Getting Hard

Day 1,217, 09:53 • Published in USA USA • by Gnilraps


Monday Morning edition
Day 1,217 of the New World


"Hard Sausage"

Yesterday I wrote this: read it.

One of the conversations I avoid most often as I mentor various people I come across in this game is about Blocking. Perhaps I shouldn't. But I figure if your party hasn't taught you what Blocking is, they must not trust you very much. So why should I?

Blocking is essentially about trust. It is trust earned. It is trust given.

Blocking is the process of occupying a candidate seat for a party that has conceded a race.

Each top 5 party must run one candidate per region. If a party were strong enough they could run a legitimate candidate in each region and support each one in hopes of victory. But not all of the top 5 parties are strong enough to support a candidate in each state.

It is important to remember what you learned about Mobile Voting. State residence is irrelevant. A state may have 3 residents, run a candidate, and because voters are only a moving ticket (currently selling for less than $4) away. That race could end up with a hundred votes by the days' end.

The mechanics of eRepublik allow citizens the same rights on election day as on every day. The right to move. The right to switch parties. The right to gain Citizenship. The right to vote for an heroic 6-term congressman and the right to vote for a raving lunatiNCi.

Blockers are placeholder candidates. They do three things:

1: Blockers prevent malicious citizens from gaining a seat in congress. Since every Party MUST run one candidate, every Party NEEDS a trusted candidate in every region. An untrusted serious candidate is a recipe for disaster. An untrusted Blocker is a potential PTO from the perspective of the Party. Don't blame the Party for being concerned about this. It is their responsibility to vouch for whomever they run. If only one person has signed up to run in Kansas, the Party President has NO CHOICE but to allow him to run under his party banner, even if that person speaks iNConesian.


"No. Srsly. We need to raise the minimum wage."

2: Blockers enable Parties to concentrate their resources on the candidates who are serious about serving in Congress, especially when the number of such candidates is fewer than the number of territories they must fill. Let's Say the Federalists only have 18 volunteers who truly want a seat in congress. They need Blockers to fill the rest of the slots. These are people who don't want to be in congress but sure as sugar don't want to see a dick there.


Dicks

3: Blockers facilitate inter-party cooperation. In real USA, it's called Bi-Partisanship and it is seen by many as a virtue. In eRepublik it might be called Poly-Partisanship. The Feds, in a Polypartisan gesture, agree to run a Blocker in a state that UIP puts one of their serious candidates. That's how it works.


Bi-Partisan


Polly Partisan?
Look. If you want to know more about Blocking, learn it from your Party. They are the ones who need to trust you. They are the ones whose trust you need to earn. They are the ones who will be desperately seeking Blockers while carefully vetting those who would. The last thing this eCountry needs is unknown Blockers. (PP's reread that last sentence.)

And for the love of pete, if you do not belong to a party, what in sam hill are you thinking? If you can't get hard, at least get useful.

-Gnilraps
16 Shells is donating 200 Q1 Moving tickets to the ATO for use however they see fit.