Permanent Reunion: The Rest of the Story

Day 482, 21:14 • Published in USA USA • by Ananias

If you have not had an opportunity to read “Permanent Reunion: Beta-giants and Boomers” please do so, it may help clarify the central purpose of this article its linked at the bottom of the article.

I earnestly want to thank all of you who took the time to read my last article, and even greater thanks to those of you that commented, and voted, and subscribed. It is gratifying to know that I wrote something worthy of your time. I think the original article was more an opportunity for me to clarify my own thoughts on the causes of division in the eUnited States than a polemic, but it appeared to resonate with many. I can only hope that this article is worthy of your time as well.

I know that I am probably dating myself by sharing this, but I used to listen to Paul Harvey’s radio broadcast of “The Rest of the Story” every chance I could. For those of you that do not know who Paul Harvey was, or what “The Rest of the Story” was, I’ll give you the Cliff Notes version.

Harvey would usually provide a compelling slice of life narrative about some ambiguously individual, you would hear about the events leading up to some crisis that had to be dealt with and then how the protagonist swooped in to save the day or overcame amazing odds…usually the story itself was compelling enough…but then you received the namesake “Rest of the Story” at the end in which he revealed that the protagonist would turn out to be Thomas Edison or Helen Keller or the Titanic...and everything came together in the story to reveal something far more compelling about the individual or the event than you may have ever known.

I believe eRepublik is like that because, honestly, as a standalone online game it is pretty mundane. Click here, click there, increase experience, find food, battle, get well, maybe buy a paper and write an article, wait for comments…wash, rinse, repeat…hardly worth the time it takes to log in on most days…but here is the rest of the story…

I propose to you that the eRepublik interface isn’t the game, but only the virtual game board or framework and boundaries for the real game that, for the eUS, takes place here.

Now, I am not going to wax poetic about an internet forum, that’s not my style, but for those of you that have not visited the eUS Forums, or some of the other excellent forums available that are built as superstructures on the framework of eRepublik, I can state from experience the following truth:

You may have the game board unfolded in front of you, but you are not actually playing the game.

eRepublik, without engagement and participation in the forum discussions, is frankly a mind-numbing bore. Out of a population of 12,000+ in the eUnited States of America, at this writing, the eUSforums have little more that 1,000 registered users, but the maximum online at any given time in the short history of the new eUS forums is 67. That strikes me as odd given that, at least to me, the eUS Forum is the game

Further, I would suggest, based on the goal of a more permanent reunion, that the eUS Forum is the great equalizer between Boomers and Beta-giants. Are you brand new, just logged on and worked your first day?…on the eUS Forum you are an equal within the community, while a simple look-up can determine that you have been in eRepublik less than 24 hours, your voice is equal in amplification and value, as someone that has been around for more than a year.

When our last forums were removed several weeks ago, you could almost hear the gasp of players everywhere across the real US…but it was not because, in my opinion, a communication channel was eliminated, it was because the community aspect of the game had vaporized. And this game is nothing without community and discourse as it provides the meat of the game itself…and gives the mind-numbing boredom of eRepublik daily clicks a reasonably entertaining purpose.

One caveat, and an important one, the discussions that take place are characteristic of the community, and the community characterizes our nation. If you seek to be divisive, or dismissive, or verbally abusive of your fellow citizens you may be asked to leave, maybe even banned if it is egregious enough, because our community reflects our values, and perhaps the greatest value is respect, common purpose, and a desire to be successful in the game.

If you are new, or you are old, or you just haven’t visited in awhile: Go, register now, and post something at http://eusforum.com/index.php

And that...is the rest of the story....at least to me. Thank you for reading.