As much as I'd like you all to win, that just can't happen. I honestly thought about cutting it down to 10 people, but I really couldn't. I think that if you were willing to enter the contest, you should have a chance to win.
20 people entered, and all of the answers are going to be posted anonymously, so none of you know who they are (unless it's your answer.) That keeps people from being biased at all.
You guys get to choose who wins. Read the answers below, and choose the one you like the most. Then, vote on the poll. In 3 days, on Sunday, October 30th, voting will be over and the winner will be announced.
Happy voting, and good luck to all the people who entered!
Entry #1:
I was gonna write a whole essay about what nation means to me, how it has influenced my life, and how I would be the last person to die along with it.
But I'm really really busy.
So here is a picture representing "*********'s Perfect Life" instead.
[Image: http://i.minus.com/jRjCY73VbJSkt.png]
Every day and night.
Damn right you better share it with everyone.
Entry #2:
Short Answer:
[SPOILER="Spoiler"]I have joined MabiGuru during the time when NA mabinogi was G1. Looking for a guide and what the hell I'm supposed to do, I found the website. After a few months of not playing Mabinogi shortly after, I re-joined. I immeditely got along with the community, and mostly stuck around the Spam Sections of the site, just playing Forum Games with Starpaw/emomutt/whoever. This mostly continued until the move of the site, while being an active member of Mabinogi and contests.
When the move occured, I migrated immediately, due to the fact that the ads on Guru were annoying as hell and Itchy never did ANYTHING, as well as the fact that I enjoyed the community on here. I always stay here as this is pretty much the biggest Internet community that I am comfortable with. I could join the MSPA forums, but then
[SPOILER="Spoiler"][Image: http://cdn3.knowyourmeme.com/i/000/101/781/original/Y0UJC.png?1298581940][/SPOILER]
and I enjoy the fact that the community is pretty close. As well, whenever I browse The Library, I always find insight on many of the posts there. I care about this community, which is why I decided to give out those Indie Bundles instead of giving them away to IRL friends (cause the internet > all).[/SPOILER]
Long Answer/Space waster:
[SPOILER="Spoiler"]Despite what many might think, Mabination is well known across hundreds of nations all over the world. Mabination has been around for several centuries and has a very important meaning in the lives of many. It would be safe to assume that Mabination is going to be around for a long time and have an enormous impact on the lives of many people.
Social & Cultural Factors
Mabination has a large role in American Culture. Many people can often be seen taking part in activities associated with Mabination. This is partly because people of most ages can be involved and families are brought together by this. Generally a person who displays their dislike for Mabination may be considered an outcast.
Economic Factors
It is not common practice to associate economics with Mabination. Generally, Mabination would be thought to have no effect on our economic situation, but there are in fact some effects. The sales industry associated with Mabination is actually a 2.3 billion dollar a year industry and growing each year. The industry employs nearly 150,000 people in the United States alone. It would be safe to say that Mabination play an important role in American economics and shouldn't be taken for granted.
Environmental Factors
After a three month long research project, I've been able to conclude that Mabination doesn't negatively effect the environment at all. A Mabination did not seem to result in waste products and couldn't be found in forests, jungles, rivers, lakes, oceans, etc... In fact, Mabination produced some positive effects on our sweet little nature.
Political Factors
Oh does Mabination ever influence politics. Last year 5 candidates running for some sort of position used Mabination as the primary topic of their campaign. A person might think Mabination would be a bad topic to lead a campaign with, but in fact with the social and environmental impact is has, this topic was able to gain a great number of followers. These 5 candidates went 4 for 5 on winning their positions.
Conclusion
Mabination seem to be a much more important idea that most give credit for. Next time you see or think of Mabination, think about what you just read and realize what is really going on. It is likely you under valued Mabination before, but will now start to give the credited needed and deserved.
Footnotes
Mabination researched in wikipedia. Mabination @ dictionary.com [/SPOILER]
Entry #3:
On the Instrumental Goodness of The Nation
“What do you like most about Mabination?â€
I figure there are two ways to win a contest. The first is by demonstrating mastery of the subject with which the contest is concerned about, and the second is producing a unique and memorable work. Since I lack mastery in both writing and argument, I am left with the option of producing a unique work. I do have an idea about what the most common answers will not be and that is that they will not large, formal, argumentative essays about why community itself is good, and why, by extension, Mabination is good. Thus the natural thing for me to do is to write a large, formal, argumentative essay about why community and Mabination are good things. Unfortunately, restraints such as time and school will keep me from writing the large, formal, argumentative essay I originally had planned, and so I am left with the next best thing: a small, informal, argumentative essay. Hopefully it will indeed be unique, and thus balance out my lack of mastery, and even more importantly, I hope that others may benefit from it in some way. So, I shall begin.
Firstly, it is important to clarify the question of what Mabination actually is. Mabination, most broadly defined, is a community. Yes, it is also a website, but the website performs the function of allowing the community to meet. Community, for the purpose of this argument, is merely a group of two or more people united, usually by some common interest. While there is, of course, division in any human community from time to time, it is still a fact that while we are together in the domain of Mabination, we are, in some sense, united, and thus we are a community. It is possible for people to enter in the community, and it is possible for them to leave it, but as long as there are two or more people in Mabination that are united, Mabination is a community.
Therefore, in order to prove that Mabination is good, we have only to prove that community is good in some way. Good, in this case, is referring only to instrumental good, as it would be foolishly out of the scope of this paper to try and show that community is intrinsically good. An instrumental good is basically something that is good because it aids in the attainment of other good things, as opposed to intrinsic good, which is something that is good for its own sake. Thus the next important question would be: is community good?
There are many ways one could go about arguing that community is good. However, in this particular work, I am most concerned with the idea that community leads to self-knowledge, and self-knowledge, like most knowledge, is itself a good thing. Self-knowledge is necessary in order to cultivate oneself. If a person is to pursue virtue and avoid vice, which is to cultivate himself, he must first know what he is. It would be unwise to try and cultivate plants before one even knew what a plant was, and what particular plants are and need. Thus self-knowledge is a vital aspect of cultivating ourselves, so that we do not end up cultivating wrongly or, as Socrates suggests in Plato’s Alcibiades, “…unwittingly cultivate something other than ourselves†(Alcibiades, 132b).
Now one more question still remains, and that is: why do we need community for self- knowledge? The answer is complex, though Socrates, once again in Plato’s Alcibiades, offers an analogy:
“Socrates: Now, how can we get the clearest knowledge of our soul? If we knew that, we’d probably know ourselves as well… By the gods – that admirable Delphic inscription we just mentioned* – didn’t we understand it?
Alcibiades: What’s the point of bringing that up again, Socrates?
Socrates: You think about it, too. If the inscription took our eyes to be men and advised them, “See thyself,†how would we understand such advice? Shouldn’t the eye be looking at something in which it could see itself?
Alcibiades: Obviously.
Socrates: Then let’s think of something that allows us to see both it and ourselves when we look at it.
Alcibiades: Obviously, Socrates, you mean mirrors and that sort of thing.
Socrates: Quite right. And isn’t there something like that in the eye, which we see with?
Alcibiades: Certainly.
Socrates: I’m sure you’ve noticed that when a man looks into an eye his face appears in it, like in a mirror, we call this the ‘pupil’, for it’s a sort of miniature of the man who’s looking.
Alcibiades: You’re right.
Socrates: Then an eye will see itself if it observes an eye and looks at the best part of it, the part with which it can see.
Alcibiades: So it seems.
Socrates: But it won’t see itself if it looks at anything else in a man, or anything else at all, unless it’s similar to the eye.
Alcibiades: You’re right.
Socrates: So if an eye is to see itself, it must look at an eye, and at that region of it in which the good activity of an eye actually occurs, and this, I presume, is seeing.
Alcibiades: That’s right.
Socrates: Then if the soul, Alcibiades, is to know itself, it must look at a soul, and especially at that region in which what makes a soul good, wisdom, occurs, and at anything else which is similar to it.
Alcibiades: I agree with you, Socrates.†(Alcibiades, 132c-133b)
*Socrates is referring to an inscription at the Oracle of Delphi previously mentioned section 124,
which says “know thyselfâ€.
So, if a person wants to know himself, he must have something to be able to see himself in. It is all the more ideal if that thing happens to be of the same nature as him. Thus by observing and interacting with other people we can come to know ourselves by learning the nature of people and seeing parts of ourselves, by which I mean similarities, in other people. I would also expand upon Socrates’ analogy and say that a blue eye can learn different things about itself by looking at a blue eye than it will learn looking at a brown eye. It is by observing the similarities between people that we come to learn about the nature of humans, and it is by looking at the differences between people that we come to learn of the things that differentiate different kinds of people. Since a community is a group of united people, who will always be both similar and different in some ways, then what better place is there to acquire self-knowledge than in a community?
In conclusion, Mabination is good because it is an opportunity for cultivating oneself. It is debatable whether or not Mabination is the ideal community. It is also debatable whether or not a website is the ideal medium for creating community. There may be better ways to maintain community, and there may be communities with more similar and dissimilar people to interact with. However, Mabination is still a community, whether perfect or not, and therefore it is good. Now, the question originally posed was: what do you like most about Mabination? My answer to this question is simple. The thing I like most about Mabination is that it is good, as well as lots of fun.
Entry #4:
I've made lyrics to a song.
[video=youtube;fSbXGsysAAk]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSbXGsysAAk[/video]
Thread by thread, building it together
What's the best, it'll be too hard for me to pick
Maybe the advice I can obtain
From the other members in a quick
Maybe it's meeting others for the joy
It's such better than your favourite toy
I'm picking, what's the best?
Just so hard, but I just have to pick
Can't decline. Don't you know how hard this is to pick?
Could it be the media center?
Sharing pictures with everyone to see.
Maybe compliment, critique, suggest
Even though we like 'em in the end
It's tricky, what's the best?
Picking's, not easy
For Bean Rua's very fun
General is interesting
Movie night's a like, do you think this is cheesy?
This is tough, how about old threads?
The game threads, wouldn't you just quickly tread?
Making sure it fits criteria
Don't forget your chance to pick the best
Even if it makes you very crank
It may boost your knowledge tank
I'm picking, the best part
Part by part, pick by pick
Groups, friends, chats, movie night
Thread by thread, read and wrote
Choice by choice, never guess
And that's a part of Nation
Now, the grammar in threads need to be technically accurate.
This word is spelled just like you're, not your
Word by word, writing it together
Something new, don't you know the mod is always right
Even if my argument was perfect
Gotta get them all out of a fight
Everyone, the thread is simply a flame war
Wait until you agree on something
I'm thinking of ideas
Entry #5:
I feel that Mabination is a great place. There's lots of intelligent funny people here, and there's sections for just about everyone. I enjoy reading the threads because there is often a well thought out post among one of them and a lot of posts in general are funny in their own right to me. The members here are all very close. In particular, Phunkie and his crazy optimism never ceases to impress me; Addy and Zid are just adorable together in my opinion, I could go on and on about more members, but then I'd lose my main focus. . . . SCREW IT. I respect a lot of members here, such as Phunkie, Addy, Zid, Arsik, Skye, TA, Kitae, Panda, Kazuni, Arsik, Ithi, Alexane, Invertex, Cynic, Meema, Claudia, Kaeporo, ACME uhh. . .if I didn't name you I'm sorry! I feel like I'm forgetting some other important people
The members are one reason I keep coming back. To be honest though, I still feel a bit. . . distant from just about everyone. This is due to the fact that in the past when I would make a post in a thread, it would often just die there with me being the last one to put my opinion on it, unless it'd get necroed on. This happened fairly often, and it made me start to think no one really liked me that much . I pushed this thought out of my head eventually and decided that it wasn't the case. I just began to think that it was people getting bored of the thread or the question/discussion was answered/over. Regardless, I very much enjoy mabination for the people here, the wonderful threads, the amount of laughs I've had from reading posts and once again, the awesome people here. You guys are really an excellent group of people.
Entry #6:
Well I was one of the first 1000 people to join Nation after the move from Guru and I ended up meeting a lot of friends on here that I eventually hung out with in game, which not only improved my love of Mabinogi but my fondness to this site.
Somewhere down the line though I ended up meeting my current boyfriend on here. Which is a plus because he only lives ~2 hours from me, so we get to see each other often. All those sleepless nights are some of the best memories I have on here. Being with him is the biggest thing I am truly grateful for that Nation has provided me. Through him I was able to grow as a person and become more comfortable with who I am. It was a process but I am so glad that I can say "It gets a lot easier".
Despite not having touched Mabinogi in almost a year I still come back to the forums on a daily basis because I've grown close with several members here, and a period of time without Nation leaves an empty feeling inside. As corny as that sounds it holds a lot of truth to it. And despite how many times they've tried I'm not leaving for a long time.
Entry #7:
You, you sexy beast.
Entry #8:
What I like most about Mabination, is the Community. Theres always a few bad members here and there but the rest of the Community is great. The majority is nice and is fairly well mannered until we get some bad threads. But nonetheless the community is awesome.
Entry #9:
Well, it's really the closely-knit community that really pulls me to this forum. Unlike Nexon forums, or almost any forums, this community is actually fun, we interact, we laugh together, we cry together. There is the occasional troll and spammer and whatnot, but they are bugs when up to the bulk of Nation's community peoples. Even if fake, the sympathy, empathy, jokes, is all shared and passed around, so if anything happens, you can count on others to cheer you up, or give you advice. No matter age differences, people can all interact in the same manner, and Nation shows just that. People start out slowly in life, they can fall down, get back up, then pushed back down again, but find a daisy, growing on the ground. This daisy, namely Nation, is a guide for those who accept it, cherish it, grateful that it is there and is still alive. Nation helps the youngling grow and get back up from anything going on around them, and to know that no matter what happens, one can always get stronger, to have people they know have their backs, and in general, to live alongside this small yet powerful circle of friends. There is no joke without joy (except for the really bad ones) and no sadness with no sympathy, we learn about each other like a newborn child learning about the back of his hand, and we know that, despite it being over the internet, we are alive, and we are there, together.
Entry #10:
Basically, it's the people who make this place great.
I've been around back when Guru was still alive. When we all came to Mabination, I was very wary, because I felt like an outcast already. I moved here hoping I could feel a bit more welcome than I had. Well, it gradually happened, and I'm glad to have met so many wonderful people who I can truly call my friends.
Aside from the social aspect of this site, there are so many helpful things here as well. I don't play Mabinogi anymore, but I know Osayidan has made a few things to help people with the game (his CP calculator, for example). There are also fantastic guides and many knowledgeable people to help others along. The same things can't quite be said about Vindictus yet, but there are still great guides and helpful people for new players or even veterans.
We even have discussions and advice for things totally unrelated to Mabinogi and Vindictus, like other games and even real life situations. That makes this place especially wonderful, I think.
Entry #11:
Is that here, I can discuss a lot of things that I wouldn't have the courage to discuss in real life. Or discuss/debate about things I never even considered before.
And maybe it's just me, but being a minority coming to a community (the majority) that has many different viewpoints than I adds that sense of intrigue in wanting to know more about them and what they think. At least, as long as they're all open, which is the most important part in deciding whether I want to stay and talk or not.
Sharing our viewpoints, explaining ourselves and our thoughts, and discussing/debating those aspects (as civil as many of us can muster nowadays) are important reasons why I come here and express myself. It's a different kind of learning: not through textbooks and spreadsheets, but through sharing experiences and opinions.
Entry #12:
There's a lot to like about MN, but there's a lot to dislike too. I think what keeps me coming back is all the nice people I've met and the friends I've made. They're all great people and just talking to them, or just reading their words is a pleasure.
Plus, most of the people in charge are pretty chill, so I'm not "scared" to come here.
Entry #13:
What I like about Mabination?
The obvious choice is that it's not Nexon forums, although I love both communities. I like the customization that Mabination enables and the simplicity of keeping a certain text style of your choice instead of having to edit everything manually. The most intriguing part of this site that I like most is the unity of the site. People here actually take the time to give you a well-thought response no matter how ridiculous. The forums can be fun, and you can meet so many different people that you wouldn't normally meet in-game. If you keep an open-mind, you'll see or view people/ideas/knowlege much differently than before. :D
Entry #14:
The few things I love about Mabination.
I'm kind of the black sheep in real life, not many friends because of how odd i am. Mabination is a friendly and accepting group of people, some of them i have grown very attached to.
These few people i think of as my family, odd, annoying but loving miss matched family.
Even when i quit mabi and fell into quite heavy depression from real life things i came back to the nation to talk to people.
The few people who've helped me out quite a bit with some issues even if it meant giving me a stern warning I'll always be thankful to them.
Aside from that I've met quite a few great people to talk to/debate with on here.The community for the most part is one of the nicest ones I've ever seen.
Entry #15:
There's a few reasons I use mabination rather than other forums, including the nexon forums. One of the big reasons is the active staff and relatively mature members.
The staff on nation actually keep up with every post/thread and make sure it's all appropriate. Because of that, I feel like opinions can be shared here without someone immediately shooting them down with rage. It also keeps false information at bay and helps with people who have questions and actual concerns about the game.
Due to the active staff and mature environment, we have rather mature members. There are only a couple trolls and you can usually tell who they are based by how many times they've been banned :P Nation has a lot of helpful people as well as members who appreciate the helpful. I like the rep and shop system that rewards nice and active members.
In addition to all this, because nation has a good community, is active, and up to date. It serves a sa good place to recruit people for missions, services, and market. Nation is the best mabi-based forum I've seen by far.
Feel free to share this or anything you like. I'm pretty open about my opinion of nation.
Entry #16:
Why do I? Interesting question as I never really gave it that much thought, I could say that because I am a mod and I have a commitment to the site, but that would only be partly true as I could drop the position if I grew tired of it, and even so I don't know if I could do it, because I find it hard to imagine not coming to nation regularly, and if I come might as well try my best on keeping the site the friendly community that it should be with the position that has been entrusted.
Why can't I imagine not coming here regularly? The site is active, offers all kinds of discussions, and fun overall. But I can find that in several places, I guess I feel some sort of attachment to the site or more specifically the community, it's amazing that it will be 4 years since the born of this community back in Guru, it doesn't matter that the sites have different names, it's the same community, it's the place where I met just a lot of amazing people I doubt I'll ever forget.
And not just that, the community has definitively made me a better person, taught me things over the years and made me more open-minded.
There's too many memories, all those memories make this community what it is for me, even if people left, the actives or not, they are still here, because at some point or another they contributed to the site with their joy, sadness, wisdom, and everything they could have offered, and all of the community grew together with that.
I love this place! So that's it, if I wanted to give a short answer:
I love this place and the people in it, even if sometimes they piss me off,
I love it and I hope I never have to say goodbye to it anytime soon.
Entry #17:
Well for one, this was really my first forum that I had joined and actually posted in(somewhat QQ).
What I think keeps bringing me back here is that the threads on the serious stuff, Vindictus/Mabinogi/any other games, all were helpful and people actually answered the questions instead of just leaving a "lrn2wikinoob". On the other hand, the Bean Rua materials sometimes are hilarious. Besides the fun stuff and the game guides etc, the news section of the forum is another aspect that I really liked about Mabination. Since I don't watch TV/News very often, I get most of my big news (?) from nation when I happen to forget to go on CNN etcetc haha. Mmm...so I guess that pretty much sums up why i think Nation is great lol.
Entry #18:
I'm always hearing complaints on how this place is turning into the Nexon forums, but to me they are nothing compared to us.
We have a very large but close community, and unlike most forums, we are known on our positive attitude towards our members, like everywhere you go you will have those sour apples (I am known to be one as well as others) but compared to all of the other forums I've been to, this was the only one I've stuck around to for as long as I have.
One of the main reasons I adore this site is because if I'm having **** for a day, I can log on and read something that will make me laugh, boost my mood and really make my day.
I've been a member here for about a year and the initial thing that made me stick around
was the warm welcome that was made for me
along with something that reason caught my attention.
The staff.
A lot of the forums you will visit will have a good deal of moderation
but the staff normally have that select few they talk to, and just spend the rest of their time moderating posts and only talking to the ones that are breaking the rules and ignoring the rest of the community.
I noticed that most of the staff here were active posters along with the forum being well moderated, I liked that.
The community is helpful, supportive, honest, structured, optimistic, and organized
This forum to me is my escape from the bad things that happen in my life, my mentor, my entertainment, my venting tool, and my guide.
And for that I thank everyone.
/end cheesiness
Entry #19:
I love the friendly, welcoming community here.
When I first came to Mabination, it was my first forum and the only forum thus far that I've been pretty darn active on. I was surprised by the amount of warm welcomes when I first posted in the Forest of Souls.
Entry #20:
I think what I mainly like about Nation is the people. While there might be some bickering and fighting, I think that a majority of nationers are actually really sweet and caring people. I've noticed that if someone is having a hard time, or just needs someone to comfort them there's always a Nationer who is willing to do it. You really can't find such a caring, and close community elsewhere. So I keep coming back to Mabination for my fellow Nationers, they help keep me sane even when they drive me nuts.
Again, good luck to all of you.