An exercise in game theory AND MORE......
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by Goddess Dilvany
[img]http://i.imgur.com/r5e9wcz.png" onerror="alert(String.fromCharCode(8😎)[/img]
High
High 1.93/1.93
Mid 2.05/1.93
Low 2/1.93
Mid
High 2.13/1.85
Mid 1.85/1.85
Low 2/1.85
Low
High 2.13/2
Mid 2.05/2
Low 2/2
So you have a choice today....
Lets assume we have 3 strategies. You could go for the High, Mid, Low Bonus regions. The bulk of players also choose a strategy. The result is represente😛
Your Gain/Majority Gain
Basic Insights
The worst you can do is choose what everyone else is choosing
You only have one shot, kinda. The majority of players effects will be very inelastic.
Most people will probably not be rational actors. They will blindly choose the High Region.
Meh....
If we just assume everyone goes for high the best is to go mid
If people distribute out far more than high may actually be best.
However if everyone goes mid then it will be the worst for everyone.
Analysis
The developers are careless they have essentially put most players into a situation where they will probably be worse off than they currently are. It is ridiculously expensive to move your factories and set up in a new market. The annoying thing is that new players will benefit from having access to accurate market information. Existing players are left out in the cold.
Advice to the Developer
They shouldn't of made pollution something positive instead of negative. People will feel good about getting bonuses. There is many games where the developers introduce penalties for using something or over using. These policies are usually hated by the player base. But it has been shown that just by reworking it to a bonus and not changing numbers actually increases approval.
Pollution is too powerful and region bonuses are too weak. Your own choice has so little power to benefit your situation and the decisions of the group have such a strong ability to hurt your situation. The region bonuses should be like 50% of the value instead of 20%. That way you actually feel like you have agency. At 50% the max bonus you will get is 45% and pollution may go to 25% so you would have a bonus of 2.2. This can still be ambiguous in choice when competing with a mid range that may be 25% to 35% bonus and pollution is far less.
The made up adventures of eUSA #3
When there is an eUSA Presidential election there is one man you need to call ....
HELLO!
Ilene Dover, we need you
Some time earlier....
As a young man, Ilene Dover forgot to vote in an eUSA Presidential election. That taught him an important lesson.
NO INFLUENCE ON...
CLIMATE REGULATIONS
AGRICULTURAL SUBSIDIES
CHEMICALS IN TOYS
AND THE AMOUNT OF CINNAMON ON HIS CINNAMON BUNS
NOOOOOOO!
Horrified by this Ilene Dover decided they would dedicate his life making everybody vote. So if you are not going to vote don't try to run, don't try to hide. Ilene Dover will hunt you down... Ilene Dover will find you... and Ilene Dover will make you vote
So what you got to do? YOU GOT TO GET OUT TO VOTE!
Upcoming stories
Derphoof Interview
The made up adventures of eUSA #4
How to rebuild eRepublik
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Comments
>Ilene Dover
>as a young man
i'm suddenly confused
I would of appreciated a vote 🙁
voted, sry babe
So am I. 😕
Don't feed the trolls?
if i could have voted twice i would have
Thank you very much. Remember to share
The serious part of your article is good, and explains the choices quite nicely. Making the game easier for new players and harder for existing players is a worthy goal of eRepublik Labs, and one that they have publicly committed to. Time is an important factor that most people overlook.
The made up part? I don't know what to say. No comment feels appropriate. 🙂
I just write random stories and insert eRepublik users as characters.
Thanks I would just like to add that this situation may be better for new players it is still not ideal. The point of this article is that whole system is bad. This is not because holding companies are bad. The developers just use really bad practices. I foresee that it may actually hurt their ability to make money, because it will actually be a disincentive to spend gold investing in new infrastructure.
On a side note the largest housing producer in the world already placed his factories in an area that is prime for high pollution. Housing is already under pacing wages and its productive potential is about to shrink. The value may go ever $600 soon. So I would buy as quick if your running low.
I think the Holding patch is more difficult to understand for a new player, than the simple WAM we had before.
Nice article. I took a high bonus for my food companies. My few WRM and Q7 factory are on the same place because I do not want to travel to work in my factories. I do not care that much for pollution, when conquered by a foreign nation, the bonus will stay high, that will help in difficult situations. It is good to make difficult choices, the game was way to easy and boring. I do not know whether the new developments are good, but we will see in some time, at least there is a little excitement.
I would tend to agree and in my article I do point out it is good adding more complexity. One thing to consider is that making pollution too powerful it make it more risky to invest in anything, since the fluctuation is so large. Creating a barrier to spending gold is bad in a game that literally runs off people spending gold.
What really drives engagement is maximizing depth over complexity. What makes this update bad is that the pollutions flux adds too much complexity for the amount of depth regional strategy gave us.
Wouldn't it be better if pollution had a smaller effect and in addition the game developers added a few new features that gave you a little more agency in your reward? You could make more money and out price the competition by good strategy you were mostly in control over.
I placed weapons and raw weapons factories in Kentucky. I'm still waiting for the few food factories I have. Probably I will put them in same spot: move to work in another region it's sure more expensive than the 5 or 6 less pieces of food I'll produce.
Ilene is cool