[DERP] The Characters We Play
Derphoof
You almost got a year away from my articles. How lucky you would’ve been. Unfortunately for you, quarantine (and my drinking habits) had other ideas. As I’ve been sitting here, with my relation to my 8 years of activity in the game, I’ve been occasionally thinking about the time spent here and the roles I’ve played. I’ve put on many different hats, depending on how I felt and what I thought the country needed.
So, going by my articles and memories, I’m going to break down some of the role I’ve played and some others I’ve thought of.
The Legislator
This is honestly the first thing I did, and one of the things I enjoyed the most. I’ve always loved the roleplay that comes along with this game, and the meta of the legislature. When I got reactivated in Canada, I joined up in Congress and decided to make a big splash. Procedure, decorum, and politics are absolutely up my alley.
In the eUS, this only intensified. What Canada had, you took to another level. It was unreal, and I wanted in. I got in on the party level in the Feds and eventually made into Congress, carving out a niche of my own. I loved the process, procedures, rules of order, and everything else that went along with it. I decided to run for Speaker in 2015, and became the first speaker in a couple years to serve for two consecutive terms.
All in all, this role is great for those who love true roleplay. Most of this legislation is about Congress and community interaction, instead of overt game mechanics. I truly treasure my terms in Congress and my times as Speaker. I think it made me a more effective and influential politician. You learn so much by interacting with the top political brass of the community, and earn trust by treating people well as Speaker.
The Writer
While we can all create a newspaper, I hesitate to use the word “Journalist” in any sense in eRepublik. Journalists go out, collect information, interview people, ask tough questions, and report back in the paper. In eRepublik, that rarely happens. We’re not usually journalists, but simple writers.
If anything, I’d liken my time as a writer to someone on an editorial board. I see a current event, or issue, and I write out an article of my opinion. That’s usually how it worked in this game, and it was very fun. I’ve always liked writing, and I credit this game for boosting my writing skills. Most of my time in this game took place in ym college and early career years. In college, I would write a few papers each semester, but I wrote so much more in this game. It helped me hone into my writing, so much so that the lowest paper grade I had was a B+ at my elite college. Thanks, eRep.
By my count, I’ve written 209 articles, over the years, for this game. The reason I write less in the game now isn’t because I’ve grown out of it. Rather, the eWorld has become less interesting and less dramatic, so I don’t have as much to write about. I often wrote different things to fill the void as well. I wrote about my MU going to space, and congressional fanfiction, among other things.
The eWorld needs more writers to make things interesting. I hope some of you can find your niche here,
The Propagandist
God, I’ve had so much fun trolling people in this game. In RL, I abhor nationalism and all of the prejudices and violence that comes with it.
Here? I’ve embraced it wholeheartedly.
It’s so much fun to stir the pot or just absolutely trash on other people. Unfortunately, so much of my favorite work is lost to time now. I used to make gifs trolling Keers, long picture articles trolling Serbia, etc. Most of those were lost when imageshack took down their free hosting. I no longer have the images, because I sold the MacBook they were hosted on.
Here’s a good one from the Ukraine invasion: https://youtu.be/bfBP0Fyss08
Oh, how I miss it at times. Occasionally, I’ve regretted it when I think I’ve gone too far. While I live in privilege of the eUS being important, irl, many don’t. They gain a sense of national pride here. I remember trashing on North Macedonians (Or was it the Polish? Idk) so much in one article, that their reaction made me feel bad enough to take it down.
No matter what you say, I don’t give a damn because I live in the USA. I’m a privileged person. So, I can laugh off your harsh comments, but you may not be able to laugh off mine.
Did I still, have fun with it? Absolutely.
The Executive
I’m very hands on.
That’s the big thing when it came to me and the executive. There are two ways of performing the role, in my opinion. Only hands-off and hands-on. If you’re hands off, you’re delegating tasks to everyone and overseeing it all. If you’re hands-on, you’re delegating some things, but having a heavy hand in most things.
When I was PotUS, I wanted to make sure I was involved in everything. I wanted to control most functions.It was fun, but it also took a big toll, as I did it for 6 months in a row (before zRTx) . Luckily, I was working part-time and could oversee most day-to-day operations. The biggest thing was getting Yui and I on at the same time during my invasion of Ukraine. Aside from spending several hundred irl dollars, I was waking up early and spending all day online with him to coordinate battles.
This is why things also went so awry when I decided to try to follow zRTx for a term as president. As a full time worker, with home responsibilities, I couldn’t function the way I wanted to. I wasn’t able to adapt to what life threw at me. I wasn’t used to delegating tasks and checking in, and I didn’t have the time I thought I did.
If you go down this route, you really have to check yourself, your style, your abilities, and your time. If you can pull it off, its incredibly rewarding. I look back on my time as PotUS extremely fondly.
The Warlord
The warlord is a tricky one, as far as I’m concerned. You have to have the irl resources and management to run a military unit and direct it to properly make it influential.
I have none of those things, so I didn’t do it.
When I think of “warlords” I think of Americans like Gnilraps and Colin. They’ve had a lot of resources and a lot of time to devote to this game. They have the money to funnel into their account, bots (shocking!) and their MU. As PotUS, I used to be able to text Gnil for help in a fight and see him online tanking within minutes. It was beautiful.
However, this is such an exclusive and privileged position. If you are to become a true whale, you can use your power for self, country, or global community. I’m sure you can point to several who have operated like this.
While I’m sure there are more sets of characters, I’m currently drinking heavily and can only be bothered to write so much.
Overall, eRepublik is what you make of it. I entered in interesting times, becoming truly active as Terra fell apart and EDEN went through a lot of strife. There was much upheaval, PTO’s, ATO’s and fun to be had. Now, things are bit less interesting.You have to make a lot of your own fun. This is what I did with my friends and allies. We screwed around, threatened MTO’s, and made our own fun.
I hope you enjoyed this reflection, and find your own fun in this game.
Be back soon,
Comments
Based and character-pilled
Comment what other characters there are to play. I've already thought of The Internationalist and the Troll after writing this, even if they intersectt with other ideas.
I love you Derp
ilu 2 bby
This is still readable. I don’t think you’ve been drinking enough
True true, its ben a few hours and I'm, halfway into a bottle of rum. I did proofread it pretty good and tru to take my time
This is the real first comment!
You've been active eight years and have a strength of 81. How does that happen?
He watched a lot of hentais.
Even in 2012, when I became properly active, I was disillusioned into thinking I'd never be effective on the battlefield, no matter how much I trained. Didn't put much into it as a result, and decided to play the political game.
You did the right thing.
Excuse, BROFORCE has all the tanks. This works like golf, right?
[removed]
Military is a waste of time on this game.
Derp 4 CP
Based and Pony-pilled.
Based on My Little Pony
Some play Double Agent
Some play Bringer of Chaos
True, true. My recent role has been “shitposter”
heck I thought this was going to be a tell all on all the multi's ran through the USWP ... just kiddin
You forgot The Clown. Not just tef1.
Suddenly, Derpy!
I was hands on ... not by choice.. haha
Best role is Party Animal.
A wise person once sai😛
If you're not drinking heavily, are you even drinking
o7
To have writters, you need more than a weak military module. There's way better wargames for RP.