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Checked the election results:
10th place! 10 votes! I won?? What???
Awwwww yeah:
Thanks to all of my supporters / people who voted for me because Pfeiffer told them to do so. Lol. Hope I can live up to your expectations, if applicable. Oh, and I was a multi-term Congresswoman in "that other game" -- I only mention it now in case you're wondering why I talk like I've got some familiarity with Congress despite being a total eSim newb. I didn't mention it before because I didn't think it would be relevant and I didn't want to unduly puff myself up as a result (...says the lady with an empress sig... I know, but it's sentimental!).
Day 234 - April 26, 2012.
The term began with people, most likely returnees, donating their Congressional Medal 5 gold to the treasury. Honestly, I had no idea people still did that. I mean, I remember it, from "that other game," but to actually see it here? Interesting. I saw a topic on the forums where a couple of new Congressmen were getting annoyed at one person who donated only part of his gold to the treasury and the other part to his party (we know this because he specifically stated it in the donation for all to see).
Honestly, people, this kind of infighting/singling out of one person was completely unnecessary (so I jumped into the topic to offer my differing opinion). As a former Congressman revealed in that topic, it may be "tradition" but it's actually "optional" now. So yeah, I think my 5 Congressional gold will be better off going to a MU for more damage for our great country, the USA. And I don't care if that isn't traditional, because you know where that tradition began? In a game that I don't play anymore and (for me at least) for reasons that were partially roleplay. Guess who's (okay, mostly) through roleplaying games like this? This Congresswoman, that's who. Been there, done that.
It wasn't even an hour into the term before someone started proposing tax changes; knowing from experience that I should wait before I do anything, I decided to check the forums. Despite the fact that I hadn't received a welcome/orientation message yet, I found Congress to be extremely organized on the forums. There was already a topic up telling us to vote no and, in it, the former Congressman proposing the tax changes explained he only did it because, due to a bug, he could still propose/vote on stuff. I remember when such junk proposals were called "lulz proposals" -- I much prefer that name to what I saw it called here: "waste proposals."
Have you stopped reading yet? Or have you not even started? Providing you're still with me, then yeah, let me explain: due to some glitch, 11 former Congressmen were "re-elected" or "not unelected," in that they're still in Congress as of this writing. Hopefully it'll get sorted out soon enough or we'll have a very interesting, very large Congress this term!
I noticed that in eSim, you can actually see who voted Yes and who voted No on proposals! Thanks to the previously mentioned organized nature of the forums, or the fact that there was a shout pertaining to the topic, there were very quickly many "No"s on the lulz proposals. If Congress can manage to stay so united throughout the term, it should be smooth sailing.
Something tells me rocky waters are ahead, though. Hmm, maybe I should be using flying metaphors... Stormy skies ahead? Whatever! Point is, only a couple hours into the term and there was already a rivalry publically revealing itself on the forums in Congress-related topics, namely between Congressmen Pfeiffer and Abroham Lincoln. Perhaps you were previously aware of the tension between these two -- and the factions they are a part of -- before now, like I was? I'm just hoping it's not going to be like this between them all term.
So I did the usual First Day stuff: registered for access to the Congressional forum and IRC areas (even if I don't know what the IRC area is called yet... hope it'll be in that yet-to-be-received Congressional orientation mailing!), changed my in-game and forum avatars, and made a note to get around to reading the laws of our country while waiting for access to the private Congressional boards.
Which brings up a good point: How much I'll be revealing about what goes on behind closed doors during my weekly reports. There seems to be quite the debate in the sUSA political realm as to the warring concerns of transparency and national security. I think it'll be fine to put a few vague details about stuff that's not obviously super-secret, but I'll mostly be erring on the side of national security on this debate, especially since I am a newbie in many ways. Besides, I'm rather sure they don't tell the general Congress all the juicy details anyway. If you want to find out, run for Congress?
I'll try my best to enlighten you before then.
Goal for Part B: Read the country’s laws.
Part B
A Game Operator Admin came in and fired the 10 former Congressmen still employed due to a bug; if anyone’s curious, there are 21 names in that section where there should be 20 Congressmen because the 21st one is our President. So, that’s been sorted in a relatively quick manner, unlike this Congressional weekly write-up.
There still hasn’t been a Congressional mailing to all members of Congress. I’m beginning to wonder if there will be one. There totally should be, as it’d be a big help to all new Congressmen who aren’t sure where to go to for the forums or IRC or other such things, and to tell people “don’t vote on anything before checking the forums/IRC to see what’s up.” For myself, I’m just curious to see who would send it and how professional and helpful it would be.
I got private Congressional board access today, along with mostly everyone else in Congress (only three Congressmen haven’t signed up for access at the time of this writing), and I have to say, there’s a LOT of interesting stuff here. I doubt I’ll read everything from previous terms, but I skimmed enough to get a general idea of what goes on there.
There were topics for discussion (such as taxes, the budget, organizations, MPPs, new citizen message), topics for forum votes on those topics of discussion, threads for citizenship requests, and topics for things I probably can’t talk about; suffice it to say foreign relations and domestic stuff as well. I also learned to take Devoid’s word on money matters, particularly matters of the peg (the U.S. monetary peg, a set exchange rate between USD and gold designed to ensure economic stability); not all too surprising, from what I recall of him from before. He’s basically our One Eye (old people’s joke)! Wow, I’m eOld… but so sYoung! I sense a new slogan coming on…
I jumped into the discussion today; among other things (like a possible national loaning institution), I looked into/asked about a string of odd citizenship requests. It was thought that a series of new citizens and citizenship requests looked suspicious, but discussion with game staff came back negative, so there are no obvious markers upon which game staff can act. I’m really not looking to get involved in citizenship matters again, honest! Really got to try to separate this from what I did in that other game…
Oh, speaking of citizenship approvals, I learned today that the number of approvals a Congressman/Congresswoman gets is based on how many votes he/she’s received. If you got at least one, you get one citizenship approval, if you got at least ten, you get two, etc., rounding up; if you had 33 votes, you'd get 4 approvals.
There was also a nomination thread for speaker of the house for May! I couldn’t wait to see what was going on there, so I decided to skim it over. Apparently, the current speaker of the house,
Lord of the Blings , has already accepted nominations and one person nominated 
Baarogue , someone I’m not overly familiar with myself, but I’ve gotten the impression he’s capable, so I seconded his nomination just so there could be some competition for the role. Not sure for whom I’ll vote ultimately, but I’ll likely read some pros/cons of each before voting.
While completing my goal for Day 234: Part B, I came across the finalized law relating to the FBI’s creation. It was neat to see because, prior to it being proposed to last term’s Congress, I had discussed a lot of these particulars with
Lord of the Blings in private and helped create the basic idea for the Federal Bureau of Investigation. To actually see some of those ideas made into law was very cool!
As a final note, in discussing/reading/skimming stuff on the private Congressional boards today, I’m sure I’ve already opened my mouth and said something incredibly newbish/wrong at least once. Not bad for a first day!
Previous article:
Congress - Why I'm Running. (13 years ago)
Next article:
Congressional Weekly: Days 235-237 (13 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.
