Overview
Harold Vaunnett is a central character in “Network States.” He is a San Francisco front-end developer and HOIMMRT player who uses the handle @Libberator.
Biography
Harold works as a senior front-end developer at Piloo when the narrator meets him in San Francisco. In HOIMMRT, he serves as Chief of the Imperial General Staff for the British Empire faction.
Harold introduces the narrator to the game’s structure, its real-time pace, and the worldmasters who run it. He also shows the narrator a 3D-printed cross sent by the British prime minister player after Harold’s successful handling of Dunkirk in the simulation.
Before joining the British faction, Harold belongs to BurgerTime, the American team Discord. He leaves after a dispute over American neutrality, but later tells the narrator that he and the American players have reconciled as the faction’s mood shifts toward war.
Harold is last seen at a BurgerTime party in Mountain View, where the American faction announces entry into the war. He tells the narrator that if the worldmasters start another game, he would probably play again, even while describing the experience as spending his life on little map games until a real world war arrives.