Player's History of Particracy Classic

[dannypk]

How and when did you discover Particracy? How old were you and where were you in life around that time (to the extent you are comfortable sharing)?

I discovered Particracy somewhere around September-October 2017, mostly through searching for political simulators (I played quite a lot). I was just 13 and I had recently become interested in politics, mostly attracted to anarchism as I discovered the punk scene. And logically, that'd reflect a lot of what I contributed on Particracy early on. It's funny because I consider that it was also around this time when I stopped being the "semi-popular kid" of class to be the politics nerd and asocial teen. I do remember those times very dearly - I particularly have a memory of doing a huge overhaul of Telamon's wiki history page while my sister watched the Lord of the Rings on TV next to me. I don't know why exactly that's remained in my memory, but I love it.

What country did you first play in? What was your earliest experience with the forum? What were your first impressions, generally?

My first nation was Telamon. I remember reading by someone else in this thread (Mbites?) that most people pick the nation of their own RL culture. I, honestly, just picked a random nation. And it  happened to be Telamon. Back then Telamon didn't have a culture proper - when I joined, the whole cultural protocols thingy wasn't even as developed as it is now, and many nations didn't have one. In fact, it was jamescfm joining Telamon soon afterwards that introduced some cultural protocols to Telamon. I remember when I joined it, there was just this guy, whose name I don't remember, but I remember the name of the party: "Kafe Commune". Or something of the sort. It was essentially an anarcho-communist party. I played as a libertarian socialist party, and got very much along with this party, although nothing special of the sort. They eventually deactivated, though, and I was left alone, until more parties starting to come. I made of Telamon an anarchist utopia for a long time (half a century? a century?) until a bunch of different parties (james being one of them!) came in, started complaining about it, said there were no "RP laws explaining and approving it" and so on - and altogether, my poor newbie self decided to call it quits and destroyed the anarchist utopia and changed the ideology of my party to a made-up ideology, one I remember naming "Federal Collectivism" after one of those player suggested it to me. The worst part of all is, these parties (james included again!) didn't last long and I was left alone again, so I made of Telamon now... a Federal Collectivist utopia! Eventually I got bored and left Telamon, and have never returned - even though I've considered it several times.

I believe I didn't touch the forum until I joined Egelion (now finally suiting my RL culture) after Telamon. Egelion has a special place in my heart, because that's where I think I grew as a Roleplayer, learnt a lot, and started participating with the community. I remember orchestrating a whole civil war, super interesting with other nations involved, although I had a minor role in it. Ever since that happened, I've always been nostalgic for recreating a project of the sort, and I think that influences a lot of my RP projects nowadays (I believe most of you know what I'm talking about). I've always been very good at writing, so I had no issues with it. I also was used to forums, since I started participating in forums when I was nine years old (wouldn't recommend it, though: if you have children, keep them away from the internet, as much as you can!). My main issue was my inexperience with politics, economics, and so on. If many of my RPs now seem "surreal" or "insane"... let's just say I had a lot of imagination back then, and I've touched some grass ever since, believe it or not.

I've also been a "nation hopper" in the sense I've probably been in... half of Terra? Sometimes briefly, sometimes for a relatively long time. 

What was your most memorable RP experience or arc? Did you help shape any regions, lore, or political systems that you’re proud of?

As I said, the Egelian civil war arc was my main influence in this game and my main motivation for continuing. But I had a minor role in it, so I don't know if I can count it much.

Back then, I was probably known as the Egelian guy. I was practically there most of my time in Particracy. I've engaged in many different lores for Egelion, but there was an infamous player known for party sitting that often didn't let us roleplayers enjoy the nation, so I decided to leave Egelion and never returned except for briefly before going to Selucia in 2023.

Now, I'm probably known as the Selucian guy. It saddens me that a nation that has been so important in Terra, and that has had a lot of potential, was left largely abandoned and with a lot of chaos when it comes to the information regarding the past and the culture. I've tried my best, and I still do, to fix this, while respecting all the decisions and RPs from previous players. My arc of the Principate in Selucia is special - I've never done something I'm so proud of, and I'd be lying if I said I'm not tempted with repeating it over and over again. I've always been a nerd of the Roman Principate, and just when I was fixated on it I took advantage that Selucia was empty in 2023 to join it and prepare a typical ancient Roman political drama that led to the Principate (with some creative liberties, of course). I particularly love the dilemma of modernisation vs keeping traditional lifestyles, and it's something incredibly present in my Selucian RP arcs. I'm also currently overhauling some other minor cultures in Selucia, equivalent to Old French, Occitan, and Mozarabic. 

I'm also probably remembered for the infamous Istalian invasion of Pontesi and Kafuristan when I roleplayed a communist party - yet another political drama, but modern and based on communist ideologies. Personally, I loved the political aspect of it more - I wasn't as much interesed in the roleplay of a military conflict, but I thought it would be fun and would give a chance for other nations to get something out of it (roleplay, more relevance, more power, etc), and would also serve as a way for me to say goodbye to Istalia and return to my beloved Selucia. Needless to say, anyone who was around at the time probably noticed I ended up pretty discontent with how it was organised and how some players also tried to get involved in it in ways I found dangerously toxic. Since then, I've become more cautious of conflict RPs, especially when it involves many nations. Nonetheless, I loved the communist magazine I made and my brief project of analysing Terran events through a Metzist lens! It was very fun and I hope I can return to it some day.

What do you think your biggest impact/legacy has been on the game and the community (if any)?

To be honest, I've always kept myself more low-key on purpose (partly because I was inexperienced, and partly because I didn't want to get way too involved with the... uh, community we had back then). I'd say there were two different periods of my time in Particracy, one from 2017 to 2020 (when I stopped playing), and then another one in 2023 to nowadays. Both wildly different. Back in 2017-2020, I remember I spent insane amounts of time in the wiki. I was in the top 10 of the wiki's ranking for a very long time (and I'm only a bit below it now), which can already show a bit how much I dedicated to the wiki. I'd fix things done by others, write my own stuff, even do overhauls of history pages (most notably Telamon's).

I like to see myself as someone who's mostly just there to help others. You need someone to RP with? Cool, give me your idea and I'll make it possible. I'm very open-minded, and it's very helpful for this. And whenever there's been conflict, I've always been there to mediate the community and try to calm the waters. Sure - it's nothing extraordinary, but I like to think I've helped people or the community in any way several times. As I said before, my whole Istalian RP of the conflict against Pontesi and Kafuristan was particularly to give some protagonism and benefits to MrFacts and Farsun, two people I've always gotten along well and respect a lot. I didn't mind breaking Istalia down in three states and giving them control of two of them - I was thinking of them from the beginning, and only barely on myself (sorry Axxell, I know you hated that!)

Who were some of the players or moderators who had the biggest impact on you? What were your most memorable interactions, collaborations, or rivalries?

Moderators it's easy - in the past I mostly just interacted with Farsun and jamescfm. And I had a very good relationship with both of them. While I became very distant with james (and he probably barely even remembers me, if at all), Farsun has remained a person from the very beginning with whom I've gotten along amazingly well, and I've never had any issue with him. I'm aware of the dramas both have been involved in, even if not to the most miniscule detail, and I still have utmost respect for the both of them and hold no grudges or resentment towards them in any way (in fact, both have treated me well, anyway). Nowadays, I'd obviously like to mention GreekIdiot - I had never met him before joining Selucia, and it was a pleasant surprise. I think we all can agree he's been a very neat addition to the community - and to the game - and he deserves our respect for all the efforts done, not just for the game, but also the community. In many ways, I also think I've been motivated by him to do exactly what I described earlier: to help others in their RPs and ensure they can have fun, even at my own expense. 

As players - I'm particularly fond for Louis for his dedication and absolutely marvelous ideas and personality - he's a cool person to have around, but you also don't want to make him angry. In a similar way, I could mention Weim - she's fun to be around, cool, and has an incredible dedication. While he's a newer addition, I'm also very fond of MrFacts - I've never seen someone so nice and passionate for roleplaying and learning, it's always fun to interact with him in any way. Also, as a fellow insane player, I have to mention Svet. I'm addicted to her RPs and ideas and, while I've largely abandoned her in Nadiya, I've truly always wanted to RP with her (I'm just saying this so she doesn't get angry with me - send help). I'd also like to mention Doc - while we've had our disagreements, especially in politics (seriously, Doc, let's never debate politics again), I respect him a lot and I think he's one of the best roleplayers I've seen in the community, and with the most dedication of all. Last special mention, I think, will be for Axxell. I met him very recently, when he returned to Istalia after I completely ruined it, and he was very pleasant and had cool ideas. I'm honestly envious of his style.

And while, perhaps, not as special as the others to get a custom message, I'd still like to mention (in no particular order) Lig, Mbites, Polites, Liu, Aethan, Brad, imp, Kubrick, Zanz, jorni, TheNick, Vesica, and Zhdanov - and probably some more I'm missing, because they've also had some impact on me, even if only a bit.

How did the community culture evolve during your time within it?

As others have said, it is much less toxic now. People I had a lot of respect for (Farsun, james) would suddenly be involved in heavy drama and vanish, only to come back later and get involved in more drama, and I was left completely confused. Now the community is more... normal? There are some small dramas even now and then, as is to be expected of any community, especially one of our sort. But it has nothing to do with what I remember in the past. There's less competition and more fun, I think. Which is the essence of Particracy - to have fun.

How did Particracy influence your interests, writing, or worldview?

Not much, honestly. It has served as further practice for writing, has pushed me to learn about certain topics, and such. And it has introduced me to worldbuilding, which I absolutely love now.

How do you feel about the end of Particracy Classic — and what do you hope remains remembered?

I think I have a different take from the rest? To me Classic didn't die, it just evolved. What we had been demanding wouter to do for ages, Greek has finally gone and done it: fix the goddamn game. But it's still essentially the same game, just forum-based now. It was heading that direction, inevitably, as it started losing many players eventually.