What Will Plato Do?

Day 4,815, 10:18 • Published in USA USA • by Gnilraps

Deployment Madness




Let’s make one thing perfectly clear: this is a problem of Plato’s own making.

I’m not here today to create a controversy or to start an argument about the legitimacy of 3rd party scripts in eRepublik. The fact is, Plato created this problem, and I will show you why. He has made 3rd party scripts the “elephant in the room” such that we wonder if we can even talk about them ingame. Today I will risk talking about them, because Plato has just painted his elephant in colors so brilliant none of us can miss it.



who’s fault is this anyway?






The terms of service clearly states that no third party scripts are allowed by anyone interacting with this game. Those are the terms; we all agree to them, at least in theory.

The Problem
Plato developed a game wherein the reward for being “active” is increased energy gain per hour. At my current level, which I earned without the help of a script by burning energy bars and Prestige Points Boosters last Tuesday until I had reached the 20K Prestige threshold, I currently increase my energy pool by 920 energy per hour. My maximum energy pool is 2940 because I am running all 5 houses.

This means that I must interact with this game every 3 hours and 12 minutes if I want to gain full value from the items I have legitimately and legally activated ingame.

How many citizens of eRepublik plan to interact with any video game once every 3:12:00?

Given that the average Doctor-recommended amount of sleep that a human being should get is 8 hours, Plato has created a game that, if played at its highest level, is actually unhealthy. I’m not using hyperbole.

In other words, if you want to get the most out of this game, you either harm yourself in doing so, or you break the terms of service. I didn’t make it this way, Zordacz didn’t make it this way, Cornelius didn’t make it this way… Plato made it this way.

This is why people use scripts. Plato, do you understand this?

The reason why people use scripts, Plato, is because you have literally designed your military module to DEMAND their use! Do not blame the users, Plato. If you do, you are blind to the problem you have designed.

It’s really that simple.





Further Analysis
Let’s continue using me as an example, even though I am currently an extreme example. (I am running expensive Q4 and Q5 houses - a practice which definitely becomes untenable without the ability to generate True Patriot income to afford them.)

My energy pool is 2,940. I want to sleep 8 hours; I want to be able to work 8 hours. So I want to make sure I am not wasting my resources during at least two 8-hour blocks of time each day. With a 2,940 energy pool, I must not accumulate any more than 36 energy per 6 minutes (360/hour). Any tanking I may do beyond that creates a negative return on my invested tanking.

Bye-bye Prestige Hunter.
Bye-Bye Q3, Q4, and Q5 houses.
Bye-bye Q7 weapons economy.
Bye-bye Food economy.
And Bye-Bye Power Pack.

Seriously. Bye-Bye Power Pack. Why on EARTH would I buy a power pack when most of its value can only be appreciated if I LOSE SLEEP to use it?

Plato, are you understanding this?






The Solution(s)
As I see it, Plato has three options.

Option 1
Implement an ingame energy-burn script of his own. This is what I expect he will most likey do. I anticipate a new 9.9euro “auto-fight” pack that literally duplicates what the illegal 3rd-party scripts have been doing for 10 years.




Option 2
Honestly, Option 1 is so predictable that these next two options are almost not worth mentioning, but they would fix the problem, so here it goes. Option 2 would be to reduce the maximum energy-recovery potential to no more then 400/hour. This seems like a reasonable compromise which enables big hitters to max out their energy recovery without having to burn energy every 3 hours, or set a wake-up-alarm for 2am and 5am every day of their lives.


Option 3
Increase the maximum energy pool. If we are still going to burn through 920 energy per hour, then give us a 10K energy pool to use. I don’t care how you do it, maybe you need to make Q7 houses like you promised us long ago.


Something must be done.





In Summary
I fear that this latest move of Plato, while understandable, will have a rippling effect on the playability of his game. I do not want to see Plato increase the amount of money that someone has to spend in order to get full enjoyment out of this game. For that reason I am hoping to see Plato enact some combination of my Options 2 and 3 above.

What do you think?

I’ll ask you to avoid insulting and incendiary comments below. My newspaper is not a forum for insulting the Administrators of this game. This is also not an issue of bots vs. not-bots. Illegal script use is widespread. Take a look at the number of subscribers Zordacz had to his newspaper - Stuff++ auto-subscribed every user to his paper! These are not mostly bots, they are average users of this game that has designed itself to be nearly unusable within the terms of service.

What will Plato do?

Comment, vote, endorse, subscribe, and shout!



You may now - but not for long - reactivate your AF.