Passing Through the Gate: Moving On

Day 2,674, 15:11 Published in USA USA by Derphoof



During the past ten days, I have been on a tour of the Northeast with my college choir. We went all kinds of places, Virginia, Massachusetts, NYC, New Hampshire, Connecticut, etc. It was a wonderful tour filled with beautiful sights, sounds and people.

The one place I didn’t visit was eRepublik.

I had forgotten my laptop and was rarely ever connected to the web. The game and any duties therein had barely even come across my mind. When I got home on Monday, that night I realized I hadn’t been on eRep or anything in quite a while.

However, I didn’t really want to login.

It was in that moment that I realized I didn’t exactly want to play the game anymore. I had no desire to login, catch up with what had been going on, insert my opinion, or even really make stupid comments for my own amusement.

So I was left here, pondering what to do. Do I want to engage in the game, visit infrequently, quit cold turkey, etc.? As I pondered what to do, I realized I had done just about everything I really wanted to do at this point. I’ve met people around the world as secretary of state, and through media exploits. I’ve worked in NSC as a deputy. I’ve been an advisor. I’ve slugged it out in the trenches of Congress for 16 terms. I was the Speaker of the House, and the first to serve 2 consecutive terms in years (I don’t recommend it). I served as Fed Media director. I had an eRep radio show. I PTO’d the AFA and built a dummy alliance based on ponies. I’ve built an MU on nonsensical ideas. I’ve declared MORTAL KOMBAT as a means of joining my ridiculous MU. I’ve consented to starting a rebellion for the sake of lulz. I’ve executed people by means of firing squad. I trolled the Serbs. I was CP of Canada and then I advocated for the murder of Canada. I declared myself Emperor of Canada. I relentlessly trolled the Spanish. I introduced legislation to have Congress declare me King of Spain. I’ve been to Mars and done other wacky space things for this game.

I’ve also logged into IRC at 6am and been up until 3am talking, chatting, and joking with the lovely people of this game.

After reflection, I’ve decided to largely quit the game.

At this point, I have nothing left that I really want to accomplish in this game. I believe Glorious America is in safe hands and will continue to prosper, despite the cluster**** that can be Kongress. Most of my recent fun has come with trolling, role-play, and occasionally chuckling at my forum avatar ‘cause it’s absurd. Hell, most of my fun came with media anyways.

However, I’m not leaving completely. The community this game has forged, especially in our country, is very inviting, diverse and interesting. They are passionate people I love our community and I don’t want to leave it behind completely. I’ll be somewhat active on the forums, throwing around occasional advice. I’ll pop in-game occasionally to write things and send things into space.

I’ll be around to troll the enemy while at war, as well. Just be sure to tell me when that happens.

I doubt I’ll be able to completely pull myself away, but rather just wind down my activity therein.

As I stand at the gate, looking back at the game and my time here, I can’t help but comment on a long trend. People spend entirely too much time and money on this thing. They get incredibly obsessed by it and consumed by it. They fight vitriolic battles for power over pixels. However, one thing people need to remember is that this is a game. Leave your RL ideas at the gate, when you login. Do shit cause you want to, not because you feel a need to. Remember that this game is meant to be fun, not frustrating. It’s meant to be entertaining, not annoying.

Never lose sight of the fun.

Sayonara, you magnificent bastards.