Two Year Ramblings

Day 1,333, 17:37 • Published in Canada Ireland • by einberliner


I have, as of today, been playing this game for two years. Despite how this article begins this isn't really intended as a memoir.

Unlike some who've been around that long I don't pine for the game that was back then - it really only involved clicking 'fight' and 'work' once a day, and for all the faults and screw ups that have followed I was glad when a little more strategy was introduced. To be honest (to me) the game was at its dullest back when I first joined and I hung around at first because I hadn't had a chance to fight yet - I was born in eIreland, we had no war or battles whatsoever my first month or so - and I wanted to stick it out to try the war module. By the time I'd started to get involved with politics.

This was due in large part to the friends I made when I started. One of the first people I met (she PM'd me, just to introduce herself) was Grainne Ni Mhaille, who tends to polarise opinion but who I've always had great time for. She was a true Irish warrior princess and she gave me a few nudges in the right direction when I was still learning the ropes, ushering me off to my first political party (The Irish Radical Party) and introducing me to the likes of the long-since gone Severin, who was one of those who encouraged me to try congress way, way before I'd have taken that leap myself (I'd been with the game all of five weeks when I first ran).

Immediately after that successful campaign I was joining my first cabinet as Minister of Community* at Patton's** request when he became President, still only about six weeks into my eCareer. This job basically involved running events to keep people in Ireland checking in, getting to know one another etc. While I've since held a lot of other positions since; Minister of Information, deputy speaker in the Irish parliament, party president, vice country president of Ireland (while Canadian, only Marcus would pick a foreigner and only Marcus would pick someone on the grounds of 'you're good at telling me to stop being a prick and cop on') and various other stuff I only half-remember doing it was the MoC job that stayed with me because I worked out very, very on that the people who play this game are what make the game.

All the lulz I've had in erepublik has come from reading great articles, chattering in the comments or on the forums/IRC and in getting together with my fellow soldiers on the battlefield to pull a mooner at the enemy, all the stuff that's majoratively user-generated. I've done a lot of work with new players and again and again, while they ask how to navigate game mechanics and are glad of the answers, the thing I was thanked most for after they'd settled was getting them involved.

The reason I'm so community focused even now (my TCO roles are in the academy and PR) is I've always remembered being encouraged by older players in my early days and I know for a fact that had the likes of Grainne, and Tayto (the person of all people who've left this game I want back) were the sole reason I stuck with it early on when I found the game mechanics themselves boring as hell. While I've had days, like all veterans of the game have had I'm sure, where I cussed out the game and the people in it out of frustration (the day I lost the FM rank I'd near-eKilled myself for was particularly choice) I've stayed because of the friends I have here. When RL illness and general issues took me away from the game late last year I came back mostly to check the people I cared about around here were okay and to say goodbye. Helping out with fighting in the meantime eventually brought me to Canada, an old friend from Ireland (Christian Russo, credit where it's due) then got me to finally throw my hat in with TCO. I figured I'd give it a month, bow out if it didn't suit me.

I'll have been with TCO six months in a fortnight's time and I can't believe how good I have it there. It's probably the best team of any kind that I've been in in-game, right up there with the 21s, and has some of the funniest, coolest people from just about every walk of RL life you could imagine. When the admins change yet-another-thing and I feel like stomping off I go to #crimson and am promptly reminded of why I stay, I'm sure there are CAFers and people from other countries who could say the same about the organisations they're involved in.

So I guess what I'm saying in this ramble is firstly the way to make our eNation stronger is to encourage the noobs or the quieter players, something I do almost mercilessly when I can (ask Eric Last, who was reluctant to take a sgt. role and is now a regimental CO).

Secondly, more importantly, I'm saying thank you. I started to pick out all the names of people who'd contributed to keeping me here over the past couple of years and the list was near-longer than the article, and I'd have been bound to miss someone even then. But you made it fun, you've helped me pass time when RL was slow or difficult, and you've proven the interwebz isn't for douchebags alone (no offence, Temu 😛).

I've picked a few that come to mind right now, some still here and some gone, and please forgive me if your name's not there, it doesn't mean I don't love you 😉

Grainne - You had to be first, really. We ended up on other sides of the eWorld but we've always checked in with each other, and that I hung around to try the war module was all your fault.
Tayto - More than anyone you did it your way. I was sorry you let the haters run you off, you were all that made the place amusing, some days.
Patton - I didn't even really know you but you offered me MoC, and I had no idea why. Turned out you were right, I still think of that department as mine. I need to get less possessive.
Yddub - I made you Irish, you were a large part of what made me bloodthirsty. I'm trying to decide who got the better end of the deal
Cal - Another one who kept me fighting, and along with yddub you kept me in guns when I couldn't afford them. I paid you back by dragging you back to erep by your hair. You're welcome 😃
Moonbeam - my eWife, for mutual defence purposes, and a war goddess long before you were given the title. You ever try to leave before me and I will spam your work station with long distance calls; don't doubt it.
Cas - I still and will always defend you. Your heart was never in the wrong place in any debate I saw.
😎ayan - We learned the game together, we fought for FM together, and we ranted about the BS together. I still kind of hope you'll come back.
Sean Power, Kit Fisto, don.squire and Harrillal - The authors I always, always watched out for. Always something interesting to say or pass on.
Digits - My political mentor, in some ways, for all we didn't always agree. Independent Voices was where I found my ePurpose.
Nogin - We got to know each other surprisingly late, really, and I feel I only really got to know you well after we both joined TCO. I'm glad we did. You grasp of economics is still intimidatingly sharp though, seriously. How you reel off all that info no bother is beyond me.
Edana - We were great friends, and we kept our differences of opinion between us. I disagreed with the war you declared and you still respected me when I outright told you, and I still fought tooth and nail in it when it came, our friendship didn't change one bit. I respected you for that more than you probably realised.
Thatcher - The only Brit on this list, because when I was cranky at my lot you were cranky at yours, and that took the sting out of a lot of the nastiness for me.
Homer, JRC and Crisfire - I'm a questioner, to the point (I know) of being outright annoying but I like to understand. You were all very, very cool and patient with me when I came with my queries and you're a great bunch of lads. TCO is blessed.
Damo - You've always been approachable and easy going, and like the other TCO execs helped me learn the ropes when I signed up.
Eric Last - I kind of bullied you into a lot of jobs you weren't sure you were ready for. Mostly I want to say I Told You So 😃😃😃 (Because you're awesome ofc)
Hunter - My 21 homeboy, my dealer. You've kept me in guns lately and you've kept me in lulz from the start. Good man yourself.
Fritz - One of the most generous people in this game and a genuinely great guy too. o7
21s - You know why. o7

This whole thing wasn't proof read. I guarentee I missed important people and lacked coherence. lol.


One of my earliest avatars


Yours from her soap box,
Ein "Donut" Berliner


* - Even I don't really remember how many times I had that job officially. I think it was five.
** - He's left the game now but I happened to speak to him recently, and he and IP were planning their RL wedding, which should now have happened btw 🙂