The World in a Nutshell: An Interview with Platonic

Dish: Recently you penned and published the Declaration of Indendance of the Nation of Hawaii along with Korbin King. Korbin has since decided to leave us, so where does that leave Hawaii in the grand scheme of things, and how is your official role defined?
Platonic: Essentially, yes (meaning the declaration of indendance is still valid), But as was stated during the independence declaration, Hawaii is more or less pseudo-libertarian. Other than handling International affairs, I don’t really do much unless asked.

Dish: You campaigned to run in the last election, but were unable to run due to the lack of a write in ballot. Do you plan on campaigning for and running in the next election?
Platonic: No, I’m not going to be running for President again. As you fairly pointed out during the debate, I was mostly running because I was bored. I’ve got a whole bunch on my plate over the Summer, so don’t expect to hear much from me at all beyond whatever contracts people are asking me to write up.

Dish: Very good. Now we get a little more philosophical. How do you see yourself in Erepublik, and what do you see yourself becoming in our new World, and what do you think the biggest benefits and drawbacks to it are?
Platonic: Myself? I see myself as an orator, and whatever benefits that entails: diplomacy, legalese, etc. The legal background helps when people want to deal with the Contracts section, but mostly I just enjoy tossing my opinion about using big words and fancy phrases. As to what I think about eRepublik, well, you could fill a book with the various things I like and dislike about the game. I enjoy the idea of it – the idea of simulating the political stage for the layman, so that people who will in all honesty never have nearly the same responsibility in reality have a taste of what it’s like in a simulation. My main problem, which I have been
very vocal about as of late, is twofold:

1) that the game is advertised as a “simulation” whereas, in fact, it is mostly a naïve sanitation of reality, and

2) that the administration is forcing it’s puritanical moralism on its populace. Again, if you want the full details on that though, you can see the flurry of articles/posts I made on the subject.

Dish: Recently, you have been very outspoken to the new moderation taking place in the forums of late. How would you improve Erepublik on the whole, and what would your solution be to your problem?
Platonic: Well, it’s fairly easy: apart from dealing with obvious spam and advertisement, don’t moderate. This is supposed to be a game that’s based around human interaction. Let us interact. Ask one or two players to act as janitors, cleaning up the obvious trash, but otherwise leave it alone. Unfortunately, the decision has been made to enforce morals, and as we have very clearly seen with the idea to have people pay for gold, once an idea is made, no amount of complaining by the player-base can change anything. Hmph. “Relying on player suggestions” indeed.

Dish: Ah, another philosophical one for ya. Where do you see yourself in 100 days here in Erepublik, and what are your goals? What do you think you will accomplish here?
Platonic: Hah. I don’t even know where I’m going to be in Real Life in 100 days. I think I’m supposed to be in Beijing around then, but don’t quote me on that. If I’m still here, I’ll probably be doing the same thing I’m going now: bitching about random subjects on the forums with varying degrees of eloquence. As I said, I’m interested in the social aspect of eRepublik, not the mechanical aspect. As such, you can expect me to be more involved in the social parts of the game (newspapers, conversations, forums, etc) and less in the actual game part (I doubt I’m going to be making many more companies, nor hiring many more people). I’ll also probably have a hand in the legal aspect as it eventually develops, as I find that fairly interesting as well.
Dish: Now we can move on to your recent draft of the constitution. What was the basic purpose or need for our Constitution, and what are it’s best points? What do you think we should improve on?
Platonic: Well, the Constitution was made because we were told by the admins a month ago or so that a Constitution was the only way we could have a legal system beyond the contractual system already in place. I’m quite happy with what I’ve come up with, actually. The point of the Constitution is that it needs to be as malleable as possible to reflect the ever-changing morals of the people, and I think I pulled that off quite nicely. There is only one fixed legal law: that people are allowed to have whatever opinion they want. Fairly basic. Other than that, everything, from the laws to the court system, to the amount of people involved in the system, all varies depending on the situation. Toss in the fact that it can be edited by Congress, and you’ve got an adaptive bit of legalese that should last a while.

Dish: There have been other countries in Erepublik to either draft a constitution, or work on one. How would you compare the one you penned to the ones that are already in existence?
Platonic: Well, no offense to the other constitutions, but compared to those this is the first actually serious document. If I recall correctly, the Irish one claimed that they would be ninjas in times of war. I was tempted to include something like that for ours involving pirates, but I opted against it. In reality, the United States Constitution is one of the most famous pieces of legalese in the world, and the founding document around which many democracies are based on. I hoped that I could do it justice in the electronic world.

Dish: Alright, very lofty, although I wouldnt expect anything less of you. Last one: How would you rank YOUR top five countries in the world, and why?
Platonic: Top 5 countries in the world? Lets see. I can’t give you a rank, but I can give you names. Pakistan, for giving this game a bit of personality, the UK, mostly because Kaleb managed to single-handily turn the country into a serious player, Sweden, simply because it can’t be ignored, Indonesia (for much the same reason), and of course the US; because, if nothing else, I’m in it.