Author: COE
Translator: sugarfree
Yesterday, the doors of the Federation opened, for the 50th period in the history of the Federation. But what happened in that history? Quite often, there has been some cries that a start would be made with the writing down of this history. An end result never came. This is why a team of editors of this very newspaper decided to fill up a part of the existing laguna. They chose to tell the story of the first five trading periods the Federation knew. Of the inhabitants which filled life in that period we now have a few left. None of the editors writing this serie have experienced this period. That’s why the articles will be based on information sources, especially the old newspaper articles of The Miniconimist . The information was so much that we soon had to decide only taking the first five rounds. In total, 42 TMC’s were investigated which have been written in the period from 1 january till 6 octobre. Our results will be published in four parts, after the introduction of today. Trade, politics and crime will be spoken of.
It is no coincidence that this history story shows up in this round. (50th round) The authors want to offer it as a gift to all (ex)inhabitants of the Federation, and in special to Wouter and Mark, who have always taken care of the Federation en who have been the most important holder and developers of the history of Miniconomy.
A land in development
When the Federation became accessible for traders, tramps and other people, the Federation looked a lot different than it is right now. The first thing we wonder about is: How did it look then?
First it is important to realise that there was no such thing as ‘’a’’ let alone the word ‘’ Federation’’. Only Cyberia was accessible, the other lands didn’t exist. The traders who were busy with exploiting Cyberia, didn’t know any specialty. Every trader could produce a whole line of products without needing another trader for half finished products. Above that, in round 5 the first votes rose up to change the lot market. Until then, known words such as surrounding were unknown, because everyone had the possibility to buy lots all over the map. The launched plan meant that you could only buy lots that were adjacent to your own lots. With this plan, the Government tried to force the traders to specialise in certain products. After all, someone with a lot in oil territory couldn’t also buy a lot in iron ore territory.
Besides the non-existence of other countries, something did already exist: Farming! Farming was in the first period(s) so common for the traders that after a week all trading activities were being stopped and the round ended. Because of the wide scale farming was being used, heavier ways of dealing with farming had to be used. In the fourth period, the Government gave themselves the right to deny the farmers acces to Cyberia. Besides, a special agency was called to live: CBI. This stood for Cyberian Bureau of Investigation. This still exists, now under the name Central Bureau of Investigation. The agents were given great possibilities to search for cheaters and to use violence to fight farmers.
Seen the fact that everything was ‘’new’’, a lot still needed to be done to ensure the comfort and fun of the traders. Probably the largest progress was made when at the start of the second round, the clubsystem was introduced. (Still exists) The social part of Miniconomy was born. After this, mainly the inhabitants took the initiative to change things. A first initiative was the option for more political influence to the Government. The Government agreed and declared the existence of a parliament. This way, citizens could get some influence in the game. Apart from that, the base had been built for declaring mayors, who got the task to stimulate the local economy so they could take over some tasks of the Government. These mayors could build city halls in the third round.
From the second period, the idea of a lottery, court, insurances and the possibility to trade stocks were born. In the third period, the first priests were blessed and the first banks erase. The arrival of the banks had a lot of critics because almost all bank owners were bankrupt very soon. So the Government decided to appoint curators. They had as most important job to let defaulters still pay their loan back. Besides the new options, some social activities were developed like the Nobelprices and Miniconomy awards. A flag was made for Cyberia and the first experts were hired to take of some weight of the Governments shoulders.
It is not very difficult to conclude that Cyberia was a land of development in the first five rounds. Initiatives of the citizens were numerous and the Government used a lot of them. But it is important not to romantise this period to much as farming and crimerates were high. And above that, in this period a shortage of editors was already visible as well as a rich-poor culture.