An Interview with Nova!
Hearing From a New Executive Staff Member
Written by Maowi
On March 22, the Europeian Broadcasting Corporation (EBC) interviewed @Nova!. Nova applied for Europeian citizenship near the beginning of this month and since then has proven himself a valuable contributor to the Ministry of Interior, as well as being a much-loved presence on the forum, Discord, and the Regional Message Board (RMB). He recently represented the ministry in an Ask-Me-Anything event on the RMB, from which some of these quotations are drawn.
Despite being very new to Europeia, Nova has an extensive NationStates (NS) history, first becoming involved in 10000 Islands in 2017. From there, he found a home in Fort Triumph where he spent time with Benevolent Thomas, Deadeye Jack, and Shizensky Prime before having to step away from NS. “When I came back to the game it was to Karma, which I spent almost 2 years in helping as a Chameleon member, their version of the Ministry of Interior. Then I became a Guru, Minister-level position, and eventual Sage,” he told the EBC. “Karma is still very dear to me, and was a lovely place to really learn Gameplay from. After Karma, I took a break that was supposed to be retirement, just barely keeping my main alive in The Sasquatch Republic which is ran by a lot of wonderful [people], but I think we know how rarely retirement sticks” - indeed, after a friend prompted him to visit UCRCon, he decided to join The Brotherhood of Malice.
He was drawn to Europeia’s forum when he happened to hear of Europeia’s 15th anniversary event: “in the interest of full disclosure I had only planned to hang out and see what was happening with that and nothing else, but the wonderful individuals and just the friendly culture of the region convinced me to go ahead and apply for citizenship and stick around for a bit longer.”
Upon his citizenship being approved, Minister of Interior Sarah approached Nova about joining the ministry and he agreed. As he explained on the RMB, his favourite part of Interior so far has been “interacting with everyone and always being surprised or caught off guard at the diversity of the region. Freeverse Fridays always have such a diverse selection from Classics to actual Freeverse, from haikus to unique rhyming schemes from love poems to hate poems. And the same is true of Meme Monday, Would You Rather Wednesday, and all the rest.” He has also enjoyed helping with the manual recruitment side of the ministry: “I've gotten [to] work pretty closely with Sarah on the game she is doing to bolster recruitment over the past few days, and I think it's really innovative. I've seen other regions do similar recruitment games in the past, but this one is doing exceptionally well, and is definitely something I feel like has added to my knowledge as a player in ways to [motivate] recruiters, because sometimes manual recruitment can be a bit droll.”
Nova’s considerable experience across a variety of regions gives him a unique perspective on the way the Europeian executive operates. He identified a potential point of improvement for ministries as “better communications between all for the purpose of "job recruitment." Each Ministry interacts with folks in Europeia in [a different] way” and if a citizen's strengths and character traits are noticed to suit a particular type of ministry work, Nova proposes that they should be actively encouraged in the area that allows them to shine.
Many of the speeches at this year’s Europeia Founding Day festival included reflections on the important lessons that can be learned from Europeia (often with real-life applications). On the RMB Nova said working in the Ministry of Interior has taught him “how important communication is especially over the finer things, and [...] how we approach people outside of our normal spheres. I've run into a few growing pains and communicating with you [Sarah] on how to best tackle them has been a fantastic learning experience.” In terms of his future in Europeia, Nova’s goals are not necessarily political: “I'm just looking to hang out, have fun, and give back to the community where I can.”
Finally, the EBC could not let Nova go without finding out a fun fact about him - he did not disappoint. “I don't have any tattoos, but the only reason I don't is in order to get the writer David Sedaris to sign a copy of one of his books for me, he made me promise to not get any.” Thank you to Nova for his time and thoughtfulness in answering our questions, and for all the work he has already done to make Europeia a better place!
