Just Words [AVExit]

Day 2,506, 09:10 • Published in Canada Canada • by Alias Vision

Well it was a long time coming.

I still have/had some goals, ones that I no longer see myself striving for or attaining. For instance I am so close to reaching 200 articles published and not so long ago had plans on what those missing pieces would be about. But I lost the inspiration or drive to produce them. I wanted to reach level 100 but with an average below 2,000 prestige a week... that’s not happening any time soon. Ditto reaching titan, although that may have an outside chance of happening.

Old habits die hard, we all know that. This particular habit has hung on just a tad longer and more tenaciously than I ever could have expected or believed. I think it comes from the opportunity to invest yourself into the game, in my case through writing. Also, you build things over the years. It is hard to walk away from hundreds of days worth of clicking and creating.

So I blew it all up. I know I wouldn't be able to quit if I thought I had even the faintest of hopes of building on what I had acquired if... say... the game ever got fixed and developed an economy again. So I sold everything I had... I've now been working through my reserves for the past two weeks and when those are gone... I’ll literally have nothing left and will be able to take the proverbial walk into the sunset (or snow, I am Canadian after all).

Why not just go? Why write one last article?

Well, for one thing I hope that my time and effort here has at least afforded me the luxury of one indulgent, farewell article. See because ultimately I’m not angry at the game or how it developed. Look at it with a little distance and what eRepublik did was make a whole genre worthwhile and profitable while spawning countless clones... none of which mind you have even come close to being as successful (yet). I would have loved for things to progress differently but frankly that is their prerogative, just as it is mine with whether or not I invested or played.

And really, I still like talking about the game and have a lot of history to share and talk about if I wanted.

I have a lot of things I’m proud of, a few disappointments and regrets and a few more things likely nobody knows or realizes.

I’m extremely proud of the hard workers medals. For a long time those medals meant that game wise (as opposed to meta game wise) I was relevant. It meant that I could help sway the course of a battle or that I could compete economically. That changed a lot in the past year and a bit but longevity is something nobody can pay to take from you.

I love my Congress medals and what they represent. When I reached 12 it equaled a year of serving my nation in Congress and having a finger on the pulse of things. Then I went to 24 medals and that meant two full years dedicating extra time and attention to the part of the game that can never be coded. Building relationships and finding ways to keep people interested and coming back for more. Then I went beyond but by then the game had changed so much and so did my life and my access to the things that made me successful here.

I believe I was an accidental Country President... the first time around. It was after the Rolo fiasco and there was a fair bit of grandstanding on my part but also a greater proportion of caring and thinking I could make the transition for Canada. That being said, I was shocked when my candidacy gained traction. As I was joining forums and communicating with various parties to receive their support, I couldn’t quite believe I was reaching people and getting a positive reaction. It had almost everything to do with my experience and history because I was completely absent from IRC and had never really engaged in the backroom power plays. Goodwill can be a potent currency in this game, it got me a CP chair.

My second CP medal is probably one of the highlights of my career because I worked my butt off to get it. I invested everything of myself, was present on IRC for 8+ hrs a day for months (the only time that would happen), wrote many articles and tried to help as best I could. Plus I had a challenge... could I integrate to a community that had driven away my friends? You see, my second CP medal was leading India after I had gone there with United Aggression. To say we weren't wanted was... an understatement. We were PTOers, we were the enemy, all that. None of it was true of course but words are a powerful thing when they are all you have to go on. So I wanted to see if I could gain their trust and if I could get the position through hard work. The answers were yes and yes. And then to prove that no good deed goes unpunished, it was likely one of the worse CP months ever! Heh. Basically I was a weak CP because I didn't have the support of the power brokers in India... they knew that and the enemies knew that and everyone made the most of it. Still, no regrets in the amount of effort I put in getting there... I just wish I had done the same for Canada at some point.

When I started playing, I knew that one of the things I would aim for was Media Mogul. You can go through my history and there are very few (maybe you can count them on one hand) throw away articles. I took a lot of pride and a lot of time composing what I did. With each, I hoped to bring either entertainment, knowledge, always opinions and always one more thing for people to do as they clicked through the motions. I had one stretch of writing 30 articles in 30 days. I have no way of knowing how often that’s been done but I know it hasn't been done regularly and I especially know that it hasn't been done with the amount of content I did it with. There are no medals for it but there should be. Writing can be cheap but contributing to your community via media is priceless.

Do people know my history with TCO? How many people are still around that can vouch for the fact that Bruck was an absentee patron shortly after founding and that it was the work of people like myself and Ralph de ver that kept it alive before it transitioned to those you know better (Addy, Rylde, etc...). I did not create the concept but I installed the first communes in the group. I championed the public stance that TCO was not a political group (which everyone knew perfectly well was full of crap but it served us extremely well). I was the one whispering to key people, including Gofarman, that we should attempt to PTO South Africa. But none of that history remains so you’ll have to take my word for it.

When I saw the pardon that Rolo received I promised myself that the next time I was in a position of power I would dismiss my “moral high ground” and do the same that he did. Then I became CP of India and had 1,000,000 CC in my possession... and... took none of it. Why? Not because I’m any better than anyone else that played this game and instead took the loot. But by then, I thoroughly believed what I had written. It may have been rhetoric at some point but it became a standard of play well before temptation came knocking once more.

There are so many other pieces of history and tidbits that come to me from time to time and make me smile. Example... I once told TFD and Addy that neither would ever be CP of Canada because their strengths were not suited to the way you needed to be to win. The game changed, they didn't. I was wrong about Addy, many times over. I would have been wrong about TFD too had fate played out otherwise.

Some people don’t understand the allure of a game like this. It is the stories, those you live and those you read and those you tell. Only some of those are based in actual facts.

I’m still here until I’m not. Thanks for the sandbox and the soapbox but mostly, thanks for your time and attention.

Once last time... out.