I've known Bellck for over 11 years - I met him when I played FL online for the first time. This may have had something to with the fact that he was able to pull me out of 'retirement' to be the Director of Relations. The other is that I've always had an interest in the GMG, firstly because I come from mining country and know how hard-headed miners can be, and secondly as the winners of the 80 years war, the game reflected that.
I intensely dislike the idea of retconning anyone's efforts, as it's usually a permanent solution to a temporary situation, so large chunks of GMG-ness will not disappear, but certain aspects (hard-headed winners) may rise to the fore. I see the GMG has having a lot going for it - a ready supply of easy money from access to a restricted commodity, plenty of enemies to keep things interesting, far away sell points that maximise the chances of interaction, as well as a backstory that stretches back to vanilla - not bad for a bit-part faction in Trent's life.
The challenges the GMG will face are mostly internal. The long-standing players seem to have lost sight of the things that they can rightly be proud of, and losing official status has exacerbated this. Over-coming this ennui will be one of the main challenges for my character as the director of relations, who will desperately try not to sound like an enthusiastic camp counsellor.
We have a few RP opportunities on the near horizon. I don't want to jump the gun and steal someone else's thunder, but we hope to roleplay recent RL events and give them a RP-spin, to maintain continuity of the GMG canon, whilst moving in fresh and exciting directions.
