Have you ever seen someone with a purple name in chat and wondered who they are? Every RPF Veteran has a story, and this is the tenth edition of the Vet Spotlight column, where we take you back in time to tell the story of our esteemed veterans! Today, we’re telling you the story of our veteran, Mars.
Mars (a.k.a RaccoonMars) 🦝 first joined the RPF, all the way back in 2020 being recruited off Club Penguin Rewritten, by then Corporal Simchi & Lance Corporal Sarahah. Joining during the peak of RPF, she recalls main chat being extremely active when she first joined, finding herself immediately engaging with everyone, being sucked into a conversation about whether apples or oranges were better. Mars attended her first event just two days after joining the server, earning her first promotion to Private.
As an early troop, she had the mindset of just wanting to check the server out, not intending on sticking around too much, with the promotion system and wanting to get Troop of the Week with it being so competitive at the time, later giving her the motivation to participate more. Mars found herself immediately clicking with many notable people, giving her further incentive to be active, becoming friends with people such as Z3ming & Sharki, as well as Moon who would go onto become her mentor as a staff member.
Mars Troop of the Week speech.
Receiving Troop of the Week #154, she continued her rise through the troop ranks, taking enjoyment in seeing her rank color slowly turning more teal! Though she initially didn’t want staff, as she got closer to Colonel, she began to think “Why not aim for Cadet?“. Her original goal at the time was to eventually become HCOM, and although she didn’t end up reaching that goal, she was very content with retiring at General when she did.
With Sarah as her cadet mentor and Moon as her staff mentor, Marses rise through the staff ranks was one that was challenging, being a complete contrast to her time climbing the troop ranks which was fun and carefree. She remembers spending around 6 months at Major General, feeling discouraged over being stuck at the same rank for so long. This was due in part to how packed the staff ranks were at the time, leaving only a select few to get promoted, as well some personal growth on her part that needed to happen. By the time Mars had gotten to General, she was quite burnt out, and didn’t want to continue forward with being HCOM.
Even amongst the burnout, being a General was one of Marses favorite experiences as a staff member. With her being staff for just about a year at that point, she naturally felt confident and calm in her staff duties, and she loved being able to mentor cadets, taking enjoyment in seeing how they excited they were to contribute, and being able to guide them along their staff journey with advice was incredibly rewarding. As a General, Mars even mentored one of our current Second in Commands, Lemur!
Mars being promoted to General, on the 14th of June 2021.
Despite the struggles she faced in her climb through the staff ranks, what motivated Mars, to continue on was the incredible community at the time. With some of her fondest memories taking place in staff chats, whether it was during recruiting sessions, or messing around with the .quote command. One of her favorite moments from this era was during the winter of 2021, where the staff team would play Among Us together while in voice chat, having a full month where they’d play together religiously!
Mars & Panini next to each other in Among Us.
As a staff member, Marses proudest accomplishments took place in the Rebel Broadcast Team, she loved putting out posts & the response they received was super rewarding. A highlight of her time in the Rebel Broadcast Team, would be her work on the first ever Year in Review post, being particularly proud of her contributions to it. She also shouts out Yoda, who wrote alongside her for most of her time on the Rebel Broadcast Team.
Marses time as RPF staff had taught her a lot of skills applicable to situations outside online spaces like the RPF, to quote her directly: “I think my time as RPF staff taught me to be communicative and work on a team. Part of staff is learning how to problem solve and work with others and I think those are life skills that are really important to gain (even if it is over a screen!) So I am very thankful for that :O I also learned basic internet safety from here so thank god for that #VPNS”
Reflecting on her time as staff, Mars gives the following advice to future staff members: “One piece of advice for future staff members is to communicate. I feel like a lot of problems stem from miscommunication, always ask questions if you are unsure, it’s the only way to learn. Also always trust your gut!🙂↕️”
A section from the first Year in Review post.
From Troop to Moderator to eventually Veteran, Mars had made a multitude of memories over the course of her RPF career. Each of these points in her time in the RPF impacting her in different ways, she shares some of these moments with us:
“First is veggie tails night which is one of my earliest memories as a troop. It was peak AUSIA hours and everyone was super active.”
“The next is Summer 2020 Olympics. I was on team Phoenix led by Crazzy and Moon. This was when I really began to fall in love with RPF. The Phoenix team was super supportive and kind, it was a great environment. #HOOFHOOF”
“My time as Cadet was also super incredible, there was a large group of us and I remember bonding and doing silly things in our chat.”
Retiring on the 10th of October 2021, Mars was awarded RPF Veteran for her dedication and contributions to the RPF. Mars finds being a Veteran a lot more relaxed than being enlisted as a troop/staff member, with her being extremely busy with college, she finds it quite nice to only pop in when she has the time. The community has largely stayed the same since her joining, being a large part of what she’s loved about the RPF.
That wraps up this edition of Vet Spotlight! Huge thank you to Mars for the incredible amount of work you’ve put in to the RPF, and for allowing me the opportunity to interview for this edition! and thank you to all the readers that have made it this far down into the post!
Stay tuned for future editions of Vet Spotlight!
T_T | General
