An Interview with Severrus Snape - former Macedonian CP

Day 2,706, 09:04 • Published in Slovenia Slovenia • by ElHowlius

Severrus Snape is an old and experienced player playing on behalf of Macedonia in eRepublik. He has occupied various government spots during in many different Macedonian governments. He was a former MoFA and has served as Macedonian CP last month. I decided to interview him to figure out what his thoughts are about the Bulgarian-Macedonian friendship and Serbo-Greek alliance that is due to the presence of GAMA becoming more of a nuisance than a solution. In addition he shared his thoughts about the game in general and what can be done to improve the current situation. Without further ado, here's the interview.

Can you describe yourself in a few words?
Well I don't know, I don't think I'm ever good with describing myself ... I'm just an ordinary guy caught in his 20s, I study Economics at University, I do like to enjoy life and have fun, which is why I joined this game 5-6 years ago ... I don't exactly feel the same way about it now, but eh.. I got to make friends, and I really care about my friends. 🙂

Last month you won the Macedonian elections and became the president. Being your first term, what did you learn from your CP experience?
Yes, I was a CP of Macedonia last month. It was not as I imagined it to be, but surely it's different and interesting. Although, I have been in many Governments before that, and have personally been a CP in the background a few times via my position as MoFA, this was different. Even though it was not brilliant, I'm not sorry for it, but I can do better. There are always chances to improve and advance, and that's what I am doing right now. I also made many new friends, contacts and overall it was just a nice overwhelming experience.

I think I wouldn't be far from the truth if I said that Macedonia is in a crappy position - occupied by Greece and relatively isolated in the eRepublik community. How can the situation be salvaged and how can your country be brought on par with other countries; for example Slovenia that is doing relatively good in comparison to its modest player base?
Well, Slovenia doesn't have irrational neighbors with obsessive hatred (which I cannot understand tbh). Sure, tides have changed, yes, but once we were the ones occupying them. And when we did, whenever they asked for talks and/or NAP, we were there to talk. We even had 2 or 3 NAPs, which is not the case now. I believe this shows how Macedonia is rational, unlike the irrational stubborn people being supported just because of their Visa cards. I think Macedonia is on par with the TOP 10 countries, though not at its best potential because of the issue I mentioned before. Slovenian and Macedonian situation is not the same, Greece has this issue with Macedonia, and the game itself tends to take a side, even though when they added Macedonia they stated they will stay neutral. That is why Macedonia from once a top force in the eWorld, came to this level.

From a neutral point of view, don't you think if Macedonia and Bulgaria were to approach Serbia that you could somehow turn the tide? You have to understand that Greece has in Macedonia an ever-present quagmire, like Iraq or Afghanistan for USA in RL. Greece is mainly a Serbian ally due to the massive damage it is able to inflict, but if you were to point out that you can top Greek damage and nullify GAMA, don't you think it would be quite rational for Serbian leadership to consider such an option as well?
The situation can be salvaged through diplomacy and talks of course, which sadly we don't have right now from our enemies, and I feel personally bad and insulted.IF and only if that were to happen, yes I think that would definitely change tides, because it would mean more stability on the Balkans, Serbia would be surrounded by allies, and powered by great damage combined by Macedonia Bulgaria and Serbia. If that were to happen, and Serbian leadership is damagehood, then yes, it would be rational. However, I tend to care more about friendships and bonds, which are the other reasons why that cant happen. I mean, yeah, we did have awesome history with Serbia and Bulgaria together, and I do not regret it, but nowadays things are different, and very very complicated we became entagled with Chile Bulgaria and Indonesia too much, that it's difficult to give it away. Whereas there may not be strings on Serbia, there are on us and we all know how Serbia feels about Chile and likewise.

But Greece with GAMA topping damage charts for Greek MUs is becoming more of a nuisance for Serbia than a damage solution. Do you still think things are that complicated? And beside, friendly relations do not necessary equate being part of a formal alliance, right?
GAMA and other connected MUs to it make more than half of greek damage, so I personally think Serbs either don't really realise that, or are happy with having allies who fight against them.

Right, things are somewhat complicated but the Gordian knot can be cut, if you were to do a decisive move that would change things - what would you do?
Maybe, and maybe not. But if one does not have friendship, then he has nothing. No one to rely on, no one to know is there for him, always. As I said I care about friends, and I value that more than some pixelated damage and visa cards. I'm not saying our MPP with Hungary was cutting the Gordian knot, but it sure was not expected by the whole eWorld. I am extremely satisfied that happened in my term of being CP. It was nothing more than just good old friends reuniting. I have never seen Hungarians as enemies, or fought against them. In fact, even before this MPP happened, in that (I will say EDEN assault because it consisted mostly of Romanians Croats Turks and Greeks) when Ukraine attacked Hungary, I fought really hard for Hungary. Hungary Indonesia and Macedonia have a very special history together, and having the current tangles and situations in this eWorld we felt that it is time to officialize it again.

Alright, we have focused on the regional aspects, thoughts about the current geopolitcal state of eRepublik and the alliances dominating the game?
I tend to be polite, so I will use the less offensive word. The current geopolitical state in eRepublik is one huge mess. What alliances? there is only one figuratively standing alliance. I miss the good old times when everybody knew who they were with, and there were true allies and foes. Nowadays we have so much mixed feelings so that everybody fights against everybody. Not to mention this is powered up by the magic of Combat Orders, another great change Admins added to eRepublik, to improve the game in ways we can't even imagine 🙂

The game is not as it used to be; what should and can be done to make it a little bit more playable and less elitistic in your opinion?
I will use my example, one of the many.. This apparently "free" game became too much pay-to-win. It is in the nature of humans to be greedy and obsessed with power and money, but if this game was to offer a real second life as it says, don't you think it should be different than Real Life? The damage is too great to be repaired, and it cannot be undone. Typical example is from recent days. Some people had expired Training Contract, and for days I was seeing shouts of why there is no Training Contract. I fear even the community itself got poisoned by that idea. Although buying a Training Contract is affordable without paying real money, it kind of gets to the point. Admins should just keep it simpler, and thus keep it good. There was nothing wrong with eRepublik when there were about 250.000-300.000 global players, was it? Game was funnier, interesting. We had actual contacts and fun on IRC, we had 100 health, and were gathering on channels to hit together. eRepublik is missing that part. The actual hanging out. This game became uninteresting for many people, which is why we witness more and more tanks using scripts to fight. This game became played by scripts rather than actual people. I still remember the times back then when Serbia and Macedonia were allies, and when we'd join their channel all tagged with [MKD] , and hit together. About 100-200 people joining a channel like that really creates awesome friendly environment.

Any last thoughts? Anything you want to add for the readers?
Can do nothing else but hope for better times in eRepublik for everyone. I hope the Admins will decide upon removing Dictatorship and Combat Orders. We need to save this small community we have left, not ruin it even more. To you Howly, thank you for the awesome and thorough interview, and everyone who read it! Greetings to everyone! And just for the good old times between us, we haven't heard this for a while.
Hail Slovenia!
Hail Macedonia!
Hail Howly!
Thanks for taking your time.

Best regards,
Howly