Uhm... I deny everything But rumor has it that the Empire staff was getting ready to apply taxes. In short: they wanted our money. And because some people spoke up and shared "confidential stuff" they were even thrown out of the contribution team (myself included) (that was a brilliant move). And re-instated afterwards of course. Unfortunately things did indeed get a bit too far and spiraled somewhat because dozens of players seriously didn't like it one bit at all. It became a bit too believable.
Ah okay, thanks for the summary; I must have been away for that year...I would have loved to see that in the moment!
In all honestly it wasn't one of my best moments because I was indeed the one to come up with the idea I'm still plotting a sequel which will be less of a drama magnet while still believable. I toyed with the idea of trying something this year but due to "issues" (work, event preparations and not always feeling like it) I'm aiming for next year.
Trust me: by next year no one will be the wiser. I've posted things in the past, even one specific thread which honestly was a little hard on me (but a good one, I got so much support and cool feedback!) yet now... almost a year later... Most people have totally forgotten about it. And I'm not saying, I have proof too.
You've (lucky for you) missed April Fools Day on EMC in the past. This tends to be a shared theme among all of the jokes.
