Join the new world

Everyone knows, that most of Erepublik's content lies not on the site itself, but on the multiple web pages dedicated to the game. Forums, IRC, and more. Without these, you probably won't get very far, but for my first interview, I will talk to someone who has been banned from the UK forums for roughly two years, and yet is the Speaker of the House! Recently voted, " Most influential politician in eRepublik" ( results have not been published, but my investigative journalism skills have led me to the belief that he won in a landslide of 95 votes out of 350.)

I present to you, " Chew Chew Shoe."

So, lets begin with your beginning, when did you start playing this game?

I started playing eRepublik in October 2009, in Virginia, USA.

And I'm sure one of the first things you discovered is, that to do anything in Erepublik, you need to use the forums.

Quite so, yes. Shortly after starting to play eRepublik I moved to eSingapore, where I started working as an ambassador, which obviously made the use of forums a necessity quite early on for me.

We will get back to the forums later on. Why did you move away from the eUSA, and what made you choose eSingapore as your next place of residence?


I wonder if he used this guide?

Like many newer members of the eRepublik community I figured that I had incredibly much experience and knowledge about the game and that it was my duty to force this experience and knowledge unto others. When I realized how incredibly little I knew, I set out to make for myself a new life and due to the peaceful and prosperous situation in eSingapore at the time I decided to set up base there.

And even with my considerably small knowledge, of the game , I do ascertain that you did quite well in eSingapore, what exactly did you do?

Among other things I began working within the defence ministry, where I organized mobile strikes around the world, rose to the command of a division within the armed forces, and after some time got the big MoD seat. I also spent several months as Minister of Immigration, worked within the foreign ministry, and served as vice president.

One of the many success stories of your eLife.
What made you pack your bags and move over to the eUK?

My first move to the UK, in 2011 if I remember correctly, was due to the decline in the Singaporean community and my many friends and contacts within the eUK, the most prominent being King Woldy. Previous to that I had also worked closely with the British, assisting them in their military campaigns and such through the usage of the military forces I had under my command in Singapore.


He sure as hell answered the call

And what made you stay here?

Now that's easy, the military community of course! The British military community was the envy of the world. Although relatively small in size, the organizational structure, the competitions, the activity and such was far superior to most countries' armed forces.



And would you say that's still the case?

No, the military community within the eUK, and in most parts of the world, has died since the introduction of in-game military units. The state of the military in the eUK for example is absolutely horrible.

What would you say could be done to rebuild it?

There is loads of things one can try to do in order to rebuild it, but the current mechanics simply don't put an pressure on the average Harry to actually go do something in order to extinguish himself, and as such it would just be a poor attempt of a reincarnation.

What were the things you did in your first spell in the eUK? Did you reach the heights of your experiences elsewhere?

I was fairly quiet on the political stage to be honest. I was involved in the armed forces, where I served in the Special Air Service, took the position of Colonel within the Home Guard and such. Politically I made a few parties completely intended to be jokes, just for the sake of relieving a bit of the tension we saw in the political sphere back then. I believe I worked within the Home Affairs office a few times, and also with the foreign ministry. I cannot remember whether or not I got into parliament, however.

So you were doing very well for yourself, the question arises, what made you move to Ireland?

Many of the more competent politicians left the country, and many of the good officers within the armed forces resigned from their positions. Overall the community declined. The UK decided to join TERRA, when TERRA was newly founded. During that short period of time we were supposed to be allied with the US and Ireland for example, but did absolutely nothing to uphold that friendship and instead fought against our supposed friends. It wasn't long until the UK left the alliance and invaded Ireland. As a result of this, I decided that the honourable thing to do would be to defend those who had invested trust into us.

Now I'm sure not everyone saw it as honorable, did you have any issues with old friends from the eUK?

Most certainly, many thought of my actions as treason and were absolutely furious with it, however, I stood by my actions in spite of what people called me. In fact, the British trying to discredit me just gave me more credit within Ireland.
At the time the British weren't exactly known to be honourable and unselfish, I may ad.

Now tell us about your months in Ireland, where you for the first time even got to be the big boss .

At the point of me arriving in Ireland I was quite strong in eRepublik, combining that with a credit card led to me turning the tide in quite a few battles in favour of the Irish. It wasn't long before I became a member of the Irish Citizen Army, which is by far the most organized and attractive military unit I've ever been a part of. It was not, however, only a military unit. The ICA with me amongst them quickly gained very much political power, and within months I was serving as Minister of Defence, Minister of Foreign Affairs and shortly afterwards Vice President. After having served as Vice President the path was already carved out for me to become President. I was elected with 100% of the votes cast, since my opposition was removed from the ballot during the elections by the admins for reasons I cannot explain.



I guess all those " special" favors you gave the admins really worked out well for you. How did your presidency go?

During my time in government over in Ireland the ICA brought great success to Ireland, where we amongst other things successfully invaded Poland in the USA and kicked them out of the continent, we brought through social reforms supplying all of our citizens with as many tanks they could possible use per day in exchange for following battle priorities, we established welfare schemes where all in need received 10.000 CC in exchange for bringing more gold into Ireland using the monetary market and such.

Did you quit eIreland right after your term or did you stick around for some more time?

I stuck around in Ireland for over a year after serving as president, however, a bit less active than before.
Ireland quickly crumbled due to the ICA losing political power and influence, and parties such as the Independent Labour Party started getting stronger and stronger, which ultimately led to Ireland becoming weaker and weaker. In May 2013 Ireland was in an absolutely horrendous state where the government was oppressive, the economy was a failure, the military structure was horrible, the political sphere was pretty much non-existent and the community was dead.

And so, you fled the sinking ship and headed to the life boat that was the eUK?

Well no, the government and her supporters led a witch hunt against me as I continuously spoke out against their wrongdoings and even predicted the obvious future of destruction that they were leading Ireland to. I was tired of it all, and so I decided to leave. It turned out that I was right all along, and most of those who criticized me at the time accept it now.

I can assume that a ex Irish CP, who fled the UK, didn't garner much sympathy when he returned?

I never cared much for sympathy. The British community welcomed me and we both viewed my time in Ireland as history and have worked hand in hand to try to improve the UK since. I also want to point out that I wasn't the only one being black mailed and oppressed by the Irish government at the time, me and a group of others were all oppressed and all spoke out against the governments wrongdoings.

And in a pattern that is repeating itself, once you returned to the eUK you once again excelled, did you not?

I would not say that. I have never really excelled, I have always just been a part of a hard working group of people. But I did get elected into parliament several times after returning the the UK, I also reached the position of Vice President and I'm currently serving as Speaker of the parliament right now. I did also become party president of New Era, which I tried to reform quite heavily during my time in office.

Now, since we all know your history lets dive into the forum issue. How exactly did you get banned?

Originally, whilst serving in government in Ireland, I got permanently banned by Dan Moir on the forums for insulting someone on IRC. I wish to point out that the person I insulted took it as a joke (as it was intended) and we have positive relations, and had at the time. We were simply having a laugh at the expense of each other. It took a good few months until I got unbanned in December 2012 for a matter of hours, when I got banned again (this time more rightfully) for posting a picture of a butt in a thread which basically consisted of softporn.I have since then been banned, despite the appeals I have put in, and the appeals others have made in my favour.



It seems the admins don't like you very much, do you believe personal opinion got in the way of being a unbiased forum administrator?

Yes, very much so. Dan Moir and myself for example never got along, at all. He was merely looking for an excuse to have me removed from his presence I suppose. In the second case I do believe personal opinion played a large role since I was initially told the ban would be temporary but the same admin who told me that changed his opinion rather shortly due to a personal issue that arose between the two of us.
In other words, in the second case personal opinion was initially in my favour, but shortly turned its head against me, ironically.

Well, it seems that Frerk will soon be out of a job, and we all hope for you that the new admin will be as unbiased as water.

So what's in your future Chew Chew Shoe? Will you stay settled in the eUK?

I most certainly hope so, yes. I quite like the community here, and its vastly more enjoyable than most other communities around eRepublik. There is a lot of work to be done within the country, but with a bit of unity and pride we can most probably improve the situation for all of us, together.

And who better suited to lead our country, than a man who's done it before has tons of experience, and doesn't like Dan Moir? Thank you very much for your time Chew Chew Shoe!

Hahaha, oh lord. Thank you.