How to kill a game in 5 easy steps - Ramblings of a madman!

Day 3,531, 11:25 • Published in USA USA • by Talio Extremist


First to get you in the mood of this article here is a music video for your pleasure:





I will be the first to admit that I have not been the most active player in my eRepublic eLife nor have I been elected as president of my party or the eUS. Nor since coming back from my hiatus can I be considered an expert on game mechanics. So to write an article about what I see is a lack of interest in both the game and my party could be construed as hypocritical. So be it.

However, after seeing a lack of what I perceive as interest, a message I received from Feynmann urging me to dust the cobwebs off my newspaper, and the recent Faded Glory article from TB I knew I could not be silent any longer. It has been some time since I have written any content so please hold off on gathering your torches and pitchforks until you reach the comments section of this article.

I originally joined Federalist Party because they were genuine and real. May not seem much, but after visiting a lot of other party's forums and fumbling around in IRC channels it was refreshing. Instead being arrogant and cocky towards a new player, people within the party were willing to help and educate without demanding something in return or demeaning them because of ignorance. Plus they were willing to give me as a new player opportunity to learn and grow by proving myself as a volunteer within the party. This was unheard of in other political parties since only a select few were allowed in key positions. After proving myself they gave me the opportunity to run for Congress and mentored me on how to succeed in an election and afterwards on the forums. The final and the most important reason I joined the Federalist and become an party evangelist was the fact that party leadership were willing to time and time again to put members and county first rather than their own aspirations.



This is key because I feel why growth within the eUS and party participation has decreased is due to:

1. Lack of outreach to new players to educate them on game mechanics and participation.
2. Consent trolling of new ideas on forums when they contradict the norm.
3. Retain key positions within the party and government to only a select few players.
4. Hyper criticism when a newer player fails.
5. No meaningful purpose that binds the community together.

It is easy to blame game mechanics and other things outside our influence, however, in my opinion that is not the ultimate reason. When I was more active and experienced many changes to the game that was not what keep me engaged and actively participating. It was the people and meta-culture.



I am interested in your comments and maybe additional reasons or even suggestions to improve the current meta-game culture. So...