Thanks everyone! I will admit to a bit of embarrassment (which explains why I haven't shown my face here earlier): last week, my presence on these forums was, well, rather non-existent, for some dull weather-related reasons that I won't go in to. So, I will humbly accept the award and take it not so much as a recognition of last week's accomplishments, but rather as encouragement to put my best foot forth this current week.
I've been around AARland for quite a long time now (longer than I care to think about, frankly). Originally, I was drawn in by the promise of a drunken AAR by
MrT (One Bourbon, One Scotch, and One Beer), but by the time I had finally registered, that particular 'experiment' had naturally come to an end. But oh, the stories that I found:
Heagarty's
Tales of the Gluttonic Knights,
Storey's
Three Countries One Goal. And more and more. I could spend the next day pulling up links to older and more recent AARs I've enjoyed, and I still wouldn't have done more than scratch at the surface. So let's move on.
When I first registered, this was basically a forum for EU2 (and the original EU, but in my mind that was wholly eclipsed by the sequel). But then, Paradox started to add other games: Victoria, Hearts of Iron, Crusader Kings, and the AARs followed and diversified... There was (and is) so much goodness in so many guises: comedy, deep narratives, gameplay AARs, AARs that would painstakingly chronicle an entire game, AARs that would take a brief span out of the game and create a rich tale around it... It was like a giant all-you-can-eat buffet and it was all free! Best of all, you could interact with the people writing those tales, tell them what you liked, speculate what might happen next, even suggest what they should do... I've always felt that leaving a comment was the least I could do, since it's the only currency AARland has, but I realize now that commenting was itself part of the payoff.
I've slowly come to the realization, over the years, that I buy Paradox games primarily to better enjoy the writing in AARland. Don't get me wrong: I play the games, enjoy them immensely, but if I'm honest, I spend more time reading about them than playing them. And that's fine with me. I've drifted away from the forums a few times, but I've always come back. I might not have the ability to read as I used to (having a two-year old daughter who refuses to go to sleep before 10 really wreaks havoc on my computer time
), but when I do, I try to make a point of commenting regularly, and to make those comments be relevant to the AAR (thank you
Ikarases, for your praise. I know I'm not the most prolific commenter, but I'd like to think that the quality can sometimes compensate for the lesser quantity).
This is getting to be a rather long post and dreary Real Life is interfering: it's time to get some sleep before tomorrow's work day. So I'll leave this rather abruptly here. I'm going to read and see what's going on and when I pass this award on (begrudgingly), I'll leave some more links to current and past works that I think deserve your attention.
Thanks again and see you around AARland!