An Interview with Westinor






An Interview with Westinor
On NationStates, a Personal Story, and Ice Cream

Conducted by Maowi



On Thursday, 18 May, the Europeian Broadcasting Corporation [EBC] had the privilege of sitting down with none other than Westinor – sometimes shortened to West – for an in-depth discussion about their unique assortment of experiences throughout NationStates [NS]. Our Europeian audience may recognise West for their glorious Security Council [SC] output, particularly in relation to Heroes of Valhalla of late; however, their two to three years on NS have seen them run the whole gamut from nation roleplay through NS Issues authorship, all the way to leadership roles in The North Pacific [TNP]. Most recently, they are proving to be an incredible asset to the defender sphere through their work in The Order of the Grey Wardens [TGW], as well as continuing to shine on the world stage both with their own World Assembly [WA] proposals and with their dedication to fostering a more welcoming NS community for all.

Not only is West armed with an incredible array of experiences, talents, and familiarity with niches of NS; they are also a deeply insightful, perceptive thinker with a flair for communication, as exemplified by their WA success. In this interview, they share their reflections and perspectives on the many communities where they have made their mark. So without further ado, the EBC presents ... An Interview with Westinor: On NationStates, a Personal Story, and Ice Cream!

Editor's note: the following is a transcript of a Discord conversation with some modifications made for clarity and readability; notably, some off-topic sections were cut, some brief isolated comments were cut to improve clarity for readers, and explanations of acronyms were added in square brackets. None of the content has been altered in a way that affects its meaning or tone.




Maowi
Thank you so much for taking the time to answer my questions today West! Now many of the EBC's readers might know you as World Assembly author supreme, defender wizard Bestinor – but to start off this interview could you tell us about the Westinor of a few years ago and how you began your NationStates life?

Westinor
I object to this mischaracterization!! I have not yet learned magic and so do not qualify as a wizard D:<

But okay!! Hmm. Well Westinor began in February of 2020 right before the lockdown happened. I first got into NS because I wanted to play with IRL peeps, but eventually they all quit and it was just me chilling in NS with like two dozen puppet nations! I was pretty young and had no clue what in the world was going on, so I really just sat around for a couple months and RPed [roleplayed] between each nation. I probably wouldn't have stuck around for much longer than that if it wasn't for IRL things and the pandemic - around this time I had injured myself (I ran track) and so I was kinda stuck recovering, and that held into the pandemic, so I was stuck sitting around with not much better to do besides playing NS!

Maowi
I love that you were able to [have] fun for yourself RPing with all your puppets xD

Westinor
it was actually so fun. Once I started running again I was very committed to getting better cause we all thought the lockdown would blow over after a couple weeks. So for a month I ran ten miles a day, which admittedly is boring even for my dull mind, so I would plan out my RPs while running

Running and making NS (and other) plans actually started from that for me. So now I'll just go out and run and think of what I'll do next xD

Maowi
Excuse you interviewee, if you have a "dull mind" we are all doomed !!! Moving on from that though, what was the first NationStates community that you got more involved in and how did that come about?

Westinor
So my first Nationstates community was Got Issues [GI] - it was a natural branch from my pretty isolated NS existence up until then. Issues pretty much guided a lot of my NS RP, so obviously when the little (Want to write Issues for Nationstates?) tab popped up I was like woah (little west thought this was like. a limited time offer or sometihng) and got obssessed with that. This kinda kicked off my obssession with writing on NS.

Undoubtedly GI is one of the more isolated communities on NS. When I first joined, it was in a little bit of a lull if I remember correctly (though it's always fairly quiet and slower in comparison to other communities) but it was really wholesome and nice to work with other peeps. I really really wanted to see an issue that I wrote on one of my nations, so I kept going despite being incredibly bad at grasping the nuance of issues - around this time there was I believe the Sixth Issues Contest going around, and so that motivated me to stay longer! I met a lot of peeps who were wonderful and kind of helped introduce me to a lot of the rest of NS here - Honeydewistania, Noahs Second Country, Cretox State, Jutsa, and a lot of other peeps who are wonderful to bump into now and then. It was honestly probably one of the best ways I could've been introduced to the nature of NS communities, which are in my opinion far different from so many other typical places you might find yourself hanging out online - it was a neat balance of laboured love and constructivism and just passionate work that really made me want to contribute long term as well :>

Maowi
That is awesome though and very wholesome!
Do you have a favourite issue of yours that you are particularly attached to for whatever reason?

Westinor
I'm probably romanticizing it.. three years since it happened (oh god) but it was very formative for young west

ooooh hmmmmmm. So I have four issues published but around the time I left GI I actually had a ton of drafts I never ended up publishing. The best draft I've written was never submitted because I never finished it - https://forum.nationstates.net/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=487703 "I Saw Three Ships" which was right along my niche of international issues (since I RPed between my own nations using issues the really formative ones were those which had interactions between nations, and there aren't lots of them so I loved trying to write international dilemmas even though I often failed). Never finished though :(

Of the ones I've written and published, probably #1550 A Friend With Weed is a Friend Indeed? Which was published like two years after submission - it was the only west draft published from my back half of my time in GI where I felt my writing got much better, and though it definitely got hard carried by the Editors (thank youuu Pogaria) it was uniquely flavored and niche enough that I like it and hopefully a lot of people who got it liked it too :>

Maowi
You mentioned a bunch of people that you met through GI and who are also very prominent elsewhere in NationStates and helped introduce you to other areas of NS, so could you talk a bit more about how you ended up being involved in regional life in TNP (was TNP even your first region you got involved in? I definitely remember you as MoWAA [Minister of World Assembly Affairs] !!) or World Assembly or whatever other community you became active in after Issues?

Westinor
Yeah! So I don't remember specifically how it happened but my next step once I burned out of GI was TNP MoWAA and just the WA in general! While I was kinda chilling on my own I was sitting in TNP (I founded there) and endotarting and stuff. Since Cretox State and Honeydew were making waves in the WA and were peeps I had gotten closer to in GI, it was natural that eventually I started bridging over to the WA. I think it was probably Cretox who basically manhandled me into the department and from that point forward I started getting more involved in the WA!

Regional life in TNP for me was actually a little strange. I'm not someone who's very good at getting into the social side of things, so especially in a more fast-paced environment like TNP I struggled to find a very strong hold as a presence in the regional community. But I love working with other people so I definitely found myself at home trying to work in a ministry - mostly because there were few other peeps working and Hulldom was not yet around, I ended up being the next MoWAA after Cretox was elected Vice Delegate. I kinda got settled in that way, I found myself really much more satisfied working as part of a team. It was also really neat that being MoWAA meant that I was able to make a lot of connections - peeps would reach out to me about lots of SC-specific things (I sucked and continue to suck at understanding the GA) and that helped me get much more involved in SC matters despite not being like. A prolific SC author at the time! So just those relationships I got to make and the smaller work-environments (i.e. cabinet, ministry discussions) were honestly what pulled me into WAA

Maowi
Did you also get involved in any other areas of TNP's government/politics or were you entirely WAA-focused?

Westinor
So, I definitely took things like 1 step at a time when I was in TNP. I sucked at juggling several things at once. While I was MoWAA, I started getting involved in the NPA [North Pacific Army] (lots of "why are you Minister of World Assembly stuff if you're not in the World Assembly?" Telegrams) and eventaully that became what was like. My NS Home!

Maowi
Aww yay! Do you have any thoughts on how TNP executive government then compared to how it is now?

Westinor
Ooh that is such an interesting question. Admittedly I don't think I'm in a position to comment very much on TNP Executive function now, because I'm definitely not in touch with the areas where I could probably make the most comparisons between the nuances of what I noticed back then and how it goes now. I do think, from an external perspective, it's interesting to see where it looks like the focus has shifted; when I was around, TNL [The Northern Lights]/Polaris or whatever our Newspaper was was still a regular thing but is now dead; WAA was more SC focused when I was around (though TNP has always had excellent GA [General Assembly] focus) but is now definitely stronger in the GA. And of course the NPA is far different than it was under my term!

Maowi
I very vividly remember being an NS noob and reading TNL issues being like "wow interregional gameplay is so mystical and there are all these people that do cool things" so it made me happy you brought that up!!

Westinor
i know same!!! Being exposed to media in general in NS was very helpful in branching out for me and being engaged in just like. The workings of and lore of NS. Absolutely wonderful

Maowi
And I wasn't aware you had served as Minister of Defence [MoD] for TNP! Did you enjoy the people-managing and more strategic aspects of your minister roles in TNP?

Westinor
Ohhh definitely strategic xD I SUCKED at people-managing. MoD was definitely my more memorable role in TNP, I think, for people there because during that time R/D was in a state where raid efforts were effectively dead. It was a particularly bad summer slump so it was really really tough to get anywhere if you didn't have the absolutely fantastic infrstructure and energy that defenders had at the time. The NPA was coming off a strong term under Nimarya but peeps were starting to kinda fall off in activity - I very much remember seeing all of the friends I made in the previous term kinda dropping away as my term went on :(

The strategic aspects were honestly the highlight, though. We didn't really have the piling numbers to go around pushing occupations, and defensive operations were dominated by Libcord. So eventually I thought, "why not constantly push tag raids instead?" The answer to that ended up being "well Libcord has at least 10 chasers, half of whom chase at 0 seconds every night" so I ended up devising a variety of thorning strategies to make the most of every updater we got. On good nights we'd have like, five people to Libcord's twenty, so it was really tough going. Eventually I started bringing in lots of peeps from other regions to come help - mostly Europeia and Thaecia, where I ended up meeting the wonderful UPC, Andy, Isty, GC, and many others, as well as TEP [The East Pacific] and later on TBH [The Black Hawks]. That ended up leading to one of my most fond weeks of NS ever, Indie Dream Team Week, where we alongside ERN [Europeian Republican Navy], EPSA [East Pacific Special Forces] and THA [Thaempirial Army] each ran a tag run every night using our own specific strats (i ran a very thorn heavy strat, EPSA had catbot, ERN and THA just decided to slay so hard) and it was the most winningest week Independents and tag raiders in generaly probably had all summer. In general, just trying to run the strategic side of things while pulling together friends to join was just. So wonderful and made me always still love NS even when I ended up leaving before term end

Maowi
Oh that is so hype !! I should have got involved in ERN way before I did … I am dumb though so could you explain to me what thorning is?

Westinor
You are not dumb!! No worries because thorning is not utilized very often nowadays or really. ever xD it's a lot of pain and work for often little reward. Thorning in its most basic form is when you jump into a different region than the target to distract defenders. I took that idea and tried to blow it up into the most complicated way possible so that only the most vigilant and skilled of defenders would be able to hang on and chase through, though I was often poor at executing 😅

but it is TRUE everyone should probably get involved in r/d i swear this is not advertising but like R/D [raiding/defending] seems boring in concept or toxic to some people but it is legitimately some of the best fun you can have on the site :> GOGOGO JOIN THE ERN OR WHATEVER RESPECTIVE REGIONAL MILITARY YOU HAVE

Maowi
THANK YOU FOR SHARING THIS IMPORTANT MESSAGE TO OUR READERS, WESTINOR

Since your start in TNP you have become involved in a couple of other regions (I guess most notably TGW?). How did you decide to move on from TNP and make a shift in focusing your efforts, was it a conscious decision or did it just kinda happen or something else?

Westinor
Ah yus - so, between being in TNP and now being in TGW I took a year and a half long break from NS. Luckily I did not think about NS too much throughout the break, but it often felt like I knew I wanted to come back after leaving, and I even made many many tries to do so but I simply could not. In the end, it was largely an unconscious decision that I've ended up where I am now, though a lot of what I've done has been... planned? In a sense?

When I left NS I was honestly just very burned out in general and a lot of my TNP friends were gone. That and just having been around in a single environment where I felt like I didn't fit in without those closer friends meant it was difficult for me to remain there after coming back. Not feeling like I fit in + honestly feeling very much like a failure after quitting and associating that with being in TNP meant I just kind of knew in the end I probably wasn't destined to stick around in TNP to the same degree. I definitely didn't consciously think about where I wanted to go after, though, because while I was gone the large part of what I was thinking of doing was just writing in the SC. A lot of the proposals I've written and since passed have been in the works since before I left the first time, and so that's what I had really thought about. But when I started being around again, Tim noticed and pretty much just started calling me a warden until I caved and joined; unconsciously a lot of my defender friends were in the wardens previously but I had avoided joining because I felt like I'd be overshadowed by the sheer talent present in the org, but now I definitely feel like I fit in, even if that was just by circumstance!

Maowi
I can very much relate to feeling a previous "failure" hanging over you in a particular community and I am glad you managed to find a more positive space for you to make your return!!!

this is something we have touched on in previous conversations, I think, but what is your favourite aspect about writing SC proposals?

Westinor
oooh okay, so for me personally it depends. I think overall writing an SC proposal is the best part - but only because it’s the culmination of everything that came before. I love research, particularly because a lot of my nominees may be historical and so i have to dig deep but i’m not that great of a researcher and often get frustrated + anxiety when i get ghosted however, just getting to write something and put it together is honestly wonderful to me. I like to use very flowery narratives in my proposals, in part because the first things that inspired me about NS were the depth of lore/intricacy and complexity in what seems initially like. a very shallow game; i try to reflect that as best as I can without mucking up the accuracy

Maowi
and they are an absolute delight to read :>

how would you say you developed those skills & facility with writing in the SC - did you have any mentors, or did you learn by observing from afar, or did you just throw yourself into the deep end etc?

Westinor
ooh good question! one moment i am eating an ice cream

[ice cream was eaten]

I’ve actually not thought about this a lot! It’s definitely a combination - when I first got into the SC, I spent a long time observing and helping write but not actually writing my own thing because i was a perfectionist and felt like everything I did would suck. A large portion of my SC experience is definitely from just observing, reading through resolutions, discussions on those resolutions, and discussions in events like the WA symposiums in the past that have been particularly interesting and IMO are the peak of WA community cooperation. However, I’ve definitely been helped along by mentors as I’ve gone in, in less of a direct “here’s how to write” way and more of a developing my approach way. GK [Grea Kriopia] is a wonderful thinker whose thoughts on the SC and NS History in general are just so enlightening, and when I was starting out I worked with HS [HumanSanity] who was also similarly really insightful. In general, though, how I ended up actually utilizing and putting that to the test was really just throwing myself out there and writing what I wanted to see. Peeps often find the SC difficult and ask me how I’ve written so much in so little time, but I often feel it’s overblown - truthfully, the WA is just a steep learning curve, but after your first or second proposal it becomes so much easier!! It’s just like anything else in NS - put full faith in yourself and your ability to come out on top and you will succeed :>

Maowi
These are encouraging words indeed for any aspiring authors lurking among our EBC reader crowd 👀 also I feel like we are overdue for a WA symposium!! someone get on that smh

Westinor
for REAL we need another symposium!!!

Maowi
So before, you mentioned having to be innovative/resourceful as MoD in TNP (with using thorning in a much more extensive way), while I imagine military gameplay in TGW is very different – what were the different challenges you had to learn or adapt to coming into TGW?

Westinor
The gameplay is definitely very different - Defending is far less proactive than raiding is in mechanical practice i.e. on the battlefield so what was my old focus and point of success really kinda went out the window. I had defended extensively with Libcord before, so I wasn’t new to the ropes or anything, but that plus being away from R/D for so long meant it was kind of a shock coming back and trying to learn how everything worked again. The earliest days were just really learning where I belonged - I felt kinda out of place and definitely kind of lost. But as the year has gone on I’ve definitely feel like I’ve found myself a bit more - the technical side of r/d is no longer a huge challenge for me, and it’s more just a task of figuring out what I can do to help out the most now

Maowi
I am actually kinda curious about this personally as I have never been part of a military-focused region or even really interacted in their social areas: are there any notable things about the culture there that you particularly enjoy or that struck you as interesting coming into TGW having participated in the more political region that TNP is?

Westinor
Yeah! So I mean this is actually a loaded topic that I feel you could write an essay or two on. But while it's not drastically different, particularly on the outside - you can go into TGW #general and it's not necessarily much different than #eurochat, it's just maybe not active as often by way of being a smaller region - on the inside you can definitely tell there's a difference in terms of vibe, approach, values, etc. This isn't necessarily just because TNP is more politically-oriented in some sense, even though that is a factor. Size, UCR v GCR, nature, history, etc. all factor in and in the end to me it kind of culminated into a culture that is very focused on a strong sense of constructive competition and growth. TGW is built on the shoulders of some of the best modern gameplayers to have graced the site, and there's very much a clear sense of what the region is aiming to do and a vibe that any challenge can be overcome. I still can't describe it in a way that really makes sense, but TGW is uniquely very embodying of that sense of smaller-community goal-driven environment that motivated me when I was part of a cabinet, or military command - it's social, yes, but it's very easy to switch in and out of casual talk and NS history talk and gameplay approach and how to get better. If that makes sense

i still haven't fully developed my thoughts on that. It's definitely very interesting though

Maowi
So I think that is all I had thought of to ask for more long-form questions, but are you ready for ... QUICK-FIRE QUESTIONS?

Westinor
YES

my brain has upped from 2 seconds per hour to TEN seconds per hour

Maowi
WOWEE ok here we go

question one is what’s a lesson you’ve learned from your time in NS?

Westinor
like just any lesson?

Maowi
yes

Westinor
holy crap I'm bad at quick-fire. UHHH MAKE SURE YOU KNOW WHERE YOUR WA IS AT ALLTIMES

Maowi
question two is do you have a proudest moment/achievement on NS?

Westinor
Not really! I'm certainly proud of many things but nothing I'm the proudest of. I like to think that the best is hopefully yet to come!!

Maowi
question three is if you could send a message to lil 2020 westinor just joining NS, what would you tell them?

Westinor
oh goodness. So many things. The lotto number for May 2020 is... er, I mean probably just to not take things too seriously, to be honest 😅 2020 west was a real wackjob

Maowi
question four is imagine you have just been permanently banned from TGW, TNP, Euro, and anywhere else you may have been for being unacceptably awesome. what new region would you choose to explore?

Westinor
honestly not even an unreasonable step to take!! i honestly do not know, I think I'm really tangentially involved with everywhere I'd like to be at the moment!
oh actually wait
XKI [10000 Islands], I think. They've always been particularly interesting but partly because their culture is a little bit separate in some senses + I'm lazy I've never gotten very involved there

Maowi
fifth and FINAL question is simply ... what is next on NS for westinor?

Westinor
I will steal the Moon

Maowi
wonderful

WELL

THANK YOU SO MUCH WESTINOR FOR SHARING YOUR INCREDIBLY INTELLIGENT AND WONDERFUL AND INSIGHTFUL THOUGHTS AND STORIES WITH THE EBC
IS THERE ANY FINAL THOUGHT OR ANYTHING EGREGIOUS I HAVE LEFT OUT THAT YOU WOULD LIKE TO ADD

Westinor
THANK YOU VERY MUCH MAOWI FOR THIS CHANCE TO RANT AT YOU ABOUT MY PAST you are wonderful and so are all the readers at the EBC!!! Please keep yourself hydrated and safe and have a wonderful day you neato burritos


The EBC endorses the safe drinking of water

 
It was really interesting to follow West's NationStates journey!!! I didn't know she started as an issues person especially. There is so much in this interview I want to react to - I loved the bits about the SC and thorning and the difference between TGW and other regions! And also that last bit when you both talked in all caps. West is just a wonderful human!!! and you are a great interviewer among other things 👀
 
Thanks for doing this, Maowi!! I loved reading through (and at parts relating a lot to) West’s story. Asking the right questions in an interview isn’t always easy, but you nailed it, so really great job!
 
westinor is bestinor
 
West is one of the kindest people out here, and I'm glad to have made her acquaintance. It was interesting to read about her in the EBC, I think many of us don't even realize what a huge impact her work has on the game.
 
Definitely saving this for future reading material! I'm busy tonight - traveling tomorrow! - but this looks like it'll be a great read
 
This interview just exuded positivity, just like West. Thank you for sharing you experiences and history- you've done so much and have made such a big difference to my time on NS. I just appreciate you so damned much! And lovely write-up as always, Maowi!!
 
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