Join the new world

While I realize this wave of newcomers is primarily from the real Korean and speak primarily Korean, I’m not going to insult your intelligence by running this article through translation software, people tend to get irritated by the effort. I do wish to address those new players who have come here over the last few days. My inbox has been full of questions, which is always a good thing, but several are wondering why it’s so difficult for newbies to function right off the bat. Why is wellness down? Why are jobs paying so little?

I’ll tell you, in all honesty, there’s no conspiracy to keep you weak, no animosity between English speakers and Korean speakers. If you’re finding the going a little rough right now, there are two reasons for it:

1. Every newbie in every country around the world, since this game began, has had to struggle a little in his first two weeks, and

2. South Korea does not have a history of baby booms and prosperity, and while my team and I are busting our balls to change this reality, we’ve been in power for eleven days, as opposed to two years of wars, PTO’s, and occupations.

As to the first point, you can ask anyone and everyone who has been in this game for any length of time, and they’ll all say the same thing. It sucks to be a newbie. You can’t get a job that pays very well right off the bat, so you can only afford Q1 food which doesn’t do you any good if you have to work and train every day. You’re trying to figure the game mechanics out while also trying to find your place in the country you live in. It’s like being the new kid in class, everyone else is chatting and having a good time, while you feel alone, and all you want is someone to come up to you and say Hi, let’s play. We’ve all been there, we’ve all dealt with it, and while the more coarse among us will shrug their shoulders and tell you to cowboy up, it’s just a few more days, I’m a little more compassionate, realizing I was lucky, I found people who cared about people like me and pointed me in the right direction. I want to do the same for you if you’ll let me.

After being here for ten days to two weeks, you’ll be able to access most of the game, and when it opens up, you’ll find more to pursue. By that time, you will have met people and seen a few things, a few groups, you might want to know more about. You’ll realize that this is a rather big world, that there are opportunities for you to forge an e-life for yourself. Trust me, I’m one of the biggest proponents of individuality in this game, I’m all about you realizing your potential and chasing your dreams.

In other words, you won’t be a newbie forever. Take this time to learn the game and meet people. Explore the forums and IRC and especially Wiki; I think Wiki is the best way to learn about countries and people, it’s like our own encyclopedia. Ask a lot of questions, the people who matter in this game will gladly answer them for you. By the time your newbie days are done, you’ll be ready to take on the world.

The second point requires you to understand how we got to this point as a nation. Were you to have come a month ago, you would have found us in the middle of the war with Japan, a country which had helped us time and again in the past, but suddenly, with a new regime in power, they traded their honor for the fun of conquest, and they sought it by attacking one of the smallest countries in the world—us. They abandoned the Righteous Nation Philosophy, a code they had previously sworn to, much as the samurai of old had their code, much as the Knights of the Round Table had their ethics and chivalry, Japan distinguished themselves in the same way. They threw that away in order to play bully, and while they were able to take our regions briefly, they ultimately lost the war because they underestimated our ability to gain foreign assistance. The world is tired of the strong and shameless picking on the small and struggling, but the Japanese truly believed, erroneously, that no one would care if we were snuffed out, many small countries have been wiped off the map from time to time.

Had you come at any other time before that over the previous two years, you would have been in the midst of one power or another trying to take us over, either through military conquest or political takeover. This time last year, South Koreans had had enough of it, constantly struggling to exist when it seemed everyone was conspiring to destroy them, so they agreed with a plan for Japan to annex the country, to wipe the slate clean, and to come back a few months later to start over. Even with this effort to create a new start, the Theocrats took over, and they ran this country under their dictates for five months. It’s only been since January, since the start of the Republic of 798, that we’ve had any ability to function as a real community, and even at this, the goal was to remain small and insignificant for fear that, had we something others wanted, the invasions and PTO’s would start again.

We’ve taken the war with Japan as a wake-up call, and especially over the last two weeks, we’ve made every effort to shed that smalltown perception and to embrace the larger world.

You’ve come at the right time. We’ve had bursts in population growth in the past, but we couldn’t retain the newcomers because we did not prepare ourselves for it. This time around, we’re doing everything we can to keep those who are coming.

That’s why you’re suddenly seeing so much Korean writing in the media and in advertising, because the community understands how important it is to bring Korean speakers into the community. That’s why you’re seeing directories and tutorials in the newspapers, because we want newcomers to know who to contact with questions, we want you to learn how the game functions so you can start putting your e-life together now. That’s why you’re seeing the Director of Health putting out drives for free food and gifts for wellness, because we know it sucks to be a newbie, and while we can’t change this fact, we’re trying to make it suck just a little less. That’s why you’re seeing me and other leaders in the papers, because we believe part of leadership is accessibility, and honestly, in the past, getting presidents and others to keep the rest of us informed was like pulling teeth at times, and while they were good folks, their reluctance to write made many of us question their commitment to this country.

These things weren’t here two weeks ago.

You have to therefore understand that we are a country in transition. We can’t change what we are overnight, it’s going to take weeks and months to become the sort of vital community we want this country to be, one which embraces our place in the larger world, which does not revert back to previous fears and hides in the shadows as our best bet for protection.

I’m hoping you’ll work with me and the rest of my team to keep moving this country forward. I know you have questions, that’s good, I hope we have the answers you’re looking for. But I want you to understand the context in which you become part of this community, that what you’re going through is not unlike what newbies in every country of the world have to go through, and while it sucks, you came at the right time, because you have a government working its tail off to get you into the mix. You are welcome here, I truly want you to know that, and if we work together, we can make this country something special.

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To become involved in the South Korean community, there are several ways to plug yourself in. One is to read this paper and to contribute to the South Korean media, either by reading, voting, and subscribing for articles and newspapers which seek to bring the community together, or by offering your own thoughts in your own articles and pushing your own newspapers. Another is to connect with others in the community, either through the official South Korean Forum (http://www.esouthkorea.freeforums.org/index.php), or by chatting at the IRC channel (the best way there is to go to http://www.mibbit.com, click “Start Chatting”, fill in the information, and go: the server is Rizon, the channel is #ekorea, and the username is your own great name). Hope to see you there!
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