The Worst Medal
Day 1,402, 19:25
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Published in Japan 
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by
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by KITA Ikki
At least the "Society Builder" medal encourages people to actively recruit new citizens for the game (though of course there was some likely abuse by multi-users). The "Media Mogul" medal is now a lot more meaningful after the elimination of organization subscriptions (which led to abuse by scriptboys controlling 1000+ orgs and offering "pay 5 gold for media mogul medal" deals). Nevermind that a likely 95%+ of Battle Hero and Campaign Hero medals are earned by the same top 100~150 players, here's a medal that everyone can earn:
Hooray! Earned Day 1,402 of the New World (September 22nd, 2011)
Since kills are mostly independent of strength, all you need to do is go around the world fighting in random wars until you accumulate 25 kills for 50 countries.
The people most likely to do this successfully are the most active fighters, likely those receiving money / food / weapons from their governments. During the recent eCanada war, I returned and fought only against eCanada, but I have also used some of the limited government food I received in pursuit of the mercenary medal.
Like real life, eRepublik lets you screw others to get ahead lol
Having been accused of criticizing the "power-gamers" in the past, I earned the mercenary medal (mostly with my own food and only personally-produced weapons) to show I am not merely criticizing others who are "more successful." Everyone can earn this medal, but should they? It clearly caters to the completionist streak in gamers. And after all, what the hell else is there really to do in this game?
Some players have recognized the counter-productive nature of a "mercenary medal" in a game where "social strategy" (aka teamwork / team-building) is important, but unfortunately eRepublik Admin seem to support that tren
-strength-for-gold training gave rise to the "Age of Superheroes"
-unlimited wellness packs further empowered them
-Military Units can have selective (application required) membership, but political parties cannot?
-instead of one congressional approval for a citizenship application, require 2 or 3 congressmen for approval
-removing most in-game ways to research citizen backgrounds (no more donation lists, permanent shouts are removed, etc.)
and so on... Fixing these problems would not really require much coding work on the part of the Admin and would restore playability to many of the mere mortal citizens.
So I think the (relatively) new Mercenary Medal is the worst medal in terms of what it contributes to the game. Talk amongst yourselves.
Anyway, I complain too much. Vote for me in congressional elections this month. I am running in Hokkaido.
Hooray! Earned Day 1,402 of the New World (September 22nd, 2011)
Since kills are mostly independent of strength, all you need to do is go around the world fighting in random wars until you accumulate 25 kills for 50 countries.
The people most likely to do this successfully are the most active fighters, likely those receiving money / food / weapons from their governments. During the recent eCanada war, I returned and fought only against eCanada, but I have also used some of the limited government food I received in pursuit of the mercenary medal.
Like real life, eRepublik lets you screw others to get ahead lol
Having been accused of criticizing the "power-gamers" in the past, I earned the mercenary medal (mostly with my own food and only personally-produced weapons) to show I am not merely criticizing others who are "more successful." Everyone can earn this medal, but should they? It clearly caters to the completionist streak in gamers. And after all, what the hell else is there really to do in this game?
Some players have recognized the counter-productive nature of a "mercenary medal" in a game where "social strategy" (aka teamwork / team-building) is important, but unfortunately eRepublik Admin seem to support that tren
😛
-strength-for-gold training gave rise to the "Age of Superheroes"
-unlimited wellness packs further empowered them
-Military Units can have selective (application required) membership, but political parties cannot?
-instead of one congressional approval for a citizenship application, require 2 or 3 congressmen for approval
-removing most in-game ways to research citizen backgrounds (no more donation lists, permanent shouts are removed, etc.)
and so on... Fixing these problems would not really require much coding work on the part of the Admin and would restore playability to many of the mere mortal citizens.
So I think the (relatively) new Mercenary Medal is the worst medal in terms of what it contributes to the game. Talk amongst yourselves.
Anyway, I complain too much. Vote for me in congressional elections this month. I am running in Hokkaido.
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First denied. Gotta fix the image links anyway, don't laugh! lol
*Laughs at Kita*
Sometimes, because of these things I think this game is not good.
But I still play every day.
hahaha : 3
The Social/Political System doesn't make them any money. That's why they are putting out all those updates and missions with focus on war and fighting.
negative attitude towards the excellent admins will get you a FP according to new rules (actually, those are old rules, now it's just official).
even though I admire the wisdom of the admins and their team, I do agree with your article...
...to a point - you don't need approval for military units anymore. the allknowing admins changed that a week or two ago.
congrats on your merc medal : )
I think I really lose interest for the game over this medal by IMO fighting in some pointless battles just for the sake of getting a flag.
I think war should be more meaningful, and people should only fight when there is a very good cause, e.g. helping your country, or allies. Fighting for random country I do not care about is just incredibly lame.
This we call the traitor medal. Defeat 25 friends in 50 in different allied countries.
It's so sad.
Your thoughts about the political party filtering are productive though!
@ Hostilian - Thank you for the congrats! I don't flame the Admin, and I don't see constructive criticism as worthy of censorship. I actually was one of Admin's biggest supporters two years ago before the major changes to the game mechanics, but times change and the upgrades tended to move the game in a direction that emphasized a more individualistic gameplay. eRepublik's greatest strength was always the fun interaction between groups, but I understand that probably doesn't make the Admin as much money from the real-life-money-for-gold buyers.
All the real eRep players want to see this game succeed just as much as Admin!
@Darshu - So true. Thanks!
Considering the twisted nature of our "allies" to turn against us out of the blue for debatable gains, I find that medal wildly appropriate.
Hmmm
Voted. I don't like meaningless war.
Voted.
The truth is that admin seems to emphasize war than any other thing in this game.
This is the perfect medal for all the people in the world who have lost faith in nations and alliances. For such people there is a medal that represents what they love best about the game, which is being able to kick ass all over the world and not give a damn about how this messes up the balance of power. But calling it "Mercenary" is a misnomer. Most people who get this are self-funding. A mercenary gets paid to fight. He doesn't fight out of his own pocket. So what would you call someone who fights in battles at his own expense, serves no nation, and only cares about his own glory? "Traitor" you say, Darshu? For one to be a traitor, one must first have a cause/nation to believe in.
-"So what would you call someone who fights in battles at his own expense, serves no nation, and only cares about his own glory?"
In a "social strategy game" like eRepublik, probably "a fool." Let's be honest: the individual combat mechanics are über-basic, ("yay! I clicked train with more gold and then the fight button more than anyone else, so I get a medal!") so what really keeps the average player in the game? The alliances and nations. But the Admin have watered-down the "nation" aspect of the game until it now exists essentially only along common language lines and the alliances are essentially organizations of super-strength soldiers and their supporting, uh, gold mines. Neither of these are compelling reasons for average players to stick with the game, which is why the game's active user population has stagnated or gotten smaller.
"Considering the twisted nature of our "allies" to turn against us out of the blue for debatable gains, I find that medal wildly appropriate."
For mid- or small-sized countries, the diplomatic aspect of the game is the only way to stay alive/unoccupied. Historically eJapan's relatively weak status gives us little to bargain with, so our leaders have had to be clever in balancing one side off the other to avoid occupation or getting wiped out. Since eJapan's ability to participate in the diplomatic aspect of the game is reduced, it is perhaps natural that citizens would stop caring and simply pursue "personal goals," which is sort of counter-productive for the country, and the main reason why I consider the Mercenary Medal so bad.
Maybe a "traitor" medal where you "fight against your home country in 3 different wars" would be cool? lol
Voted 😁
"Maybe a Traitor Medal where you fight against your home country in 3 different wars would be cool? LOL" Well, there are two medal spaces that say "Coming Soon". Maybe that is one of them. In which case, I would have earned that one months before I came to eJapan.
I have to admit that it was the worst idea that I've ever tried...
stupid tankings for some countries I haven't even heard of before lol
It kills time and you can make a game of it. I'm working on my 4th Merc Medal out of habit at this point. I want to rank up since this country needs stronger fighters desperately, and it adds to your damage (its not just strength that determines it). I also have that nagging feeling that if I don't use as much of my health as I'm given, I'm losing out on something.
Our military unit's members worked on their medals, but always did it with private funding (some of us don't accept gifts even for fighting for Japan). Its something to do since Japan's troubles have usually been resolved quickly and we're back to the ol' training war disco.
If our military was more organized and structured, you'd probably see more people avoiding the merc medal farming, but we don't even have daily battle orders.
poor Yoshi ;___;
You're the worst medal :'(
Its possible to complete a mercenary medal without being a "traitor". I never fought against eJapan and came home during the eCanada battles. The rest of the flags were mostly from resistance wars or obscure places like eEgypt or eParaguay. So I disagree with the Mercenary Medal being labeled as a traitorous accomplishment. Even fighting for an enemy country is occasionally helpful, such as when the enemy wants to lose a RW for whatever reason (eg. eChina - Kyushu)
I had fun getting mine, sorry if anyone thinks its a bad thing.
We need more players like Kitta Ikki truth be told, I wish the Admin thought more like this guy. The game would be so much better.
@Xzar The Admin creating a new "Traitor Medal" was intended as a joke: it would be yet another move that dis-incentivized social strategy/teamwork in the game. I wasn't really complaining about the Mercenary Medal being "traitorous" so much as I was complaining that there is already little incentive for citizens to join official militaries, follow orders, etc. when they can just fight in random battles and be rewarded for that with medals.
As for fighting against your own country sometimes: yes, the game mechanics support this, as in Chugoku with the region swap; we WANT eSK to hold the region, so we would fight against eJapan and for the resistance in this case.
However, remember that the game mechanics are explained almost nowhere (and the eWiki explanations are usually terrible at best), so most newer players won't really immediately understand the reasons for doing something. This should change if Admin want newer players to stay.
PS--Admin, if you're reading this, that "Traitor Medal" really was intended as a joke. Please don't create such a medal. Thank you!