Good-bye / Au Revoir / Adios

[unmerged(4271)]

In the TRUE trilingual spirit of EUTopia....

This is my good-bye from the game and from my Mod position here.

For those of you who've been around awhile you will notice my activity has been declining ever since the restart. Getting married was a good part of that, but I can't blame my beautiful bride for all of that. My time available for Eutopia isn't what it used to be, and, let's be honest, it's been a good run, but I think we all need some new blood.

Rather than have you all waiting for responses that are late and that hold up your actions, or having a dormant GM, the death knell of any RPG, I'm stepping down as a Mod and as a player.

From the time I joined the game as Jack Teano, an unaffiliated citizen granted a job as a minister by then-president Murmurandus, to helping build the Moderate Party to moving on to become a Mod and running the events, I have enjoyed some of the best times Eutopia had to offer.

It's my hope that you've enjoyed them, too. The game is MUCH different now than before. When I joined as a player, it was all about political parties, political campaigns, newspapers, and debates in the legislature. When I became a Mod, I worked to try to give you interesting and involved events, and I think some really shaped the game (The US "Invasion" is still my favorite. ). Some you solved, some you ignored, but that's par for the course.

I think my favorite post was sending in the guys to clean the locusts out of the ministry back in Eutopia II. And I think my favorite thread was the Tulp and Haynes (Kurek) "It's not a coup! We swear!" confrontation with President IKK. :rofl: Good times.

I'm not quite sure what the game is now, but I haven't been immersed in it like before. To me, a lot of the fun we had seems a bit lacking now. But, like most old timers, I'm apt to think everything was better in "the good old days".

I'll take a bit of the blame, because I think despite all of the work that went into the restart (from Eutopia II to Eutopia III) and all of our best intentions, I think we lost a little bit that we never got back. I don't know what direction you'll take the game from here, but I'd urge you to try to either recapture what it had, or consider putting it to bed. Don't let her die a slow, lingering death. Too many folks invested too much. Don't dishonor her with mediocrity.

So, they've cued the music and are blinking the lights, prompting me to wrap it up, so I'd better get out all the essential info now.


Events: von Streusser- As brilliant as the exclamations in the Guinness commercials. He'll take over and do an excellent job. Send all Events related suggestions and questions to him.

Hall of Fame: Probably will be retooled. Whomever takes it over will likely give you all new information about how and when to vote. Just don't send your votes to me.

New Member Orientation: I think this program has helped some folks who have used it, and thanks to Phalanx and others for stepping up in this role. With my departure, new players will need to contact someone for a counselor. And I think people are more comfortable asking for one by PM rather than by public post. Maybe vS will take this? Maybe Blade!?

Content Suggestions and Voting: I think only Blade! and vS have access to these. They will have to visit the secret Mod thread to figure out how to get approved items added to the Eutopiary index (Only Melanchthon knew that secret....), but otherwise can handle approving suggestions for discussion and voting, etc.

Questions about Rules, Content, Characters, or the game in General: Right now, send them to Blade! until you hear anything different. He's the game's daddy, so what he says goes. Challenge him at your own peril.

I've got all your secret PMs and plots from Eutopia II and III and are turning those over to the ModCorps. Maybe now Tulp can finally tell me what really happened with him and Dan Hartwell?

That's about it, thanks to all of you for the fun, to Blade! for taking a burnt out player and making him a Mod, to Hawk for falling for the same arguments Blade! used on me and signing up for the ModCorps, to Hajji for always being one of my favorite players and a ModCorps member, even though I'll always be upset he killed off Charles Morgan, to Voshkod for his great contributions to the ModCorps and excellent RP ability (the front porch conversation between Levarge and Black was another one of my favorites), and to vonStreusser for helping me do just about everything I accomplished with the game, one way or the other.


Please remember to tip the wait staff, they work hard for your entertainment. The bar will remain open for another hour.

See you all in another time and place,

Chris Heagarty

 

[Voshkod]

There's not much left to say on my part, heagarty, that hasn't already been said in e-mail or in the secret fortress of the mods, to which I was so recently admitted. So I'll just say this - this is the end of an era in Eutopia. heagarty's contribution to this game cannot be overestimated, and we all owe him a great debt.

You will be missed in Eutopia, and stalked in Diplomacy (unless I get into the beta). Farewell, enjoy married life, and stay good.

V.

 

[jacob-Lundgren]

Cya in the future annoying person who doesnt mention the guy unofficialy elected speaker for life

So does this mean you are stepping down as diplo mod?

 

[unmerged(10397)]

Whoa...this could be pretty weird. I've never seen a heagarty-less Eutopia.

...Although now I only need to knock off a few more of you before I can claim absolute seniority....

Anyway, Vosh/vS/Blade!, if you guys need a player to step up and run the orientation counseling, I'd be willing to give it a shot.

 

[von Streusser]

I have a couple proposals for Hall of Fame and for New Player Counselling which would change how we do those things and (best of all!) reduce the amount of work the Mods themselves do on those projects. The new Counselling system would require help from a number of our veteran players, so Phalanx your offer would certainly be accepted...just in a way we haven't done things before.

Hint: They'd both be total ripoffs of the way the EU:M game did those things.

Hope to get those things up for Voshkod, Hawk, and Blade!'s review before Saturday when I catch my flight. If they like it, we may start heavy recruiting.

And heagarty...it was always my pleasure. But you already knew that.

Lastly, while I'm gone, events stuff can be handled by Hawk and Vosh (laughs maniacally) but I'll pick that up fully when I return.

 

[unmerged(1522)]

Yes, it’s me...

Just to join in the chorus of well-wishers, heagarty’s retirement from Eutopia truly marks the end of an era. Heagarty has been an essential part of this game for a long time, be it in the guise of Jack Teano, or in his later incarnation as events mod. In both roles, he has been crucial to the fun factor and longevity of Eutopia; his contribution to the game cannot be overestimated.

To complete (more or less) the changing of the guards, I’m announcing my retirement from the game as well. I’m not sure if this comes as a surprise to anyone, but since I’ve officially only been on hiatus since I left in February, I thought I’d make this official. I actually came to that decision (after debating it for several months) back in December, but I stayed on till February because I felt there were still things for me to do, and spent some time over the last few months thinking about whether it’s the right decision. Having done that, I’m still convinced it’s the right thing to do. Needless to say, the fact that I’m stepping down as mod does not mean I no longer care about Eutopia, the game, or Eutopia, the community. I care a great deal about both (I think me taking more than a year to finalize the decision to leave testifies to that).

So, I’ll be formally stepping down on July 6. Why July 6? Because that date marks exactly 36 months since I established my first character in the game, good old PNH (and since this seems to have become the topic of some recent speculation, yes, my character was PNH from the start - it's just that for the longest time, no-one, including myself, could be bothered to actually use the proper character name ). Since this is farewell, at least as a Eutopia mod, let me take this opportunity for one or two personal reflections and perhaps explain my decision to step down (and you know when I say one or two, you’re going to be here for a while ).

36 months - 32 of which I spent as mod - is a long time. The fact that I’ve been here for so long and invested as much time, energy and effort (in-game and behind the scenes) as I have into Eutopia is a testament to the kind of community we’ve created here. I wouldn’t have stayed as long if it weren’t for the players - both former and present. Without leaning to heavily on the tear ducts, I think it’s fair to say that we, the players and mods, have created something truly unique and special in Eutopia, throughout the various incarnations of the game.

That said, I share heagarty’s general sentiment: it’s been a good run, but it’s time to move on, at least for myself. I simply don’t see what else I could do as a mod in Eutopia or for Eutopia, so it's time to clear the way for new blood and ideas. Also, while Eutopia has been the source of a lot of entertainment over the last three years, my own experience of the game has shifted significantly over the last two years: essentially, Eutopia morphed from a fun place to a place of work. I’m not saying this is anyone’s fault (other than my own), and I'm not even complaining, so don’t get me wrong. Looking back, I think there are a number of reasons why Eutopia ceased to be a fun place for me personally at some point. I actually debated whether I wanted to bore you with this stuff, but in the end, I felt I owed it to you to explain my perspective on things. And who knows, it may even turn out to be useful in some ways. Not that you should feel obligated to agree with what I have to say, or even to read it.

So, why did Eutopia cease to be fun for yours truly? A number of things:

Firstly, my real life workload increased a lot over the last two years (and the last few months especially). As a consequence, I didn’t have any time to do the two things that made Eutopia fun for me, i.e., interacting with the player community and my fellow Eutopia mods, and playing a character of my own. Instead, I barely had enough time to do the GM Admin stuff.

Secondly, the nature of my “job” as GM Admin. I’ve always considered adminny stuff to be important for the functioning of the game, which is why I volunteered to do it in the first place - but it’s hardly what I’d call fun, fulfilling or rewarding. In essence, much of the “job” consisted of scanning the forums for rule infractions, enforcing discipline, and doing housekeeping. I’m sure you can imagine how entertaining that can become after a while (not very). As long as I had the time to do fun stuff in addition to my mod duties, this wasn’t a problem. However, once time constraints kicked in, the only thing I could still do was that kind of stuff. In essence, all I got to see of the game was the rulebook, and potential infractions against it. Believe me when I say that that gets old real quick.

Thirdly, I also found that being GM Admin came with a cost in terms of “community relations” (or whatever you want to call it). In essence, after I became GM Admin, it seems that I was saddled with the reputation of the eternal naysayer, the “no can do” guy with the disciplinary whip. Some of that, I think, simply comes with doing the kind of job I had to do, and I accept that. Some of it may have been the result of *how* I did the job (time constraints and decreasing fun factor probably took their toll on my attitude and style of interacting with players), and I accept that as well. Once again, I’m not complaining here. However, even having accepted these things, the rep gets a bit frustrating after a while.

Fourthly, the type of activities I had time for in Eutopia became increasingly similar to the type of activities I pursue in real life as part of my job. I’m sure some of you (Voshkod, for example ) will understand that replicating what you do for a living in a game isn’t necessarily a lot of fun. It can be, of course. In my case, it wasn’t.

Fifthly, and on a related note, my enjoyment of the game dipped when it became part of my modly duties to do fiscal background and research. It’s not something I know a lot about, it’s not something I’m terribly good at, and it’s *definitely* (!) not something I enjoy. Again, I’m not complaining, or trying to place blame. The job had to be done, and (for a while) I did it. But in all honesty, it was a distinctly unpleasant task. Not to mention that it was a ton of work, which is why it gradually fell by the wayside (I think Craig Ashley is still waiting for some fiscal projections he requested two years ago).

Sixthly, some of you may remember the first (brief) hiatus I took from the game, about two years ago. I didn’t share this with anyone but Blade! at the time, but the reason for that break was that a very good friend of mine died in an accident. Why am I telling you this now? Because I think it had a lasting impact on my own attitude to the game. For one thing, death has a tendency to reorder your priorities. I had been spending inordinate amounts of time on Eutopia, trying to do as much as I possibly could and trying to please everyone. Afterwards, I simply didn’t feel like doing that anymore. Also, I think I came back to Eutopia way too soon, and that probably
permanently undermined my own attitude to the game. I’m sure you can appreciate that I wasn’t in any shape or mood to do modly (or player) stuff when the accident happened, and for a long time afterwards. The problem is that, out of a sense of obligation, I came back to the game when I should still have been sorting out real life issues. In hindsight (and with the benefit of my recent four month hiatus) it seems to me that I developed a tendency to get irritated by a lot of things in Eutopia where I should have simply thought “whatever” and moved on - and somehow, I was never able to kick that attitude afterwards.

Finally, Eutopia itself has been in steady decline for a long time. This is not to detract from the contributions of current players and mods, all of whom are doing an awesome job (some even more awesome than others ). However, it seems to me that we (players and mods) have essentially been fighting a rearguard action since at least Term 6. We’ve tried a ton of things to halt the decline, including revamping and relaunching the game as Eutopia 3. None of it has worked so far. After several years of trying to reverse or at least stop the decline, I hope I can be forgiven for losing a bit of hope (especially considering that I’m one of the few people still around who can remember the heady days of Eutopia 1).

See, I warned you it was going to be lengthy. Anyhow, I think that sums it up. I congratulate the brave souls who’ve managed to read all of the above, or at least strategically skipped to this point. Once again, Eutopia is something special; so take the above for what they are, personal reflections. By way of adding more personal reflections, let me also take this opportunity to salute all the people who, for me, have made Eutopia - 1 to 3 - the great place it is (some of them still with us, some of them long since gone); I’m sure I’m forgetting some people, so accept my apologies in advance.

Amric
AmericanScipio
Archeolooginspe
Barkeep49
Blade!
Bramarius
BusterBunny
Craig Ashley
Deaghaid
Demetrios
Erc
Estonianzulu
Gathenhielm
Hajji Giray I
heagarty
HJ Tulp
I Killed Kenny
Jacob
jacob-Lundgren
J. Baner
J. Passepartout
Josephus I
Kent I Wallmi
Legal Counsel
Murmurandus
Pero Coveilha
Petrus
Phalanx
peo
rOver
Sam Vimes
shawng1
Silent Eagle (owner of probably my most favourite character ever, and sorely missed)
The_Hawk
Timothy
unclebryan
Voshkod
von Streusser

Thanks for all the good times!

And at the risk of violating rules of conventionality and good taste, I’d also like to take the unusual step of thanking my in-game characters (and some NPCs).

PNH Schwarzerd: always fun to play, although I never figured out whether you were a democratic socialist, social democrat, liberal socialist or social liberal, a pragmatist or ideologue, a doctrinaire purist or a friend of political compromise - or perhaps some combination thereof. Though most remember (fondly or otherwise) only your latter-day incarnation as razor-tongued “Per Persnickety” of the RD, I still recall your early days as the voice of reason, conciliator, peacemaker and German-Eutopian activist. I guess you turned into a cynic at some point.

Yvette Montand: not technically a character, but certainly my most beloved NPC. People thought PNH was snarky until *you* came along. I hope you’re enjoying your semi-retirement in N. Aquitaine. Any plans to re-enter politics?

Cesar Garcia Montalban: another NPC. Mr. Integrity, patience personified (bit of a different mould from his successor, Yvette). Forgive me for leaving out the accents on your name, I know it’s an insult to your Spanish-Eutopian heritage - but I can’t be bothered to sift through the multinational symbols menu. Not that that was one of the reasons for your retirement. No,
really...

TMV St. James, Viscount of Dunwich: what can I say? I’m sorry I never really got a chance to give you your due. I’m sure you would have been as much fun as PNH had I but had the time. An old-fashioned gentleman from another era - a Red Tory (with aristocratic overtones) for the Canadians among us - you were an uneasy fit with modern-day conservatives. It would have been fun to play this out.

Okay, all done now.

To all, take care, have fun and enjoy the game! To the new generation of mods, keep up the good work - the fact that you’re doing such an awesome job makes it a lot easier to step down, knowing that Eutopia will be in more than capable hands. I may rejoin Eutopia at some point once all the real life craziness has been sorted out, but only in the capacity as ordinary player. Who knows, I may even reincarnate as Yvette (something to look forward to for everybody, I’m sure), start another newspaper, or relaunch the fantastically popular Lacrosse league!

All the best,
Mel

 

[Estonianzulu]

Wow.

Thanks Mel, and Heagarty.

 

[unmerged(15327)]

Thanks for all the fun with you!

Good luck!

 

[unmerged(11366)]

heagarty and Melanchthon -

Thanks
You're welcome
and Goodbye

but mostly .

All the best always. And I'll see you in the recent future*.

*inside joke.