How eRepublik can make itself profitable, funner and fairer

Day 2,603, 14:10 • Published in Greece Greece • by Yiannis and Vasilis balambani


We all know the admins of erepublik generally have left the game in a derelict state, where the political and economic modules are entirely dependent war which in turn costs money.

Allow me to explain.

In order for an economy to function, consumption i.e demand is a necessity. Due to the game mechanics, the only driving force behind production and profit for companies and the state via taxes is war.

War is the only source of demand for weapons, War creates a demand for travel and War increases drastically the need for energy, thus the need for food.

eCountries that aren't at war seek alliances and causes through which they can orient their economies towards.

The only other means for the economy to function is via the use of real life money, which essentially destroys the value of an economy, where companies are reduced to means of distribution rather than real means for ultimately decisive victory.

They are not necessarily representative of the countries wealth, as the countries wealth is in the pockets of the RL eCitizens.

Thus we have a static game which is entirely focused on War, simulating in a primitive way the aspects of Total War (resources, production, labour, population and wealth being central to war) but destroying its own game, to turn a profit in a way destructive to the funness of the game and RL of the addicts.

Recent updates have only increased this emphasis on RL money, with the destruction of skills required for production thereby freezing salaries, making strength relative to the amount of Gold one has, adding countries to uphold nationalist interest.


eRepublik profit vs. what it offers for the player

The game has entirely focused on making money DIRECTLY from its players in a way that has destroyed the game mechanics in the way they were intended to work.

A very simple solution would be to add advertisements on the game. The game has a large following, and the larger the following gets, the more companies will pay eRepublik to hold their advertisements here. As you can see eRepublik has not tried this FAR BETTER way of making money, with the only advertisements being ones that asks us to buy Gold, or reward us with Gold for inviting friends. Google and Youtube became successful through ads.

It is almost as though erepublik hate their own clients and want their monies.

In addition, Consumption should be increased by creating new means for consumption. By increasing means of consumption, you allow companies to become more relevant and end this overproduction nightmare where only RL money can save all, as well make countries economies less rigid and militaristic.

This could be:



A) Expanded and improved war module - The abilities to have Civil Wars within a country (this can be FURTHER improved if you add different kinds of governments and revolutions rather than the same generic state for all). MUs can potentially become dangerous and stockpile weapons, which will make them more central to ePolitics. In addition: Bonuses for different kinds of weapons in different combat situations. Military devastation in certain regions forcing players to buy supplies such as food to avoid eDeath.



B ) Starvation - The need to eat food to survive each day



C) Political Persecution - Citizens of conquered territories can have their rights revoked and lose their abilities to use certain services or do certain things, forcing them to migrate as refugees or form an underground resistance economy.



D) Build on and improve Non-Military economy - Introduce luxury goods and character happiness meters which affect survival, productivity and leveling up. Introduce different types of food, like Water which affect a dehydration meter and thus survival.



E Resource exports/Add strategic resources - Sell unnecessary bonuses without surrendering land to bonusless countries for Gold. The rarer/higher demand for the resource, the more it should be worth. In addition turning Oil into a fuel kind of resource rather than a bonus may reflect may the reality of why countries in real life may fight over it, and will make wealth more relative to resources rather than merely production bonus.



F) Encourage production through achievements and rewards (something that already happens)


Simultaneously however, the Admins must remove or at least greatly limit the purchase of Gold. This way, countries will be forced to mobilize and organize their economies to maintain military victories. At the same time however, real War drains the resources of a country, and this isn't properly felt due to the game mechanics which are very rigid.

They should make the game mechanics more along the lines of the old/first one, where you reach the capital of a region and hold it for x amount of time, rather than set 24 hour battles. Multiple attacks should be possible and this Natural Enemy thing only contributes further to the static and Bi-Polar kind of Warfare we see in erepublik.

It is designed kind of like a duel among gentlemen of who can spend the most money to hold pixels, before gracefully waiting their ability to attack next or defend the next region.

eRepublik has great potential as a game but it seems the admins have learned NOTHING in the past 5 years, other than to follow the cheap, pathetic tactics of freemium gaming (i.e exploiting the addiction and nationalism of their customers to the detriment of the majority), rather than to make what could be, a brilliant and popular game.

Of course none of this is new.

Balambani Broz