eRepublik and the Take Over: How do we fit the

Day 2,866, 20:08 Published in Uruguay North Korea by Demonaire

At the time of this writing, there are only 24 democracies in this game. Democracies that remain for many reasons (huge military power, political and ideological commitments to reality, successful policies regarding military units, etc.) and some democracies that, whether they never have fallen to dictatorships, whether they have fallen but they have been restored, maintained a commitment with the system "of the people, by the people and for the people" and who prefer to hold their ideals before falling into pragmatism, a sort of dilemma between making the comfortable thing and doing the right thing.

Until 11 days ago, Cuba was the 25th democracy, but that country is now facing a dictatorship carried out by a group of turkish tanks commanded by a dictator who, if we appeal to the basic principle of common sense that tell us that from a person we must wait the worst thing possible, is complementing its successful military coup with the delivery of citizenships to their compatriots who surely happen to occupy the political parties to control and so, even launched a future revolution, would have achieved the goal of moving from a military take over (MTO) to a political take over (PTO).

And by making the retrospective analysis of the situation, I came to the same conclusion: the Turks managed to strike the coup not only because they were a group of players with VISA with many combat orders to spend, but because they, compared with Cuba, have had better diplomacy, greater military coordination and have earned the respect of allies and enemies. Not even a sworn enemy of the Turks as Serbia moved against their tanks, known as the "Dream Team" even though high combat orders was put to fight for Cuba, and in Latin America there wasn't a large movement of military support to the island from this kind of attack with clear goals ... at least apparently.

Succeeded the coup, the things that has happened on the island since then has been the usual: the "Dream Team " throwing press releases to reassure the overthrown people; those overthrown people dedicated to trolling, disqualifying and calling for a strike against the invader; the invaders giving citizenship to their compatriots; a tax increase to recover the money invested in the coup ... And as I watch the picture, I see the need to go back in time.

On April 12, 2012, the game managers made an entry on his blog where they settle the issue of Take Over (TO), allowing its practice. Almost three years later it would be released the dictatorial system that confirms the position of developers supporting the practice, updating it so that was no longer required weeks and even months for foreigners to take a country, but only a 36 hours length military campaign, in the best case.

When you have investigated those responsible for eRepublik on why they have acted in that way, they have not given an answer. Many players, on the other hand, have repeatedly explained the reason behind this behavior, according to them: the need for the developer to keep players spending money on the game making them happy, creating a game for them with the necessary functionalities (especially in the military module) to continue purchasing products. An explanation, in my opinion, very valid but insufficient to fully understand their actions, since people who do not spend money in the game also have access to these features, in a way more difficult though.

In the end, after being roughly four years in this game and see political takes over succeed in some countries and failed in others and now to see military take overs succeeding in some nations and failing in others, the conclusion I came in front of the phenomenon is to stick to the brief phrase written by the developers in 2012: "it is tolerated because it became an important part of the gameplay in eRepublik, despite the fact that is hated by most of the players and enjoyed only by a few ones."

And based on this, the game users will, sooner or later, change their mind against this practice, conform to its rules and also try to exploit for their own benefit, like it or not. It will be up to those players if they embitter existence by the fact that a foreigner is who governs the country, if they decide to keep outright rejection against them accusing them beforehand to bring the meanness and misery to their community as they work hard to achieve a self-fulfilling prophecy, if they prefer to reject them from their  inner circle even knowing that such actions could aggravate the situation for all of them, and if they prefer to leave the country (and the game) disappointed by the situation occurred. After all, if the administrators had had doubts about the appropriateness of the PTO, they never had implemented the dictatorial system in the way they implemented it.

Certainly at this point, I feel like Neville Chamberlain waving with my right hand the paper containing the Munich Agreement that reflecting the "victory" of the policy of appeasement that then failure abruptly with the explosion of World War II. But all those people who detest the practice of take over today can only look for the horizons of to keep fighting against them or simply leave the game because the developers are not going to give them any help or support to its position. In this sense, I think the most healthy thing to do for all the national communities is not entering in a frontal and absolute rejection of these TOers, and by that I mean: to not cutting communication channels with them, to reach minimum agreements and eliminate prejudices. I'm not saying that it reaches the point of flattering, the flunky person looking to betray just for call attention from the TOers, but to engage in a talk where both groups achieve a win-win situation.

In my case, I will continue with my work at the International Democratic Army (I.D.A), I will fight over and over again against take overs, either with my military strength or paying combat orders, because I still believe those TO can be defeated and the countries can be protected from them, and I will continue to defend over and over again the values of democracy against all the hypocrites who hold the big lie of security obtained from a "Self-Coup". But at this point, I think it is time to end the demonization of that practice, because, as protected by the developers, the TO will continue being part of eRepublik, maybe forever.

Thanks for your attention.