The failures of eCapitalism
Day 807, 23:00
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Published in Australia 
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by
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by FallbackPants
A quick preface: I wrote this literally hours before the latest EI was released and explained some of the economic changes in V2. They have the power to address some of the issues I address here. Nonetheless while we are still playing V1 my points stand.
Also this was an article turned ACP forum post, turn article so apologies for the varying styles, its Friday afternoon and I honestly CBF rewriting it now. Enjoy....
The failures of eCapitalism and how eCommunists can overcome them.
The new world is a built as under capitalist economic principles. Currency, gold and the market are built into everyday workings of this game.
However, Erepublik lacks some of the most vital parts of capitalism. Products on sale through the market place are always the same, while V2 promises slightly different products it remains to be seen as to both their nature and affect on gameplay.
The quality of products depends entirely on disposable income and has a fairly minimal impact on the game experience.
Can't afford a Q5 moving ticket, food or house? It doesn't matter as long as you have access to a hospital you can keep your wellness at 90+. A hospital which is built and placed by the government, not the free market.
The market does not bring innovation, products remain the same regardless of price or manufacturer.
Essentially the key problem with the market for the average citizen of the new world is simple. It's boring.
Buying the same products, spending your hard earned (well, as hard as a click can be) money on a product that never changes is dull-freaking-central.
Erepublik economic consumption is not like real life. At no stage do you feel the need to upgrade some ridiculous item you have. Its pointless.
"But Fallback," you say, "what about houses? I've been spending gold my whole life on upgrading houses."
Fail.
Not once have I even owned a house. I've traveled the world, been part of senates and cabinets, run a militia, kicked PEACEniks out of America, Brazilians out of Australia, even tried to force a revolution or two. I comtemplated buying a house a number of times. And then I realised there is no point. As with high quality food and tickets, as long as you have a hospital and a semi-regular war keeping 90+ wellness is a peice of piss.
There is only one product that it is worth buying a high quality. Guns.
We need to exploit these two factors in the game.
1 - The market is boring
Once people realise that there is no point to involving themselves in the market place we have to make them realise there is an alternative - the commune system. This is the stage we need to pull people to us.
2 - Buying Q3 and Q5 guns are the only reason to involve yourself in the marketplace.
Therefore, the only reason for people to stay out of the communes is because the only recieve Q1s. If we can provide high quality weapons on a regular basis then there is no incentive not to join.
I realise that providing Q5s will cost a doucheload. And being able to provide weapons regularly has always been a flaw of the commune system. Its hard to rank up weaker players fast without them constantly fighting with big guns, but we can't produce heaps of guns unless we have already strong manufacturers. A catch-22 if I ever heard one.
Also this was an article turned ACP forum post, turn article so apologies for the varying styles, its Friday afternoon and I honestly CBF rewriting it now. Enjoy....
The failures of eCapitalism and how eCommunists can overcome them.
The new world is a built as under capitalist economic principles. Currency, gold and the market are built into everyday workings of this game.
However, Erepublik lacks some of the most vital parts of capitalism. Products on sale through the market place are always the same, while V2 promises slightly different products it remains to be seen as to both their nature and affect on gameplay.
The quality of products depends entirely on disposable income and has a fairly minimal impact on the game experience.
Can't afford a Q5 moving ticket, food or house? It doesn't matter as long as you have access to a hospital you can keep your wellness at 90+. A hospital which is built and placed by the government, not the free market.
The market does not bring innovation, products remain the same regardless of price or manufacturer.
Essentially the key problem with the market for the average citizen of the new world is simple. It's boring.
Buying the same products, spending your hard earned (well, as hard as a click can be) money on a product that never changes is dull-freaking-central.
Erepublik economic consumption is not like real life. At no stage do you feel the need to upgrade some ridiculous item you have. Its pointless.
"But Fallback," you say, "what about houses? I've been spending gold my whole life on upgrading houses."
Fail.
Not once have I even owned a house. I've traveled the world, been part of senates and cabinets, run a militia, kicked PEACEniks out of America, Brazilians out of Australia, even tried to force a revolution or two. I comtemplated buying a house a number of times. And then I realised there is no point. As with high quality food and tickets, as long as you have a hospital and a semi-regular war keeping 90+ wellness is a peice of piss.
There is only one product that it is worth buying a high quality. Guns.
We need to exploit these two factors in the game.
1 - The market is boring
Once people realise that there is no point to involving themselves in the market place we have to make them realise there is an alternative - the commune system. This is the stage we need to pull people to us.
2 - Buying Q3 and Q5 guns are the only reason to involve yourself in the marketplace.
Therefore, the only reason for people to stay out of the communes is because the only recieve Q1s. If we can provide high quality weapons on a regular basis then there is no incentive not to join.
I realise that providing Q5s will cost a doucheload. And being able to provide weapons regularly has always been a flaw of the commune system. Its hard to rank up weaker players fast without them constantly fighting with big guns, but we can't produce heaps of guns unless we have already strong manufacturers. A catch-22 if I ever heard one.
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ACPmaxxxx o7
Capitalism FTW
FT Capitalist!
the only problem is that V2 will see a Rl problem with Communism implemented. happiness. the days of Communisms faults not existing in the game will be over when V2 comes out.
Tim - Communism doesn't have a problem with happiness, totalitarian police states do. Communist or capitalist you stick a dictator with a militarised police force in power and people get pissed.
lol Tim you're funny.
Do you not think though that as the market becomes more like real capitalism in V2 it as well as becoming more interesting perhaps, it will also become more exploitative making ecommunism in the long run more attractive?
um no you misunderstand me
i mean the fact that a project manager and a newspaper deliverer get paid the exact same. Wouldn't the project manager think why the hell am i getting paid the same as someone who does a lot less in their job. This leads to the project manager not doing his job effectively because there is no motivation. I merely used happiness as the medium to express the distaste for the wages.
do you think the Project Manager is happy with getting those wages?
also technically Communism is impossible in eRepublik because it requires a Command Economy. Impossible on eRepublik as any guy with 20 Gold can start one up. you try to make income taxes 99% and people either use the MM to cheat the system or they move away making the country dead and thus likely PTO'd or Conquered. Even if you managed to get all the companies under Govt Control I highly doubt someone wants to run 500 companies with a few others
That being said I do lean to the left. However its rather difficult to implement in this game
Communist FTW~!
ACP does NOT support equal wages for all, payment should be needs based. That is what we propose, as the famous saying goes: "From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs." We only propose that the older players who earn more, can help the younger by sharing their wealth in order to buy better food and health until the youngster has grown up. However, if you don't work, then you don't eat. That is our principles. The reason we believe this is because each person would be motivated to work for the good of society despite the absence of a social mechanism compelling them to work, because work would have become a pleasurable and creative activity. That is what we are all about.
Ideally, we would have many communes that are run by individual Commissars that would then report to the higher authorities, in order that the wealth might be redistributed to the places that need support. Like Telecom in RL used to do. They made more money in the urban centres and thus were able to continue a good and viable system in the outback. However the free market opened up and the outback wasn't considered a viable market, and so support was no longer there. This is what we aim for. A systematic planned economy, free from the exploitations and economic limitations of the current situation seen now.
So, to quickly summarise: 1. ACP do NOT support equal wages as such, but work on a needs based system. 2. A planned economy with Company Commissars reporting up the chain to a department Commissar or Minister with room for individuality and democracy,in order for a better redistribution of the total wealth earned.
"any guy with 20 Gold can start one up"
Absolutely - but it is not necessary to prevent people starting up companies. There is no way a traditional company can compete with a commune due to the completely different (lower) cost structure. They can start a company to supplement state production but there is no point trying to compete with a commune.
Also in a state-led economy there is no need for income taxes or VAT, they are largely irrelevant to the functioning of the economy.
Communism kicks ass
I get so tired of capitalists arguing that if you paid everyone the same they'd have no motivation to work as doctors and other higher professions. Have you never fucking realized the people who work only for money do a shittier job then those who do it out of their own personal love of their profession? If a doctor wants to quit because he thinks he should be paid more I say let him quit because I don't want his worthless ass operating on me. Pardon my french this is just such a terrible argument.
"Have you never fucking realized the people who work only for money do a shittier job then those who do it out of their own personal love of their profession?"
I'm pretty sure that, if a person has a high-wage job, their superiors will MAKE SURE that they do a good job. Occupational autonomy is pretty hard to come by in ANY workplace, and you have yet to even bother offering proof of your claim.
Profit motive - desire for more money = producing harder
Your argument is a failure, not that of the capitalists.
Also, it's unfortunate that eCapitalism is not laissez-faire.
Cody - So the only reason people work hard under a capitalist scheme is because they are forced too? Wow, and I though communism was meant to be the authoritarian one....
Some interesting arguments! However:
1) a House is more efficient for ranking up than guns are; a one is a one shot, a House helps you every day. While Q1 weapons are good, Gifts and Food can end up more cost effective at ranking; getting a 5th or 6th or even 7th attack per day is a better use of cash than increasing a single attack's damage by, what, 20-50%?
If you are trying to gain military ranks, the only weapons to ever look at are Q1: better weapons are for real wars.
2) Lara has screwed the entire market; spending Gold on training is a permanent increase, compared to the temporary bonuses of goods.
3) While I do encourage you to build up your commmunes, they aren't the only communities in erep. Military units, political parties and the friendships created between workers and managers all come to mind.