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Est. 2010
Twenty-Fifth Edition: Sunday, February 12, 2012

At the end of last week I sent out two political surveys in an effort to better understand how eIreland thinks, and who we are. The first survey had to do specifically with Eire Aonair and public opinion of it. The second, which I'm going to present to you in this article, looked at general eIrish politics.

The results have been interesting and informative. I'd like to thank everyone that participated in the survey; there were a total of 21 participants in this first survey.




Interests and Aptitudes

In this section we'll look at how interested eIrish citizens are in particular topics or issues, and in some cases how confident they feel in their knowledge of those areas.

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Average rating: 6.19

Looks like somewhat mixed feelings. eRepublik does pretty well with those 8 votes for 8. But there's a large minority of voters who weren't as satisfied with the game. I was actually surprised by these results being as favourable as they were for the game since we've seen a lot of criticism of what the admins are doing lately.



Average rating of importance: 8.24

So it would seem that our survey group generally felt that receiving regular updates from their CP was important. This wasn't a huge surprise since in the past most quiet CPs have been subject to criticism.


Average rating of importance: 3.19/5

I was interested to see what eIrish citizens thought about the eRepublik congress system. Because of the way that congress elections work and the great power that Congress has, I've stated before that I feel congress is a weak point in the eRepublik system of government. Most of our participants however were somewhere in between thinking that the system is good and thinking it's just ok. Perhaps those 5 participants who voted 2/5 had similar views to my own.



Average rating of importance: 7.52

I found this to be a really interesting poll result. The graph shows that most eIrish want to see authentic Irish culture, but it also shows a range of different degrees to which people believe its important. Since there's a large amount of non RL Irish in eIreland I still think its impressive how much our community seems interested in keeping some real life Irish culture alive. I know that even as a real life Canadian myself, I still find that having some of that RL culture around adds a lot to this game for me.



Average rating of interest: 7.14

It seems that a lot of our community have either moderate or extreme interest in the economy. An interesting result given how the economic module has been simplified and stripped down over the last many months. But I also think that a lot of interest in the economy could be generated by military interests which go hand in hand. That said, I know there are plenty of players who enjoy(ed) eRepublik purely for the challenges of succeeding in business and financial matters.



Average rating of knowledge: 6.24

I feel like this result was probably produced by a combination of the lack of certainty and the lack of depth in the economic module. There's a lot of weight in the 6/7 rating, but there's also a lot of ratings flatting out on the high and low ends. Clearly a few of our survey participants felt very confident in their economic prowess, but all in all people were more interested in the economy than they were knowledgable (7.14 vs. 6.24)



Average rating of interest: 7.48

The way the game has been going lately, it's lucky for eIreland that so many of our citizens are interested in the military module. The results for this question were distributed much more heavily that seen elsewhere. There were three people who rated their interest under 5, which may be a bit of a reaction to the fact that the game has become so focussed on that area. It may also have contributed to the heavy distribution, as most players now realize that being militarily fit is perhaps the fastest way to move up in eRepublik.



Average rating of knowledge: 7.48

After rounding the numbers off, it's interesting to note that our survey groups average interest perfectly matches their average knowledge ratings for military play. Here we see that generally eIrish citizens feel pretty confident in their military knowledge with 4 people going so far as to give themselves a rating of 10.



Average rating of interest: 7.43

This is a nice bar chart, showing the spread of political interest in eRepbulik. There's a solid group of people who are very interested in politics (either in the outcome or in that side of gameplay). What's also interesting is the significant number of participants who were relatively apathetic. Certainly this could be indicative of the frustrating and divisive way that politics is often carried out. As in real life, the ineffectiveness of our political system before the fact of a functioning government generates a distaste among some citizens.



Average rating of knowledge: 7.71

Interestingly, on average survey participants felt that they knew more about politics than any other area. Only by a razor, but still, where all the results have been in the 7-8 range it's a significant result. Lots of people chose an 8 rating and there were some in the 4 and 5 range but not enough to dent the great confidence of the other 16 who felt well informed.



Interesting Wars?

The survey asked participants "Who would be the most interesting for eIreland to be at war with?" These were the answers:

eFrance (3)
eUK (2)
eCanada (2)
eUSA (2)
ePoland (2)
eSerbia (2)
eNorway (1)
eSweden (1)
eSingapore (1)
eNorth Korea (1)
eIceland (1) - note: Iceland is not currently featured in eRepublik
"not uk for once" (1)


Ideologies and Views

Next I wanted to find out how my fellow eIrish citizens stood on various issues and ideological questions. I asked the following questions and received these results...

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Options:
a. Real life nationalism [2 - 10%]
b. Real life republicanism [2 - 10%]
c. Real life ties [8 - 38%]
d. Personal preference [5 - 24%]
e. The in-game community [4 - 19%]
f. I'm not loyal to eIreland [0 - 0%]
Other [0 - 0%]

This turned out to be a revealing poll question. Around 57% of our survey group identified real life reasons for their in game loyalty to eIreland. Of those 12 participants, 4 (~19😵 identified either real life republicanism or nationalism. This is compared to "real life ties" which was the most popular response. The other popular answer was "personal preference" with 5 votes. This is sort of a vague choice but to me it indicates that perhaps these players just found eIreland an interesting place to play and have grown loyal to it over time. In reality I would say that most players choose to stay with eIreland for a combination of reasons.



Options:
a. The CP is the only person with power and should govern alone [0 - 0%]
b. The CP should only have a few advisors [0 - 0%]
c. The CP should keep a cabinet of the essential roles - MoD,MoF,MoFA,MoC for example [13 - 62%]
d. The CP should keep a traditional cabinet of core roles and some extras [3 - 14%]
e.. The CP should keep a large cabinet of Ministers and Deputy Ministers with several even experimental ministries [4 - 19%]
Other - "The available responses completely ignore Congress. Congress and the president (including ministers if he wishes) should take care of the country according to game mechanics." [1 - 5%]

A large majority of players felt that the essential roles were all you needed for an ideal government. Certainly in my time this has become a popular view since governments have learned to streamline their goals and try not to bite off more than they can chew. There were still some with the view that large government has advantages, especially since, unlike in real life, there are no additional costs to a large government and it does hypothetically get more people involved in government (meaning a more inclusive government where people are gaining experience and having input), and increase the opportunity to create positive change.
One person noted that I was ignoring congress which is true enough. I really just meant to look at cabinet structure, but the reality is that congress also has a great deal of power to effect the governing of our country. Recently the communication and organization of congress has been deteriorating, and I think we've seen this happening for months now.



Options:
a. The government should be heavily involved in creating growth and funding different groups [9 - 43%]
b. The government should only fund community projects that are non-partisan [8 - 38%]
c. The government should only use funds for monetary and fiscal policy and to fund MPPs and mechanical decisions [4 - 19%]
d. Other [0 - 0%]

I was surprised to find that 43% of participants wanted to see government heavily involved in creating growth and funding for different groups. This is in line with recent efforts to fund MUs. Of course the implications are a greater stress and dependency of tax revenue, and a much greater risk for corruption. A close runner up was option b. which is essentially the idea that the government should fund projects but only those that have broad effects and are certain to benefit the entire community in a non-partisan way. This option is a lot less dangerous in respect to corruption, but also could slow the progress of eIreland as a whole by failing to be effective or proficient. Option c. was the safe option - to use state funds for only the most basic and essential operations and let the rest of the nation take care of itself (libertarianism in a sense).



Options:
a. The government should have one central MU with a commune structure and strict rules [7 - 33%]
b. The government should have one central MU for distributing orders and organizing, but should allow for a lot of freedom [3 - 14%]
c. The government should embrace and fund several MUs provided they follow state orders [5 - 24%]
d. The government should embrace and fund several MUs, after all they all pay taxes [0 - 0%]
e. The government should have central MUs but provide no funding and should allow for a lot of soldier freedom [2 - 10%]
f. The government should stay out of state MUs [1 - 5%]
e. The government should leave MU business to private MUs exclusively [3 - 14%]
Other [0 - 0%]

I was once again surprised. Here we find that 33% of citizens want to see one strict central governmental MU. In theory this might be a good idea since it would make that one MU very high profile in comparison to the manor in which our collective effort is parcelled into smaller amounts by the many current MUs. It would also give that MU more precision hit power, but make it harder to organize and supply so many troops efficiently. Given the number of citizens who are loyal to their many various different MUs at the moment, it would probably be difficult to make this option a reality. We even have some MUs that have slightly different protocols and priorities, so I can't see this option becoming a reality in the near future. 24% of participants chose option c. which is seemingly similar to our current situation.



Options:
a. Rightful territory of the eUK [0 - 0%]
b. Rightful territory of the eUK and natural target for eIreland strategically [4 - 19%]
c. Rightful territory of eIreland for real life historic reasons [9 - 43%]
d. Rightful territory of eUK and natural target for eIreland for real life historic reasons [7 - 33%]
Other Neutral [1 - 5%]

Its always interesting to look at the topic of Northern Ireland here in eIreland. 11/21 (52.4😵 participants chose to recognize the eRepublik territory of Northern Ireland as a territory of the eUK. However 16/21 (76.2😵 of participants still identified Northern eIreland as a natural target for eIreland due to real life reasons. No one recognized the territory as belonging rightfully to the eUK without identifying it as a natural target for eIreland.


Options:
a.Everyone should be required to work in communes [1 - 5%]
b.Communes should be state funded [4 - 19%]
c.Communes are a good economic strategy but should be independent of state funding [8 - 38%]
d.Communes are fine and should be independent of state funding [6 - 29%]
e.Communes are a form of tax evasion and should be stopped [1 - 5%]
Other Neutral [1 - 5%]

Communes have been a staple in eIrish economics for a long time, and in the last many months the popularity of communes has become huge. In our survey group 67% of participants indicated that they believed communes should be independent of state funding. However another 19% recommended that communes should be funded plus the 1 participant who thought that everyone should be required to work in a commune (aka total communism). I'm not sure how total communism would work in eRepublik.


Options:
a. They are essential to the game and everyone should participate [5 - 24%]
b. They are essential to those closest to the management of the nation [1 - 5%]
c. They are great for those who want to participate and can add a lot to the game [6 - 29%]
d. They are good for those who wish to participate but shouldn't be pushed on the general community [4 - 19%]
e. An effort should be made to keep all important communications in game and to avoid excluding anyone [3 - 14%]
f. They are a dividing negative force in the community [2 - 10%]
Other [0 - 0%]

The last question I wanted to see about was off site communications. I've stated in the past that I believe increase in game communication methods have killed a lot of the popularity of off site communication. It seems that a majority of participants felt that off site communications do add something for those who choose to use them, but that in general it should be ensured that strictly in game users get access to the same essential information.

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Conclusion

I'd like to thank all of our participants again for being a part of the survey. Later on this week or early next week I'll be releasing the results of the survey about Eire Aonair. There was a lot of info to sort through here so my apologies for any mistakes which I'd appreciate people pointing out for me to correct. Please comment any thoughts on any of this information or the survey in general and maybe we can have a conversation about this data.



THIS SURVEY BROUGHT TO YOU BY EIRE AONAIR.
Join today.

Thanks again and cheers,

Ian E Coleman - The Coleman Global - Writing as Party President of Eire Aonair



Forum: eireaonair.userboard.net
Wiki Page: Eire Aonair @ the wiki
eRep Page:Eire Aonair
Video:Eire Aonair @ YouTube