Join the new world

eRepublik is Facebook with uglier buttons. While there are many crevices for each of us to cozily slip into, at bottom the game is built around human interaction and the decisions we make as a community. eCanada's past is flooded with examples of this simple principle: Citizen B amassed a gargantuan party in the DAL by speaking to "the proles" and offering something that mattered to them. Today Rolo succeeds in a similar vein. TFD was vaulted into the limelight after reaching out to Canadians during World War 3. The list goes on.

A year ago I ran on a foundation of communication. That foundation remains in the House of Sperry, but today we're talking outreach: how can a President use communication specifically and successfully to bring Canada the change it is looking for?



Step 1: Create a stable, informed population.

This is about keeping the public up to date about what a President does. A lot of the things that happen in the CP chair happen when no one is looking. If you don't tell anyone that you had that conversation, they're not going to magically discover it happened. By informing Canadians through daily articles that are clear and honest, a President boosts morale and keeps the public informed at the same time. It's about being open to the mediums Canadians use - IRC, the forums, PMs - whatever method the group you're trying to reach is using, you should be using it too. Group messages are great for this. So are Friends Requests for more effective shouts.

Step 2: Give them a reason to talk to you.

It's not enough to say "oh, no one ever PMs me." Of course I don't PM the CP every day - I assume he's busy and doesn't want to deal with me. But if citizens and Congressmen have something to talk about, and know that you want to hear from them (and will reply quickly), they're more likely to step up. Honour their voices and respect their positions, even if you disagree with them. When someone says something I don't like, it's not because they're an evil asshole out to ruin my day. It's usually because they genuinely believe what they're saying. So talk it out with them. The CP is important, but with no friends they're useless.

Step 3: Give them a reason to talk to each other.

Canada often suffers from communication lulls. Every now and then, players have nothing to talk about. They then get bored, die off, quit, or do foolish things "for the lulz" that cause even larger problems. If players are already enjoying eCanada because the community is strong and engaged, then there's no need for trolling and stupidity. It becomes frowned upon and ultimately shunned, at which point the trolls tend to leave for a better bridge. Anyone who's been on the Internet long enough can speak to that.

A CP can provide that spark in a community. The obvious avenues are mechanical topics - a new war with new goals, or a policy shift that will make things easier for MUs to operate. Non-mechanical topics work too - Dade's Titanium Referendum jumps to mind immediately. It's about constructive communication - building a trust to communicate, a reason to do it, and a reason to do it without you in the room. The success of a leader isn't measured by how much the leader speaks, but by how often they can not speak and still have their team succeed. You need the first to reach the second.



What does this look like for eCanada as a whole? Constructive communication means actively participating in the structures we already have, and working to fix the ones that are broken. If the Courts no longer work, what can legitimately replace them without validating the trolls? If the forums are isolationist, what can be done there? If the IRC isn't working, shift to those group PMs I mentioned earlier. Slow and clunky - we're ugly Facebook - but more reliable than IRC for talking to players like Plugson who don't go offsite that often.

On the wider stage, it's about creating a respected presence in international circles. Sure, we can stay in TEDEN without going to those big meetings, or by writing them off as a total waste of time. But why do you think they're a waste of time? Perhaps because other CPs, like many Canadian ones we've had, just don't bother to put the time into making them meaningful. The meetings aren't productive? Be part of the solution. I still talk to the HC folks from yesteryear's Terra. At the start of my last term Canada was hated - almost as strongly as we are now - for being a useless, unreliable ally. By the end of the month we were respected, appreciated, and genuinely liked.

It's not about magical fixes or secret tricks. Communicating and reaching out to the people beyond your inner circle is easy. It is effective. It is essential. The movers and shakers of this game understand that stepping up, taking initiative, and speaking humbly with other players will always achieve more than squatting proudly inside a locked cupboard.

Canada isn't a locked cupboard. Don't let it become one. Build a country that reaches out to others and is respected for doing so. Build a team worth fighting for.



May 5th: Sperry for CP, Eric Last for VP.
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.