Three Years

Entry posted by Nintenderek July 9, 2012

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I don't consider myself to be an amazing writer. Don't get me wrong, I'm not horrible, but it's not something I'm extremely good at. However, occasionally I do like to pick up the pen (metaphorically speaking of course, since my handwriting is atrocious) and write. And that's what this blog is for.

A lot of people seem to remember me, but just as many don't. That's fine. I'm here for basically a new start. I took a three year break from this game, and a lot has changed. To give an example of this, I'll talk about the blogs themselves. Back 2-3 years ago, these blogs were first implemented and nobody really used them. I had one myself (which I just deleted due to the whole "new beginnings" thing and typed on it occasionally like a few others, but rarely were the blogs used. Now it seems as if they are an interval part of society here on Planet Bob. The most recent ones are advertised on the front page and people seem to enjoy reading and commenting on them. I have to admit, I was a little bit hesitant at first to click that blog link at the top of the page, since as I said before, back three years ago, nobody used them.

However, when I clicked on that link, I was actually quite surprised. Before me appeared the ten most recent blogs with several of them having been written in the last week, which was a lot more than I was expecting. Naturally, I started to read. It's interesting, to see the thoughts people come up with about CN and about life in general. I read quite a few blogs, some of which caught my interest, while others did not. I was amazed thought to see that three years later, the blogs are actually being used.

Another change that made me happy to come back to was resource changing. Now, don't get me wrong, I've actually know this was implemented for a while. During the three years I was gone, my nation was still here, and about once a week I would check in, collect taxes and pay bills and that's about all I did. I was on a one man AA that nobody even ever searched for, so I didn't have to worry about tech raiders. I didn't check the CN forums. Didn't check any alliance forums. Didn't get on IRC. I had to look up a way to get on IRC when I got back, because I had completely forgotten how I got on it the first time. But as I was saying, the resource changing thing was amazing to me. For years, I was stuck with uranium and furs. The only people who ever wanted to trade with me were people developing nukes and they only usually wanted temporary trades. Very few trade circles needed these resources as well, and in general finding trade partners was always a horrible experience for me. I remember talking to several other CN citizens with the same resources who had all the same problems I did.

But I have to say one of my favorite things is the forum notifications. I wasn't aware that the CN forums had become Facebook, but I'm actually glad they did. Now, every time I'm quoted in conversation, I know about it. Speaking of notifications, did you know you could set up your nation so you get an email when you are attacked? I don't remember this feature existing, although it may be I just didn't use it and that's why I forgot about it. However, it's handy for me now, because now I get phone notifications when I'm emailed. So if I'm attacked on CN, I'll know about it the very minute. This doesn't necessarily mean much, since I may not be near a computer at the time to do much about it. But since I usually only log into my nation for about 15 minutes each day to take care of w/e needs to be taken care of, it's nice to know so I don't get attacked and only know about it half a day later.

But of course, technical features aren't the only things that have changed. There's a lot of new people in the game since the last time I read these forums. Don't get me wrong, there's just as many old folks. It was nice to hear from people like Starfox and Schattenmann and others, who welcomed me back nicely. It should be no surprise to anyone who knows my history that I would go straight to CoJ. Schattenmann is an old friend and I believe in a lot of the principles that CoJ represents. Of course, if I hadn't chosen CoJ, The Combine sounds like it would have been just as nice of a home, full of great people who great ideals. But the Combine doesn't have a smiliey of me on their forums. But I am quite glad to know that no matter which alliance I chose, I would be treatied to the other.

But back to the new people. I've seen a lot of names I don't recognize. It will probably be a difficult time to get used to this new world of people. But I'm sure there's a lot I can learn from these new people as well. Where I've been gone three years, they've been here experiencing them. I'm sure a lot has happened those three years. You know how surprised I was to read that NpO were on two sides of the same war? I guess that's why it was called the Bi-Polar war. Very fitting name.

But I was also surprised to see the loss of several CN members I used to consider friends. While I can't say I was extremely close to Doitzel or Sponge, I did serve with both of them in Vox Populi, and I did talk to them a lot during that time. And while they both quit before I did, it was surprising to come back and see them not here. They aren't the only ones though. Maybe I just haven't seen him, but where the heck is Machiabelly? TehChron? Asriel Belaqua? MegaAros? Gatherum? And plenty more. People I came to respect (regardless of how often I agreed or disagreed with their opinions) on either these forums, or as alliance mates that I just haven't seen since my return two days ago. Perhaps I just haven't seen them however.

But what was really disappointing was to come and see the state of the world as it is. While I don't want to be too specific, since that's not the point of what this blog is about, this is not the world we fought for in Vox Populi, and there's several alliances that I would have expected way better standards out of that are now the hegemony themselves. And several former Vox Populi soldiers and leaders now on their side as part of the hegemony is even more disappointing, and while for some of them, it was somewhat expected, others came as a complete surprise.

But alas, this wasn't meant to be a blog about politics, it was meant to be about change, and as time goes by, it will be interesting to me to see what else has changed in this bizarre new Planet Bob that we live in.

As a last note, expect more blogs from me in the future. If people are actually using this feature now, you can damn well bet I'm going to, and while I'm not much of a writer, the need to write does occasionally come to me, and that's when this blog will be useful. Thank you for reading if you did and tell me what you think of how this game has changed in the last three years.