Grumpy OLD Men: 1st Edtion
Day 1,800, 15:46
•
Published in Ireland 
•
by
•
by Sweet Drinker
The world is filled with grumpy old men.
MU's are built upon them.
Large countries are run by them.
Alliances are commanded by grumpy old men.
Even the women are grumpy old men!
There are thousands of players in Division 4, and every last one of us is
a grumpy old man. There's alot more in Division 1 than you might think too.
Seems being old is something to be ashamed of these days.
We have old attitudes.
Our experience is outdated.
We're only capable of old ideas...
or so we're lead to believe.
We old men agree that the youth are part of our future.
But the attitude that we should just GET OF THE WAY NOW is alil hurtful tbh.
We didn't start off this way you know. We were like you once. Young, full of good
intentions, faith, new ideas.
But as we progressed our intentions floundered.
Our faith got compromised.
And new ideas? They don't seem so new after you've heard the same ideas
tabled again and again....
Over time these experiences leave us grumpy... unsurprizingly.
Some might be surprized to here all those experiences leave us with....EXPERIENCE!
Grumpy old men respond to these experiences in a variety of ways. Many just expire never to return.
But lots don't
Lots degrade into trolls. You've all examples of these. They always show up in
the comment sections with a sour comment, and are seldom seen anywhere else.
Some lash out. Seemingly uncaring of consequence for anything they do. Of course, if they really didn't care at all, why are they still here?
A few latch onto a particular ideal of the game and cling to it regardless of where
it takes them. Game industry, military, politics.
I've seen great businessmen run themselves into the ground over industrial idealism.
Soldiers fade from signifigance by ignoring economics.
Politicians' ideals used as weapons against them because they felt pragmatism was a betrayal of their ideals.
Against all odds, some grumpy old men go on to do alot of good for their communities.
The thing all of these grumpy old men share in common is:
you've no choice but to deal with them.
These trolls, these naives, these robbers and cheats, even 'heroes'
you can't get rid of them.
You may think you can drive them outta the country.
But I must inform you: that's not a new idea.
It's been tried, and tried. Defame them, abuse them, report them, hell even ban them.
They just pop up, Reborn_ again.
Many of these guys were HERE long before you or even me.
And when you and I expire, they will still be HERE.
The mechanics of the game actually encourage their continued existance.
There is an important lesson in this:
It's the players themselves that provide the danger in this game.
If you want to succeed here, you must treat them like treacherous features of the landscape.
People talk about the Military Module, the Economic Module, the Political Module.
Trying to break up the game into these convenient 'modules' is delusion.
They are really just aspects of the Intrigue Module.
Erepublik is a game of Espionage.
There are no rules in a world of eternal conflict and espionage.
Here you can only trust what you really know.
And you should always doubt whether your sure of what you know!
Pragmatism is king here.
Even if you believe something, don't gamble on it unless you must.
You've probably seen me giving out on ILP articles recently over their lack of pragmatism.
Failing to use pragmatic security measures cost eIreland dearly.
But that is not the cause for my comments.
It's because the incident did not cause a shift toward pragmatism.
Let me illustrate.
ILP was infiltrated by a foreign player with a documented history of 'respawning' as new players.
(btw I've nothing against foreigners, quite the contrary actually).
He chose the party for it's grand/idealist behaviour which made it much easier to attain power.
Then used that power to cripple the country.
ILP released a statement that they were now running a vetting process on their members before backing them for political position.
Today their official Congress nominations were announced, so let's see how this vetting process is going.
Seamus Kellie, born 20days ago
Comrade Lovely, born 1 month ago
New Zertaxia, born 1 month ago
Buzzgadget, born 21days ago
[DISCLAIMER: WHS HAS NOW INFORMED US HE'S KNOWN THEM YEARS]
4 of their top 8 candidates, guaranteed Congressmen simply by virtue of ILP's population, are 1 month old or less.
Now I have nothing against these young players. I'm not accusing them of anything.
Indeed how could I? How could I know anything about them?
How could ANYONE know ANYTHING about them?
How do you 'vet' a player with no history whatsoever?
The saying goes "The Youth are the Future".
But the truth is that "A fraction of the youth are the future".
Wanna grim dose of reality?
Ask a former BootCamp leader for their member-spreadsheet.
It's absolutely riddled with banned accounts.
The proportion of young citizens banned as multies is crazy.
Not real enough for ya?
Log onto the Monetary Market at 4am and watch for an hour or so.
The March of the Multies is in full swing most nights. Watch them cash in their cheated gold so it can be donated back to the main player account.
Get curious! Search some of the suspicious names on there:
Found 15 citizens born on the same day with almost exactly the same name, all cashing in identical amounts of levelling gold at the same time?
Not impressed, contact me when you find a pack of 50+....
Do you have any idea how many lvl20ish multies I've reported?!? Cuz I don't know anymore.
Multying is so prolific that I promise you a estimate of 1 in 10 is conservative.
I'm not saying 1 in 10 players is cheating. I'm saying that those who do are often so prolific that multi accounts represent more than 10% of the total.
I stopped even trying to fight it on the economic market. I had much greater success treating multi gold as simply a function of the world economy..
I'm not supporting multying, or any form of cheating. I'm just saying you need to adapt your play to the fact that there are things out there that you don't approve of, because when there is nothing you can do to stop it, you must defend yourself from it.
Like I said, I'm not accusing those new citizens I listed above of anything unscrupulous.
I sincerely hope they are legitmate players that will grow into pillars of our community.
All I'm saying is: WHY TAKE THE CHANCE?
This game is long. If new players are really dedicated to being part of the community, then they shouldn't mind participating at a level below 'button pusher' for awhile.
DO YOU WANT EIRELAND TO BE KNOWN AS A COUNTRY CHEATERS CAN SPAWN A MULTI, TALK SWEET FOR A FEW WEEKS, AND INFILTRATE THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT.
^That is what WHS's article is advertising to the world.
Can you put your hand on your heart and say you're certain these players are not security risks?
Of course you can't.
You couldn't even say for certain that I'M not a security risk!
But you can say with certainty I have a documentable track record that strongly suggests I'm a legitmate player
whose loyal to the community..
...despite being a grumpy old man....
What's the odds on this play?
The best you can hope for is a BRAND NEW citizen joining government won't make any serious mistakes.
The worst possibility is they are part of an organized PTO effort.
If that's a hand you are willing to play, I cordially invite you over on poker night!
I'm not suggesting ppl need to be here for years, but surely being able to pluralize 'month' isn't asking too much?
eIrish government is a passenger jet, not a flight simulator.
When you climb in that cockpit your taking responsibility for the welfare of the passengers.
Political parties are meant to act like flight schools.
You study to become a pilot, get your license, and then HESITANTLY join the flight crew.
This bird was flown through a hurricane. Three engines are down right now as it is. We need to limp her back to the airport for repairs.
FOR THE SAKE OF THE ENTIRE MANIFEST PLEASE LET GRUMPY OLD PILOTS WHO'VE FLOWN IN THE WARS GET US BACK ON THE RUNWAY, BEFORE WE END UP IN THE SEA.
Look out for "Grumpy Old Men: Edition 2"
Where I will demonstrate how the proposed "CanIre" absorption of Ireland by Canada (or visa versa) would be devestating to all members involved (even if completely voluntarily), economically, militarily, and socially.
Facebook
Twitter
Discord
Comments
Pragmatism rocks!
o7
A well written article, agree with the points, sometimes, especially with regards to eIreland's recent troubles, a little pragmatism can do a bit of good, better to be safe then sorry
Because sweet
I recruited them from another game
I know them for years
That how I can say they are vetted.
We need new players
I have gone out and found some
They play the game now and will develope into citizens that will enrich eIrish society
So sweet just because you don't know something does not make it suspect
A simple ask would be nice and I would of told you
On btw the reason they are born close to each other is that's when I got them to agree to join eRep. What to know where from? Look at my profile for a hint.
As Congress nomination articles are designed to collect voters that are outside your party's membership.
Would it not be wise to explain in your article that these players have a previous history verifiable beyond the apparent 30days to independent voters under the current circumstances?
Does NationStates experience equate well to erep experience, making them knowledgeable representatives?
(actually asking)
And, everything is suspect.
That's the main point of the article.
Pragmatism rocks! x2
A well written article indeed - approved of by a grumpy old woman.
Maybe just maybe
They wanted to stand on their own feet.
Nationststes has the politics but not markets or war like here
And maybe I have been schooling the closely since their arrival so when one leaves div 1 to div 2 old grumpy men like you can congratulate then on their BH take
And maybe instead of trying to kill their election hopes you might wish them luck
^ that's a lot of maybes WHS. If we're talking about looking at candidates and making sure they're congress ready before giving them comfortable seats in eIreland's largest party, then I'd say Sweet is right to be pointing out that something doesn't fit.
Whether they want to or not, they aren't standing on their own feet, they're standing on your shoulders. That's fine, but it would have been nice if you'd explained how you knew they were safe.
The reason e-Ireland sucks shit for the past 4 months is because you're the one that has been doing the "schooling" lol
In the article: "I sincerely hope they are legitmate players that will grow into pillars of our community."
Impossible for anyone else to "kill their election hopes" as top 8 candidates in ILP are guaranteed seats.
Alil reassuring to hear there is backstory to them. Can't see you diliberately inviting trouble to the country. You should understand a heightened degree of scrutiny atm.
I'd be happy if everyone outside ILP was thinking the same as me.
Mean they were paying attention.
hmm
However I'm dubious about the experience cross-over from a game without market/war into a game that has essentially become a warmachine.
I ask you to edit them out as it is not fair on them to be singled out
As I said I know them for years
Many people, inc me, have made the crossover
Nationststes Is dying and people there need s new game. Hell I was recruited by s former POTUS who played nationststes first
Another thing that I think is worth mentioning, is that Congress is still a better place to be trying out new citizens than MoF for example. It's ok to mix in some new faces, just as long as you manage that risk by getting a good handle on them first and offering a healthy dose of old reliable citizens as well. Like anything, balance is key.
Not much we can do about grumpy old men who steal though is there?
I dunno if Marcus really did it.. but let's say he did : how would we prevent something like that?
Ian. That is EXACTLY what I did
Ian
I'd argue that every Congress seat is a potential citizenship approval for PTO'ers.
Or a timely lock-proposal to incapacitate our government at a time it needs to act.
So imo every seat bears risk.
I don't think I'd be doing them a service by editing it out Winston.
They're joining Erep
If they are going to be good at it,
they need to see the ugly side of it too.
Seamus, Lovely, Zertaxia, Buzzgadget, I'm glad to hear you're actual new players.
I hope you do become great players, hell knows we could use some!
And I meant every bit of this article.
Never deny Erep's underbelly.
Sweet
that's a good point. it only took the bremen clubhouse 1 members to start a fairly serious compromise of our citizenships. But I think things are a little bit safer under our new system as long as our pps exercise good judgment.
Every seat bears risk, but every great player had to have their first chance. Therefore, after learning the ropes from their party I think we need to mix some relatively new players into the offering each month.
I never did
I just never figured you would join it
You are know damn well most people won't read the comments
They are just collateral damage in your mind as long cad the message gets out there.
From now on they will always suspected ask the IUP people
"You know Sweet said it"
Awesome article.
I'm not grumpy.
apologies for typos I'm on my phone
(Or I could be mufc's multi)
lol
The only thing I've seen since joining eRepublik in eIreland is ugliness. Within days of my joining, Boot Camp is starved by corruption at the top. All the 'old guard' (or your Grumpy Old Men, as it were) are at each others' throats, and the new people are stuck in the lurch. And now I'm being accused of being a multiple, just because I stood up and volunteered to devote MORE of my time to this game?
(continued)
(continued from previous)
I mean, christ on a crutch, it really is amazing that you've managed to stay ranked in the top 50 nations (barely, of course). I think I understand why the population is so low here, now...
ffs
^ did you read the article or the comments?
A frankly brilliant article. What concerns me is the lack of votes for it.
After reading some of the articles lately I am certain eIreland is suffering from an old illness.
There are people who play this game solely as a political conquest. At one point I did too. Where being elected CP was the pinacle.
Unfortunately pragmatism in that game is unnecessary. Political spin, propaganda and personal relationships suffice.
Got a few paragraphs in , Seen the ilp bashing , Was drunkenly anticipating the saoirse bashing , their top men have all gotten temp bans for multi's and and tfyla bashing for "insert wot u want here"........, but nothing ever came . Bit one sided ? Shouldn't have built my hopes up.
The GRUMPY OLD MEN need to find a way to work together to develope the next generation of leaders. Join the game and there are systems in place to assist your develope. Get to a high level of goverment and you are on your own. Make a mistake and the GRUMPY OLD MEN will call you every name in the book. We need an advisory board for CP and ministers.
Got to give you credit sweet for picking a succisor, shame he stepped down.
"And now I'm being accused of being a multiple"
And were was this accusation, sorry if I missed it but taught I read the whole article and comments.
The word he should of used was insinuation
"And you should always doubt whether your sure of what you know!"
YES - best part of the article.
Also, I really hope pragmatism does start to make a comeback soon. I've had enough empty real-life-based ideological rhetoric from certain ILP members to last me a lifetime. It takes away focus from game mechanics and prevents more substantive things from getting done. Not to mention it is tedious as hell. I'm not usually one to criticize so much but this is something I feel very strongly about. Ideological fixations are worse than useless in a game like this.
Funny how the racism abuse etc doesn't seem to bother you
Just people trying to play the game the way they enjoy
Tell them noobs to stay off of my fucking lawn.
Oh, you cowards. Yes, he didn't accuse me in so many words, most likely so he had a technicality to hide behind. However, juxtaposing the large incidence of multis and my eRep age with those of a similar age and political party membership wasn't supposed to draw any parallels at all, was it?
I mean, how stupid are you? "I'm not going to say that New Z is a multi, I'm just going to point out that he and bunch of other people are around the same age and are part of the same party...
...and then point out the large prevalence of the multi problem in eIreland. I'm certainly not going to expect you to draw any conclusions from it, and I am in no way making any insinuations about New Z and those I'm grouping him with."
Do you really expect anyone to believe that BS line except your own cronies?
😁^Especially the pissy little one😁^
Laugh it up. Laugh it up right to the day that eIreland is naught but the "Grumpy Old Men" and you're left to rot at the bottom...
...can I say again how nice it is to be made welcome in eIreland?
Speak up sonny. Can't hear ya.
Zert
I was quite clearly drawing parallels between very new citizens running for congress seats and the global multi epidemic. When did I deny that? That's the sort of parallels ppl need to be drawing in erep unfortunately.
You saying you're not a multi isn't convincing tbh. Multies say that.
WHS SAYING UR NOT A MULTI is convincing. Because I'm already willing to bet he's alot that he's not a multi.
WHS perhaps crippling the country ruins their game as much as their abuse ruins urs?
Well sweet a new low for you
Should I get used it?
The entire 2nd half of the article is premised on you believing they are multis
Read it knowing they are not or in your case me telling you they are not and it all becomes a crock of shit
Sweet I did not steal a cent and you now resort to insinuating I did?
You may never had any respect for me, that I knew but i did for you Did.
I don't like Zert.
I don't like Ian.
It is fun to be childish on occasion, is it not?
I will not defend myself as if this is a legitimate and objective inquiry.
^ James Keiller's multi. Has to be with a name like that.
Well, this is fun. Thanks for the article Sweet. But yeah, grumpy old men is just a state of mind, not an age thing and I'm all for pragmatism but idealism is good fun too. In the military module it takes a year before you can influence a campaign even if you've 100 BH medals, so it's great that younger players have the political module to influence things, including all the negatives that this implies.
What I would say is that the negatives are rarely intentional
I proudly wear the title of "Grumpy Old Man"
I look forward to more articles about us.
I agree with Yddub.
Keep them young wippersnappers off my lawn.
I proudly wear the title of "Grumpy Old Man"
I look forward to more articles about us. x2