ATOs, PTOs, and an explanation for the laymen

Day 1,062, 10:29 • Published in New Zealand USA • by Bradley Reala

There has been some discussion on the possibility of a PTO (Political Take Over) of eNZ. Realizing that there will always be some confusion, I hope to explain to any new players what is really going on.

In this game there is a mechanic called "Citizenship" which allows the legitimate government to control who can and cannot vote in their country. Just like in the real world where countries only allow natural or naturalized citizens to vote, the same is present here on eRepublik. Unfortunately when a country is first created (or first comes back after being completely occupied), and has no official Congress to hand out citizenship, citizenship is given to anyone who asks for it. This has dire results due to the fact that anyone may request citizenship, and have it automatically granted to them. When that happens players called "PTOers" tend to come from everywhere in order to try and take over the nation in question, and it is often difficult for the natives to retain control of their country.

Even more, when eNZ was created, very few real life Kiwis played the game. Due to this, it was hard, at first, to know who was legitimately coming to New Zealand to be a part of its community, and who was just here to steal from its treasury, or god knows what else. Luckily, since that time, the eKiwi community has grown, and it has accepted people from all walks of life. Whether a former eUS citizen, eUKer, eAussie, or even eSerbian; we have gained many people who really do care for eNZ over their old homes, and are excited about being assimilated into the community.

Unfortunately, we also have groups that refuse to accept their new identities, and only wish to "colonize" us.


Click on the picture to make it larger.

Here, we have two conflicting statements, less than four minutes apart. You can find those statements on Myles Robinson's article (though I assume the first will be deleted soon, which is why I screenshotted them). First the Serbian poster proclaims a wish to "colonize" us, and next he explains that he is only here to stop the eUSA.

That's funny, because as I see it, the eUSA isn't here. A mish-mosh of former eUS citizens did come to eNZ, but they also helped set up the provisional government, the forums, and the irc channels.

I could go on and on about who is legitimate and who is not, but I believe the "colonize" statement speaks for itself.

Kiwis, there are people out there who would like to "colonize" us. We must work together for this first month, a month where we have open citizenship, to ensure that when it comes time to choose the Congress and President, we are electing eKiwis, and not eSerbians or eAmericans, or ePoles, or whomever the threat may come from. This is our country, and the only way we can protect it is by working together.

So please, when the provisional government ask you to do something, don't accuse them of trying to take power. This is not the real world, they can neither threaten nor hurt you, and they only request your cooperation so that we can all live in a safe and secure eNew Zealand. An eNew Zealand for eKiwis, by eKiwis, and of eKiwis.