“Nostalgia is a dirty liar that insists things were better than they seemed.”
Veterans are often regarded as the backbone of any army. They provide invaluable experience, time-tested leading strategies, and often have tournament wins or other achievements under their belt. In spite of all this, veterans might often be over-hyped and given more importance than they warrant.
Veterans are usually former leaders or staff members, who stick around the army Discord post ‘retirement’. While they no longer actively contribute to the army, they do help out whenever called upon. They also serve as excellent sources of history, as they can provide information from their time in the army. Furthermore, some veterans help out with the little things like keeping chat interesting, or even serving as the army’s advisors. This is where they usually go wrong.
It is not uncommon for veterans to be out of touch with the current state of the army. This is shockingly true in the case of Covid era veterans who never saw the community during the 2010s. High maxes were much easier to achieve during the lockdown, with recruiting spurred on by the existence of popular Club Penguin private servers. However, everything is exponentially harder for army leaders nowadays. Most veterans fail to analyze the situation before talking about how the community is dead. Sadly, they make the mistake of building their opinions on the shaky foundations of rose-colored lenses of nostalgia.
Nostalgia often distorts one’s vision of the past, encouraging the memory to overlook internal issues and low points. This mostly leads the veterans into believing that they were the only capable staff members or leaders the army ever had. While having self respect is a nice thing, being unfairly judgmental of the current staff despite their efforts is not. Leaders from all the eras bygone enjoyed luxuries that current armies never will, barring another lockdown or the popularization of another private server.
Such problems make it difficult for commanders to receive support from their predecessors. Veterans tend to envelope themselves in the delusion that their numbers make their era undoubtedly better than the current one. However, the blatant disregard of context is nothing compared to the consequences of their arrogance. When veterans, in an attempt to be helpful, give advice that is no longer relevant, it ends up harming the army instead.
No one is here because they want to be. They just don’t have a choice, there’s nothing else to do.
Think of all the people who tell you your maxes are low because you don’t keep your troops interested, or who insist that recruiting from servers such as Roblox is useful. Although their intentions are good, their advice stopped being useful in the era that they retired in. Covid-relevant advice is what keeps modern armies stagnant. And when these ‘tips’ aren’t followed, it worsens relations between the veterans and the leaders.
However, this isn’t to say that veterans have no useful advice. It is important to keep in mind that those with more experience than you are important sources of wisdom in general. They know a thing or two because they’ve seen a thing or two. Although, do note that some of them have seen exactly that, just a thing or two. Veterans may also hold importance in form of their network with other armies. They have contacts with former staff who could assist in important battles, but sometimes they would rather just watch a movie while you fight for that cup.
Veterans need to know when they are no longer relevant in the army. Respecting someone’s past contributions to the army does not include entertaining their constant efforts to undermine the authenticity of the new leaders’ efforts. The only use of historical feats is to fill up the Hall Of Fame, and definitely not to measure the value of new things. Veterans who understand this are the only people who fit into the community nowadays. Sadly, the rest of them degrade themselves to relics of the past.
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Mchappy is interning at Club Penguin Armies as the Chief Executive Producer. Max held him at gunpoint to finish his biography.