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During the last few weeks, and over the course of the war with France, The Synapse has seen a number of articles in the press which have attacked, mocked, and ridiculed eCanada. While the content of these articles was diverse, focusing on troubles with our military, the troubles with our economy, the troubles with our government or the troubles with our apathetic citizens, the general tone of each of the articles boiled down to, "eCanada, something just aint right, and somebody should do something about it."

As eCanadians, we live in a prosperous country, and as such many feel that we should be a contender in the international stage; concurrently, when such attempts flounder, each party begins pointing at the next. The citizens point to mismanagement on the governments side, the government on its inability to do anything without the support of its citizens. The grunts in the military grumble about being under-funded, while high command says the grunts need to man up a bit and do their past. Invariably this discontent and pointing of fingers gets eCanada nowhere. In such as situation it would be conceivable for us to spend weeks, perhaps months battling back and forth about whose to blame for eCanada's recent less than successful endeavors.

The Synapse wishes to take a different approach.

This paper has touted itself as being a source which will make connections in you eWorld. This article will propose to Canadians an idea that has yet to be discussed for our ineffectual attempts at being an international player. By way of disclaimer, we makes no claims to have all the pieces of this puzzle, but it will put forth an opinion on a few possible solutions to the general feeling of unease felt by many eCanadians.

In the opinion of the editor, Canada's inability to be an international player stems primarily from its citizens. This is not to say that eCanadians are bad, or lazy. It is not that they are unwilling to aide their country, participate in government or the military, or go to war when their nation calls. Canadian citizens suffer from a malady unique to our eWorl😛 youth.

The average eCanadian, at the time this article was written was at a level 9 in eRepublik. Now that doesn't seem entirely bad except when we consider that the average level for an eRepublik citizen world wide is 12, a full 3 levels above the average eCanadian. Convert this to activity and that means that the average eCanadian is approximately 12 days younger than the average citizen world wide, if they eat, train and work for each of those 12 days. Thats twelve less days of training, twleve less of working, twelve less of buying food, and gaining skill in production.

To take this one step further, lets compare a nation with considerable international clout, but similar population size in total. Sweden and Canada have been battling back and forth for the position of 6th most populous nation for the last few days. The difference between the two nations: experience. While the average eCanadian citizen is at a level 9, the average Swede is at a level 14. Given our 3 base xp a day scenario, that means the average Swede has full month and a half (45 days) more experience than the average eCanadian. A full month more of training, and a full month more to build their production skill.

"Now just wait," you say. Perhaps its the case that the swedes have battled more, and thus are more experienced? By and large I expect this to be the case, given that until recently most eCanadians did not have the benefit of fighting a war with a bordering nation, but if this is the case, in place of months of training we find that most swedes will instead be of higher rank on average, and as such will exert more foreign influence.

The military aspect here is of particular importance because by and large this is the sphere where eCanada comes up short. From an economic standpoint eCanada is a world producer of goods and raw materials. Compared again to Sweden for example eCanada's GDP is 1272 gold, whereas Sweden's is 1091 gold, despite having a more experienced nation. Compare this to the UK's 1155, Norway's 1061, and Indonesia's 1293, and eCanada holds its own internationally. Unfortunately, gross economic production is but one piece of the puzzle.

For a moment now, lets step away from "averages," since all too often they can be misleading. At present there are many eCanadians who are of a much higher rank than 9. Of the more notable figures in eCanada we have Alexander Rearden (lvl 1😎, Tantis (1😎, Augustus Baldwin (19), and our Prime Minister Tom Hagen (17), to name just a few. Consider for a moment that for our national average to be a level 9 that means that we need to have 3 level 6's to make up for Alexander Rearden alone, whereas internationally only one would suffice. I make this point to illustrate the fact that eCanada has relatively few experienced players, and that the overwhelming majority of our citizens (to a greater extent than the international average) are for all intents and purposes, n00bs. As a nation eCanada is a greenhorn fighting seasoned veterans.

All of thats all well and good, you say, but what can we do about it?

Well first The Synapse would like to support the proposition that has been put forth most vehemently by Sir Augustus Baldwin, namely War. This conflict in France has been a double edged sword for eCanada. It has drained the countries coffers and resulted in skyrocketing prices, but it has also honed eCanada. Like a soldier training for battle we have become lean and efficient, functioning on limited supplies. It has raised issues on communication and methods of warfare, knowledge about which will prepare us for future conflicts, and it has helped to train our citizens. The current conflict must end, and like a soldier training, eCanada must take some time to recover, but we now better understand that only in losing battles may we gain the strength and wisdom to win the war.

Secondly, we must work towards retaining new players. We must be welcoming and show new eCanadians the finer point of eRepublik that we've all come to know and love. This may take the form of a revised New Citizen message, it may mean a nationally sponsored newspaper to routinely post helpful hints for new and old citizens alike, it may mean something more drastic like a national (or private) education program with several volunteers to answer questions, befriend someone who clicked on a promotional banner and doesn't know anyone on eRep, and help our fledgling citizens learn the ropes. We can't speed up how fast eCanadians progress in this game, but we can help to ensure that they do reach higher, and more rewarding levels.

Finally, we need our veterans to stay. Over the past few weeks there have been rumours that several of eCanada's most experienced players may leave our nation for greener pastures. Despite making an attempt to be objective in its reporting, The Synapse must ask that these players, whomever they might be, reconsider staying to help eCanada grow into the great nation that it can be. We in eCanada have been blessed with experienced leadership, and it is this editor's hope that this will continue to be the case for several months to come.

The road to establishing eCanada as an international force is a long one, and not something that will quickly be achieved. While we work to retain new players, and help them to gain experience, foreign nations will continue to become more experienced as well. The only way eCanada can outpace its foreign competitors is by training its citizens better, and by retaining more citizens than the nations beyonds its borders. We must cast aside the elitist attitudes that have torn at the nation, and have pitted us against one another, and we must work to ensure that all eCanadians are valued and heard. We must work towards unity. The rebuilding and restructuring of eCanada could take months, and while its likely that Prime Ministers and governments will come and go in that time, we, the citizens of eCanada, must maintain a focus of unity and support for the newest members of our nation, so that they continue to enrich our nation well beyond level 9.


In diverging from its typical mandate of objectivity The Synapse expects that the response to this article will be varied and at times critical. We welcome both critique and praise and hope that in publishing this article we may incite intelligent discourse on the matter presented. It is not the intent of this article to attack the current administration, but rather to provide a medium for discussion, and as such we request that all comments made will be in line with this sentiment.



The Synapse: Making Connections in your eWorld.