Fix eRepublik - Volume 2
Gnilraps
Day 3481 of the New World
June 1, 2017
A month ago I came to you with a very simple proposal to improve the game we love.
The gist of that article was that the population of eRepublik can no longer support an unlimited number of open Battle Campaigns. So I proposed a limit to the maximum number of Campaigns as a way of increasing competition, excitement, and significance in each individual battle. It is a great idea.
Today I will propose a second great idea to improve the quality of game play here at eRepublik, and I have renewed hope that Admin will listen since they have a new boss!
It is time to end the 5-Party system.
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In a social environment, it takes a certain amount of “social resources” to create vibrancy. I don’t know that I am qualified to make concrete assertions about exactly what these numbers might look like, but I’ll take a wild swing and see if I can make contact.
hey, at least I’m trying… I wonder if Plato has even stepped up to the plate lately!
I beg the international community to indulge my laziness but I will use the eUSA community as my sample.
In eUSA, we have an absolutely stagnant situation in the top 5. There has not been any change in the T5 membership in years. It’s Feds, USWP, BSP, WTP, and SFP.
Every f**king month.
Every f**king year.
Of course the main problem is that there simply isn’t enough population to support a vibrant 5-party system.
Back in the day, when the average political election involved 2 or 3 thousand voters in eUSA, there was some excitement about how elections would play out. There was even excitement as party membership would ebb and flow, creating changes in ranking… even *gasp* resulting in a 5th party becoming 6th and a 6th party becoming 5th!!!!!
But in an environment where there are maybe 300 or so active voters, 95% of whom are dyed-in-the-wool members of their chosen party, and
In an environment where there are maybe 2 or 3 legitimate potential new citizens per month, and
In an environment where a 5-party system is inflexibly forced upon this shrunken player base…
There’s not much fun left in the Party system.
So let’s fix it!
Let’s beg Plato to reduce the number of controlling parties to 3 per eNation.
A Top 3 Party system is perfect for the current eRepublik social environment.
With 3 Parties, you have a tightened political dynamic. Whichever is the top party must worry constantly about a coalition from the other two. In a depleted 5 Party system such as the one we have now, all it takes is an alliance between numbers 1 and 2 to effectively silence all other voices. This has been the situation in eUSA for years. USWP and FEDS have literally controlled congress by mutual agreement. This is not good for the game. The 5 Party system waters down the available pool of active participants such that it is easy for the top 2 to squat on power. I know this is the case in nearly every other healthy nation.
With 3 Parties, you have the potential for changes in power at the top. As it stands now, the pathetic slow trickle of new citizens gets so watered down by the 5-Party system that there is no real hope of party growth through outreach. Back in the day I used to run recruitment programs that systemmatically reached out to new citizens. I still have the ancient spreadsheets that show how each day we would send a particular PM to all new citizens. Then the next day we’d follow up with another PM. Then we’d have certain donations set up to attract them with gifts. Some of my old schemes were really elaborate. In other words, it used to be fun and exciting and productive to try to grow your party through outreach to new citizens. Today there is literally no point to it. I have tried twice in recent months to develop something along these lines and it’s just not worth it. Perhaps if there were only 3 politically meaningful parties competing for the trickle of new citizens instead of 5, it would be worth revisiting some of those recruitment programs.
With 3 Parties, CP elections might be a wee bit more interesting. One thing that hasn’t changed is that every now and then there is a barnburner of a CP election. It doesn’t happen every month, but when it does it’s fun. In fact, just two months ago in eUSA there was an election victory decided by fewer than 10 votes. And how many votes were “wasted” on 4th and 5th candidates? 43! In other words, while a 3-way election would not have created a 3-way race, it would have significantly increased the value of campaigning for votes between the top two candidates. Why do we need a 4th and a 5th candidate in a CP election that has almost never been significantly determined between more than 2 candidates? Come on, Plato.
We could talk about more benefits of a 3-party system over a 5-party system.
We could talk about the heightened focus each top party would have to place on identifying policy (which means heightened activity).
We could talk about the intensified competition over whatever the new “Residence Module” might provide (most T5 parties don’t even have enough active members to control a small number of regions. Wouldn’t political competition for regions be a good thing?)
We could talk about the condensed talent pool which would stimulate the media module (and other outlets) with competitive banter between 3 more significant competitors (whereas the current climate has stagnated with 5 mostly established non-competitors).
...and so on. You can probably add to the list.
So.
Dear Alexis and Stillfront,
Please just change the code to allow for 3 Top parties instead of 5.
And when, together, we grow this game back to a place where there are about 8 to 10 times the current number of active citizens, we can go back to 4 or 5 top parties because that was a really good system when there were more people playing. But right now? The 5 Party system is killing us.
Thanks.
You may now return to your regularly scheduled clicking
Comments
Tbh I just want the voting of individuals based on regions in congressional elections back. It makes individuals campaign for their spot, especially if the amount of seats is tweaked down. That nurtures activity.
Now that they have already re-introduced cities, it could be done rather easily.
That's a step.
I have written extensively about this. And I agree.
Nothing has ever been done about it though.
Maybe this admittedly small suggestion might be taken up though. I doubt it.
Stop buying uselless and overpriced shit from admins = game fixed (after some time).. 😛
and dont buy anithing until they indeed fix or ad something usefull and interesting in the game... 😛
how long has it been since you last bought smth here?
5 yrs?
So removing SFP and BSP is your worldwide solution, really? 😉
No, I am not directly attacking any party. I understand why you ask, but that really isn't what I mean.
If you really want to know, I'd kill off WTP, honestly.
But it isn't about specific parties. It's about the sensibility of 5 v 3.
Honestly, we're probably at the point where 2 would be enough, but 2 would be less interesting than 3.
so please don't take this as an assault against a specific party.
Alexis and Stillfront?
What’s going on?
Why not only one party like in SA?
I other words, why not 2 or 4 or 6?
This article sadly doesn't adress any problem. There were (and still are) lots of countries with less than 200 voters and the system worlked fine there. Not all is about eUSA you know.
I think 3 would be better than 5 in every eNation.
Maybe 2 would be better than 3 based on population, but I don't think it would be more interesting.
For the time being, 3 seems the best number.
[removed]
Will be 3 active parties instead of 5.
Plato is no more, the reign of Yarni has just begun
http://prntscr.com/fes7fm
Shows what kind of pig-disgusting elitist you are. More power to Feds/USWP, right?
Like you don't have enough of it already.
Cute idea. Would not change the end result at all. Thanks for the effort though--more than I've given!
o7
how about abolishing party system at all?!
this is a game and it does not have to necessarily reflect rl system. why not have three independent candidates representing platforms to which they'll stick to? of course elaborating it a bit further.
otherwise, reducing parties from 5 to 3 or whatever does not seem to me as a change at all!!
America has gone from several thousand citizens voting to a couple of hundred voters because the majority of citizens in the game realize that a 'Tyrannical Congressional Majority' controlled by the Feds and USWP on an outside forum controls all the money and Blacklists anyone who dares to speak out against them. Even now a proposal to control how each party operates is being pushed on that forum.
http://eusaforums.com/forum/index.php/topic,42960.msg878355.html#msg878355
My suggestion is get rid of that forum.
really nothing has changed then in.. well, since i've been here
Break the party system, it only appeals to those already engaged on it.
Create local elections where candidates are chosen by policy and not party. Ad maybe another regional level,make the CP candidates prove themselves in those before having the chance of the big office. Give power to the other figures that are not CP and allow the government to be a mix of different positions, with independent renewals/elections.
One last thing, very personal opinion, remove any reference to RL politics.
changing to 3 parties would indeed just strengthen the stranglehold that you admit USWP and FEDS already have, doesnt matter if its 3 parties or 5, they will never allow their cabal to break up even in the twilight of this game
The best way to fix this is to boot Bonte out of everything related to the game.
And don't let him come back.
I agree the top5 system is killing the congress, but top3 doesn't solve the problem. That is we have intellectually empty mass parties filled with more or less inactive 2-click players, whose place in congress can't be challenged. The congress is currently more determined by party presidents and less by voters. If every party could run for elections, that would maybe help.