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Hi everyone,
Let me introduce myself, I'm Orango, I just registered on e-Sim but I've been a player for more than 2 years on... well I don't know if it isn't forbidden to say the name of this "concurrent game" but what the heck, “eRepublik” (kids, if you don't know what it is, don't look it up: it sucks
). In this game I've been soldier, mercenary, congressman, party president, Minister for several times, and so on but the thing I've always loved the most was journalism.
I've seen this game, let's call it ER (the purpose of this article is not to be an advertisement), go through many versions, V1, Rising, V2, V2.5 and the actual one.
Throughout these different versions, the ER admins destroyed the game brick by brick, module by module if I can say. I got so frustrated by seeing what the admins made of ER. Why? Well I've always been convinced that the concept had a huge potential, but unfortunately it was being so poorly exploited on ER. I loved the game, and I couldn't leave it (although I tried).
That's why I began to try everything to make things change back there, by writing countless articles and trying to get the attention of the admins by all possible ways. I've written articles that got over 3000 votes with 10 to 20 reposts throughout the world, petitions with hundreds of signatures, and more suggestions and more and more (I put screens because once again the purpose of this article is not to be an advertisement)... But I have always been ignored by the ER admins.
I've tried all kind of similar games and ER copycats but unfortunately, no one could measure the original game according to me. And then, I got the link of e-Sim by a friend of mine. My first thought was “again a copycat of ER”, but then I noticed that the layout and design was entirely retought to be a lot more user-friendly, I noticed that there were contracts with loans and debts, subsidied battles, the mobile phone version, MU companies and a lot more ! E-Sim was by far the most ambitious concurrent I've ever seen. That's when I understood that it was the only game that could become a real concurrent to ER.
I heard the admins of e-Sim were a lot more close to their players, able to listen to them and ready to take the suggestions of a common player into consideration. So first, congrats for being so ambitious and to have that behaviour towards your players. My only wish is to see e-Sim rise, knock out ER and become the “ultimate” geopolitical simulation game.
In this article I'll give you my advices, suggestions and guidelines that I think could help you to achieve that goal.
You are probably thinking “who the hell does he thinks he is?”. Well in fact, I have been game admin and community manager of 3 MMORPG servers, I founded a network that contained 4 MMORPG servers with 4 to 5 different languages and 30 to 40 thousands of players, thus I can say that I know a little about administrating. I know it's not the same as administrating this kind of game, but I'm not a total noob either
Dear admins, if you think my opinion could not be as worthless as it seems, please take the time to read all of this. Plus, if you want to have a chat with me afterward, don't hesitate to contact me, I would be glad to help you in any possible way. 
So this is it, this is gonna be my supah-long article with all my suggestions gathered
Hang on cause supah-long article is indeed gonna be super long.
The first thing, imho, if you want e-Sim to rise, is to learn from the errors of the other games that took the same path before you and avoid them. I will write here the most important things that you could learn from the mistakes that were made on ER. These are advices I suggest to follow forever
[*]1) Always, always, always take the opinion of your players into consideration:
This is theh golden rule according to me, and the main mistake of ER. Believe me, I know how players can get so annoying by whining all the time, complaining about everything and asking constantly stupid questions. But it is important to never forget that you have been one of us too and that your objective is (or should be) in the first place to give the players the best possible gaming experience and not to gain as much money as possible (don't worry, the second thing will follow if you keep the first in mind) . That's why you must try to keep your ears open to any opinion in order to make the right decisions.
2) Stay close to your players:
Undoubtedly one of the hardest thing to do. Being admins is not an easy task and you easily get a distance between you and the players. This advice is of course linked to the first one, when you aren't close to your players you can't listen to them. How can you stay close to your players? First, give the admins a “human face”: comment with your actual nickname, don't hesitate to give your personal opinion, be active with your real account and not with that stupid “admin” account. It avoids the “god effect”, when players have the feeling that admins are like absent gods that don't give a shit about their players.
In ER, they gave the admins the fictive name “Plato”. Well guess what, Plato is hated... I mean for real I would kick his ass if I met him in my street.
3) Try to find other ways to make the game lucrative:
Every game needs money to survive, that's a fact that everyone understands. But time has proven that giving an advantage to the players that pay with real money isn't a good solution. Why? Because it makes it impossible for you to follow Advice #1 anymore, you will be tempted to implement all the time new features that will help the donators and it leave the other players behind. A real “cleavage” will appear between the donators and non-donators. It makes all players angry and make many leave the game. Though it's so easy to find other ways to get money out of a game, for example advertisements ! Why not? Not too big, not pop-ups. But discrete ads on each side of the page can make you gain a lot of money while not bothering the players ! You can also make goodies, shirts, plush's, accessories, etc. Or a paid apps for smartphones for example? Use your imagination, but please, please avoid the “Buy gold” option.
I've read about the Premium offer you're preparing, I think it's a great alternative, as long as it doesn't make the premium players gain more strenght, deal a bigger influence, or such a things than non-premium players. As long as they don't become the “elite” players because they have paid more, it's allright. But don't forget to develop new features for non-premium players too
4) Don't try to mute the players:
In ER, the admins didn't follow Advice #1, nor Advice #2. They quickly had to face another problem, the gamer community got really angry: petitions were sent, tickets sent massively, the players united through several articles that gained thousands of votes, different actions took place where thousands of players changed their avatar for example to make it clear they weren't satisfied. Instead of listening, the ER admins tried to mute all the players by removing all the possible ways that the community could interact with the admins.
First, they forbid international articles by forcing all players to publish in their citizenship country.
Secondly they removed the possibility to appeal for what they considered as “minor sanctions”.
Thirdly, they banned the “leaders”, with the reason that “public debates are forbidden”.
Fourth, they closed the admin's Newspaper (to avoid the angry comments on each update).
Finally, they shut the official forum pretending “technical issues” - it's been down for about 10 months now...
Result? Unsatisfied players had no choice but leaving the game.
5) Keep the players aware of what's happening/planned
One important thing to remember, players don't like surprises. You might think they will love something but if you drop it all, all of a sudden, in their face, you'll obviously get serious troubles amongst the community. Do not hesitate to make polls, to ask the players their opinion, to warn them when something big is upcoming, etc. That way they will be able to prepare and they won't be baffled by a major update that they would not have seen coming.
6) Betatesting & Hacks
First, big updates need betatesting. Players will probably .....
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[RE] The Suggestions, Advices & Guidelines [Part 2] (14 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.
