Winning eRepublik (Part 1)

Day 499, 15:59 • Published in USA USA • by Ananias

In past articles, I have often referred to the value I place on “progress” and “leadership”. The widespread use of these terms, especially in the heated rhetoric of presidential political campaigns, I believe, leads to a dilution of their power of the words, and misunderstanding of the very definition of the terms as they apply to eRepublik, to such a degree that the terms are most often paired with words like “military” and “economic” which serve only to narrow their scope.

So, let’s get back to basics with a couple existential questions: Why are we here? Why do we invest time and personal efforts, however minor, in eRepublik? Why do we substitute minutes and hours that may be better spent reading great literature, spending time with our family or improving our job skills, with reading eRepublik media, socializing on IRC, and gaining experience within eRepublik?

While I cannot speak for others, and while it may sound simplistic, my personal motivation for spending quality time here is:

Unlike real life, eRepublik can be won.

While we may disagree on the definition of “winning” eRepublik, unless you are here purely for the social network, the fact that we believe that there is a path to winning the game remains central to our engagement. The moment we decide individually that victory, at whatever level, is not achievable, then we become disengaged, inactive, or worse, obstructionist to those that remain committed to the belief that victory can be achieved.

It would be negligent for me to omit my personal definition of “winning” eRepublik, and since I really don’t want to spend expansive parts of my weekend trying to address such an omission, my definition of victory in eRepublik is:

“When the eUnited States of America becomes so populated with engaged players, so organized militarily and socially, so well developed in the distribution and strategy of our infrastructure, so efficient in the management of our economy, so profitable in our international trade and domestic markets, and so unified in our focus to extend our influence to all corners of eRepublik, that the administrators of eRepublik are compelled to reset the game in order to re-establish game parity for fear of losing players (consumers) internationally, then regardless of the rationalization made by the creators of eRepublik, the eUnited States of America has won.”

This, of course, is just my definition of victory, there are probably as many different definitions out there as there are citizens, but for the purpose of this article, let’s assume that this definition meets with general agreement by the majority of eAmericans.

Then we also must assume that there is a “critical path” to reaching that goal; the most efficient course between point A – the establishment of the eUnited States of America within the game by the creators of eRepublik, and point B – the recognition by the eRepublik creators that the eUnited States of America has effectively won the game, and modifies the game to reintroduce parity in response.

Then “Progress” in eRepublik then can be defined, in simplest terms, as any action or decision which increases the distance from point A and by equal measure reduces the distance to point B along that critical path. True progress, within eRepublik, is never change for the sake of movement away from a point, but change for the sake of movement toward the ultimate goal of winning the game.

The first reason I will support President Scrabman for re-election as President of the eUnited States of America, and Moishe as Vice President of the eUnited States of America, on April 5th, 2009 is because, though I think all of the other candidates have great ideas to offer and eAmericans are fortunate for their many quality options, President Scrabman and Defense Secretary Moishe, over the last 10 days, have proven their commitment to progress, through action rather than rhetoric, toward my definition of winning the game.

So I guess the question that you have to ask yourself on Sunday when you vote is: Are you playing eRepublik to win? If so, then vote for those that not only share your goal, but are making quantifiable progress toward it.

In the next installment I will discuss the second reason I will be supporting Scrabman and Moishe: Leadership