Happy 2nd Anniversary Mizahar!

by **Gossamer** on August 1st, 2011, 6:43 pm

Greetings Mizaharians!

Many of you know that relatively speaking, Mizahar is the new kid on the block. Two years ago on August 1, 2009 we opened our doors to new players and officially opened as a new rpg site. New sites typically don't last. They have management issues, lack of new players, or are just poorly conceived and tend to fail. We had several goals in mind when we started Mizahar, many of which were designed to avoid the fate of most new sites. One of them was to keep Mizahar both completely add free and donation driven, meaning anyone could play regardless of their financial situation or their contributions to the site. But if a person wanted to help, they could. Financing a site like this is important.

We wanted to be innovative and not only have a beautiful easily navigated site, but one that had a tremendous amount of features - moreso than any other playbypost on the internet - many of which are custom coded. We wanted a completely original fantasy world with no D&D monsters or cut and paste lore articles that obviously came from elsewhere. That means no vampires or werewolves, no elves, dwarves and unicorns. We wanted heavy activity, not OOCly but ICly, of quality posts driven by people who were not only interested in the story, but in character development and the core of this writing project: having fun.

We called ourselves the Writer's RPG to reflect our seriousness in lack of one-liners and intolerance of god modding and gimping. Some people called it elitism, but we called it sensibility. And guess what? People flocked, having been seeking some place that wanted to hold serious writing up and highlight it over brief dialog and poorly constructed posts only aimed at one goal: Gaining XP.

Many people scoffed at our goals. They said they were impossible. New games failed. No one would enjoy all original fantasy. Our site couldn't run off donations. We couldn't attract good writers being a 'game'. We heard it all and just smiled and nodded when people repeated this within our hearing.

Guess what? We didn't mind. We built Mizahar (us Founders) as a place for us to play in a way we considered a play by post should be constructed and not in a way that would generate revenue or make any of us rich.

We succeeded though. Not only are we still here two years out, but we are better than ever, larger than ever, and still growing in leaps and bounds. Many people netwide scoffed when we said we wanted to be the busiest out there, but its happened and has consistently happened month my month where we overshoot our closest competitors by hundreds then thousands of posts and threads being active and new. Don't believe us? Just check the numbers. They are public on every rpg site out there via their natural software protocols generally on the home page.

I still just quietly smile. Yea. It goes to show you folks, there's always room for a new kid on the block, especially if that kid is unlike any you've seen before. Okay, enough of the bragging... but what else are Anniversary Dates for? We did it!! We will continue to do it. And we have a very specific group to thank for our success.

We have the most amazing players on the net. We appreciate them, give them creative freedom, and provide a platform for their characters to truly come to life and tell the most amazing stories. Our success, I absolutely feel, is due to the not only the extensive lore and the documents we've provided to get new folks started but by our veteran players themselves and their welcoming attitudes. You can log into chat as a brand new person looking for help, and you will get hugs, cookies, and patient answers to your questions. People here love new players and we get a lot of them on a daily basis. We are getting so many, in fact, that we aren't batting an eyelash at adding two new CS Liaison positions to the mix to help with getting people started.

Mizaharians are some of the best folk I've ever seen. I'm not sure how this happened, or why, but we are lucky that way. Sure, we've had some rough spots and had staff that needed replacing or players that were issued an uninvite, but by and large things have gone amazingly smooth for the sheer amount of people we have in the mix. And the best part of Mizahar is that people contribute in all sorts of ways. They contribute to the lore, to the collaborative stories, and to storytelling. They donate money (if everyone donated 5 or 10 bucks a year, we'd run happily without batting an eyelash for years) to offset our costs (which honestly aren't tremendous unlike other sites who claim it costs thousands a year to run a site like ours). Players help players, thread with them, and generally extend open arms.

Mizahar isn't just a game, its a collective community that feels more like a family than anything else. And I personally wanted to say Thank you for all everyone does on a daily basis to keep the site going.

I hope you'll take a few moments too and share your thoughts about Mizahar, its anniversary, and what you get out of it or want to see for the future.

Regards,

Gossamer

by **Kendall Saarinen** on August 1st, 2011, 6:46 pm

I am so excited! I love Mizahar and definitely has become a home away from home for me. We are like a big family and even though we fight at times, we still make it work. I am so happy to be a part of this site. Here's to many more anniversaries! *raises a glass of non-alcoholic champagne*

by **Risa Moontide** on August 1st, 2011, 6:50 pm

Aww, that was extremely well-written Goss!

So far I absolutely love Mizahar. It's just what you said: Fresh, with nothing else out there like it. I think I love how in-depth and developed everything is and how fresh the ideas are. It's like I don't have to worry about cliches as much and it gives me a chance to write freely.

As for the future of Mizahar I can't say I can think of anything to improve it. It's already awesome and I've been here too short a time to critique anything.

This site is the best and it's run by the best people! Thank you for making this game and letting me join this family!
Risa

by **Sira** on August 1st, 2011, 6:56 pm

Hi everyone. First I'd like to say congratulations to all of us, especially the founders, for helping to create the most wonderful role playing website I have ever seen! Not only that, the best game I have ever seen, as I choose Mizahar over dnd and video games every day. I came here on February 21st, 2010 with a little kelvic who I will not name (because he was awful). But I fell in love with the site and have been here ever since. There truly is nothing else like Mizahar out there. I have seen it grow so much in the year and a half I've been here it's truly been amazing. I am so glad I found this place, and I hope it stays strong for years to come. I know it will!

~V

by **Tarot** on August 1st, 2011, 7:58 pm

You may know me as someone who's fond of numbers, and I was going to say a lot of things and give figures to indulge in a little occasional bragging. The Romans did say it's okay to go crazy once a year. In the end, though, I'd like to spend more time thanking our players and staff for sticking with us and contributing to the website. While proving the crows wrong is utterly priceless and a source of endless satisfaction to me (and seeing some crows turn into magpies has gotten very amusing in its own way), what's really important is that forum RPing wasn't killed by MMORPGs, as we were always told. There are tons of amazing writers and great people on this site, and tons more I hope to welcome here. Thanks from the bottom of my heart, and here's to a lot more epic threads to come.

Oh. I forgot. Because a picture is worth a thousand words, here's our monthly page views - real humans only - in the 24 months we've been around. I think it's pretty self-explanatory (except the bit where we were all doing NaNoWriMo in Nov 2009!)

by **Bolden Denusk** on August 1st, 2011, 8:33 pm

Mizahar is community-a family that just keeps growing in the best way! The amazing founders with their creative ambitions, made a people first friendly world for all to enjoy. The DS's, AS's, Guest storytellers, Liasons and staff have all worked hard and continue to make this place great! From the veteran players to the day old players the feeling is still one of mutual friendliness. Every single person, founder, staff, veteran and newbie, makes Mizahar a fantastic place to just -be- yourself!

All the lore, races, cities, help desk faq's, threads, chat, posts, art and writing have transformed this site into a home for all. Thank you Mizahar for being great! And thank you to all the people that make it so!

by **Alice** on August 1st, 2011, 8:59 pm

Happy anniversary! It's awesome that Mizahar has survived and grown for such a long time, yet I feel like this is nothing to the time that's still ahead of us. I sincerely believe Mizahar will survive in the future and will have a very, very long life.

As for comments, I can't express how much this game means to me. It's like the epitome of fantasy for me, so much that it gives me the daily (or sometimes weekly) dose of fantasy I need and so much that I refrained from writing any fantasy stories except on this site. Which might also imply that most fantasy worlds I come across are by far not as original as Mizahar. It's also the best writing exercise I've ever encountered. I have to pack good stories and quality writing into small chunks of 300-500 words. Doing this again and again really has taught me so much. Finally, Mizahar is the best of places to get away from the real world and relax. At the same time, you can take something from Mizahar and carry it over into the real world and learn from the game. The community. The cooperation.

Of course, there will always be conflicts and fights. If there's anything to criticize, it'd be that, but everyone knows it's just human nature and can't be avoided. I'd just ask for a little more understanding and listening to each other.

But that's it! Mizahar is way better than its competition, and the best thing is that we'll continue to grow and improve. Thanks, everyone, for all the work and dreams you put into this. A special thanks goes to the Founders who have done and are still doing their best to keep up the quality and keep the community going. Here's to another year of awesomeness!

And did I ramble...? Sorry if I did.

by **Hayii** on August 1st, 2011, 9:17 pm

Happy birthday, Mizahar! You are an awesome forum filled with great writers who also happen to be very nice people. It's not too long ago I first met you, but I already love you massively. A big thank you to your formidable creators!

by **Tessa Poe** on August 1st, 2011, 10:20 pm

Well I've been here for... 11 days now and I'm already really quite addicted. I love the work that's been into the site by those that founded it, the Story Tellers and everyone else who's a part of it.

It's an incredibly refreshing place to play, there's enough definition to give people actual goals and motivations for their characters without it being too constricting and the fact that it's so different from the cut and paste style of sites is absolutely wonderful.

So happy birthday to Mizahar, and here's to many more

by **Tiki** on August 1st, 2011, 10:35 pm

I'm still shocked to read that this is only the second year anniversary...

A friend suggested the site to me approximately 2 months after what would have been Mizahar's first birthday. Joining the site, seeing the massive and thorough wiki, and skimming the multi thousand thread forums was astonishing. Never, ever ever ever, would I have guessing that this site at that time was only about a year old.
"Cool story bro, tell it again. ... Cool story bro."
Allow me to clarify: I'm not trying to say I'm bad at that carnival game of guessing age, weight, and the like, but rather that the founders and their aides have done such a fabulous job. To the founders, early players, ex-staff who are no longer reading this and everyone else who aided in the development of this site:

Seeing as you are so kind...self controlled...to be modest, let me brag a little for you. Person for the self reflection, but it's relevant...
I've played, we probably all have, a plethora of games from the RPGs onward. Mizahar is without a doubt among the top on my favorite list, above other games I enjoy as well such as World of Warcraft (Blizzard Entertainment's gargantuan monster with its multimillion player base). Why though?

As you point out so accurately, Gossamer, Mizahar's use of experience and skill systems serves as a visual aid to the game and makes the focus the player's writing, imagination, and over all creativity.
Mizahar's player base, a.k.a. many of you reading this, have a wide array of writing styles and comprehension levels. The conjunction of those skills in this single forum has been one of my favorite benefactors. While the school systems are very thorough in teaching writing mechanics, etc., it's Mizahar and like sites that aided me in a point of style. In a degree of mimicry, I've simply developed a more complex style compared to my old, crap simple structure sentences. I've noticed an expansion in vocabulary and just all that good stuff. My writing as a whole has improved, and I guarantee a point in that benefactor was having Mizahar to just play with my writing.
It also tests players to a degree of imagination, Mizahar that is. From what I can tell, Mizahar is custom in every fantasy aspect of the game. You see custom plot, pantheon, terrain, denizens, etc. With such, I feel my imagination is tested to take the text descriptions from the site and transfer them into mental thought and vice versa. Movie in your head man...its freaky stuff. Of course, Mizahar, though unique in its design, is not restricted by such. I see players do the wackiest of things between their CSs and posts, uses of Photoshop and...everything. You can almost *reaches out* touch the imagination in the air...
Of course, tying back to imagination, creativity is probably my favorite part of Mizahar. Designing a character from head to toe, flesh and soul, physically and mentally is the coolest thing that I've done through games like this (meaning anything RPG). My only upset is not being around to have helped develop the physical world (terrain being one of my favorite aspects of these games, transferring your imagination of a world into a visual piece; of course I'm shot down because I have no idea how to work Photoshop.

). it's a test of creativity, and players flourish in their ability. When it all comes together I start seeing some BA characters with even sicker people at the board writing for them.
The point in case here is that you, founders and friends, have been thoroughly successful in designing a game that is unique and even more of a challenge than your typical MMORPG. You have, in my opinion, created a giant just as magnificent as Blizzard's WoW. The lore is divine throughout, you have a full fleshed out world, and you welcome players to create its inhabitants on a deeper scale that Blizzard can hope to on its own. The only major differences I see are a more vague description of the history to this time and the manner in which you project the world (graphic design vs. text). Alas, two years in...damn good job, and we know there is more to come.

To be brief, even though it's too late for that...Mizahar, every time I think of you the inspiration of a new concept pops into my head as if I were becoming the first person to invent sliced bread. Each time I face a more difficult challenge than clicking a few buttons and arrows, clicking create, then killing things for lewt; you challenge me to bring my imagination to text and nurture my character to something great with patience and dedication (not to say doing the "Kill X amount of baddie A, B, and C doesn't take mental endurance...doing that stuff over and over becoming so boring and ugh...).

Time to bring it to a close... what I'm failing to say is congratulations, thank you, and good luck to all future developments in this game and life. As a side task and hobby it is clear that you are all very dedicated people and I wish you the best of luck in all you do. HAPPY FOCKIN' SECOND ANNIVERSARY MIZAHAR!!!

There's more to say but I forgot...here's a waffle though! (>^u^)>#