Join the new world

1.) How did you find out about eRepublik?
I just followed the advertisement. I was playing Industrial Tycoon. Usually I just ignore the ads, but something about seeing Bush, Putin, and Ahmadinejad just drew me in.

2.) Tell us the story of your early stages of your eLife (Levels 1-12)?
I started like most noobs: poor. It was work, train, buy food, and read. Yeah, I did a lot of reading early on. The wiki has a lot of good information. The forums are entertaining and informative.
I really like to study game mechanics so I spent a fair amount of time studying and calculating. Naturally, when I figured something out I wanted to share it with the rest of the US, hence my prolific forum activity.
After a couple months of play, Justinious let me run Florida Commerce Bank so he could concentrate on being President. That was a cool experience. I had never run a company, but the understanding of the game that I displayed in the forums was enough for Justinious to ask me to run it. It was sort of like jumping feet first into the fire. FCB had companies in every industry including a foreign RM company. With managing all the employees, and foreign exchange rates, it was a lot of work.
Game wise, I bought a Q2 house with my first 5 gold bonus and I’ve saved enough money to start a Q1 food company. I make more money working, than the company makes, but it’s still fun to manage it.

3.) When and why did you get interested in politics in the state of Wyoming?
Well, I’m interested in politics in general. I’m really just running in Wyoming because I thought I could win. I’m glad I chose Wyoming because with the help of the USWP, I was able to keep a foreigner off the ballot. It’s not that I’m xenophobic, it’s just that it looks like an electoral attack.
That stuff aside, Wyoming is a cool state. They have Yellowstone which is totally awesome. I went snowmobiling there one winter, and it’s phenomenally beautiful.

4.) Who would you say is your "best friend" here in eRepublik and why?
I’d say MedyPi. She’s really the best. Her posts are fun, and … how do I say this… they make me feel funny inside. The sexual tension she provides is loads of fun, really.

5.) Tell me about your most interesting experience here in eRepublik, that you can remember. Please, use great detail.
Well, I’m a numbers guy so I get off on numbers. It may not be so exciting to your readers, but I find the tax debates the most interesting. It really gets down to the direction of the country. It looks like we’re headed down the path of kicking more ass, which should be lots of fun.
Truthfully, I’m a little anxious about spending the money that we raise. It’s a huge task to distribute all those weapons to the NG and Army. If we can pull it off, we’ll have the most awesome military in the game. I find that kind of stuff exciting.

6.) If you could change anything about your eLife, what, if any, would you change? If none, just explain how you love your eLife. If you wanted to change something, what would it be, and why?
I’m pretty happy with most everything in eRep. Well, I never have won a congressional election, so I suppose I’d change that. The first two times I ran, I just ran in my IRL home state of Maryland against John Wycliffe. He beat me both times, probably because I didn’t do any campaigning aside from my presentation.

7.)You got involved in politics really early in your eLife. How did that occur?
I liked figuring out the game mechanics, and once I know something it’s kinda hard to keep my mouth shut. So, I just kinda stuck my nose in there. I know I’ve never been elected to anything, but I don’t seem to mind that much.
The logic, and numbers carry a lot of weight which I think is pretty cool. I mean people could say “you have no mandate, so STFU” but they don’t. I think it reflects well on the forum users that they generally enjoy a well reasoned argument.

8.)How did you get interested in crunching numbers for eUSA?
Well, I’m a numbers guy so that’s what I like. I’m reminded of a story about Einstein. On his deathbed he asked for pencil and paper so he could work on a math problem. He knew he wouldn’t live long enough to finish it, but he just wanted to work on it anyway. So, if you’re a numbers person you’ll understand why.

9.)What attracted you to the UCP (now UIP)?
The UCP was just stacked with cool people: MedyPi, Justinious, Jewitt, NoneSuch. I suppose I could have joined any one of a number of parties and been happy: Libertarians, eRepublicans, even USWP. In the end, I liked the whole idea of a party with no ideology that was full of cool people, awesomeness, and pie lovers.

10.)Are there any programs in the government that excite you besides the Economic Council and SADD?
I had a short stint in the Marines, and that was truly awesome. Eugene Harlot is running a great organization there. If I lose this election, I’m going straight back to the Marines. The fighting experience with the marines is fantastic especially now that you don’t have to cheat to be competitive.

11.) Any comments on my newspaper?
It’s an entertaining paper. I especially like the whole cookie theme.

12.) Any final comments, period?
Well, I’m surprised to be asked to do an interview. I suppose I’ve had a big impact on politics, and I hope I’m having an impact on the efficiency of our economy. I mean I have a post that tracks the most efficient way to gain wellness as a function of your current wellness and current market prices. It has a lot of views. I also posted about how to balance your wellness and your job quality and that has even more views. But I don’t know how much that stuff is really used.

A special thanks to PrincessMedyPi