When ‘eIndonesia’ rules the world
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Wed, 10/13/2010 10:12 AM | City
Five young men sat at a round table at Burger King in Sarinah, Central Jakarta, eating and conversing.
“I just spoke with the President of Russia. He said that Russia wanted to attack the US tonight,” a man said.
“Okay, I will call our President and defense minister,” another man replied, “It has to be tonight, we’ll fight for our alliance.”
Hearing this conversation out of context sounds bewildering. Those men were real, so was the conversation. But the horrific war was only occurring in a virtual world known as New World, an online multiplayer strategy game, eRepublik.
“It’s an online game, mimicking the real world where the players, called citizens, build their country, vote in elections, join political parties, join wars and own businesses,” a player, Widhi Wedha Swara, told The Jakarta Post recently.
Widhi, whose nickname is Admiral Proudmoore, said that players often gathered to chat in cafes in Plaza Semanggi Plaza or Sarinah in Central Jakarta.
In the game, Indonesia is known as eIndonesia, a country where its military power topped the list in 2009 for several months. It consists of seven regions with Java as its capital, with a total population of 10,166 from the whole 180,670 population of the New World.
The game is one of many multiplayer online games that have been played in Indonesia since they first entered the country in the early 2000s, just after it connected to the Internet in the mid 90s.
Widhi, who once sat as ePresident, is a member of the We Are the Same Party (Partai Kami Sama or known as PKS, parodying the Prosperous Justice Party, the PKS). In real life, he is an IT staff member for a law firm in Central Jakarta. According to Widhi, there are thousands of both active and inactive players in Jakarta.
However, there are only 60 Jakartan players who communicate through web chat and, together with other players across the country, build eIndonesia, Widhi said. They come from different backgrounds, such as students, IT professionals, bankers, marketers and lecturers who are curious about how to run a country.
Meet Tasfan Sadikin, a 28-year-old writer, who loves the game. He even wrote a novel about it, When Indonesia Rules the World. He is known as Wander Forward, the media mogul in New World who owns Wander Howard Foundation newspaper publisher.
“It’s only a game, but it benefits us so much. We learn about politics, economics and business. But most of all, we learn how to respect differences,” he said.
The game is actually a parody of the country. There are many different parties and interests in eIndonesia, with complex foreign relations, wars and cooperation with other eCountries.
Somehow, eIndonesia is pretty much developed even though it has had at least 20 presidents since its establishment in December 2007.
On the fifth of every month eRepublik holds a presidential vote. One day in real life is considered one day in the New World. “In the game, we learn to prioritize common interests and the nation’s vision above personal interests,” Tafsan said.
He added that some players, mostly big hunches like ePresidents, eForeign ministers or eArmy generals, spent five to eight hours in the virtual world to maintain the country.
“They might join eArmy Angkatan Bersenjata eRepublik Indonesia or ABeRI to defend the country,” Tafsan said. In the real world, the armed forces acronym is ABRI.
He added that some people opted to produce daily eNewspapers such as eDunia Dalam Berita, which is a parody of a famous state-owned TV news program from the 1970s-90s.
“Indonesian lawmakers in real life should try the game,” he said.
A 32-year-old marketing officer for Syariah Mandiri bank on Jl. Thamrin in Central Jakarta, Vicktor S. Kadir, known as Mistervicks, manages an eBank Bank Rakyat eIndonesia (BReI) which is mimicking the state-run Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI).
“It was our idea to establish a bank as the game had no banking feature. And now, just like a real bank, BReI has savings and loan features using eGold and eRupiah,” he said.
Victor even hired an employee to run the eBank on a daily basis because he was busy with his real job. “It is social networking. I meet new people in gatherings. Somehow, I believe the game is also good for my marketing job in real life,” he said.
Lintang Dinar Andari, 22, who graduated from the London School of Public Relations, researched how the game affected players in their real life for her undergraduate thesis. “Some players, mostly ministers, intelligence officers and army personnel were often late to work and school because our general often called us at 4 a.m. to go to war,” said Lintang, who is famous as Elle in the virtual world.
Teddy Kurniawan, 27, said that his wife complained when he spent too much time on the game as president of eCommunist party PKeI and during the time when he served in the eArmy under the nickname Bujel. (ipa)
Five young men sat at a round table at Burger King in Sarinah, Central Jakarta, eating and conversing.
“I just spoke with the President of Russia. He said that Russia wanted to attack the US tonight,” a man said.
“Okay, I will call our President and defense minister,” another man replied, “It has to be tonight, we’ll fight for our alliance.”
Hearing this conversation out of context sounds bewildering. Those men were real, so was the conversation. But the horrific war was only occurring in a virtual world known as New World, an online multiplayer strategy game, eRepublik.
“It’s an online game, mimicking the real world where the players, called citizens, build their country, vote in elections, join political parties, join wars and own businesses,” a player, Widhi Wedha Swara, told The Jakarta Post recently.
Widhi, whose nickname is Admiral Proudmoore, said that players often gathered to chat in cafes in Plaza Semanggi Plaza or Sarinah in Central Jakarta.
The game is one of many multiplayer online games that have been played in Indonesia since they first entered the country in the early 2000s, just after it connected to the Internet in the mid 90s.
Widhi, who once sat as ePresident, is a member of the We Are the Same Party (Partai Kami Sama or known as PKS, parodying the Prosperous Justice Party, the PKS). In real life, he is an IT staff member for a law firm in Central Jakarta. According to Widhi, there are thousands of both active and inactive players in Jakarta.
However, there are only 60 Jakartan players who communicate through web chat and, together with other players across the country, build eIndonesia, Widhi said. They come from different backgrounds, such as students, IT professionals, bankers, marketers and lecturers who are curious about how to run a country.
Meet Tasfan Sadikin, a 28-year-old writer, who loves the game. He even wrote a novel about it, When Indonesia Rules the World. He is known as Wander Forward, the media mogul in New World who owns Wander Howard Foundation newspaper publisher.
“It’s only a game, but it benefits us so much. We learn about politics, economics and business. But most of all, we learn how to respect differences,” he said.
The game is actually a parody of the country. There are many different parties and interests in eIndonesia, with complex foreign relations, wars and cooperation with other eCountries.
Somehow, eIndonesia is pretty much developed even though it has had at least 20 presidents since its establishment in December 2007.
On the fifth of every month eRepublik holds a presidential vote. One day in real life is considered one day in the New World. “In the game, we learn to prioritize common interests and the nation’s vision above personal interests,” Tafsan said.
He added that some players, mostly big hunches like ePresidents, eForeign ministers or eArmy generals, spent five to eight hours in the virtual world to maintain the country.
“They might join eArmy Angkatan Bersenjata eRepublik Indonesia or ABeRI to defend the country,” Tafsan said. In the real world, the armed forces acronym is ABRI.
He added that some people opted to produce daily eNewspapers such as eDunia Dalam Berita, which is a parody of a famous state-owned TV news program from the 1970s-90s.
“Indonesian lawmakers in real life should try the game,” he said.
A 32-year-old marketing officer for Syariah Mandiri bank on Jl. Thamrin in Central Jakarta, Vicktor S. Kadir, known as Mistervicks, manages an eBank Bank Rakyat eIndonesia (BReI) which is mimicking the state-run Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI).
“It was our idea to establish a bank as the game had no banking feature. And now, just like a real bank, BReI has savings and loan features using eGold and eRupiah,” he said.
Victor even hired an employee to run the eBank on a daily basis because he was busy with his real job. “It is social networking. I meet new people in gatherings. Somehow, I believe the game is also good for my marketing job in real life,” he said.
Lintang Dinar Andari, 22, who graduated from the London School of Public Relations, researched how the game affected players in their real life for her undergraduate thesis. “Some players, mostly ministers, intelligence officers and army personnel were often late to work and school because our general often called us at 4 a.m. to go to war,” said Lintang, who is famous as Elle in the virtual world.
Teddy Kurniawan, 27, said that his wife complained when he spent too much time on the game as president of eCommunist party PKeI and during the time when he served in the eArmy under the nickname Bujel. (ipa)
