American Resilience: A Living Community

Day 3,331, 16:27 • Published in USA USA • by Derphoof

The swift red flesh, a winter king—
Who squired the glacier woman down the sky?
She ran the neighing canyons all the spring;
She spouted arms; she rose with maize—to die.

The community in the eUSA has a history of being vibrant and interesting. There were always multiple programs to be managed, a sprawling ambassador department, discussions on the forums at all times, vigorous debate, thriving IRC channels, a radio show, and all kinds of personalities. The eUSA was the place to play the game, as far as I was concerned.

The eUSA has a vibrant community. That’s why I came here, and what helped to combat the greatest threat the community ever faced.

When I arrived in the eUS, we were right in the middle of that debacle. Unity elections had just been instituted recently, and Candor was challenging to become PotUS. The PTO helped to drive activity, even as it’s forces sought to destroy the nation and it’s community.

This threat lingered and kept us from having normal elections. When Free Area took over the AMP, and put PTO candidates on the ballot, the Artela administration chose to go to war with Serbia.

The following wipe essentially killed the PTO, but also much of our native community as well.

A birch kneels. All her whistling fingers fly.
The oak grove circles in a crash of leaves;
The long moan of a dance is in the sky.
Dance, Maquokeeta: Pocahontas grieves . . .


Spears and assemblies: black drums thrusting on—
O yelling battlements,—I, too, was liege
To rainbows currying each pulsant bone:
Surpassed the circumstance, danced out the siege!

However, our community is resilient. After outlasting the siege of TWO nations that bombarded us, we had taken back our community and new life was ready to be breathed into it. More of the newer generation of eAmerican politicians began to take the reigns.

Naz and Wild Owl both took the reins as CP, one after the other, following the Josh Frost negotiated buyout of our regions from TWO. Our foreign affairs were stabilized and we haven’t been wiped since. Our media was strong, despite months of occupation. And many of our programs were still well-staffed and funded.

The Black Sheep started their march to the Top 5, after the LAP was unable to form much of an identity.

Our congress was back to being an active bunch, able to have more of a say on in-game functions. The biggest discussion, following the war, was the size of our reserve, and what the proper tax rate should be.

We were back to being a normal country, without PTO elements to bother us.

Some day, when trees have shed their leaves
And against the morning’s white
The shivering birds beneath the eaves
Have sheltered for the night,
We’ll turn our faces southward, love,
Toward the summer isle
Where bamboos spire the shafted grove
And wide-mouthed orchids smile.


And we will seek the quiet hill
Where towers the cotton tree,
And leaps the laughing crystal rill,
And works the droning bee.
And we will build a cottage there
Beside an open glade,
With black-ribbed blue-bells blowing near,
And ferns that never fade.
”After the Winter” - Claude McKay

The American community had no reason to believe that we wouldn’t sputter, falter, and die away. Both the PTO and the wipe had taken such a toll on us. So many people had left or were leaving, both old and new. It became hard to get people to stick around through it all.

However, we did not sputter and die away. We kept pace with the largest of communities, whose strength have always rivaled our own. While our community has dwindled, our citizen base has stuck around just as well as in any other nation.

The voting player-base in the United States is now 39% of what it was in November of 2013, when Josh Frost ended the wipe.

Here’s how other player-bases compare:

Serbia: 39%
Romania: 49%
Croatia: 40%
Greece: 45%
Polan😛 33%
Bulgaria: 62%
Slovenia: 35%
Hungary: 50%
FYROM: 45%
Italy: 51%
Turkey: 23%
Argentina: 28%

Our community strives and thrives as it has in the past, bolstered by successful foreign politics and strategic conflicts, making sure we are safe, but entertained. There is always something to do in this country. Our meta-game is strong, with jobs to do both in game and outside the site, as well as meta-sites to hold discussion like discord, IRC, and the forums.

Our MU’s are strong, with cultures that bring up their fellow soldiers, and help them to be strong citizens. They win the days on the battlefields, providing our nation with the firepower it needs to succeed.

We even still have the occasional radio show, or more commonly, Beam Stream. If you haven’t played JackBox games with Pfeiffer and pals, you haven’t yet begun to live.

America is still, after all this time, the place to live, work, fight, and debate. It’s still a great place to have fun. As SColbert just said recently, don’t take yourself too seriously, and find a reason to login.

Maybe it’s to hate “the establishment.” Maybe it’s to do some writing. Maybe it’s to crusade for MAX TAXES, or low taxes. Maybe you want to do work for your MU or political party.

Whatever it is, do it. Don’t let people tell you that our community is dead, or that we’re a dying breed. This game is what you make of it, cause the admins won’t make much for you.

O Appalachian Spring! I gained the ledge;
Steep, inaccessible smile that eastward bends
And northward reaches in that violet wedge
Of Adirondacks!