eRepublik is now officially available in four more new languages (French, German, Russian and Portuguese) thus making its interface and the game experience itself more enjoyable for thousands of our citizens. More languages will be added in the coming weeks.
This week we took another important step forward towards putting our citizens in the center of the game-play, by improving their chances for interaction with the alpha release of our in-game chat tool. Check it out, create your own chat room, favourite those where you had the most interesting discussions or ideas, visit the Beginners chat room to learn the basics of the game through other players an share your experience during your first days as an eRepublik citizen. Check out the National chat room for your country where you are likely to discuss the hottest political issues affecting your nation.
Our co-founder and CEO, Alexis Bonte, was invited this week to take part in Madrid at the International Forum on Digital Content (FICOD 09). FICOD has become a benchmark meeting point for professionals involved in television, cinema, music, interactive digital entertainment, animation, education, audio-visual production, digital publications, user generated content (UGC), social networks, blogs, interactive advertising, etc.
Alexis took part in one of the official program roundtables “The Games We Get Caught Up In: Online Interactive Digital Entertainment and Digital Content Distribution” (Check the video here) along with other relevant figures of the sector such as Nils Henning, CCO and Owner of Bigpoint GmbH, or Thomas Lee, Senior Director of Business at Gamepot. Alexis had a chance to discuss the important changes that are being experienced by the videogames industry.
Alexis Bonte also had a chance to have an informal discussion with videogame players and experts in the ARSGAMES “User Generated Critics” roundtable, insisting on how online games were moving the power balance in the industry from the companies to the users.
eRepublik celebrated as well its own gathering/workshop, with the presence of some relevant citizens from eSpain. (See photos) where the official launch of the chat was announced as well as previews of national goals and the upcoming improved economical module as we well the new more visual PvP military module. More detailed pictures on this to come in a future insider and blog post. (Plus probably in some fan sites as quite a few citizens had undercover cameras 
Two weeks ago, Paris hosted a French eRepublik “Elder’s Council” in the Klein Holland bar, very close to Île de la Cité. A total of 17 citizens participated - the majority of which included vetran players (five were ex-presidents and many others were important historical figures). However, the meeting was also directed to the newer generation. Citizens born during the “bébé” boom at the end of April were adopted by the versed veterans. The older players took pleasure in answering the questions of the next generation, who have already started holding great responsibilities in France. Many of them are congressmen or even party presidents.
The group had a discussion agenda that included plans on how to deal with citizenship, Spaniards and inappropriate comments, and on who should become the next French president (with Mavie75 and Papa Frantz being among the favorites). The most heated debate was around the French Constitution, its newest applications and controversial articles, with the already famous 40th article on top of the list. Also a preferred topic of discussion was that of the latest military actions of the French as they managed to border Hungary while bringing peace to Germany.
The citizens fantasized about becoming admins and showed their good knowledge of eRepublik laws (as seen in the pictures here), including an 11th which they added themselves: eFrance is the best country in the New World!
ph03n1x, Clow, Fleur de Lotus, num, Mavie75, Melkion, Guibrit, Leon Blum (though he stayed in a Chinese restaurant), meza, Azaret, Ginman, bolanwasright, aguellid, xa2008, Papa Frantz, Jebbidle (the citizen in charge of the French Conscription) and Hober all agreed they should see each other again in early August, but with Mavie75 as master of ceremonies!
by Titu Maiorescu
by Linda, aka Betamjau
Note: This guest post was written by a player from Sweden and describes her feelings at a recent eRepublik meeting. All the names used in this blog post are the names of citizens from the New World (example: Grev Per is the ex-President of eDenmark and is, usually, one of the attendees at the meetings). Also, the positions in brackets are the ones they exert in eRepublik and involve certain responsibilities (for example: the “Mentor Sweden” is the one who created and manages the eSwedish Mentorship Program – a program which helps new citizens find their way in the New World).
The time had come to have another real life meeting for some of the eRepublik citizens in eSweden. Those in attendance were Algaroth (President), Misho (Minister of Defense), Gurkvatten (entrepreneur), Lurviantor (elite soldier), micke_e (Vice Minister of Finance), Jbmalin (Mentor Sweden), Kalle Holm (Acting Minister of Finance), Bahamot (entrepreneur), Carradine (ex-President), Bic deWille (elite soldier) and me, Betamjau (Vice President and ePolice Officer).
We decided to gather at an Asian restaurant for a wonderful buffet, and of course there was beer and wine to drink. Some of us had met before and it was equally fun to meet again. Even though we may all sit and chat online all day about eRepublik, and sometimes about our personal lives too, many hours passed during this get together just sitting and talking. It was great to meet those citizens which we had not met before as we had all naturally developed an image of what a person was really like behind their eRepublik character. At first it was a little rigid, but after a while it went well. We tried to move around so we could talk to everyone, covering eRepublik topics as well as other things. It would have been fun if someone were from another party so we could have had a little political debate. Fortunately, the attendees were part of the defense of eSweden, so we did not talk like politicians the entire time. We agreed to clean our Q5 weapons for the battles which will come in the New World.
Read more…
by Mircea Vasilescu, aka MOBBY
It stands for Massively Multiplayer Online Social Strategy Game. Searching the Internet and with a little bit of luck one might find a definition that looks like this: “Massively multiplayer online social strategy games focus on socialization instead of objective-based gameplay, emphasizing interaction, world-building and an in-world virtual economy that depends on the sale and purchase of user-created goods. There is a great deal of overlap in terminology with “online communities” and “virtual worlds.”
But what kind of inert, short and un-personal definition is this? eRepublik is becoming the benchmark of Social Strategy Games. All interactions between players are made through hundreds of affiliated sites, chat rooms, forums, podcasts, and this interaction is starting to breach the virtual environment. Strong relationships are created or broken like the switch of a light. New friends are made and new perspectives pop each day because people want more!
Friends lose their jobs (…it happens…) and we need to be there for them, helping them as much as we can; others just got their first job and we are here to share their excitement. Others will soon have babies so of course we all wait to at least see some pictures or videos! People get sad and then happy again, they want more knowledge, new experiences, recognition, feedback and everything that comes along with this game.
The community meetings provide an opportunity to do all of this. Seeing your e-country president or employer face to face allows you to better understand the game, and meeting your army comrades in an environment other than virtual gives you the opportunity to debate and finalize strategies. The economic issues are very important in this virtual world (we all buy, sell or donate items, make economic or financial speculation), so anyone who participates might have something to say about this. The community is growing day by day, so the meetings should also be held more often, allover the world. While these meetings may have originally started in Bucharest, Romania, we are all eager to see pictures taken at meetings in Brazil, the USA, Indonesia, China, Australia, and anywhere else they may be held.
eRepublik, as the first MMOSSG, has become a hobby for many of the players, so its virtual and real-life interaction is what allows its players to present their objectives, their accomplishments or strategies. This hobby is the battleground, competition amphitheater, chat room or any other kind of environment the players want it to be.
This is the definition I would like to hear!
by Gheorghe Bucluc, aka Belea2008
This post describes an unofficial eRepublik meeting (described by one of the participants) that took place on March 7, 2009 in Szeged, Hungary. At the time of the meeting, Romania had conquered an important part of Hungary in the New World (including the capital, Budapest) and there were no signs of peace between the two countries. The purpose of the meeting was for the players to get to know each other in real life and to discuss their passion – the New World.
Motto: “We play the same game. Against each other. But together. This is important.” (Quicksilver, former President of eHungary)
At one of the eRepublik gatherings in Banat, I had a discussion with a citizen about meeting the next weekend with Hungarian leaders in their country. For one week, I thought that there was little chance of the meeting taking place, but I was so wrong.
On March 6, I canceled a barbecue, a birthday celebration for a friend and a romantic meeting with a girl, and in three hours I was on a Q4 Romanian train to Banat. The second day, on my way to the beautiful land of Hungary, I was all eyes on everything: interesting people, foreign language, great architecture and, above all a nice mansion/restaurant. Needless to say that we (the Romanians attendees at the meeting) were all eager to meet our “enemies” from the eRepublik battlefields, and to talk about all sorts of things.
And they came, shy, with open minds and open hearts, and we started ordering Q5 coffees and traditional Hungarian food (or beers). It did not take long for us to get to know each other and start making ironic remarks about how wonderful it would be if Hungary got back all the regions conquered by Romania (officially, there were no negotiations about the mentioned regions - one of them being Southern Great Plain - but have you noticed that Hungary re-conquered all of them very quickly? :D).
We talked about Romania being like a dragon and Hungary’s great challenge with the new citizens. Hungary’s great achievement of attracting 4000 new citizens in two weeks was praised. At some point, it was proposed that Romania conquer all Asia, and that Hungary extend her realm over Europe, but the details were merely friendly jokes.
The final purpose: “To drink (coffee, of course), to eat, to get to know each other, to have a great time and to realize that your biggest adversaries from the New World can be your future friends in real life.” (dsalageanu, President of eRomania)
It was no secret meeting, but I found out that only a handful of citizens were aware that the leaders of Romania and Hungary had a friendly meeting in Szeged. The president of Romania made a public announcement after the meeting was over, and the ex-president of Hungary published impressions the second day.
See more pictures here and here.
by Mircea Vasilescu aka MOBBY
The first questions that pop in one’s mind are: “What are these meetings all about?”, “What do you do at such meetings besides drinking, eating and laughing?”, “Can any user come?” and so on. Unfortunately, there is no straight answer to such questions; if you ask five participants this, you might receive five different types of answers.
The meetings should be treated always like first dates - every time one should be careful about what he/she says, every time the atmosphere is different, and most of the time there are new people with new habits, new jokes, willing or unwilling to try something new.
Maybe the most awaited moments are those when all the players give the admins a hard time – that is, when most of the players have something to complain to them about or want to find out if and when their ideas will be implemented. Other people can’t wait to see good friends again that they first met a long time ago at such events. A steady and dedicated community is starting to form and grow, not because of the game itself, but because all participants have something they like and something that they can always relate to. Some might want to quit the game, but cannot do it because they will certainly miss the meetings and the interaction they provide.
Read more…
Last week was all about LeWeb for a few of us at eRepublik (and for me it’s been more like the last couple of months). After winning the jury prize for best European startup at last year’s LeWeb, we decided to return to re-introduce everyone to the New World as it is today. What a few days was. It started with our arrival on Monday to get everything set up - which included getting our booth ready. What an impressive booth we had - it lit up the entire room of booths with its towering white walls and screens running images of the game. People flocked to our booth full of curiosity to learn what eRepublik was and how to get involved. To introduce folks to the game we had an eRepublik newspaper including some intriguing news articles from the game, and also passed out eRepublik passports with LeWeb visas. What was especially timely was the current war declared by the USA, UK, Canada and Sweden on France - certainly intriguing news for a lot of the French attendees. It was so refreshing to interact and share the game with so many new people all at once and speak with them about their impressions and thoughts about the game. Overall, people were tremendously fascinated with the concept and eager to get into the New World and check it out themselves. We were all tremendously exhausted, but very happy and thankful to have had the opportunity to share eRepublik with so many people, face-to-face. We met a lot of really sharp people and had some very intriguing conversations about the game. It was a great time, but now it’s back to work!
Last weekend our team decided to have a party in celebration of 366 days of granting citizenship.
As the festivity took place in Bucharest, citizens from the Romanian capital and near cities came in greater numbers than ever before. So, we registered a new record – 48 persons attending an eRepublik gathering.
The number of female citizens joining the meetings has increased also, this time having 11 girls among us. In the pictures we added you can see some of them, hope to catch them all together in picture at the next meeting.
Country presidents, party presidents and members, congress - men and women , former mayors, soldiers of all ranks – from Private to Field Marshall, company managers and employees, they all had a drink with our team and wished eRepublik “Happy birthday !”.
Well, maybe two or three drinks, as in the case of beer alone we recorded a total of 103 liters consumed.
Spain has been host to two spirited eRepublik get-togethers in the last week. The first one, which took place in Madrid, was coordinated by Taguaro and included over 20 people. The gathering was held at a local Spanish restaurant where the group enjoyed beers and friendly conversation about their roles in eRepublik, their political parties, who they admire most and who their foes are in the game, and lastly their favorite historical eRepublik moments. The second event took place in Northern Spain in a city called Vitoria and was coordinated by Olmo. Another 20 people met up for lunch at a Chinese restaurant to kick off their weekend discussing eRepublik and getting to know the beautiful city. What is so amazing about these gatherings is that they really bring together such a great group of smart and passionate people. We take on personalities in the game - sometimes similar to who we are in everyday life, and at others completely different - and at the end of the day to get together and meet such wonderful people is a testament to how very cool eRepublik citizens are. Simply put, you guys rock. It’s what drives our team to make eRepublik a place that you want to work, live and play
. Muchísimas gracias to the Spanish eRepublikans for sharing your get-togethers with us. It makes our jobs worth it :).
This week-end I’ll be in Valencia and it will be a great opportunity to meet the Erepublikans (erepublikan = erepublik fan) from Spain. We have people joining this meeting from several Spanish cities like Alicante, Barcelona, Castellón, Madrid and Murcia.
Ally helped me a lot and organized this event so here is the schedule for Saturday, 27th of September:
- during the afternoon we’ll be at a “horchateria” (have no clue what is this thing, but I’ve heard it involves ice-cream and beer). Looks like they also have “horchata” there, which is a traditional drink in Valencia. This place is located in Alboraya, a village near the city, on the Avenida de la Horchata (my Spanish skills are getting better and better);
- for dinner we’ll be at a Japaneses restaurant called Osaka, which is close to the city center, near a university campus (the Blasco Ibañez campus of the Universitat de Valencia).
More than twenty participants are expected to join us this Saturday and I’m sure we will have a great time together. I’ll be back with a complete coverage of the events next week. See you guys there!
