A Very Merry eBirthday...

Day 1,233, 19:19 • Published in Canada Canada • by Goran Thrax

To Me, Woohoo!

As of today, I have been playing eRepublik for 2 years. my medals can attest to that at the very least, I click mah work and train buttons almost daily, and yet the game has changed so much...

2 years ago today, was the day after Bruck won his second presidential term not that I knew that. Help was sparse then, if people think there isn't enough outreach to new players now it's still much better than it used to be. The expectation then, was only 25% of new players, would bother coming back to play a second day.. Tough but true, after all these were the days when you could only eat one food a day... and even a Q5 food only gave you 5 wellness.. Those were the days...

Looking back I realized that every single module, has changed in some way.. Of course the economic and military modules are completely different. Combat strategy is completely different, treaties work differently, they don't even cost as much! Some people will no doubt argue in the comments that newspapers and elections work the same.. Yet 2 years ago, you could vote in any country you could afford to move to, and the admins didn't spend hours checking the election results for cheating.. You couldn't tweet your articles, and you could use emoticons... enough said, I miss my emoticons.

And yet I must admit I don't love all the changes that have been wrought. eRepublik used to be tough, you had to be smart and on the ball to survive, oh and dedicated, like staying up until 3 a.m. to defeat Indonesia dedicated. That required dedication is what forged our community, it was a tight community that was always a little rough around the edges... Yet people complained if Congress took longer than 4 or 5 days to pass a law, reactions were simply faster.. I really don't know what was the precipitating factor but our community has changed. Few players are as dedicated as the older "generation" I mean theft really has become par for the course. I do applaud the admins for making a more user-friendly version of eRepublik and yet without those old ties that bind we seem to be losing our ability to work together in the face of adversity as an eNation, as a team.

Well, as many of you know my real life has simply become busier looking after family... Combine that with the loss of some of the fun of the game and losing hours of sleep to stay up on IRC or the forum just isn't worth it anymore. Now before people scream, I am not quitting the game, I am not giving away my stuff (so don't ask) and I will continue to keep in touch with my many friends. However I will be retiring as a forum Admin for the eCanadian forum as soon as the Forum Admin team find and mask a replacement. I simply cannot give the Forum or the community the time and energy it deserves so it's my hope that a new Admin, working with the Forum Admin team can help rebuild the community that I have let down.

Thank you all for the love and trust these past two years, if you need me, PM me.

Goran Thrax