Join the new world

*** I am publishing this article on behalf of a newbie who doesn’t have enough readers to get through to- he has decided to quit. Its a long, but interesting article on a newbie's journey! Do give it a read. 








Hello there,


So I have just begun my Erepublik adventure, have done all the baby missions for the sake of taking care of those annoying pop-ups once and for all, have fought a few fights, trained and worked - you know go through all the rigours, et al. 

Everything seems nice- fighting is exciting, working/training gives that satisfaction that your hard work is indeed paying off, I have begun to make a few friends, read articles, join parities and MU’s, know a little more about the game.


I get excited, buy Q7 weapons and food, go to battle and BOOM! 

FIGHT. FIGHT. FIGHT.


I have probably never clicked so hard lest that one time I played CS on LAN with my pals.
I level up.
Then again.
Then again.
I keep getting rewards, finishing missions and completing DO. I win my first medal, a Freedom Fighter/True Patriot Medal, get nationalistically sentimental.
This seems too easy.
All the flashing pop-ups with LEVEL UP strewn across the centre seems so appealing; It’s a beautiful irony that I’ll come to dread that very pop-up in a few weeks.


Damn you LEVEL UP!


I have become strong now, at least thats what I think anyway. I reach around the 15 level mark; things seem a bit more difficult now, I’m not seeing my favourite LEVEL UP that often.
I buy more food and weapons.
I get impatient, I consume those darn Energy Bars. Yay! few more LEVEL UP’s and now I’m flying. This is good.


I reach level 20.
There’s a lull. The EB’s are all consumed. I’m out of food, out of CC to buy more food. My last remaining Gold I spent on increasing my strength that wee bit more. I’m not levelling up at all. The experience bar is tiptoeing at a snails pace.
I think :
BC, ab kya karoon ? ( What the hell should I do now? )
I log off.

I log in the next day. The same ritual is carried on again - work-train-collect reward, I get happy my strength is increasing; I tell myself: slow and steady wins the race.
I get all entrepreneurial on seeing my companies producing Food and Weapons, get bamboozled seeing legendary fighter’s multifarious decorations!




WOW!!



I have salary now- I buy more food and weapons. Check out the DO, get all excited about the fighting- fight a few times- enough to get my daily Bazooka and EBs, check out my countries articles and feed- probably join the IRC thread to get more involved.

I decide to explore yourself, read a few articles for new players and curse myself for doing the only thing I’m NOT supposed to do as a newbie- Fight.
I feel dejected, I log off.



Next day determined I log in again- the daily ritual is carried out again, the monotony of it probably bores you- It bored me. There is nothing to do after the first few tasks that I do finish- so I began reading. I read a lot. I started talking to seniors, begin interacting with top national fighters and prominent government officials and find out some more about the game.

The thrill of fighting for your country soars me up, I get more dedicated. I become more involved in politics, start a newspaper and begin writing haphazard articles, get recognition from your fellow citizens and feel as if I’m a part of a community.

I find out about the Battle Hero and other medals and begin making plans to become a top class fighter determined to man my national borders against invasive pests who we call our neighbours.
I train every single day without fail, post on party feeds to build relationships, read devious articles and find out the rampant fun of BH sniping.
I wait for those much anticipated Training Ground Discounts, and then stay all eager for that next day Strength gain where I make 10 instead of the usual 5. I read about BH’s and chalk out strategies that I would employ to get BH’s.






Days pass by. I have made a few friends. I have got a few FF/TP medals, been appreciated by your countries citizens, become more prominent amongst political circles, I have also won my first SS medal! That fight button seems to call back, there is however a resolve. I will not return to it; not until i’m stronger, I tell myself. I put in my daily quota. 
Now if you are a bit adventurous like me, you would want to find out how long does one have to wait before one can start having a influence for their country that everyone would be awed- something that would make everyone stand up and go : o7
You’ll find out the horrible truth. 
Yes, It takes years to reach enough strength and rank to do influence worthy of turning wars in your sides favours. You have to not fight at all when your strength is less, even when you do be aware of your level and make sure you’re not gaining a lot of EXP’s- you also find out how advantageous it is to stay in D1. You realize how hard it is to get BH in higher divisions- the approx cap of strength you need to do enough damage in your division. You again feel dejected.

So you are telling me it will take me 1-2 years of logging in everyday to reach enough strength to fight for and defend my homeland ??





Are you saying there is no way a new player can reach the influence of an much advanced player no matter how hard he tries ?? 
There is of course the option of buying your way through the game - exactly what the Admins want.

I want the admins to do change a few things, cause apart from a drastic change in the game mechanics I do not see a feasible solution for new people to stay. I believe a change has to come but ‘when’ or ‘how’ are big questions I am really scared of tackling. The Hero Week I believe was a good addition. It gave inexperienced players the opportunity to make some Gold. Though, the rich became richer.
You want a change, yet it does not seem possible at all.




Now lets turn our attention towards the sorry state of affairs we find our country in. There is Chile who saved our ass during the Polish AS, for whatever reason I do not comprehend- they now have 4-5 of our regions. I heard some lingering whisperings about some ties with Croatia who also btw have almost 5-6 of our regions. Then there is Thailand, who have close ties with Croatia and have a few of our regions too. So basically right now the map of India looks like a Van Gogh painting with foreign powers at the helm with the paintbrush. Every few days there is some RW started with the Croats or Chileans to increase their coffers and help their fighters. We get our regions for congress and get happy and then lose it again. Plus to add to that we have a Bulgarian dictator. Thats 4 foreign nations. What I do not understand is why we can’t sign MPP’s? if they are indeed our friends, why don’t we have a single region. 😮

**There may be communication going on between advanced players, but as far as most of the new community is involved, we are clueless.

The communication is a bit complex for a new player. I’ve heard almost 90% of the actual planning never happens on erepublik, Its on IRC or some other forum- Though I have no idea. I have hung around the IRC for days without any reasonable argument. You get communication on Erep itself with Threads - thanks to a great idea by our MoD OTT. The seniors are helpful and let you know on important decisions. They also help you out with TG upgrades and such. I believe there are hardly 300-360 active citizens who play for India, out of them at least a major chunk must be two clicking which leaves the actual fighters to a bare minimum.
Then there are our slimy neighbours, Pakistan who decide to invade India whenever they have nothing better to do. An advice : instead of wasting your time crawling on our news feed , go get your regions from Turkey. 



I believe the country should have dedicated mentorship programs, should have government offices. I believe the key to getting more activity out of our citizens is introducing rewards and schemes- it also helps build community relationships. I also believe more rewards and such for damage for your nation, a division based task force that can be organised such that at all times our regions are protected. As for the politics, I do not want to start any feud so I’ll keep out of it. The few previous weeks have looked optimistic, a few new players have joined, older citizens have resurfaced sometimes with a completely new outlook and the daily grinders got more involved with regard to making foreign connections (rea😛 DA)- it seems we are replicating Modi in his Foreign Affair endeavours! I also believe we need to own profit making organizations; during the current discount offer, I saw a particular Croatian organisation make tremendous profits just be day trading on the MM - Since organizations don’t have transfer limit like citizens they can really help new citizens in strength training- instead of having people contribute gold for upgrades, why not use organizations? i believe the recent pakistan acquisition was genius! overnight we took back almost all our regions ( which we lost subsequently to other nations ). As for the current crop of players, they give me optimism and hope that people are willing to engage- what is also promising is that these are not old players who have been two clicking but actual new recruits!!









I’ll be there everyday, I’ll be there training and working. But, there are a few things I can not bear to see, I can’t bear to see my nation been trampled on my foreign powers. I want us to be the force we are in RL. I want all to try and make and effort to glorify our great nation. I have only come out with this because I have hope in the citizens of this country, new and old alike as WE proved over the last few weeks! now lets go and get our regions back!!


I dream that eIndian:

Diplomats will prove their efficiency by involving more help from allies for our cause.
Fighters will prove their strength in winning wars for our nation.
Politicians will rise and unite people over a single aim.
Journalists will pen articles that move people.




Wishing for an Independent, Strong and Self-Reliant India.



Jai Hind.









P.S : Do not take insult if my monologue came across as crass and rude to a few, I’m indeed new to this.

** EDIT : Need 25 comments.