Plato Trolling Me Again!
Mystela
...& Whaling Under the Bridge!
In December 2012, during the eRepublik Summit held in Romania, an idea with a lot of potential was discussed, that of coding an alliance module into the game! However, the presence of so called whales at that summit, combined with team USA's recent application, to become a trial member of the CoT alliance, has cast Plato's distinctive shadow over the future of that module.
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The ease with which the American players accepted their leaders' decision, as well as the quiet response by the CoT membership, would seem to indicate that most of these teams felt, that any anticipated changes to the game mechanics, with respect to a coded alliance module, would have no appreciable effect on existing game play.
That, or the implementation of the alliance module has been totally scrapped or delayed beyond reason, a Classic Plato Troll. Viewed as confirmation that there's nothing left to wait for, once again the community is left with a generic MMO scenario. Just as with similar MMOs, the group with the greatest number of players, including those with the most disposable income, the whales, is guaranteed to reap de facto victories.
Undeniably, eRepublik has evolved from an innovative, multi-faceted, multi-player game, with an emphasis on diverse, team-based, social strategies for success, into a lacklustre, $ingle-minded application with a swollen, multi-tabbed chat box appendage, loaded with infinite RAM capacity. <.>
How Plato managed to emasculate his brainchild, not to mention many players in the process, is nothing short of a bloodless coup! Using his Oblivion Troll, Plato has systematically banishe
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the international media, once daily filled with lively, engaging articles,
the need to debate innovative economic policies,
the desire for respectful, thoughtful, long-lasting political & diplomatic endeavours
& genuine initiatives aimed at player retention,
all victims sacrificed to the core, the military module. Yes, you've been RASD! (sic)
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Now the Internet's answer to the ancient Chinese art of hook pulling, otherwise known as tug of war, eRepublik can best be described as a Facebook portal hosting a linear concept game, in which the only strategy involved, is in determining the easiest way to register 50.01% on a bar. Guess who is Trolling Hard on the other end of that rope?
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With Plato's tacit approval, otherwise known as Plato's Stealth Mode Troll, controllers efficiently groom their progeny into the requisite number, whether one or many, within a relatively short period of time. Put into play, allowed to die & revived when needed, depending on their motivation, controllers can effectively manipulate any aspect of the game, from disinformation in the media, to ballot stuffing in politics, to money laundering & theft, to division bulking in warfare, to victories without sacrifice.
That these ranks now include some of the players, who were among the most vocal opponents of controllers in the past, who now openly advocate their use to undermine their opposition, even when they know that opposition to be genuine, speaks volumes about how borked the game has become.
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The lighthouse keepers, players who want to play the game as it was intended, are stymied by the very people who should support them the most. Protesting is futile, especially when Plato Arbitrarily Trolls by strictly applying rules, heavily sanctioning some teams, while totally ignoring others for the exact same offenses. This sample, from an exchange with Plato earlier this month, is my last attempt at manning the light.
Hello Mystela,
Thank you for your message.
An irrefutable evidence that an account was sold is considered to be the invoices of the transaction which took place between the two parties, other than that, eRepublik needs a various base of solid proofs in order to take measures in such cases.
O.o Could this be Plato's Pinnacle Troll? INVOICES!? What? In the “base of solid proofs” submitted, was the link to an article, which included copies of the player in question's private messages. In those messages, he not only discussed buying the account, but he included his own statement of calf sized gold purchases, proudly citing these as protection against any action by Plato, which as it turns out, he was right!
A player's stature in the game is unimportant, even that of a bull whale, as evidenced by another recent sale of an American account to the Bulgarian team. Seemingly acceptable as a side effect of these sales, is the loss of both the original team history, in addition to the overall game history, associated with these sold accounts, an example of Plato's Laissez-faire Troll.
In this case, three & a half years of newspaper articles were deleted, a significant historical black hole, considering the original account holder's contributions, unceremoniously dumped in favour of damage on a bar.
As the enduring pillar at the core of the game, player generated alliances have had to pay a heavy price, for every disservice committed to the game, not only by Plato, but increasingly, by every controller & account trader. Caught in the downward spiral, associated with the loss of pride in accomplishment, alliances have lost their identity. Solid national teams of unified players, joined together in meaningful alliances, in the pursuit of long-term common goals, bound by trust & driven by camaraderie, are distant memories.
This game needs a lot of work in many areas & everyone has an opinion about what needs to be fixed first. Since last summer, in an effort to re-balance & to inject some excitement into the game, players have repeatedly shown a desire & a willingness to change things up a bit, alliance wise, unfortunately without success. Very few teams are still holding out, waiting for that renewed sense of legitimate competition, that flare on the horizon.
It's understood that changes can take time, but soon it will be 2 months since the summit ended & knowing that the only visible development since then, is that some whales & MU Commanders were given a beta map, feels suspiciously familiar. I can almost feel his trollish breath on my neck.
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Hopefully, Plato will soon announce the spawning of an alliance module after all, one that will shake the New World to it's murky depths. As a proven concept, complementing the central component of the game, a dynamic, coded alliance module might honestly rejuvenate & realign the national teams, might keep most of the remaining players involved, until other supporting areas of the game are repaired & redeveloped.
Until then, all I see are more teams lining up with Plato, whaling under the bridge. I see weighted dragnets sweeping Neutral waters. I see whales struggling to stay upright & small fry disappearing forever. And even though the sun is setting, I still see Plato trolling.
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tl;dr
I wanted so much more, than a game we were born to lose.
I wanted so much more, so much more for you.
Comments
I wanted so much more, than a game we were born to lose.
I wanted so much more, so much more for you.
If it wasn't for some amazing, truly pro players, I wouldn't want so much more.
Team Thai! ♥
erepublik: the slot machine that never pays out
Tako je Mystela!
Team Thai! ♥
I'm glad I got a chance to read this article before a whale eats it, or something similar
http://youtu.be/iwVKsbzODbY
But Plato ain't no Jonah. I don't think he wants to be spat back out.
Not much to add here, quite a quality article.
I am starting to think that only minor changes will ever be made to the game and the next logical step is a second server or second world. This will thin the population as people leave behind one world and go to another so that they can be at the top (currently younger players will never reach the older players, too much of a gap) This will be a big and quick money grab by plato, but will signal the death of this game...
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I'm hoping that after encouraging players to attend that summit, at the players' own expense, that eRep Labs can come up with something more than minor changes. The company isn't suffering: https://www.duedil.com/company/IE462101/erepublik-labs-limited/financials
I've never considered a second server as an option for this game & considering the small number of players actually playing on a regular basis, I don't think there would be enough "real" players to sustain a second server.
I wouldn't mind seeing a reset of the map though & if they would do that in conjunction with the release of even one new, substantial component, with the usual incentive$, then I think that the game would stand a chance at revival & maybe even at attracting new real players.
I chose the alliance module, because I think that it's the most inclusive & it's the one module we are "officially" missing. There's a lot of room for design & development within that module & if they really wanted to, they could even build in safeguards against abuses that are currently so much in use in the game.
As it is, a lot of teams are just flailing now & it's become a grab for numbers by the most aggressive, which is pretty indicative of the game having reached saturation point & beginning to fade out. But there are still some really special people playing & I'm not ready to give them up! 😛😛
vote
Tako je Mystela ukljuci mesalicu i BETONIRAJ!!!!
thai power!!!
Read it and voted. The game isn't set up fairly, nothing shocks me at all anymore.
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nice article but I would rather plump for the economic module... I dont see an official alliance module as being too revolutionary!
Thai power!!!
Thai power!!!
Yes for sure, the economic module needs attention & with their previous experience, it should be relatively easy for the developers to remodel it & get it running properly again. The fact that they're not doing that, makes me hopeful that they're working on something more "exciting" instead.
I suspect the developers know that player interest is dropping & I don't think the economic module has that same "wow" effect or the same drawing power as something totally new added to the game, especially something that involves the greater majority of players.
As far as making the alliance module revolutionary goes, in addition to the eRep player generated model, there are lots of models in f2p games that the developers can have a look at, to see which features would best suit this game.
Depending on the design used, the built in mechanics alone, could be a game saver from the point of view of player satisfaction re: decisions made by so few that effect so many on an individual team, especially when included in the "so many" are a lot of whales & the money they've invested.
I can't imagine how frustrating it must be to champion a team & invest money in that team in good faith, only to have it turned on it's head by each successive "government" as they jockey for position within an alliance.
The developers could incorporate all kinds of "revolutionary" concepts that allow for some open-ended results, while maintaining the balance necessary for truly competitive play! something that's lacking big time right now.
The economic module should be relatively stable. If & when they reintroduce a functioning one, unless there's a lot of fanfare, I can see it flying under a lot of players' radar.
Thanks for the support, for the comments guys! o7
@ Mystela - yes true... the vast majority loves the war and a quixk fix like the alliance module should definitely help generate some renewed interest.
Regarding coders, it does not really take that much to make changes but I believe they are working with a limited team (which is prudent so as to not over spend) and the team's focus is probably on the PvP module which (if done well) should be the biggest draw and their next potential gold mine.
However PvP modules tend to get quite complicated if they actually implement it in real time (gauging server loads and response time is the biggest hassle) so this is likely to take quite a bit of time!
One vital fact though is that their successful promotions and dollops have ensured the ocean is full of many more "whales" than there used to be... and a lot of nice bloated "seals" too : ) So who's to say their method is not working....
The problem with other games is that they do not base it on real life enmities and hatred, thus they need to take care of their entire playerbase... which helps actually make them much better games...
in the case of eRep, we all know the game isnt evolving as it should BUT i believe they are meeting whatever small targets they have in mind. This will obviously never be the numero uno game ,... again simply because as you so rightly explained, the very idea of pandering to a few will never get you to the top but perhaps that is not what they want? Perhaps they only wish to meet modest X euro targets annually for which the hate dynamo is sufficient.
If one day they actually decide to raise the bar and try to take on the big boys and truly go for number one, they will need a lot of work and serious rethinking.
Its a great idea gone awry... perhaps in an ideal world with no cash pressures, this would have been a very different game?
Mystela POWER \☺/\☺/\☺/\☺/\☺/
Is it illegal to steal peoples bank details? I would like to report a few accounts.
great stuff, v+s
Ash, I totally forgot about that pvp addition to the military module, an indication of lack of interest or staying power, I'm not sure which. 😞
I don't think the intention has ever been to take on the big boys & having targetted the FB crowd, they're numbers continue to be profitable. http://www.crunchbase.com/company/erepublik
I think their bottom line looks pretty healthy & judging by the acquisition of ALIEN FLOW, a small but promising company, I'm guessing that the powers that be at eRep feel pretty confident, even in the current rl global economy.
ALIEN FLOW: http://alienflow.tumblr.com/
Alexis Bonte's blog re: that acquisition in September '12 & developments since then: http://alexisbonte.com/
Strictly from a player pov, in order to extend the shelf life of this game, I want the individuals that make up the teams to have greater control over their team's destiny in this New World. I feel that the alliance the team is associated with is the most important factor in determining that control & as such, the developers should give alliances their proper place in the game. That's what I was trying to convey with this article, along with other hidden messages to Plato...
Hamturk, I'm sorry. I don't understand what you're referring to, so if you could please spell it out for me, I'd appreciate it.
Thanks for the votes & comments! o/
voted, old sub
you said it girl!
i wish plato have ears for our cries.
this was great reading and thank you for it.
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Thanks for the comments & votes! \o/
For those of you currently shouting to "Fix the Economy"!
^ That's called, Plato's Money Bags Troll... 😛😛
voted! : )
votado : P