Corruption

Day 754, 22:11 • Published in USA USA • by Nero Preto
USA, Dec13 | Day 754 of the New World

Leading economists, international relations experts, and former and current world leaders agree on one thing, the world is a divided place and will eventually fall under one international government. The United Nations is a step in that direction. Its fair to say eRep is ahead of the real world, although each country has its own government, there is an international government endowed with absolute authority, commonly know as "Administration". As with any form of government the Administration is to some extent subjected to public opinion and scrutiny, consequently its popularity rises and falls with each bug, feature, etc that we encounter.

Unlike the ever popular democracy of the real world our Administration is a form of totalitarian regime, what it says goes and what it does is law. Perhaps thats their biggest flaw. There is no input from the eRep population, and when there is its limited and almost always ignored. Without the benefits of player input, administration has grossly miscalculated the effectiveness and player acceptance of their recent features. There are several examples to prove this view. Their chat room feature has fizzled, due to fees and the fact that there are tons of free chat rooms outside of eRep. The new fees and expirations for alliances was poorly received by the majority of eRep and continues to be unpopular across the new world.

And perhaps Administrations biggest blunder is the new training feature. We where told its purpose was to help young players catch up with old ones, what it does is the exact opposite. Those who will pay to get double the training are older more experienced players who have established successful companies and thus have the dough to pay for this feature. Its common sense, a brand new player or a week old player will never make enough money to pay 5 gold or even 2 gold to get more effective training. The only way for a new player to do this would be to buy gold with a credit card, and there lies Administrations real goal.

The only problem with this is that eRep has a low player retention level, the first week or so of eRep is boring, slow and seemingly lacking in what it advertises, strategy, possibilities and, interesting game play. Its only after about a week that a player really starts to enjoy themselves and gets hooked like the rest of us. Consequently many players quit within their first week of their eRep lives. Which leaves the exact opposite of a new player to benefit from the personal trainer feature, older players are the ones making the big bucks and can afford to use a personal trainer on a daily basis, the rest of us must watch tanks turn into fortress as the average player continue to struggle to reach maturity on the battle field. Not only that but older player rarely pay real money for gold, they make enough with companies, orgs etc.

That alone is bearable, but there is another setback we must face. Those new players who see reason in paying real money for gold can now become generals in a matter of weeks. Its the equivalent of taking steroids, i can bust my butt on the gym everyday for a year while the guy next door achieves the same results in half the time simply by paying for a little extra something. My commitment to training everyday is now worth next to nothing, the benefits of being an older player, nonexistent. We don't see the fruits of this feature yet but we will soon enough. Colonels, Generals, Field Marshals will soon be half the age we see today. The outcome is inevitable, this new feature will effectively, and to some extent already has, downgraded eRepublik as a game. The personal trainer feature is in my opinion the strongest example of corruption in eRep to date.
-Ingo Castilho-

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Editor's Corner - Be Honest
It's been said that honesty is the best policy. It sounds like the simplest thing in the world; but being truly honest with others and with yourself can be a real challenge. Political correctness, being sensitive of other people's feelings, and facing uncomfortable truths about yourself usually requires lots of patience, vigilance and hard work.

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Sense, Sensibility, and a Lack Thereof


Kindest regards,
Ingo Castilho ~ official writer & reporter
Nero Preto ~ press director & publishing editor