Player's History of Particracy Classic

[Polites]

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 first discovered Particracy in 2007, right as I was graduating highschool. At that time I was applying to the Political Science department of the University of Bucharest, and while researching the department I ran into its forum. In the off topic section somebody posted a link to the game. As I had briefly flirted with other online political simulation games (mostly NationStates) I was intrigued and decided to give it a shot.

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

Like Zanz I first joined Sekowo (now Seko) in 2007. I think it was a couple of weeks after Zanz left, and there was only Imperium's party there. Back then I was very interested in Greek and Roman history and culture and had some knowledge of Latin, and Aretist Sekowo seemed to have an Ancient Greek theme. Soon after joining many other players joined as well, and I was there during Sekowo's ultimate transition away from Aretism and though I did contribute to that, my party tried to keep Greek Sekowo alive.

At that time Sekowo had a very active and engaged community. The roleplay wasn't really anything to write home about, but it was different from anything I had seen anywhere else. I did briefly frequent the old Takeforum, but one of the players in Sekowo created a separate forum just for us, and much of the RP I engaged in was on that defunct forum. I honestly found interacting with just one nation to be a bit overwhelming, so I did not pay any attention to what was happening in the rest of Terra, except for Sekowo's neighbours. This was still during the time when the game was in active development and new nations were still being added in Dovani. After Lourenne and Talmoria were created I thought all other empty lands in Dovani would be added to the game as new nations, so I came up with the Dovani for the Dovanians treaty, which I was surprised to see gained quite a bit of traction.

After getting bored in Sekowo I moved to Lourenne and tried unsuccessfully to turn it Greek, and after that I briefly tried a Gao-Showa nationalist party in Greater Hulstria, trying to bring back the dual monarchy. I then took a 2 year sabbatical and returned in 2009-2010.

Old Particracy was a very different game in 2007. It was definitely a much more chaotic era, with far fewer rules and a much greater focus on game mechanics. Cultures were also much less defined and could change widely. What marked me the most was the collaborative nature of the RP, the fact that no single person could "own" a nation, and that there was already some pretty solid worldbuilding that was both very strange but also easy to grasp.

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

Quite a few. The ones I am most proud of were the empire building RP arcs I engaged in around  2012-2014. The Southern Hemisphere War was really fun. When I came back to Yingdala with a Zen Socialist party Liu Che was gracious enough to let me take over the government and reform Yingdala, while he moved elsewhere. This was the first large scale war RP I ever engaged in, and I am proud to say it ultimately paved the way for the end of the "colonies" and their evolution into the FBCs. 

 The Dolgavan War was a great experience, and I think the first time I participated in one of these RP-focused "reunions" in a single nation. I joined Jalal, Captain-Socialist, and other great RPers in Dolgava in a chaotic battle-royale war which then became an unstable feudal republic, for which I am proud to have designed the political system. This was also my first engagement with the Terran Patriarchal Church, which I then used in Deltaria. 

Maybe the longest-lasting and most engaging RP arc I ever took part in was the Deltarian Empire, which lasted for about 100 IG years. I convinced Captain-Socialist and some other players to join me in Deltaria, at the time a relatively unremarkable liberal democracy, and help me restore the insane culture and RP that was typical of Deltaria in the older days. With time, and with the collaboration of many legendary RPers like Zanz and Dynastia, we managed to establish a massive empire backed by solid RP. It was during this time that I began my Cultural Protocol updating spree, as I updated the cultures of every nation I was bringing into the empire. Later, when Dynastia had left and the empire was starting to crumble, I had a fantastic time playing with Aquinas in Deltaria where he led a clerical opposition to the regime that ultimately ended in his character getting blinded and imprisoned and some of his ministers impaled.

Kubrick mentioned the Temrkai arc, and it's another one I take pride in originating. During the Deltarian conquests I created the Augustan culture, a modern day Byzantine culture using Esperanto as its language, and I helped build the new Augustan Empire and then I brought it down with Temrkai. This was my first proper interaction with Kubrick and I loved it. Not long after Kubrick and I moved to Selucia, where we essentially recreated the plot of the Rome TV series in a modern day setting. We were also joined by Aquinas and Reddy, and I would say that was the most fun single nation RP arc I ever took part in.

Many years later I was also in Selucia, this time with Aethan and Sisyphus. This was another great single nation RP, with much greater focus on a complex political system, complete with judiciary, referendums, local elections, and local political parties. I also overengineered a political ideology after spending an inordinate amount of time reading about neo-Roman republicanism.

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

I've often been called the "culture guy" of Particracy, and I think that's because of my obsession with updating or introducing Cultural Protocols in practically any nation I play in. Sometimes this has been helpful, but I've also often introduced cultures too obscure to properly engage in (RIP Phoenician Cildania). 

Another impact I've had is the current state of religions in Terra. I initiated the "Great Religion Retcon" in 2012 - before then the rules were less strict on RL names, so religions like "Christianity" and "Islam" were dominant. After Moderation updated the rules to ban RL names, I initiated a retcon of the major religions in Particracy, and the bones of that project persist to this day.

A somewhat minor impact I've had is on the Jelbic language, I helped others use it in their RPs and I've also developed some additional Jelbic varieties (Classical Brmek, Banmek, and Jelbido). I also created a template on the wiki that automatically conjugates regular Jelbic verbs.

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

Here's the players I think had the biggest impact on me, in roughly chronological order. If I missed anyone it's because I am getting old.

• Imperium, the first player I interacted with and who basically introduced me to the game
  
• Captain-Socialist, whom I first helped build an empire for Seko and for many years after joined me in many of my hare-brained projects
  
• Jalal, probably the best RPer this game has ever seen
  
• Dynastia, though harmful OOCly, was an Old Guard player who saw my RP and appreciated it, and taught me much more about RPing
  
• Zanz, who joined many of the same arcs as me and greatly contributed to the Jelbic language
  
• Siggon, whose Excel sheets I continued to use for many years to update my budgets and help me form winning coalitions
  
• Reddy, who took over some of my RP threads, and also joined me in some projects
  
• Liu Che, the resident Yingdala expert, from whom I learned a lot about Chinese culture, and who did a fantastic job implementing an ancient political system in a modern setting
  
• Kubrick, who went from a Dutch player in the middle of the Jelbosphere to the best user of Jelbic. He essentially created Vanuku, and I've had a great time RPing with Kubrick 
  
• Aquinas, probably the game's best Moderator. Even though we had our disagreements during my brief tenure as Mod, Aquinas left a huge impact on the game and I have great respect for his contributions. He's also a great RPer
  
• Martinulus, who took over the skeleton of Hosianism and turned it into a well thought out and very believable fictional religion. Also he helped me see that playing a "boring" liberal democracy can actually be fun
  
• Jamescfm, who did a great job with cultures and was also a good Moderator
  
• Wu Han, though I have had few direct interactions with, has done an amazing job on forum aesthetics, and has organized some great projects (like IESCO)
  
• Aethan, with whom I had a great time in Selucia; at the time we were genuinely competing against each other in terms of game mechanics and trying to win elections, and Aethan was really good at rolling with the punches and is a great RPer
  
• Greek, who effectively saved this community from oblivion. An alright Moderator too.
  
  

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

It's been 18 years since I first joined the game, so it's unsurprising that its culture changed drastically over time. During the first few years it was much more chaotic, and many things that were later banned (like nation raiding, or even hate speech) were allowed back then. Thankfully the community has moved passed that, though there has always been a lot of toxicity within it. 

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

I don't know if Particracy had any direct effect on my political views, but the research I put into various cultures for PT helped me gain more knowledge about the real world. It also helped me acknowledge and confront some of my unconscious Eurocentric biases. Apart from that, I also learned a lot from engaging with various tools I used for Particracy, especially Photoshop, which I had never used before having to design my first flag and CoA. Writing on the forum and the wiki  helped with my English writing.

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

I am definitely very upset that Wouter decided to just kill off the forum and the game with no prior notice. Particracy may be "his", but many people over its long history have poured thousands of hours into writing for Particracy, and though much of that may not be Pulitzer award-worthy, and a lot of it was just plain plagiarism, it's still not fair to so casually discard the effort of so many people. I know the game was incredibly unstable, and I remember that when I was a Mod simple administrative actions often risked breaking the game. I also know that we've been through something similar before when we lost the Takeforum, and the death of the game was always a looming threat. But to see it actually happen, especially the way it did, is heartbreaking. I am happy that there still remains an active community and that some of the old RP will still be remembered. On the other hand, the game mechanics were always very incomplete and we always circumvented the game's limitations via the forum and the wiki. Though the old forum is gone, I'm glad to see that the best part of Particracy still exists.