Thanks, Erkon

[AlanH]

Erkon joined the GOTM staff in February 2009 as a game designer. Since then, he has produced a carefully designed game every two months from GOTM 40 to GOTM 52. Before he joined the Staff, he was a key player in past xOTM competitions, not least as a member of the legendary Murky Waters SGOTM team.

He has now decided to step down from GOTM game design, as his real life commitments and waning interest in Civ4 conspire to take his time away from this activity. I know you will all join me and the GOTM staff in thanking Erkon for the time and effort he has put into the creation of some memorable games.

Erkon may not yet be aware that you can't actually leave the GOTM staff. Come the release of Civ5, perhaps we'll see him back here in our community. Until then, my best wishes go with him.

Good luck, Erkon, in whatever challenges you find to fill the aching void .......

 

[magicgunnar]

Thanks for making the first GOTM I ever participated in, and forcing me to learn diplomatics!

 

[srad]

Thanks Erkon! You are one of the players which really impressed me when I got interested into the xOTM games.
Hope to see you back with Civ5 (hope I'll play it )!

 

[Erkon]

Thank you Alan. Indeed, I'm taking a break from map design. We'll see what happens when Civ5 starts

I've first stumbled upon Civilization in the early 90-ies as a student at the university of Uppsala, Sweden, and have been a fan of the series since then. The fourth version fascinated me more than ever, and I've probably spent more than 2000 hours on Civ4. When I first joined the community four years ago (GOTM8), I though I had a reasonable skill in playing the game. Man, I was chocked to realize the depth of the game, and how little I actually knew. Obormot proved that there were huge potential in optimizing the way of playing the game. Since then I've tried to win as fast as possible, and learn as many tricks as possible from other players. There are of course huge amount of people who have inspired me, but certain competitors come to my mind as special: Balbes and Gosha where always one step ahead of me while Lexad and I had a fierce fight for the first Warlords Eptathlete award .

Once I started playing SGOTM however, I really started to grasp the complexity of the game, and the amount of optimizations and tricks available. We in Team Murky Waters ^TM spent huge amount of posts to explorer the various ways to play each map. Jesusin and FiveAces excelled at high level play, klarius and ZPV provided invaluable insights into the game mechanics, and Gnejs is the most bloodthirsty warmonger in the history of civilization

Once I joined the staff, I started to think more about what makes a map interesting, and I appreciate the tolerance, encouragement and feedback from those of you who played my maps. As a staff member, I also noticed the dedication to this site by Alan. I truly hope that everyone grasps the amount of work he has put into the GOTM series. Please consider that next time you as a player is upset with something he has done or not done .

There are of course other people I would like to mention, but I'm afraid I cannot include all. Only one more guy needs to be mentioned of course: LowtherCastle. He recruited me into Team Murky Waters ^TM and over the years we have had tremendous fun. At first glance, LC seams to be a bit ... erm ... picky . He is constantly trying to improve the micro management of our games, and his MM skills are outstanding. However, he possess a skill that is more subtle, but far more valuable: the capability to think outside the box. God knows how many unorthodox ideas he has come up with in the team, and he has always been quick to identify the critical issues in each game. Pure genius, pure CivFanatics

 

[Htadus]

This is bad for the XOTM community but good luck with the next thing...Civ5 Thanks, we will miss your schemes .

 

[Fluroscent]

Well played Erkon

Most memorable game for me was the weird unified religion game on the island of Crete. That was quite creative.

Also remember one of the funniest game spoilers in a certain inland sea game involving an unusually aggressive workboat.

 

[Ronnie1]

Many Thanks Erkon!!! Your input to the xOTM series will surely be missed.

Maybe you will have time to start competing again.

 

[Lexad]

Thanx Erik, see you back in autumn :thumb:

 

[BLubmuz]

Erkon, i'm not playing too much at present, but i can't forget some of your write ups of your games.
Very interesting, but firstly a great fun in reading them.

This seems not to be a goodbye, so, see ya soon.

 

[Mitchum]

Thanks for all you've provided to the GOTM community. I've been a closet fan of team Murky Waters for a long time, especially since you had the best chance of giving a Russian teams a run for their money.

I'm sure we haven't heard the last from you.

 

[da_Vinci]

Definitely have enjoyed the SGOTM trash talk, the great results and write-ups, the entertaining maps (the recent "EL" among others) and, of course ...

"Kill 'em, Kill 'em all!"

(That was you, wasn't it? Or is my mind really shot ... ?)

You will be missed, and Thanks!

Well played Erkon

Most memorable game for me was the weird unified religion game on the island of Crete. That was quite creative.

Also remember one of the funniest game spoilers in a certain inland sea game involving an unusually aggressive workboat.

Maybe we should assemble some links to our favorite Erkon memories ... an electronic scrapboook?

dV

 

[LowtherCastle]

Erik, you overlooked one person: Captain Erkon!

When there were players, you appeared, it was a team.
When there were arguments, you appeared, they were gone.
When there was indecision, you appeared, it was gone.
When there was Silver, you appeared, it was Gold.
When there was pain, you appeared, it was fun.
Oh yeah, and when there was no slogan, you appeared, and it was "Kill 'em! Kill 'em all!!!
And of course, when there were good ideas, you appeared, and they were stupid...(NOT!)

Have an outrageously good life!!!

Swedes Rule!​

 

[Conquistador 63]

We'll miss you, Erkon!

Swedes Rule!​

I've visited Stockholm last month, and if you're referring to the tall, blonde and gorgeous She-swedes, I couldn't agree more!

 

[jesusin]

Great times together, my captain



Even when you kept saying it was the most important turnset of the game

 

[Sun Tzu Wu]

Erkon, thanks for all your work on the xOTM staff.

Extremely impressed by how well you and the other players of Team Murky Waters planned and executed your SGOTM-10 Win! Even more impressed by how well all the team members got along with each other, and it seems you were instrumental in that and making the Game a totally fun and educational experience!

Happy Trails to You, Erkon! May you find rewarding challenges wherever you go from here.

Sun Tzu Wu

 

[ZPV]

It's sad to see you leave, Erkon, if only for a while, even if I am seldom here anyway.
The way you acted as Captain of MW and your team management skills, were second-to-none, and I have no doubt that we couldn't have been nearly as successful without you. Keeping the rest of us in line, despite, in your words "encourag[ing] all and everyone to trash talk to your hearts content" was a thankless task. For this and much, much more, thank-you Erkon!

 

[Vynd]

Thanks for all the fun Erkon!

 

[ngraner42]

Thank you for your efforts.

 

[kcd_swede]

Tack för insatsen! Du har gjort en rolig spel ännu roligare. Sköt om dig. Vi syns, när femman kommer.

 

[MarkM]

Thanks a lot Erkon, learned a lot form you, and enjoyed the process as well. Pity I couldn't make better use of that knowledge!

But come on, let's not pretend ... see you when Civ 5 comes out