Sarzonia
22-03-2009, 16:18
Five years ago today, I saw a LiveJournal entry from a friend of mine who found this interesting-sounding game called NationStates. Intrigued by what he described, I surfed over to www.nationstates.net and sat at the nation creation screen, trying to come up with a clever nation name.
Feeling my creative juices ebbing at that time, I picked a national-sounding ending and simply appended it to my last name. Little did I know that simple act of creating a new imaginary nation would lead to so much.
I formed friendships with people from around the world, including some players who were almost young enough to be my children. When I made my way to International Incidents, I noticed some players who developed their nations with such detail that the places seemed real to me. It led me to create a back story, write a constitution, and do various other things that turned my nation from an imaginary creation into a place that soon occupied my time as a creative outlet.
In some ways, I feel NationStates sharpened some skills. I've always thought of myself as a writer. Now I feel more confident that I could write fiction. I had a dormant longtime interest in the navy and naval history. It sprung back to life as my NS navy emerged as a world power. In some ways, my characters grew with me. The evolution of Grant Haffner from one of late president Mike Sarzo's bulldogs to a real statesman is one I would never have imagined when I started this game.
It's fashionable in these threads to thank the people who've been influential in a RPers development. I'm no different, but I'll cite only a small cadre of players who have been particularly influential. Automagfreek was one of the first players who showed me how much fabric could be weaved into the history of a country that some critics would say only exists in cyberspace. Isselmere showed me the value of a detailed history and culture, not to mention an exceptional storefront. Vilita gave me a fertile starting ground for sports RPing that I've hopefully begun to develop more thoroughly in my latest go-round with NS.
That's not to say there haven't been rough patches. I can point to friendships formed, but I can also cite real friendships that burned in the embers of a now ignored war. I can point to moments when someone whom I now consider one of my closest friends and I refused to speak to each other because we both suffered from a momentary lapse of reason. I can also look back on a grand canyon that developed when a popular player broke what was then a rule. By and large, however, I value the friendships I've been lucky enough to form with people from different backgrounds and different walks of life here.
In the end, this is a game, but it's so much more. Thank you for five enlightening, maddening, rewarding years of NationStates.
Mike Sarzo
(My president may be dead, but thankfully, I'm fine!)
Feeling my creative juices ebbing at that time, I picked a national-sounding ending and simply appended it to my last name. Little did I know that simple act of creating a new imaginary nation would lead to so much.
I formed friendships with people from around the world, including some players who were almost young enough to be my children. When I made my way to International Incidents, I noticed some players who developed their nations with such detail that the places seemed real to me. It led me to create a back story, write a constitution, and do various other things that turned my nation from an imaginary creation into a place that soon occupied my time as a creative outlet.
In some ways, I feel NationStates sharpened some skills. I've always thought of myself as a writer. Now I feel more confident that I could write fiction. I had a dormant longtime interest in the navy and naval history. It sprung back to life as my NS navy emerged as a world power. In some ways, my characters grew with me. The evolution of Grant Haffner from one of late president Mike Sarzo's bulldogs to a real statesman is one I would never have imagined when I started this game.
It's fashionable in these threads to thank the people who've been influential in a RPers development. I'm no different, but I'll cite only a small cadre of players who have been particularly influential. Automagfreek was one of the first players who showed me how much fabric could be weaved into the history of a country that some critics would say only exists in cyberspace. Isselmere showed me the value of a detailed history and culture, not to mention an exceptional storefront. Vilita gave me a fertile starting ground for sports RPing that I've hopefully begun to develop more thoroughly in my latest go-round with NS.
That's not to say there haven't been rough patches. I can point to friendships formed, but I can also cite real friendships that burned in the embers of a now ignored war. I can point to moments when someone whom I now consider one of my closest friends and I refused to speak to each other because we both suffered from a momentary lapse of reason. I can also look back on a grand canyon that developed when a popular player broke what was then a rule. By and large, however, I value the friendships I've been lucky enough to form with people from different backgrounds and different walks of life here.
In the end, this is a game, but it's so much more. Thank you for five enlightening, maddening, rewarding years of NationStates.
Mike Sarzo
(My president may be dead, but thankfully, I'm fine!)