User:Mscoree/Mscoree's Story

On 25 March 2013‎ at 18:11 UTC a wikia user named Mscoree uploaded 'Night of the Living Alternate History (Map Game)'. A map game about teamwork, zombies, warfare, and leading your makeshift country to controlling the remnants of the old world. This is his story.

Background
Mscoree first joined the Alternate History wiki on 30 December 2012, however his roots to alternate history go back much further. As a child Mscoree had always been extremely interested in history. When he was younger he would spend every day playing games on paper, creating complicated worlds/maps on paper and battling it out. His paper worlds would advance for thousands of ‘in-game’ years as he basically played the equivalent of ‘Civilization IV: Paper Edition’ for months on end. In 2011 Mscoree first stumbled upon the wiki while noticing an ad at the bottom of a different wiki’s page. In December of 2011 Mscoree first began drafting ideas for his own timeline. He recorded many notes which would later be integrated into his timeline, Alternate Imperialism. Mscoree also drafted an extensive document containing rules for a map game, a concept Mscoree had stumbled upon that same month. Mscoree would sit on his ideas for exactly one year, uploading them December of 2012. "“I remember feeling nervous when adding ‘Alternate Imperialism’ to the wiki. I had some strange fear that I would be instantly rejected for making a bad timeline, and banned for breaking an obscure rule about formatting. I guess that’s why I waited so long; I needed the experience.”"

In the Beginning
On 30 December 2012 at 02:51 UTC Mscoree created a timeline called ‘Imperialism’ with the purpose of exploring European imperialism the many conflicts that ensued. About fourteen minutes after creation a wiki administrator named Lordganon renamed ‘Imperialism’ to ‘Alternate imperialism’. "“I thought all my fears had come true. I go to start adding content to the timeline and it says that the page doesn’t exist. My heart sank as I realized my page had been deleted. I was a laughing stock! My first attempts to join the wiki had resulted in deletion! It was probably only a matter of time before I was done for too.”" But Mscoree wasn’t going to give up so easily. Mscoree hastily tracked down this ‘Lordganon’ guy. He soon realized that ‘Imperialism’ hadn’t been deleted, but renamed. Mscoree, obviously confused and furious that some guy had dared to practically ‘’ruin’’ his creation, contacted Lordganon, creating the following exchange:

Name Change Dear Lordganon, Why was 'Imperialism' forcefully changed to 'Alternate Imperialism'? Thanks, Mscoree (talk) 03:45, December 30, 2012 (UTC)

"Imperialism" is a general definition term. Because of that, and its eventual usefulness for a disambiguation page, I changed the name slightly. Lordganon (talk) 03:59, December 30, 2012 (UTC)

I Understand. Thanks for the hastily explanation. Mscoree (talk) 04:01, December 30, 2012 (UTC)

I had just made myself look like an ‘’idiot’’. I’ve never felt so ready in my life.

Getting to Work
Mscoree, a veteran wiki user, used his knowledge to quickly get the timeline on track. During the holiday season Mscoree was able to work almost every day on the main timeline and get the story going. As the new year began a new era began for Alternate Imperialism too. For quite some time Mscoree continued researching and vigorously typing away. Alternate Imperialism became just as much a teaching experience for Mscoree, as it was a timeline. After putting much work into creating Alternate Imperialism, Mscoree braced himself for whatever would hit him. Mscoree waited there for whatever hate mail, death threats, compliments, and complaints he would get, but there was one thing he was not prepared for: nothing. "“For months I sat there waiting for a response. I would stare at the portal page wishing someone would notice my hard work. I wished at least one person would say ‘wow, this is kinda’ neat,’ but to no avail. Perhaps this wish is what motivated me to keeping going, to keep inventing, and to keep writing at least something.'"

Interregnum
As work slowly continued on ‘Alternate Imperialism’, Mscoree began reaching out to map games. At first he signed up for a map game called 20th Century, in which he played France. After a few turns Mscoree quit after France was instantly, possibly implausibly, conquered in a turn or two. A while later Mscoree decided to sign up for a more prestigious game. A better regulated game. Something where I wouldn’t be implausibly defeated. But he accidently signed up for the wrong one.

The Final Round
Trying to sign up for the legendary ‘Axis vs Allies’ series Mscoree signed up for Axis vs Allies The Last Round. He soon realized that ‘Last Round’ was not connected to Pitakang’s series at all, but instead ran by ‘DeanSims’ in order to get ‘revenge’ on the real series for ‘being biased’. Mscoree took what he could get and decided to give ‘Last Round’ a whirl as the Netherlands. Mscoree began by researching and making several lengthy posts that launched him to the top of the player list. Mscoree soon realized that DeanSims didn’t appear to have everything all together, and sometimes wished he could be a moderator and contribute to the screwy moderator events. The game, which was supposed to be about World War 2, soon developed into a war in the Middle East. Mscoree would try to incorporate his page-creating skills into the map game by creating a page for the War of Iranian Aggression, eventually becoming a moderator. Arguments over the correct name for the war and Dean’s alleged biased decisions soon pulled the game members even farther apart. Mscoree decided to blow the dust off his old map game idea and try make a game for himself. On 25 March Mscoree officially resigned on ‘The Last Round’. No one has posted since.

Braaaaaaaaaaaaaains
Mscoree decided to take a look at the ideas he wrote for a map game over a year ago. Mscoree soon realized that these rules, although realistic, were far too complicated to use in a map game, and soon began revising them. Mscoree would incorporate elements from many popular map games before him, revising for several days. The premise was simple: George A. Romero’s classic movie about zombies, had inspired something much more. On 25 March 2013‎ at 18:11 UTC, Night of the Living Alternate History was uploaded, containing 3,387 characters. Mscoree had high hopes and a few people began to sign up. With only five people signed up within a day, Mscoree believed he had to do something before his game became defunct before it even started. Mscoree passed the word around and even began messaging people on the wiki informing them about the game. On 27 March 2013 at 23:27 UTC the game’s members spiked to fifteen players, and Mscoree began the game.

The Virus Spreads
Due to the elaborate story telling of the amazing community, ‘NotLAH’ continued to grow. On 30 March at 22:45 UTC the main page was edited for the first time by renown copy editor, EoGuy. On 30 March the map game became the most popular and active page on the wiki, surpassing even Principia Moderni II. The talk page would also become the third most active page the next day. "“I remember being in a live chat with several people. Months before these people didn’t even know of me or bother to talk to me, and now they’re asking me questions and truly intrigued about the things I’ve created. That night someone said we broke the record for most people in chat with eleven people at once. I can’t describe how proud I was.”" Mscoree would stay on the map game page for the entirety of the day, watching over his creation, and adding his input where appropriate, but shortly after went on vacation for Easter. That morning Mscoree was not online, and coincidentally in a time when his assistance was greatly needed. The following argument occurred:

Argument of 1970.50

 * Depth charges can't breach the tunnels, the tunnels were built to withstand the blitz and then reinforced, also, i decide where my resources are, and do you know the meaning of 'near inpregnable', hint; it means that the gangs and undead wouldn't get in and nor would the bombs. Also in the introduction to this turn it says deep, as in, not near the surface. If you can change facts to suit you, so can I which means, I can do this:
 *  London:Nukes Anglesessy. The radiation kills everyone on anglessey, the emp released knocks planes out of the sky. This occurs before your attack, so you fail, and all die. does that seem fair? Thought not, so remove your post please.
 * This wasn't my real post, that is further up the page, I'm making a point.
 * I'm just going to remind y'all that douchebaggery is NOT mandatory. We can get Mscoree to change UK's post while we ignore London's after this is done. I think whoevere posted above me is also blind as he can not see that it is a way to piss off the UK player, and not serious Daxus Inferno (talk)
 * I'm one of those people who takes games such as this serious, but i'm just trying to help manage because Mscoree is on a vacation. However he should be back soon.
 * Alright, Edboy. Solution: We get UK to change some of their stuff and remove London's post. Simple enough Daxus Inferno (talk) 16:36, March 30, 2013 (UTC)
 * It isn't a real post, I'm just showing how unfair it is to destroy a nation. Local Mafia Boss (talk) 16:45, March 30, 2013 (UTC) I've removed the post. now change the UKs
 * Got it Daxus.
 * If you won't change his post, can I play as someone else. 
 * Now someone fix the UK post Daxus Inferno (talk) 16:45, March 30, 2013 (UTC)
 * Now this is me speaking as a moderator. One of the key rules of these games is that you DO NOTcross out anyones posts but your own if you are not a moderator. That is why we have moderators, so that they can analyse the posts for implausibility, and cross out anything they find. Even if you dislike a part of a post, YOU CANNOT just cross it out. If you have an issue with a post, say so underneath, then a moderator will look at it, and will decide themselves if something needs to be changed. This rule APPLIES FOR ALL POSTS, regardless of whether it is something minor you are unhappy with or something major. So please refrain from doing it again. Hailstormer (talk) 18:10, March 30, 2013 (UTC)
 * In terms of me as the player of the UK, i personally believe everything i said in my post is plausibe. It doesn't matter if you like it or not, if it is plausible, then it stands. If you don't believe something is plausible, then say so and one of the moderators, as i said above, will look at it for you and decide what is to be done. If they believe something is implausible, then i will change it if i have no way to counter their argument. In terms of whether or not it is fair, this is a game based on plausibility not fairness, if it is plausible, then it happens. I know that sounds harsh, but if these games were based on fairness all that would ever happen would be us attacking NPCs, and half the fun of these games is staking up against someone else's nation. I hope that cleared some of this up. Hailstormer (talk) 18:10, March 30, 2013 (UTC)
 * Thanks to Daxus, Hailstormer, and Edboy for regulating while I was away. London's joke post is not valid. In regards to England's post, they were attacking a ravaged city with no anti-air defenses, therefore I will allow England's attack to remain, but now begins the long siege to take back the city. Considering that London is now partially in ruin this will probably take 2-3 turns before the city is tolerable for the English to re-enter. The only thing I will edit is the severity of the subway collapse. As was pointed out, the subways are heavily reinforced and I doubt even if they were completely opened that many raiders would jump down the large hole into the flooded darkness below. Local Mafia Boss, if you do end up defeated after this siege, you will be allowed to play as some other nation, assuming that you don't meta-game or remain bias against England. Mscoree (talk) 18:29, March 30, 2013 (UTC)
 * English player, also try to resist the urge to bold stuff in your post unless it's diplomacy. 

This argument clearly illustrated for Mscoree that his creation was evolving. No longer did he have to protect his child so closely, for obviously there were others who cared about ‘NotLAH’ as well. Perhaps this is the greatest memory Mscoree could have created for himself. Only time will tell.