Ten years ago, a love of Star Wars opened a door I had no idea would lead this far.
In 2016, I joined the official content creator programme for Star Wars: The Old Republic, the online role-playing game from BioWare and Electronic Arts. Known online as Aviriia, I mainly made informative livestreams and YouTube videos, sharing knowledge and helping other players explore a universe we all enjoyed.
Over roughly seven years, I built a combined following of around 20,000 across social media and a Discord community of approximately 5,000 members. Alongside the content, I also ran several guilds: groups within the game where people could meet, make connections and take part in activities together.
What began with sharing information gradually became the work of bringing people together.
The numbers give some sense of the scale, but the friendships and shared enthusiasm are what make me smile when I look back. People came with a common interest and found others who understood why it mattered to them. Knowledge circulated. Friendships formed. An online space became somewhere people enjoyed spending their time.
Keeping all of that running was another matter. Herding cats is the usual comparison. I would add lightsabers and several time zones.
There were events to organise, different personalities to navigate and expectations to manage. A shared passion gives people a reason to gather; keeping a community welcoming takes continued attention. You learn to explain things clearly, recognise when a disagreement needs attention and find ways for people to contribute.
I was gaining experience in community building long before I understood how widely I could use it.
Along the way, there were opportunities I still feel fortunate to have had. SWTOR featured me in its Community Content Creators interview series, with the interview appearing on the website’s front page and in the game launcher. Seeing “Meet Aviriia” in the same window people used to enter the game was quite something. SWTOR’s announcement.
Then, in 2023, I was invited to speak on an Old Republic lore panel at Star Wars Celebration, held at ExCeL in London, for an audience of around 250 people. Years of playing, researching, discussing and creating had brought me to a table where I could share that knowledge and answer questions from fellow fans. Panel announcement.
The photographs bring those memories back: the panel room, the audience, the badges, the conversations with fans and a moment on the Celebration set created by Belgium Prop Builders. They capture the enjoyment of being surrounded by people who have brought their own enthusiasm and creativity to the same place.
That is something I have always loved about these communities. One person brings knowledge of the lore, another builds props, another organises an event. Together, they make an experience that none of them could have created alone.
Being visible also brought some difficult experiences.
At times, people directed their frustrations with Disney or the wider Star Wars brand towards me. There were horrible names I will not repeat here. Early on, I was even targeted with a DDoS attack, intended to overwhelm a connection or service and knock it offline.
This was before I entered cybersecurity. It made me think carefully about what I shared about myself online, and how easily being accessible could turn into being exposed. Privacy became a practical concern through experience.
Even so, I wanted to remain approachable, open and honest. Over time, I learned to give that openness boundaries. You can share your enthusiasm and speak sincerely while keeping parts of your life private.
Ethics mattered to me throughout. When I believed something was wrong, I was willing to say so. That was usually the moment my Dutch directness entered the conversation.
For people unfamiliar with it, that could be a small cultural shock. An international community brings different expectations about disagreement, politeness and how honesty should sound. Working across those differences gave me plenty to learn about communication, too.
When I later moved into cybersecurity, I brought those experiences with me. Explaining information, connecting people with different backgrounds and helping a group work towards a shared goal were already familiar parts of my life.
As I became more politically active, I also had the opportunity to contribute temporarily as a Co-Lead in Volt’s Security and Defence community-building team. That involvement extended into the wider organisational work of Volt Europa during changes to its grassroots structures.
The subject matter had changed considerably, but I recognised some of the work: helping people find one another, making room for their knowledge and turning shared intentions into something they could participate in.
Looking back, I can see much more I might have done. I hope my contribution left something useful behind as the organisation continued to evolve. With volunteer work, you do not always get to see what becomes of the ideas and connections you helped put in motion.
Now, ten years after those early steps with SWTOR, I feel a familiar itch to build something again.
Gaming gave me a place to learn, experiment and meet people I would otherwise never have encountered. The friendships and experience from those years have stayed with me. Today, I feel drawn to applying what I learned to something with a more direct contribution to society: something lasting, useful and worth building together.
I do not yet know exactly what form that will take. I do know that I enjoy helping people connect, making knowledge accessible and creating opportunities for others to get involved. My collection of skills has grown considerably since that first chapter, along with my understanding of the responsibility that comes with bringing people together.
For everyone who watched, joined, shared their knowledge or helped make those communities welcoming: thank you. You are part of what I carry into whatever comes next.
A decade ago, our meeting place happened to be a galaxy far, far away. I am curious to see where the next one will be.
Suno Song about the article: https://suno.com/s/4i73gIZoYz4gGNYF