1
Dispatch → Meta → Gameplay
Gameplay Magazine - Featured Personality: Erastide
Our guest today, is Erastide, a perceptive long-time player who has been a TNP administrator, a NS forum moderator, and has a snarky sense of humor.
How did you learn about NationStates? How long have you been playing NS?
When I was finishing up college a friend introduced it to me. That was April 2003.
What is the significance or story behind your nation's name and flag?
I have 2 main nations. Erastide’s flag was made by Thel D’Ran and is a Lemurian logo on colors I like. The flag on 
Former English Colony is from a comic I loved and identify a lot with.
Tell us about your early career in NationStates and the significant things you did to lead you to where you are today?
Lol. this is like ancient history. a) TP decided to screw around with TNP in the summer of 2004. At least one of my nations started in TNP and so that was where I was residing and dinking around with issues when the whole thing started. That is when I got super involved with NS and TNP. That’s also when Lemuria got started. I got elected delegate in TNP as FEC a couple times… was a NS forum mod under Erastide… *shrugs* When we moved off the old forum (honestly no clue on the year here) I think I became a TNP admin at that point?
What was it like being a forum moderator? What were the major issues you were dealing with, as a forum mod, in the early 2000s? How has it changed now?
There are a huge number of mods, and types of mods now, I have no clue on how the structure really works at this point. There were game mods and there were forum mods. To get to be a game mod you had to be a forum mod first. Forum mods were typically hard for GP players, because most GP players never used the NS forums, they were for RP and NS General only, unless you hung around Technical and Moderation. Lol… typical issues for a forum mod was a) the cesspit of NSG :P and b) answering easy questions in Technical and Moderation c) was also having some say in larger decisions of the mod team.
What region are you currently a part of? What do you like best about this region?
TNP actively. I like that it’s pretty accepting of a lot of different NS ideals and as long as you allow other people to do what they want to, everything is good.
What are your thoughts on the various gameplay venues (forums, Discord, gameside\RMB)?
Uh… it’s all NS? I’m not sure why I’m supposed to have an opinion. Self admittedly I don’t think of the game forums in terms of GP, simply because when I was really active that literally didn’t exist. And I’m not terribly active now so I don’t have to learn. :P
Oh when were you really active that forums didn't exist? How did people "play" the game or engage in GP?
Well the NS official forums for GP didn't exist, it was only offsite forums. No GP really took place (in terms of interactions) on the actual site, unless you count ephemeral RMB trash talking. :P
IRC was where a good amount of interaction took place, because it was easier to meet people there than to login to half a dozen forums. But forums were better for keeping things secure.
That's fascinating, that there was no GP forum at all at one point. Which platform do you prefer to use to engage with the game?
I use Discord and the TNP forum to execute my NS duties.
What has been your favorite historical moment in NS?
Getting TNP back from TP. Because it had banded together a huge group of people for probably the first time in NS (I think >_>)
What was that process like? This was before ROs and influence were a thing, I believe, so how easy or hard was it to overthrow a coup?
There are a lot of things written about how they managed this. From my perspective, the hardest part was the complete lack of understanding/coordination as a region. Dealing with coups get easier the more you deal with them. The first one is always a shock. But it was also a good one, because it mobilized a large group of people to be involved.
OMG I should have said NS April Fool’s jokes for dating, because that is silly enough.
Make love..not war? NationDates did not solve that problem...
Do you have any pets? If you had to choose are you a dog person or a cat person?
Lol. in my house currently are 2 dogs and 1 cat. The cat was my choice.
Cats <3 What do you do for fun when you're not on Nation States?
Read. Watch TV. Read.
What is your favorite movie and\or TV and\or anime show(s)?
Hmmmmm...
I will watch BBC Pride and Prejudice at any time. I will also watch Dirk Gently over and over. Amelie.
Favorite book?
LOL. Romance/Sci-Fi/Fantasy. There is no “book.”
The reason this is hard is because I can read pretty damn fast. So Let’s just do authors… Ilona Andrews, Michelle Sagara, Sharon Lee/Steve Miller, Eileen Wilks, Patricia Briggs, Iain M. Banks, Lois McMaster Bujold, Anne McCaffrey, David Eddings, Mercedes Lackey… I re-read all those on a regular basis :P
Are you into Game of Thrones?
I started GOT (in book form) when there were like 3 books. Got to the end and then waited awhile... then life happened. I've never watched the show. hehe
Considering how the show ended, that's probably a good thing now. What about Harry Potter?
haha yes. My mom and I waited anxiously on Goblet of Fire and each got a copy so we could read it as soon as we got our hands on it.
Favorite music?
Chill and 
Dave Matthews Band
What is a game (outside of NS) that everyone should play?
Snrk. Solitaire
So you wake up one morning and receive the delegacy of any region you choose. Which would you choose? And what would you do as delegate?
The Pacific. MUTHERFUC*ING HUGS DAY. XD
Thank you to Erastide for the interview and this summer I'm finally going to catch up on Jane Austen (the movies) because of her :)
