Article
My name is Tuxedo Mask and I am presently the Secretary of the Treasury of the United States of America. Some of you may be having aneurysms at hearing that, but it is true! But that isn't why I am writing today, today, I am writing about the absurdity of the slavery and exploitation laws presently enforced on e-Sim.
Outline of Article:
[1] As The Law Stands
[2] Questions About Definitions
[3] Who is a criminal?
[4] How to use the current law against your foes!
Having players work for a low wage (under the average salary for the concerned skill) in the country where the company is located, without any transaction in return equivalent to this salary.
Let us evaluate this statement logically:
This is a test to determine whether or not an individual is being exploited, the test can be expressed in the inequality stated in the form of:
if wage + other consideration >= average wage:
exploitation does not occur
else exploitation occurs
wage is a real number equal to or greater than 1 and divisible by 0.01 without remainder
other consideration is a real number equal to or greater than 0.01 and is divisible by 0.01 without remainder, unless we are discussing gold prices, which can be quoted in prices OTHER than hundredths, but which must physically be dispersed (in gold) in hundredths of units of gold
The word 'wage' is quite easy to interpret, it means the salary per day that is paid in cash.
The word 'other consideration' can be interpreted in a variety of ways:
[1] Consideration in the form of other supplies, priced in local currency, average over a specified time or presently available on the market
[2] Consideration in the form of other supplies, price in gold, from local currency markets
[3] Consideration in the form of other supplies, priced in global currency, not translated into gold
[4] Consideration in the form of other supplies, priced in global currency, translated into gold
[5] Consideration in the form of other supplies, priced using out-of-game measures (#strade)
[6] Consideration in the form of other supplies, using values provided by administration team
Since we do not know how 'other consideration' is calculated, we are a bit lost as players. It doesn't specify which measure to use to determine "other consideration" and each of these measures does not provide much relief for the average military unit or company operator -- nor does it protect individuals from being exploited -- as an individual or government -- can tamper with all of the measures, except for [6], but 6 would require additional work from the moderation team, and we all know how that will turn out...
[1,2,3,4,5,] would allow individuals and governments to fiddle with averages, all it takes is a premium user to inform the government what the average volume of a particular product is, post offers, and adjust the average price to their liking.
EXAMPLE: 2,000 units of Q5 food naturally riddle the US market each day at an average price of $2.25. This means dollar volume per day in Q5 food is $4,500, unless it is a weighted average, and from my premium view on the Department of Defense and USA Org, I do not believe it is. I would like to make our Q5 Food that we issue to our commune workers equal to $10.00 per unit, so that all our workers are technically paid $150 a day under this measure. All I have to do is sell my food in a way such that the average moves up.
If the average cost is not weighted and is just (total food cost / total units of food), all I have to do is say: (4500 + X) / (2000 + N) = Desired Price. If I was willing to use government powers, I could hike the average price of food on the market to whatever I wanted (without changing the price to the average consumer) and state that while prices on the market may be low, in the past, when the workers were working, the price of food was much higher. In this example, if I want my price to go to $10 and I have 1,000 units of food lying about, I can say, what number divided by 3,000 would give me $10? That is pretty simple: $30,000. We already have $4500 in natural volume on the board, we would charge $25.50 for our new units of food. This isn't the price that the market would be paying, but it would be the average price reported via the product pricing. We could claim that the food market was higher these past days and as such, the value of the food was way higher!
For example, suppose that the average is indeed volume based. We would need to simulate the purchase of food at a much higher price. We would need to 'find' the right amount to adjust the market with, using the above calculation as a pointer.
#strade manipulation would be easier, seeing as #strade is not recorded and when it is, I can merely state that I am willing to pay 1.00g per Q5 food, but never move on that trade! Worst case, I can get a crony in #strade to record and simply overstate the value of food and other necessities. After all, are we using bid or ask prices?
Allies could work together to manipulate markets and cause enemies to be considered exploiters and crooked government officials could manipulate their markets so that they don't get pegged with exploitation. Not too bad?
The same issue arises with average wage, and for the same reasons, it needs to be defined in a better fashion.
In some distributions, especially ones that are symmetrical, the average wage would criminalize slightly less than half of the population that hired employees. If I skew national wages by offering $10,000 USD a day to anyone who will click -- but have insufficient cash, wouldn't the average wage available increase? What is the definition that you want me to use in regard to average?
Please refine this law so that players can understand how to avoid the fines associated with exploitation. Also, do not make it some arbitrary value of mean wage. Due to the uncontrollable variance in wages (all actors act individually of one another), what is legal one day is illegal the next because someone increased the mean wage or the variance of the wage pushed out.
I plainly think the rule is unenforceable and can not be shielded from manipulation.
In addition, can the employer be exploited or indirectly power level?
That is, as an employer, can I pay my hires a wage that is well above average? It is the same thing as powerleveling, but it is not really addressed. After all, I am getting some value. What is the penalty for overpaying your workers?
I think it'd probably be best if the administration did not bother with the idea of exploitation. It leads to too many difficult questions that could criminalize a good chunk of the game.
Anyhow, I'll let you digest and I'll write again another time.
Yours Truly,
Tuxedo Mask
Secretary of the Treasury
Next article:
[EN] Indeed, What Is War? (8 years ago)
About the game:
USA as a world power? In E-Sim it is possible!
In E-Sim we have a huge, living world, which is a mirror copy of the Earth. Well, maybe not completely mirrored, because the balance of power in this virtual world looks a bit different than in real life. In E-Sim, USA does not have to be a world superpower, It can be efficiently managed as a much smaller country that has entrepreneurial citizens that support it's foundation. Everything depends on the players themselves and how they decide to shape the political map of the game.
Work for the good of your country and see it rise to an empire.
Activities in this game are divided into several modules. First is the economy as a citizen in a country of your choice you must work to earn money, which you will get to spend for example, on food or purchase of weapons which are critical for your progress as a fighter. You will work in either private companies which are owned by players or government companies which are owned by the state. After progressing in the game you will finally get the opportunity to set up your own business and hire other players. If it prospers, we can even change it into a joint-stock company and enter the stock market and get even more money in this way.
In E-Sim, international wars are nothing out of the ordinary.
Become an influential politician.
The second module is a politics. Just like in real life politics in E-Sim are an extremely powerful tool that can be used for your own purposes. From time to time there are elections in the game in which you will not only vote, but also have the ability to run for the head of the party you're in. You can also apply for congress, where once elected you will be given the right to vote on laws proposed by your fellow congress members or your president and propose laws yourself. Voting on laws is important for your country as it can shape the lives of those around you. You can also try to become the head of a given party, and even take part in presidential elections and decide on the shape of the foreign policy of a given state (for example, who to declare war on). Career in politics is obviously not easy and in order to succeed in it, you have to have a good plan and compete for the votes of voters.
You can go bankrupt or become a rich man while playing the stock market.
The international war.
The last and probably the most important module is military. In E-Sim, countries are constantly fighting each other for control over territories which in return grant them access to more valuable raw materials. For this purpose, they form alliances, they fight international wars, but they also have to deal with, for example, uprisings in conquered countries or civil wars, which may explode on their territory. You can also take part in these clashes, although you are also given the opportunity to lead a life as a pacifist who focuses on other activities in the game (for example, running a successful newspaper or selling products).
At the auction you can sell or buy your dream inventory.
E-Sim is a unique browser game. It's creators ensured realistic representation of the mechanisms present in the real world and gave all power to the players who shape the image of the virtual Earth according to their own. So come and join them and help your country achieve its full potential.
Invest, produce and sell - be an entrepreneur in E-Sim.
Take part in numerous events for the E-Sim community.
