NationStates: A Wondrous Journey Into My Fantastic(ally lame) Past

Back in the seventh grade the only game kids my age seemed to play endlessly online was Runescape. I did not. Although my time with Runescape was just around the bend, at that particular time I was playing a game a different sort. My internet based time vampire of choice was NationStates! In the words of the game's About section,

NationStates is a nation simulation game. You create your own country, fashioned after your own ideals, and care for its people. Either that or you deliberately torture them. It's really up to you.

The fact that I was choosing to play this in stead of various other, more popular, choices, was probably a good indicator that I was a little weird, or something. I played a passive log on every once in a while and answer little questionaires, game. But of course there was more to this. I spent hours recruiting people to regions, creating fake regional laws and rules, "raiding" other regions by entering and throwing their leaders out through sheer democracy. It seemed fun at the time, now I know it was just a waste of my life.

Recently, I was bored and decided to try and get back in touch with my lame-ass youth. I made myself a badass new nation with a completely unique and interesting name that was made up instantly, on the spot, and must be the work of nothing less than divine intervention. I even designed a completely original flag that is definitely not a complete ripoff of a certain long-dead three times Formula 1 world champion's iconic helmet. I've immediately found the game experience to be surprisingly better. Although nearly identical to the older version of the site, there are many valuable and useful updates that immerse you into the experience a little more fully, there are also some cool new unlockables that I frequently complained about before.

I'll definitely be sure to check in every once in a while, although not nearly as frequently as before.