Posted by Prairie on Jul 14, 2025
Hello everyone!
To give you a deeper and more intimate look into Strangers on the ‘Net we’ve put together a series of interviews with past players.
Our first interview is with Willa– a player from one of our earliest playtests in 2020. She ended up being able to use her time with Strangers on the ‘Net to help process a decades-old awkward teen crush and make some real-life friends! Read more to hear her talk about it ; )
Be sure to follow our Gamefound Page so you can back to get your very own copy of Strangers on the ‘Net when our campaign goes live!
Allison: So my first question: could you introduce yourself, and how you first got involved with playing Strangers on the 'Net (use as many emoticons, typos, and as much cringe as you want ; ) )
Willa: im so stoked! i like that we' re using the same format as the game itself
Allison: me tooo!!!
Willa: My name is Willa! I was approached by Allison, who I met at IndieCade in I wanna sayyyyyy 2019.
Willa: She had a cool pokemon dress and I was volunteering with production stuff. I had played her Guy Fieri game with another attendee. She really wanted to buy one of Allison's fancy flash drives with games but was $5 short.
Willa: I remember that I just gave her a fiver I had and we all laughed that was the result of the dating we had just done.
Willa: Allison and I connected on Twitter and she had asked me during lockdown to play an online game that had to do with fandoms. I didn't know what I was getting into but if it was anything like Guy Fieri it was gonna be goooddd.
Allison: Lockdown was a great time for online gaming and you were such a good sport. What did you end up getting into?
Allison: Your fandom was Sailor Moon, right?
Willa: Yup! And I had no strong preferences for who I would get to role play as a Sailor Moon character and was SURPRISED that no one picked Sailor Moon cause I thought she would have been the first pic as the title character!!!
Willa: But then years later I would watch every episode of the original series to prep for your wedding
Willa: and I understood why people would pick everyone else over Usagi HAHA
Allison: LMAO
Willa: Honestly,I think that Strangers on the Net was a perfect recreation of the feels of someone MY AGE who spent a lot of time on AIM and forums. Most of the communication and relationship building via text communication on a keyboard.
Allison: I'm pretty proud of how well the game recreates those moments-- everyone on the team was very much a teen online in the late 90s/early 2000s.
Allison: Do you remember what your screen name was int he game?
Allison: (The game server is still active and I'm going through it right now as we chat ^_^*)
Willa: It was something obnoxious because I wanted it to be connected to my Li'l phase. Although I dont remember if I dedicated it hard enough to be an AZN
Willa: Which oddly enough I never had as a screen name
Allison: Oh I think you did
Willa: hahahaha okay so only in game play!
Allison: ~*~Lil_AZN_Magix_Gurl~*~ ring a bell?
Willa: LOL
Willa: wow with an x!!!
Allison: Just for you, here is some of your private messages from the game
Willa: HAHAHAHAH
Willa: im glad i put that buns
Allison: So not only were you playing Usagi
Allison: but you were playing a teenager in 1999 who was playing Usagi (so many levels!)
Willa: And a little bit of myself!
Allison: do you remember anything about your teen?
Willa: Yes she had a huge thing for one of the other members of one of the
Willa: I found that incredibly relatable because I used to really really like a boy who was a friend of a friend in high school. most of our conversations where
Willa: She also did a role play for a scene with Tuxedo Mask
Allison: Let me see if I can find that scene...
Willa: I misspelled Mamoru and Mamour and just went with it
Allison: A teen in the 90s totally would do that!
Allison: That's one of the things I love about the game-- typos and cringe are in character
Willa: no spell vheck!!
Allison: Here's the start of the scene:
Willa: YES
Allison: So in the game, these RP scenes are used as ways to answer real questions about the relationship between the teens playing them,
Allison: Do you remember how this ended up playing out?
Willa: Yes! So I had a crush on the Tuxedo Mask IRL person
Allison: I did find the end to the ACT I scene, and it is pretty harsh!
Willa: SO GOOOODDDD
Allison: This is S-tier angsty teen moments.
Willa: Absolutely !!
Allison: I'm going to ask you a couple final questions, but also do some snooping to see if I can find some juicy gossip about lil in the server's private messages
Willa: excellent
Allison: So a big one: do you remember any particular moment that stood out? or a particular feeling?
Allison: I guess: tell me something special about your time with the game!
Willa: Definitely how Varsha played XxBloodyRose Playing Tuxedo Mask for that last screen shot.
Willa: Do you remember the freakish coincidences that happened a few months later that I asked you about?
Allison: Do tell the class > : )
Willa: HAHAH
Willa: Sooo in my RP as someone else but also myself was based on my feelings for a guy at another school that i was CRAZY about in high school
Willa: we had lost connection in college
Willa: during COVID I found out that the guy who introduced us had died
Willa: and i just left him an awkward voicemail in 2020, i guess I still felt like I was 16. Plus I wasn't sure if it was still his number
Willa: We sorta reconnected to talk about our mutual friend and agreed to talk later
Willa: and I messaged you and was like
Willa: HOLY SHIT THE STRANGERS ON THE NET THING IS COMING TRUE
Willa: SHOULD I ACTUALLY BRING UP THIS STUFF TO HIM IRL???
Allison: I remember getting that message and being like "this... is... wild..."
Willa: and your response was something along the lines of "I believe RP is healing but if it can happen IRL, go for it" hahah
Allison: It's been really interesting to watch people play the game and not necessarily have SUCH a wild coincidence, but really feel inspired to reconnect with friends from that point in their life (that angsty teen part)
Willa: hahaha exactly! I think i wanted to apologize for making it really awkward for him at times
Willa: but then what ended up happening was he didn't pick up my call or reply to my text message.
Willa: so I just dropped it
Willa: I updated you and you said "then you have your answer"
Willa: i found that really assuring
Willa: because in that first conversation reconnecting with him I kind of found him as a Start Up Bro First World Problem Whiny
Allison: People change SO MUCH
Allison: I wonder where all my online BFs are now
Allison: and... who they are (I didn't meet all of them irl)
Willa: "do you still go back to hometown?" "UGH yeah I have to sell my parent's house thats like 2 million but it's such a hassle cause I live in NY now"
Allison: ewwwwwwwwwwww
Willa: lol i think there was always a hint of that I was just so into him cause we liked the same music. BEING 16 OH NO NO ONE ELSE UNDERSTANDS 80s MUSIC
Allison: connecting over music was such a thing
Allison: Ok! One last fun thing before we head out.
Allison: I did dig up some dirt on your character from the game that you may or may not have ever known.
Allison: Ok so another player xxm00nstarxx
Allison: was so jealous of the fact you gotta to RP with XxBloodyxRosexX
Allison: That they went around shit talking you to other players
Willa: OHHHHHHHHHHH SNAP
Willa: HAHAHHA OMG
Willa: wow that's wild that XX had so many fans
Willa: admirers rather
Allison: Yeah, Tuxedo Mask isn't that cool
Willa: LOL
Allison: So people following our campaign may know that I essentially met my Wife playing Strangers on the 'Net
Allison: but you also met a couple friends you still keep in touch with, right?!
Willa: YES!
Willa: I think it helped that we did multiple games together
Allison: I am a genius mastermind > : )
Willa: hell yes
Willa: we all mesh really well too
Allison: So folks reading this: Willa, the character who Willa has a crush on and the character who was jealous of Willa went on to keep playing games together
Allison: watching them it was evident that they were meant to be in games
Allison: They even ended up at my wedding together ; )
Willa: Yes! Exactly!!
Allison: Strangers on the 'Net: bringing people together since (pretend) 1999
Willa: HAHAHAH
Allison: Before we wrap up: is there anything else you want to say about your experience playing, or the game, that you think people who are considering backing it might be interested in knowing?
Willa: I remember being nervous about the TIME it would take - I hadn't done RP that wasn't a TTRPG and so I was surprised that it would be 3 hours. However, I would absolutely say that it is completely worth it both in time investment and pledging. Esp for those of us who grew up on AIM / Forums. It's the same time as finishing homework at 7pm and chatting with people till getting ready for bed at 10pm! It is the same time as watching a movie that is tricking you into being a two part-er (I'm looking at you 2 hours 45 mins for Wicked PART ONE).
Allison: Thank you so much for your time Willa (aka ~*~Lil_AZN_Magix_Gurl~*~ aka Usagi)
Willa: HAHAH what was my character’s name?
Allison: I'd have to dig to find your character's name because no one shares their REAL NAME on the internet ; )
Allison: Thank you so much for your time!
Willa: Thank YOU for being a wonderful game designer!!!
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<3 See you online <3
~*~A11i50N 0f _S0f7_Ch405_~*~