Join the new world

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We’re All Mad Here (Mandatory listening)
Day 2253 of the New World
20 January, 2014


by Gnilraps


This is Part 5 in a 10 part series called How to Succeed in eUSA.

Part 5 - Game and Meta* Game
(The graphic for this will be added tomorrow. It's stored on a different computer)

An issue of some controversy among eRepublik’s more seasoned gamers is that of the “game behind the game”.

As many buttons as eRepublik gives you to click, and despite its wayward desire to consider itself a social browser game, it offers remarkably little to facilitate the development of a meaningful social culture.

Sure, there’s the shout wall with it’s facebook feel. There are three of them, in fact: one for you, one for your MU, and one for your Party. There’s also a forum which is woefully under-managed. There’s your newspaper with it’s bloglike atmosphere of comments/replies/votes/subscriptions. And there’s the ubiquitous “Friend Request”. (As of this writing there is additional discussion about a chat feature, which - if implemented will have to be laser sharp to replace what’s already working - IRC).

We all understand the value of games where all you do is click buttons in isolation. I’ve spent hours on Tower Defense Games and always have a game like this running in the background of my life.

But eRepublik can be and is a social game. And to make the most of this, a “meta” game has organically developed using web resources external to eRepublik’s portal.

*The prefix "meta" derives from the Greek word meaning "along side".


Controversy

As I said, there is some controversy. Critics of the established meta-game cite the very real issues of (forum) site ownership and control, the development of elite status among those who are available to work the meta, and the inherent oddity of a sect of the community imposing non-game-based rules onto the larger community.

Every Forum has its owner and moderators. The control over the Forum is control over the community who uses it. And so the non-participants in the currently established meta-community have excellent points. It isn’t enough just to say “you are free to join”... There’s the very issue of control which no amount of participation will ever replace.

And so those whose expertise is hyper-management of the meta-game have a leg up in eRepublik. This will probably always be the case unless Plato develops such kick-ass tools for social networking through their portal that IRC and external Forums are no longer needed. Good luck waiting for that.

But abandoning the obvious advantages of using existing external web resources would be a horribly naive move. Coordination, communication, information, archive, alacrity, multi-media, and technology are benefits to eRepublik success, and all of them can be found in greater supply externally to the game.

So the community which is going to succeed most easily - and therefore thrive most vigorously - will be the community with a rich meta-game. It may not be the most interesting community. It may not be the most righteous community. It may not be the most egalitarian community. But it will be the most virile.

One could easily say the same thing about a citizen. The citizen who succeeds most easily in eRepublik will be the one who richly engages the meta-game. Herewith I will provide some thoughts about the meta from the island called eUSA.


Current Resources

The President’s New Citizen Message (NCM) will (probably) always contain the most current links to the meta community. If you are not sure how to find a copy of the President’s message, ask a current Congressman. Actually, ask several because there are always a few congressmen who are not playing as actively as they should.

You should be looking for links to IRC rooms.
You should be looking for links to a National forum.
You should be looking for links to the Party forums.
You should be looking for links to the MU forums.
And you should be looking for links to as many other external resources that enhance the gaming environment.

Tap in. You can always tap out. But you should at least tap in.

Because I hope for this article to survive beyond the short two-day popularity cycle of the eRepublik Media, I am not providing links - links change. Find the latest President’s NCM. That will get you started most rapidly.

Because I love you, here’s a link to the most recent NCM as of this writing: Click.


Game (often referred to as "ingame")

What you can do in the game is what counts. You can run for congress, then propose whatever the hell your heart desires if you get elected. You can try to run for Party President without ever stepping outside of the ingame environment. You may candidate for Country President, try and run a Military Unit… If the button is available to be clicked, nothing’s stopping you.

Without meta activity you will fail in most elections with 98% certainty. Sure, it’s possible to get elected to a political party with a membership of 3 without entering the meta. Knock yourself out. (There is a small band of anti-meta-gamers who have lots of fun if you can find them. But the fact that it’s so hard to find them ought to tell you something.)

Really, there is a reasonable approach to the game which considers simply the accumulation of medals and rewards without needing to place value on being part of an external community.

For instance, eRepublik gives you Military buttons. You can buy and manufacture weapons and grub. You can stockpile and then go on massive “tanking” runs. You can buy your way into a congress seat. You can do much just with eRepublik’s buttons. In my view, your average facebook game will give you more bang for your buck if this is all you want. Yet eRepublik can accommodate the non-social gamer.


Meta-Game

But if, for instance, you want your Congressional Law proposal to succeed, you will need votes. How does a Congressman establish enough votes to get a law passed? Welcome to the meta-game, where the eUS Congress meets to discuss, debate, argue, troll, waste time, and abuse the power of the meta-game (hue-hue). Convince them to vote for your Law and it will pass ingame.

If you want to succeed in your run for Party President, you probably ought to engage that Party’s Forum. In fact, the only real “politics” in eRepublik are outside of eRepublik. The Forums are the political backrooms and meeting halls. Win there, you win ingame.

And if you want to interact with the people behind the avatars you’ve got to get involved in real-time communication. IRC - despite its ancient architecture - is the medium of choice for eUSA’s barroom, barrio, and block party.

In Part 9 of this series (titled “Monsters and Aliens”, I will provide some briefs on some of eUSA’s biggest Meta-characters. That oughta be fun.)


eUS Forum

The main key to the eUS Meta Game is the eUS Forum*.

The first thing you must understand is that the eUS Forum is, to some extent, a Troll culture. Get over this as quickly as you can. If you can’t stand trolling, you’re playing the wrong game.


All my friends

That said, you don’t have to become a troll to succeed. Neither do you need to feed the trolls. In all, the sooner you can learn to find the humor in it, the better off you’ll be. And if you can develop your troll sense of humor without becoming a total jerk, you’re social stock will skyrocket.

The eUS Forum is a highly organized system. There is an entire section dedicated to non-eRep gaming. You can toggle this section “off” in your individual profile settings if you want. To do this, you can simply click the word “Forum” underneath your Avatar and it will immediately bring you to the “home” screen where you can access whatever Forum environments you have been granted access to.

Access is, of course, one of the keys to success in the eUS meta game. The more of it you have, the more you will know. And knowledge is extremely useful.

Access is gained through political success.
*(Notice how I linked you to a Forum area you don't have access to? Better get crackin'!)

Political success is gained through meta-activity.


Advancement

So here is a general idea of how to go from newblet to eRep stud.

1 - Join a top 5 party and stick with it. Avoid any Party that has Ronald Gipper Reagan (RGR) in leadership, as that will get you (informally) blacklisted quickly. If you don’t care about success, then go ahead and play along with RGR. Surely there is fun to be had there. But truthfully it is the equivalent of moving into a new high school, finding the biggest jerkoff in the school on purpose, then hanging out with him all the time. Chances are great that you won’t get elected Prom King.

Instead, find a legitimate party. These are usually mentioned in the NCM. Ask the current Party President (PP) for a link to the Party’s Meta Forum. You’ll likely be answered in less than 4 hours. Join the Party Forum. Get involved.

Do a ton of question-asking. Play dumb if you have to. People will become endeared to you if they have invested their time and energy in helping you. The least successful Party newbies are the ones who join acting like they know it all. You are joining a Party… a clique… behave with humility and it won’t take you long to be accepted.

2 - Read and comment on all Government publications: Current listing of Government Media.

While you are busy getting acquainted with your new Political Party, you’ll want to show everyone that you are busy playing the game. The current Government officials usually see the comments on their latest publications. Get active there and you’ll get noticed.

3 - Become useful in your Party. Every party is slightly different in how this comes to pass, but if you can find a way to serve the party, the party usually finds a way to help you achieve your goals.

4 - Join a decent Military Unit. I’m too biased about this subject to be credible in recommending anything. Just start asking around. There are a few MU’s which are less Nationalistic - you don’t want that. But among the Nationalistic MU’s all are good. If you find one with its own meta Forum… That’s probably a very good sign.

5 - Be patient. There’s enough attrition in this game that it won’t take long for any Citizen who is doing the above 4 things to be asked to run for congress. Then you’re on your way.

6 - Meanwhile, poke around on IRC as much as you can. Start with the IRC link in the NCM. I personally don’t like IRC much because I am often busy in real life even while I’m playing eRepublik. IRC tends to force you to focus on your computer. 4 hours later you’ve had a fantastic chat with your eRepublik pals. You’ve also missed your bus IRL. But if you don’t have any bus to catch - so to speak - then settle in on IRC and join the fun. Don’t be a jerk there either, you’ll make enemies quickly.

7 - Months later, after 4 successful Congressional runs, you may begin to receive some invitations to serve in National Government. Saying YES to that means being granted deeper access to the eUS Forum. Access is easy to translate into greater success. However, serving the eUS Government is hard (gaming) work. Don't just say yes to gain access. Say yes because, frankly, you want to have more fun. Then do a great job of what you've been asked to do.

8 - NEVER, and I mean NEVER leak information you have learned from an access-only area of any Forum environment unless you are willing to discard a large portion of your credibility. The only time leaking information leads to success is if you have decided on a major shift in allegiance. Even then, if you are buying your way into a community by selling information from another community, your new community will always have you labeled as untrustworthy in their minds and it will be a long, long wait for real power there. If you want to quit one Party and join another, just leave what you know at the door. Your tight lips will probably cause your new party to think you know more than you actually know anyway, and that has a value of its own.

9 - Publish a damn newspaper. Don’t do a crappy job of it either, or you will have a rough time gaining clout. Take your time with it. Ask for proofreading help. Ask for graphics help. Ask for a ghost writer if you must… but publish a newspaper. I consider one article per month the BARE MINIMUM. More on publishing in Part 6 of this series.

10 - Make lots of ingame “friends”. Look, don’t be one of those people who thinks you can only be ingame friends with someone you like or know. Here’s the key: only your friends see your shouts; you only see shouts made by your friends. Shouts lead to attention, and if you play your attention well, attention leads to success.

11 - Shout stuff. Don’t just shout your own stuff, shout stuff you like that other people have done. Reshout stuff. I’m not asking you to spam the wall… don’t do that or you’ll lose friends. But if you’ve published a new article, 3 shouts/hour is not too many during the first 3 or so hours after you’ve published.



That's about it.

In part 6 of this guide I will go into a bit more detail about managing your public image. I’ve touched on some of those ideas here in this article, so the next one will be much shorter, but this one is long enough as it is. So be sure to read part 6.


You may now return to your regularly scheduled clicking