Your disaster and you

Those of us who have the Federation HUD soon become aware of disasters... lower ranking players starting out with it may see citizens coming in as a benefit from other people's "bad handling" of disasters, but for most of us, disasters mean paying out money to avoid losing citizens... and also to gain them.

Not too long ago, a new option appeared.... the 'Research' option. It was very expensive, and as usual, no one had any idea what it did... if anything. But it had to be tried, so people began spending gold on it. Lots of gold. Lots of times... with seemingly little or nothing in the way of results.

Eventually, results began to show. The effects have become known, quantified, and have been published for all to see on the TE wiki.

There are three disasters, and each one will give you a certain benefit after paying for research no less than twenty times! The benefits are:

Famine:

+3 gold per acre

Disease:

The abbot charges you less and promises to forward your benefits to your subjects

Crime:

You and your direct subjects are immune from sabotage while you are online

You have to choose only one of these to research, however! You can not research more than one without losing any work previously done on another disaster... even if your previous disaster was completely researched. (The good news is that if you do lose a completely researched disaster this way, it only takes once of researching it again to regain your rewards.)

Now, that said, you have a choice to make... which type of disaster is right for you? To help you make your decision, here is a brief, unscientific personality analysis based on your choice:

CRIME:

No one messes with you! You're very prominent, and often the target of barbs, but what do you care? It's the price of fame. A no-nonsense person, likely a monarch, who does not intend to let anyone get away with anything... particularly something like sabotage. Your personality is often described as firm, and people tend to either respect you or hate the position you've earned through your hard work. Reward the first, punish the latter, and things will go well!

FAMINE:

You toil away in obscurity, with few or no subjects. You work extra long and extra hard to get that next acre. With lots of acres, you have to pay more for the land, which means you put in more time... but so what? You're patient, and above all, you're persistent. Friends are somewhat in awe of your iron will, and your lieges appreciate your rock-ribbed loyalty.

DISEASE:

You have lots of subjects, very likely all ten of your slots are full and you've begun helping those beneath you. You're generous almost to a fault, giving to those underneath you. Not self-seeking, you seek the benefit of others and don't mind what your personal statistics are. It's for the group, and the love you give to the group is returned to you. Friends describe you as kind and giving, and enemies are few and far between.

So, ladies and gentlemen, pick whichever one best describes you, and I'll see you on the far side of the disaster!

Huskey Garzo Interview

Last weekend, I had the chance to interview Huskey Garzo, the newest King in the Empire, shortly after he had ascended. Here is what happened...

Vulpine Eldrich: So, now that the Ascension party is over, and you get a chance to relax and enjoy feeling like the latest King of the Empire... how does it feel?

Huskey Garzo: Well, I'm a little tired out. Me and a few of my line have been working very hard to get the sim ready for the party as we have not had it long, but my main thing was getting the asension offer on time. I'm just happy it all went well.

Vulpine Eldrich: So you scheduled the ascension offer at a specific time? How do you do that?

Huskey Garzo: Well, I got the Throne room on Thursday morning. So, getting about one path offer per day, I thought Saturday would be a good time. Gives us some time to plan everything as we had a live music event, not just a DJ. And well, I'm in the UK, so my time is well off from SLT. So for most, I thought 12 noon would be a good time and well, at 12:09PM I actually had ascended.

Vulpine Eldrich: So it was part planning, and part luck, that you got the ascension offer nine minutes after the party started?

Huskey Garzo: Well everyone told me you get the offer every few turns. But as Ultra does, he changes a lot of things. Like the rate they come-- I was online for 12 odd hours a day doing the path, and still only doing 1 step per day, if that. And it wasn't until about 3 hours before the event I got the first offer. I just hoped he hadn't changed it again-- that it won't show up every 6 turns, but few hours. So a bit of Luck, yes, you could say.

Vulpine Eldrich: Things change a lot, don't they. One of the more recent things has been researching disasters. Have you done any of that?

Huskey Garzo: Yes. Well me personally, I did crime. That was for my direct subjects more than anything. As I was very close to my personal acres cap, I thought it best to do crime. Later I found out it is only when I’m online, but I still think it was the best one for me. The Abbot, I can still do, and I wouldn’t need the gold.

Vulpine Eldrich: If you spend a lot of time online, that's less of a problem. So you have a lot of direct subjects?

Huskey Garzo: No at the moment I only have 5, two of which are inactive. But I think it helps to maybe sway a new subject a little more to be very active along with the immune to sabo thing. Now as King, I hope to gain a few more directs some time soon.

Vulpine Eldrich: I can see how sabotage immunity might be an inducement to join someone, as well as being a monarch. So how does this fit into your overall plans for the kingdom?

Huskey Garzo: Well really I'm not overly bothered if I don't get to #1 or in the top ten because, me personally, I have done the game. I'm a king, thanks to an amazing line and kingdom I was in, I have the acre cap, working towards the gold cap. So now for me, it will be to get my line to where they want to be. I know of a few who wish to ascend some time. Although growing and getting into the top 10 and maybe some day to #1 would be a great thing to do. But really, just enjoy Te and have fun.

Vulpine Eldrich: So what made you decide to ascend?

Huskey Garzo: Well, for a long, long time I was with one person-- a very good friend of mine. As everyone knows, I never looked to ascend. I had 70K acres and was very happy. But things happen, and due to things that did happen, I lost a lot of subjects and ended up moving lines. I was still unsure if I wanted to ascend. My gold built up, my personal land build up, and then a lot of my line started IM'ing me, asking if I ever would ascend. They thought I would be a good king. So I had the path put back on, and slowly worked my way to it, with the blessing of my then Liege/King Angel Cordoso.

Vulpine Eldrich: That would be the Kingdom of Amber, then. So do you know of any others who were in a similar situation, and who may ascend in the near future?

Huskey Garzo: Well for me, I lost a lot of good friends and a lot of acres-- more than 3/4 of my line-- so really, I had to start new. But one good thing-- because I grew so fast, people knew what I was like. I know of a few who want to ascend, but none in the same fashion-- coming back from losing a lot.

Vulpine Eldrich: Sometimes there's a price to be paid on the path to success. So now that you're here, you have a new kingdom to name and define. What's the name and definition of King Huskey Garzo's kingdom?

Huskey Garzo: The name of my-- well our-- new kingdom is Elysium. It means a few things, depending on how you look at it, but the one that caught my eye was: "Elysium was a pagan expression that passed into the usage of the Christian patristic writers as a synonym for paradise." This is because I would like to have a peaceful, no drama, fun, happy kingdom

Vulpine Eldrich: And so far, the main kingdom event has been one huge party! Do you have any more plans, ideas, or places to go for your kingdom members yet?

Huskey Garzo: Well this whole sim-- a 15K prim sim-- is for the use of our kingdom and friends to come to chill, relax, build, do whatever. We have a few things at the moment to do, like zyngo, fishing-- the general things people enjoy doing in their spare time. We also have a live music venue, as some of our line play live in SL, and my main subject/Wife Deana is a live music promoter in SL. I'm also going to do a schedule for events, live music, etc, on my web site for the kingdom to help all members of the kingdom in their field, whether it be live music, DJ hosting, club owner, etc. A lot more things are to come on the sim. It is still under construction (only had it a little while.)

Vulpine Eldrich looks at her map

Vulpine Eldrich: "Autos"... any particular significance to the name?

Huskey Garzo: Not really. We have this sim from a friend. She kept asking us if we needed a sim, and we had a 3750 prim one to chill and relax in before we ascended. So when we came to ascension, I figured we needed a bigger sim for everything. So Deana Im'ed Queen Angella from Tintagel and she helped us out. “Autos” is just the name on the sim, although it might be changed at a later date.

Vulpine Eldrich: So you've gotten 2,000 personal acres of land, you'll soon have over 2 billion in gold, you've got loyal subjects and a new kingdom. Is there anything more you wish from Tiny Empires?

Huskey Garzo: Well, I first started off in Tiny Empires with the intent of being the best, which is a good attitude to have, and I did do very well. But even if I had not done so well and still met the same people, I would have been just as happy. I have met my now SL Wife from Te, and so, so, so many very good friends-- like 3/4 of my friends list lol. So, like it was before I ascended… just have fun, keep myself out of trouble in RL, and meet a lot of good fun people.

Vulpine Eldrich: And what would your advice to anyone else who wanted to be a monarch?

Huskey Garzo: Mainly, check with your line about what they feel about you ascending, because you don’t want to ascend, then lose most of your line/kingdom and have nothing. So check with them while you’re thinking about it. I was well over the milestones needed to ascend, and found it very easy. Some found it harder work, since they were growing. So I would say: get over 1000 personal acres, and 20K total acres, and save a lot of gold before going into it. I'm glad I did. My path was an enjoyable one. I got hit with Tax amnesty of 66.6 million, Land tract of 33.8 million, a title for 20.6 million, and famine at 8.1 million-- all in 90 minutes of ascending. So it is good to be ready for it.

Vulpine Eldrich: And is there anything new you'd like to see added to the game- new features, options, rules?

Huskey Garzo: Well, Deana and I always worked together very well, and still do. This is why she is my biggest subject, because we are together all the time. So, maybe joint asencion would have been nice, or somehow she could help me out with things. I do have some other ideas in mind, but not right off of the top of my head right now. Lol, been a busy day!

Vulpine Eldrich: So some sort of official role and special privileges for a royal consort.

Huskey Garzo: Yes, someone each Monarch can assign roles to-- one person as a helper. Because things like holidays, being ill, etc. can be a bit of trouble for kings/queens.

Vulpine Eldrich: A very good idea! And, back to your kingdom, if I might quote something I have found in my research... "Poppy sap is known for it's narcotic qualities, and used to create opium, giving them an association with sleep, death and Elysium."... which begs the question... will you make the Official Flower of the Kingdom the Poppy?

Huskey Garzo: We have a crest. At the moment, we are working to get a new one custom made from someone in our line (they have been very busy in RL and are doing a few different ones for us to pick the best from). They have looked into everything about Elysium, so there might (and probably will) be one with the poppy in it.

Vulpine Eldrich: Well I'm sure it's something we can all look forward to! And, one last thing... what question or questions did I miss? Is there anything I should have asked you and didn't?

Huskey Garzo: How i got into Tiny Empires?

Vulpine Eldrich: How did you?

Huskey Garzo: Well, my real life brother had been on SL a while before I tried it out. I thought it was the most silly and stupid thing ever. Then one time, my best friend asked me to play and to join him and help him out as he has just started and had no subjects as of yet. Against my will, I put on the Hud. I didn’t really pay attention or anything, but just bought land as it came. I then got the full Hud, and still plodded along until I thought, “you know what, I’m going to play this. I have spent L's on it, might as well make the most of it.” And from that point on, it came to me that Te is a very good, fun game and you do meet a lot of very good people from it. And then I wanted to take over the Te world lol.

Vulpine Eldrich: So Tiny Empires actually got you into Second Life, it's not something you found and started after you'd been in Second Life for a while?

Huskey Garzo: Well my brother got me into SL because he never had a comp before and (horribly), I used to kick him off it a lot to play my games, and always used to hear the ding for the turn. It drove me mad. He got me to try SL, and then a little while later the friend got me into TE.

Huskey Garzo: Then he stopped playing TE, and it is me that is making him play lol.

Vulpine Eldrich: Well, welcome to both Second Life AND Tiny Empires, and thank you for your time at the end of a long, busy, and eventful day!

Huskey Garzo: Thank you for your time and thanks so much to my great line and kingdom for making this possible.

Gold Bricking

The other day, we had someone ask about The Gold Brick. She had found a gold brick on an acre of her land and wanted to know what it was. Further questioning has produced more questions than answers. So far, here is what is apparently known about The Brick:

• You buy an acre of land and find a gold brick on it


• There are apparently no further messages about the brick


• This can happen multiple times to the same person


• No obvious ties to allies or embassies


• No apparent connection to the Festival


• Little, if any, rank restriction- ours was a Marquise, and Monarchs have found one, too.


• This shows only for people with the Federation Hud

And that seems to be the sum total of what is known. If anyone has any further details, personal experiences, or even wild theories, share it with the rest of us! Please!

Yes, Pat, I'd like to buy a Count

Recently, one of our new members uttered the phrase, "is that the only way you can give gold?". Once again, the paucity of ways to 'give gold' was highlighted.

The inability to give gold from one player to another very easily- and almost always at a huge loss- is not an accident. But the reason for it is something that I've rarely bothered to fully explain. Hopefully, I'll be able to do that here.

At its core, Tiny Empires is a game of land. You spend time playing the game, and in turn you get land. Land = rank, and the fact that those under you give you more rank is the social networking part of it. But laying that aside for a moment, consider the fact that I did not use the word "gold". To be more accurate, you spend time and you get gold. You then use the gold to buy land. Why did I leave that out?

The reason is because gold is there only as an intermediate step between you... and land. While there are certainly other things to spend it on (the Emperor seems to take a perverse delight in finding new ways to do so), the main reason it exists is to buy land. Thus, when considering your financial position, thinking "how much gold I got" is not a truly accurate way of looking at it. It would be more accurate to say "how much land did I earn?"

The reason I stress this is because the game is weighted to reduce your ability to earn land as you buy more... how fast depending on a number of factors. It does this by rapidly increasing the price of land... but some things- notably gold windfalls, riddle prices, poll rewards, and census bonuses- do increase just as quickly.

Now, consider for a moment. Let's say that I spend three hours online and, having a lot of land and income, I earn five million in gold. That sounds like a lot of gold, but when I spend two and a half million gold for one acre, I've only earned two acres of land. But if I could give that five million to a new player with very little land, they could take the same amount and buy two hundred acres. This is the natural result of the rapidly increasing scale of income/cost that is built into the game and is also the reason why transferring gold to lower ranking subjects is next to impossible. It would be easy to multiply your land a hundredfold by having a player with a lot of land and thus income transferring the income to a player with very little land. It's also why it is such a slow process to give land away... a player could simply save their high income land, transfer all of the land to another player, and then buy low priced land with their accumulated hoard of gold from earlier times.

So, when considering income, don't waste time thinking of it in terms of gold pieces earned.. think of it in terms of land earned... and never forget sight of the fact that even giving a smaller amount of gold to someone else (say with loyalty rewards) can still not be as huge of a loss as it seems... that ten percent that your subject got could buy them more land than the full amount could have bought you.

So, why can't we transfer gold? Because, as a Princess with a lot of it, I could easily "buy" lower ranking subjects.... but somehow, I don't think I'll ever get the chance to say, "Yes, Pat, I'd like to buy a Count."

A new bribe?

Did anyone notice recently when the answers to the cryptic riddles weren't working anymore? You would do all of the adding and totaling of your land amount, and the answer would be wrong... the rules were changed! A slight change in wording was your only clue that something was different.

Unlike most games, Tiny Empires is a game in which the rules are subject to change without notice at any time. It certainly keeps things interesting! But since we're changing the rules as we go, here's a new one that might be fun...

Currently, when someone wants to switch allegiance, they have to pay their current liege to leave and join a new one. How many times have two Tiny Empires players sat together while one of them accumulates the gold necessary to switch? I wouldn't want to even guess at that number, but I'm sure it's fairly large.

So, a possible solution would be to make the liege change offers happen on both sides. For example, if a Countess is standing next to a Duchess, the Countess gets the offer to pay to switch allegiance (as happens now)... but the Duchess also gets an offer which reads "You are standing next to Countess Mulligan. Offer her xxx gold to join your kingdom?"

Several things would happen if this option were available. The first one is that a lot of changes would occur much faster-- the higher ranking player is usually in a much better position to afford the payment than the lower-ranking one. (This would probably hold true even after the usual calculations which would have the higher ranking player paying much more than the lower ranking one... and the lower ranking one receiving only a fraction of what had been paid.)

The second change that would happen is that it wouldn't take long for some bright soul to see this as a way to transfer gold from one player to another. Bribes occur at random, and usually with people you never met. Voluntary payments to switch occur from lower to higher- usually not the way you want your gold to flow. But this goes from higher to lower, and even with the losses that occur in such a transaction, it could be seen as a gain from a purely monetary point of view. This means that the offer would have to be limited... say that a player would only be eligible to receive one of these bribe offers once or twice a week. This takes care of most genuine changes in loyalty, while limiting the incidents to a rare enough level to make "switch me back and forth to give me gold" a largely futile strategy.

The third change would be between Princes and Princesses. Since a Prince can go under another Prince, the current offers that both receive are to pay their current liege to join the other. (These mutual offers to switch can even mask- hide- offers to become allies.) Now, with this new option, one of two things would have to be done... either have a system of alternating offers (pay them gold to join you.... next year, pay gold to join them) or just not offer this between Princes and Princesses (which likely wouldn't be a bad idea, since at that level, the amount of gold usually isn't an issue when wanting to switch allegiance.)

The fourth change would be a bit more subtle, but perhaps longer reaching. When the only way to join someone is to pay gold from your own purse- and to do so without any possibility of direct recompense from your new liege- you have to be serious about switching. You certainly aren't doing it for the money! But this option opens up the possibility of more 'rolling stones'... people who switch allegiances at any time when gold is offered to them. The fact that it is done in person would make it less anonymous than the current habits of accepting automated bribes, but the principal could be much the same. And voila, a new source for drama is born in Tiny Empires!

So does this sound like a desirable new feature or not? And what else have I overlooked here? What other possibilities can you foresee from this idea if it were implemented?

TE's Big Pie

One day, one of my subjects asked me a question. It was one of several, in fact, and like the others, it was a good one. She asked "how much land should I give to my subjects? Is there an optimum ratio?"

First, a bit of background as to the reason for her question. Anyone who plays Tiny Empires for any length of time (and by this, I mean more than half an hour) notices that the price of land goes up as you buy more land. The exact formula for land prices can be found on the TE wiki, but for our purposes, it's enough to say that the price of land goes up as the square of the amount of land you own. For those less mathematically inclined, let me put it this way: when the amount of land you have doubles, the income from that land doubles... but the amount that you pay for land will quadruple.

It doesn't take much to see that as you get more personal land, your ability to buy it decreases. The only thing that saves it from being a total disaster is that such things as census gold, gold windfalls, poll bonuses, and riddle bonuses all increase at the same rate as land costs.

But all of this leads to a basic strategy in Tiny Empires. As you buy land, pass it down to your subjects. By doing so, you increase their rank, their loyalty (one would hope) and you preserve your ability to buy land. At some point, in fact, you would hit a balancing point at which your ability to buy land matches your ability to give land away. At that point, you can sit and give land away all day and maintain your personal land throughout the whole process... while your total acreage and rank goes up if you're giving to your subjects.

There are other considerations, though, as I told the lady who asked me. For one thing, consider how many direct subjects you have-- the fewer you have, the less secure your position is. (This is explained in more detail in 'chains vs. layers') Accidents happen, and a subject leaving may not be an accident. Maintaining personal land may slow your ability to buy more, but it also makes your rank more secure, since less of it depends on those underneath you.

This last consideration leaves the realm of the mathematical and enters the realm of human psychology. A story has been told of a woman who was made the manager of an industrial plant. Unfortunately for her, this plant was in poor condition. Morale was very bad, production was bad, and almost everyone there expected it to go bankrupt. Her job was to prevent that from happening. Fortunately for her, she found a very wise man among her employees who taught her how to increase morale and productivity. One of his analogies applies particularly well to Tiny Empires. Consider if you will...

Imagine a pie. Fill this pie with your favorite delicious goody (apples, blueberries, rhubarb, whatever.) You'd love to have some of this pie, wouldn't you? Of course you would.

Now you look around and you see other people. And you realize that they want some of this pie as well.

You look at them.

You look back at the pie.

Now the question: How big is that pie?

There are two instinctive gut reactions here.

Little Pie people will see the pie as being too little to go around. They will immediately scheme ways to get as much for themselves as possible.

Big pie people will see the pie as being big enough for everyone. They'll gladly serve slices to others, because they know there will always be more delicious pie.

It's my contention that Tiny Empires is a big pie game. There is a potentially nearly infinite supply of land and gold. The only limiting factor is the time and enthusiasm of the people playing it. Thus, increase the time and enthusiasm, and the pie will always be big enough. (This is also why one expert on the game once told me, bluntly, 'war's out... TE is just not that kind of game'. A war game involves little pie thinking.)

So, when I want people in my kingdom, I want to make sure I get big pie people. Why? (Note that little pie people will instantly say 'so she can keep the pie for herself and convince the others not to complain about it')

But the real reason is that your expectations are a large factor in the eventual size of your pie. If you see the pie as being big, it will be big. If you see the pie as being little, it will be little.

Much of the drama in Tiny Empires comes from little pie thinking. Scheming and backbiting to increase one's position, rank, prestige, at the expense of others involves either fear that the limited supply of desirable land, rank, and position will go to someone else instead of you, or a malicious desire for such things in and of themselves.

As for me, I want a big pie! I want a pie that keeps growing because people are enjoying themselves in making it bigger. I want to see success come to me and those around me not as an "I win and you lose" little pie factor, but as the truly TE "if we work together, we can all win together" big pie world.

So, in the end, I told my Countess (now Duchess) that I couldn't give her an exact answer to her question. She nodded wisely and replied, "yes, it's the human factor."

The Invisible Kingdom

One evening, I met with a Duke from another kingdom. During our conversation, he asked me to bring him into our kingdom "ASAP". Although we had been discussing his less than desirable relations in his current kingdom, his desperation finally made me do a double take. He had been told that he would be "deleted" from the game, which I translated mentally as "disowned." I finally stopped to ask him, bluntly, "do you know as a practical matter what happens when you are disowned?"

He asked what the outcome would be... "Deleted from the game?"

No, he wouldn't be, and I had the happy chore of telling him that the fears that had been instilled in him by his current kingdom were groundless. He would not be deleted from the game, his HUD would not die, his subjects would not be deleted from the game, either... all of those stories were, at best, misunderstandings on the part of those telling him. (I had my own personal suspicions of worse, but I can't prove anything, nor do I want to- it doesn't matter.)

So what is this 'disown' thing, and why would it be so frightening?

When you have subjects in Tiny Empires, you will occasionally get a message. The wording says, "A farmer knows when it's time to prune dead branches. Will you pay xxxx gold to disown the subject of yours known as ____?" You get to fill in the blank, and pay the amount it asks. (The actual amount varies depending on your personal land holdings.) If you do that, the subject is 'disowned'.

The list that I gave my worried Duke was as follows:

1. You can't get income from your land
2. You won't be in any kingdom
3. You can join someone else for free
4. You get offers to join a random liege decided by the emperor
5. Those under you continue their lives as normal- they just won't be in any kingdom

I finished my list with "as a practical matter, it's a bit uncomfortable for you personally, but hardly a huge disaster."

With his fears relieved, we were able to conduct our business in a better frame of mind and judgement. He is now a happy and productive Prince in Caledon, with a growing list of subjects.

One item that I didn't include on my list was that neither he nor his subjects would show up in the standings page. Understandable that I would leave an item out, I suppose. After all, this was an impromptu list, not a lengthy disquisition on the exact concepts and mechanics of being disowned. I left that for now.

When a person starts the game, she does not have a liege, and with no acres, she ranks as a Wanderer. With no liege, and thus no income from any land (even if she is given any), she subsists on the Emperor's charity. By standing next to someone of the right rank, she will receive a notice that she may offer to join them. If she makes the offer and they accept, she becomes their subject. While all of this is going on, she will receive occasional offers from the Emperor to assign her to a random subject.

This state should be familiar to any TE player, since every one of us started in that exact same position. (How long we remained there is, of course, a matter of personal experience.) My point in bringing it up here is to point out that if you are disowned, you revert back to that exact same state. The difference is that you now still have all of your land, gold, and subjects that you have accumulated in the game. You don't lose any of those at all.

Thus, you are a free agent again, and still with your current rank. Before, the only way to switch subjects was to apply to someone and pay gold to your current liege. Now, your current liege has paid the gold and broken the relationship, so you can apply to someone else and pay nothing!

As for your subjects, they find that their huds no longer list a kingdom after their name. They might also notice that they will no longer receive any tax amnesties, trader visits, or other goodies that depend upon being in a kingdom- but they are still free to get homage income from any subjects they have, and earn gold from their land, just as if nothing had happened.

The one thing that does happen, though, is that none of you show on the standings page anymore. If someone entered your or their name in the search engine there, they would receive "That citizen has no direct line to any of the Kings or Queens." as a result. Yes, you're still out there... somewhere... but in a limbo land, in an invisible kingdom that has no connection to the Emperor or any Monarch.

Which led me one evening to muse over an interesting idea... what would happen if a huge Prince were disowned, and neither he nor any of his subjects ever changed allegience to anyone else? They could actually still have people become their subjects, but the result would be a kingdom that didn't officially exist.

There are no doubt thousands of these invisible people- wanderers who never found a liege, people who were disowned and decided, for whatever reason, not to rejoin. No doubt the vast majority of them are loners, with no subjects... perhaps at most a handful. But considered as a single entity, they are very likely a kingdom larger than any in the Terra Aurean Empire... what would happen if they someday found each other, joined into a single kingdom, and.... who knows what would happen when the Invisible Kingdom realized its potential?

(pssst... want a way to help find the invisible kingdom? While nothing is sure, you do stand a better chance with the TE Companion.)

Disappearing Kingdoms?

Abdication! The winds of change are swirling even more fiercely through the empire than usual. Rumors fly about Kings and Queens giving up their thrones.... whole kingdoms disappearing....

Could it happen? Perhaps! Keep an eye on that kingdom list, people, because you never know....

My second set of eyes

Situation: You're offered a chance to bribe 'Count Procurator Gladius Ceaser'. You have no idea if Gladius is really a Count, or perhaps another Prince. Solution:

/2 Gladius Ceaser

You instantly have Gladius' actual rank, approximate number of people below him, and even his lineage from the Emperor down to himself.

Situation: Someone becomes a Prince in the announcements. You wonder if they are a fast growing Prince, with lots of subjects, or a slower one with few or none. Solution:

(click) display button
(click) new Prince's name

Again, the number of subjects and lineage is yours for the asking.

Situation: The new Prince has been demoted to Duke in the next turn. You wonder if he was automatically disowned of a knight. Solution:

(click) display button
(click) new Duke's name

Now you can compare the number of subjects, and- more importantly- the list of direct subjects for the once-again Duke. Did one of his direct subjects disappear? Then it's a good chance that is what happened. A fast way to confirm it is to look for them and see if they have a liege!

Situation: You notice news about a kingdom that sounds interesting. You wonder if they are a major or minor kingdom, and how big they are. Solution:

/2 /k KingdomName
/2 Monarch Name

You now know what the kingdom's rank is, and the size of the monarch's downline.

Situation: A subject has disappeared from your line. Who did they go to? Or were they disowned and are now floating in limbo? Solution:

/2 Subject Name

You now know who they went to... if anyone.

For those of you who are wondering how all of this is done, it is courtesy of my second set of eyes, more commonly known as the Tiny Empires Companion. Experienced Tiny Empires players will note that much of this can be done through the Standings Page.

One thing the standings page can't do is find players who are not connected to a kingdom- but this one does. If the line is only partial, you get the partial line, up to the point where it ends with a liegeless player.

Another thing the standings page might have trouble with is giving you the size of the downline. A small downline is easily counted- given time. A larger downline may be difficult to impossible. This gives you good estimates on the larger downlines instantly.

It's quicker than the standings page. You don't have to open another window. And if you're acquainted with the ways of Tiny Empires lines and how they work, you can glean a surprising amount of information in a short amount of time.

However, this is not free. In fact, it's the first item for sale that is more than just a single one-time buy: it's a service, and you pay continually. The current charge is 250L per month. Is it worth it to you? Let's put it this way. In the You might be a TE addict if... post, a couple of the items were:

• You spend more time looking at your TE standings page than your friends list.


• Your ninth and newest alt just made Count.

If either of these apply to you, it's a good chance you'll find the Companion quicker and easier. Plus, let's admit it... it's fun to be able to type in a name and instantly see who, what, where, and how many!

The Game within the Game

One day I logged in to find that my total holdings had dropped by several hundred acres. This not being the usual sort of thing I saw, I immediately began a search through my lines, and I finally found who had left. I sent her (now former) liege a message that basically said "ouch! I see she left, is there anything I can do to help?"

When she replied, she said that the subject had left with no message or warning, and that she hadn't responded to an IM asking what was wrong. Then she added that she wasn't too surprised. The Duchess had come to her after getting into an argument with her SL boyfriend, who had aparently been her liege. But time passes, and either the rift had healed or she had found someone else she liked.

It merely underscored the words that Ellie had told me all of those months ago. Tiny Empires is a "game within the game". The things that happen in TE do not happen in a vacuum, or solely in relation to other things happening within TE. Quite the contrary. People form TE kingdoms most readily among groups of friends or people who are already associated with each other in SL. And the SL drama and events that happen can easily change what happens in TE.

No one seeking to observe the patterns and movements within TE can avoid this conclusion. TE is, at its core, a game of social networking, and its networks are mostly formed on existing SL networks. (Not that lots of new friendships aren't formed, which is always fun.)

As I view the Kingdom of Caledon, I see these groups, these networks, these parts of a Kingdom that make up the whole. If I want to find TE Caledon players, I know several places I can go to. The most obvious places would be:

The Dome in Caledon Cay
Red Palms
Cleopatra's (in particular if you're searching for our Queen)
Moiety
Heart of Dragons
Insula Inferi
Caledon Cymru
Caledon Kintyre
--and our new 'HeadQuarters' in Caledon Cay!

...and this list is far from complete, it's just a highlight of some of the most common spots. But in each of those places, you'll find at least one person, and usually a group, of Tiny Empires players who are all Caledonians. The reason for these spots? Because they all know each other there! They're friends, they like to play together, they're probably all lieged under the same person, and that group is lieged within the kingdom of Caledon.

Thus, we find that our single kingdom is a variegated quilt, made up of many pieces, all interwoven together by a common thread of cooperation and understanding. If one part encounters the other, they know that the other person is a friend-- Caledon is where their friends are, so this must just be a friend they haven't met yet.

...and to the extent that is true, the Kingdom of Caledon is assured a good future.

Now, enough of my babbling about my kingdom... what about yours? What are the foundations it rests upon? What places, what groups, make up your kingdom? What methods of operations does it use? After all, Caledon is a rather small kingdom, one among nearly a hundred... how much more varied and interesting is the full Terra Aurean Empire!

Beginner's FAQ to Tiny Empires

So someone gave you a hud, and said "here, wear it and try playing the game"... but now you're lost, confused, and not even sure where to start... well, here's a little guide that should help you get started in playing Tiny Empires....


Why am I hearing a bell sound?

In Tiny Empires, a month lasts three minutes. It is one turn of the game's play. Every three minutes, when a new month (turn) starts, you hear a bell sound from your HUD. If it bothers you, you can turn it off by clicking and holding the clock in the upper right corner for a couple of seconds.

How do I win this game?

Unlike Chess or Checkers, Tiny Empires doesn't have a way to "win" or "lose" in a definitive sense. However, you can gain more rank and influence... perhaps even become King or Queen of your own kingdom if that is what you desire. It often takes some time and experience for different players to decide what goals they want to achieve within the game.

Do I have to pay Lindens to play the game?

The only purchase you are required to make is to buy the "Full" HUD. There are optional HUDs and gadgets sold as well, but none of them are required to play the game. If you continue to use the free trial HUD, it will 'die' (stop working) after you become a Knight or Dame (with ten acres).

Why am I being offered a liege?

If you do not have a liege, you are not in a kingdom, nor an official part of the Empire. This means that you cannot earn gold on your land, nor will you receive any special benefits that a King or Queen might provide. This makes it much harder to achieve anything, so the Emperor offers you the chance to take a liege at random if you do not have one.

Do I need to buy a shovel?

The offer to buy a shovel is the first of several "land improvements". Each improvement will add one half gold per acre to your land's production. While it's certainly possible to play without improving your land, it is highly desirable to do so, since it means more gold, and thus more land!

Should I buy land improvements or more land?

Each decision on whether or not to buy more land or make land improvements varies, depending on exactly how much land you have and how fast you want to buy it. The more land you have, the more gold you get from improvements and the more expensive it is to get each acre. In general, buying land is great for short term gain, but land improvements work best for long term gain. So, you will want to concentrate on buying land at first, then after you have a few acres you can begin buying more and more improvements to make it produce more gold for you!

Do I have to pay homage to my liege even when I'm not playing?

No. Homage that you pay- and that is paid to you- is determined by your own individual playing time. There is no actual relation between the amount of gold you pay in homage and the amount your liege receives. You pay when you are playing. They receive homage when they are playing.

How do I get a different liege?

Once you have a liege, there are two ways you can switch. Either stand next to the person you want to be your new liege, and offer to them when it comes up on your HUD (if it does...) or accept a bribe offer from someone else. These come up on your Hud at random intervals, as people get the chance to offer you gold to join them.

I was told I could be removed from the game by my liege. Is that true?

No. You can be "disowned" (it is sometimes called "pruned") by your liege. If this happens, you revert to your original liegeless condition (with no ability to earn gold on your land), but you keep all land, land improvements, gold, subjects, etc, that you have. You will not be in any kingdom until you find a new liege to join. Note that standing next to a new liege and offering to join them will not require you to pay money to switch lieges, since there is no old liege to repay!

How do I get a higher rank?

Rank is determined by how much land you and your subjects own. This is called "total acres", and is shown on your HUD as Land. (Your personal acres belong to you and are in parentheses after the total acres number. The difference is the amount of land your subjects own.) Getting a higher rank means getting more total land. This holds true until you want to become a Queen or King, at which point things are more complicated. For an exact list of how many acres are required for each rank, check out this earlier blog post.

How do I get a custom title?

Custom titles are given out by either the Emperor or (more usually) monarchs. The normal method of getting a custom title is to have your King or Queen give it to you. How each King or Queen decides on who to give a title to depends on their personal wishes- so ask your current liege, or however high you have to go to find out! Note that titles are usually (not always) given to higher-ranking subjects. Also, if you do receive a custom title from your Monarch, you will eventually lose it if you leave their kingdom.

How do I get subjects?

First, you have to have the full HUD to get subjects of your own. After you buy that, you may get subjects randomly assigned to you by the Emperor. (Note that new players are the usual subjects assigned a random liege, which means you won't get any of those after you become a Baron/Baronness). The second way is to have someone of the appropriate rank stand next to you and request to become your subject. This means anyone who is one to three ranks lower than you. You will also get a chance to bribe someone else every now and then on your HUD.

On a more general note, finding people to join you usually falls into one of two categories: new people that you or your upline (lieges) find, or current players that are persuaded to join you for whatever reason. The exact reason, of course, is as varied as the players themselves!

The ability to create and maintain a large number of subjects is an essential part of the game to anyone who wants high rank and/or their own kingdom- but how it is done depends on the people involved, and is the old human art of finding and inspiring others to follow you.

How do I find answers to the riddles?

Riddles and polls appear each October. There are several helper pages out there. One of the more popular is by Erzsabet Bergbahn. Note that the riddles are changed occasionally, so when a new set comes out, you and your friends and everyone else will all be scrambling to figure out the new ones!

What are Taxes?

Every December, you pay twenty to thirty percent of your land's net income for the year to the Emperor. (Or for the time you were on, if you haven't been on for a full year.) This is calculated by taking your land income for one month (it's the first line in your Accounting tab- number of gold times number of acres = land income) minus the amount of homage you pay (the second page of your Accounting shows this) times twelve (for a year) times .2 (twenty percent... or whatever it is for your rank). Your monarch may have the ability to give you and everyone else in your kingdom three years of amnesty once per day--no taxes for three years in a row.

One important note is that if you do not have enough gold to pay your taxes, your land will be automatically sold until you do have enough- so be sure you have plenty of gold on hand when December comes!

What is the Census?

In January of every even numbered year, the Census occurs. If you have subjects, you get so much gold per direct subject. If you have the "Federation HUD", you get one gold per nine members of your population. This may become an important factor in your strategy later in the game.

What is the Trader?

The Trader comes every couple of days to your Kingdom. The exact time is random. You will start receiving notices on the HUD that he is coming. He will charge you roughly two to three times your current acre cost, and in return offers a surprise which is usually more than worth what you pay. For more details, see the wiki page. Note that he only comes for players who meet certain minimum rank/land requirements, so you won't encounter him immediately after you begin playing.

Are there any groups I have to join to play?

Basically, no. However, there is a main Tiny Empires group (it is currently by invitation only, due to spam problems) and most kingdoms- and even groups of players within kingdoms- will have their own private groups. Ask your liege, if no one mentions it to you. (They should, almost every active player places a high importance in their local groups.) These groups can prove useful for advice and help!

Who is the Emperor?

Ultralite Soliel is the creator of Tiny Empires and is the Emperor of the Terra Aurean empire. As such, he produces the game, and all new changes in the rules and new gameplay options, riddles, etc, are created by him. He is also the final authority on any questions about the rules of the game.

Where else can I find information?

The Tiny Empires Wiki has detailed information about numerous aspects of the game.

Erzsabet Bergbahn's page helps solves puzzles.

The Tiny Empires Blog can be a source of information.

The official Tiny Empires site has basic game information and the 'standings' pages, which show you the ranks and alliegiences of everyone within the Empire.

Kingdom Identity

Take two princes within the same kingdom. Both have about a dozen subjects, with total holdings of perhaps fifteen hundred acres. If you were told that one of them would one day be a King of his own kingdom, and the other would never get close to it.... how could you tell which was which?

Is there a difference? After all, the requirements for a kingdom are the same for both, and they're both in the same position now. A kingdom is just what happens when they get the right amount of land and gold. Right?

While that may be true for some, it is my belief that it is not true for all- or even most- kingdoms. The one thing that every kingdom I've known well has had is an identity. By this, I mean more than just a name- I mean it's a group of people, working together for something that has a name, but that is more than a name-- that means something to them and why they play.

The old saying has it that "birds of a feather flock together". If you're one of those princes and you decide to assemble the flock, the first question you have to ask yourself is what color your feathers are.

If you're like me, you love watching the announcements come up that give titles in the various kingdoms. Sometimes, it's obvious that the title and the kingdom go well together- that the people in it are part of that particular cultural theme or idea. If you don't know what I mean, watch the announcements for yourself. Soon enough, you'll see some which go so well as a single full title that you begin to wonder if the title was made for the kingdom... or the kingdom for the title.

In a sense, perhaps the kingdom was made for the title. It may have come first, but that person was likely part of it before it became its own kingdom. The kingdom name and independence was just a recognition of the camaraderie and ideals that already existed.

That said, one way to find a potential kingdom is if a group has been formed for it. We created the group for the Tiny Empires kingdom of Caledon long before the kingdom existed- back when we were a dozen or so Caledonians just getting started. It was (and still is) actually open to any Caledonian who plays Tiny Empires, formal Kingdom membership not required. But the question that had to be answered for us was the same as I posed above. What defines the Kingdom of Caledon? What particular theme, method of operation, and ideals determine it? Fortunately, since Caledon itself already existed, it was relatively easy to point out how the Caledonian culture combined with the Tiny Empires culture, and thus our group description was created as follows:

Caledon- a land of Ladies and Gentlemen, where consideration and manners accentuate an appreciation for the finer things in life.

Tiny Empires- a game of feudal proportions, where one can be a Lady or a Gentleman, and enjoy advancement and prestige by being with your friends

This group is for anyone who likes that combination! Come, citizens of Caledon, to a land where anyone with diligence is but a breath away from nobility... and where your "liege lord" is also your best friend!

So if I were to pull out the kingdom idea themes from there, we have:

1. A common medieval/vintage theme
2. Consideration, manners, culture
3. Friendship

Although large parts of the Tiny Empires Caledon has gone beyond its formal borders, I like to think that much of the core concept described above runs throughout the entire kingdom.

As to how that theory works out in practice, those details are for another day and another post...

TE Companion Available

From the Emperor:


Introducing the indispensable accessory for players of Tiny Empires...

TINY EMPIRES COMPANION

Are you never quite sure who is bribing you?
Not sure if those sabotage targets are worth the risk?
Do you keep forgetting which monarch rules over which kingdom?

Then you might find the Tiny Empires Companion VERY useful.

By the way, you can try it for FREE for two weeks, to see if the cost of L$250/month is worth it to you.
Read on. There is a landmark to the free trial down below.

--== What is this thing? ==--

The Tiny Empires Companion is a HUD object that you wear while playing Tiny Empires. It helps you keep track of other players in the game and in your vicinity. It also allows quick lookups of players and kingdoms without having to visit the TE standings web page. In short, it acts as a companion HUD to the main Tiny Empires HUD.

--== What does it do? ==--

o Looks up Tiny Empires player names to see their rank, liege, and kingdom without going to the Standings page
o Scans your immediate area to find other Tiny Empires players (and shows their rank, liege, and kingdom)
o Shows rank, liege, and kingdom information about about any other players mentioned on your game hud this turn
o This includes any bribe makers or potential bribe takers, the list of sabotage targets, promotions, special titles, etc.
o If you see a name in your offers this turn, it will be clickable on the Companion.
o Looks up a kingdom name to find out the name of its King or Queen, and its rank in the empire
o Shows the latest gossip among the people of the realm

--== What kind of information does it give? ==--

For any nearby players, or names shown in your current set of offers, simply click the name to see the person's name, rank, special title if they have one, kingdom name, and monarch name. Here is a example of the information:

"Tiny Empires Companion: Squire Tanner Larson, subject of Prime Suspect Harriet Nightfire (Viscountess), under the rule of Queen Mary Aberdeen of the Kingdom of Froth"

You can get the same information for ANY player in the game by typing their name (or partial name) into your local chat window.

You can also get information about Kingdoms by typing the name (or partial name) of the Kingdom. It will show the name of its King or Queen as well as that Kingdom's ranking in the empire. Here is an example of Kingdom information:

"Tiny Empires Companion: The Kingdom of Froth, Queen Mary Aberdeen, currently ranked 17"

The Companion will also show the most recent Gossip among the nobility of the empire.

--== HOW CAN I GET IT? ==--

Come to Ultralite Soleil's shop at this landmark:
Look for the Tiny Empires Companion vendor.
You will be able to get a free, fully functional trial of the Companion that lasts for two weeks.
After that, the cost to continue using it is L$250 per month.
You can pre-pay for as many months as you'd like -- every L$250 adds another 30 days of usage to your Companion.

Check it out!



Here is a screenshot of it on my hud:



A couple of brief usage notes... to get information on a kingdom, you use the '/k' switch, e.g.:

/2 /k Caledon

(just for fun, try 'Aurea')

And to get gossip, you just type:

/2 Gossip

..more details and a considered review will be held until I get some experience with this... say in a week or so.

And on a side note, the upgrade station has been remodeled. The Emperor declared that blue glass was just "so 1100", and it has been replaced with a stone structure. The single vendor with the arrows to choose between different products has been replaced with multiple vendors, one for each product, grouped by type.

Check it out! (wait, didn't someone just say that?)

MoLoveMoFun Hammerer Interview

Vulpine Eldrich: Good evening, everyone. This evening finds me in the far sandy corner of Egypt, in the private silken tent of the Pharoah- or should I say King- MoLoveMoFun Hammerer of Egypt... I'm here with his Great Royal Wife, Charoa Hammerer. Thank you both for having me.

Charoa Hammerer: Quite welcome, it's our pleasure

MoLoveMoFun Hammerer: Welcome, Vulpine, to our little piece of the Empire. It's a pleasure to have you. Most people call me Mo, by the way :)

Vulpine Eldrich: Now, I'm sure our readers have heard of Egypt, the real life kingdom. So, tell me, what inspired you to name your kingdom after it?

MoLoveMoFun Hammerer: I have always been a Egypt fanatic and my lovely wife is just as passionate about it as I. So it wasn't a hard choice to make.

Vulpine Eldrich: And you have a sim to show for it as well. Did the sim come first, or did the TE Kingdom?

Charoa Hammerer: The sim came first

MoLoveMoFun Hammerer: Yes, we were working on our new home before I ascended.

Charoa Hammerer: The vision of the sim just became more focused after we had ascended though. It became a home for several hundreds of people instead of just the two of us lol

Vulpine Eldrich: So when you started in Tiny Empires, it was just the two of you? Or the two of you joined quickly by friends?

MoLoveMoFun Hammerer: I started playing first, soon followed by my wife and a few close friends.

Charoa Hammerer: yes he was busy busy one day and I couldn't figure out what had captured his attention and so he sent me a trial hud...the rest is history

MoLoveMoFun Hammerer: Yes, I was sold quite fast (or hooked)

Vulpine Eldrich: And did you decide you wanted to be King before that day was over?

MoLoveMoFun Hammerer: Not really. That decision came after a lot of drama in other kingdoms, and the thought and hope of having a better day with my own kingdom.

Charoa Hammerer: The downline also suggested that we ascend and wanted us to start our own kingdom.

MoLoveMoFun Hammerer: I would say that it was after four months of playing TE.

Vulpine Eldrich: What kingdom did you ascend from, then?

MoLoveMoFun Hammerer: Bohemia

Vulpine Eldrich: Were you originally in Lothlorien when you started?

Charoa Hammerer: We were never in Lothlorien

MoLoveMoFun Hammerer: No, I have never been there. I started playing in Avalon

Vulpine Eldrich: So your career starts in Avalon, goes to Bohemia, then on to your own Kingdom of Egypt... but I noticed one day after you had been King for a while, and had been giving out titles, that you were literally a King without a Kingdom- no one was under you. Some time later, you were back again with one of the larger kingdoms within the empire. What happened?

MoLoveMoFun Hammerer: I stopped playing because I and my kingdom were harassed by someone else who plays TE as well. This harassment became so great that I felt there had to be something done about the fairness and equality in the game. I asked for that by the highest authority in TE and didnt get what I asked for. So I stopped playing. By chance of luck, what I asked for was granted even if it was via a different way.

Vulpine Eldrich: How long did your self-imposed exile last?

MoLoveMoFun Hammerer: About a month.

Vulpine Eldrich: What ended it?

MoLoveMoFun Hammerer: I had given, prior to my quitting, the promise to some subjects that I would play again if my wish were granted. So I decided to start playing again mostly because I was very unhappy with having to quit and because I missed my group and the daily interaction very much.

Charoa Hammerer: We also had many from our kingdom begging that he come back and leaving messages asking that we come back. Mo is a much loved king and was missed greatly by many. He forms strong personal relationships with the people he plays with.

MoLoveMoFun Hammerer smiles

Vulpine Eldrich: So when you announced that you were coming back, many returned. I assume not all, since there are always exceptions to a rule as large as that- and some couldn't, if you had formed other kingdoms. Have things changed since then, though? Does the kingdom feel any different, or its size?

Charoa Hammerer: Actually we didn't announce we were coming back so that people would not abandon the kingdoms they had made new homes in. We would have played quietly by ourselves. As people realized we were playing they asked us to come back. I would say that with exception of the two ascensions that coincided with our leaving, 90% returned. Our kingdom was largely restored and has since grown even larger.

Charoa Hammerer: It was like family coming back home and missing each other and being strong together once more. With exception of the 10% who elected not to come back, we did not have any significant changes to the feeling or personality of our kingdom.

Vulpine Eldrich: And with two ascensions, that means you have at least two kingdoms with close relationships and common history.

Charoa Hammerer: We are on neutral terms with all kingdoms who ascended from us. Some are closer than others. Several of the kingdoms who ascended from us were only with us for a short time. The one kingdom that shares a history with us more than others would be Kingdom of Angels who was with us all along

Vulpine Eldrich: So with one of the larger kingdoms, that means a lot of people, and a lot of special titles. How do you handle those? Any special types of special titles?

MoLoveMoFun Hammerer: I keep a notecard of the titles given out with the date and we also publish that on our website.

Vulpine Eldrich: So how does someone in Egypt get a title?

MoLoveMoFun Hammerer: I don't have a whole lot of rules. I tried doing the prince/cess level first but I'm down to count/ess level now. I poke the chat and the players to give me title requests and I grant the title.

Vulpine Eldrich: That must be a lot of titles! Are you repeating people now- changing special titles?

MoLoveMoFun Hammerer: Today, someone that has had four titles already just got one more because it's her birthday. So that and making people happy is why I'm down at the lower levels. A good way of getting a lot of requests up front is something I'm still searching for.

Charoa Hammerer: We aren't forcing titles but jokes come up and special events or a special request from a loved one, and so in those cases they get changed.

MoLoveMoFun Hammerer has a hard time giving out the five acres, the mini trader and the title!

Vulpine Eldrich: Speaking of looking for new things, what other new things would you like to be able to do with the game?

MoLoveMoFun Hammerer: One or maybe two things I really would like is getting a better view or print out or message from who leaves and other important details.

Vulpine Eldrich: So if you come online and find five hundred acres gone, you don't have to look through eight pages of standings and trust your memory to know all two hundred people to find who is gone?

Charoa Hammerer: Yes, that is what he means. Sometimes it's a misclick and people are scrambling to find what part of the line was broken.

MoLoveMoFun Hammerer: And second, I would like the tax cut option to be available once every twenty four hours and not like it is now: twenty four hours after the last tax cut. I want this so that I can switch from timezone to timezone.

Vulpine Eldrich: So if you give a tax amnesty at, say, five pm SLT, you next get the offer at five pm SLT the next day. That would mean that if you wanted to switch to five a.m. SLT, then you have to wait a full day and a half?

MoLoveMoFun Hammerer: Yes, that's what I mean and why I want the tax cut changed.

MoLoveMoFun Hammerer smiles

Vulpine Eldrich: I can understand that one, as I'm sure your subjects who are in different time zones can as well! So if someone wants to find Egypt, they have this sim and the website to look for. Where else would they find it, and what would they find your members doing when they arrived?

Charoa Hammerer: We are also a NeoRealms fishing camp, we have trivia and other games, we have several clubs affiliated to the kingdom, we have a stargate network linked to several of those locations as well.

Vulpine Eldrich: Fishing... is there something about enjoying Tiny Empires that also means you're good at fishing?

MoLoveMoFun Hammerer: it's a way to relax and pass some good times, nice views and off-topic chats.

Charoa Hammerer: It's a good bonding time with other kingdom members, too.

Vulpine Eldrich: That works for me! So now that you have become a monarch... twice, in effect, considering your first ascension and then your return... what are your current goals in Tiny Empires?

MoLoveMoFun Hammerer: Having fun, enjoying the game and having a blast with our group. For me it's not how big we are, but I guess by how much people like to play TE with us. Maintaining that is a great goal and also a gift.

Charoa Hammerer: I would like us to be unique in people's minds and have a positive experience here. We want warmth and strong friendships.

MoLoveMoFun Hammerer: Yes thats what I mean (Charoa can word it so well.)

Vulpine Eldrich: So what would make you unique?

MoLoveMoFun Hammerer: Our Stargate network?

Charoa Hammerer: I think we are particularly active as a kingdom, we have very strong bonds and a willingness to help each other. We also try to interact with others frequently and do new things. I make a point of creating new and different activities for the members as a means to help make people feel welcome and get to know each other and expand those bonds of friendship.

Vulpine Eldrich: What sort of activities?

MoLoveMoFun Hammerer: We have had several differnt types of treasure hunts, parties in and out of theme, fishing, building, the website, etc.

Charoa Hammerer: Each treasure hunt has a different theme and style. They get more and more complex and more people are getting into it lol

Charoa Hammerer: We have had elements of the sim built by kingdom members: furniture, gazebo's, fountains and clothing.

Charoa Hammerer: We also have custom Egyptian clothing, swimsuits and right now our daughter is making a male and female egyptian outfit for everyone.

MoLoveMoFun Hammerer giggles

Charoa Hammerer: All of this makes people feel like they are a part of this kingdom. Our treasure hunts often have custom built contributions from our members as well.

MoLoveMoFun Hammerer: I'm very keen on the strong relationships that are formed here.

Charoa Hammerer: We have a new photo gallery on our site and people have been eager to see themselves added and put their candid SL shots into the site.

MoLoveMoFun Hammerer: People talk with each other over everyday RL issues and find support and help with other kingdom members

Vulpine Eldrich: So there is a lot going on in Egypt! Do you have any particular plans to expand all of this to others within or without the game of Tiny Empires?

MoLoveMoFun Hammerer: Not really. We, as a kingdom are already happy as it is. We prefer to maintain the fun, closeness and the great atmosphere often lacking in bigger kingdoms.

Charoa Hammerer: We do this for ourselves because its what makes us happy. Our website is open to everyone though, of course, and I personally think it's more extensive than any other site, but I am biased.

MoLoveMoFun Hammerer giggles

MoLoveMoFun Hammerer: So am I.

Vulpine Eldrich: And within that long line of events in TE, and list of kingdoms that you have been involved with, what does all of that experience lead you to give as advice to someone just starting in Tiny Empires?

MoLoveMoFun Hammerer: That's a hard question, but I do believe this is a nice way of putting it: HAVE FUN :))

Vulpine Eldrich: Very succinct! And is there anything else that I forgot to ask that you wanted to answer?

Charoa Hammerer: Egypt has a policy that I think should stand true in all of SL and not just TE. Show respect to the people you play with.

Charoa Hammerer: We find that when people want to leave or find a new liege, the best way to avoid drama is to keep that communication open and show your peers the respect they deserve by telling them what you have decided. You don't have to give extensive explanations, but just a heads up is common courtesy.

Charoa Hammerer: We should all treat each other here with the same courtesy we would extend in RL.

MoLoveMoFun Hammerer: I think that people should keep in mind that its a game, with no real monetary value at all, and absolutely no reason to misbehave in any way. Respect is what we all crave for, so respect is what people should keep in mind.

Charoa Hammerer: And play because it makes you happy.

MoLoveMoFun Hammerer: Also, listen to yourself. Do what makes you happy while playing TE. I made some very tough decisions and I still feel good about myself after all of it. There are real people behind every TE player with real feelings, please keep that all in mind.

Vulpine Eldrich: Very good! And one last question, if I may... is there any truth to the rumors about the return of the Mummy King?

MoLoveMoFun Hammerer giggles and giggles, yes he will be in the movie theaters near you soon.

Charoa Hammerer: Oh yeah we forgot to mention our movie nights! We will be playing that on the sim as soon as it comes out in SL LOL

Vulpine Eldrich: Good! And thank you so much for having me here this evening-- I wish you the best with your kingdom.

Charoa Hammerer: By the way, Mo is known as the king who giggles, even on voice chat lol

Charoa Hammerer: Thanks for being here!

MoLoveMoFun Hammerer: Thank you very much for taking the time to hear about our passion and our story.

Interesting Titles

If you're like me, one of the major sources of entertainment in Tiny Empires is watching anouncements of Special Titles- however they might come up in various offers, etc. Sometimes it's a pun, either on a person's name or with the kingdom name. Sometimes it's just the sound- alliteration, or rhyme. Sometimes it makes you roll your eyes and laugh at the same time. Others strike that funny bone for no particular reason other than "it's funny!".

So, below, find a few of my picks for interesting custom titles that I've seen, sorted by why I found them interesting. Note that Apropos Kingdom usually means Apropos person AND Kingdom... the whole title fits into one interesting whole!

So if you have any good ones, add them to the list... it could be yours, a friend's, or just one that you saw on your HUD as a general announcement. Whatever the reason or source, share the fun with the rest of us!

ALLITERATION

Princess Prissy Sussie Pera of Laurelin
Knighted The Seeker Capt Blinker of the Karma Kingdom
Pineapple Prince Zedicious Zerbino of Camelot
Bohemian Brit Brat Destiny Marx of Bohemia

APROPOS KINGDOM

Her Royal Sweetness Hunee Dreamscape of Charm
In Egypt U Feel The Love Flow of Egypt
Phantasm SpookY Pitts of Twilight
Princess Opium Poppy Maladay of Bloodtide
Delerious Dreamer Delerium Dreamscape of Twilight
The Quiet Goddess Jaydie Sapeur of Olympus
Roses Royal Bad Leissa Schwade of Blood Roses & Tears
God of the Dance KennyC1956 Writer of Olympus
Bratty Pink Princess AquaMarin Alter of Tintagel
McDreamy McGoose Bury of Treasure Island

APROPOS PERSON

Southern Comfort LadyClaireBrianna McLaglen of Laurelin
Princess Fluffy Kitt Catgirl Hian of Tintagel
Majestic Mysterious Divine Veil of Laurelin

AMUSING

Prince With A Plan Sir Brennen of WyPlay
TheCookiestPrincess Cindyloo Sablatnig of Brittany
Princess Foxy Roxy Emsbury of Treasure Island
Gun's Little Boo Cerridwen Wise of Egypt
Royal Huggybear Max Key of Gianfar

ROLL YOUR EYES NAUGHTY

Here Comes Trouble LoveTrinity Johnson of WyPlay
Royal Thwapper Lynn Binder of Gianfar
Soft Porn Princess Jain Arkin of Egypt

BackHome Soon Interview

Vulpine Eldrich: Good evening, everyone. I'm here with King Backhome Soon of Home, and his lovely companion, Lodi McMillan in their - I must say- most expansive beach home. Thanks to both of you for having me!

BackHome Soon: Thanks for joining us

Vulpine Eldrich: I like to start about asking about the kingdom itself, perhaps the meaning of the name. But that almost seems trivially obvious here... so tell me... which came first, your SL name, or the kingdom name?

BackHome Soon: oh, my SL name for certain. The Kingdom of Home name came about after much thought, agonizing and even some incredibly painful puns

BackHome Soon: The thought of "Home" just felt right though

Vulpine Eldrich: Why?

BackHome Soon: We're all looking for a place to feel comfortable, a place to feel where you belong. We act like a big family, so it just fits our group. There's not a lot of "pomp and circumstance" with our group; it's more like we've all come "Home".

Lodi McMillan: It has a casual, informal, and welcoming feel...just like we would like the kingdom to be.

Vulpine Eldrich: So does that mean someone who swears allegiance to someone in your kingdom is actually "coming Home"?

BackHome Soon: absolutely, Vulpine! The most common comment to a new member is "Welcome Home"

BackHome Soon: or when I log in, it's "Honeys, I'm Home!"

Lodi McMillan: everyone had a lot of fun with that ;-)

Vulpine Eldrich: I can imagine! So many puns, so little time... so where and when does the formal Kingdom of Home come from?

BackHome Soon: We started on July 3rd, so we're a relatively new kingdom. We were all happy members of the Queendom of Terabithia before I ascended.

BackHome Soon: Like most people in TE, Lodi and I began in Avalon, and followed our lieges through Genovia, Syldavia, Egypt and Terabithia before coming home.

Vulpine Eldrich: And how and when do you tell your Queen, "I'm about to leave you and become King of my own Kingdom"?

BackHome Soon: With great trepidation and many second thoughts. Queen Kyradevon and her King Legalos(**See Comment below) were incredibly gracious and supportive, even though my ascension greatly reduced the size of her queendom

BackHome Soon: I'd stated for a long time that I had NO plans of ever ascending. However, as we all do, the thoughts recurred, and I finally decided that I wanted to give my own kingdom a shot, so here we are.

Vulpine Eldrich: Was there any particular event or thing that was the tipping point? The spark that lit the fire, so to speak?

BackHome Soon: I don't think there was one single thing I could point to. It just became something I wanted to accomplish and was the right time.

BackHome Soon: I actually only got the Federation HUD about a month before I ascended. Almost my entire downline was built while i was playing the regular HUD. So, I still ask dumb questions about the Fed HUD in group :-)

Vulpine Eldrich: So after you ascended, did you ever have second thoughts... did you ever begin to wonder just what you had gotten yourself into?

BackHome Soon: No, no second thoughts at all. It's even more fun and enjoyable than I had hoped. We've managed to avoid major drama and pain, and I plan on it staying that way.

Lodi McMillan: We are fortunate in our downlines...we have a fabulous bunch of people

Vulpine Eldrich: So do you have any plans for being the largest kingdom in the Empire, or at least closer to it?

BackHome Soon: Perish that thought! Nope, my only real goal is I'd like to stay on the map. While we welcome and want new people to "come Home", it's never, ever been about the acres for either of us. We love playing Tiny Empires, but i think we have a healthy perspective about it.

BackHome Soon: One apt analogy is what I heard about the game of bridge a long time ago -- it gives you something to do with your hands while you visit your friends.

Lodi McMillan: The relationships, and how we treat each other, are far more important than the size of the kingdom

Vulpine Eldrich: So you've settled into a home, and if you need to add an extra room on now and then, the more the merrier.

Lodi McMillan: Absolutely!

BackHome Soon: I like the sound of that :-)

Lodi McMillan: Always room for another plate at the dinner table

BackHome Soon: And we know that kingdom will ebb and flow over time. There is at least one prince now who plans to eventually ascend on his own and I don't doubt there are others. I fully support that.

Vulpine Eldrich: Have you ever had any situations in which things were less than pleasant-- when you had to settle disputes, misunderstandings, hurt feelings?

Lodi McMillan: Misunderstandings happen, especially in a medium like text chat, where it is hard to discern attitude and intention.

BackHome Soon: Well Vulpine, that unfortunately goes with the territory. I have to say there's been very little of it. We've had some great friends return to Terabithia and some others have found other kingdoms to join. But we've also had people leave and come back too :-)

Vulpine Eldrich: So at least so far, you can say that everything has eventually worked out.

BackHome Soon: Absolutely!

Vulpine Eldrich: Hmm, the latest news on my hud declares that a Sir has been permanently banished from his kingdom. What's been the reaction of your people once they learned of your new options to punish them in some way?

Lodi McMillan: Most have taken it in good humor, and it's been the subject of some joking and playful remarks. Some have wondered about the value and purpose of such punishments. But so far, it seems not to be much of a concern.

BackHome Soon: From my perspective, I don't see me using it much or at all. Lodi and I have a saying that if we don't like what you're doing and you persist, we'll politely ask you to accept the next bribe offer.

Lodi McMillan: There are lots of kingdoms in the Empire...each with its own personality...there are plenty of places for every type of TE player

Vulpine Eldrich: So is there anything special about Home besides warm and friendly? Any sort of place, hobby, or particular set of enthusiasms that a number of people in it like? You mentioned bridge earlier as a comparison.... so when the people of Home are together, what else are they doing besides TE?

BackHome Soon: one word i'd like to add to your warm and friendly description is vocal. Our group isn't shy about chiming in -- either with practical help or a quick joke or tease. But I think most of us share the attitude that TE is not the whole of SL. Folks are busy building, dancing, DJing, SHOPPING, etc... while they monitor their HUDs and chime in on group chat.

BackHome Soon: The diversity of interests is what helps keep it interesting and fun

Vulpine Eldrich: So the main place to find Home within Second Life is actually in your group chat, not some particular Second Life location in world.

Lodi McMillan: We have an active group chat...and talk about anything and everything ;-) Our members have diverse interests, as BH said, and we enjoy that.

BackHome Soon: That's correct. We haven't built a sim just for TE, nor plan to. A few members of our kingdom have gathering and party places that we use from time to time. In fact, we're having a formal dance tomorrow afternoon, with both a DJ and live music.

Vulpine Eldrich: It sounds like it should be a lot of fun (or was a lot of fun, since this interview will be published after it happens!) So is there any new feature or thing that could be added to Tiny Empires that you think could increase the fun and- dare I say- productivity level- of your Kingdom?

Lodi McMillan: Well, everyone's favorite answer to that, of course: More frequent Trader visits!

BackHome Soon: Hmmmmmmmm, it's pretty good now. I think it would be nice to be able to give gold or other rewards more easily to other players. I'm not personally a fan of sabotage and wouldn't mind it going away.

Vulpine Eldrich: So is there any sabotage done from within Home- that you know of, of course.

BackHome Soon: Once and it was addressed immediately. There will always be "oops" clicks, but we try to help our newer players figure out what's good and not. We only have 4 rules in the Kingdom.

BackHome Soon: The Rules:
1. Have fun
2. NO Drama
3. NO Sabo -- EVER!
4. Solve your drama, or I'll pretend I'm King Solomon

Vulpine Eldrich: Does that mean the sword comes out for the baby?

BackHome Soon: so far, haven't had to draw the sword yet :-) I prefer a positve kingdom, not one based on judgment, regulations and structure, and our group seems to agree.

Vulpine Eldrich: And it sounds like you've achieved something at least close to it! So now that you have your own kingdom and, it sounds like, are helping others achieve theirs, what is your advice to them?

BackHome Soon: Remember Rule #1 -- Have fun! TE is just a tiny part of this amazing place called Second Life. Make friends and enjoy them. Do NOT get worked up over phantom acres and non-existent gold!

BackHome Soon: (BTW, the opinions I express may not be shared by our Emperor)

Vulpine Eldrich: Good advice to any player, no matter the rank, I'm sure! So I suppose the last question is... what did I miss? What interesting, unusual thing or opinion is there that we need to know about the two of you and your kingdom that hasn't been mentioned yet?

Lodi McMillan: Our chat, and the level of playfulness within it, would be deemed, er, rather mature by some standards ;-)

BackHome Soon: We brought the tradition of Truth or Dare in group chat with us ;-)

Vulpine Eldrich: So is it a case of "what is said at home stays at home"? :)

BackHome Soon: What? Did i say something? ;-)

Vulpine Eldrich: You said a lot, and I thank you for it and the time you took to say it.

BackHome Soon: The pleasure was ours, Vulpine. Thank you for your time and your interest in Home! I'll bribe you as soon as I get the prompt!

Lodi McMillan: He will, too.....

Lodi McMillan: Thank you, Vulpine, for taking the time to do this.

New TE Titler Available

From the Emperor:

Greetings all,

I have created a Tiny Empires titler attachment that shows your Tiny Empires kingdom, rank or title, liege, and more.
It connects to the game and automatically retrieves your latest status, so it never gets out of date.

It's completely configurable by clicking buttons on a menu. You can decide how much or how little information
to display. You can show or hide your rank (your special title is used if you have one), your name, your kingdom,
your liege's name, and your King or Queen's name. There are also buttons to fine tune the position and color of the text.

The cost is L$149 at my shop -- landmark included below



Enjoy!
Sincerely,
Ultralite Soleil

The landmark is the normal upgrade station in Kitster. So, now that I've gotten one, here's the details. You simply wear it and you bring up its menu at any point by saying /1 titlemenu or by touching it. (Of course it's by default invisible, which makes that a bit complicated. It's no mod/no transfer, so you can't change that.)

Here is the menu:


To take the items in order...

Turn Off/On Self-explanatory. Poof no text, poof back on.

Position Brings up a sub menu that lets you move the wording up, down, left, right a bit with each click of the button.

Colors Brings up a sub menu with a list of colors to make your text. The choices are White, Gold, Purple, Red, Blue, Green, Orange, Pink.

The other choices hide/show the various parts. With everything on (which is what I had for that screenshot), mine says:

--Tiny Empires--
La Reina Zorra Vulpine Eldrich of Caledon
Ruled by Queen Ellie Bearcat
Subject of Princess Happe Hax

It shouldn't be hard to see which parts are hidden when you click the hide/show button for that part.

And that's the fun! The only quibble I found with it is that the default attachment point is the right ear. When you wear jewelry, that doesn't play nicely with your right earring. But I'm used to playing these sorts of "find the empty attachment point" games. (For me, the most likely choices are mouth or chin.)

Another fun part would be for those of us who have custom title to have the choice to either use our rank, or show our rank in addition to our custom title. Say:

(Princess)La Reina Zorra Vulpine Eldrich of Caledon

...but since there's an empty button on the main menu, it wouldn't surprise me if that isn't planned for the next revision. (v1.2, judging by the name of the Titler!)

So let the fun begin at all of those TE parties... or even other parties! "What's this Tiny Empires thing you're wearing?....."

Cujo Mayo Interview

Today I'm announcing the beginning of a new feature here... as they become available (always depending upon the consent of the monarchs), I plan to release interviews that I've done with them. This way, we can learn a bit about the other kingdoms and people in them. If you or a monarch you know might be interested, just send me an IM or notecard In World, and I'll be happy to arrange things. Who knows, it might be YOUR King or Queen here next time-- except for Arcadians, because for them, it's this time! Our interview series starts there...

Vulpine Eldrich: Hello, everyone. I'm here today with King Cujo Mayo of Arcadia, who has kindly consented to give us some of his time to tell us of himself and his kingdom. Thank you for the consideration, Cujo.

Cujo Mayo: Thank you for having me. :-)

Vulpine Eldrich: Let's start with first things first. How big is the Kingdom of Arcadia, and when was it founded?

Cujo Mayo: Well, Arcadia is the largest Minor Kingdom at the moment, and with a little luck we should make the big map sometime next month. And I believe we finally saw our dreams come true on Dec. 13, 2007 when we became the 17th Kingdom.

Vulpine Eldrich: So you've been in existence for some time! What kingdom did you ascend from?

Cujo Mayo: We came from the great Kingdom of Camelot.

Vulpine Eldrich: Were you ever in any other Kingdom in your TE career?

Cujo Mayo: Yes, I started out in Somerset, but moved to Camelot not long after I started playing.

Vulpine Eldrich: Was there any reason for the move?

Cujo Mayo: Well at the time, I thought the purpose of the game was to move higher in the Hierarchy of a kingdom, meaning the closer you were to a monarch, the closer you would be to your own kingdom. So I received a bribe from Kathrin Dassin who was closer to Queen FoxyKim than I was to Queen Eva, so I made the move. It wasn't until a little later that I found out that all didn't matter.

Vulpine Eldrich: ...And that the true path to a kingdom consisted of acreage and those below you, regardless of who was higher. So you had an ambition to become a King from very early in your career.

Cujo Mayo: Yes, I'm very competitive and I really didn't see a point in the game after you've accomplished everything short of obtaining a Kingdom. So I set my sights on being the largest Kingdom in TE.

Vulpine Eldrich: That means you've still got a goal to strive for, then! So was there ever a point at which you said "being a King isn't a dream anymore, it's something I'm going to do, all that's left is when and how"?

Cujo Mayo: Well about a week before I ascended, I was playing TE as normal - earning acres at a very slow pace - and I realized that it would be at least 6 months before I would be able to ascend at my current pace, so I just all of a sudden decided it was time to take the next step and see what I could do to speed up the process.

Vulpine Eldrich: So what did you do then?

Cujo Mayo: I messaged around to see if anyone was interested in acquiring their own kingdom and would be willing to lend me the acres needed to ascend if I joined their line, thereby giving them enough acres to ascend as well. I finally found someone, and was able to get within 3 steps of ascension within the next week before I realized the person I made the deal with had ulterior motives and I was about to get the raw end of the deal. So I rejoined Kathrin and asked around again for someone gracious enough to put me over the top, and thankfully you answered my call! ;-)

Vulpine Eldrich: Well, to fill in more from our end, we had just created the Kingdom of Caledon, and it was actually our Queen who heard of your call and asked me about the possibilities. So, a (then) relative stranger answered and helped you over the top. In your experience, how many other kingdoms have been created in a similar way?

Cujo Mayo: well I honestly can't say that I personally know of another Kingdom that has followed the same path, but just observing the number of Kingdoms that would ascend then shortly afterward would fall in the rankings below a 20,000 acre Kingdom, I would say at least a quarter of the Kingdoms today have used this method.

Vulpine Eldrich: Speaking of smaller kingdoms, do you ever get the impression that the other monarchs tend to take you less seriously because yours is a smaller kingdom?

Cujo Mayo: Hmmm.... well thinking on it, I'm not sure that the bigger monarchs necessarily take us smaller kingdoms any less seriously; however, the regular citizen of TE might. It seems the bigger kingdoms just keep getting bigger while the smaller kingdoms struggle to survive, and I think that's in part due to the fact that Count John Doe believes a smaller Kingdom is somewhat inferior and/or more inactive. And in reality, that's true to some extent, because the monarchs of the Minor Kingdoms have fewer privileges than the bigger kingdoms, which just adds to the discrepancy and widening of the gap between the rich and poor.

Vulpine Eldrich: So for Count John Doe, is there any practical difference between a Major Kingdom and a Minor Kingdom?

Cujo Mayo: Well from what I can think of off the top of my head, the only thing a monarch cannot do with less than 20,000 total acres is to give special titles. So aside from that, and the fact that Minor Kingdoms have MUCH less drama and are much more tight knit within the Kingdom, there's really not much difference

Vulpine Eldrich: I've heard it said that the Trader tends to visit smaller kingdoms more often than larger ones. Do you know if this is true?

Cujo Mayo: Well considering I'm only a part of Arcadia (as opposed to some monarchs who have many alts in many different Kingdoms), I can't really say. All I know is he doesn't come around enough as it is. :-P

Vulpine Eldrich laughs

Vulpine Eldrich: I think we can all agree on that! So, considering Arcadia, let's say I wake up one morning, come in here and say "I want to meet people who are in the TE Kingdom of Arcadia". Where should I go?

Cujo Mayo: Hmmm... I'd have to say currently, the best chance you have of meeting an Arcadian would be on the sim Cursed. There's 2 to 10 of us here at any given time. I've had a plan for about 9 months now of building a sim just for Arcadia, but that's been kind of put on hold until I can get Arcadia on the map and back amongst the Major Kingdoms. However, I'm afraid that with the rate that Kingdoms are forming - 4 in the last 36 hours, for instance - it really won't mean much, before too long, to be a part of one kingdom as opposed to another. It seems that unless you're a top 10 Kingdom, it just really isn't that big of a deal.

Vulpine Eldrich: So why is the sim Cursed the place for Arcadians, and why does it have that name?

Cujo Mayo: Cursed, or *~ Cursed ~*, is the name of Queen Syarra Hebert's and my store, where we sell Jewelry and Furniture. We have about 4 or so Arcadians who live on a part of the sim, and we have a big park with a pond on it, so it's just where most of us hang out, have fun, and fish.

Vulpine Eldrich: Oooh, jewelry! Does that mean that Arcadians get special no transfer editions that are only available to Arcadians?

Cujo Mayo: Yes ma'am, I'm in the process of making Limited Edition Jewelry, for both men and women, that is exclusive to Arcadians. I just have to find a good, cheap scripter and, more importantly, time.

Vulpine Eldrich: Couldn't we all use some of that! So what else do Arcadians have that others don't?

Cujo Mayo: Well, I like to think that Arcadians enjoy a perfect combination of all the good aspects of a great Kingdom - loyalty, friendship, actual enjoyment when playing TE instead of it being a task - and none of the bad qualities. And as I mentioned before, there are plans in the works to make Arcadia one of the most envied and sought after Kingdoms in all of Terra Aurea!

Vulpine Eldrich: Great! Speaking of bad times, have you had any as King?

Cujo Mayo: Not really any that I can think of. Being a smaller Kingdom, we don't have any drama to deal with, so I don't have to play "babysitter" all the time. I just have the self imposed pressure of doing whatever I can to make TE enjoyable for Arcadians and to help them succeed in moving up the ranks.

Vulpine Eldrich: What sort of programs, habits, practices, etc, do you have to help your people?

Cujo Mayo: Well I always do what I can to get people acres and gold, whether it be through bribes, land tracts, giving away acres, etc. As soon as we become a Major Kingdom, I'll be using all of my gold to do whatever I can to make sure money and land filters down the lines. And, of course, I always make myself available to Arcadians to help them out with any questions or any other help that they might have.

Vulpine Eldrich: Do you have any plans to use your new 'punish' option to spank anyone?

Cujo Mayo: LOL I have to admit that I used the punish option on my Queen Syarra when I first received it, but after learning that the acres do not actually go to the poorest subjects in the Kingdom - and you essentially pay money to lose acres - that will be the last time I'll be using that option.

Vulpine Eldrich: Well, we all live and learn! And speaking of new features, are there any new 'dream features' you'd love to see in Tiny Empires?

Cujo Mayo: Hmmmm.... I'd like to see more games or the sort, i.e. Festival or Trader, which we can spend our gold on yet have some fun. Although, more importantly, I'd like to see a way that Kingdoms can either combine with one another or form Kingdom Alliances, and perhaps some way to weed out dead and inactive Kingdoms, thereby giving Kingdoms some sort of real purpose again. However, I'd like to see the changes be made on the Federation HUD instead of another Add-On, especially after the Emperor originally said any additional improvements would be made solely on the Fed HUD when he was justifying the cost.

Vulpine Eldrich: In other words, no new types of HUDs, no new prices we have to pay to play at the 'new level'?

Cujo Mayo: Yes, I don't believe we should have to keep shelling out money to play new aspects of the game - that was the entire purpose of buying the Federation HUD. Besides, it's hard enough to keep new players active as it is, and would be nearly impossible to convince someone to buy 3 HUDs just to keep up to date - especially with the recent price increases.

Vulpine Eldrich: Oh, yes, those price increases. Have you noticed any greater difficulty getting new players into Tiny Empires because of those?

Cujo Mayo: Yes, I've had to buy a few myself for new players just to entice them to keep playing after the Trial HUD. I believe the Trial HUD should be changed to stop at 50 or 100 acres so that a new player can experience things such as the Trader, which might help them justify the cost - although, yes, I do realize that would create a massive inflation in acres and new Kingdoms when everyone would use their alts to build up their lines.

Vulpine Eldrich: It seems like there are always side effects... so, have you ever put alts into TE?

Cujo Mayo: LOL I knew that was the next question. And yes, I do have a few alts, as does anyone else who's really trying to succeed in TE.

Vulpine Eldrich: One of the recent 'you might be addicted to TE' lines I put onto the blog was "Your ninth and newest alt just made Count". So, not to count your alts, but just out of curiosity, why did you do it? What purpose do they serve?

Cujo Mayo: Well one purpose they serve, as I said before, is when monarchs use them to spy on other Kingdoms by joining another line and being a part of their group; however, I think that's pretty much a waste of time. I started my alts to get a few extra acres, back about 11 months ago, when I was in fast pursuit of becoming a Prince. I kept them around because I had already bought them the Full HUD, but now I just play them when the Trader comes, if at all.

Vulpine Eldrich: So, looking back over your career, what advice would you give to someone just starting in TE today who wants to become a monarch?

Cujo Mayo: First and foremost, make absolutely sure you REALLY want to be a monarch, because it will take literally countless hours of your time, a whole lot of patience, and maybe even cause a few grey hairs; and quite a few monarchs have immediately regretted their ascension and would love to return back to a Prince or Princess. Secondly, TE has a tendency to show you who your true loyal friends are, and those who are not so loyal; however, more than likely you will meet people along the way whom will become some of your very best friends in SL and perhaps in RL. Third, and most importantly, you ALWAYS must remember that this is just a game that's played within a virtual world. A LOT of people lose sight of that fact in their quest for power and dominance and tend to make this game into something it was not intended. So just have fun, enjoy the ride, and remember the "Golden Rule" is as big a part of this game as anything.

Vulpine Eldrich: Very good advice, for here and elsewhere, I'm sure! Well, that only brings up one last question.... did I miss asking you any questions that you wanted to answer? If so, have at it!

Cujo Mayo: There's nothing I can think of off the top of my head, we seem to have covered almost everything. If anyone feels intrigued by our conversation and would like to be part of something special, I'm just a search button away. I'm eager to welcome anyone into Arcadia with open arms, and I will personally do whatever I can to make them feel right at home. I chose the name Arcadia for the simple fact that it's very meaning is "Utopia" or "a perfect, harmonious place", and I've done everything in my power to create just that.

Vulpine Eldrich: And you can't ask for better than perfection! Well, thank you so much for your time and insights, and one last request, if I might...

Cujo Mayo: sure :-)

Vulpine Eldrich: the next time you're fishing in the royal moat, catch one for me! And in the meantime, have a good day :)

Cujo Mayo: ummm, I hope you mean something other than the alligators :-P

Cujo Mayo: Thank you very much Vulpine, and have a great day too!