EDEN, how deep are your roots?
Arrlo
I apologise in advance for the lack of images, humour and usual anti Poland stuff in this article. I take the topic quite seriously, and don't want anything to distract from the sincere message of my article. I will begin.
When first I started doing more than just my two clicks, I didn't get EDEN. I didn't understand a brotherhood in a stupid game, and I was completely perplexed at the choice of name. Now that I've been playing for some time - and understand that things we do or say, and friendships we make in the game can mean something - the more I think about the name EDEN, the more I think that choosing it was a masterstroke. I'm not sure if the acronym or the full name was chosen to fit the other, but the biblical allusion works so well. In what can be a pretty dull game, or a social experiment which can at times show human interactions in a very negative light, the name has uplifting connections to the story of a perfect place created in an imperfect world. EDEN literally means paradise.
The Erepublik Defence & Economy Network came into existence some three years ago now, which, in the context of eRepublik alliances, is something of a miracle in itself. In striking contrast to almost every other alliance founded ever since, it was established as a defensive grouping with a very clear purpose. PEACE was systematically destroying everything in its path. At the time there was a marked difference between the aims of each alliance: PEACE conquered, EDEN liberated. Whatever you think of the path it has taken since, however much you dislike us, EDEN was born as an alliance of friendly nations brought together in a desperate struggle to face an all conquering enemy.
This auspicious beginning is significant, since it created high expectations of the alliance in neutral countries, and even in enemy nations. Where PEACE represented fun in taking over the world and crushing anyone who got in the way of this conquest, EDEN took the cause of freedom. While I think that most players in EDEN believe in these same principles, I acknowledge that this could have been nothing more than the product of circumstance and superior propaganda. However these values became attached to EDEN, I, and many others, take these lofty ideals very seriously to this day. Where other alliances (not all, I must add) have come and gone, with openly ignoble, mercenary intentions, EDEN has endured. For some countries the words "friendship" and "brotherhood" are means to a 100/100 resource collection end. EDEN, I want us to pursue exactly the reverse.
Much like the biblical story, flaws in human nature sometimes come close to ruining our paradise. We are not perfect. Greed, selfishness, ignorance, anger, lust for power: these are the antithesis of what EDEN is supposed to be. I'm certainly not saying that this is what EDEN is or is not, but I am trying to illustrate what we should all be striving for.
Cynical and hateful people will inevitably accuse me of hopeless naivety or peddling propaganda. The former could be true, but the latter is not. I mean every word that I say, and EDEN has problems and internal conflicts which I can see as well as any hater. I have not given up on us yet. We are by far the biggest alliance in terms of member nations, which gives us a fantastic wealth of diverse peoples fighting under our flag. But this great strength is sometimes a great weakness, since having so many presidents and voting populaces to please makes any complex decision a lot more difficult to reach. In my opinion we have also made enormous errors of judgement in the past.
The past cannot be rewritten, so we can only deal with the present.
It's time to have a set of clear aims again, like the EDEN of the past. Just like at our alliance's birth, we are very possibly facing total defeat, and we are outgunned. Let's not waste time looking for someone to blame, let's make a strong statement that we are EDEN, we ALL fight together for the liberation of our member countries, and that we will leave caring about bonuses, resources, or real life hatred to other countries. In future, I want all of us, myself included, to consider the following:
If wiping an enemy is more important to you than liberating Portugal and Ukraine you don't belong in EDEN.
If hoarding resources is more important to you than liberating Colombia and Romania you don't belong in EDEN.
If PTOing a country is more important to you than liberating Albania, Bosnia & Herzegovina and Belarus you don't belong in EDEN.
If you fail this test, you should leave EDEN.
If you agree that allies are more important than enemies, then it's up to you now. HQ, CPs, MoDs, MU leaders, captains, all soldiers and citizens, you will have to fight together in the same battles, and very often they will not be your own country's. The leaders of government and military units must communicate with each other to set priorities, and then it is up to us to give everything we have to win these fights. It will be hard. Our enemies are strong and committed, and victory might take a long time to achieve for some or all of our members.
But making EDEN something worth fighting for will be a stronger call to arms than winning a battle here and there. Losing battles we fight in all together against bigger enemies is less of a defeat than losing hold of our principles. Is this moral faggotry? No, it is making EDEN stronger in the long term, by once again making us an alliance people WANT to fight for. What good is compromising our values for damage if countries lose faith in us, and disillusioned citizens sell their damage or hunt medals or simply become 2 clicking zombies?
If an EDEN country is wiped, we will ALL fight for them. If a group of PTOers from an EDEN country begins to trouble an ally, we will denounce them and work with our ally to do everything in our power to STOP the PTOers. If a member country attacks another, that country will be ejected from EDEN immediately, regardless of their strength, and only readmitted if they guarantee that it won't happen again. If it does, EDEN should be closed to them. I think these things should go without saying, but it seems that somehow we have let things slide. Well, no longer. Only then will we be a Brotherhood, and once again unquestionably the best, the only true alliance in the game.
Albania
Argentina
Belarus
Bosnia and Herzegovina
China
Colombia
Croatia
Greece
India
Ireland
Israel
Italy
Netherlands
Norway
Portugal
Romania
Taiwan
Turkey
Ukraine
Do you care about EDEN as much as I do? How deeply rooted in you is EDEN? Show me!
Arrlo,
EDEN soldier
Comments
I love EDEN.
But then EDEN is pretty much empty..
But yeah I would like to see more concentration on helping former EDEN members to liberate.
[removed]
ima ko sazetak ?
v
v
Greece and Turkey need to go then:
http://www.erepublik.com/en/article/eden-that-039-s-what-you-get--2145147/1/20
HAIL DAMAGEHOOD
There will only ever be one EDEN,
Stand up, fight for it and be counted
Victroia Aut Mors o7
"If wiping an enemy is more important to you than liberating Portugal and Ukraine you don't belong in EDEN.
If hoarding resources is more important to you than liberating Colombia and Romania you don't belong in EDEN.
If PTOing a country is more important to you than liberating Albania, Bosnia & Herzegovina and Belarus you don't belong in EDEN."
so Turkey should be expelled
If -any- country doesn't follow the values of EDEN, they should be expelled yes. I'm not making bargains or offering anything, this is what I think EDEN should and can be.
voted
"Cynical and hateful people will inevitably accuse me of hopeless naivety or peddling propaganda. "
FIRST!
v
v
I start loving EDEN
v +s
only EDEN and nothing more!
Victroia Aut Mors o7
V
I really liked the premise of this article.
hail eden hail turkey!
If wiping an enemy is more important to you than liberating Portugal and Ukraine you don't belong in EDEN.
If hoarding resources is more important to you than liberating Colombia and Romania you don't belong in EDEN.
say these to turkey
EDEN without turkey more better
Turkey fail your test everyday
Hail Turkey
Hail EDEN !!!
V+S.
Good luck
EDEN is DEAD.
"since it created high expectations of the alliance in neutral countries, and even in enemy nations"
which in the long term brought what we have now - their high expectations were mostly (not in every case) nothing but thinking 'what we can get from EDEN?'.
"If wiping an enemy is more important to you than liberating Portugal and Ukraine you don't belong in EDEN."
or
"If hoarding resources is more important to you than liberating Colombia and Romania you don't belong in EDEN."
I think at least Romania, Croatia, Greece and Turkey should go from EDEN, from what you said.
Too many countries, this is not EDEN anymore.
And btw, no balls to kick a member.... words words words
HAIL DAMAGEHOOD
You kicked Bulgaria for Turkey. If this isn't stabbing an ally in the back?
If you stab your ally in the back, then YOU are no loger EDEN. I've had enough from lies and fake propaganda. It's time for change.
You have too many countries in the alliance, and Turkey. What would you expect from it?
@elbandido: Again, I mean what I said. Kick countries who violate the conditions, end of story.
@ivan europe: Again, I can't change the past, I can only write what I want from the present and future. Bulgaria would not be traded for Turkey in the EDEN I want.
a big vote
Interesting.
But honestly I think this is not the same EDEN which was founded to oppose PEACE, not the same that fought PHX, and not the same which fought ONE.
The priciples you mention surface time to time, sure. But not always, and when you have military superiority you become the all devouring beast too.
The real difference between the Eden-type and the ONE-like alliances is that One was originally intended to be few member super agressive alliance. While Eden hoards 84 members.
Sorry. Eden is dead. U can't live for ever with brotherhood. Love goes trough stomach!
I really think i'm sick and tired to fight for ever for other countries, and when it's time to get support, i never see it!
o7
o7
@GregoryG: It's certainly not the same at the moment. PEACE gave EDEN the "other" it needed to become a "self", and now PEACE-Phoenix is scattered around various alliances, there is no boogeyman to hold us together. I'm trying to give ALL EDEN players some thought as to what the alliance should be. If it means kicking out powerful countries, or countries not devoted to each other, then it must happen.
And about ONE, it worked for what it was, but it's not a team I would want to play for.
"Bulgaria would not be traded for Turkey in the EDEN I want"
And it was? Honestly I'm tired of crying the river how Bulgaria was kicked or traded. Bulgaria LEFT. That was their own decision.
And while we may disagree with what HQ did back then in your EDEN Arrlo there should be place for a country that puts their own agenda more important than alliance. But then again it's hard to work/fight for something bigger than own country.
Also in the long term you can't expect that people will continuously fight, sacrifice for others, while at the same time forgetting about own yard. It's a nature of people - we do things, but eventually we expect things from others. And in a big alliance there is simply too many different interests that are being brought up - not to mention that resources and geopolitics put some countries in deep shit, while others are more/less secured.
PEACE was formed as a liberation alliance. Take what you want from that. EDEN should have died long ago.
how deep is your love
"there should NOT be place for" - in first post.
Voted
@Ariakis: No not traded, I spoke carelessly. But once it became clear that Bulgaria could not arrive at any understanding with Turkey, I think our duty was to Bulgaria rather than Turkey. And I'm not promising liberation to anyone, just an alliance they can believe in.
@Keers: We all know what PEACE was. And we don't exist or stop existing to suit our enemies, EDEN exists for as long as our citizens want us to.
An admirable goal, if we could all adopt such principals in our respective corners, the game would be much, much better.
I love EDEN! x2
There will only ever be one EDEN,
Stand up, fight for it and be counted
Victroia Aut Mors o7 x2
Great words, my friend! Agree with you! Vote!
PEACE was defensive alliance... It dissolved when they saw that they are not what they used to be.
EDEN was defense alliance... They mutated to something they hated the most...
You see difference?
PEACE/Phoenix countries are scattered around but look at founding members of EDEN and members that joined till the end of V1. I only see eCroatia and eRomania and guess what? Others are scattered too.
It is just not the same alliance....