Interview with KrisKringle
by Hamborn
Hello and thank you for reading this interview. This month I’ll interview Kringalia (KrisKringle), who has had an exceptionally long career that’s still ongoing today; he’s been prime minister, as well as delegate, Chief Justice of the High Court, and now a High Court judge, and Chair of our Assembly.
Hamborn: Hello, I’m starting with the first question: how and when did you discover NS ?
KrisKringle: I’ve always been interested in political and government stuff, so this wasn’t entirely out of character for me. Back in February 2013 I was looking for country simulators and I came across this website called NationStates that let you create a country and run it via issues. I wasn’t convinced at first so I kept searching, but ultimately I figured it was fun enough and created an account there.
Hamborn: I see, so as we know, the Milograd coup happened right away upon your joining NS (April 2013); how did you live through this first experience ?
KrisKringle: That was an interesting time. By the start of the Milograd Coup I was already a citizen, but I hadn’t truly got involved in the region, to the point that I had pretty much forgotten about NationStates. It was chance that on April 20th I received an email sent by the Admin Team where they informed forum users of the coup and asked for assistance. I clearly didn’t know anything about regional politics or gameplay at that time but it did sound like an interesting event, so I returned to NationStates to support the Coalition. The coup itself was a rather chaotic affair, at least from my perspective as a then-regular player who wasn’t at all involved in government. I had endorsed Brutland and Norden, who was one of the Vice Delegates at the time, and spent the rest of my time online arguing on the RMB against Milograd’s supporters. There was a lot of propaganda being posted on the RMB and the NS Forum, particularly the narrative of how the Coalition was an oligarchy that did not represent the Minnows, so much of what us rank and file people did was just try to push back on that narrative. Obviously I wouldn’t want to aggrandise my own role during this time. I wasn’t in government, I didn’t even know the people in the Southern Allied Command who actually led the response against the coup, but I was at least present at the time and did experience for myself how the coup was for the average citizen.
Hamborn: So after that, in 2014, you’d progressively gotten a more important role in the region at that point to become Delegate; what was the point that you said that you would like to do politics ?
KrisKringle: It was a short while after the Milograd Coup, I suppose. There wasn’t necessarily a single point where I consciously decided to do politics, more like a series of decisions that eventually resulted in me being involved in the government. My first true foray into regional politics was in June 2013 when I submitted to the Assembly the first draft of what would eventually become our Bill of Rights. Over time I kept getting involved in debate and became one of the regular participants in the Assembly. This was a rather politically active time, what with it being shortly after the end of the coup. I was then nominated for Minister of Foreign Affairs in the August 2013 Election, and the race was uncontested, so I won even though truthfully I didn’t know anything about foreign affairs and didn’t even know what the terms GCR and UCR meant. Still, this was my first time sitting as a senior member of the Cabinet and that resulted in future opportunities arising, such as being elected Vice Delegate in December 2013 and then Delegate in April 2014. Still, like I said, there wasn’t a single point of decision. It was more like me being on a train that kept making stops and finding out that I did enjoy what I was doing.
Hamborn: How did you live through the Hileville coup (2016)?
KrisKringle: It was easily the worst period in my entire NationStates career and the closest I got to leaving TSP.
The thing to understand is that before the coup I considered many of the coup participants to be friends within the context of the game. We talked regularly and even had a private IRC channel with other members where we just hung out, so when the Cabinet suddenly switched forums and eventually couped, and during that whole time said the worst things about me and others, it was an extremely hurtful betrayal of what I thought was a friendly relationship. In any event, once the Cabinet declared the dissolution of the Coalition and it became clear that this was a coup, not just a series of unlawful actions, the Committee for State Security (now known as the CRS) met to declare a state of emergency and we reached out to our treaty allies to request their assistance in restoring the Coalition. That was a very stressful, emotionally draining three days, until we managed to secure some defections and retake the region (and that’s without even going into what happened in the coup’s aftermath), and I’m glad that we haven’t had to deal with anything of that severity since then.
Hamborn: What happened for you in the period between 2017 - 2022?
KrisKringle: I was Chief Justice during that time and remained an active participant in the Assembly.
Hamborn: What led you to being a Judge at the High Court?
KrisKringle: I was approached by the Cabinet to apply for Permanent Justice, which is what the position was called at the time, after Farengeto retired from it. It wasn’t a particularly closely guarded secret that I was interested in being a judge within TSP, so it wasn’t a hard sell. I filled out the application form and eventually got nominated before the Assembly. Thus began the longest chapter in my regional career thus far.
Hamborn: What led you to becoming Chair of the Assembly?
KrisKringle: That’s an interesting story. Back in July 2013, when I was first told by Escade that I should consider running for office in the following month’s elections, I initially thought of running for Chair of the Assembly (at the time that office was directly elected and had a seat in the Cabinet). Ultimately I did not run for Chair because I was nominated for Minister of Foreign Affairs, but it always felt like a pending item in the back of my mind. It just happened that by November 2025 Welly had resigned as Chair and I had recently finished a disastrous term as Prime Minister. Heliseum was kind enough to submit my name as a potential option for Chair, since they knew I was interested in the office, and the Assembly was gracious enough to confirm me in that role. I think it all fell nicely into place all things considered and that I’ve done a better job as Chair now than I could’ve done in 2013.
Hamborn: What next?
KrisKringle: I’m happy in my current role as Chair and will happily continue to serve as long as the Assembly will have me. If my fellow legislators eventually decide to go with a different Chair, as is absolutely their right, I’ll return to being a legislator and take whatever comes as it comes.
Hamborn: Why do you CTE/go inactive regularly?
KrisKringle: That’s one of those things that looks significant when you look at it in isolation, when you really need to consider it in context. I’ve been in NationStates for nearly 14 years at this point and during that time I’ve very rarely CTEd, except during the past year when new leadership came to my job and the rhythm became quite hectic and demanding of my personal time, to the extent that we frequently had to pull all-nighters and had little time for NS. I recently got a new job that allows me a lot more personal time, so ceasing to exist should not be an issue anymore. If you’re asking about my RMB activity, the honest truth is that I’m just not interested in frequently posting on the RMB. I know many would say that the game itself is there and that there’s a community that calls the RMB their home, and that’s absolutely true, but at the same time this being a game means that I myself also play it to have fun, and to me that means focusing on the Assembly and the Court, and making spreadsheets for both. I deeply respect the RMB and do not rule-out posting occasionally, but the truth is quite simply that I focus on the things that I enjoy, just the same as those who focus on Discord above the RMB or the Forum, or even people who focus on the RMB above the Forum or Discord. We all pick our battles.
Hamborn: Any tips for the new citizens dreaming of a future in our government?
KrisKringle: I’d say be humble enough to learn from others, because there are people with decades of experience at this point, but also don’t wait for permission to do or at least propose things that you know can change the region for the better. Our best generations of members stood out because they took the initiative to change things and make the region their own. If you are a newer member, make yourself noticeable in the Assembly and reach out to senior officials about helping out. I promise you, that alone will make you stand out.
