EMC: I have a confession to make...

Dear staff, I broke (bended?) a rule by liking this post using my alt but I hope that this doesn't pose too much of a problem. My main motivation is to show confirmation without having to post again. If you think that this isn't the best of ideas, I don't care about the reason, then I'd appreciate a heads up then I'll fix it right away. Moved to profile

Hi gang!

Last year, on the 25th of April 2015, Empire Minecraft saw their 300.000th player pop online. A girl who went by the name of AyanamiKun and who managed to fit in pretty nicely. Well... the time has come to reveal my best (and worst) secret on the Empire: AyanamiKun is basically my alter-ego, or alt in short.

I was originally planning to spill the secret 10 days from now (Aya's anniversary) but due to my recent absence I felt the need to share it here and now. I suppose I could have come up with some solid excuses as to why Aya was also absent for a while (for starters by going online somewhere next week to make things less obvious) but after the heartwarming 'welcome back' I got today I felt that I had to share right here, right now. Also because I want to explain what exactly happened and why things went as they did.

First and foremost I want to start by saying that I honestly wasn't happy - at all - with the way things happened. Looking back it was also kind of funny, but I still felt guilty because I couldn't help feel that I somewhat "stole" someone elses spotlight True story: first thing I did after things settled down a little bit was to PM both Aikar and Krysyy and apologize for the whole mess, also promising them that I'd make up for it. Well... I like to think that 'we' did that in the mean time, so now its time to tell the real story behind the 300k player.

Me & my alter-ego

I really like roleplay, a lot, and so it shouldn't come as a surprise that I was heavily impressed when I learned of some of the alt's which my friends kept around. Especially an alt from Hashhog; he really managed to fool me into believing that his alt was actually a real person. I loved it!

So last year I came back from work, I was tired as heck, had a few drinks and then I decided that since a lot of my friends had alts (even Elfin, who was basically just as new as I was!) so should I. I wanted an alt for quite some time, but could never really make up my mind. Now: I was aware that the 300k player was about to arrive, but at one point people announced in town chat that someone was already located on SMP6:

[03:59:36] [Client thread/INFO]: [CHAT] T cadenman2002: Get ready...
[03:59:36] [Client thread/INFO]: [CHAT] T themanofA: so dang close
[03:59:44] [Client thread/INFO]: [CHAT] T hashhog3000: Smp6 is the default and has one in tutorial

At this time a server reset was announced because of some updates and that was the trigger for me.

I checked my money, I created a new e-mail address (easy if you run your own server), registered on the Mojang website, etc, etc. All in all it took quite a while before I finally had my 2nd account. This is the first official log when Aya came online for the very first time:

[04:07:22] [Client thread/INFO]: Setting user: AyanamiKun
[04:07:22] [Client thread/INFO]: (Session ID is token:<snip>)
[04:07:25] [Client thread/INFO]: LWJGL Version: 2.9.4
[04:07:26] [Client thread/INFO]: Reloading ResourceManager: Default

As you can see: nearly 10 minutes later. I was taking my time to read the stuff in the tutorial when I suddenly noticed some anxiety, some people even started to sent me money and that's when I realized that something bad was about to happen.

I never intended to become the 300k player. In fact: my whole idea was to simply log on, "do" the tutorial again and optionally look around for a way to get a quadrant (4 residences next to each other) but that's it. The whole idea behind my alt was to keep a low profile, I never intended for her to suddenly become famous or anything.

Honest: this was the worst possible scenario for me.

So here I was faced with a big dilemma... I could have logged off, but then I'd risk to spoil the fun for a lot of players (Aya's res was jampacked!). Or I could carry on, and after thinking it through I decided to do just that.

I didn't know what to expect so I somewhat rushed through the tutorial (the original plan was also to get some sleep on time, I ended up playing for most of the night ) and ended up into total chaos. Uber_Corq was the very first who was onto me so obviously I explained it to him in a PM afterwards, as well as apologizing to Aikar & Krysyy.

Who is Rei Ayanami?

Rei Ayanami is one of the main figures in the Neon Genesis Evangelion ("NGE") anime series. It happens to be my all-time favorite Anime character from my all-time favorite Anime series. I'm not a die-hard fan (I'm somewhat obsessed with Ghost in the Shell; I even have the original Japanese manga) but big enough to have this series officially on DVD twice. I have the original NGE DVD box but also quickly bought into the re-release: the "Platinum collection". I also have a few gigabytes worth of NGE pictures on my Intranet server (official stuff, fan made stuff, slightly adult stuff, wallpapers, screenshots, etc, etc.) but that is about as far as my collection goes.

So when I went for an alt I wanted to use Rei. There is a little more to this though: a few weeks before this happened I held an event "Dress the Shell" where I gave away a diamond supporter voucher for the one who could make me a new skin I liked (was won by BabyCreepersRule). During that period I tried on many of the sent in skins and at one time even used a Rei Ayanami skin which I found on the Internet somewhere (because I didn't want to use my old skin). I liked the skin so much that when I decided to get an alt the choice to create my own Rei was quickly made.

Why a female figure, you're a guy for pete's sake?!

First and foremost: roleplay my dear reader. I don't care about gender that much, though I've always been careful when playing with AyanamiKun so that I didn't create too much expectations.

However, it goes much deeper than this. Whenever I play a game it's not uncommon for me to create a new character and then do things completely different; even if I don't like doing those. I basically force myself to (seriously) try other things to see if I really dislike them all that much. This more than often helps to really get into a game and discover much more about it.

A good example is GTAO. I used to play with a male character who got some very fast sportcars, easily shot other players and in general was a bit of a bad ass. After a while I wanted more out of GTAO so I decided to create a female character and I turned the whole thing around: instead of driving sportcars I relied on a motorcycle. Instead of playing missions with brute force ('guns ablazing') I relied on stealth and sneak attacks. I played the game in a completely different way than I did while using my main character (and I also got a good dose of what female players have to endure sometimes, which made me respect female players a whole lot more!).

But this way of playing is something I do with all games I like. Skyrim? I had a male Nord character who is a good fighter and thief. And I have a female high-elf who is more into stealth and magic. The male ended up as a vampire, the female devoted herself to Hircine.

Empire Minecraft was no different for me. So when I had the chance I introduced my all time favorite fantasy character: Rei Ayanami.

End of part I - I did it again!

Part II

So it was all a game to you?

Yes, and no; my favorite answer. Sure, in the end it is a game which I play. But those who know us (either me or my alter-ego or both! ) probably realize that Empire Minecraft is a very precious thing to me. Yes, I did play a game but I treated it with the utmost respect and seriousness. When I play as AyanamiKun I really play as if it were another player. I keep both accounts strictly separated for example. Right now I have approx. 23k rupees and 'she' has 100k+. My main character is not getting any of that because... yeah, its not mine

It has happened during auctions that I wanted something and ran out of rupees after which Aya stepped in and overbid me. The end result? Trust me: my main character didn't got all the items. No way: my main character got some of the items (for which I also paid Aya) and the rest was used on Aya's builds.

And yes... It also happened a few times when Aya and me started to outbid each other in an auction. That doesn't happen often because I realize like no other that I'm somewhat bending the rules a little bit, so I don't make a habit out of it. If it happens it often did during the weekends, usually when I had a few drinks and was in a good mood.

One very important thing here: There are some players who actually befriended AyanamiKun. Not all of them read these forums, but if you're one of them then please realize that the friendship was very real, even if it was another persona. Those moments have never been "just a game" for me, I treat those moments with the utmost respect which they deserve. It is also why Aya sometimes suggested to some players that they'd talk to me about some things, or why she offered to tell me about them so that I would contact you. It has always been a very delicate issue for me.

Also: when playing with Aya I also try to approach certain topics from a different angle. Sometimes I even take my roleplay so far that I can actually disagree with myself. Of course that is all part of the game, but even so...

So why feel bad about it?

For starters because Aya ended up with 16 or so DC's worth of stuff after she joined! That made me feel really bad so I devised a scheme to start Rei's 300k event in order to get rid of the overhead in a fair and fun way (fun for the community). But most of all because I couldn't help feel that I somewhat ruined the fun for the staff, Aikar & Krysyy in particular.

Of course when looking back I do think the whole thing is also a bit funny. I mean... Here I was trying to slip my alt in unnoticed and 'she' ended up becoming the main attraction of a Saturday evening

GripCEO?

That is actually quite a funny story... After GRIP launched my idea was simple: I'd include Aya but only to hold the GRIP funds. So far so good. But she really started to become a personality of her own and wanted to participate in her own way. Do auctions, buy things... Eventually the whole GRIP funds became quite a burden so I had no other choice but to get yet another ALT to hold the funds for me.

So now what?

So now I got the whole thing out in the open and out of my system. My prediction: most of you will have forgotten all about this in 6 - 8 weeks time and things have gone back as they were. With one major exception: I don't have to worry too much when I try to participate in the something fishy event (an event I really like!) only to end up talking like Aya while on my main gaming console

Fact of the matter is that I more than often took things too far and I'm well aware that there have been plenty of people who caught on So now I don't have to worry about that too much anymore.

But yes... Once again, now in the open, my sincere apologies to the staff in particular if they did feel that I somewhat ruined or hindered the 300k event. I can say one thing: I did not mean for this to happen, but I will admit that my time of choice for getting an alt was probably not the best.

But I also want to thank the staff for the way they run the server and for making schemes like this possible. EMC staff realizes like no other that the secrecy of an ALT can be a big thing to players and they will also easily help you out if they can. At one time I even redeemed a support voucher for Aya without logging on (so using my own vault) in order to try and preserve the secret. Krysyy made no problem out of it and easily applied it for Aya, for which I'm still quite thankful (I did promise that I wouldn't make a habit out of doing that, and I intend to keep that promise)

Some secrets are best kept out in the open

Bonus material for you guys... Lets check out Aya's signature:

This signature is actually packed with EMC hints. Surely you noticed the 300000 below her name as well as the SMP4 reference? But do you also see that 0002 - 9093 up there? 9093 is the number of her main residence, so what could 0002 stand for?

Fun fact: 0002 basically means none other than "2nd character". She is my alt afterall: my alter-ego

And there you have it folks, thanks for reading.

Totally called it

There is noot way that this is happening. Noot on my watch.

Noot Noot.

Wow, thought this was old news. I knew about your alt for what feels like a few months now. Alts are fun.

Say whaaat

Wait what!? Krysyy got married on April 1st! How foolish!

You're not late, not late at all

Only have one thing to say...
"2 cool ^.^"

Alts are alts. From what I am reading you did what you did more to let people celebrate something for the server. Any who alts are fun because like you said it gives you a different prospective. I should know I tend to be an alt aholic in MMO's XD

i just figured both your accounts were nubs

Can only be summed up by Johnny:

Actually, you know what? I was thinking of revealing this in another year or so, but yah, I'd probably feel too weird about it, so I'm just going to come out with it right here and now: Uber_Corq is also my alt.

See how I referred to him like I would refer to Rei, to distance ourselves? Well... it's out now. I'm posting this on the Uber_Corq account for confirmation. I bet you didn't see that one coming, huh?! I'll keep this post short since I've already written an ungodly amount today. Thanks for reading!

Clearly we all knew. Math proves it:

A - 1
y - 25
a - 1
n - 14
a - 1
m - 13
i - 9
K - 11
u - 21
n - 14
=110 or 1-10

S - 19
h - 8
e - 5
l - 12
L - 12
u - 21
s - 19
e - 5
r - 18
=119 or 1-19

1+10+1+19 = 31 but since there is only 30 days in April, that leaves one which represents April 1st.

The day you fooled no one!

lies shel writes an ungodly amount everyday

Ah, Krysyy totally understood your situation. I remember when she was either just green or mint green, she logged into a new alt and started babbling about loving Dr. Who and wanting to live in Krysyy's tardis. Krysyy's then said she would give the alt perms IIRC, it was somewhat funny because she was fooling people, she even messaged me when I was trying to assist the alt saying it was her and to play along. Good times... Good times...

Anyways... I had always suspected that Kun, being the 300k player, was an alt. now my suspicion has been confirmed Also don't think anyone will hold this against you, bell... ill probably forget about it a day or 2 after I stop getting alerts from this thread. lol.

Until you write "I promise to never do this unspeakable act again" 1000 times using an unsharpened pencil AND fix the grammar mistakes on the GRIP page I will not forgive you.

heads up: this is ur worst idea so far! u think im gonna like ur post? lol!

ikr! april 1st is 13 days behind so dont use me 2 make up 4 it pls, thx.

4 the second server i play on?

#nothappy, grrrr

or am i? => or could this be just an elaborated bump 2 embarrass shelly like he deserves! ^.^
<=

You should of posted this on April fools
Anyways, I actually never saw aya on much (probably because I'm on smp8). I really don't think people will get angry because of this.