Do We Need New Approach in Economy to Support New Players? [write comments]
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by EPThompson
The first thing I realized after two weeks in the game is that the military module of the game gets boring very quickly. Grinding medals, saving fuel... Boring! A political or economic module is a completely different matter...
In this article I will talk about the basis - the economic module.It immediately attracted me, a newbie, with its self-regulation: we, the players, set taxes, customs duties, minimum wages, etc. This is so cool!
But a beginner does not immediately dive into the economic module - thank God, they receive a lot of help through various giveaways. This is cool, but it does ruin a little the motivation to make their own products.
Even setting this aside, newcomers are not too eager to engage in the economic module. The market is dominated by old-time players who already have large production lines, many employees and the ability to reduce costs through economies of scale. For example, my House production cost is more than 20 000 GBP. The market price made by the older players is about 17 000 GBP. This is very realistic, but the reality is not unproblematic. It seems to me that the barrier to entry into the economy is too high.
Like any economic problem, it is a political problem. If we don't do everything we can to get new players involved in the economic and political modules, they will simply get bored and leave the game.
We can call the new players "small businesses." Just like in real life, these small businesses need government support to overcome the barrier to entry.
For example, I have this option that comes to my mind : the government could create a housing program and buy the houses from newcomers at a reasonable price (salary costs + HRM costs + a small profit). The other interesting option could be that the government could simply supply new players with HRM.
Yet I'm not experienced enough in the economic module of the game, so I'm inviting you to share your opinions! I'll be glad to read your comments 🙂
(i need 25 of them to complete the task)
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it does seem like a lot of companies in this game are not profitable. I think some are- I'm not sure what schemes are in place to help new players build out those companies. It's a tough life!
Even the big ones?
Voted! And good luckkk
Thank you!
I’ll always agree on the simple fact more needs to be done to assist new players, great article EP!
Thanks! Can you share it with your friends? I value every opinion, especially if somebody will criticize me
The problem with investing resources in new players is that they are new players and you cannot really know if they will stick around long enough.
I don't really know what im saying im really here for the XP and the laughs 😃
Fair point! However, I think that 10 HRM (actually 6 since everyday we get 1 through Daily Challenge) could be justifiable loss. You need 4 days to make a Q1 House - so if you don't finish your production to time, you just don't get the next 10 HRM
Great article and I agree. Unless you spend loads of money on gold, or save for months or more, getting into the economy is very difficult.
Costs THOUSANDS of gold to make a profitable company now. And it sucks.
This kind of thing can also be done, or at least augmented, outside of government by creating a Manufacturers Cooperative. All it really requires is a trusted treasurer who keeps an open ledger. Members contribute funds to a pool. Then those who join can request non-refundable grants to, for example, expand their productive capacities. Every grant is voted on by the members, with simple majority needed.
It's one way for older, wealthier players to help newer players get a leg up. The voluntary contributions and voluntary paybacks make it more social and unlike a bank. You could say it builds social capital from the ground up. The voting encourages discussion and friendly debate over things like best place to place factories, what resources to focus on, and so forth.
Just a suggestion.
Great suggestion
Sounds like Socialism to me!
or an anarcho-syndicalist cooperative
Sounds like the SFP program...oh...right...we are socialist. DOH!
House companies are not profitable. The big producers are doing some economic gymnastics to make them (barely) profitable. Food and weapon companies dont need workers and that's where you can get profit. Even so the income so miniscule that you get more from battle hero medals.
There is a bit of an odd one where air weps are more profible than houses these days, though tbh if you're fresh to the scene I'd recco trying to get self sustainable on weps and food for your daily hits 🙂
Thanks! I think we need a guide on air weps then. Do you know if there is one already? Or should we make one from the scratch
I'll shamelessly admit "I know nothing" really compared to @Huey on this front - if permissable I'll set up a mail between you as he's far more the expert here 😛
Very good issue raised. Have a look at the article from Huey George (there is a link to it in my mid-term report.
Great article as always - I’ll be in touch with more info
comment... o7
The economy of eRep has always been a constant disaster. I remember many many years ago articles written by some of the legends of this game explaining why the way it's setup it will constantly lead to deflation, and the admins don't obviously care to fix it. It's a far cry from games like Eve Online where they employ actual economists to make sure the numbers are sensible... (or at least, that was the case donkeys years ago when I played it)
I see the appeal to get into the economic module! The economic module is the reason I started playing eRepublik, however today it’s very different from 2009.
It's a good idea to support new players learning and using the economic module. It's very clearly an issue however as others have pointed out the barrier to entry isn't really the amount of time you've been in the game it's the module itself.
Older players can make some of the more challenging markets of the economic module work through purchasing the tycoon pack or using gold and cc earned through SH,BH and SH medals and true patriot rewards to support their companies.
New players cannot however buy packs or using the military module to support your economic module efforts isn't ideal.
At the very basic level you do need to understand profitability. This is most simply done by working as a manager without employees, producing food by purchasing food raw material or producing weapon raw material to sell. With a firm economic footing and steady profits you can progress with using employees to produce Q5 aircraft weapons if you are feeling ambitious.
I can support this via a PM however pulling a guide together on how to produce Q5 aircraft weapons would be useful for others so I’ll look into doing this.
Here is some reading in the meantime that you might find useful
https://www.erepublik.com/en/article/complete-erepublik-economy-quo-vadis-plato--2772582?commentId=44333448#comment44333448
https://www.erepublik.com/en/article/-mof-market-advice-to-uk-business-owners--2773081/1/20
https://www.erepublik.com/en/article/-moed-the-basics-of-owning-a-company--2770204/1/20
https://www.erepublik.com/en/article/-moed-the-advanced-guide-to-owning-companies-2770225
Thank you! This is very useful
o7
Good article o7
1) i agree that the game in eUK IS getting boring
2) I am not sure what you can do to new players as they are very few and most of them will not survive.
3) the game has left the 34000 population and entered the 35000. THis is worrying me because this makes me think that they are multis. Never in the 14 years of the game have i see the players rising in the game so ''fast''. I think there is a baby boom and they know that the players will be left to died so that they do not realise they were multi.
4) I am thinking that there were more things to do about 2 months ago when i first arrive in the eUK area. I keep seeing this silly Ministry of Defence•Newspaper i.e [MoD Day 5,816] every day that nobody comments and I just donate 5. it makes the game look so sad and miserable.
5) i Have stopped looking at the eUk message feed show every day available for all as it is not how it was before so i skip it.
6) The uneven party rise in the TRS party makes the game look as it is being pto by a party (not a nation). and has made the 3 lower parties dissolved into one to make it ''look'' even . This seems to make the game look as if there is no chance of improving in the game as the N.1 party will take over and do what they want to do. It looks like a party dictatorship. So any new player that comes in the game is forced to go into the top party to survive. it looks like a Vicious circle.
7) I am 14 years in the game and understand the AIR HITS TARGET. In a battle that we win i must be fast to place AIR
DAMAGE 30000.and in a battle that we loose i must place 20000 AIR DAMAGE. WHAT SEEMS impossible to me is to place the GROUND damage of 80000 to be first. It also reaches only 30000 or 35000 .SO THIS IS TO SAY THAT A new player will never get a win unless other back up. I am not complaining because ground battles that i have hit have had far less than 20000 and i was left to win. I think new players need to be let to win ground and air battles with less damage.
8 )There should be more fun articles instead of the boring unwanted articles that get no comments or donations. This will make the game look less boring. I suggest they find something to do with these articles.ALSO transparency in the quizes is a good thing. WE NEVER get to see the answers of other players . We just collect the prize and ignore what others said as an answer. So what ever you answer you get your cash or weapons and that is it. It would have been nicer to see WHO participated,WHAT THEY said. make it more interesting. make it a dialog.
9) I AM content with the eUK area. Things are very fair in many ways its just something is missing.
Great article EP o7
Personally, I’d view your main source of income as the military module, Division 1 is a great place to farm gold. Companies are a kind of background slow passive income affair.
Air weapons and housing company profitability are massively affected by the tycoon pack, not sure either is profitable without the work tickets that the pack provides. All the work as manager companies are profitable, ground weapons being way better than food - although it's only Q7 and the last two raw materials companies.
They all take a long time to repay any investment though. For example, I have 40 Q7 weapon factories and 700-odd raw companies and only make around 50k a day. The cost in GBP would be around 50 million and take nearly 1000 days for a return on investment. If you spent that same time improving your air rank you could easily get more money a day from medals.
The economic module takes too much time, I rather fight and get the cc/gold. 🙂 more entertaining
o7
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meh
Still today I have difficulties with the economic module.
I wish i could have had better advices at the beginning.
I'm for anything could help. Thank you for starting the debate!
In erepublik economies of scale do not exist.
You can buy a Tycon Pack but to offset its cost it has to have an output worth over 4,524,000 cc.
I can't read.
Hey there, fellow eRepublik player! I totally get where you're coming from. The military module can get repetitive, and the economic module does offer a refreshing change of pace. It's awesome how players can shape the economy through taxes, customs duties, and more.
You mentioned how newbies receive a lot of help through giveaways, which is a nice way to kickstart their journey. However, it might indeed reduce the motivation to produce your own goods. On top of that, the competition from experienced players can make entering the market a bit challenging, given their economies of scale.
I agree with you that this is both an economic and political issue. If we want to keep new players engaged, we should think about solutions to lower the barriers to entry. Your ideas about government support, like a housing program or HRM assistance, are interesting and could help small businesses (new players) thrive.
Personally, I'd love to see more discussions and proposals on how to encourage newcomers to actively participate in the economic and political aspects of the game. Let's brainstorm and work together to make the game more inclusive and engaging for all. Looking forward to hearing more opinions on this issue!