Join the new world

La version française arrive demain. Mais votez quand même pour nos amis anglais 😉. Un grand merci à Kyle Hyde pour cet article ❤

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Wow… a lot of things happened since my first article. I entered the french army at the end of my military service, I joined the drunkards of Blood & Wine, and finally I had to bow to my RL necessities. Now, I have plenty of time for eRepublik, and I decided to take my pen back and to pursue my journalistic experience outside my country.



“Did you take everything?”
Mama Maloune is worried as she watches me packing my bags. A little bilingual dictionary, a toothbrush, some books to read, and a few local specialities to give as presents when I will arrive… yes, I took everything. Now I am ready to leave my sweet alpine home and to settle in eUnited Kingdom. My first task was to go through customs and to get the British citizenship. I had to wait about 24 hours in the airport before I went on IRC to talk immediately to somebody. In the end, five minutes were enough to rectify my situation. I put my luggage down and take my breath… I am British now! My first steps here strangely look familiar, close to those when I was born: I found immediately a job and a nice boss, who congratulated me on my pretty productivity for my first working day. He even proposed me to help my first steps in eUK, which I appreciated much. And now, my last task is to publish my French article in order to wake up The Magic Key. The real work begins now, and so does my investigation…



This time, the hardship is to put myself in an eBaby’s body. The experience looks really familiar, a sort of déjà-vu… once again, I am in front of this big door. Same colours, but different patterns. Here I am now, anew a beginner, but in eUK this time. Unlike the last time, now I went by myself to read the welcoming message sent to the new players. A cople weeks ago, the one I found was classical: a simple link advising to subscribe other ones. The first suggests me to join the army, the second sends me on the British forum, and the third on the wiki. And at the end of the message, there is also the links to the official newspapers.
Yet, a few moments after my arrival, a new welcoming message was proposed after the presidential elections. 16 people agreed with it, against 10. It sai😛

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Hello! I'm the gorram Prime Minister, AND your King.

Get your ass to our forums, so we can give you free crap.

Sincerely
The Woldeh
http://forums.erepublik.co.uk

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It is short, funny, and it aims at bringing quickly the new players on the forum. This kind of humor does not annoy me, but it has to be accessible to everybody. If I read this as a new players, I cannot help thinking that this was written in a rush, aggressively, taking me for a moron. Besides, there is not even a link to the wiki: this is a big mistake, and I will explain why later.

I saw this message only after my first steps in eUK. My experience is based on the previous one.
Firstly, I didn’t even think of joining the army: I wanted to learn a bit about this new game, which is still so mysterious. So I decide to explore the wiki. The introduction sends me on another welcoming message from another Prime Minister named Frerk. The presentation is well done, and I can see a bunch of links to the official newspapers, the IRC channel, and the army’s entry form. Once again, I find it too premature for me: I feel the need to learn more. I go on exploring. The wiki is practical, its presentation is nice and its use is instinctive: it is quite easy to find the pieces of information you need thanks to the tabs’ titles. However, this is bad that we do not have a general introduction to the game’s features, advises for our first steps (why should I have to work and train everyday, why should I not use health packs, why should I not fight at the beginning, why should I subscribe to the official newspapers). But the most worrying is that, as I go on exploring the wiki, I find out that it is not updated! This is a bad thing because it troubles a lot to see the notion of happiness, or that there is many ways to train: as a new player, you may think you have missed something. On the contrary, I liked a lot the “why play” part, even if I find it incomplete still. When you see the different opportunities of career in eUK detailed step by step, it makes you want to be a great man in eUK.



However I was not discouraged, because I experienced worse. Now that I understood everything more or less, it’s high time that I discover the community. A little click brings me to the forum. I fill the entry form and come into the hall. A red-written announcement tells me where to fight, and another link shows me where to join the army. Except these things, it is hard to know where to go. This is not anarchical, but I hardly understand what are the purposes of the different places: what are the bonds between the game’s features and the parts of the forum? On the other side, there is a noticeable part which is not in touch with eRepublik and is known as such. It is a really pleasant place, which looks very active.

In the end, I see the introduction part! Here I go: I introduce myself, and receive nice welcoming messages. I also notice a few threads for the newbies, but they are poorly highlighted. A political party wants to give me a free food pack as a welcome and a help to help the newbies who clicked too much on the fight button, another suggestion to join the army, and eventually (!) a sponsoring plan. But there is no link to the wiki, no tutorial, no questions/answers section… In fact, there is not any place for new players only, to let him some time to get familiar with the forum.

As I told for the Prime Minister’s new welcoming message, a link to the forum is not enough. Military recruitment is highlighted many times, but it is far from being the same for the means to learn by oneself, and it is not easy to speak for the first time on the forum.

Eventually, I decide to join the army. It looks to be THE way to integrate with the community. Subscription is easy and open to everyone. It offers substantial food packs, allowing to fight 6 or 7 times a day, for every player in return of a day spent in working in military companies. This is a well-tried system. For a new player, it helps to get some food that one would not get with average wages, and to grow faster and to play quickly the most attractive eRepublik feature. Besides, it forces people to go on IRC to look for a pack. It may look restrictive, but it only needs a few minutes and encourages people to come on IRC and to communicate. If army’s first principle is quite simple, its organisation is not obvious. I have not still understood how you could build a military career, the regiments’ role, and the British army’s hierarchy.

Political parties are entirely invisible on the forum. You can find introduction to the main parties on the wiki and some article IG, but that’s all.



As I read again my article, I notice that I am very critical. I know that criticizing is easy, above all on a small community such as the British one. However, I think that a few simple modifications may help players not to feel lost. If you set a guiding thread and improve the organisation of the means you use to help new players, it may increase the active population. Besides, lessons on communication are not enough. Like me, many players have never heard of IRC before. The unknown is frightening! Then, it is hard to go on, especially for shy people, even if there is a lot of links everywhere.

However, the British community honours its reputation. All my questions on IRC were answered, and the few people I spoke with were all very welcoming.
My experience as a new player ends here. I am leaving eUK. This was a rewarding experience because I learnt to travel and to find the good people to help me. I also discovered a new aspect in eRepublik : international. It is amazing to see how much this game is different from a country to another. So, if you begin to get bored in eUK, think of going away. Every country is a different adventure… 😉

Suscribe !! All my international articles will be translate in english 😃