Baby Steps

Some of us have been here mere weeks. Others, a year or two. Others since the very beginning. However, no matter what the case is, everyone had their first days. Every nation took its first baby steps.

TNPers, how were your first days? How did you find out about NationStates? Why did you like it? Who was the delegate when you founded your nation? And, of course, how did you get into TNP's community?

On this 13th of November, when we celebrate the creation of the game we play on, let us also celebrate the creation of our nations, yes?

How were your first days?: Scary
How did you find out about NationStates?: Imgur
Why did you like it?: World Building
Who was the delegate when you founded your nation?: Lord Ravenclaw
How did you get into TNP's community?: Joined the Discord

Hail The North Pacific.
Long may NationStates run.

Yalkan:

How were your first days?: Scary

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I hear you.

My first days were very cringeworthy. Especially my introduction thread. My trouble was my age. I was 13 years old when I first joined. I was very naïve, immature, and was a frequent godmodder when it came to RP, mainly because I didn't know any better. When I tried to make an RP thread, I wrote that Plembobria dropped a nuke on a city, and had my own troops genocide a bunch of civilians. Rocky start, I know, but as I got better in RP I began making more detailed posts, like those in SNN News or in regular RPs, such as Zusammenkommen in recent weeks or The Future in times past.

I've got to chalk it up to 5 people, though, who really made me into who I am today. The first was r3naissanc3r, who was essentially my mentor in NationStates. He taught me the basics of the game, and was always there to help me when I needed it back when my nation was in its infancy. The second was Tomb, who was my main friend in TNP for a while and was my foremost RP ally. I could not have been where I am today in TNP RP without him. The third and fourth were the duo of Madjack and Lord Ravenclaw, who really whipped me into shape and made me more mature on NS over the two years I've been here.

However, huge kudos go to the fifth person, Plembobria. Plemby joined NS not long after I did, and while I totally preferred roleplay and nationbuilding, Plemby chose to pursue a career in TNP's government. I eventually decided to get involved in the Ministry of Cultural Affairs early on in my career due to my love of NS RP, and my time there has allowed me to open up to the rest of NS. I've been on Europeia's and TSP's forums, and I was a citizen of Grand Central for a time thanks to Gradea's recommendation that I check it out. I was there at NS World Fairs 3 and 4, too. While many people have done more, I'm content with how I've done in these 2 years.

Then, Plemby sent me a message that would change my TNP life, and I became the head of the Ministry of Cultural Affairs, which I delightfully call MiniCult. Today I'm proud to bring you all these Creation Day celebrations, and yes, more's to come! I've had and have so many ideas and a great group of friends here in TNP. I love this region to death!

tl;dr- Today NS is great for me, and I'm having boatloads of fun, but going back and looking at 2014 and 2015 Syrixia produces all kinds of crazy cringe.

TNPers, how were your first days? I was glad to have a distraction from the stress of my impending GCSE exams, but I didn't really explore any of the community side of things for a while.
How did you find out about NationStates? Why did you like it? Google, and it just seemed interesting.
Who was the delegate when you founded your nation? Dear god how am I meant to remember that?
And, of course, how did you get into TNP's community? I think I was exploring other regions and found that TNP seemed to match up with my ideals. Then when I left Europeia, here seemed like a good home.

How were your first days? Eerily familiar. I know I played this in the past, but the difference is that I am finally joining the real NS community.
How did you find out about NationStates? TV Tropes and my own memory.
Why did you like it? Chatting, forum games, all that stuff.
Who was the delegate when you founded your nation? Lord Ravenclaw
How did you get into TNP's community? Three letters: RMB

How were your first days?: Bewildering. My English sucked big time and I couldn't understand most of it. I gave up a few times. My first account was founded ca. 2005 but I can't remember the name, in my second attempt in 2007 I founded Kasperiah which is now back living amongst my puppets. I'd usually stay in left-wing regions and trade puppets. I became a TNPer in 2012, and nothing would be the same again.

How did you find out about NationStates?: I was googling something else and NS came up.

Why did you like it?: I guess I've always wanted to rule the world. Everybody does, don't they? well, that's how the song goes anyway.

Who was the delegate when you founded your nation?: My first nations had nothing to do with TNP, but in 2012, when I founded Ehlnar and decided to stay in TNP, Eluvatar was WAD.

How did you get into TNP's community?: RMB, and then here.

How were your first days? I spent my time answering issues and waiting for the next issue to come. I couldn't wait! Of course, I had no idea what I was getting myself into...

How did you find out about NationStates? Oh gosh, at this point I have no idea how I stumbled upon it. I've been playing for about eleven years, so for all I know it might have been an ad banner on MySpace.

Why did you like it? I loved the nation-building aspect, how the issues affected how your nation developed, and the customizable things like national animal and currency.

Who was the delegate when you founded your nation? Pffft. I have no idea who the delegate was when I founded Ashatwe. I was so new that I didn't take notice or care about the delegate, yet alone what region I was founded in.

And, of course, how did you get into TNP's community? I ended up moving to TNP after trying out some of the other feeders, most notably the Pacific. What I liked about TNP was no endo cap. Or rather, a floating endo cap that meant you had to stay just shy of the Vice Delegate in total endorsements. I started out on the RMB, of course, and then decided to hop on the forums and see what it was all about. Before I knew it, I was part of a new community.

How were your first days? Really I just answered issues and telegrammed other nations. Then Magicality invited me to visit the forum, where I lurked for quite a while. Back then I didn't even know what a forum was. Except for the one in Rome.

How did you find out about NationStates? My nephew who was in college at the time told my brother about it. My brother said to me, "You'll like this. It's a political game and it only takes about 2 minutes a day to play." HA! He had noooo idea.

Why did you like it? The community. The bright, talented and fun people who have enjoyed this game over the years.

Who was the delegate when you founded your nation? IIRC Wilkshire was delegate when I founded my first nation. Great Bights Mum only came about when Great Bight was delegate. I created it for the sole purpose of harassing him on the RMB. I would tell him to go clean his room, or that I was giving him "computer time-out" for banning all those nations. Kind of baiting him to see if he was heartless enough to ban his own mother. To his credit, he did not.

And, of course, how did you get into TNP's community? I started talking to Thel D'ran and we became friends. Blackshear was also incredibly helpful to me. I found more often than not I agreed with his point of view. Of course, just as I was getting into the game, all hell broke loose with UPSRail and Great Bight. We had to fight! Those were very heady times to be in TNP.

Great Bights Mum:

Who was the delegate when you founded your nation? IIRC Wilkshire was delegate when I founded my first nation. Great Bights Mum only came about when Great Bight was delegate. I created it for the sole purpose of harassing him on the RMB. I would tell him to go clean his room, or that I was giving him "computer time-out" for banning all those nations. Kind of baiting him to see if he was heartless enough to ban his own mother. To his credit, he did not.

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I've always wondered how that came about.

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How were your first days? I started answering issues for a bit, was invited to the forums and poked around. Eventually I ran for the Delegacy, lost and then became MoFA.

How did you find out about NationStates? I was looking for something similar to Civ 5.

Why did you like it? The challenge couping presents. The drama. The unique issues.

Who was the delegate when you founded your nation? Lord Ravenclaw.

And of course, how did you get into TNP's community? I was bored and took a look at the forums. Lord Ravenclaw encouraged me to run for the Delegacy which was a great decision. I'll always be thankful for his encouragement to me in doing so as well as subsequently choosing me as the MoFA for his second term.

How were your first days?: It's always intimidating to be a new person in such a massive community, but everyone seemed nice. My first few days of RPing were rocky (not everyone was excited to see a nation of dragons join TNP RP), but I managed. Mostly.

How did you find out about NationStates?: My sister, Crefas (since CTE'd) introduced me. Turns out quite a few of my friends had been in NS before (one was even a moderator), but they've all since moved on.

Why did you like it?: It was an opportunity to RP. It's not the type of RP I liked or was used to; I was solely focused on character RPs before here, but I've never found another site to do that on, especially one that would be open to dragons. The only reason I could before was because my sister was the owner of a massive RP site and allowed it. However, I saw this as an opportunity; I had one minor character (Scian) in my head who would be perfect for NS, as the leader of a nation of dragons. As well, it would be a golden opportunity to test how dragons would fare in a modern world, even if NS RP is nowhere near fully realistic.

Who was the delegate when you founded your nation?: HMS Unicorn, aka r3naissanc3r.

How did you get into TNP's community?: I mostly just hung around on the RMB a bit, testing the community of this region out before I learned of the forums. Then I joined Uthvaq Shanar (and the NPA) and the rest is history.

TNPers, how were your first days? Kind of...idle really. The issues actually managed to hold my attention, as did the prospect of unlocking the customizeable fields. At least, they did for a while. Some time after I was founded, I moved to Canada, then got bored a couple months later and CTE'd. A few months after that, I refounded, then moved to TNP for my personal idea that Sasten was an island nation in the north of the IRL Pacific Ocean.

How did you find out about NationStates? A couple of my IRL friends suckered me into playing an online browser game that they played. From there, I followed a banner ad to another online browser game, and from there I followed yet another banner ad to NationStates. Luckily this was about six months before I stopped clicking them at all, and then I discovered ad blockers. It's worth noting that I've been an NS'er for more than six and a half years, while I haven't touched either of those games since at least 2012.

Why did you like it? At first, it was the issues. I loved how crazy they were, and how I could shape my nation's freedoms and status with the way I answered them; the prospect of running my own country continued to draw me in. I eventually came to enjoy talking on the RMB, and I decided to stick around.

Who was the delegate when you founded your nation? I honestly have no idea. Sasten, my first nation and my main one since the day I joined NS, was founded in February of 2010. I don't remember where I was founded (although I have a lingering suspicion that it was either TNP or TSP), nor have I been able to locate any records to that effect. I don't exactly remember who was delegate when I moved to TNP after CTE'ing, either, although I do remember Blue Wolf and Elu being delegates around that time.

And, of course, how did you get into TNP's community? I started posting regularly on the RMB around when McM was delegate, if I recall correctly. But the first real call to action was Milograd's coup of (I think it was) TSP, when I decided to join the NPA, though because of my confusion at the time, I only actually signed up for the Regional Guard. I eventually made my way to these forums, where I joined the Regional Assembly and have been a member of it ever since, albeit with a couple times when it lapsed because of lack of votes and my own forgetfulness. The recent Halloween zombie apocalypses induced me to take to IRC, albeit only for a limited time to help combat the hordes. The DEN takeover of TWP was when I really decided to become active here; I joined the NPA as an updater to help TWP, and through that became known to a few more people. McM tapped me to become the first of the RMB Guardians now managed by the MoGA, and Tomb asked me to be one of his deputy AG's. I also joined Raven's Discord server for TNP. I'm still not as active as many here are, I still have less than 400 posts to my name, but now I'm actually contributing some rather than sitting around answering issues in my own self-contained bubble.
TL;DR I got into this community because of rogue delegates, zombies, Tomb and McMasterdonia.

TNPers, how were your first days? A little bit confused but very funny. As every start...
How did you find out about NationStates? A good reference of Dedoimedo's blog.
Why did you like it? Still very funny. There're a lot of things that I have to explore.
Who was the delegate when you founded your nation? Lord Ravenclaw
And of course, how did you get into TNP's community? I was born and continue to grow in TNP