Join the new world

It has been a long time since I last published an article. In August the area I live in was pounded by rains that caused unprecedented flooding. As of last May I work for the Post Office, the rains, and flooding put a lot of Post Offices very behind schedule. Some offices flooded and are just now opening back up. Thus my adventures in Overtime began. Those adventures have progressed from 50 hours a week in September/October, to 60 a week during November to now in the proximity of 80 hours a week. The onslaught of Amazon Prime and disaster relief has been beyond brutal and exhausting.

I tell you this because many people recently have expressed surprise at one of my rare posts or comments these days. I have not quit eRepublik, nor will I. I am here until the lights go out. I have simply been lurking and clicking my clicks to keep my profile active. I have also been reading articles and doing my best in my limited free time to keep abreast of things. I fully expect my adventures in overtime to come to a close in approximately ten days.

Over the last several months ideas for various articles have run through my head and eventually blended together. Maybe it is sad, but many times after a long day of work I find myself composing erepublik articles to myself as I drive home. Unfortunately this is the first time I have done so with access to my computer.

The themes that I have mulled over are really quite similar and I believe very closely linked to my erepublik career. Some examples are: staying true to your roots, know what got you there, playing to your strengths, and providing opportunity and inclusion to players within our community. Those first three are almost the same thing. The last thing is I believe vital to the survival of a vibrant active community here in the eUSA and within our Parties and MUs.





Anyone who follows the NFL even a little is familiar with the above. Two years ago in the Super Bowl the Seattle Seahawks arguably the most powerful running team in the league decided to pass the ball inspite of having First and Goal on the 1 yard line. They had run at will on the New England Patriots and late in the Fourth Quarter looked poised to score the game winning Touchdown with ease. Instead they played it cute. They forgot about what got them there, that their roots were to be physical and run the ball, and they went away from their strength to try surprising their opponent. This is something they had not done all year. Everyone knew what they would do and they were dared to stop it. A feat few were capable of consistently accomplishing.

Now you might ask what this has to do with eRepublik. From a Party standpoint or MU standpoint I see it as an imperative. The Federalist Party has always touted itself as a meritocracy very intent on infusing fresh blood into leadership. This is something we stay true to. There are leaders in the Feds right now that I really do not know very well because of my lesser activity over the last several months. Nevertheless I am thrilled to see them stepping up and stepping in. It is what the Feds are all about. I will let other Parties tell you what they are about, but they too do well when they stay true to their roots and play to their strengths.

At an individual level I think this applies as well. I am not saying that playstyles cannot or should not adapt over time. My own style of play is radically different than it was in 2013. I have learned and adjusted. Yet I also think my strength is that I generally get along with everyone while also being a willing worker, and above average communicator. I have spent the bulk of my career working to find and empower others who want to contribute to our community. It is why I continue to log in.

Now at a national level the eUSA’s strength has always been our vibrant, organized community. Few other nations have the infrastructure we have built around this game. That is who we are. As our game and community shrinks it gets harder to maintain the apparatus we have built. However, the answer to that ever present difficulty is not in my view to shrink the table. Once upon a time I campaigned for Country President on a platform of every major group getting a seat at the table. I saw the fractures within our community and I believed getting everyone to take ownership of our country would help heal them. So I offered a Secretary level post to a member of every major Party and PDB access to the leadership from every major MU we had.

I was warned by some that having such a diverse group would cause major issues with cohesiveness. The reality was vastly different. Once it was made plain that jackassery would not be tolerated players from their disparate backgrounds worked together and even formed strong bonds of friendship. That term is still very much my favorite month in eRepublik out of the now 4+ years I have played. Many of the people I had working with me ran for CP in the intervening months.





I am not telling you this to toot my horn. Self Aggrandizement has never been my thing. I am trying to say that there is an answer to feeling like power is only in the hands of the few. I am trying to say that is possible to be inclusive without everyone agreeing about everything. It is our differences that make things interesting. If everyone agreed it would not matter who is Speaker or President. It is our relationships that we form with each other that cause us to continue logging in day after day. We can set the table for a bright future of players feeling the sky's the limit for realizing their goals. This community has weathered a lot of attrition and admin malpractice, but we are still very capable of greatness. I plan to publish more on this in the near future. Until then I thank you for reading.