The game outside the game
Day 1,591, 23:49
•
Published in South Africa 
•
by
•
by Belea2008
Context
I have messaged 40 or so people from South Africa to ask them what they think about me running for the presidency of South Africa. Some of them are young (20+ level, a month or so of playing). Others are veterans!
From my level of engagement, I could be described as not involved. I do not show up in IRC, I have not visited the external forum on a daily basis since months ago and the list can continue.
As for my level of information, I don't have access to the biggest secrets of South Africa (or other countries), but I do have some level of access to what is going on and what is not going on (some good, other shady stuff and a few things which would be best not to be told about).
By the way, I use a lot the "I" concept for two reasons: (a) my ego (yes, I have one; and all of you have one) AND (b) it is easier to describe situations in first person (and all of you are better at describing the stories/situations in which you were directly involved).
And yes, nowadays, I am lazy.
A common advice from veterans
I will quote mulderpf: ”You've been around for a long time, but I really think you should get back involved with government first before just running.”
South Africa = overtly bureaucratic
It is not a secret that I like simplicity and I like organization, but without reaching bureacracy. A few random examples:
- I want to bring a real life (RL) friend in South Africa (he's Romanian, playing in the virtual USA right now). To receive citizenship, I have to make a formal request in the external forum. Or I have to ask somebody to make that formal request. And I have to wait! (This happened to me while I was a Congress Member.)
- I want South Africa to sign an alliance with another country. I have to find out about our current strategy in regards to alliances (IRC or forum), then a formal discussion in the forum, then wait! And no guarantees that it will become an in game proposal/discussion. (This happened to me before, during and after my terms in Congress.)
- I have RL friends who play in South Africa (and I know other young citizens with the same problem) which are stuck at the mission - "True Patriot" (the one with the "defeat 30 enemies in a war against your natural enemy"). I will not go into the gargantuan forum + IRC complex procedures/discussions to get a natural enemy signed!
Normality
For some of you this is normality. For me, it is not. As citizens become older and more experienced, procedures/situations should become easier for them.
Let's define a "trusted citizen of South Africa" as any citizen with citizenship for at least 6 or 12 months (you pick the number of months) and which has done a certain IN GAME activity periodically (example: write an article at least once a month).
These trusted citizens (Nickerball is a good example; leewas will be another good example if he keeps his citizenship for that period defined above) should do certain things easier (without the hassle of bureaucracy). A few examples:
- If they are Congress Members, they should be allowed to grant citizenships without asking the Ministry of Security of South Africa (MoS) for approval.
- Any citizen (Congress Members or not) should be allowed to propose stuff (serious stuff) by using their own newspapers. If there is already a major consensus in one direction or not, that citizen will know how to (or not to) act further.
- Let people use in game buttons. If a Congress Member proposes any law without an article or anything, then I trust that the law will NOT pass. After all, no sane elected citizen will vote YES on something which was not discussed beforehand.
You made the forum mandatory, by adding bureaucracy, and the IRC (almost) mandatory by not communicating enough.
I think it is easier for you, decision makers, this way:
- "If you want to propose something, go to FORUM! That is the proper way!"
- "If you wish information, go to IRC! That is the easy way!"
Proper? Easy? Easy for who exactly?
I trust South Africa
This was supposed to be a short article.
Anyway, I was very pleasantly surprised to find out that, despite the problems I layed above (and others our country faces), the spirit of South Africa is still there. The same spirit which made me love this country: friendship, communicative people, desire for a better country (and, why not, a better world).
Except for two young citizens, all the people I messaged answered back. And these were neither short expeditive answers like "yes, whatever" or "no, you are not involved enough", nor aggresive/mean. They were from people who can be trusted, who think before they talk, who wish to help before they ask for anything. Even the young citizens wrote back with walls-of-text ideas, questions, what they understood, what they did not, what they think I should do based on their little or no experience (in game experience, I mean).
With a smile on my face, good morning, dear people of South Africa!
Belea.
P.S.: Krimpie/Leewas, I am NOT quitting the game. And yes, if I ever quit, I will give you my stuff.
I have messaged 40 or so people from South Africa to ask them what they think about me running for the presidency of South Africa. Some of them are young (20+ level, a month or so of playing). Others are veterans!
From my level of engagement, I could be described as not involved. I do not show up in IRC, I have not visited the external forum on a daily basis since months ago and the list can continue.
As for my level of information, I don't have access to the biggest secrets of South Africa (or other countries), but I do have some level of access to what is going on and what is not going on (some good, other shady stuff and a few things which would be best not to be told about).
By the way, I use a lot the "I" concept for two reasons: (a) my ego (yes, I have one; and all of you have one) AND (b) it is easier to describe situations in first person (and all of you are better at describing the stories/situations in which you were directly involved).
And yes, nowadays, I am lazy.
🙂
A common advice from veterans
I will quote mulderpf: ”You've been around for a long time, but I really think you should get back involved with government first before just running.”
South Africa = overtly bureaucratic
It is not a secret that I like simplicity and I like organization, but without reaching bureacracy. A few random examples:
- I want to bring a real life (RL) friend in South Africa (he's Romanian, playing in the virtual USA right now). To receive citizenship, I have to make a formal request in the external forum. Or I have to ask somebody to make that formal request. And I have to wait! (This happened to me while I was a Congress Member.)
- I want South Africa to sign an alliance with another country. I have to find out about our current strategy in regards to alliances (IRC or forum), then a formal discussion in the forum, then wait! And no guarantees that it will become an in game proposal/discussion. (This happened to me before, during and after my terms in Congress.)
- I have RL friends who play in South Africa (and I know other young citizens with the same problem) which are stuck at the mission - "True Patriot" (the one with the "defeat 30 enemies in a war against your natural enemy"). I will not go into the gargantuan forum + IRC complex procedures/discussions to get a natural enemy signed!
🙂(This happened to me a few weeks ago.)
Normality
For some of you this is normality. For me, it is not. As citizens become older and more experienced, procedures/situations should become easier for them.
Let's define a "trusted citizen of South Africa" as any citizen with citizenship for at least 6 or 12 months (you pick the number of months) and which has done a certain IN GAME activity periodically (example: write an article at least once a month).
These trusted citizens (Nickerball is a good example; leewas will be another good example if he keeps his citizenship for that period defined above) should do certain things easier (without the hassle of bureaucracy). A few examples:
- If they are Congress Members, they should be allowed to grant citizenships without asking the Ministry of Security of South Africa (MoS) for approval.
- Any citizen (Congress Members or not) should be allowed to propose stuff (serious stuff) by using their own newspapers. If there is already a major consensus in one direction or not, that citizen will know how to (or not to) act further.
- Let people use in game buttons. If a Congress Member proposes any law without an article or anything, then I trust that the law will NOT pass. After all, no sane elected citizen will vote YES on something which was not discussed beforehand.
You made the forum mandatory, by adding bureaucracy, and the IRC (almost) mandatory by not communicating enough.
I think it is easier for you, decision makers, this way:
- "If you want to propose something, go to FORUM! That is the proper way!"
- "If you wish information, go to IRC! That is the easy way!"
Proper? Easy? Easy for who exactly?
I trust South Africa
This was supposed to be a short article.
😉
Anyway, I was very pleasantly surprised to find out that, despite the problems I layed above (and others our country faces), the spirit of South Africa is still there. The same spirit which made me love this country: friendship, communicative people, desire for a better country (and, why not, a better world).
Except for two young citizens, all the people I messaged answered back. And these were neither short expeditive answers like "yes, whatever" or "no, you are not involved enough", nor aggresive/mean. They were from people who can be trusted, who think before they talk, who wish to help before they ask for anything. Even the young citizens wrote back with walls-of-text ideas, questions, what they understood, what they did not, what they think I should do based on their little or no experience (in game experience, I mean).
With a smile on my face, good morning, dear people of South Africa!
Belea.
P.S.: Krimpie/Leewas, I am NOT quitting the game. And yes, if I ever quit, I will give you my stuff.
Facebook
Twitter
Discord
Comments
Correction 1: You do not have to post a request on the forum to get citizenship. There is no such pre-requisite whatsoever - we pick up citizenship applications from the game and I often suggest that people register on the forum, no pre-requisite.
Correction 2: If you do not want to go onto the forum to convince someone why we should sign a NE, then do it in your paper.
Correction 3: You don't have to use the forum if you want to discuss a new alliance - you can do it in your newspaper, however, the media module is 1000 times worse than it was in v1, so good luck if anyone reads it.
There are those who play on the forums and those who do not. The forums are used as an easier way to discuss things, because unfortunately, there is no means in eRep to do that. If we were all to just randomly propose things without discussing anything, then we should rather go and play Farmville. This is a strategy game and it's very difficult to strategise without communication (IRC + forum = communication - the game does not necessarily help).
And these are not just empty words, I stand by it. I run my party where people are free to go onto the forum or if the game is enough for them, it's fine by me. I am elected speaker this month (which is a forum position), however, I brought it in-game too and made sure that even congress members who do not wish to use the forum are completely included (they can play along using the game only).
Lastly, I really have to say that activity is not simply related to IRC or forum activity. As I said in my message to you, you also haven't had any articles or shouts - these are tools which are in-game which should be used to build activity. Perfect example is the previous party president elections - Nick Jones is perfectly active on the forum, Wincenty1 has not been - Nick Jones did nothing in-game to bother getting any votes, Wincenty1 did. Who won? Wincenty1.
Good morning Belea!
Hopefully you will be more active (whether in-game or not!)
I ran out of characters. Argh!!! Can't discuss things here!!!
Thanks for the corrections, Mulder! ; )
”I ran out of characters. Argh!!! Can't discuss things here!!!”
You can always write an article if you write and write and write and run out of characters... : )
Great article!! I used to be a very active citizen a long time ago... Why? Because I spent almost all of my time on the forums. It literally took all my time just to stay on top of everything. I quit the game bacause of that. Now I'm back, but I refuse to join any forum or IRC. A lot of people know me and trust me, but because I refuse to join a forum, I cannot even run for congress. The forums have become the game, not eRep itself...
Good morning Belea!
Good points Belea.
I do however think that the game developers have forced us into this situation.
When I started playing everything was done in-game but gradually this place has been transformed from an interesting social simulator to a horribly sub par battle sim. The evolution had to take place outside of the game instead, and by know Al Kazar has created a forum utopia.
A newspaper article isn't a satisfactory discussion area for congress, PM's aren't either. I'd even go so far as to say that without the game outside the game, Erep would have nothing at all to offer those who are interested in other stuff than gaining strength and rank.
Registering on the forum does not mean you have to sit in front of it for hours each day. You choose your level of commitment, there as well as in-game.
@Rico I wish it was that easy, but all orders are given through the forums. If you don't listen to those orders you are traeted like a traitor. I know, I was there. Some people just cannot access forums, due to the workplace restricting them. What about them? Will it be enough for me to pop into the forums once a week or once a day? No! Orders change often, sometimes more than once a day. If I choose my level of commitment, I might as well not join the forums at all, and that is exactly what I'm doing. I do however agree with you that without the forums, there is no eRep. eRep is not here, but inside the forums...
Anyone running for congress should be counted on for a pretty high level of commitment. If you can't deliver that commitment you should refrain from running. There are probably workplaces that restrict Erep access too so I don't feel that is a convincing argument.
If you join a MU you will receive orders in-game.
Rico - in terms of the commitment you have to show as congress - there are 40 slots to fill and I guarantee you that there are members who slack off. It's not that difficult for them to get into congress. Being registered on the forum doesn't necessarily show commitment.
Of current congress, 38 have access to the forum. I am aware of 3 that had difficulty initially.
A sizeable number of congress people had access to the forum yet, only 25 voted in the speaker thread.
During the previous term, only 17 voted on the auto-MPP proposal. 13 voted in another proposal, 20 in another, 12 in the next. These figures are WAY below the 40 people who were elected. Yet the majority of them had access to the forum.
Compare this to the number who voted in the last in-game proposals: 34, 40, 37, 33.
So it's not like these people didn't log in - they just didn't log into the forum.
Then that's my next gripe with eRep as a comms medium - there's no way to alert people that I've typed up something here. That's sucky, because some might never see my response...
So, in first person, my eR gaming experience:
1) In game: It's the basis. We could talk long about versions but we will be forced acceptant like always.
2) Forum: The heart of the game, the place where I socialize. If you don't like reading maybe try a shooter game.
3) IRC: Important, but I hate chats so I live without. I only logged in on election days in PTO times.
4) Extras: Sometimes is something else, today I'll sneak into a RL meeting via Skype.
Conclusion: If I had only the in game part I would have quitted for ages.