PrincessVictoria on Blockers

Day 1,222, 17:17 • Published in USA USA • by PrincessVictoria

My fellow eAmericans,

If I sat here and told you I was not bothered after these elections, I’d be a bold-faced liar. That’s why I’ve decided to polish off the old soapbox and talk about the hot topic borne out of the March 2011 elections.



As a candidate in this election who had to deal with this issue, I feel I am especially qualified to discuss this. Let me explain to those who don’t know what a blocker is. According to the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, blocking (in the context of eRepublik) would be defined as:

block (’bläk), verb- to make unsuitable for passage or progress by obstruction


I feel that after yesterday’s elections, many of the blockers forgot this really simple definition or decided it would be permissible to do the exact opposite by blocking the people they were supposed to help. I will not mention names out of respect for those involved but this was the case in several states, especially my own. For more extended coverage of the election, I recommend Gnilraps’ coverage in 16 Shells.


You betcha yesterday was nuts, y’all.

It is my understanding that when a member of any political party signs up to block in a state, they agree to not campaign in order to direct votes towards the endorsed candidate to prevent certain situations like PTOs (political takeovers). These are used most commonly by individual parties like the Libertarians, the USWP, the UIP, and the Federalists or by collective ATO (anti-takeover) efforts as was the case with this election since the disastrous February 2011 election in which INCI made their way into eUS congress.

If there’s one thing I’ve grasped with the last four elections I’ve been in, nothing is ever ‘as was the case’ with an eRepublik election (especially from my perspective). According to my own observations and those of my fellow Libertarians, I was still in the lead in my state when I checked at 1 a.m. EST and when the others checked moments before update. This appeared to be the same case in other states like Wisconsin. This seemed to be a critical political crisis that paled in comparison to the elections of last month and I am still sorting through its effects as we speak.

When I logged on this morning around 7 a.m., IRC was dead silent on my end but eRepublik was positively buzzing with the news of election results. As I feared, I had lost and so had a few others. Who had won? Blockers.

I congratulate those who won their Congressional elections in their respective states but I see a problem with this for future elections. We simply cannot allow a repeat of this election. The madness that has painted eRepublik political life since February 25th needs to be stopped before it escalates to something worse. It is with that thought in mind that I recommend every citizen begin discussions with their respective parties on how this can be prevented. I know no in-game action can be sought against future violators but there should be consequences expected in the social aspect of eRepublik to ensure that those who intend to run for Congress have a fair chance.

It is up to you to be the change that eAmerica needs.



Till next time, my dear readers…
~PrincessVictoria



EDIT: Did I ever say do away with blockers? No; don't take it out of context. Also, this is not because I'm affiliated to any party but rather am frustrated with what happened on March 25th.