Article
Something is not the same
I'm through with playing by the rules
Of someone else's game
Too late for second-guessing
Too late to go back to sleep
It's time to trust my instincts
Close my eyes and leap!
As you can see from the above lyrics (click for an amazing song), I'm clearly feeling a bit excited today. Despite having to take my very old dog to the vet late last night, I'm in good spirits today. Why? Massive amounts of sugary coffee. No joke, I think I'm 12% coffee right now.
We can make this game, this world, exactly what we want it to be. Here's what I want for us:
-An active and engaged player base
-A meta game that not only allows us to have fun, but builds on strong mechanical play
-Forum and IRC activity that allows anyone to log on at any time of day and find people to engage with
These things are not going to be easy. They are not simple things, the dreams I dream for us. However, if we all work together it's easily done. How? Simple. We just decide to do it.
I've compiled what I think is a very strong cabinet of new and old players who can work together. So I'm going to let them do their jobs. That being said, there is still room for people to get involved. I'm going to create 'official' teams for activity generation.
Forum Team - These people will simply post. That will be their job. Post about e-Sim, post about their life, current events, sports. If you're out and about during the day and have an interesting conversation with someone, come home and post about the topic. If you enjoyed talking about it, maybe we will too. I'm going to publicly recognize the people who generate make strong forum posts and generate conversations for us. All they have to do is post it, and send me a link so I make sure to join the conversation.
Shout Team - See that shout box? We're gonna use that. There will be an official shout every day. Members of the shout team will make sure that it is always in the recent shout feed. We aren't going to spam you, just make sure that the DoD link and a redirect to the most interesting and active forum topic of the moment is always in front of our players.
Just these two little things can have a huge impact. If we can pull 2-3 new players a week to the forum and then to IRC, we will see exponential growth in overall activity. Active players beget active players.
Oh, and I'm going to ask (very nicely) for the 'official' national IRC chan to get a facelift. I'm going to use the access list there to recognize people who contribute to the discussion, not as a badge for people who are friends with the owner and admins. I will ask that
iasov be made the channel 'manager', so to speak. He understands IRC modes and can manipulate services and user bots the best. People like 
Niittimies , 
InsaneParrot and 
genyo can often be seen generating entire discussions in there from thin air. They should be recognized for it, and I hope to be able to do so.
As I think you can all now see, I'm not simply talking about having a plan. I come prepared. I didn't announce that I was seeking this office until my cabinet was locked down, I had developed 90% of my media strategy for the month, and I had worked up this very simple idea on how to get people to keep coming back for more.
Oh, and
Mark Michaelson is going to be Secretary of Media. I hadn't planned on having one originally, intending to make that my personal responsibility, but his writing is strong and he showed an interest. He'll be in charge of regular Press Releases, and will aid me in entertaining you all for the month.
I think I hear my hands 'clapping' in the other room…I'm going to go join them.
As always, I remain
Yours,
~
Pfeiffer
The Guardian
Speaker of the House
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Now is the time (13 years ago)
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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.
