I had the opportunity to talk with Jakker, General of The Black Hawks. Full disclosure, he's been one of my closest friends since I joined Gameplay in early 2012. Our conversation was framed in that vein, so I've edited the transcript for order and removed some trivial comments between us. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed talking with Jakker.
Sev: First, how did you find NS? And was TBH your first stop?
Jakker: I found out about NS in 2009 from the Political Awareness Class I was a part of in High School. We made a nation and all contributed to how we would answer issues. But that only lasted a few issues. I made my own nation and called a region, "A Peaceful Place" where I got to meet a few cool people. We were raided by DEN at one point and I had no idea what was going on. I don't remember when this was, but I remember getting a recruitment message from The Black Hawks. I joined but never did anything. Then, in May 2011, I was home for the summer and bored, so I decided to give NS another shot and I already knew about The Black Hawks, so I decided to actually go for it. Jakker wasn't my first choice for a nation's name, but it grew on me over time. It's inspired by the Jak and Daxter series.
S: Interesting, that was going to be my next question..where Jakker came from. You said it wasn't your first choice... what was?
J: well I wanted to be Jak.
So I worked on different variations until I settled on Jakker.S: When you got into NS, who were your role models in the game?
J: So when I joined TBH, Halc and Tram were the Field Marshals. I remember Halc being the first one that I chatted with on MSN, which was interesting because Halc's default pic is rather interesting
Just the mere factor of Halc being in an authority role made him an early role model because he had this knowledge that I didn't. But I wouldn't say he was ever someone I aspired to be. I defintely learned a great deal from him, but my biggest role models were Tramiar, Noldor, and Rawr. It wasn't until I started chatting with Tram that I realized the community feel of NS. She really took me in and made me feel welcomed. Through her, I met Rawr and Noldor who were both very caring and knew a great deal about NS. I would often ask Tram and Rawr NS questions because they always knew what was going on.S: Do you have a particular update song? Or do you mix it up depending on your targets?
J: I don't have an update song. I try to be as focused as possible, but I do enjoy listening to "Moves Like Jakker" after a successful raid.
S: Being involved in Gameplay myself, I'm aware that some people have some... interesting... pre-update/during-update rituals. Do you have any you'd be willing to share?
J: For larger raids that I am leading, I try to make sure I have everything ready to go hours in advance. I am a stickler for preparation with leading raids so I obsess over various details to ensure I am controlling as many aspects of a raid as possible. Also, I don't want to be worrying about anything other than relying information and making sure everyone is good to go once a chat begins. I actually get rather nervous during the whole process because I don't want things to not work out or let people down
S: Speaking of that, do you have any regrets for things that didn't go the way you wished they had, or perhaps that turned out differently than you'd expected?
J: When Osiris and Balder was first founded, everyone rushed to get a piece of the action. At that time, I was just beginning to get involved in leading raids and lacked a lot of insight into how involved GCR politics were, but I wanted to raid one of them. I placed nations in both, but ended up focusing on Osiris as Liz Lemons. And yes, this is me admitting to being Liz, even though many have speculated as such, but I'll get to all that shortly. Rawr gave me a few of his clean puppets to have as a gift and one was Liz Lemons. When I browsed Osiris' forum, I saw that Earth was there and she was rising quickly to a power position, so I figured I'll use Liz. No real intense thought to what I was doing other than I figured that people would grow to like Liz quickly and the raid would happen in a short period of time. I even remember thinking that I'd only be in Osiris for a few months. I was there for 15 months and eventually, I had a chance to run for pharoah. Things became overwhelming when people were asking me to do a skype debate or submit voice stuff to prove I was a girl.
During that time, I was growing tired of NS so I was looking for other things to do. I was offered the commander position of TWP's military and I thought it would be an interesting, new experience for me. Unfortunately, I didn't really have the time for it and I ended up not doing anything, which I felt really bad about. I do apologize to Westwind and TWP for that.
In addition, Cerebella and I decided to try and raid Nazi Europe. Funny enough, The Pacific ended up wanting to raid NE on the exact same day, which was totally coincidental. I reached out to Karp and convinced him to combine forces and let me lead the raid. I didn't care about who ended up getting credit for the raid or who controlled NE. I just wanted the glory of being the one to lead it. The raid itself did not go well as people didn't trust each other and I gave the go command too late. That whole situation and failure really sucked.
Going back to Osiris, there was one point when I was on IRC and some other random person had been on my "Liz" account. The IP that this person was using closely resembled the one I used as Jakker for the NE raid attempt. Biyah and others put things together and I was kicked from Osiris shortly after. This was right when the election for pharoah was about to happen and I know I was most likely to win. So to have two major failures like that happen so close together was really hard for me and I was already not enjoying the game, so I decided to take a leave.
In terms of doing anything differently for Osiris, I don't regret what I did. Osiris' leadership were all power hungry and it often sucked to be there. I did so much work for that region, but I grew to really enjoy it. My plan, if I won pharoah, was to fix a lot of issues. Yes, I would have still raided it, but it wouldn't have lasted long. I regret that I just added to the history of things going poorly for Osiris and that I hurt people that I grew close with as Liz. Although, I really enjoyed branching out and meeting people, so I have decided to engage in GCRs in the near future, but as me this time
S: You mentioned joining GCRs, legitimately. Which GCR(s) are you looking at getting into and why should they let you in? xP
J: I follow all the feeders and sinkers as much as I can by browsing forums and reading up on things. Right now, the GCR I'm interested in are the ones I have already placed a puppet within the region: TEP, TNP, and The Pacific. TEP because I know a lot of wonderful people there (wink wink) and I like their chill vibe. TNP because again with the people I know there and they are really impressive in terms of activity. And finally, The Pacific because I mean how could anyone not be intrigued by them? I've read many writings on Francoism and it would neat to see how the region operates. If they let me in or not, is up to them, but I am being upfront about my identify, whch I would hope shows my genuine interest and I do believe I can bring a lot to the regions.
S: What sorts of activities are you looking to get into?
J: For the GCRs, I am no specific agenda in mind. I am just really excited to meet people and get involved any way I can. Learn the intricate ways that a GCR operates and feel directly part of what's going on. This year though, in honor of The Black Hawks' 10 year anniversary I am looking to organize a Raiding Convention in July. All of the details will be given out shortly as I start reaching out to people, but it will be an event to honor the history of raiding. I have a lot of ideas on the matter and I think many people will enjoy it.
S: Are GCRs the final frontier for Jakker? Or is there another area of the game you'd be interested in trying your hand at? Also, this convention sounds really interesting. Any teaser to pique the readers' interests?
J: I don't have a specific path that I am looking to take. I don't see myself leading raids forever. I want to let new people take over eventually. I think getting involved in GCRs will help me see what else I might be interested in with NS. I did write my first issues draft the other day, so that's a start of branching out.
What I envison is a place for people throughout NS' history to help honor raiding. This might include history lectures, discussion of different groups and what they did, archives of old forums of raiders, documents on learning how to raid and various tactics, establishing a raider hall of fame to honor the best raiders of NS, etc. These are all just ideas currently, but basically I believe as new raiders come into the game, they feel a disconnect to history. This convention will strengthen raider unity and the community of raiders from all different eras.
S: Most influential raider of all time?
J: That is a tough one. I think the three that come to mind are General Powell of DEN, EW, and Halc. They all contributed differently, but all greatly molded raiding into what it is today.
S: Up and coming raider who you're looking forward to seeing develop?
J: For up and coming raider, it would have to be Souls. I was always impressed with how he carried himself in Sicarius and I pushed hard to get him to join TBH. He has all the tools to be a great leader in raiding. There are also several others that I am looking to see develop like Kleo and Fest just to name a few that I know personally. Raiding has seen some new blood recently and I'm looking forward to see what they can bring to the table. I think many new raiders get a hard time, but I appreciate their boldness and many of us were rather bold when we first began.
S: Most influential defender of all time?
J: For defender, I don't believe I have the strongest knowledge of defending history to give a completely valid answer, but Ballo comes to mind. Operation Puppetmaster was a big deal and he was a big part of that. Plus, he influenced many defenders including Uni who is a well known name today.
S: What's your favorite raid of all time?
J: It would have to be the raid on Eastern Islands of Dharma just because it was Uni's region and was during Jakker vs. Unibot. I had a nation in the region and was on the forum at one point. The nation then CTE. Unibot's main then was deleted and Eastern Islands of Dharma was passworded. I had telegrammed Uni for the password earlier as the nation who had CTE and he gave it to me. The very next update from the time that Uni was deleted, we hit Dharma. TBH and several others held it for two months. It was just a super fun time on all fronts.
S: Jakker vs. Unibot, talk to me about it. How'd you come up with the idea?
J: I had just become a Field Marshal for TBH around the end of 2011 and I would hear so much about Uni from Tramiar and Rawr. At that point, I was chatting with Spartz as well which gave me more insight also. He was a big name in defending since he had just founded UDL in 2011 and I wanted a way to do something big for R/D. The challenge was just a way of making R/D more personalized and hold people accountable. Here I am able to lead raids and have the resources to do so, and I have all these plans, but let's get an additional motivation. I messaged Uni to say that I wanted to do it and he didn't know me at the time and was just sure. I loved how things turned out and it forever linked me and Uni.
S: For better or worse, Unibot is a part of you. I'm not sure how he feels about that xP Did you do everything you wanted to that year?
J: For the most part. I had planned to hit Osiris that year (again me being naiive). Spartz and Mall switching and joining TBH was icing on the cake.
S: I know we covered EID as your favorite ever, and I think that was the crown jewel of Jakker vs. Unibot, but what would be another favorite victory for Jakker?
J: Capitalist Paradise was a great victory as a whole. The delegate had over 60 endorsements at the time and the region was one of the top founderless regions. I even believe passwording required more influence after that raid, but I could be mistaken.
S: I have also heard that, in regards to passwording. Is it a bit humbling that your actions led to a change in game mechanics?
J: It is a double edge sword. I think sleeping keeps becoming harder and harder to do, but I have always enjoyed the challenge. I just hope that future raiders do as well because a diverse range of raids is important.
S: What was Unibot's biggest victory, from your standpoint?
J: The liberation of ITALIA. It was during Jakker vs. Unibot and he still references it today. Mall, Spartz, Rawr, and Tram were raiding during that update and I was in the chat and then I just forgot about ITALIA and then when I looked, it had just updated and the former delegate was back in power. Uni loves beating me on things and he was quite happy afterwards. I'm glad to see that I affect him so. <3
S: Haha indeed. Speaking of Mall, he tried to emulate that success with Mall vs. Mahaj in 2013. It didn't go nearly as well. Why do you think that is?
J: I think it's always challenging to try to emulate something and expect to have the same result. I don't think it was a big of a deal to Mall or Mahaj, so it quickly became an afterthought.
S: That is quite true in many things. In addition, it seemed like 2013 was a down year for everyone in terms of activity in GP. You more or less disappeared, I believe. What were the impacts of that?
J: I didn't realize that my absence would have such an effect on TBH. I was selfish and focused on myself. We became rather inactive afterwards. A few Hawks joined TBR and got further involved there, you left to join TEP
(That really hit me hard), etc. When I returned, there were a lot of things to rebuild. Before my absence, I and others viewed myself as a newbie. After I returned, I was surrounded by people who had just joined NS recently and viewed me as some veteran. It was a strange transition at first. Some raiders were treating me as some kind of raiding god, which was nice, but I also missed the sass I would get from the old crew (COE, Tram, you, Mall, etc.) TBR def rose into the spotlight during this time and have continued on that path. It was interested that people would first associate raiding with TBR when it used to be TBH. All things to adjust to. S: I think that's a fair assessment. I know I certainly missed having you around, if not as a fellow updater, as a friend. What's something people would be surprised to learn about Jakker (or the person behind Jakker)?
J: There is definitely a distinction between the two. Jakker, while in some ways is me as a person, it is very much a character. I didn't feel as though NS or in particular, defenders, had a strong villain to unite against, so I slowly grew into that. You could tell on my first posts in GP like the beginning of the Jakker vs. Unibot thread, I am not very confident. This is a game, so I decided as my skills developed to be cocky and the forums and make sure defenders grew to dislike me. It definitely worked for Uni.
So on the forums, people see a combination of my personal traits and Jakker. It would be far less fun if people were so understand and nice to each other all the time. S: Haha yes. The softer side of Jakker, if you will. xD
You're really an innovator in the field, in my opinion. Do you have plans for things coming up?
J: It's interesting because I didn't really feel that I was ever doing something "innovative." When I was starting out, we would usually hit smaller regions and I was confused why we would not try for larger raids. It just seemed to make sense that people would want to hit larger targets. As I learned more, I realized the work involved, but I have always enjoyed sleeping and larger operations, so it all worked out. TBH have plans for a solid year, so just look to our past and you will get a good idea of what will be happening in the future. The one thing I always hoped to push was for raiders to believe that they had the ability to raid any region they wanted to, so I hope I have had a hand in affirming that for people.
S: Where and when will Jakker strike next?
J: My hopes is that Jakker strikes in the hearts of all raiders to encourage targets that some may deem a challenge or achieve goals that push the limits of raiding. And something less cheesy, I mean I hope to join GCRs soon, so yeah hopefully people like me
S: haha I had to try!
I'm glad you're back, and I look forward to what you'll (attempt to) do next. Any last words for the readers?
J: There was a time at the end of 2011 that I decided I wanted to create my own raiding group called Banksy. I wanted to have a group I felt like was mine and I could do what I wanted. COE ended up talking me out of it and I am grateful that he did. While I still think the idea is killer, I don't know if I would have lasted long. A lot of new groups aren't enduring because they are dependent on a few people, but also I don't think they lack the experience to persist with the challenge and more leadership. I admire new players who want to create new regions, especially raiding groups, but I would say be mindful of what you are doing. Build connections first and get others to join you on the journey otherwise NS will become work. Build your skillset. I left NS because it felt like work and that break really helped me. If the game feels like that, do what you need to do.
S: Thanks for your time, Jakker!
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My next interview will feature a defender (TBD), and I'll endeavor to keep future editions as balanced as possible between various representatives of different facets of Gameplay.
<3 Jakker.
