eRepublik article on Dutch frontpage of RL newspaper

Day 1,275, 07:53 • Published in Netherlands Netherlands • by MaartenW

I was just eating breakfast when my eyes spotted this, I almost literally fell from my chair.


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Stormbal tegen kinderporno 😮

Nah of course I was stunned by this article:

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ENGLISH VERSION OF THE ARTICLE

De fall of Belgrado at the beginning of May was a dramatic event. Against their will citizens of Serbia had to see how their capital was being invaded by Croatian forces. On the back ground the Netherlands and Germany were getting conquered by Poland.

Welcome to eRepublik, a virtual worldwar on the internet. In Serbia the resistance is failing to launch a successful attack on the Croatian conqueror. But the most spectacular act of revenge in eRepublik comes from Poland, which with the coordinated deployment of thousands of players wiped Germany from the map. After that the Netherlands got invaded as well. Poland is now the biggest nation in the game. In eRepublik citizens control the economy. They run for elections and make war to expand their territory. The game is extremely popular in the Balkan area. Lands like Serbia, Bulgaria and Croatia but also the newly added Macedonian country is one of the big 10 in eRepublik.

Much people see the game as an innocent way to deal with historic conflicts, from the Balkan wars until the second world war. One of the funders of eRepublik, Alexis Bonte, suspected that countries with a strong internet culture would control the game. Instead he sees that the current digital wars in the Balkan are fed by patriotism. "Much people really want their country to have success." Jokes can be made, despite the fact of the sometimes quite bloody history behind the events. The headline of a real life Serbian newspaper state😛 "Croatian army marches into eBelgrado" a player gave "Serbia till Tokio!" as example of a roar of war. Other people take the Patriotism more serious. Virtual Greeks protested against the introduction of Macedonia to the game. As reaction a video was posted with a call to the Macedonian people to restore the empire of Alexander the great with the slogan "Freedom or Death" Bonte and his team monitor the game to make sure this kind of nationalism doesn't run out of control.

P.S.
All hail Joost van Egmond whatever his nickname may be o7