Sarzonia
22-03-2005, 16:14
One year ago tonight, I was reading through my friends list on LiveJournal when I unwittingly came upon an entry that would change things for me. I saw a short entry by my friend Josh about a game he found called NationStates and he linked his newly-created country, Bestehen. I looked at the link, explored a little bit, and thought, "this looks like fun. I want to play this." So I sat at the nation creation screen and tried to think of a name that sounded like the kind of country I would want to create if I could do such a thing in real life. I racked my brain for what seems like forever until I finally came up with one that I could live with: Sarzonia. I thought, "this may be kind of cheesy, but what the hell." I then decided to answer the questions in the survey as honestly as possible and within a few minutes, the Incorporated States of Sarzonia came into being.
I don't know exactly when I started poking my head into the forums, but the first place I went to was most likely International Incidents. Before long, I noticed something under Announcement that was titled What You Should NOT Post in International Incidents by Automagfreek. However, I was unsure about getting involved in roleplay so I decided to hang back a bit to see if I could figure out who were the "good guys" and who were the "bad guys" before I made any alliances or declarations of war. I don't remember a particular first or second thread I noticed, but I also remember in my early days noticing the RSIN thread by Isselmere. I read that thread and was blown away by what was clear to me as evidence of much time being spent on organisation, presentation, and attention to detail. I decided that as soon as I could, I would buy ships from RSIN.
I don't remember when I first made a post that was intended as a roleplaying post in a roleplaying forum, but I think one of the first was an order on the RSIN Corp. And, believe it or not, Isselmere actually turned down my first order. However, when I could afford what I wanted, I went back to him again and again. My initial forays into NS roleplaying weren't all successful. I severed diplomatic relations with Doujin in a thread without reading the explanation that came later, but I later used the intelligence chief I had my president dismiss help start a civil war in the later months. I can think of other mistakes I made as a newb on the fora, but they were all part of the growing pains and it seemed as though the people who corrected my mistakes perhaps saw them as the mistakes of a promising newb.
My earliest RPs were pretty much Associated Press-styled news stories or memoranda requesting the purchase of munitions, but as time went on, I started reading posts that were styled more like a novel and I began to shift over into that style. The idea of writing a novel was once upon a time as far from the back of my mind as any form of writing could possibly be for me. I was a news writer, an opinion piece writer, a songwriter. Writing that lengthy prose wasn't part of what I had trained myself to do. Besides, I couldn't remember the last time I even read a novel. But before I knew it, I started to think to myself that I could write in the style of a novel and I started getting interested in reading again. I read military reference books. I dug out my old miliary reference books and started looking for updated versions. I started reading novels again and I discovered how similar some of my posts were to some of the novels I was reading. And the idea of writing a novel progressed from being the providence of other people to being something that I could see myself wanting to do.
One year later, I look back on that act of snooping through my friends list and happening upon a simple little entry as being the start of something far greater than I could have imagined. It's not about winning glory on the roleplayed battlefield or winning mastery of virtual seas. It's about creating a story; nay, an entire world that you can inhabit. As a child, I was often "in my own little world" and I was creating a new reality in my mind, which I learned to keep hidden from everyone else from the debilitating fear of being ridiculed as being a wierdo. One of the joys of this game has been to join a community with people who have and continue to build their own worlds with detailed information about their countries (such as Isselmere's or Pacitalia's factbooks) or characteristics of their peoples (which Praetonia does rather well IMO). It's wonderful to see veterans who go out of their way to help newbs get started (such as Euroslavia with his nearly baker's dozen stickied threads or Automagfreek who also takes his time to help newbs out). And it's just plain fun to see a storyline progress from the idea stage to a conclusion that leaves a well-told story. And it's flat out enjoyable to read great posts even from my "enemies" such as Generic Empire (whose writing I admire greatly) and Doomingsland (who has also been helpful when I've looked for feedback on designs).
Thanks for a great year everyone and let's hope the next year brings some more great memories.
I don't know exactly when I started poking my head into the forums, but the first place I went to was most likely International Incidents. Before long, I noticed something under Announcement that was titled What You Should NOT Post in International Incidents by Automagfreek. However, I was unsure about getting involved in roleplay so I decided to hang back a bit to see if I could figure out who were the "good guys" and who were the "bad guys" before I made any alliances or declarations of war. I don't remember a particular first or second thread I noticed, but I also remember in my early days noticing the RSIN thread by Isselmere. I read that thread and was blown away by what was clear to me as evidence of much time being spent on organisation, presentation, and attention to detail. I decided that as soon as I could, I would buy ships from RSIN.
I don't remember when I first made a post that was intended as a roleplaying post in a roleplaying forum, but I think one of the first was an order on the RSIN Corp. And, believe it or not, Isselmere actually turned down my first order. However, when I could afford what I wanted, I went back to him again and again. My initial forays into NS roleplaying weren't all successful. I severed diplomatic relations with Doujin in a thread without reading the explanation that came later, but I later used the intelligence chief I had my president dismiss help start a civil war in the later months. I can think of other mistakes I made as a newb on the fora, but they were all part of the growing pains and it seemed as though the people who corrected my mistakes perhaps saw them as the mistakes of a promising newb.
My earliest RPs were pretty much Associated Press-styled news stories or memoranda requesting the purchase of munitions, but as time went on, I started reading posts that were styled more like a novel and I began to shift over into that style. The idea of writing a novel was once upon a time as far from the back of my mind as any form of writing could possibly be for me. I was a news writer, an opinion piece writer, a songwriter. Writing that lengthy prose wasn't part of what I had trained myself to do. Besides, I couldn't remember the last time I even read a novel. But before I knew it, I started to think to myself that I could write in the style of a novel and I started getting interested in reading again. I read military reference books. I dug out my old miliary reference books and started looking for updated versions. I started reading novels again and I discovered how similar some of my posts were to some of the novels I was reading. And the idea of writing a novel progressed from being the providence of other people to being something that I could see myself wanting to do.
One year later, I look back on that act of snooping through my friends list and happening upon a simple little entry as being the start of something far greater than I could have imagined. It's not about winning glory on the roleplayed battlefield or winning mastery of virtual seas. It's about creating a story; nay, an entire world that you can inhabit. As a child, I was often "in my own little world" and I was creating a new reality in my mind, which I learned to keep hidden from everyone else from the debilitating fear of being ridiculed as being a wierdo. One of the joys of this game has been to join a community with people who have and continue to build their own worlds with detailed information about their countries (such as Isselmere's or Pacitalia's factbooks) or characteristics of their peoples (which Praetonia does rather well IMO). It's wonderful to see veterans who go out of their way to help newbs get started (such as Euroslavia with his nearly baker's dozen stickied threads or Automagfreek who also takes his time to help newbs out). And it's just plain fun to see a storyline progress from the idea stage to a conclusion that leaves a well-told story. And it's flat out enjoyable to read great posts even from my "enemies" such as Generic Empire (whose writing I admire greatly) and Doomingsland (who has also been helpful when I've looked for feedback on designs).
Thanks for a great year everyone and let's hope the next year brings some more great memories.