Article
Friends,
I apologize for not writing sooner. My real life has been incredibly hectic and I am just now getting settled in after graduating from school and moving halfway across the country to take an unexpected job offer.
The move interrupted my daily stock market data gathering, and in doing so gave me some time to consider the usefulness of the project. I have determined, based on the two weeks of data collected, that it was not very useful at all. This is true for several reasons.
First, most of the stocks are not very active. I discussed this point in some of my previous articles, but that does not change the underlying fact. The currently selected stocks can only be poked with a stick so many times (with no result) before I have no choice but to move on. I did some exploration of possible alternative stocks to replace them with, but the issue seems to persist across the board.
Second, it was a pretty significant burden on me. I attempted to take the data at around the same time every day – about an hour before the daily reset. This meant that I had to be at home with my laptop open and couldn’t schedule anything that might overlap that time period. It also took between 5 and 15 minutes, depending on how much information I needed to take. I’m sure it may have been possible to write a script to grab this information, but I’m not technically savvy enough to attempt it.
Third, nobody really seemed to care. I published daily updates on the market in my shout feed and at least two articles in this paper. None received higher-than-average attention or overwhelming support. I’m not the sort of person that only writes on “popular” topics, nor am I opposed to taking on projects just for fun, but without any major positives, this pretty much sealed the deal on ending the stock market reports.
The biggest reason, however, is that stock companies are not a good use of anybody’s time. They were novel and even interesting when they were first released, and I believe the idea behind SCs could be very useful. The biggest flaw in the companies, however, is the inability of SC operators to move goods in or out of the companies outside of the in-game marketplace. This means that individuals and MUs can buy materials and sell their goods more quickly through donations or contracts and reach a wider audience such as friends in the shoutbox and IRC channels like #strade. They can also pay workers by donation to avoid taxes, something that is harder for the SC. This is why older and larger SCs tend to be inactive: as the company grows in size, it quickly becomes too difficult to stay competitive with privately held operations. In addition, as time goes on, their shareholders begin to lose interest in the game and go inactive (or get banned). This means that a higher portion of the company’s profits (as distributed through dividends) just disappears into the void. This can be very discouraging to the managers of the companies, and there has been very little support from the Admin team in resolving this issue.
TL;DR – Nobody cares about stock companies, nobody is trading stocks, and tracking all these useless stocks is a waste of my time. No more market reports.
As a side note, I have put my name in the hat to run for Congress again this month. I have enjoyed being part of the conversation this term in Congress and hope you will give me the opportunity to continue. If the speaker will allow it (and is not planning a similar article himself), I hope to publish Congressional voting records in the next day or two so that you have an idea of who has been active and who hasn’t.
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Weekly Stock Report [USA10] (11 years ago)
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May Congressional Voting Report (11 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.
