[CP] The Form of Things

Day 1,641, 08:30 • Published in Canada Canada • by Sperry

I made it to my bed! Hurrah! Much rejoicing. I have also gotten very close to the end of the 7th Season of the West Wing. When this happens I will be upset for a little while, then inevitably put Season 1 back into the machine. I have to have something playing while I go to EDEN summits. Survey: seeing a movie this afternoon, which one should I see?



Remember, Keep Exploring the Map

If you’ve ever played Age of Empires, you’ll know that a pain-in-my-side Scotsman will remind you to keep taking a look at the map. If you haven’t taken a chance to look at the map in the last few days, let’s give you a quick rundown of where things are at internationally. On some fronts TEDEN is doing alright, and making progress; on others we are struggling and in need of focus. Such is life in eRepublik.

Europe continues its entirely unreliable appearance, as most countries aren’t where they ought to be. Our colonies in Britain are still largely intact, though the Brits are back on the map and probably will be that way for a while. America and Brazil are still on acceptable terms with Spain, which leaves their holdings (and buffer to France) mostly unaffected this month. Speaking of France, while the Slovenians and Brits have been pushed back, the Hungarians have taken hold of the Northeastern range. France continues their war, however, so continue to check in on the Hungarian presence and how that’s going for our friends.

Poland and Serbia have both picked up land in the past month, as Germany and Italy (allies) are both mostly occupied by these larger eastern nations. Slovenia (ONE) is not doing nearly as well as they were a while ago, but that can be chalked up to not-at-all-surprising preference for larger nations to succeed, and middle power states to be left wanting. Again, eRepublik.

Bulgaria has wiped Turkey and Hungary’s homeland, which they’ve given up on for now, has gone to our friends the Romanians. Moving in a completely different direction, any glance at China will show you it continues to have among the most entertaining borders in all of eRepublik. While they’ve yielded some of their territories in the middle east, they’ve made considerable gains in South America and are making quick work of the Venezuelan regions. Stay tuned to that for more entertaining border moves.


Numbers, Numbers, Numbers

This is a numbers game. Numbers factor into so many different parts of our little world, and since most of them make absolutely no sense, I’d like to take a minute to speak to them. Last month, Canada had a fairly consistent population at about 1750. That number has climbed slightly, to between 1800 and 1850, at a rate of about 10 newbies a day. By comparison, take a gander over at the UK. Their population has been doing very well this month, in large part due to a Baby Boom effort that has been going on for the past few terms. This is the source of much discussion in other circles: how long will Canada, full of old, powerful, players, be able to hold off the British, who now have a huge population spike and a swathe of younger players?

Canada and Britain have been at war for many years. The reality is, both countries are able to romp onto the shores of the other with relative ease. Part of this is the “old but few” and “many younglings” comparison, but the bulk of it comes from the relative balance of our two alliances. TEDEN and ONE are essentially matched (contrary to what bigwigs in either alliance will tell you), and so when Canada and Britain go to war, shockingly, it’s fairly matched.

The British are correct in their claim that they can remove us if they “really want to.” Just like we are correct in our claim that we can keep them from having a Congress for 3 months if we “really want to.” Both have happened. The factors, however, are more complicated than “Canada’s super” or “Britain is booming.” While Britain’s population is high, eRepublik has a terrible retention rate at the best of times, and most of those babies are going to die a slow and embarrassing death. At the same time, some of them are going to live, and Britain will benefit from those new numbers.

So why do I want out of Britain? Some chalk it up to these numbers - that “mighty Britain” scares me, and that I don’t want to get wiped. This is naive and shows a severe lack of understanding for both foreign policy and my behaviour. Canada borders Poland, Hungary, and Spain. I have helmed us during an invasion. Britain is hardly intimidating. Rather, as I have expressed to many of the cheerful Brits who message me, I’m interested in moving on. As Temmbutt accurately points out, war with Britain is “soooo 2009.” We’ve warred them a number of times, and that’s one too many for my enjoyment.


On Congress Elections

Each of the major parties are preparing for the upcoming Congress elections. by the time the long weekend is over, most will have sorted out who their priority candidates are and what regions they will be running in. Briefly, I’d like to touch on what you can expect for the upcoming elections. Party candidates should expect to run 2 candidates per region, as anywhere under 20 regions will lead to that result. Our Canadian holdings are for the most part secure, particularly those in the core.

Colonies in Britain are obviously less concrete, as Poland continues to lend Britain a quiet hand. Expect to run several candidates over there, but also be ready to risk losing a candidate or two if you’re running in a region that has economic value for Britain’s resource structure. Why aren’t we beating our chests and stomping out all British resistance? Because we have better things to do. More importantly, because TEDEN has better things to do, and a renewed invasion of Britain would be both tedious and time consuming. I’m not interested in it, everyone knows that (well, not the British MoD, but that’s not a shock to anybody). There is a chance that the British will declare us as their Natural Enemy, and therefore shake more regions, but it would also put their core at risk. I don’t expect it, but I wouldn’t be surprised by it.

If you’re interested in running for Congress, do it! Most parties struggle to fill their ballot in the best of times, and many are willing to run new, optimistic players given the chance. Contact your PP today!


Form & Forums

There’s been a lot of discussion over the years about the forums: About whether we should still use them, about what we should use them for, and about how much sway over this part of the game they should have. Since the “ministry of immigration” has brought that up, I’d like to let you know where I stand.

I use the forums. I communicate with Congress there, and it gives the public something to read after I’ve posted about it (which PMs don’t allow). They are less useful than they used to be, but they still have a purpose or two. There are those who argue that “everything should be kept ingame” and that you don’t need a forum, or an IRC, or much of anything to play the game. True, you don’t.

But let’s call a spade a spade: the folks who use the forum don’t use it because they enjoy typing. They use it to organize their thoughts and coordinate efforts. The method you use for coordination and clarity should be the one that best serves your needs. If a forum does that, and the people in your community buy into the concept, then you should use a forum. TEDEN are heavy IRC users, and most CPs buy into that. So the IRC works for them. I am very fond of Google Docs, and so most of my cabinet work runs through that.

If you’re an ‘ingame only’ person, it’s because that method works for you. It doesn’t work for everyone. To suggest that everyone should do things the way you do “just because” is naive, foolish, and unbelievably ignorant of context. I use other mediums (IRC, Skype, forums, ingame, email, etc) to match the group I’m working with. When you’re thinking about what form your community should take, don’t identify what works for yourself. Identify what works for the group, and what is comfortable and effective. If that means you need to step off of the poorly-built eRepublik website, that’s okay. It’s like building a new shelf in your front room because it holds books better than the floor.

Do what is effective and what is enforceable. This is the Internet. Different “rules” apply here - mostly, none. The standard is set by the people in the room, so make sure you take some time to figure out what works for the people in the room, and adapt as best you can to that situation. The most effective communicators in this game aren’t the ones who only use PMs or who are always on IRC. Instead, it’s the people who identify what works, what people like, and how to make it better. It’s the constructive approach, and it’s much less frustrating to watch. Cheers, Canada.