Join the new world

Sup y’all.

This is the second article in my current series about super alliances – whether they are good or bad, angelic or devilish, efficient or incompetent etc etc. You get the general picture really. The first article in the series can be found here. It is about the history of the alliances, and the introduction to the series in general.

This second article will contain the positives and negatives of the alliances, what it means to be in an alliance, the effect on the neutrals and a few other facts lying around. So, let us begin.

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To begin with, let us examine eRepublik as a whole. A social strategy game, as the eRepublik admins have called it. Therefore the first two things that would jump to people’s minds would be war/military and of course, the community aspect. These are the two biggest (and usually only) aspects of the alliances we see now a-days.

This is what the countries in this New World want. They want to be safe, secure and to bring wars to stimulate their economies, bring fun to their citizens and to make international politics. They want to make international friends. Because, lets face it, eRep is fantastic for meeting people from across the world and experiencing completely different cultures. Super alliances bring nations from around the world closer together.



Society.
Positive.
Negative.



Phoenix spans most of the New World’s continents, bringing its citizens flavours from around the globe and building bonds between them. Likewise, EDEN is randomly spread over the place, though admittedly not to as much of an extent as Phoenix at the moment. Where else could you have British people becoming best friends with the Germans? The Russians? Where could you have the Americans becoming best friends with the Croats? So yes, eRep super alliances are fantastic in this regard.

Member nations, fighting alongside each other and defending each other build up strong bonds. Notable examples would be the passion Phoenix had to liberate Germany just the other day. Another would be EDEN’s devotion to defending each other, at their citizen’s own expense (indeed, this is why they win quite often but that’s another issue entirely). Alliances become “Bands of Brothers”. Friendships begin with Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Country Presidents. This, with time and great enough friendship, spreads to the rest of the government, to the military, to the media and to the general masses. Every member of the alliance feels as one. Eventually the alliance will grow so in-tune their military skills will also improve with their teamwork. It may also encourage them to work together for a better economy (as I tried to do in PEACE, and which I believe is now being done in Phoenix, and possibly EDEN).

So yes, super alliances can have positive benefits on the community/society aspect of eRepublik. But as always, there are negatives (or maybe whining people who make big deals out of everything. One of the two, either way, I intend to make a big deal out of it).



Yes, super alliances breed great friendships within their borders. However, outside of their boundaries they are the exact opposite. Members of both alliances have shocking hatred for the other side, bringing ridiculous, offensive insults into the game and generally making things pretty pissy for everyone. Genuine hatred can be formed for the other side. Which is in a sense, understandable. These guys are trying to destroy you or your friends. And with the strong bonds you have built, it is annoying they are trying to destroy what you have built. In another sense, it is idiotic. This is a game. Anywho, that’s another matter really and I won’t get into how some people have made eRep their life. So yeah, hatred is very real and prevalent in this game. Living in the UK and being continuously trolled you can genuinely see its effects in action 😛

This hatred and rivalry stands in the way of potentially superior international politics for some budding diplomats out there. The lines are set in stone, meaning it is hard to change things. Diplomats can no longer make friends in other nations except with great difficulty. All they can do is emphasize on current relationships. If international politics are not changing, it means nothing new and exciting can happen. Things get in the same routine, things repeat themselves and lose all excitement over them. I recall someone saying in Japan, how they weren’t excited about the Kyushu Incident involving the Americans – they had seen it before, they saw it now, and they knew they’d see it again. Maybe with different nations involved, but always the same result, the same old thing, but with a new person at the head. A new flag waving overhead.

The game gets boring because nothing new happens. Our old, experienced and treasured citizens leave because they have seen it all before. Well how about changing that? Spicing things up a little by changing the structure of the world?



Military.
Positive.
Negative.



There are obvious benefits to being in a super alliance. There are, of course, safety in numbers. Admittedly, if neither side really had numbers that point would be null but that is an argument for the next article. Small, weak countries require the big hitters found in alliances. For Phoenix – Hungary, Russia, Serbia, Indonesia. For EDEN – USA, Spain, Romania, Poland. There are other powerful hitters in the alliances, and there are much weaker forces. At the moment, using the UK’s current situation as an example, large alliances are necessary to protect the weaker ones. The UK needs all of Phoenix to ensure its safety against the EDEN forces who have surrounded it. And as of the moment, Phoenix has protected the UK well.

Likewise, alliances help each other out with Raw Materials. Seen by the Indonesians likely on their epic journey to Peruvian Iron. Trade with your partners is also a vital component. Everyone needs Iron to wage a war, increasing both your military and economic capabilities.

So yes, there are a fair few vital components of war in eRep which can be found in super alliances. But what about the negatives? Are there even any negatives? Let’s find out…



To begin with, fighting the same old guy again and again gets a tad repetitive, kind of like what I’ve mentioned before. How many times has Croatia been invaded? How many times have the Swedes and Polish invaded Germany? How many times have the French and Spanish been back and forwards over each other? A fair few. The same thing happens, and it just results in the cycle happening again.

Now, imagine France invading the UK. Now that would be interesting. Something new, something fresh. Ignore the fact you are friends with someone. It is only e-war. No one gets hurt.

In a similar fashion, the militaries of the world need to practice in things they haven’t experienced before. For more fun, for more skills in their achievements. Furthermore, alliance training wars are a tad dull, really.

But lets look at super alliances from another, completely different perspective. The ones who have nothing to do with the alliances. The neutrals.

Neutrality.

The neutrals get it tough don’t they? Few, if any training wars. A generally weak economy, rarely an organized military and not much standing on the international stage (no offence to all my neutral subscribers of course 😛). They also have a minorly annoying tendency to get steamrolled by alliances.

They have no sources of protection but the hope of good will from their neighbours. The most successfully neutral nation has got to be Ireland, for this exact reason. Admittedly just under half of their nation wishes to join EDEN, but nonetheless they are still neutral and have stayed like that since the dawn of all creation. Unfortunately, few neutral countries have experienced Ireland’s luck. With India immediately springing to mind.

Is it fair for neutrals to be destroyed for their RMs or just simply because they are in the way? Some people would argue yes, because they have chosen to be neutral, they should face the potential consequences. I dislike this view. Their country wants to be left alone and play the game as an observer, that’s fine. No need to enforce your views on others.

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So I do believe that this is indeed the end of this article… As much as I can think of to be honest. Sorry if it’s been a bit of a long, pointless and mostly boring read. Needed to be said however. Hopefully the next article will be better. Everytime I picture it, I see an apocalyptic world. Hopefully not an omen of how it’ll turn out or life without super alliances 😛


To inject some colour. Isnae cool?

Thanks for reading,
AV


Proud member of the British Media Alliance