Forget the war, let`s play a game
This article was originally published in a Newspaper.
The following is taken from Forget the war, let`s play a game[1] that was written by MoonlightShadow in the Romanian newspaper Public Agenda.
Forget the war, let`s play a game
Ok, let`s forget about the war for a while. Not because we`d want to, but because we have to. Indonesia put Russia between her and Romania in order to protect herself from a counter-attack. Being alone Hungary lost two battles with 200-250.000 points and I don`t think they`ll waste anymore resources. So, Romania and Indonesia are preparing for the next round, which is to come pretty soon.
I`m proposing you a game. And I think it will be an interesting one. I`ll try to put on the paper the main characteristics of Real World countries. And together let`s compare that with eRepublik`s image of those countries. For that to happen you are to pick a few countries, and tell just what you think about them, them as you perceive in eRepublik. Of course I’ll try to be as less subjective as possible, I`ll try to write an international image of real-world countries, but this is impossible to be error proof. Here we go.
England – rigid people, strange humor, too much polite in their education, glorious past for centuries while they have been the “center” of the world, until collapsing in early 1900`s. Inventors of today`s man most powerful love: football.
Germany- high precision, famous manufacturing skills from cars to boots, powerful economy, you can count on their word, still they are the cause of the biggest tragedy in human`s history.
France- country of romance, today somehow brand less but history full of Dumas, Balzac, divine friendships, beautiful love stories, knights, honor and betrayal.They played an important role in Industrial Revolution.
Spain- passionate country, latin-lovers, corrida, sangria, nice beaches, Invincible Armada, history full of blood connected to South America.
Italy- Ruthless Mafia, annoying people that talks so fast, beautiful cars, dynamic and fast-living people, their Romans grandfathers had a great deal in civilization of Europe, despite their brutal way of having fun in Colloseum. Head of Catholicism, hence moral guilty for hundreds of thousands of dead innocents guilty of being “heretics”
Romania- thieves, gypsies, Dracula, third-world, still beautiful women there and also gorgeous landscapes.
Hungary- brand less country, was once a big and powerful empire along with Austria.
Turkey- brand less country today, but their past is full of stories. Conquerors of a big chunk of the world, today they can be proud maybe with their high quality tourism industry. Don`t know something else.
Iran- i don`t know what to say, there are big differences between Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, etc. although they seem to me belonging the same family.. About Iran..hard to say, Persian Culture which have lots in common with Arabian but also differs a lot. Contradictory feelings, on one side we can talk about honor, straight and honest people. But also we can talk about religious fanatics. I can`t talk about other things, because everybody knows they exist, still no one admits it. Still, undoubtedly Persian (and Arabian) world played a great role in human civilization if we think at maths, laws, geometry, architectures,etc. Today things are greyed,and sometimes darken, contradictory worlds, that needs to improve its image.
Indonesia- somehow exotic country, “far away” from the rest of the world, hard to understand, hard to define. Let`s just say rugby , virgin beaches and jungle.
USA- hypocrites, arrogant, great economical power, the ”vacuum” of most of the “brilliant minds” in the world attracted by the promise for a better life, they try to play the role of the “Guardian of the World” by force, dirty jobs lately when with the excuse of “democratization” they enforce small, weak countries to pass their oil resources, by any means.
Japan- beautiful and strong culture, samurais, honor, hard-working and nationalistic, the “miracle” of the last century recovering from ashes of atomic bombing.
Sweden, Norway, Denmark- parts of the same slice, Scandinavian world, one of the best (if not the best) places to live regarding quality of life. Offspring of warriors Vikings, great sailors of the past.
Russia- cold country, vodka-lovers, for a long time a barbarian and ruthless place to live, still today President`s enemy are killed with no shame. They oppressed tens of countries surrounding their borders by enforcing communism. Still, rich in resources country which blackmails Europe when it comes to worming their homes in the middle of the winter.
Now, I`ve done my part. The rest of the articles lie in your fingers, by picking up few countries (of course, not yours) and posting your opinion about eRepublik`s image of those countries. Again, post your opinion about eRepublik image of countries, NOT REAL WORLD. For real world you can see above.And then compare to real-world image, to see if this game really is a “new world”.
Best Regards
P.S: this is not about how you`d love to be perceived your real-world country. Just look what i`ve said about my own country, Romania. So stop claiming a more "accurate" picture of your beautiful, incredible, fantastic country . That asks for work, hard work of many generations :)
Anyway, a wider and more complete explanation of "country`s branding" concept you can find in my next article.
