Join the new world

Evening, my friends. As a preface to the actual substance of this article, I'd just like to remind you to vote and subscribe, if you could. The way I see it, this newspaper doesn't seem to be reaching too many eyes, and this is quite the recurring issue, the likes of which I would like to eradicate as soon as possible; I believe that, with your help, this can be done. Those who choose to aid me, you have my gratitude.

Now then, on to the content.

I've recently been doing a bit of philosophical research, and in particular, I've been studying a bit deeper into Objectivism, so that I might expand my rather meager understanding of this philosophy. For those of you unfamiliar with it (and, I'm sure that there are many of you out there), objectivism is a long and complicated philosophy, I'll be straight with you on that one; however, in applying my research to other pursuits, I've tried to construct a fairly concise definition of objectivism which I believe will suit our present needs:

Ayn Rand argues that “Objectivist Ethics hold that the actor must always be the beneficiary of his action and that man must act for his own rational self-interest.” Objectivism holds that a government’s only place is to act, as Rand states, “as a policeman that protects man’s rights”. Objectivism forbids unwarranted coercion, championing man as “a heroic being, with his own happiness as the moral purpose of his life”.

This may not make sense to some, but follow me here, and allow me to take this real-world philosophy, and apply it to our virtual world.

Most of the definition I've presented isn't exactly relevant to digital politics here in eRepublik. The protection of rights isn't exactly an issue for us, and unrestricted pursuit of our personal interests is one of the many luxuries offered by the New World. However, objectivism also stresses the importance of the free market in the maintenance of a well-ordered society, and while pure, laissez-faire capitalism may not be suitable for the purposes of our world, I think that there's a lesson to be learned from the expansion of the free market in eRepublik.

As it stands, the New World's market is an absolutely fantastic structure. There is plenty of competition, an infinite demand, and a fairly large pool of customers, giving every player the opportunity to be successful in a lucrative business venture; furthermore, the free market offers all of the the necessities required for a happy, healthy life here in the New World; however, as one popular saying reminds us, the freer the market, the freer the people.

I have only a couple of small suggestions as to how eRepublik's free market system could be expanded.

1. Provide for more player-player interaction.

The market is all about transactions between free agents. Buying from (and selling to) companies is an enjoyable experience, I agree, but allowing for official transactions between players not only makes the game more personal, but it also puts more power in the hands of the citizens, which is something that is crucial to keeping a strong player base (and ultimately, to keeping the profit flowing in).

2. Provide a larger variety of available goods.

A great idea would be to expand the types of items that can be bought and sold. I understand that each item has subdivisions based on quality, but I think that the administrators can afford to build upon that success by actually implementing a system which accommodates different classes of items. Different foods, weapons, and especially gifts - why not sell gifts which do more than increase wellness? Try gifts that increase strength for a few fights. You can't honestly tell me that that wouldn't be a profitable business.

3. Auction house?

It might sound silly, but what of those players who don't want to sell a large quantity of items through their companies? What if you simply happen to have an extra miscellaneous item or two that you can't get rid of otherwise? For all you know, some poor sap could be willing to buy a Q3 Beretta for 2g. And you could be the lucky guy to sell it to him. You don't want to go through the hassle of the reciprocal donation process, and putting it through the marketplace isn't efficient; what do you do? You auction it off. It's quick. It's simple. It saves you a lot of space, while making you a bit of money in the process.

These are probably nothing more than a couple of half-baked ideas, but perhaps you could turn them into gold. I'll wrap this up quickly by reminding you that, whether your for expanding the market, or tightening regulation, truth takes no sides.