The eRepublik Insider Fails to Deliver

Day 680, 21:01 • Published in Canada USA • by Dean Cliff

Today came out the first citizen article published by the eRepublik Insider (EI) , a bullet-point tale of 500 days of eRepublik .

This citizen-insiders project is meant to promote high quality journalism and this is a great idea. However, as is evidenced by the two first topics proposed for articles to be published in EI, so far the focus seems to be on expressing opinions that make eRepublik look good and fun.

Let’s have a look at these topics.
1- Real friends I met because of eRepublik
2- How do you think eRepublik will be like five years from now? Use your imagination! or
What does it mean to have success in eRepublik?

Fair enough, a little self-promotion doesn't hurt. Writing about things that some players have in common or dreams of what the future has in store; yeah that's a bit endearing. But seriously, are we talking about an opinion page of a pop magazine or are we talking about promoting high quality journalism? .

I, like many others, would love to participate and get an article published in EI; after all, the media module is perhaps the most unique and vibrant feature of eRepublik. Quoting the EI , “We are seeing many really talented writers, which are able to move masses, to make citizens laugh, to make them feel sad, even to start or stop wars! A good journalist adds value both to his nation and to eRepublik as a whole.” Is this what we are getting through this promotion of high quality journalism?

There are many areas were EI fails to deliver, starting with the first topic and the “high quality journalism” that ensued. “Real friends I met because of eRepublik” is not, in my opinion, a newsworthy topic worldwide in the fast moving and complex social world of eRepublik, it is Facebook material at best. It appears I am not alone, many others share similar opinions it seems, as EI reports that they have received many email linking to articles that had nothing to do with the proposed topic.

Wait a minute! Are we to believe that the actual published article, 500 days of eRepublik , had something to do with the proposed topic? Firstly, bullet-point article...? That is low quality journalism in my mind. Secondly, how is that article related to the topic at hand? The only part slightly brushing on the topic is the author’s bullet-point admission of bi-curiosity regarding his “online girlfriend” who happened to be a dude (Banach?). Reiterating what I said earlier, it seems IE’s focus is on gathering opinions that make eRepublik look good and fun. Woop-dee-doo!

What about the second topic? Here we get a choice at least; this is a slight improvement. How eRepublik will look in 5 years is interesting, but again I cannot help but find a streak of self-promotion and besides there is plenty of room in the forum for this kind of stuff and hundreds of posts geared toward ways to improve the game. What it means to have success in eRepublik , now that is slightly more newsworthy. The problem here is that there are so many ways to interpret this, so many facets to success, so many opinions on the topic. I assume that if the next published article follows this topic, it will be short of inspiring.

Which bring me to the next area where EI fails: the 2500 characters limit. An article on success in eRepublik could be high quality journalism if it is able to capture the nuances, the intricacies, the various areas of success. How is that possibly achievable with a 2500 characters limit? In fact, most great articles out there in eRepublik are well over that preposterous barrier.

At this stage, whether or not EI wants to promote high quality journalism or low quality blogging , I couldn’t be less interested. Like many others I will strive to produce great articles on my own terms, with my limited reader base ( vote this up + subscribe ), and actually offer my readers something interesting that relates to eRepublik world and events (criteria that “500 days of eRepublik” fails to meet).

Free high quality journalism at the grass-root level!