A response to "Should Countries Be Removed From The Game?"
Day 3,750, 15:41
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Published in Australia 
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by
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by Carl Ramirez
eRepublik only features 74 countries. It infamously omits many countries, including large African and Central Asian nations. 
While there are calls to remove countries due to them being constantly occupied by others, I propose an alternative. There should actually be more countries. I say this not only for the purposes of realism, but also because of the points below:
* New players can be attracted to powerful countries due to the prosperity and military opportunities they offer. I propose that countries can instead become "overpopulated". In real life, resources are finite, so why can't eRepublik imitate this by showing diminishing returns the more people live in a region. The more raw materials buildings there are in a region, the lower the productivity should be. Like in real life, this should create an impetus to emigrate to greener pastures, thereby helping to populate the less well-known countries.
* Citizens should be able to work more than one job, regardless of sector. For example, Q5-Q7 factories use 10 workers - why can't one citizen fill those 10 jobs? Why can't a citizen work for more than one company? After all, some people in real life work more than one job, and most people in real life have never fought in a war. The obvious cost of this is in energy, meaning less levelling up from training and fighting. I propose another drawback for choosing to work for more than one company: for every additional job you take, your work tax goes up 5% - this helps simulate real-life progressive taxation.
* By allowing citizens to take up more jobs, this can create an unemployment problem, creating another impetus to move to lesser known countries.
* Countries should be able to set their own immigration laws. The game shouldn't set hard limits on how many citizenship requests can be accepted per month. Instead, a country should simply be able to vote on the cost of a citizenship application, and immigration quotas if needed due to an unemployment problem. To prevent disruptively speedy switching of citizenships, one should have a permanent residency period of 2 weeks where they cannot vote or apply for citizenship elsewhere.
* There should be "public sector jobs". Every job currently put up is to work for a company, producing weapons, aircraft weapons, housing or food. This costs citizens money and gold for wages and business investment, respectively. However, governments should be able to put up certain public sector jobs, paid for with taxes. For example, a "Department of Agriculture" job can churn out "fertilizer" for the government to distribute to their regions to boost agricultural productivity. A "Department of Defence" can churn out "military advisers" which can boost perception and strength of players residing in a certain region. A "Department of Infrastructure" can churn out "architects" which provide bonuses to defensiveness and house production in the selected region.
* Some real life countries, such as Pacific Island nations, have economies that are screwed over by the 21st Century. They have little resources, and are unable to compete in today's economy, leading to mass emigration. I propose that when such countries are added, countries are given the ability to vote on renting out military bases. The countries owning the bases pay for the ability for a damage boost for their soldiers within a certain radius from the base, and an energy boost for these countries.
* Weak countries hosting military bases can also vote ask for "protectorate" status. Protectorates should double the damage and energy boost from the military bases, and will call the owner of the military base to protect the protectorate - but it's not an MPP or alliance because the country with the military base is under no obligation to fight for its protector. It's like how real-life Costa Rica has no military and is instead protected by a guarantee from the USA, but is under no obligation to fight with the USA. Likewise, many real-life Pacific Island nations are dependent on the USA, Australia or New Zealand for defence, but have no obligation to fight for them. Protectorate status should only be available to countries with one de jure region.
* Citizens should be able to invest in companies dealing in tourism and related infrastructure. Citizens should be able to travel to certain regions with tourism infrastructure, whether inside their country or outside, and pay a per night fee to use the tourism infrastructure. The most basic infrastructure, a hotel should be able to supply an energy refill; an additional sports facility should be able to supply additional strength; an additional cultural attraction should be able to help in levelling up; an additional ecotourism site should be able to add to prestige. Governments should be able to spend some money on helping tourism ventures in order to keep tourism income within the country. Regions with no resources should get a tourism bonus, as their unattractiveness to exploitation can help maintain a pristine environment. This can also help make the addition of Pacific Island and Caribbean nations feasible - with little or no resources, they can have a tourism-dependent economy just like in real life.
While there are calls to remove countries due to them being constantly occupied by others, I propose an alternative. There should actually be more countries. I say this not only for the purposes of realism, but also because of the points below:
* New players can be attracted to powerful countries due to the prosperity and military opportunities they offer. I propose that countries can instead become "overpopulated". In real life, resources are finite, so why can't eRepublik imitate this by showing diminishing returns the more people live in a region. The more raw materials buildings there are in a region, the lower the productivity should be. Like in real life, this should create an impetus to emigrate to greener pastures, thereby helping to populate the less well-known countries.
* Citizens should be able to work more than one job, regardless of sector. For example, Q5-Q7 factories use 10 workers - why can't one citizen fill those 10 jobs? Why can't a citizen work for more than one company? After all, some people in real life work more than one job, and most people in real life have never fought in a war. The obvious cost of this is in energy, meaning less levelling up from training and fighting. I propose another drawback for choosing to work for more than one company: for every additional job you take, your work tax goes up 5% - this helps simulate real-life progressive taxation.
* By allowing citizens to take up more jobs, this can create an unemployment problem, creating another impetus to move to lesser known countries.
* Countries should be able to set their own immigration laws. The game shouldn't set hard limits on how many citizenship requests can be accepted per month. Instead, a country should simply be able to vote on the cost of a citizenship application, and immigration quotas if needed due to an unemployment problem. To prevent disruptively speedy switching of citizenships, one should have a permanent residency period of 2 weeks where they cannot vote or apply for citizenship elsewhere.
* There should be "public sector jobs". Every job currently put up is to work for a company, producing weapons, aircraft weapons, housing or food. This costs citizens money and gold for wages and business investment, respectively. However, governments should be able to put up certain public sector jobs, paid for with taxes. For example, a "Department of Agriculture" job can churn out "fertilizer" for the government to distribute to their regions to boost agricultural productivity. A "Department of Defence" can churn out "military advisers" which can boost perception and strength of players residing in a certain region. A "Department of Infrastructure" can churn out "architects" which provide bonuses to defensiveness and house production in the selected region.
* Some real life countries, such as Pacific Island nations, have economies that are screwed over by the 21st Century. They have little resources, and are unable to compete in today's economy, leading to mass emigration. I propose that when such countries are added, countries are given the ability to vote on renting out military bases. The countries owning the bases pay for the ability for a damage boost for their soldiers within a certain radius from the base, and an energy boost for these countries.
* Weak countries hosting military bases can also vote ask for "protectorate" status. Protectorates should double the damage and energy boost from the military bases, and will call the owner of the military base to protect the protectorate - but it's not an MPP or alliance because the country with the military base is under no obligation to fight for its protector. It's like how real-life Costa Rica has no military and is instead protected by a guarantee from the USA, but is under no obligation to fight with the USA. Likewise, many real-life Pacific Island nations are dependent on the USA, Australia or New Zealand for defence, but have no obligation to fight for them. Protectorate status should only be available to countries with one de jure region.
* Citizens should be able to invest in companies dealing in tourism and related infrastructure. Citizens should be able to travel to certain regions with tourism infrastructure, whether inside their country or outside, and pay a per night fee to use the tourism infrastructure. The most basic infrastructure, a hotel should be able to supply an energy refill; an additional sports facility should be able to supply additional strength; an additional cultural attraction should be able to help in levelling up; an additional ecotourism site should be able to add to prestige. Governments should be able to spend some money on helping tourism ventures in order to keep tourism income within the country. Regions with no resources should get a tourism bonus, as their unattractiveness to exploitation can help maintain a pristine environment. This can also help make the addition of Pacific Island and Caribbean nations feasible - with little or no resources, they can have a tourism-dependent economy just like in real life.
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Comments
omg. i take back my -everyone gets 5- endorsement.. you deserve 100 for that. ace article. get a better hobby 😛
Get the word out about my article.
Can I publish it in other countries? I want to get support so that I can ask for these changes to be implemented.
I dont think the developers have that much time/resources for changes ingame. They may change the color palette, prices of packs/gold, but for anything else, they seem to be limited like the neanderthal man was.
A very good article and some really interesting idea's inside.
It's a pity most of the players are not going to have a chance to read it.
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