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Greetings eUSA. As of this moment we have a very tight election underway. As I type this the gap is 13 votes. Over the course of this campaign I have seen a decent amount of mudslinging. Neither major candidate is innocent in this. So it is not my intent in this article to call out anyone. Watching these events unfold from my uniquely neutral perspective has reminded me of my own erepublik electoral past. So with that in mind my intent here is not to chastise or put anyone on the spot, but to share hard learned lessons of my career in this game.



A glance at my erepublik profile will show you 4 CP medals. I have had the honor of leading the eUSA four different times. Going beyond my four successful campaigns on the 5th of the month. In total I have been on the ballot that particular day 8 times. I lost to Gnilraps (twice), BeachBunny (or bro...catfish anyone?), and Resoula. In addition to this I ran for CP 3 other times, but did not win my Party Primary I withdrew from 2 and lost a third one. Those Primaries were against BigCdizzle (more on that later), NewAzazel, and lastly to Derphoof. So 11 times I have put together a Campaign in which I have published articles touting a vision for the next month, mass messaged, selected a team to form my Cabinet, and submitted myself to the Q&A threads of the various Parties.



I was successful just a little over a third of the time. Meaning I am not exactly a political juggernaut. That said I do believe those campaigns taught me a lot. I have made more than my fair share of mistakes in this game. Community is everything in eRepublik, and game mechanics being what they are no one Party no matter how large or organized can accomplish much without working with the rest of the top 5. Very early in my return to this game circa 2013 I managed to alienate WTP and AMP in a ridiculously short amount of time. This made the aforementioned Q&A threads with those 2 Parties more than a little uncomfortable especially the AMP. Q&A with the AMP was just slightly less painful than shoving a hand into a meat grinder.

Going back to the Primary against BigCDizzle from which I withdrew. In the summer of 2013 The eUSA was primarily concerned with 2 things: first we were wiped by TWO, and second we had decided as nation we were done dealing with Ajay and his Serbian backed PTO attempt. ATO was very much a primary focus of the Parties, MUs, Congress, and the Executive. During the month in question Oblige was CP and during his term managed to whittle down our occupiers from 7 to 2. We went from wiped to getting the western half of our nation free once more.

Yet we had a setback that angered me to my bones during the ATO actions prior to Congressional Elections. We came agonizingly close to pushing Ajay's Party out of the top 5. This would have denied them seats in congress and the accompanying citizenship passes to import reinforcements for the first time in years. I blamed Oblige for not contributing enough to the effort. So I made a deal with BigCdizzle who was planning on running against Oblige for CP. I would also run and publish attack articles against Oblige. I would get on eNPR and criticize Oblige and just generally be a pain in the ass. Then I would withdraw from the Primary whether I was up or down in the vote.



That is what I did and looking back it was one of the biggest mistakes/regrets of my time in this game. That attack campaign severely damaged my reputation and standing with more than just Oblige and his allies. With the passing of time and the added experience of actually running the Executive, making decisions that affect the gameplay experience of thousands (and sadly eventually just hundreds) of citizens of the eUSA and her allies I realize now Oblige did a damn good job that month. I criticized him for spending too much money and for leaning too heavily on his Cabinet. Yet in my own turns at the helm I also leaned on my Cabinet and spent a lot of money in the various wars and Airstrikes that we had to defend against.

Not long after that campaign the last remnants of the TWO occupation left, and we eventually broke the PTO beyond repair to the point that the members of the AFA parted ways with Ajay. Eventually Oblige and I became friends, and eventually I broke through in my journey to become Country President. It was a fun and rewarding experience, but through my choices and initial approach I made my journey much harder than it needed to be.

My advice to any candidate for office in eRepublik be it Party President, Speaker, or Country President is this: make your message about you. Sell your vision, talents, plans, and team to the voters. Tell us what you have to offer. Make the campaign about your strengths. Not the weaknesses of your opponent. I can promise you from experience it will resonate far stronger and much more positively than attacking the individual you are running against. When you go negative you make enemies. Those enemies then take delight in blocking your endeavors. I learned this the hard way. I thank you for taking the time to read this missive. I hope that you believe it has been worth the time.