Role-Playing: Its Place in eRepublik

Day 811, 13:49 • Published in USA USA • by Tom McDougal

Role-playing has gotten a bad name in this game and I don’t blame people for feeling this way because for the most part, you make a game lamer and scarier by RPing. In WoW for instance, people use RP as an excuse to stand in fire or cyber 16 year old girls (best part of WoW). In D&amp😉 people use RP as an excuse to dress up in lame costumes like this



which draws attention to the gamers and makes them more likely to receive wedgies from their local bullies. Now, thinking the same rules that apply in most games also apply to eRep isn’t a crime, it's actually a pretty good assumption which I agreed with for the most part up until recently. I think I knew it subconsciously for a while now, but I was afraid to admit it because of the ridicule my peers of the game would heap upon me.

When I returned from my long ban I vowed to only do the things that excited me and made the game fun. One of those things was Congress, so I ran and won, but I was disappointed at how different it was. Gone were the inter party politics that dominated the old days. I should have rejoiced at the death of something that I myself had hated, but I hated even more what took its place. Instead of fun flame wars I got bureaucracy steeped in bureaucracy. Politics in general, which used to excite me so much, seemed to have lost all their luster. It was confusing to me because the eUS had finally achieved the thing I had campaigned for so hard to put an end to and yet things weren’t more fun, they were exactly the opposite. We had replaced a fun but useless form of RP with one that was like the picture above; no fun and lame.


A member of congress from my last term

I believe our retention problems can be linked back to our RP fearing populace. I’ll use our war on Mexico as an example.

Why we really attacked – “We were bored this gives us something to do.” “lulz”

What we should have said instead – “ We are invading mexcio because of their recent embargo on taco shells to the eUS. Without them our tacos will be shapeless blobs of meat, cheese, and lettuce. This is an insult to the American people and will not be tolerated. In order to keep our honor intact and pay for the war we will conquer Mexico and kidnap their greatest treasure."



Salma Hayek

Which one sounds more like fun to you?

Nowadays we have better reasons rooted in both complicated game mechanics and ancient eRep history. Sure we could explain our reason for war with the eUK to a noob but they would never feel the same about it as we do. We downright despise them and the dastardly acts they committed against us, but Noobs still know them as out staunchest ally irl. Game mechanics and history aren’t going to be enough to draw new people in. We need crazy reasons along with the other reasons not only for the new players but the old players who enjoy a good laugh and realize we are just kidding around. Life is about balance and so is this game. We need to find the balance between fun and srz bznz. Things like S.E.E.S. and Emerick the Great’s return are part of the RP glue that holds together all the srz bznz together and keeps us all from quitting. Without them this game would be like watching CSPAN.

We have to be careful to not fall into the trap of RPing like this guy



We need to stay funny and on topic and realize we don’t use RP to make the game more complicated. We use it to make the game more fun for everyone. This girl has the right idea.



I hope this article changes some of your minds about the place of RP in eRep and helps make this game a better place for you and me.