In Response to Wilker Nath's Request
PigInZen
I haven't written a serious commentary article in years. There seems to be no point. Sometimes, however, there is a point. This is one of those times.
This article will address an existential question: how should we, citizens of the eUSA and their representatives in Congress, address citizenship, citizenship approvals, and what process should we use. I will discuss WHY this is critically important and this will get a bit political. It has to, for the sake of the long-term success of the eUSA.
Why I'm Writing
Wilker Nath kindly asked me to get more active again in response to a comment I left to his recent article. I was in the process of writing a lengthy reply to that when I decided that instead of a 4k+ word comment that would be seen by maybe four people that I would instead put it in an article.
A Question
What else would you have me do to be active? I work, fight daily. Follow MU orders. I always vote. I employ other players in my companies, sell product, sometimes buy packs. Occasionally I'm PP of the small 6th party, the E Pluribus Unum Party. I try to provide a reliable, consistent medium in the form of a forum so that players can collaborate and find success. I engage in communication in-game, and rarely on Discord or at the forums. What else do you expect? Seriously, I'm curious as I expect the answer will be telling. As always, be careful for which you ask, for you may not like what the answer is.
Communications and Policy Impact
As much as I would love to be publishing multiple articles a week, it's not going to happen. I imagine this is true for the majority of committed players as well. Newspaper articles used to be the only medium for communication in eRep. There was no national feed, no shout channels. Now there are far too many methods for communication and yet, nothing seems to matter, nothing seems to change, no matter how much an individual player might care.
One thing hasn't changed, though, over the 10+ years I have been playing eRepublic: players in the eUSA cannot agree on the best medium/media for communication. It used to be that we had newspapers in-game, IRC, and the forums. Now we have Discord, Telegram, IRC, text messages, newspaper articles, the national shout feed, a friends feed, party feeds, and an MU feed. There were complaints from some that they shouldn't have to resort to IRC or register for a forum to play a browser game. Now there are arguments over what form of media we should use, be it done via Telegram or Discord, this forum or that forum.
Political Browser Game is Rife with Politics
Honestly, I grew tired of the bullshit populism that passes for politics in the eUSA years ago. I know that the political void must be filled somehow, some way, every month. It's sisyphean, this treadmill cycle of ever-repeating elections. Without some form of difference between candidates what's the point of the election? Another good question.
Here's the answer: some people just want political power for the sake of having it and for feeding their online ego. And they apparently will do anything to accomplish this, including granting citizenship in exchange for political support or votes. It's as old as this game itself, I've witnessed dozens of attempts, some blatant, some slow motion. Old memories have been jostled loose by some recent purging of multis on the eUSA forum. Old memories of suspicions that have only just now been confirmed by discovery of just how many attempts there have been. Attempts that have been plainly illustrated by IP address, logged over many, many years at the forum.
But I digress. Let me get to the heart of the topic:
Because of politics, instead of developing sane, rational policy we see certain people leverage hot-button non-issues like IES. Seriously, IES is not a problem. Being PTOed is a HUGE problem. Running a tight IES program resolves that. End of story. So why is this an issue, again. Why, now? Why is Rainy Sunday's loyalty and commitment an issue? There's a long history with Rainy, many, many years of her participation and continued work, both in-game and at the forum. Yet now her intentions and loyalty is in question. Again, why? To what end? Those are the questions that need answering, in my opinion.
I cannot answer them, at least, not directly. My conclusion is that this is political, with the goal of increasing political power for one faction over another.
MMO Browser Game Leverages the Aggregate
I have always said that eRep isn't a simple browser game. Sure, the game mechanics and stuff you can do in-game are limited, but the ramifications of what individuals choose to do in-game and in aggregate are potentially huge. Any of you that have taken an introductory course in Economics will recognize this. Aggregate action (or the lack thereof!) is the driver of eRepublik success or failure. This is true in every component of the game. The victors are those nations who can inflict more damage, earn more votes, wield more stuff (weapons & food)... More participation... You get the point.
In this end, for those of you who remember, as I do, the point of the majority of my old articles - that we're all in this together! Sadly, however, because of politics and personal, not national goals, we're forced to spend cycles on debates that serve no national purpose.
TL; DR, Here's the Conclusion
From my perspective having players not invested in the long-term success of the eUSA gain citizenship results in a net loss for those of us who have literally spent YEARS and RL MONEY trying to maintain what we have. I have studiously avoided labeling any one party or specific players in this article, for good reason. The point is that we need our national policy to reflect the national good.
Weakening IES or injecting party politics into the IES process will not help achieve the national good. IES is not broken. Those arguing that it is have other reasons for doing so.
We only win when we work together, for common goals. Kinda like the Wonder Pets:
Comments
Pertamaxx
Here are the reasons spelled out. The Netherlands is actively opposed to our success. They are not members of Code. RS decided that it was a good place to move and get Legend in. RS has become a politically divisive figure and no longer fills the impartial leadership role one would expect, we can say the same about eUSA Forum as well. RS fought against US priorities on several different occasions; at least during the 3 months I as CP. RS is your friend so obviously you are supporting her, but RS as IES director no longer makes sense.
Were you born dumb or did you have to work on it?
What is the procedural complaint. Has rainy approved people who shouldn't have been?
CG made a really well reasoned argument here.
Again, what is the procedural complaint. Has rainy not been following the directions of Congress wrt IES?
Well said.
Thank you Leroy. Old players like us remember things.
[removed]
Like securing pertamaxxx before an Indonesian comes along 😉
Great input! Nice to see other old buds around
o7
Ah, but one must imagine sisyphus happy
Anyway, great article, of course.
o7
It is very well written and well said. I highly doubt you will get any argument on this from anyone.
Thank you for writing.
For context, I've been gone from the game for years (long enough that plato purged my old account for inactivity) and came back a few weeks ago due to quarantine boredom.
As I said in my article, the IES topic is non-urgent. What matters a lot more is player activity. I've seen both new and returning players fill the country back up recently, and I hope all of them stay. I asked you to get active again because I remembered your name being big in executive government way back when, and I hadn't seen you at all in the past few weeks, so I assumed you were only just now logging back in, like a handful of others I've seen.
I think more media activity and enthusiasm for the country is what we need now. I'd like to see the eUS rise up in damage rankings, and hopefully one day become as active as we once were in the early 2010s. Though that dream is far off, every little bit helps, and someone with extensive knowledge of eUS history helps even more.
Even if you have a hand in swatting down a lot of my ideas, I do hope to see you in government roles again for the good of the country.
o>
1. Player activity is important. Comparing it to the heyday of 2010/2011 is misguided.
2. I am far too inconsistent to participate in government on a regular basis. I have a ton of respect for those that do that, it takes a lot of focus and regular attention.
3. I have always believed that we need less bullshit and strife and more cooperation and respect.
4. I have little tolerance for those that decide that breaking rules and norms in a browser game makes them a "rebel".
I would like to chat with you privately. Catch me on Discord sometime.
LMAO, I remember IES. I also remember doing shit for NSA. Most didn't know of that little perverse group. Iasov recruited me. I made a good spy. Well got to go, said too much already.
Remember,
Rod Damon was right.
"What matters a lot more is player activity. "
Activity may take different form for different people. I could say I'm one of more active players, however my activity lies in military module. Some other guy or gal may turn into economy or politics or even press. Depends on person really, but...
"one day become as active as we once were in the early 2010s."
sadly won't happen. I play this game since 2009, and this game becomes bigger crap with each year when it comes to terms of game mechanics and admin input.
Seriously it's good to see that there are people who try, but let's face it: no matter how much one tries there's no way to fix something which is broken at it's core. And we as players don't have tools for repairing that core.
Great Article
Love the well-written and calmly thought-out article. It's always good to see a clear head in a debate of emotions.
You are and have always been a stud among eRep citizens. Nothing more could reasonably be asked of you.
Great article.
Pig, I love you.
Haven't lost your touch, PiZ. This is something that should be repeated often. Thank you!
This is a big answer. Nice.
😎👍
You could write more and that would be very interesting. However I understand why you will not do that. Thanks for this well written article!
Can I have your e-babies?
Pants = penis prison.
This article = good ideas.
o7
PiZ , u tell em brotha ! o7
There's more to come, bro.
I'm just getting warmed up.
Great and well understood 🙂
o7
This was fantastic. Thank you for writing this.
The whitest of white knights, reporting for duty.
FIST
What's gonna work?
TEAM WORK
Bravo!
I still love to read what PIZ has to say. Agree or disagree the man has opinions and expresses them eloquently. Also was one of the first "big shots" to speak with me when I was yet a nooblet. I'm fortunate to have caught this article.
Don't have time to read every word but I caught this:
"Without some form of difference between candidates what's the point of the election? Another good question."
Canada may not be very popular with some at the moment, but I'd mention how we've been doing government for some time now. I'm not sure what the ideology would be classified under. We simply have ruling elites. No one votes for who's on the executive PM, people just showed up there. We have parties and they run various people for CP but the choice is made ahead of time. Occasionally we do our best to bring up a new person who's interested. We have had varying degrees of success with that. lol
The really bizzaar thing is there are no rules. If immediate action is needed any one of us can make a decision. Usually we pow wow and figure what's in the country's best interest as a whole. If some plan fails no blame is levied, it's just "Oh well, let's try something different.". Amazing that Congress goes along to do whatever we say. lol
Really, it's a totally selfless endeavor. We have different perspective but are too tired of politics to fight.
A bit of humor, we are currently taking turns as dictator. Admin made changes to dictator mod that made it ineffective. No one seriously does it anymore. However Mann got bored, saved up the cc and asked if Canada cared if he played dictator to get the medal. No one objected. I felt frisky so I took a turn. Now it's chopp's turn. I think 2 or 3 more are interested. How many countries can have a laugh mocking a stupid game mechanic?
This might be possible in the eUS but it would require some parties to drop their pretense of opposition and populism. Nice idea, I like it.
Good article, but I will say I understand the arguments against Rainy Sunday. That is all I will say about that or else I might get another forfeit point.
Again, what is the procedural complaint with rainy. No one has answered this question yet.
We trust Colin Lantrip to do our foreign policy sometimes. He's not American.
You are exactly correct.
PIGINZEN FOR PRES!!!!(AGAIN)
STOP IT
lol
bwhaha
three words... Pizza The Hut