Join the new world

So I'm sure that this article and the couple of articles immediately following it will embarrass me later, but we all have to start somewhere.

Today, on Independence Day, I won my second Hard Worker medal. I've been playing eRep for sixty days. I've wanted to wait, to be sure that I didn't start a newspaper before I was at least a somewhat seasoned player. So here I am, at level fifteen after sixty days, writing my first article on Independence Day. I've worked for one for the first while, but soon moved to the SFP commune. If anyone is remotely interested in experimenting with the economic possibilities of eRepublik, even if you're not a socialist in real life, I invite you to join the Socialist Freedom Party, or even without joining the party, joining a commune. I've tried to be an active and productive member of this party, and it's done a lot for me in correcting silly ideas and in correcting my real world prejudices.

I've tried to think about what I can bring to eRepublik that it doesn't already have, a newspaper that does not already exist, a new idea, something that the people of the eUS might appreciate. It took me a long time to think about it, but I've decided to write a paper that involves philosophy. As you may have noticed, I'm interested in philosophy. My avatar is Zeno of Citium, the founder of Stoic philosophy. My newspaper is called The Stoa, the school that Zeno built to teach his philosophy. That's where the term Stoicism comes from: of the Stoa. Many other philosophies also interest me, so if you're interested in philosophical discourse, PM me! Philosophy is an important part of overall well being, and I noticed that it is something that is missing in eRepublik. No one questions, everyone answers. Most listen, most do not hear. Many talk, few speak. Hell, many don't even bother to talk. I'm no demographer, but I think that somewhere around 60% of the eUS live outside of New Jersey and Florida. This means that about that many must be non-active players, people who have not gotten in contact with a more experienced player or read the forums. We have an awful retention rate, very few active players, and even of the active players many are not constructive.

So this independence day, in my first article, I'm going to ask anyone and everyone to start questioning. Start finding answers and solutions. Start to root out Real World prejudices, eRepublik fallacies, anomalies, and misfortunes (and trolls). I challenge you to find the meaning behind these things and question further still.

Without asking questions we cannot find answers. Without answers we can never understand. It's hard to fully enjoy something you don't understand. I want to enjoy eRepublik! I want you to enjoy eRepublik! So let's go be philosophical and have fun while we're at it.