A Time of Change

Day 958, 20:55 • Published in Canada Canada • by Ayeshan Dakseus

V1.

It's been a long journey, hasn't it?

Course, not as long for me as for others, and not as long as others as for me.

Day 498. When this game began for me. I can still remember seeing the ad that drew me into this microcosm of our world.

Today is the four hundred and sixty-first day of V1 for me, and the last for all.

http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/merlin.png" />
On an unrelated note, if you don't know the movie Memento, it's quite a good watch.

Four hundred and sixty-one days. It's quite astounding, when you think of it. Most of us know how this game draws us in. If I knew then what I know now, knowing how much time it consumes, knowing what I would come to understand, would I have embarked on this journey in the first place?

Yes. Yes one hundred times. I'm just under a month away from five hundred days and I still can't bear the thought of quitting this game. But why is that?

Is it the daily routine? A joyous land of *click* work *click* train *click click scroll click click* read some papers...

No.

Is it the battles? Contributing my five fights, clicking to the hospital, then forgetting about it?

No.

Then what? What has kept me going for over a year? Why am I not going to quit this game for love of V1?

What has kept me here has nothing to do with the way the game works.

What has kept me here has everything to do with what goes on behind the game.

The parties, the forums, IRC, friends, foes, great writers, terrible trolls, the people.

http://www.bvallc.com/pensionblog/uploaded_images/Crowd-702052.jpg">
Upon close inspection, one realizes these are definitely people.

In a game, a world like this, it's not enough to *click* *click* *click click scroll click click*. There has to be meaning behind what you do. That is provided by not the game creators, the game mechanics, at all. Surely it's a catalyst, but the true substance is the people. People you get to know. People you enjoy talking to on IRC. People you enjoy debating with on IRC. People you love to hate. People. Players run this game, according to the mechanics.

I challenged myself at this point in the writing, to open up notepad and write down the names of fifty people who I've gotten to know, people who I've enjoyed, lost, hated, all through this game.

I hit eighty-nine before stopping to think about a next one.

This is why I cannot understand anyone besides two-clickers quitting the game over changes to the system. Compared to the time I've spent on other games, time spent on the erepublik.com domain admittedly still takes a huge chunk of time. But compared to all the time spent playing the game, off the domain? It's almost insignificant.

So is this a tearful and bittersweet goodbye? No, it is a tearful and bittersweet hello.

So join me, brothers and sisters.

http://www.weblo.com/asset_images/large/Sprit_of_Bangla_Join_Hand_489962bc14b90.png">
Imagine this, with eighty-nine hands.

Join me in a new era of eRepublik the game; we'll face it boldly with the friends and foes we know now. The transition will be jarring, to say the least. But by god, we'll conquer it.

And though we'll lose some, we'll keep marching on.

V2.

She looked into your eyes,
and saw what laid beneath.
Don't try to save youself,
THE CIRCLE IS COMLETE.

I'll see you, my friends, on the other side.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3222/2842118766_9f675171e1.jpg">