Eurogamer writes: "It wasn't widely reported, but in April of this year, the United States declared war on Canada. Perhaps it was inevitable - the smug superiority over low gun crime figures, that cruel stranglehold on the world's moose resources, or maybe just the country's odd propensity for coming up with place names like Flin Flon and Winnipeg - whatever the reason, the US of A seemed to feel that its neighbour to the north had it coming. It certainly looked like the whole business was going to be over quickly: on one side, a nation of proud arms-bearing hyper-capitalists hepped up on Big Tastys and Buffalo Jerky, and on the other, a cadre of unnaturally polite international backpackers. What could possibly go wrong for Uncle Sam?
Alexis Bonte, the man who indirectly made this invasion possible, has been quick to distance himself from any fallout, however. "I didn't do this!" he says, when asked for a comment. "It was the users who did it." Bonte also adds that, once the dust had settled, the outcome turned out to be rather unexpected. "The US had about 1000 inhabitants at the time, and Canada had just 200. If this was all AI-driven, it would have been over in a few hours. Instead, the President of Canada was a pretty clever fellow. He called Spain, asked for forty of their best soldiers, and paid them well. So now there was a Spanish mercenary army showing up, and then the French Foreign Legion joined in, and eventually the US started losing the war and had to sue for peace! They paid thousands in reparations." The world, it seems, can be a surprising place when you look at it through the lens of an internet browser."
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Become president, or simply write articles that ruins someone's political career, all while fighting off the Irish invasion of Rhode Island.
WorldsinMotion: "eRepublik is a simulation of a second world, largely analogous to the one we live in-or at least, that's the intention behind it. To be completely honest, I'm not quite sure why they want to do this, but it is what they're doing, and when you pull out and observe the world from a distance-the way that countries are made up of players, how they choose to enter wars with each other, the people they elect-it is fascinating, and I can easily see why many commentators, both virtual world savvy ones and not, have gone gaga over the site.
However, as a simulation, there are a lot of problems. In order to keep things sensible, they've had to limit what players can do to shape the world, and roughly, for most players anyway, the only thing you're ever going to do is log in, "work" and "train" and then log out again."
