[EXTRA] Game Theory: The New Changes & Feedback Loops

Day 2,187, 12:19 • Published in Japan Japan • by ahava3233


Hello there readers, it's ahava3233 reporting to you once again from occupied Kanto. In any event, I wanted to discuss some of the changes that have just come to light.

Two days ago I noted the announced changes in regards to the game system. Plato gave us a short heads up on two matters he has elected to introduce into the game. He just implemented these changes today.

1. Taxation of occupied territories (up to 80😵
2. Freedom Fighter Medals (Medals for fighting in successful RWs)

Now, I think I have a good hypothesis as to the purpose of these changes and how they're intended to increase Plato's paycheck, but first, let me go over an analogous idea I'd like to relate to this situation in order to explain what I'm talking about.

In the human body, many processes are governed by systems known as feedback loops. There are two types of loops, positive feedback loops, and negative feedback loops.


Negative Feedback Loop



Given the Human Body generally operates best at a specific set of conditions (homeostasis), we generally have many more Negative Feedback Loops in our physiology than positive ones. Negative Feedback Loops encourage a system to move towards an equilibrium state. One easily understood negative feedback loop used by the human body is the cycle of hunger and eating as you can see above.

This is considered a negative feedback loop as one stimulus (the feeling of hunger) is designed to encourage a human being to eat something to reduce the effects of the stimulus, creating an oscillating equilibrium of sorts. ie: As a human being eats, the feeling of hunger is diminished and eventually the human ceases eating as a result.

Positive Feedback Loop



Although not as common, the Human Body uses a couple of Positive Feedback Loops as well in its operation. A Positive Feedback Loop encourages a system to continue what it is doing until it can no longer continue. One such Positive Loop is actually something I'm sure many of you are all too familiar with, sexual intercourse and masturbation.

This is considered a Positive Feedback Loop given that when a human being's genitalia are stimulated through sex or masturbation while they are "in the mood", their brain encourages them to continue what they're doing with even more vigor to get that sort of stimulation. This continues until the human gets too tired to continue or in the case of some humans (mostly males), reaches orgasm.


Understanding the Changes with Feedback Loops



We need to bear in mind that Plato's ultimate goal is to get people to spend real life money on gold and combat stashes/assault packs, given that is how the folks at eRepublik Labs make their living (honestly, I don't think we can blame em for that mindset, we all have to live after all). These changes are designed to give Plato more money by encouraging people to fight more in a fashion that is supposedly intended to not interrupt the balance of the game. Both a Positive Feedback Loop (Taxation of Occupied Territories) and a Negative Feedback Loop (Freedom Fighter Medals) were thus introduced to encourage fighting while maintaining a sort of equilibrium in the New World.

The first change, Taxation of Occupied Territories, is designed to give larger countries an incentive to hold onto or retrieve territories from smaller countries. It acts as a positive feedback loop. As countries get larger, they get more money to continue their empires and their conquest.

The second change, the introduction of Freedom Fighter Medals, is designed to give smaller countries an incentive to fight back. It acts as a negative feedback loop, attempting to bring the New World back to a homeostatic state where all countries only have their original regions, given it encourages others to fight and attempt to win Resistance Wars to bring the world closer to that state.

Thus, essentially the general idea of these changes is to introduce these two feedback loops, which run against each other. This would result in increased spending given the ante has been raised on both sides.


Bad Design and How to Fix It


Back in the day before smartphones came to be, Keitai (Japanese cell phones) were known for their versatility and the amount of functions they had in comparison to western handsets, but they tended to suffer from bad interface design. People couldn't figure out how to use them in many cases.

However, the proposed changes to the system have been hypothesized by many to have a considerable number of issues, namely the following.

1. Countries who are doomed to be wiped or have most of their regions occupied will simply scale back their taxes to 0% via congress as taxation would benefit the occupier more than themselves in that case.

2. The freedom fighter medals are unlikely to encourage people to fight in RWs unless victory is guaranteed.



These sorts of issues, which cause an strong imbalance favoring the side of the Occupier, would discourage people from continuing to fight and cause people to more than likely leave the game in the long run if they are on the side of the oppressed, albeit some of the oppressors might leave as well as the changes make the game too easy. This would result in a reduced paycheck for Plato.

However, Plato wants money, and so Plato, I have some ideas for you to fix the system and make it more fair while keeping your raise.



1. Allow occupied countries to utilize MPPs in their fight against the oppressor, while the oppressor may not use allies.

Reasoning: Freedom Fighter Medals are good and all, but thing is, they still make fighting in RWs useless for personal gain if an RW is unsuccessful. Given the high initial price of moving to a country (20-100cc), this is not encouragement enough to help the Resistance. So, take down that barrier, allow allied countries to fight for the resistance using the MPPs they already have (and also allow people to fight for the resistance if they are in a region governed by the country being partially occupied)! At the same time, do not allow the oppressor to use their MPPs. This would make RWs more equal (given the oppressor is generally stronger) and would encourage more spending on both sides, making it more challenging for the oppressor as well and alleviating their boredom...shadow conflicts between powers via resistance wars may furthermore become more common and make the game more interesting, it's a win-win.



Con: 2.D.G brought this up to me earlier, this change would make landswaps (like for example, Switzerland and the Netherlands taking land in Canada after an Airstrike) much more difficult given rogue RWs would be harder to quell. However, I personally find landswaps to be a bit silly so I don't think this is a major concern especially considering this change would make it easier to keep your original regions. Nevertheless this is something to keep in mind.

1a. Optional: Reduce the price of MPPs for occupied nations.

Reasoning: This is related to item 1. Countries that are occupied are generally weaker and therefore make less money. This acts as a barrier to signing MPPs. So, bring down the price for weaker nations! It could be tied to something like the percent of original regions owned, or maybe total population, with a cap placed at the current price (10k cc).



2. Change the way that countries are billed for taxes by the country occupying them or cap the tax taken at 50%.

Reasoning: With 80% (or possibly more if a country has a large number of original regions yet is still is in possession of a few regions, given Plato's description of the computations regarding how taxes are taken is somewhat vague) of a country's taxes being garnished at a maximum, there is little reason for countries to not zero their tax rates if they are in danger of being mostly or fully occupied. While doing this is certainly an intelligent move for us Japanese at the moment, this negates the intended effect of the introduced changes.

By capping tax taken at 50%, countries will still have a reason to maintain taxation while another nation is occupying them. Alternatively, it could be billed in another matter. For example, a fixed percentage could be added to VAT depending on the number of regions that are occupied. This percentage would go to the occupiers.


I hope you enjoyed this article, if you liked it, subscribe and stay tuned for more from me. Also feel free to vote and/or comment if you'd like. Lastly, let Plato know what you think about the changes here.


~ahava3233


How Shana feels about all of this.
うるちゃい うるちゃい うるちゃい ポレイート！

PS: While you're at it; fix Haifa already!