de repede prin simplitate... Dar, pe masura ce trecea timpul am inceput sa realizez ca in spatele acestei aparente simplitati functionau serioase principii economice, sociale si politice. Am inceput sa descopar comunitatea si ambitiile din spatele ecetatenilor... In acelasi timp au inceput sa apara ambitii proprii... Am inceput sa-mi doresc sa fiu primar, presedinte de partid, am inceput sa-mi doresc sa fac propria firma, propriul ziar si nu in ultimul rand sa am cat mai mult gold. Odata cu trecerea timpului jocul ma acapara din ce in ce mai mult... Am convins multi prieteni sa-l incerce... O parte dintre ei nu s-au “molipsit”, o parte inca mai joaca si la randul lor au invitat alti prieteni... Am inceput sa cumpar gold cu bani reali... si totul pentru a atinge niste teluri.

Cred ca toti jucatorii vor sa-si atinga niste OBIECTIVE. Sa ai o casa, sa fi membru de partid, sa fi presedinte de partid, sa fi presedinte de tara, sa ai cel mai mare damage in razboaie... in totalitate sau partial, sunt obiectivele tuturor cetatenilor. Motivatia din spatele acestor obiective difera... Unii vor aceste realizari pentru recunoastere, pentru sentimentul de putere sau doar pentru gold, altii pentru a-si pune in practica propriile idei, pentru a inlatura un sistem cu care nu sunt de acord sau pur si simplu pentru a demonstra ca se poate si mai bine. Cert este ca in spatele fiecarui obiectiv si ambitie exista o motivatie.

Jocul in sine este dat de MODUL DE ACTIUNE a fiecarui ecetatean, pentru atingerea obiectivelor sale, adica pentru obtinerea satisfactiei. Cu cat atingerea obiectivelor este mai dificila, cu atat satisfacia obtinuta este mai mare si actiunile mai complexe... Actiunile definesc caracterul ecetateanului si stabilesc relatiile sociale... Actiunile te fac popular sau “oaia neagra” si in acelasi timp actiunile iti faciliteasa sau ingreuneaza drumul catrea realizarea obiectivelor...

Odata cu aparitia medaliilor, goana pentru atingera obiectivelor a devenit mai “vizibila” si mai cuantificabila. Totodata cresterea numarului de jucatori a inasprit competitia... Bineinteles ca au aparut frustrari si acuzatii, demascari si oportunitati de exploatat... dar, in principiu, TOTI JUCATORII AVEAU SANSE EGALE LA ATINGEREA OBIECTIVELOR. Orice jucator avea aceleasi sanse de a obtine orice medalie... Diferentierea se facea doar in functie de disponibilitatea ecetateanului de a aloca resurse mai multe sau mai putine decat oricare dintre competitorii sai, resursele fiind reprezentate de timpul investit, gold –ul disponibil, puterea de convingere prin intermediul presei, ideile unice, carisma sau banii reali investiti. Lipsa unei resurse putea fi inlocuita de excedentul alteia... Ca si in RL unii au obtinut mai greu altii au obtinut mai usor ceea ce si-au propus, altii inca mai incearca atingerea unuia sau a tuturor obiectivelor... ASTA NE DETERMINA SA JUCAM eREPUBLIK.

Aici intervin admin –ii site-ului... Treaba lor este sa se asigure ca toata lumea are sanse EGALE la atingerea obiectivelor, ca actiunile unui cetatean nu reprezinta concurenta neloiala pentru ceilalti cetateni... Pentru a juca jocul este nevoie de certitudinea ca POT atinge oricare obiectiv dintre cele pe care jocul le ofera si de certitudinea ca ma inscriu intr-o competitie CORECTA. De-a lungul existentei mele virtuale am vazut multe acuzatii aduse admin –ilor tocmai pe aceste teme... Exploit –uri de gold, bug –uri, stocuri imense de la o zi la alta, tranzactii suspecte pe piata monetara si multe altele... Dar, aceste acuzatii erau aduze de catre TOATA lumea... Azi un grup acuza anumite “nedreptati”, maine adversarii lor aduceau acuzatii... Azi, aceste bug –uri favorizau o tabara, maine, adversarii erau favorizati... Si totusi, admin –ii pareau impartiali... conceptul si ideea jocului erau neviciate, ofereau cel putin in teorie dreptul la egalitate in sanse... Cel putin teoretic exista o conpetitie corecta. Restul erau doar “scapari” care cu toate ca aduceau frustrari pe moment, nu faceau altceva decat sa stimuleze ambitiile si determinarea in lupta pentru atingerea obiectivelor.

Si ajungem la ultima modificare, la ultima imbunatatire a jocului... Noul “achievement”, medalia de Ambassador. M-am bucurat cand am vazut aparitia unui alt posibil obiectiv, pentru ca stiam ca va aduce motivare pentru ecetateni pentru a juca acest joc. Si am inceput sa ma interesez ce trebuie facut pentru a obtine aceasta medalie. Am fost foarte dezamagit... Consider ca, aceasta medalie este cea mai putin motivanta... Nu ma stimuleaza si nu ma face sa mi-o doresc. In plus, am citit o fraza care mi-a creat frustrare: “there are limited positions available and that not everyone will be accepted to become an eRepublik Ambassador “. Din punctual meu de vedere (nu neaparat adevarat sau reprezentativ) pentru obtinerea acestei medalii NU EXISTA EGALITATE IN SANSE. Daca pana acum, in ciuda exploit –urilor si bug –urilor, cel putin la nivel teoretic, structura si conceptul eRepublik oferea drepturi la o competitie loiala, conceptual de obtinere a acestei medalii ESTE DISCRIMINATORIU. Din start, nu toti cetatenii au acces la obtinerea acestei medalii… In plus, am ales sa joc eRepublik si este incorect sa mi se pretinda sa accesez alte forumuri sau blog –uri… Da, sunt de accord sa fie stimulati cei care doresc sa o faca, dar trebuie sa fie alegerea lor... Faptul ca vrei sa fi activ EXCLUSIV in jocul in care te-ai inscris (in cazul de fata eRepublik) nu trebuie sa reprezinte un handicap.

Consider ca aceasta medalie este nemotivanta si discriminatorie. Am scris acest articol pentru a afla daca este doar impresia mea sau mai sunt si altii care impartasesc opinia mea. La fel cum Trivia a fost eliminata pentru ca nu a oferit decat frustrare jucatorilor, daca sentimentele legate de aceasta medalie sunt aceleasi si sunt impartasite de un mare numar de ecetateni sunt convins ca admin –ii vor fi deschisi la o discutie.

Pentru a nu fi acuzat de critica neconstructiva, voi incerca sa vin si cu niste idei de inbunatatire:

- Medalia de calator, care se obtine de fiecare data cand ai trecut prin toate tarile lumii.
- Medalia de filantrop, care se obtine la anumite sume (sau nr de obiecte) donate.

Va rog sa va exprimati ideile... Este aceasta medalie o relizare? Va doriti aceasta medalie? Sunt conditiile de obtinere a acestei medalii realistice?

Va rog VOTATI pentru international. Chiar ar fi bine sa simtim pulsul noilor schimbari.

LATEST EDIT:

Am primit deja un feed-back de la admini. In acest moment se analizeaza toate sugestiile legate de medalia de Ambassador. Rezultatul acestor discutii probabil va fi facut public.

Pe cititorii mei,
Va salut cocosat de respect!


EN


I started playing eRepublik more than one year ago. I received an invitation and decided to create an account, to see what it was all about and to contribute to developing a successful game created by Romanians... By „contribution“ I don’t want you to understand that I wanted to get myself involved into programming or promotion, but considering the principle „your vote counts“ I wanted to contribute with the presence itself of on more user and maybe some ideas... And that’s because the program from RL doesn’t allow too much of an implication.

eRepublik gained my interest quite quickly by its simplicity...But, in time I started realizing that behind all this apparent simplicity, there were serious economical, social and political principles. I started discovering the community and the ambitions of the citizens... At the same time, my own ambitions started to show up... I started wishing I’d be mair, a party president, I started wishing to create my own company, my own newspaper, and earning as much gold as possible. As time went by I was more and more attracted to this game... I convinced many friends to try it... Part of them didn’t get caught by it, part of them are still playing it and invited other of their friends to play it... I started buying gold with real money... and this, as well, for reaching certain goals.

I think all players want to reach some GOALS. To have a home, to be a member in a party, to be a party president, to be a country president, to create the most damage in wars... alltogether or partially, these are the objectives of all the citizens. The motivation behind these objectives... Some want these accomplishments only for recognition, for the feeling of power or just for gold, some want to put in practice their ideas, to abolish a system they don’t agree with or simply to demonstrated that better is possible. The fact is that behind each objective and ambition there is a motivation.

The game itself is given by the KIND OF ACTION taken by each e-citizen in order to obtain his/her objectives, that is for satisfaction. The more difficult reaching a goal is, the higher the satisfaction and the more complex the actions... The actions define the character of the e-citizen and establish social relations... The actions make you popular or “the black sheep” and, at the same time, they facilitate or complicate the road to reaching your goals...

Once the medals appeared, the rush for reaching the objectives became even more “visible”. Moreover, the increased number of players started making the competition even harder... Of course, frustration and accusations appeared, exposures and exploitation opportunities... but, basically, ALL PLAYERS HAD EQUAL CHANCES OF REACHING THEIR OBJECTIVES. Any player had the same chances of winning any medal... The difference was given only by the availability of the e-citizen to bring in more or less resources than other competitor, resources being represented by the time invested, the gold available, the power of persuasion by means of the press, unique ideas, charisma or real money invested. The lack of one resource can be replaced by the surplus of another one... Like in RL, for some it was more harder for some it was easier to get what they wanted, some are still trying to reach one or all the objectives... THIS DETERMINES US TO PLAY Erepublik.

Here, the site’s admins come in... Their job is to make sure that everybody has EQUAL chances in reaching the objectives, that the actions of one citizen don’t represent unfair competition for the other citizens...In order to be able play this game you need the certainty that you CAN reach any objective from among those the game offers and the certainty you enter a FAIR competition. Throught my virtual existence I’ve seen many accusations brought to admins exactly on these points... Gold exploitation, bugs, huge stocks from one day to another, suspect transactions on the money market and many other... But, these accusations were made by EVERYBODY... Now, a group complains about certain injustices, the next day, the competitors complain about the same thing. Now bugs are for one team, the other day, they are for the opponent... And yet, the admins seemed impartial... the concept and the idea of the game had no vice, and offered, at least in theory, the right to equal chances... At least theoretically, there was a fair competition. The rest were just “slips” which, even though produced frustration at one point, they did nothing but stimulate the ambition and determination in the fight for reaching goals.

And here we get to the last modification, the last improvement of the game... The new “achievement”, the Ambassador medal. I was gad when I saw a new possible objective, because I knew it would bring motivation for the e-citizens to play this game. And I started investigating what needed to be done in order to obtain that medal. I was very disappointed... I think this medal is the least motivating... It doesn’t stimulate me and it doesn’t make me want to get it. Besides, I’ve read a paragraph which frustrated me: “there are limited positions available and that not everyone will be accepted to become an eRepublik Ambassador”. From my point of view (not necessarily true or representative) for getting this medal THERE ARE NO EQUAL CHANCES. If until now, in spite of exploits and bugs, at least theoretically, the structure and concept of eRepublik offered rights to a fair competition, in concept, obtaining this medal IS DISCRIMINATORY. From the start, not all citizens have access to this medal... In addition, I’ve chosen to play eRepublik and it is not fair to be asked to access other forums or blogs... Yes, I agree with their promotion, for those who want to access them, but it must be their choice... The fact that you want to be active EXCLUSIVELLY in the game you sign in for (eRepublik in this case) doesn’t have to be a handicap.

I consider this medal is not motivating and discriminatory. I’ve written this article in order to find out if it’s just me feeling this way or there are others sharing my opinion. Like Trivia was cut out because it offered nothing but frustration to the players, if my feeling concerning this medal is shared by a large number of e-citizens, I am convinced the admins will be open for discussion.

In order not be accused of an unconstructive criticism, I will try to come with some ideas of improvement:

- The traveler medal, which is to be obtained each time you’ve crossed all countries;
- The philanthropist medal, which is to be obtained at certain amounts (or number of objects) you donate.

Please, share your ideas... Is this medal an achievement? Do you want this medal? Are the conditions to get this medal reliables?

Please VOTE for international. It would be really nice to feel the pulse of new changes.

LATEST EDIT:

I already received a feed-back from admins. They are analyzing all the suggestions related with the Ambassador Medal. Probably the conclusions will be announced.


Best Regards