What made you discover NS, and why did you decide to stay?

[Torisakia]

I was a bored 11 year old at home during summer vacation in 2009 (I had a nation before this one) and randomly googled "how to make a country" for gits and shiggles. Ended up finding this site and not long after I was approached by some shady looking men and forced to sign a contract stating that I would be on this site until 2024 or longer if the contract is renewed, so I can never leave.

On the plus side I was guaranteed a full 15 year supply of Nutty Buddy bars along with a signing bonus of 10 Star Crunches. So I got that going for me, which is nice.

[Exxosia]

I can't remember how I discovered it. I think it was something akin to a better option to a facebook game back in the depths of time.

I keep playing because I have no respect for myself and am very depressed and it is one of the few tasks I keep doing out of habit as a weird life-continuation reason.

[Ghost Land]

I saw it in a signature while lurking on ancient Europa Universalis (Paradox) forums back in 2002.

Do you remember what that guy's nation was called at all?

As for myself, 2012 me actually wanted to create my own country in real life. I had the afternoon off and was just surfing Google results when I came across "NationStates | Create your own country". I was intrigued, and within 12 minutes my first nation was born. I was kind of an idiot then, but ultimately I don't regret having stayed. It was just unlike any site I'd been on before and I just really seemed to like running my own country and realising what kinds of crazy beliefs other people outside my bubble had. Eight years later, I'm still here; Ghost Land is not my first nation and was originally a puppet.

[Drew Durrnil]

I found it through a youtube video by Andrew Andrews (IBXtoycat is his more popular channel), I stayed for the community I had built in my region and the people I had interacted with via NS, as well as the other aspects of the game

wait, toycat did a video on NS?

Also, the Paintbrush guy led me to this.

[Cartchia]

I found a deceased nation randomly during a Social Studies project. I did not know what I was getting myself into.

[Nanatsu no Tsuki]

I found it through a youtube video by Andrew Andrews (IBXtoycat is his more popular channel), I stayed for the community I had built in my region and the people I had interacted with via NS, as well as the other aspects of the game

wait, toycat did a video on NS?

Also, the Paintbrush guy led me to this.

If you do a search there you’ll come up with a few people that have made videos about the site in one form or another.

Roninpawn, Prio Huq, EroticDougEpisodes, among others.

[Kathol Rift]

It started going around my school a couple years ago. I got on, and became quickly addicted. I eventually started writing factbooks, and discovered roleplay. I’ve been addicted ever since. I can’t leave. Please help.

[The Black Forrest]

I haven’t been here that long.......oh god has it been that long?

[New Dominioan]

I looked up "make a country" because i read the wikihow to create a micronation.

Does anyone know how to get out?

[Mandicoria]

Some deviantart page in 2011. Honestly didn't wanna stick around after late 2015 because I really didn't care for the site whatsoever. Came back out of sheer boredom and I guess i'm staying a little longer for the time being.

[Nanatsu no Tsuki]

I haven’t been here that long.......oh god has it been that long?

It has been, but we forget time. What’s time?

[Greed and Death]

I was just randomly researching modern nation state definitions for compare and contrast with older examples such as feudal.

I stayed because I like engaging with people of different viewpoints from time to time.

[Kafair]

Friend told me about it. I joined just to piss him off and ruin his time, and stayed cause of other stuff and people.

[Dukin Donuts]

Back in 2017 I was looking for a Sci-fi Roleplay forum and came across NS. I created my first nation, New Saturn Republic. I decided to stay after finding two roleplay regions I liked and have been on NS ever since.

[Vetalia]

I haven’t been here that long.......oh god has it been that long?

I'm surprised my nation founding date hasn't slipped into "antiquity" yet. In 2005, W was into his second term, people actually liked Nickelback, and the Motorola Razr was the coolest phone on the planet. Gas is cheaper today than it was back then in nominal terms, let alone real terms...

For some reason I'm getting a Mandela effect vibe from the Hyugens landing on Titan...for some reason I thought that happened in mid-2006 after I was on NS, not January 2005.

[Never was New England]

I found it from one of my favorite you-tubers. It was Drew Durnil (probably not surprising to anyone who knows about the website crashing after his video). At first I had never heard of NationStates, and I have searched up "create your own country" before watching Drew's video, but NationStates never popped up, and anything else that did pop up was horrible. So I gave up. Then Drew posts his video that crashes the website and here I am today. I've made 5 different nations, and each one I look to take different approaches to topics. This nation is the one where I follow my personal political beliefs to shape my nation. So thank you Drew for finally giving me a great Country creating game.

[Ghost Land]

I haven’t been here that long.......oh god has it been that long?

I'm surprised my nation founding date hasn't slipped into "antiquity" yet. In 2005, W was into his second term, people actually liked Nickelback, and the Motorola Razr was the coolest phone on the planet. Gas is cheaper today than it was back then in nominal terms, let alone real terms...

For some reason I'm getting a Mandela effect vibe from the Hyugens landing on Titan...for some reason I thought that happened in mid-2006 after I was on NS, not January 2005.

Antiquity refers to before NationStates gameside started keeping track of nation founding dates, in late November 2003; you can't "graduate" into antiquity status.

[Nu Alaska]

Now that I think of it, I may have found this after reading about micronations as well. Don't remember if that spurred my discovery or not.

[Yazakhastan]

I came to this site after four years of paper practice with managing a nation

[Arcturus Novus]

Genuinely don't remember whatever it was in mid-2010 that made me look this place up and make my first nation, but fuck, I'm stuck here now.

[Greater Miami Shores]

I discovered NS on Fox News Fair and Balanced at the time. I stayed because I can create my own nations with my own governments, real world statistics, leaders with Pics, laws and factbooks. With my real world nations, regional world nations and empire nations I have taken over the real world. With my made up named nations I have taken over parts of the non real world. I stayed because I can share my views with my fellow nations.

[Vetalia]

Antiquity refers to before NationStates gameside started keeping track of nation founding dates, in late November 2003; you can't "graduate" into antiquity status.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sx4mfB9kr08

[Sarzonia]

A friend of mine found NS and posted it on his LiveJournal. I got intrigued and created Sarzonia.

A little while later, I discovered the RP forums. I mainly credit Isselmere with showing me how creative a player could be and he was one of, if not my first major influences.

In the time since, I made other friends on here who are major reasons I come back.

[HollowIce]

My friend who also played this game told me about it and I was intrigued. However when I found out about it I was a little disappointed because I thought it would actually be some kind of online game where you collect resources, establish trade routes, and declare war on other countries. But I didn’t give up on the game yet, and I created a nation. (The nation I created was not the one I’m using.) Then I played the game for six months then quit for a year due to a lack of interest. I decided to come back to this game because of quarantine and made a new nation. I’m planning to stay here.

[Antibuda]

I found it first through a YouTuber called Drew Durnil (great vids, you should probably check him out), but I didn't play it. I didn't think it was interesting enough. Then, a few days later, one of my friends told me I should play it, and this time I gave it a try. I only stayed at first for the issues, as they come very quickly at the beginning.