Article
I readily admit the title is misleading, I'm not quitting, this was a title I intended to use a couple months ago to refer to my cutting back on activity, and I just never bothered to write the article. It still feels a bit apt considering the content I suppose.
So, as for the actual content. There has been a lot of hubbub lately about the creation of Secura, and how it is/has lead to the death of Primera. Personally I don't buy it, for a number of reasons. To preface this I will point out that I do in fact play Secura, and I am pretty active there, and to further explain I have in fact bought more than a little gold there. Read into that what you will, it is what it is; it's not something I'm ashamed of.
You might be wondering then, if I don't think Secura is to blame for Primera seemingly dying then how can I explain the fact that I have, for all intents and purposes, moved all of my time and activity away from Primera and over to Secura. Frankly, the answer is a bit convoluted, but it wouldn't be one of my articles if it didn't contain multiple blocks of text to bore people with.
So to begin to understand how I can say that Secura is not to blame for my losing interest in Primera I think we first need to acknowledge the fact that my activity on Primera plummeted months ago. In Khaleds second term as CP I was his Secretary of Defense, personally I don't think I was a very good one, but I guess that's for others to decide, and really rather meaningless to the actual discussion. Prior to serving as his SoD I had served as a dSoD under Khaled, Uncle Sam, and Liquid Oxygen. I felt I was good in that role, expectations were low, and the amount of work I actually needed to do was low (Not to imply that being SoD requires a ton more work, just saying). Before serving under a couple CPs as a dSoD I ran the West Point Military Unit, which was after I served as XO of Army. I was busy my first few months in the game, and I think that was part of my problem. I hate to say I got burnt out, especially seeing as how it was a relatively short amount of time, but let's call a spade a spade, I frankly did get burnt out. I had no real interest in devoting the same amount of time to the game, I was tired of it. I was asked by Pfeiffer if I wanted to remain involved with the Department of Defense, and I told him no when he was campaigning, I was also asked by Fionia if I wanted to be her Secretary of Defense, and I told her no, I blamed it on RL getting busier, but honestly I had another month where that wouldn't happen, I just didn't want to do the work, and devote the time to it, but because Fi is a good friend of mine I did agree to serve as her dSoD, in the event she won(She did not if you were unaware).
It was at around this time that I essentially moved to 2-click mode, Pfeiffer won the election and again said he'd be willing to keep me on in the DoD to help train the new guy, I again turned him down. I would idle on IRC, and talk to my handful of friends, but that was essentially it, I would "fight right" IE fighting when my damage would make a difference, and whatnot, trying to help us win battles that matter, but beyond that I just clicked work, train, berserk. That has been my life in Primera for well over 2 months now, as you can see then this was long before Secura came into existence. I did agree to help Derpyhooves out to some degree with HoW, but as I am sure he would tell you I didn't do anything, I recall one time being involved in managing a battle to some extent, and that was really just because I was the one that said fighting in 1 round would be a waste, better to do it next, and that essentially got me stuck with being the person to run it, meh.
When Secura was announced, or became "official" I quickly joined, and bought gold day 1, I came out of the gate strong, with my Q3 weps, and Q4 iron company. I was top damage dealer in the US for a while, and a BH whore. Added to that one of the handful of people in e-sim that I consider a good friend, NathanP, was CP of USA on Secura, that helped pique my interest, it was a reason to be involved again (Much the same way I was willing to be Fi's dSoD). Nathan knew me well enough to know I didn't want to be his SoD, so Genyo has the job, though none of this really matters other then the important part that a friend of mine is in charge, and as such my level of caring is high. I am getting off-track, sorry.
The important thing here about the start of Secura is that I felt, to some extent, like I mattered again. Let me explain what I mean here. It has nothing to do with having a job in the government; I play e-sim because I enjoy the war aspect of it more than anything. I did briefly consider getting into the business side of things here on Primera, but honestly when I had the gold to start a company I ran the numbers, and I would have made a whopping $10 USD a day on a Q3 iron company, it just wasn't worth the time. So here I was sitting on a small bit of gold, and nothing to use it on, I invested it, meaningless, but some way to get a bit more over time. My real problem hit soon after they made changes to houses and added in estates. Here is why: Before the changes I was behind a number of players on strength, and rank, but honestly with the US prime time being when it is, and me having some understanding of how to fight I knew that I could make a difference in a battle, and I actually had a shot at a BH in a *real* battle, and that matters because as I said I didn't fight just anywhere just to BH hunt here, wasn't my thing, still isn't. Once they added in estates it gave the rich, stronger players a bunch of extra fights, I already wasn't using Q5 gifts, and I certainly didn't have an estate, add to that the fact that I wasn't using full guns. Suddenly I didn't just have a strength and rank deficiency, I also had a money deficiency, while others could easily now drop 1.2+million damage I was, for the most part, doing a whopping 180k damage. All of a sudden I felt like it was my first day in e-sim again, and I no longer really mattered. That was pretty frustrating to say the least; the aspect of the game I cared the most about had been changed in such a way so as to make me feel obsolete, frankly.
Then came Secura, even if I couldn't buy gold I knew I'd have a real chance to feel self-important again to an extent, because while I'm not business savvy in game Id be at the same strength as everyone else, I could compete on the battlefield, being able to buy gold was a bit of icing on the cake for me, as it suddenly meant not only could I compete, but I could win because frankly I am willing to buy gold. There are people that complain about gold buyers cheating, Derpy has made it very clear that to him anyone that takes Secura seriously is a joke, a waste, and not needed on Primera, I suppose that could be true, but that's ok, I'll keep clicking anyway. There are others that insult me on Secura for buying gold, and for only caring about the BH medals, and whatnot. I fully admit that was true at first, though now that things have picked up and battles have become important again I am "fighting right" again, I still BH regularly, because I can do the damage needed to, but I'm not going out of my way to get the medals, I'm trying to win battles.
In addition to feeling like I mattered in a fighting capacity again there is also the fact that the politics of it all are different there. Poland is still Poland, with superior numbers, but the alliances are different, it's a fresh start, for the entire world, some allies carried over, some did not, it's a similar game, with the differences of gold buying, and slightly new faces among our friends. Add to that the fact that America currently controls a number of High Regions, as opposed to being on the verge of being wiped (Though us being wiped here also has nothing to do with my drop of activity, for evidence read back to when I actually cut back activity).
Now, that is just my personal opinion, and feelings, but I know I am not the only one, I am sure a number of people like being here for the first day, and on even footing with everyone else in the strength department, even if they can't keep up with us gold buyers, they can still go out and get BH medals, and see their damage make a real difference in a battle. Things are fresh, and exciting, and new, and for me that's a good thing, gold buying or no gold buying I imagine I would be as involved as I currently am because I would feel excited by the newness of it all.
None of this really means anything, and I imagine most people won't bother to read this all, I probably wouldn't if I were you, it's just a ton of text blocks, no one really wants that, but I thought I'd get my opinion on the matter out there.
At the end of the day, just because I have essentially moved to Secura that does not mean I stopped playing Primera, or that I stopped caring what happens here. I am still, to some extent, plugged in to what is going on politically and globally, I still fight at least in the right battles when I can, and try to help America when I can. I have just found somewhere new to really devote my time and energy; I still love ya though Primera, you will always have a special place in my heart.
8675309
Former Secretary of Defense
Former Deputy Secretary of Defense
Former CO of West Point
Former XO of Army
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How do you respond? (13 years ago)
About the game:
USA as a world power? In E-Sim it is possible!
In E-Sim we have a huge, living world, which is a mirror copy of the Earth. Well, maybe not completely mirrored, because the balance of power in this virtual world looks a bit different than in real life. In E-Sim, USA does not have to be a world superpower, It can be efficiently managed as a much smaller country that has entrepreneurial citizens that support it's foundation. Everything depends on the players themselves and how they decide to shape the political map of the game.
Work for the good of your country and see it rise to an empire.
Activities in this game are divided into several modules. First is the economy as a citizen in a country of your choice you must work to earn money, which you will get to spend for example, on food or purchase of weapons which are critical for your progress as a fighter. You will work in either private companies which are owned by players or government companies which are owned by the state. After progressing in the game you will finally get the opportunity to set up your own business and hire other players. If it prospers, we can even change it into a joint-stock company and enter the stock market and get even more money in this way.
In E-Sim, international wars are nothing out of the ordinary.
Become an influential politician.
The second module is a politics. Just like in real life politics in E-Sim are an extremely powerful tool that can be used for your own purposes. From time to time there are elections in the game in which you will not only vote, but also have the ability to run for the head of the party you're in. You can also apply for congress, where once elected you will be given the right to vote on laws proposed by your fellow congress members or your president and propose laws yourself. Voting on laws is important for your country as it can shape the lives of those around you. You can also try to become the head of a given party, and even take part in presidential elections and decide on the shape of the foreign policy of a given state (for example, who to declare war on). Career in politics is obviously not easy and in order to succeed in it, you have to have a good plan and compete for the votes of voters.
You can go bankrupt or become a rich man while playing the stock market.
The international war.
The last and probably the most important module is military. In E-Sim, countries are constantly fighting each other for control over territories which in return grant them access to more valuable raw materials. For this purpose, they form alliances, they fight international wars, but they also have to deal with, for example, uprisings in conquered countries or civil wars, which may explode on their territory. You can also take part in these clashes, although you are also given the opportunity to lead a life as a pacifist who focuses on other activities in the game (for example, running a successful newspaper or selling products).
At the auction you can sell or buy your dream inventory.
E-Sim is a unique browser game. It's creators ensured realistic representation of the mechanisms present in the real world and gave all power to the players who shape the image of the virtual Earth according to their own. So come and join them and help your country achieve its full potential.
Invest, produce and sell - be an entrepreneur in E-Sim.
Take part in numerous events for the E-Sim community.
