Presidential Elections: Odan vs MDSanderon

Day 3,940, 09:03 • Published in Netherlands Slovakia • by Willem The Conqueror
Dear Readers,

One thousand, one hundred and eighty-one days ago, I posted my last Presidential Election Interview in which NoTie112 and Jordic faced each other in what would result in a victory for NoTie112.

It has been practically silent on my part since then with regards to Presidential Election reporting. Until, now. With the recent activity boost our media landscape has seen, I thought I would join in on the fun by reviving an old tradition, together with a new newspaper layout.

With great pride, I present to you today two interviews with two candidates for the office of President of the eNetherlands, who will face each other in two days. Without much further ado, I would like to present to you the two candidates for president: Odan and MDSanderon.



First up is Odan, a well-known politician from Iron and Wine.

1. Why do you want to be the next President of the eNetherlands?
Someone needs to do it 😉 and I'm of the belief that a president needs to have plenty of governmental experience, so I believe I qualify quite well in that regard.

2. What do you think of the current situation in the eNetherlands?
The departure of our Canadian TW (editor: training war) partners caused a little bit of a snag since we got so used to dealing with them and a great timetable for us as Europeans. But I believe that with time our new TW partners in Estonia can provide us with the same kind of TW fun.

The rental deal with Iran seems to be working quite well, it is providing us with some additional income that could be used for some good purposes.

3. Are there any key problem(s) where the eNetherlands is struggling with?
Activity is the main problem, but that is not only the case in eNL, it is eRepublik-wide. But because we are already a small nation a player here and a player there hits us harder than the big nations.

4. How do you want to solve these key problem(s)?
I don't see an easy way to fix this problem,

A baby boom will likely only result in a few young players sticking around for a short time before realizing they are outmatched and outgunned and quitting out of frustration because of it. Also, the old man in me says the youths nowadays have an attention span of like 2 minutes so they will get bored real quick with a game like this.

Inviting many foreigners isn't a great solution either because we will lose our identity that way, I'm not saying we shouldn't look for some promising individuals (like for example janty f joining us recently), but going crazy and opening the gates and let in 10-20-40 people a month just like that might make us bigger as a nation, but will destroy who we are as a country.

Getting dead people back will probably be the same as a baby boom, those people died for a reason, they either stopped caring about the game or just saw that it was impossible for them to have any meaning in it, due to limitations on their ability to grow.

The only valid idea might be to get former eNL citizens that are still alive and abroad back to our country, but we would need some incentives to get them to return, and well I hope to have a good talk about that with my government, but I'm not hopeful we will be able to pull it off.

5. What's your opinion about the achievements of our current President?
An okay term, he got us a good deal with the concessions, and under his leadership, we have a great new TW partner.

6. What would you have done differently?
Only thing I might have done differently is negotiating a little harder with the concessions, and if I get elected we will see what can and can't be done about that.

7. Have you got anything left to say to the citizens of the eNetherlands?
Stay tuned for another article coming out "soon", probably a couple of hours before the voting starts with some of my plans/ideas for the coming term.



Next up is MDSanderon from Revolution et Libertas.

1. Why do you want to be the next President of the eNetherlands?
The short version, I want to make changes to make playing more fun again. When I started playing I didn’t have much interest in the politics. I fought a bit and read a lot of articles written by the government and other active players and everything seemed fine (except the occasional disturbance in the force). However the past year or two I’ve begun to get more involved to get more out of the game than just click the “fight” button. However my involvement in Congress I have mostly observed instead of actively participated. I want to get more active this month to get the most out of the game and give the country the best I can offer. (also I’ve got a bit more spare time next month since I just graduated)

2. What do you think of the current situation in the eNetherlands?
The current situation in the eNetherlands is a bit disturbing but there are also good things happening. The most troubling thing is the decline in not just citizens but active citizens. However, I’ve also seen how a few articles from various members can light up a new flame of activeness in our community. I think this flame can be the push we needed all along to make the game more fun again.

3. Are there any key problem(s) the eNetherlands is struggling with?
In my opinion, there are two problems that will need to be addressed.
Number one is the declining amount of citizens. Just like any other CP, I want to encourage the recruitment of new players into the eNetherlands community.
Problem number two is a problem I feel myself and think to see around me. I think with all the discussions, orders and other things, sometimes we forget that this is a game. And games should be fun to play not a dread to log on every day. Although we need guidelines to keep our agreements, we should also encourage our citizens to just play around a bit and have fun. A lack of fun in the game can lead to players quitting the game or going in fulltime 2 click mode, leading to the decline in citizens.
Yes, I see these as two different problems. They may both have an effect on the amount of citizens, but the second one also has an effect on the citizens we already have.

4. How do you want to solve these key problem(s)?
To solve these problems I have some ideas. The basic idea is to make the game more fun for the existing players and to gain new players to grow as a country in the eWorld.
For the first problem, I want to create a bounty program. As you all know the game already has a bounty program in place to recruit new players. This bounty program will differ from the eRepublik one by means of calculating the bonus that can be earned. Instead of 10% of gold earned by the new player, the recruiter will earn a fee based on the activity of the new player and the time they stay active in the game.
The solution to the second problem is a bit harder. How does one make a game more fun to play when one does not control the game? Since Plate controls the game itself and the events, the solution to this has to be sought a bit more outside of the war part of the game. This leads mostly to politics and the writing of articles.
For one I think the idea of Shawtyl0w is great but we must also realize not everybody is a writer. For example, I´m terrible at it 😉 but since more articles appeared last month I also gave it a try.
The solution to getting more people into politics is more difficult but not impossible. To make politics more fun I want to join the group that is rewriting our lawbook. I think that by rewriting some old laws, being in politics can be made more fun and will appeal to more players

5. What's your opinion about the achievements of our current President?
From what I have seen there has been one new development in the past month. This is, of course, the deal with eIran about the renting of our resources. Although I have to say I think it is a nice deal, as many of you can agree with me the communication from the government to the citizens was lacking.

6. What would you have done differently?
I will communicate as much as possible about what is happening behind the scenes of the government. Because I’m not a great writer, those messages will probably be short and factual.

7. Have you got anything left to say to the citizens of the eNetherlands?
Although this will be the first time I’m Country President when I’m chosen, I will do my best to realize my ideas. And hopefully with the support of some more experienced members to advise me where needed.

PS: it's nice to see more activity in the community. This is probably the most text I'll ever write here 😉



I thank both men for responding to my interview on such short notice. I hope that this interview has led you, my readers, to a more educated choice for this upcoming election day. May the best man win.

Your faithful Press Director,






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