Author: Rats!
Virtua – The glorious Virtuan nation has reached a new alltime low, with inhabitants fleeing the country and stagnating progress in politics.
Virtua has started its 60th trade period of existence on a down note, or better said: a complete down symphony. With trade stagnating across the country, the ongoing exodus still hasn’t slowed down even slightly. A sad sight for this reporter, who witnessed the birth of this nation in the 21st trade period, so very long ago now.
While I wander through the streets of Nasdaqar, desperately searching for an inhabitant to interview, I can’t help but remember how life was in those days; ships full of immigrants and goods arrived at harbours that weren’t even finished yet, endless streets, full of customers and tourists, the large Government buildings of the old Board of Consuls…
Yet, while I wander the streets, I can see the decay. Harbours have been reduced to rubble and large heaps of concrete and rust. Streets are abandoned, most houses have collapsed after trade periods of emptiness. The old, grand BoC towers have fallen to parts, and as I walk through the rubble, I can see the outlines of former offices and hallways.
The former Department of Education in Nasdaqar is in better shape, with some walls still standing and the first floor still intact. I’m an honest man, and as such I can proudly say I shed some tears while I walked to the Office I once occupied…
My nostalgia reached its peak when I encountered what I see as an omen: the plaque with the gold encrested Virtuan flag that used to hang on the wall behind the desk (a gift from Riemer_1990) had fallen and lay shattered on the floor…
When taking a look at the current socio-economical situation Virtua is in, I started to see this as an omen. Trade in Virtua has frozen on the third day of a fresh trade period! No initiative has been taken to celebrate the 60th birthday of Virtua! Traffic is minimum and even the best traders are having difficulties… For some reason, the Virtuan “President” (a position I find insulting to the roots of Virtuan politics and culture), stated earlier: “I would like to point out the new country of Ibisha and how they have few players but since it is only one city they are doing extremly well. To ignore that would be not smart.”, along with several remarks about removing at least one city from Virtuan soil.
Ignoring the fact that comparing Virtua with Ibisha is a very unreasonable equation, this is not the way to solve our problems.
Mr. “President”, I’ve seen this happening in the past. The Cyberians lost Yenville and Bahthoevedorp, the Digitalians lost Tripolire and Virtua had to let Gold Coast fade away. I once lived in Bahthoevedorp, Yenville and Gold Coast, and I have to say it always felt like a knife in the back, with shady politics and questionable government decisions all over the handle of the knife. Has it solved anything? No! People are still leaving the Federation and Virtua in particular!
Let’s stop running from our problems and take action at the base of the problem: a lack of inhabitants. Let’s attract new inhabitants, create promotional campaigns outside of the Federation and so many other options are open. But XtraBu77on, don’t take away the few cities we have left…