Join the new world

And just like that, camping is over! I was out of the house for 40 hours and, during that time, was very disturbed by not sitting staring at world maps for most of the day. Since my return I’ve been chatting with the usual flurry of players to get things into high gear once more. I don’t own a cell phone, so checking in on eRep from a friend’s Apple...thing was difficult and confusing. Almost signed yesterday’s article as “Sherry.” Awkward.



For Albania

From time to time, we take pause in eRepublik to address real matters about real life. At the end of the day, everything in here is just pixels. Elections don’t matter. Wars don’t matter. Gold doesn’t matter. I want you to take a minute to read this eRep article and this real life article.

Earlier today, a bus carrying 32 Albanian university students went off the edge of a cliff while driving through a mountain pass. 10 students and the driver were killed on impact. Another died en route to the hospital from injuries sustained during the crash. The remaining 21 passengers are injured, some seriously, and so the small European country must face this tragedy right before these students were due to graduate.

EDEN and Albania have asked that we take a moment to respect their nation’s real loss. You probably didn’t know anyone on that bus, and it might not mean anything to you personally. But as a show of solidarity for our fellow global citizens, there is a call for no player to press the Fight button from 12:00 to 12:15 tomorrow afternoon. That’s 3:00pm-3:15pm EST.

eRepublik’s just a game. Sometimes there are more important things to deal with. For Albania, this is one of them. Hail Albania. o7



Hungary, Scared of Canada

For weeks, Hungary has been wandering the French countryside. Recently they’ve been delaying their border with the Americans, desperately trying to avoid a fight with the USA who haven’t had relevant True Patriot battles for quite some time. But avoid this border forever they could not, and so this weekend Hungary and America began a new bout of NE declarations. Hungary slipped theirs in first, and so they will get to hit first against the Americans.

After these NEs were tabled, Terra got in touch with Canada about joining the fray - something Canadians have been itching to do since we whalloped Britain. And so Eric got a hold of Rylde, our resident button pusher, to launch the declaration. Rylde’s proposal is fully condoned by Canada’s government and will pass with ease. Congress has responded very well to this call for war, and so we’re off to the races once more. … Right?

There’s one thing standing in the way of total war with Hungary: Hungary’s cowering behind the French. Again. After assuring us that Canada’s doomed to be wiped, Hungary launched a resistance war in our only shared border - Brittany. Their soldiers are pushing this region back into French hands, trying to keep us from joining America on the front lines.If Canada’s going to be wiped, why retreat the border? If Canada doesn’t stand a chance against “mighty” Hungary, why do the Huns flee?

You might know TemujinBC. Last year he was my VP. This year, he’s getting paid to be a Hungarian lackey, and when he’s not asking Canada to join ONE and betray hundreds of our allies just for kicks, he’s suggesting by his mere whim alone can he dictate the result of every international conflict. Cool, you do that. But while Hungary builds up a reputation of running from every fight they just might have to do some work in, Canada’s still here, facing up to much larger enemies who can’t seem to make up their minds.


Why Holding On To England Isn’t Crucial

I’ve always been open about my position on Britain: it’s boring. I can’t count the number of Presidents who have dragged us into wars with Britain promising glory and greatness. The number who have succeeded? Almost none. Most campaigns into Britain are more trouble than they’re worth, not because Canada is weak, but because we spend too much of our time obsessing over “revenge” and “demonstrations of power” in a region that is usually trivial and without long-term investment benefits.

Certainly England’s oil is worth having. It’s why we have held that oil bonus for nearly 2 weeks now. It’s why British Resistances have appeared in our Battle Orders - some of these regions do indeed benefit Canada, and absolutely help our economy. But as always, there’s more to it than ‘crucial to Canada’.

Protecting one 20% bonus is not “crucial” - not even for a single nation. It certainly isn’t crucial for the TEDEN alliance structure when France is nearly wiped, Germany barely exists, Croatia is struggling to hold a Congress, and America and Portugal are taking war to ONE’s shores. Our allies have many priorities. We often feature in those priorities. But we do not always feature, nor do our “this would be nice” desires trump the needs of every alliance member.

It’s the President’s job to get the country a strong voice in their alliance. It’s crucial that, when all is said and done, our allies will rally to us when we need them. You don’t achieve that by bemoaning every middle-level problem. That’s what Britain is: a middle-level problem. My critics are absolutely right in saying that I don’t focus on Britain alone. I don’t. Because when our allies think of Canada this month, they think about activity, engagement, and accountability. They don’t think we’re inactive and selfish (as they did under many British-focusing Presidents). Look to the bigger picture, Canada. Oil isn’t of much use to us if we get ignored in war.


Being Right Isn’t A Freebie To Be Wrong

In the past 2 weeks, I’ve spent a lot of time chatting with leaders in all 3 major alliances. Today alone I spoke with some of the highest representatives of Terra, EDEN, and ONE. The biggest failing of all 3 alliances? Communication. Across the board, each of the major military structures in this game struggles to get their message out to the right people. Communication issues lead to tactical missteps and diplomatic bungles. They cost each alliance precious time and resources, and most damagingly they fray relationships that are already weak in a game of pixels.

Every country in this game - Canada, Britain, Hungary, America - deserves an alliance structure that is positive and constructive. We don’t need alliances who run on the whim of a few old and arrogant players. We don’t need leaders who build indestructable temples to their own greatness. Whether you’re in ONE, Terra, or EDEN, or some variation of the three, make sure that you push for quality leadership in your alliances. This game should be fun, enjoyable, and fair to players outside of the Old Guards. Insist on that. Push for that. You just might enjoy the result.


Two “Ministries” in Canada

Lately, two ministries have been getting some attention from Canada. Neither of them are officially ministries, so let’s take a look at both of them. The first is the once-again proposed Ministry of Immigration, designed to look at Canadian citizenship efforts and structuring Congress’ efforts there more precisely. While we’ve had MoIs before, we don’t anymore, because we found the legislation difficult to enforce and lacking in results.

Personally, I like the idea of knowing who I’m letting into the country. I don’t sell citizenship requests when I’m in Congress, and I have a little bit more in mind than “how much power I get to have” when new laws are introduced. But that’s not the case for everyone. I don’t have a Minister of Immigration, and I’m not interested in one. Canada’s got lots of things to do, and while it’s certainly a good idea to know who’s wandering through our borders, we’ve got more pressing issues that are easier to enforce. So I’ll leave that one to Congress.

The Ministry of Health is a citizen-run initiative that you can read about here. I don’t take any credit for this: this venture is entirely run out-of-cabinet and is definitely worth a look. I’m perfectly fine with DoS referring to this MDP-sanctioned service being labelled as a “ministry.” What you call something doesn’t really matter if it works, helps foster new citizens, and builds up our community. This “ministry” is doing just that. It’s not a government move, but it’s still a good one, and that makes me proud to play in eCanada. Until tomorrow, folks.