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Howdy eUSA!

Well, it has surely been a very exciting couple of days for the people of the eUnited States. From the retention of the WTP Party Presidency by Gnilraps to the formation and membership explosion of the chickensguys supported American Freedom Alliance, from FYROMian revolutionaries to an Admin restructuring of Congressional elections, we've been on a roller coaster ride of change. Personally, I believe it is a bit too much to handle in such a short period of time, makes me miss the stable days of Oblige's final terms...

On the topic of the new change implemented by the admin, a summary of it can be found here. Now, I'm all for changes in the game, but sixth party candidates are quite useless in this new version of Congress. Being a member of the currently 12th placed Revolutionary Party for the majority of my time in this game, that doesn't stand too well with me. The parties have no reason to place sixth party candidates at a higher priority than their own members. Players are going to be funneled into the Top 5 now, because why would an ambitious new player move to a sixth party when they have little to no chance of a congress seat?

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Well that's the end of my thoughts on the issue, now on to the real reason behind this article. Last week, I thought that I'd send a message to a number of players from a number of various backgrounds. I put this idea on the back burner for a couple of days until yesterday, while looking at the membership numbers of the Revs, I see this...


Now, this made it the perfect time to put out my article. The question sent to a couple dozen players went as follows*:

Pap25pas: "So, if there was one major change/addition/omission that you would make to eRepublik to make it a better game for yourself and other players, what would it be? Specifically a game mechanics change of course."

These are the answers that followed in the past 24 hours.

Phoenix Quinn: "Something that would affect the form of government. For example, things like:
* Specific cabinet roles
* Local elections
* Different types of government
* Civil War
Good luck with your article!"
A great way to more effectively implement certain aspects of the meta-game into the game itself.

Hanibal LA: "hmm, i have a lot of ideas right now, but all those are....hmm..i dont know..in every option somebody will be dissatisfied.

in fact, i dont have anything agains this module, its democratic indeed, maybe just forbid mobility on E-Day..."
A valid suggestion leaving the power to the people in the state, although impossible now.

Harry W. Hill: "Address groups for sending messages.
The ability to block PMs from other players or groups."
Making party/MU news more easily visible and preventing an increasing trend of spam and harrassing PMs.

Oblige: "I'd like it made so that every party doesn't need to run a candidate in every region."
Wish granted, now we don't need to run in any regions.

Addy Lawrence: "Hide the vote count during elections, keep it a mystery until the election is over."
I suppose this can still work in terms of number of votes a party gets in the new system. I guess we'll have to wait until the 25th to see for sure.

Alleyrat: "I would like the exile of eUSA citizens with the proposal by the POTUS and voted on by Congress and if 2/3's vote yes the citizen is left with no country, also there would be a limit of 30 people to get exiled per term. They can just use a boat to show its a man with no country... or just send them all to Cuba which would be the bad guys country so the can have their own dirty politics and everything."
Pretty good point that a larger system should be implemented for removing internal threats. You'll see this to be the most common suggestion.

Vanek26: "Deportations of people, stripping their citizenship by proposal of CP and vote of Congress."

bigcdizzle: "I would like to see a deportation module. Where a player could have their CS taken from them if voted by two thirds of congress. I dislike that people can join a country, lead PTO attempts, and that there is nothing that can be done about it. My preference would be that at this point, they could not join an MU, party, or even fight, until they were given CS to another country."


Oh how the mud would fly

John Killah: "In my opinion, the entire game needs an overhaul mechanics-wise. Every module is bleeding a slow death, and the admins need to realise that while the War Module is integral, it isn't all that sustains the games community. They need to realise more people will come and play if there's more to the game than a war module that quite frankly is childsplay. But i'd have to go with make a proper economy again, I miss it."
Don't we all...

Molly Jo Caine: "I think a party mass message button would be great."
Another advocate for easier communications.

Emperor Rick: "omg where do I even start? If I had to pick one area it would be on the economy.

I want a real free and open economy that's based on our collective ingame choices, and not one that is artificially set by admin's manipulations. To do that we need a return of foreign currencies, a return of currency exchanges, diverse resources (so a return of moving tickets, houses, and etc), and a basic stock market, strategic based sources of production."
Although a bit complex for new players, provides a real way to profit again.

Thedillpickl: "If I had one thing to add it would be the ability to kick a party member like in a MU. Of course this could be misused and that is a major concern. A PTO'er could take over and kick all the real members. That would make electing a responsible person as party president very important.

Whatever the change is, I'm sure that admin will mess things up. Only the war mod is important you know. 😃"
Mess things up? We've got a winner 🙂

Nicholas Boyce: "Heh, well I wouldnt mind them actually fixing congress elections so you can look at other regions than your own, but thats more of a bug than anything.

What I really would like to see is the possibility of referendums, too often do we see too much power in congress, specifically impeachments, and referendums should be proposed to the nation for all players eligible to vote, yet this referendum would only be a straw pole and would hold no binding, it'll just show what people really think.

Also, byelections or some other way of replacing resigned/dead congressmen would be very nice. Even if it is just the runnerup from the previous elections or someone selected by the PP"
The referendum! Seen under the Glove administration, an in-game mechanic would make its use much simpler. (And great timing with your message)


Do we really want to hear the people though?

rainy sunday: "Enable an in game censure of Congress member proposal. If successfully censured by his peers, all of his citizenship approvals are automatically reverted."
Congressional accountability is sadly lacking in this game, and would make rogue proposals a one time offense. Let's hope this one gets added some day.

Hostilian: "Kill infinite tanking, have more fun!

In the good ol' v1 days, we had a finite quantity of wellness we could use per day. Be it by using food, gifts or golden wellness packs, the number was finite (I think 10 WPs per day + 10 gifts + whatever you get from food and housing on the daychange, but I could be wrong about the numbers). If they'd just limit the number of wellness packs/candybars one can use per day, things would be much better."
I don't think I could handle anymore liquidation of this game, but the vast headstart of the tankers is a little ridiculous right now.

And

Ronald Gipper Reagan: "It is the same change I have been suggesting for YEARS. It's simple. Add a feature to allow a Party President the power to approve or deny new members. It would obliterate the threat of Domestic PTO and make the political module much more interesting and fair."
The motives behind this are pretty obvious, but it is a fair feature.

And those are all the responses I have received so far. If you are one of the fifteen or so people who got the message but hasn't responded yet, or you didn't and still have a suggestion, PM me and I'll be sure to add your response to the article. Thanks for reading.

SHOUT:
How would YOU change eRep for the better?
http://www.erepublik.com/en/article/2123728/1/20

Of course,

*Message sent out last night, before the reveal as to what the new political module change was.