[How it was] Back in the Good Old eWorld

Day 2,555, 18:33 • Published in USA USA • by Gnilraps
Back in the Good Old World (Mandatory listening)
Day 2555 of the New World
18 November, 2014


I must admit, there has not been a single game change that has pleased me more than today’s “endorsement” improvement to the Media Module. I have spent 5 years of frustration begging Plato to do something with what has always been my favorite part of this game. Finally today something good happened. And I am so giddy about it that I have lost a little steam in my tirade against Plato and his foolish squandering of what used to be a promising game.

In light of all the crap I’ve been slinging at him, perhaps Plato has been living his own advice:



So let me just say this in no uncertain terms:

THANK YOU, PLATO!
(you rat bastard)





Also, before I get back to my bitching, I will capitalize on this moment to (re)suggest several more Media improvements that Plato could please me with:

1: MORE coding.
Give us some colored text, some liberty to change fonts and text size, and perhaps a few tasteful animated text features. Also, I want to be able to EMBED a video. I want the songs I select for each article* to automatically play when someone opens up my article (with a user option to shut it off because there are a few Cretans out there who cannot appreciate true musical genius). I want technology! Come on, Plato… DO EEEET!

2: Subscriptions.
This ought to be a downright NO BRAINER. If someone is subscribed to my newspaper, they ought to get a Personal Message in their inbox AUTOMATICALLY every time I publish. I will gladly lose those subscribers who find such PM’s distasteful. I only want subscribers who actually READ my paper anyway which is why I HAVE NEVER PURCHASED SUBSCRIPTIONS BEFORE AND NEVER WILL. And if Plato would make subscriptions actually mean something, it would probably kill off that despicable black market of purchasing subs. If I could demand something, it would be this.

3: A Second Newspaper.
I take my branding very seriously. Over the years I have published a lot of stuff in 16 Shells that I really didn’t want to. Basically every time I’ve ever published anything remotely “political”, I’ve felt like I was betraying my vision for my newspaper. But if I had another newspaper – one I could brand differently, I would be able to express myself differently in that paper. I know this isn’t really all that big of a deal, but I would personally love to have a second newspaper (and if Plato hadn’t nerfed the orgs you can bet your ass I would be publishing from one.)

4: ???
I would be curious to hear from you in the comments about what things you’d like to see. Some have wished for a top 10 instead of a top 5… that would be awesome. I would love to be able to “advertise” my paper among more people than just my friends on the shout tree. What would you like to see?

*I often wonder if anyone listens. I also often wonder if anyone catches how they always match the theme of my article. Tom Waits is a certified genius.



OK, now down to business. (I don’t know, is this article already long enough? Should I break this out into a new article?) I was planning another fairly extensive piece on Plato’s grievous mistakes… I’ll just pick one minor one.

Today: How the Mercenary Medal and the Freedom Fighter Medal helped hasten the demise of eRepublik.






You may be too young in this game to realize that there was a time when there was no Mercenary Medal and no Freedom Fighter Medal. I wish you could have experienced the difference in this game prior to the introduction of these two roaches.

It is obvious that Plato thinks that we are all exactly like him. He loves anything that rakes in the cash. And so we too must ONLY play this game in search of MORE GOLD. (BTW, Plato, you are wrong about us. We play this game because we like playing a game with each other. OK dopey? We like the (faux) fact that this is a “social” browser game.

And so in the days before the Merc and FF medals (and prior to the Combat Cash anathema about which I have a wee bit more fondness for), players had NO REASON to fight in any battle other than one they had selected based on their ingame principles.




If you were a loyal soldier of eUSA, you ALWAYS fought in a battle that mattered to eUSA – either directly on our side or for one of our allies. Once in a blue moon you might have chosen a battle because you thought you could score a Battle Hero medal there, but in those days you really had to save up for weeks or even months before you would even attempt a run at a BH. Candy Bars were not really a thing yet. But most importantly, you knew you were one of many who fought for the same reasons you fought... you were playing with other citizens.

Or maybe you chose to play this game with a Marxist anti-colonialist ideology. SFP’s Military Unit the Bear Cavalry was famous for this back in the day. They could be found fighting in almost ANY resistance war – even sometimes against eUSA because they were organized around a philosophy that made playing this game fun for them. Bear Cav was awesome then.


(Remember this avatar?

And yes, there were even Mercenary groups who would farm out their damage to the highest bidder. Did you hear what I said there? There were Mercenary GROUPS who farmed out their damage.

See my point? Before Plato once again made this game all about what Plato is doing, we had made the game all about what we were doing. And as a result little micro-societies were developing and the game was becoming more and more interesting.



Let me offer you a narrative example of how awesome this game could get prior to Plato’s ruination.

It was Tuesday January 10, 2012. Oblige was President at the time. A prominent citizen named Lysander Spooner II (who is still around, living in Canada, and fairly active) had been seen, in the words of then Press Secretary Israel Stevens, “…laying down huge damage on the wrong side of a mini battle in an unauthorized RW at Aquitaine. When confronted with his egregious offense, Spooner's explanation of having a philosophical purpose rather than simple medal hunting was found to be unacceptable.” (ref. WHPR Day 1513) Incidentally, by "medal hunting" Stevens was referring to a BH, remember there was no FF or Merc Medal.

Spooner has always played this game as an Agorist, Marxist, and anti-colonialist, and for him to be doing what he did was – to him – (e)morally necessary. And because Aquitaine was a strategic priority for eUSA, Spooner's damage was an outrage to those in Government (and to many others). Believe me when I tell you, this was BIG NEWS. Frankly, it was awesome.

It was awesome because there were people lining up to defend him, people lining up to tar and feather him, and even more people delightfully watching the drama unfold. It was a true clash of micro-cultures that was taking place in a gaming environment that fostered just this sort of thing.

And so President Oblige raised formal charges of treason against Spooner and scheduled a live trial on blog talk radio. Can you imagine the fun? It was a full-on spectacle! If you want to listen to the trial, you can hear it here: Jude Connors hosts the Oblige v. Spooner Treason Trial. The IRC room was a packed house that night. Again, did you hear that??? Plato, are you listening??? LOTS OF PEOPLE WERE PLAYING YOUR CRAPPY LITTLE BROWSER GAME!!!

This sort of delightful madness is completely unimaginable today. Why? Because 95% of us are regularly fighting in all kinds of culturally irrelevant "Resistance Wars" so that we can chase down that worthless reward of 5 Gold. The problem is, it’s 95% of a VASTLY REDUCED NUMBER OF PEOPLE. Everyone else has already quit the game.

Did they quit specifically because Plato introduced a Merc Medal? No. They quit because things like the Merc and FF Medal have ruined the rich culture that used to produce things like Treason Trials, Bear Cavalries, and micro-communities with strong identities which sometimes clashed.

Back then, THE PLAYERS BECAME THE STORY LINE. Now… Look at my own top story. Sadly, Plato gets the top billing YET AGAIN. He’s going to run this car into the ground.





Thank you for reading. I am truly blessed to have such a marvelous group of readers as yourselves. And thank you for any Endorsements you might send my way. Doggonit, I like this new change.




(courtesy of Hit Tracker)

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