Join the new world

Question: How do you lose 4 and still win?

Answer: When everyone else loses more than 4.

Our most recent congressional election showed an unimpressive turnout of 605. This was the lowest number of votes in a congressional election since October 2008 (it tied with July of 2013 but I didn't expect you to go through all of the election results just to call me out on this).

This started as an article about patting ourselves (WTP) on the back for losing the least amount of votes compared to the previous month's election. WTP was down 4 votes, Feds down 5, USWP down 22, AMP down 26, and BSP down 32. But as I write this I want to talk about so much more. As these vote numbers dwindle so too does our active population.
If you read some of my previous articles I talk about retention in this game. I have 28 society builder medals after inviting 943 people to play this game. This was done by simply spreading (spamming) my referral link across certain facebook games webpages and a few gaming forum sites. What I found is most people don't play this game for more than a couple of minutes. There is nothing we can do about this. By the time you could send them a hello message they have already quit and will not return. After the 2 1/2 years since I spread my link around the internet, one person remains of the 934. Now I could ask everyone to spam their link across the internet as well, but I'd imagine that the results would be similar, perhaps one or maybe none at all stick around in this game for long.

I remember back to my eBirth. It feels like ages ago, I guess that's because every month in eRep is 4 years. I started this game in 2009 and I'm coming up on my 6th birthday (I do appreciate gifts). I remember a player named Zanmor. He and I built up a commune together, although it was very small and not as successful as I would have liked, I stuck around in this game because of that friendship. Zanmor has long since quit this game but I stuck around as I met many more people. I realized that the friendships that we create in this game are what keep us around, not the game itself.

The game itself is not that great. Since half of the people that join this game quit before they reach 1 experience point, that probably should have gone without saying. But I just said it, and I'll say it again. The game itself is not that great. But the people here are great. Every one that makes up the community is important, from the oldest whale to the newest newb. They don't have to win elections or deal billions of damage to be important. Some of my favorite times in this game were reading Dartreal's comics.

Some of you may know that I live near Detroit in real life. Detroit is a classic example of a diminishing population. But even with the diminishing population and the blight around the city, Detroit still has its charms. I recall countless nights with my friends going to Red Wings games or Tigers games, eating at the restaurants, going to the casinos, and going to the night clubs. While there are problems with Detroit that I can't fix, I can still enjoy the city for what it is, and most importantly for whom I am spending my time with.

I know lots of people quit this game for various reasons. Many have real life emergencies, some just get sick of clicking the buttons every day. I just wanted to remind everyone the reasons for staying in this game, the people.

So congratulations WTP for losing the least number of votes. But let's be thankful not only for the votes cast for our party, but for the entire 605 votes cast this past election. Because it is the other 604 of you that keeps the game alive, that keeps me in this game, and that keeps our friendships alive.
-Bobby