Join the new world

This is part one of my series in to what drives the eWorld. I'll start with the topic that gets everybody: Baby booms and how to create one.

Beginning

I recently completed my tour of the eWorld, visiting a select sample of countries. The whole thing doubled up on a few goals. I travelled the eWorld seeking the following:
-The fundamentals of eRepublik communities
-What really creates a 'baby boom'
-How to make eRepublik more fun
-How other countries operate
-My own personal fun

I consider my search for the above answers to be nearing conclusion - as answered as they'll ever get in a forever changing eWorld.

Where I Traveled

eCanada

Believe it or not, my account started out in eCanada. Here I played alongside a friend, Mansbridge09 for a brief time. At the time, I found eCanada to be very relaxed compared to many other countries, something I'd later find to be an anomaly in the eWorld. While they did have their debates, they were in a different nature to what I experienced elsewhere. (Unfortunately I remember very little as it was over three years ago now...)

eUK

Following this, I moved to my RL homeland, eUK. The eUK is constantly changing, synchronised with demographic changes. As one group concludes the gamer lifecycle, another comes in to do their stuff. This shift is the reason for the constant changes in who is friends with who. The size also seems to have something to do with the levels of hatred between members.

eUSA

I spent some time in eUSA. I timed this to coincide with their 100% bonuses, and eventually left to help eUK during an invasion. While here, I discovered that it operates very differently from the eUK. There seems to be three tiers of players: Those who are very vocal and politically involved, those breaking in to politics and then eventually, the huge casual gamer population they have.

It was the home to many PTO attempts, some odd politics and displayed the traits of a superpower. They often got heavily involved in eForeign politics, and were home to many eForeign citizens. Currently, eUSA holds my favourite economic model for the eWorld.

eAustralia

I visited eAustralia twice: once as an individual, and again with a decent sized group. Entering as an individual was met with welcoming and support. As a group, was met with hostilities and anxiety. This small nation, like many others, is constantly on edge regarding PTOs.

Their politics are often very aggressive, with two main groups constantly at odds with each other. I found that the levels of aggressive politics here were the same as all other countries - just less non-politically aligned people to dampen the situation, and a much smaller population making it more dominant in their society.

Both times in eAustralia I was able to make a party and take it to #3 within 3 weeks using just one fundamental policy: opportunity. Here, I learned a lot on how to grow political parties within eRepublik.

eCroatia

eCroatia was completely different from the above countries. While it did display some forms of aggressive politics, the goals of the nation overall were completely different.

Like many of the big European powers, they seemed fixated on external forces, not internal politics. This is what creates a babyboom, which I'll go in to below. Croatia was a perfect example of how to grow an eRepublik population.

Babybooms

Babybooms are often characterised by a massive, sudden growth in population. There are many factors for creating one, and few factors to trigger one. Every single small country I've experienced, either internally or externally, has had a fascination with creating one.

Creating a Baby Boom

If you're a small nation that hasn't had a babyboom yet, how do you create one? The short answer is, you can't.

The main factor behind a babyboom comes from real-life grudges more often than not. Former Yugoslavian countries are notorious for babybooms, all stemming from the wars they've had in the 90s and events in previous years. RL hatred for other countries created them.

Another recent case study is Argentina. They drove a massive baby boom with one historical event: The Falklands War.

Previously oppressed countries, such as Poland following years as a Soviet satellite country are also prime candidates for a baby boom.

Creating Baby Booms in Unlikely Countries

A few examples of countries that fall in to this category:
-eUK
-eAustralia
-eNew Zealand
-eCanada
-eFrance
-eItaly
-eSweden

Other related countries in terms of RL also fall in to here, I won't list all though!

It's extremely unlikely that any new baby booms will occur in such countries, without creating massive marketing campaigns. This is unfortunate, as those countries have large economies and therefore would be likely to invest the most in to eRepublik.

Untapped Potential for Baby Booms

This category are countries you wouldn't suspect, that need one catalyst for creating a boom.

-eIrelan😛 Following their debates in the past with RL UK, and nationalists wanting Northern Ireland back, Ireland could be a place for a future babyboom. The catalyst? It's already there, oppression from the eUK.

-eJapan: RL Japan has often has political tussles with nearby countries. China, North Korea etc. If Japan was to be oppressed by China, it could be possible to start a boom there. The only bar to this is whether Japanese culture ties in with eRepublik.

-eChina: If the 'Great Firewall of China' was ever dropped, China could quickly gain tens of thousands of citizens. This is solely down to a RL factor however.

-eAfrica: African countries need to be added to grow the game, which unfortunately the developers can't see. Billions a year is invested in to growing the African Internet market. Kenya, Nigeria, Tunisia, Libya, Ethiopia and Zimbabwe in particular could provide massive growth for the eWorld population. This would provide a game-wide babyboom, as well as individual countries.

So you're an unlikely country, how do you grow?

The answer is simple: The only way to grow is to recruit eInternationally.

Existing small countries are likely to always remain small, which is a fact that some should probably begin getting used to! It isn't what people want to hear, but that is often the case with truth.


Thanks for reading! I may release another article in this series in the future.