Join the new world

Warning: this article is a negative critique. Do not read it if such things anger you.

Now, this may end up as the most hated article of all time. Or it might end up ignored. (I'm not one for buying votes and subs.)

Still, I am going to say what I have to say. I will say it respectfully, but I am going to say it.

Here goes:

I understand why this game is such a hard-sell among Americans, and perhaps among some other countries. And that is because the game itself is not engaging.

Click once, click twice, you can be done for the day.



I am strictly talking game, and not meta-game.

There is a very fine meta-game attached, where if you go into the Wiki and look at "community communication" you will find 70 or so forum boards: http://wiki.erepublik.com/index.php/Community_communication

That's great. I am a subscriber on several forums: some country forums, some political party forums. I have been in various #IRC chat rooms, and I have been on two different blog-radio shows. I may even go to the Greece summit.



The meta-game is quite involving.

But for a brand-new player, the game itself... just isn't. I totally get why so many of the people that I have referred have stopped after a few levels. The interface is clumsy and confusing and non-intuitive. The tutorial needs a tutorial. The Wiki is out-of-date and could use an index and table of contents. I don't understand the map at all.

Most distressing of all, the mailbox is terrible. Why is there no option to go to the end, or to sort letters by subject or other players? This is a game of politics and communication, but the mailbox system is rudimentary for 1993, let alone 2003 or even 2013.

(Caption: I told my sister to go pick up the mail.)



Also, if the goal of this game is to get me to spend gold, it is failing to explain to me why I would want to.

I understand that some of this game is designed so that I will have the desire to spend gold, so I'm not complaining that some people have an advantage when they pay gold.

In life, we often spend money on wine, women and song. Dancing women.



So I understand the desire to spend money. Or to make others spend.

What I'm saying is that I find no incentive to BUY gold, because even if I bought some stuff, it wouldn't really help me in any meaningful way. For example, if I bought 65 gold for $32.68, (24.9 euros) that would give me one training center upgrade. I spend that on my 2nd training center, going from +2.5 to +5.0. This means that if SPEND .19 gold each day, in addition to the $32.68 I bought already, my Strength improves from 400 to 415 instead of to 412.5 -- after two days, I'm at 430 instead of 425. After three days, I'm at 445 instead of 437.5. At four days, I'm at 460 instead of 450.

$32.00 dollars (24.9 euros) so that I could have a strength of 460 instead of 450. Think about that, since if you're reading this, you probably already have a strength of 23,000, which you got simply by starting a year or two ahead of me.



Okay, let's assume that down here in Division 1, that 10 points of strength matter more than they would in Division 4. To USE this strength in a battle I have to GET to the battle. Most of which are 3 or 4 zones from where I am, so every day I have to contemplate spending two weeks worth of USDs to travel back and forth to a single battle. No, this wouldn't matter if the eUS tax rate was 0% or 25%-- we are still talking about 10% or 20% of my entire fortune just to join a battle.

Okay, so the game gives me the option to spend $32.00 dollars (24.9 euros) on buying gold... then makes it physically impossible for me to do anything with the fruits of my labor. This is a poor design decision on the part of the game authors, assuming their goal is to make me want to spend money.

So, the game is not engaging, and it is failing at the one thing it is designed to do: to part me with my wallet.



Remember- I am not discussing the meta-game. IF you are reading this, then you have devoted time and effort to building up your character, or your country, or your business or newspaper or political party. I don't judge you; so long as you are enjoying yourself, you can do as you want. But for the most part, you are NOT a new player. I have made many friends in the meta-game, so will probably be sticking around. This article is about why so many people do not stick around, because-- and this is a FACT-- the game is designed poorly to retain new players.

Yes yes, the meta-game helps those who join it. I have gained food, weapons and stuff from my military unit and my friends. Please don't confuse meta-game issues with game issues if you reply.



If you think the interface is great, the game is intuitive, and that new players (in-game) compete fairly against those who came before them, in-game, then you disagree with me. If your reply is ANY variation on "My party/country/MU helps people in spite of the regular game," then that is not relevant to what I'm saying at all.

If my friends and I sit down in real life and play Risk, we don't say "We hate Risk, but enjoy each other." If that was the case, we'd ditch Risk and find another game to play with each other, be it Diplomacy or Monopoly or Settles of Catan. And that is what I think happens with many American players: they come, they make friends here, but then go off and play Warcraft or some such game that also has a nice meta-game (hundreds of guild forums and raid forums and stuff) but also has an engaging 'game' at the core.



Feel free to agree or disagree, so long as all comments are about the physical game itself, stripped of the player base, and any outside forums or #IRC.