Join the new world

In this series, I will be profiling members of the current cabinet lead by out President Director9. Knowing you leadership, what they want to achieve for the citizenry and what they would like to achieve for themselves is an important part of folding yourself into the dynamics of this game. I hope that the series will be informative and help you understand the people that are custodians of your government and your hard earned taxes.

Gyantse’s first article was published in eBelgium on game day 1,680. The article was titled Belgian Education Program, so it should come as no surprise that he really cares about this subject. He has been playing this game for over 6 years and has achieved much, such as serving twice as Country President and 31 times as Congressman.

I took a rather long hiatus from this game, close on 6 years. When I came back to the game, Gyantse reached out to me to tell me that I qualify for the housing program. He is always available on Discord should you have any queries regarding anything. Without further delay, read the interview with Gyantse below:

Where were you born?
I was born in Slovenia and later moved to Belgium.

What lessons did you take from your first country? (If applicable)
Slovenia had active academy kind of program that helped new players that registered. You had to finish several tasks that guided you through the first steps of the game and help you learn mechanics of the game. Also for every successful task completed you earned a reward.

What attracted you to Belgium?
Leadership in high circles of Slovenian society were quite tight closed and based on military power. I was looking to join some smaller country and become a little more heard voice of the society. I started looking for a new country to join and came in contact with MaryamQ, an important person in Belgium back in the days. She helped me get Belgian citizenship and Belgium became my new homeland.

How many terms have you served in Education?
I served several terms as the Minister of Education, so many terms that at some point I stopped counting and was nicknamed by some as “Eternal MoE”. My first served term was a month after I joined Belgium under president Cooke44 and since then I served in several Belgian, Swiss and Malaysian governments and was part of congresses of some other countries as well.

What are the biggest challenges faced by you in your role of Minister of Education
The main problem about setting up successful educational services was and still is the inactivity of the community and little motivation from new players, who start in the world that is not kind to them. As Minister, I worked or was part of several projects that had the goal of helping new players that join Belgium or to try boost activity in our community. Due to the problem of activity, which I mentioned earlier, most of the projects didn’t see the light of the day or were soon shut down.

Do you have a team of players that assist you in Education?
At the moment I don’t have any deputies to specifically help me, but I can always count on help from other government members.

Do you need any additional help from players to make Education successful?
I don’t think there is a need to increase our department. From my current experiences, new players that show interest to play the game usually responds the welcome message they get from the president when they join and join our discord channel where they get help from other players, not only advice and tips, but also goodies to help them earn some money, tanks or food.

Where do you see the Ministry in 1 year?
The game hasn’t changed in a while and I doubt there will be any major change in the near future or in the following weeks as some would sarcastically say. So I guess we can’t expect any major changes in the field of education.

What have you done to improve the Ministry since been appointed?
Not so long ago we set up two projects that we currently maintain. First one is Belgian Air Force that rewards fighter for their kills in air battles with food. The project’s main purpose is to strengthen our air forces and bring activity. The project is also a good way for new players to get food and guide them to strengthen their air rank, that many sees as the best option for new players to focus on. Second is Belgian House Aid program that rewards players who reward players who fight enough, write articles or take part in Belgian Air Force project with a Q2 house that increase energy bar and energy regen of players and also give them addition overtime points they can use to work overtime and earn more money from salaries. But projects were well received in the community and I believe they also contribute to the increase of activity in our community in last months.

What do you see as the biggest threat to Belgium Society?
In the past there were few strong attempts to PTO us from different groups. Nowadays general activity inside all eRepublik communities is in slow decline. Which also affected PTO attempts, which more or less stopped or lose strength. I currently see no special threat for the Belgian community, but there can always be someone who can try make a split in the community and we should work together to eliminate such threats and work together for a stronger Belgium.

What is your advice to new players?
I advise new players to focus and do most of their hits in aircraft battles. However, before choosing the focus, they should decide what kind of gameplay they look for. Starting slowly, upgrading training grounds and train long enough to get somehow competitive strength takes time and patience, as you can’t do the fighting until your strength grows and in this game based on war module that is quite hard and boring. The other way is to start competing in war module and try to be somehow competitive on the battleground then you should choose aircraft battles, you need to work hard or even spend some money, to be in the same league as “big guys” you still can reach that level faster than in ground battles. Choosing the way where experience points are not your enemy you can use your savings to build your own economic empire or take some other path.

I would also like to use that opportunity to remind or let other Belgians know that there is a lot of excitement in the community for the month of November. It can happen there will be several tournaments or events for the special occasions such as Day 4,000 and eRepublik anniversary. Probably there will be an increase in health regeneration and health bar so make sure you will have enough food and weapons in storage if you fight with them.

And at the end of November there will be Black Friday which could be one time opportunity to upgrade your factories with the discount. So if you plan to upgrade, stock up the gold and wait for it.