It was called Atmosphir, and it was the newest game to make an appearance online. I was instantly attracted to it because the entire basis of the game was imagination. Anything that allows you to design your own game and share it with the world is fairly rare. Atmosphir had not reached its public release yet, so every day was a new adventure. Between the community and the game, things were changing every day.
Despite these constant changes, the one thing that I noticed that was missing was a reliable, constant news source. There was a weekly newspaper made by a group of members, but the content was lacking and the news was generally outdated by the time it reached our internet browsers. Therefore, I began to take things into my own hands. It was at this point that The Atmosphirian began. One summer evening, I sat down and began to write.
Inspiration for my articles came from New World Notes, a blog about another online game named Second Life. Each article written by Wagner James Au was filled with information about current events or notable aspects of the Second Life community and world. With his writing in mind, I wrote lengthy articles every night, carefully choosing my words to give them a more official tone. After brief reviews, I would publish them to my blog, where they could be read. I would then advertise on the Atmosphir forums in an attempt to attract readers.
At first, word of The Atmosphirian was small. It seemed to me that nobody wanted to take the time to read a page-long report every evening. However, I continued to write reports, reviews, and announcements every day and night because I enjoyed it. I took pride in the effort I put into each and every article. I had no idea where I was going with it, but I was having a lot of fun doing it.
After the first few weeks of writing, I started picking up a few followers. When I talked with some people, they would mention my blog and ask what the next article would be about. People I had never talked to were beginning to recognize me as the exclusive writer for the Atmosphirian. I had never been known for anything before that, so I had no idea what to say sometimes. Usually I thanked them, and the topic dissolved into an unrelated topic.
Early in August, the Creative Director of Atmosphir, Dave Werner, made an announcement that there would be a new Editorial team later in the month. Along with this announcement was an application form. The purpose of the Editorial team was to feature a user-created level every day, and write a short summary of it. The team would be composed of six members who applied and were picked by Mr. Werner himself. I did not see this announcement until later in the day and I looked at it, curious. By the time I got there, a total of six people had stated that I was probably the most likely candidate for the job. After a few days of consideration, I applied.
The announcement came a week later. The six-person editorial team had been decided. Just as everyone had expected and hoped, I had made the team, along with six of the most well-known members of the community. After a brief celebration, we recognized the job we were chosen to do. It wasn’t a difficult task, but it was important.
Within a week, our editorials began to appear on the homepage. The Atmosphir Editorial Team was officially in charge. I didn’t expect to sit here and write about the experience when I started the Atmosphirian nearly two months ago. There were times I nearly gave up. But I never did, and it paid off in the end. I went from the new kid on the block to one of the most popular writers in the community. If I’ve learned anything from the experience, it’s that everything starts small. It’s the time and effort we put into things that makes them big.
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