Sub for Sub... and Word for Word

Day 1,969, 22:40 • Published in USA USA • by Clint Carmel

This is part of my series: First Steps in eRepublik.

As a new player-- or an old player who has come back-- you may have seen various references in the headlines of articles, or in the descriptions of newspapers. Usually they will say something like "vote and sub!" and sometimes they will say "Sub for sub!" or mention the Media Mogul medal.

I have been rather neutral about this phenomenon, but now and again I'll stumble upon such a comment, and I'll see a newspaper that has 800 subscriptions without a single article. This boggles my mind.

I certainly see the advantage of having a large circulation-- because I work in Media, both in real life and here in the game. I have a message worth being read, and therefore I feel like it's important to have the largest audience possible to read what I have to say. For me, having 1,000 subscribers will give my paper some cache and clout.

But I don't see the point in just getting the Media Mogul medal and never putting out a single article. To me, there's nothing very interesting about the 'game' portion of this game that you couldn't duplicate in Flash ActionScript 3.0 in about 10 minutes. To me, the interesting portion of this game is reading what people have to say.

And here we have a game of 70 countries, and each country has people who really are from that country. Each one has their own life experiences and unique way of looking at the world. We are all the better for it.

If you don't write, you are cheating yourself out of some fame and attention, but you are also cheating other people out of the chance to get to know the real you. Or at least the eYou, and what you stand for in the game.

I'd like it if you voted and subscribed-- and yes I subscribe to any who ask-- but more importantly, I'd like if it now and then something I said made you stop and think for a moment, or made you laugh for a second. And more than that, I'd like if it something you wrote made me think or feel, too.

In-game gold is fun, but you can always buy or trade for it. The real treasure comes from connecting with people.

-- Clint