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It's been a long break for 'Espresso with Warbhoy' editions. I've been spending some quality time with my family during Christmas and I am now back again with full batteries. There's no better person to write Christmas edition of interview than eMielga, my dear friend who's been an Irish friend for numerous reasons most of our community will probably never find out. So, take my word for it.

She's coming from cold Russia, but she has a very warm heart, she's been heavily involved in Russian politics, especially diplomacy wise. She's relatively new to the game comparing to others I did interview with, but she accomplished so much stuff since coming to this game. She's one and only - eMielga.



1) Hello eMielga, it's always nice to talk to you and I have to say you're the perfect choice for my Christmas edition article. Let's start with a classic questions. How did you got into this game and why "eMielga"?

Hello, Warbhoy! Aw, very nice of you. Would never have thought that an article read many years ago would bring into my life such interesting acquaintances and friendships. Back in 2009 there was a promo-article on ru IT resource about erepublik. I registered in the game, 2clicked for few weeks, brought a guy who later became an important person in the community and abandoned the game. Wasn’t thinking of erep till 2017 — just logged in when was asked to gather the gold and nothing more. In 2017 I met erep players in another game. For about a year I was reading their memories about good old times and had decided to have a quick look on the community. Haha.

eMielga is from “e” for erepublik and my usual nickname “mielga” standing for spiny dogfish. Once I was searching the spanish dictionary for the word I would like to have as a nick and it was perfect match: love the sea, dogs and can be toxic 😛

2) I was surprised to hear that you're somewhat a new player in here. In your fairly short time you've been heavily involved in the Russian politics, especially foreign affairs. How did you get there? What are your daily duties as MOFA?

Yeah, I’m kinda active for about 9 months here, and already 5 of them I am a MOFA of Russia. Would bet that’s because I was asking too many questions 😃
I was really interested in what’s going on and the political background of it, so I started digging into it. This lead to the invitation to join the gov. Pretty sure I would have failed if not Khotko and nimnul who were giving me all the needed information about past relations so I could catch up. I start with reading shouts, articles and chats to be aware of what’s going on in eworld, replying on pms, checking if any help is needed. Also I discuss the course of TWs (if needed), search for new ones, keep an eye on MPPs and taxes payback. Etc 🙂


3) Russia is still a member of Pacifica, but your alliance doesn't really seem to be active. Is it though? What are your goals as an alliance and how are the relations within it?

Yeah, we are currently quite inactive since USA had left but I wouldn’t say that it would last forever. Pacifica was not formed as a global one but yet became the second long-lasting alliance in erep and despite some probable uncertainty we are definite that we are still capable of overcoming some difficulties we had encountered. The idea of having an alliance which could pursue an independent policy definitely shouldn't be dropped, so the main goal is to bring us back to the world as an active member of it.

We have strong relationships within Pacifica especially when those who had plans to quit did it already. Probably there is some tense on Finland’s side cause of them still being wiped but time would be playing for them with the current det. rules. We’ll see what we would be able to do relatively soon.

4) We've been talking a lot recently and you've been talking with the other members of Irish Government. I believe you're being seen in eIreland as our friend, maybe not a classic ally, but a friend for sure. How's the feeling in eRussia about eIreland?

While being on different sides I would say eRussia (like RL Russia) is looking positively towards you. You are a great and loyal ally for your side, have an amazing community and are afraid of nothing. Plus eRussia and eIreland have at least one common trait: we never give up till the very end.
Personally I think that the game needs more countries to be as active as you are 🙂



5) Russia is on a proAsteria side, but you kinda kept Croatian borders with Asteria countries closed due to your Training War with them. How's that possible? Are your allies from Asteria bothering you for that?

No, we had never had any negative reactions of our allies caused by the course of our TW with Croatia. Asteria is a highly organized alliance, so you could be sure that if some of rejected NEs would not be not of trololo kind, they would have passed with or without our help. On the other hand I’m pretty sure that TW agreements are not only about launching attacks in agreed order and watching the walls. Respect to the partner needs should be included in the package.

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6) You're heavily involved in global politics, what's your opinion about Asteria and 'Anti Asteria'?

For me Asteria and 'Anti Asteria' represent two different game styles. Asteria is always thinking on several steps ahead, is keen on long-term planning and strategy. Moreover, it’s united despite of belonging to different sides previously.
'Anti Asteria' acts and lives for today in general, providing action and fun for their players. And perhaps because of passionate game style the side could lack some unity. In a D&D role-playing system there is a choice of alignment available, consisting of 2 parts: "law" vs "chaos", the other on "good" vs "evil". So I regard Asteria as lawful alliance while their rivals tend to be chaotic. Some countries don’t match their alliance alignments tho.


7) In real life Russia is involved in a conflict with Ukraine. How are the relations between Russia and Ukraine in Erepublik? We've seen many eCountries making their opinion about other countries based on RL. It's been something that fueled many wars. What's your opinion about RL influence on Erepublik?

It’s complicated. Both being proAsterian eRussia and eUkraine could be considered neutral to each other but we have people that can’t stand the other side, you can see that, to my regret, from some (yet rejected) laws. From the other hand most people have absolutely normal attitude. I’m staying on ukrainian discord server since august and haven’t encountered any problems due to my real cs.
But still RL has a high influence on Erepublik. The format of the game provokes it with emulating the real world — same map, same countries, same issues. Though it depends on us — players — whether to bring it here or not.



8 ) USA is the Irish neighbour. Russia and USA have been best allies for a good while. What happened there? How did this relationship broken? I still remember many Russians fighting for USA against Anti Asterian Airstrikes during the big invasion. How are those relations today?

I wouldn't say the relationship is broken. The USA had decided to quit Pacifica in order to search for their own way of being. They came to the conclusion that taking the pro-Asteria road is impossible for them. But yet till the recent croatian campaign in Scandinavia they had avoided fighting vs our alliance. So did Russia in regard to the US. Not sure I can foresee the future relationship though. Wish them luck regardless the paths they choose 🙂

9) Your countries has terrific bonuses. You've worked hard to get them during the event when countries could earn them. It fills your treasury really fast. Are you happy with it? How much influence this economic aspect of the game has when it comes to diplomatic and military decisions? Are you afraid that due to your big bonuses you might end up as USA some day?

It is a pleasure to see efforts made in resource wars finally paying off. We had plans to get into the top of world's strongest economies and we did. Obviously our obligations to players who had started production in our cores would influence our decisions but it’s not the only thing taken into the account.
It’s not big bonuses themselves that unleash others on you but mistakes made/inactivity/etc. Being afraid won’t help but would ruin the fun. Not the best game style I think.

10) How do you see the future of Erepublik? Are you an optimist? What's there to play for? Is there any general change you'd make game wise?

The future is uncertain 😃 It’s extremely hard to be an optimist in the dying game but still I’m spending a lot of time here. It’s always and only people that are worth playing for. Thus would love if the game mechanics would motivate people to fight for allies more than caring for legend ranks, with introducing true allies medals and ally legends or smth.



11) What are your favourite countries in this game and why?

Nah, I can’t choose, at least on our side. I love all our friends & allies, each in a different way. Love to tank for them: it’s fun while farming is awful. Still miss the dark boosters cause they allowed me to be more effective.
From the other side I would have picked Croatia, Eire and goats of Cyprus for the pure joy of fight. Doesn’t mean the others can’t rock on the battlefield tho. They all are fantastic. But for me the game is not about the countries, it’s about people. Most countries have at least a few guys I love/like. And I can’t say I care much about their cs 🙂 Tho I have to separate my personal attitude and my opinion as MoFA. Hopefully Russia doesn’t regard eWorld as black & white one.

12) You're a girl. It's probably hard for ya to compare how much difference to the game that is as you never played as a guy, but would you say people are treating you differently because of the fact you're not the average guy on the keyboard? Was there any extra flirting with ya?

Pretty sure the game is much easier for the girls. Even while I don’t make an accent on the fact ppl in general are more friendly and gentle. And yes, some flirting included 😛

13) To conclude, what are your personal plans for the coming weeks? Oh and...who would you suggest me as my next guest in 'Espresso with Warbhoy'?

Still not sure about the plans, there is a high chance I would be busy irl. And if speaking of the RL — there are some people I really wanna meet next year 🙂 So probable that would be #1 on my to-do list 🙂
Would suggest windfall, Kherehabath or zdlemmy as a next guest 😛