III. "What is it?" Part 2: AARland, The Past
III. "What is it?" Part 2: AARland, The Past
In the past, AARland has spawned many inside jokes and launched other projects that are no longer active, but may be in the future or still have some merit for the newcomer and old-hat alike. If nothing else, the below links will offer you a look at the past and perhaps cause a laugh and a smile. A partial listing follows.
1.) bAARs
What is The bAAR? - Years ago, an effort was started by several of the old standards of early AARland to create an area to discuss other AARs and sometimes topics not related to AARs. However, there were rules - post as a character, no quoting previous posts and it was bad form to promote your own work. There have been a few successors that followed, notably the Tea Room and Mess Hall. If you wish to explore some old musing, follow these links:
2.) Free Company/Collaborative Writing Projects
What is the Free Company? - The Free Company is considered one of the finest moments in AARland History. Begun by Lord Durham, several members combined to create a fictional world as they wrote in collaborative fashion. Each tale follows a company of mercenary soldiers during the EUII period of history. A listing of their stories follows:
What other collaborative AARs are there? - Many others have tried to duplicate the work done by Lord Durham, as well as other attempts to bring the group effort to AAR writing. They are:
- True Multi-Player AARs - in which several members write an AAR together based on a MP session of gameplay.
- Pass-the-Save Multi-Player AARs - in which several members combine to write an AAR based on a game passed between them.
- Interactive Collaborative AARs - in which one person writes an AAR based upon the advice of a group of other members included as advisors.
However, there are restrictions on starting interactive AARs - for more information read this, you must contact the moderators before starting such a project
3.) Other
May we celebrate birthdays in AARland? - Absolutely! Several members try to keep watch of the front page of Paradox Interactive to see who has a birthday that day. There is an old listing that can be found
here. Regardless of where the information comes from, you may certainly start a thread in the AAR General Discussion area wishing someone a happy birthday. In fact, it is encouraged. Please do not start multiple threads in the same sub-forum however.
Has there ever been an AAR get-together? - Yes, there have been a few attempts to meet. The first was planned for
Toronto. We met again in
Washington D.C. in 2004 and then again in
Alabama (meant to be New Orleans before Hurricane Katrina in 2005.)
What is the most popular AAR ever? - A disputed question as so many issues are involved - number of posts, number of views, number of comments have all been suggested as means to quantify a very qualitative judgement, but also pre-release AARs for popular games attract a lot of views and so do interactive AARs (almost by definition). Not that these difficulties stop anyone. Hajji Giray I came up with a way to determine how viewed/followed an AAR is with his "Phatness" Index. Read about it
here. A different ranking system was proposed by Mnplastic and can be found
here.
Are there any AARs written about AARland? - Yes, coz1 wrote one listed
here. A different attempt was by Iain Wilson in his
Kingdom of AARland where various regular posters on these forums were made into characters and asked to stand up to the Mongol hordes.
What is the "Anthology of Treasures?" - A project started by Director in 2003 to look at specific posts/passages in AARs and discuss writing - the discussion thread can be found
here.
Are there reviews for past AARs? - Yes, several AARs have been reviewed in the past, from an early project, to the Gazette and then in the Advocate. Reviews prior to the Gazette can be found in the
EUII LibrAARy, reviews from the Gazette can be found in the
Gazette Index and reviews from the Advocate can be found in the
Advocate Index. More recently, a new endeavor has started in
this thread. [The building of this new section is in process. Stay tuned.]
What are the classics of AARland? - An attempt to establish such was begun
here. There are further attempts listed below. You may also look at the various Anthology polls for older games, see
EUII,
HoI,
Victoria,
Crusader Kings,
HoI2 &
EUIII
Is there a full history of AARland one can read? - No, but DensleyBlair wrote several AARticles in the AARlander on this topic. Though not definitive, it is more than a start. Read them here:
Pre-AARland and EUI (2000-2001) |
The End of the Testers' Hegemony |
EU2 - 2001/2002 |
A Study of Genre |
EU2 - 2003 Onwards |
AARland Branches Out |
2004 - Onwards
What is a "wlak"? -
Walk this way and find out about the mythical beast.
What are the copyright issues related to posting an AAR on this forum? - Make sure you are aware of forum rules regarding your copyright of the material posted on the forum. Further, you may wish to visit
this thread in which many give advice and thoughts on this issue.