Fan of the Week: aniuby

[King_Richard_XI]

you seem to comment as much as he does AND your comments are always insightful

That struck me as a not-so-subtle dig at Alex.

EDIT: Oops, nearly forgot to congratulate the new winner. Congratulations, new winner!

[JDMS]

Congrats!

[Malurous]

Congratulations!

[Communitarian!]

Wow - I don't know where to begin.

I bought Victoria II somewhat on a whim - having decided that I'd heard and seen a lot about Paradox games, I picked up VII on digital download - and have never once looked back. I'd planned to write an AAR for some time, and when I saw Alexspeed's contest, I figured I'd write for it - and when I got exposed to AARland, it stuck like crazy. There's something inspiring about this community, it's friendliness, and the sheer amount of good content I see. I'd never really expected too many people to read my stuff - I just write because I like doing it, and hopefully to make a few people introspective and cheerful about human potential, things like that. Meeting some truly wonderful people has helped solidify my beliefs in regards to this, and I hope that I've managed to make everyone's day a little bit better, too.

This sunday'd been pretty awkward for me - not me personally, but someone had accused my sister of something she would never do. Things turned out fine, of course, but it'd really shocked me - and so between it and my usual business keeping me from here, it'd been a bit of a week. To log and see this - well, I cannot thank you enough, Alexspeed, and I hope that I uphold the job well! To clarify with all previous fans - I pass the torch on Sunday, right? Well until then, may I keep it burning brightly.

Even though I mostly lurk around the Victoria II forum, I'll try to find some truly superlative AARs and writers to share with everyone over my week here - for now, I'd highly recommend Let the Ruling Classes Tremble, and Onze Plaats in de Zon: The Rise of Frederik de Grote (van Holland), by Tommy4ever and Tanzhang respectively. Let the Ruling Classes Tremble is an incredible AAR that redifines reader paarticipation while embroiling said reader in the depths of revolutionary intrigue and politic. I have not been able to comment nearly as much as I like - given my slightly (hah, VERY) erratic schedule, it moves too quickly. But I'd heartily urge you to take a look! It'll be worth your while!

Onze Plaats in de Zon is an AAR that has incredible use of historical characters and events wrapped around a point of divergence that'll grab you in from the very first chapter. Rich political updates and use of language to describe the rise of Frederik the Great and the challenges he faces are just one of it's many charms. If you like historical AARs, then you'll love Onze Plaats in de Zon.

There's a million more AARs I'd like to recommend, but figure I'm probably rambling already. Thank you to everyone who has said their congratulations - again, I'm honored to be here. Thank you so much for the nomination, Alex - I doubt I'd be here today if you hadn't started such an excellent contest. Keep on shining, AARland! You're made of stardust!

Edit: Also, how did I not know about these forums until now? I vaguely remember them from something, but geeze! Seems I'm pretty spacey, heh.

Other AARs I'd like to promote: Scholar's The Genghisid Imperial Family. I've just started reading this, but it's incredibly enjoyable, feeling a lot like a family dynasty for one of the most chronically underchronicled bloodlines in history; my only conceivable complaint would be that I like it romanized as Chinggiz due to how the modern Mongolian alphabet uses Cyrillic.

[Davout]

Congratulations.

[Communitarian!]

First of all - sorry if I've turned this thing over so late that it's actually the 22nd already where the next nominee is. If so- I beg forgiveness!

Jokes aside, it is always hard for me to choose one 'favorite' out of a crowd. And doing it while carrying this torch, carrying this torch, a looong time- Er, sorry. When Alexspeed handed this torch to me, I was both overjoyed and anxious. To me, there's always multiple solutions, multiple ways of looking at things - and choosing someone to pass it on to was torturous. So when trying to figure out what qualities I'd pick in the Fan of the Week category, it took me a lot of time. Would I pick the careful eye and words of my friend Tanzhang, who is usually on hand to lend advice, thoughts and good humor with many an AAR? Tommy4ever for creating possibly the most fan-encouraging AAR in the V2 forum, one that's so fun I think you could probably show it to someone who knows nothing of the game and get them to become an instant fan, while still being able to find time to post on others AARs? Would I pick someone who has been nominated before? Perhaps a moderator or modder who is out making excellent new additions to Paradox Games?

I wrestled with this even while off-forum, and then it hit me. I wanted to choose someone who goes beyond the impossible. Someone who is willing to perservere through endless waiting and glitchy literacy waits to entertain us with a very amusing story. Someone who admits that they worry sometimes - but writes on, anyway. Surume, congratulations on being nominated for Fan of the Week!

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WhAAR? A Nowhaar of Iceland is an excellent and amusing AAR that displays the pleasures and implausabilities of trying to play the one-state-wonder that is Iceland while dealing with a small population base, practically non-existent military and industry, and patiently waiting for the decades to acrue! Surume's waiting is punctuated for us by a sharp sense of humor and attention to detail and is also very educational about how the game works.

It takes a lot of courage to be willing to wait while expecting very little to happen for the sake of your AAR, and even more to face one's worries and cares, and keep on going. So- Surume, keep on writing and enjoying Paradox Games. I look forward to the day when you've got even more awesome AARs under your belt. Until then, congratulations! And to all of you readers - this is Communitarian! signing off.

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Well, I hope I did that all right. Thank you my friends! It has been an honor and pleasure to be here. Congratulations Surume!

[King_Richard_XI]

Congratulations Surume!

[Malurous]

Congrats!

[Qorten]

Congrats Surume.

[Alexspeed]

A good choice Communitarian!
&
Congratulations Surume!

[Enewald]

Gratz Surume!

Can I ask, is it now a trend to nominate people who write good AARs as fan of the weeks?
You know, we have two other awards on the AARland...
Because we have authors who write the text, that then gets fans to comment it... or so my logic tells me.

[Tanzhang (譚張)]

Gratz Surume!

Can I ask, is it now a trend to nominate people who write good AARs as fan of the weeks?
You know, we have two other awards on the AARland...
Because we have authors who write the text, that then gets fans to comment it... or so my logic tells me.

In addition to writing a great AAR, Communitarian has been an active commentator on many AARs, including my own. In fact, he has probably commented on more Vicky II AARs than anyone else, save yourself or Alex. I think he was a perfectly good choice for FotW and I would definitely not suggest that there is any such trend favouring fans who write and comment over those who just comment.

Surume may not have commented or followed as many AARs as you have, but he's still a new member and has plenty of time to do so. I trust that Communitarian made the right choice in welcoming Surume to the forum with this award and I hope this award would further encourage Surume to be more active in the AAR community at large.

Congrats Surume!

[asd21593]

Congrats, Surume!

[JDMS]

Congrats!

[Lord E]

Congratulations Surume!

[Beleg32]

Congratz Surume !

[gabor]

congratz!

[aldriq]

Congratulations!

[Surume]

I enter the Forums seeing that I have a notification and this is what I find. Whoa!

I'll respond back in a little more detail, but I'd like to thank you all. Currently I'm active in the V2 AAR Forums, but I have been lurking for some time now, and really appreciate both EU3 and HOI3. My First experiences with Paradox was purchasing HOI3 after reading about it on TVTropes.org. Initially, I was vastly overwhelmed by the game and quite frustrated by it, but as I read the forums and checked it out for advice, I was introduced into EU3 and V2. I personally started writing my AAR because I love playing "impossible" games, even if it means being less good at conventional ones. I'll be happy to share my strategy advice with other's in their AAR's, although I feel as I still have much to learn. I'll present a few AAR's which I'm quite a fan off in the near future.

[Fookison]

Congratulations, Surume!