Yet Another Unintended Consequence of UNITY
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by Tyler Bubblar
This started as an opening for a thread in the Fed Forums, but as I typed and typed I realized this was an article so I moved it to google drive, and found some pics to go with it. Before we get started some gratuitous redhead.
Have you all read this article by Artela , or more importantly the comments? Bucephalus92 is right, when I started this game Emerick was POTUS, then Gaius Julius,then JFrost, and they were fantastic Presidents.
Emerick has degenerated to little more than a troll in the eyes of some, but was a crafty SOB while President who kept eAmerica fighting on with spirit even in the face of an incessant string of defeats as the Brolliance and EDEN were gangbanged like a cheap porn starlet by the forces of PEACE. When the moment for counter attack came Emerick seized it ,and the eUSA followed him like a screaming horde of pissed off demons out of hell.
Gaius Julius came to the Presidency as a result of a RL mishap with Emerick. He was unable to log into the game for an extended period of time. This happened right at the height of Eden and the Brolliance kicking PEACE out of our lands. So we in Congress quickly pulled the trigger and impeached Emerick. This allowed the second place finisher in the PoTUS elections that month (Gaius Julius, of the even then awesome Feds) to take over with as little loss of precious time and initiative as possible. Thus we inherited Gaius Julius who turned out to be a damned fine PoTUS. This is something that UNITY does not allow us to do, if for whatever reason we impeached our presidents now we inherit Ajay, not the awesome strong second choice we once would have had in previous eras.
Then we had JFrost. You all know Frost, he is fricking awesome, he is in the Best Friends Club for a reason. He is a tiger blooded, rockstar from Mars on steroids. When he kills his enemies they use their dying breath to thank him for it. He puts that Dos Equis guy to shame. He might be our most universally loved citizen, well tied with fingerguns.
While personality wise all 3 previous Presidents were different, they had a few common threads that made them so effective.
1. They communicated with the populace frequently with flair and charisma. They would not only inform, but they would inspire, and entertain with their articles.
2. They recognized openings and seized them. Not only that they used game mechanics , and guile to manipulate situations to our advantage.
3. They inpired loyalty and pride. Not just here at home but with our allies. Canada and the USA were once so tight they almost weren't seperate nations they were the Brolliance, they knew we had their back and we knew they had ours. Eden lent us money to help us finance our war effort, (the number escapes me now, but I was on the budget committee that had to figure out a way to repay them and it was substantial)
4. They were able to coordinate and plan ahead very complex timings and manuevers, Norway declared war on Russia and attacked them risking wipeout so we could regain the initiative against them, then as Russia retaliated Sweden and Finland declared war on Norway quickly swallowed them up closing the Russian mpps and allowed Norway to RW itself right back into existence.
I do not know Artela, I am a fairly recent returnee to eRepublik, and I think she was still a eUK citizen during my first go around in this game. I want to emphasize that I do not dislike Artela, and we still have plenty of her term left for the ship to right itself. However, so far poor communication from the Oval Office, and timing blunders have marred this Administration. We have been told we need to look harder and go to the cabinet for information. This on its face is right, but how many 2 clickers and noobs will know to do that. The President is in possession of the bully pulpit for a reason.
In short I am urging the top 5 parties to abandon this nonsense and run at least 2 candidates against the AFA next month. The time has come let some risk back in this game, all this careful planning has sucked the color and the life out of what used to be the most fun election in the game. It also has led to what appears to be dithering when openings to strike present themselves. Lets blow this thing up. It can't be worse than our current trend.
In conclusion as always:
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First for the sexy Fed president that will end up on mount rushmore with the other greats.
Voted
great ideas here, votado.
Felicia Day, yum
[removed]
Thats not her coukd not find the name but yes yum
I'm 98% sure that's felicia day
Too chesty
use the google image search. and search pictures.
That IS Felicia Day. Chesty because the way her arms are.
You forgot to mention the little fact that E could not log in due to being incarcerated in rl.
Oh, OR we could let that RGR guy be POTUS. He's pretty kewl and ain't afraid of nothing.
Actually I deliberately left that part out, Emerick was a damn fine PoTUS, and I felt it was inappropriate to drag rl stuff in. I believe they call it tact.
u abstain b4 nuptials?
He was incarcerated because of an oppressive federal government that believes in making moral distinctions for other people, and then enforcing them. I think the fact that Emerick was arrested during his term and is still hailed as one of our greatest POTUS' is testament to how great he truly was, something you could never even hope to emulate.
He was sentenced to jail time for B & E. You think it should be legal to do that?
Not what I heard he did, however even if true it really just illustrates my point that much better.
How about getting kicked out of university for stalking women? Is that a qualification for POTUS? I agree the Emerick is a tool, his story is he was smoking pot in the library or some such nonsense. However, YOU Ajay, we know the true story, Still paying them student loans to American University even after they kicked you out?
Em was in jail for breaking and entering. Stalking women in a university is why RGR should be in jail, though.
RGR
Non-savant
Irrelevant.
What you also failed to mention is that Em saved a country that was circling the toilet bowl with only, at best, another lap before down time... That is an ingame fact. Face it RGR. Em at his worst day is still better than the best you can muster.
This is absolute truth!
I'm a former deputy DA in California. I know that even innocent people can spend a night in jail.
You, Ajay/Pizza/RGR, have such a lengthy record of dishonesty and cheating that you have been banned from the game several times.
You have seemed to learn from your "mistakes" not to lead a more forthright life, but to be a more effective liar/cheater each time. Very similar to lifers in the California State Prison system.
Mind you, I'm not saying you broke the RL law. But you do display the psychological pattern of a criminal recidivist.
Voted
Fantastic article, I unsubscribed just so I could have the pleasure of subscribing all over again.
Very interesting.
Good one! Voterated!
Very thoughtful and well-written article.
Voted and subbed,
This makes me feel patriotic and want to blow shit up.
Vote and sub
Faster, faster, faster. Until the thrill of speed overcomes the fear of death.
You assume that two candidates means Ajay (or whoever AFA runs) lands #3.
That isn't guaranteed.
Also, mechanics now don't allow for 'very complex timings and maneuvers'. You can't time attacks, as your opening is only 24 hours. Used to be that your opening was until the war was closed. Also, you can't retreat, and regions don't hold any specific significance any more.
The point about media is a good one, and was why I published so much during my term. Even if it's just a rundown of day to day stuff, people want to be in the loop. This could always be improved upon.
Mechanics aside this is a case where consensus must be achieved. Dreaming of a benevolent ePlato seems unwarranted at this juncture.
This proves my point about the need for better leadership if the mechanics, timing and strategy have simplified that makes the miscommunications and flubbed timing all that much more of a travesty. The 3 I highlighted accomplished their brilliance when it was hard. What is the problem now?
The three you highlighted had things that don't exist now. Now the 'miscommunications and flubbed timing' you talk about was only Artela's fault in one instance. Other things that led to the issue need to be considered, including France jumping the gun despite knowing better, and many of the people calling her out actively choosing not to take part in the IRC channels and forums used for coordination. Mistakes are made, and ultimately the President will be held accountable, but that doesn't excuse people who also have responsibilities.
The fact that our alliance is having a bit of an identity crisis doesn't help...but that is normal. Almost every alliance has growing pains at about this age, and the changes with EDEN dissolving only serve to highlight those.
Oh, and people don't want to move to fight. At times, three of our four priority battles have been RWs. We don't have a lot of control over the timing of allied MPP battles. Personally, I think we should let go of the idea that the 'Brolliance' does us any good in the modern game. When Canada could act as a shield or deterrent, sure...but that hasn't been the case in ages. Invade Canada, wipe them, take their resources, and allow our 2 clickers to do 80% of the heavy lifting in keeping them (these are the people who won't move abroad for battles).
Also, the three Presidents you speak of had supporting casts the likes of which haven't been seen much since V2 (another side effect of the game being simplified, the people who could be creative no longer can be...so they leave). The era you speak of (fall-winter 2009-10) was, in my opinion, the peak of the game. We had just enough sandbox to make our own fun, and just enough rigidity to give have firm mechanics to work within. That balance has been lost, lowering the peak amount of fun to be had, overall.
Good lord that was a bit long for a comment, eh?
Excellent Article; it is always good to see a player return to the community.
I agreed with most of the Article, especially the final sentiment expressed; however, to compare Frosty to FingerGuns is an insult to the memory of Frost's previous term as PotUS.
If you disagree I will be happy to share my perspective regarding their respective terms as PotUS.
V/s
Was not comparing them as Presidents, I just meant as citizens of the eUSA
Meh; still an insulting comparison to the iron paw.
Frosty > Pew Pew
Wasn't a comparison at all.
"Then we had JFrost. You all know Frost, he is fricking awesome, he is in the Best Friends Club for a reason. He is a tiger blooded, rockstar from Mars on steroids. When he kills his enemies they use their dying breath to thank him for it. He puts that Dos Equis guy to shame. He might be our most universally loved citizen, well tied with fingerguns."
How is the above quote from Tyler's article *NOT* a comparison between you and frost?
I think its time to lay off the Kool-Aid FG; addiction is an ugly thing.
I understood that as we are tied together, not that we are tied for most well-loved citizen (probably because I have people like you to remind me just how much I am hated).
I see what you're saying now.
Well I love you fingerguns!
@FG
Tied "Together"?
Seriously; lay off the kool-aid.
Until Unity and it's proponents are tossed out, America will remain a third world country on the fringes of world power; sadly the one segment of our society with the power to accomplish that mission seems to lack a clear direction beyond declaring Independence from our current government....
Good article!
Some good thoughts here. Are we ready for the risk?? I feel like we're making some moves in the right direction toward all being on the same page, but clearly we still have a ways to go. I'm not sure throwing out Unity would really fix some of the serious problems we have as a nation, but it would at least be interesting.
Interesting would be a great change. If we just ran two not AFA candidates I think it would make a big difference.
Start with 100% of the vote:
5-10% of every election will be wasted on throwaway candidates. Because we're talking about the security of the Presidency, round up, shall we? 90% of the vote left.
In the most recent election, we saw Ajay take 28% of the vote, which is a low for them recently. Recent months show them usually in the 33-35% range. We need at least another month with them below 30% to consider that a reliable number, but I'll be generous and put them at 30% here. 60% of the vote left.
So, now we have 60% of the vote, and in your scenario two candidates. How do you suggest we take the #1 and #2 slots? 60/2 is 30...same as what AFA can expect to reliably get.
You could propose that we run them both, then at about 1000-1100 game time, one endorse the other based on who is winning...but that will just lead to the actives all zerg rushing their candidate in the morning, leaving nobody to vote for the eventual 'unity' candidate in the evening (aside from two clickers who won't be reliable in this regard).
Until the AFA is mustering at their best 20% of the vote, abandoning the current system isn't a wise move, mathematically.
Henry Pfeiffer Arundel; Your statistics are not considering, "Another candidate, can take votes from PTO candidates."
Also, 30% of statistics are pulled out of thin air.
As the guy who lost to the AFA candidate for Country President the last time we let two candidates run instead of just one, I have to say please don't do that.
You cherry picked three fantastic presidents from years ago, and said that the Presidents nowadays aren't the same because of Unity? The worst presidents we've ever seen, Haliman and Glove, were both candidates not elected by Unity. Unity has provided a similar level of quality to the other elections, even electing the same exact people at some points in time. Artela was elected not only by Unity, but also but popular vote for multiple terms in the past.
I operate by the standard of, until we can literally take the AFA's party from them, we are not strong enough to fight them. I love the fact that you've come back to the game, but you need to look at the history of the situation before advising a course. If we drop Unity, it's likely the same thing that happened last August will happen again. The AFA will say it's not running a candidate, and then two strong candidates will campaign against each other. Then, at 23:59 the night of the 2nd, they'll run their person, and then there will be no way to switch endorsements from one candidate to the other. Then, the AFA's chance of taking the Presidency will be higher than any time Unity would allow, and perhaps even, they'll win, just like they did last time. Learn from the past mistakes, don't let it happen again.
Here is a solution MM3 has already proven he can buy a PP Election. He can run for AFA PP, buy the vote and win. He can endorse the proper candidate at that time.
First off, let me make clear that over the years I have had personal experience in winning, losing, buying, keeping, and stealing eUSA Top 5 Party President elections, across multiple parties in this bracket. Given this experience, I have a few opinions on the matter...
1. I don't think we should get into the habit of buying elections.
2. I don't want to get so personally involved in a race myself.
3. I don't think a party won with money can be kept without it.
4. I don't like the idea of stealing a party from the people in it.
Buying elections is a true slippery slope. When we are close to losing a party to a hostile takeover, I see that as being a rare moment where such drastic action may be called for. When I stepped in to help Othere in the USWP five nights ago, he was down 30 votes with only a few hours to go before day change. It was getting late and we needed rapid action to save the party from a takeover. This rarely happens.