Friday, August 7, 2009

Tales from the open grave

To steal, unabashedly, from Sean Emeralweaver's "Word of the Day" idea, I'm going to post one of my own: Ragequit. Hereby described:

"

To stop playing a game out of an anger towards an event that transpired within the game.
"
What about when the ingame event IS the game?

But, I thought you said you quit...why am I even reading this?

An excellent point. If you notice, I *did* state that I would "check in" from time to time, and there are several (3) factors that brought me back.

First, and foremost: YOU. I can honestly say that I was more than shocked by the outpouring or my fellow bloggers, and fellow blog readers. When another blogger goes so far as to post a Memoriam to your passing,(Bless you, Amber Stargem and Jessica Fairyheart! ) . it stops you in your tracks. And when your mentor and inspiration to blog in the first place, (in this case TFN), mentions that you're leaving has more than a trivial impact, then one has to stop, and step back, and look at the bigger picture.

(And, also, caution against being swayed by "Cult of personality." I am no "Golden Child", I am simply another player, albeit a very vocal one. Always, and I mean always think for yourself. Weigh both sides of the debate. Choose your own path.)

If there is any one thing that this game has, that no other does, is an awesome player community. That means you. "Let calmer heads prevail", as is the case with Thomas, Fallon Shadowblade, and Countess Shadowbane . All who left wisdom in the comments that kept W101 from the recycle bin on my desktop.

The second thing that brought me back was an as-of-yet unpublished anonymous comment. I will reprint it here, in it's entirety:I've never put much stock in anonymous posts..it always seems like sniping from a blind.

The above comment is almost too professional, and too composed, aside from a single spelling error. That, and the fact that the Link to Homework was pulled off the W101 "Fansite links" in record time all smell, to me, like "damage control"

Call it paranoia, call it conspiracy theory, but I've worked in the corporate world long enough to get a sense when a business is covering it's assets. Which to me, means I may have been closer to the mark than I thought.
My predictions and "insights" are always foward-looking, in the 6 months+ category, never immediate tense. (But, that's another post altogether, as is the above anon comment.)

And I'm guessing with my fall from grace, the "insider" updates won't necessarily be coming through here. S'okay, as long as the information continues to flow.

Item, the third. Outright curiosity. Like I said in my ragequit post, I'm invested in this game, to the tune of over $200. No need for pity. I knew it when I was spending it. But now that I "own" the game, it's an investment, and not soon to be deleted from my hard drive.

Well, Autumn, what is it that you want, then?

I WANT KI to prove me wrong. Nothing would be better than "Gee, don't I feel stupid?! How short-sighted of me!"
Would absoloutely love it.
Time is the revealer of all truths, and if I don't watch, I won't know.

So, in a slightly limited capacity, "I'm back". Perhaps, in the future, I should just take up Friendly's offer to do guest writing. Perhaps I need an editor. Meh, we'll see.



My heart is with you, my fellow bloggers, and readers.

Be well.

14 comments:

Fallon Shadowblade said...

Welcome back! Very glad to see you posting...we missed you! *hugs*

The Evil Theurgists said...

EEEEEEEEEEP your back YAY YAY YAY YAY YAY (Sorry for not posting about you leaving I just did not want to post link because I did not agree that you said they where greedy) BUT now your back and you made a wrong (Quitting Blogging because you should NEVER stop blogging your up there with Fallon and TFN I'm just the servent to your guys royalty and coolness) ...made a wrong right by choosing to keep blogging :) WELCOME BACK!!!

Jessica said...

Are you going again? Please don't gooo
*starts crying*

Fatal Exception said...

@ Fallon: TYVM!

@ Evil: You , my friend, are no servant, you are an able-bodied blooger in your own right. Keep being you!

@ Jessica: I'm not going anywhere, Jessica. I am back.

Ian Silverflame said...

It thrills me to see you posting again. Frequently, the voices in the wilderness are the ones that catalyst change and improvement when things are out of balance. And while they may have purged you from the Fan Site area, they cannot control the volume of us that have you linked in our side bars, they cannot prevent Google from finding you and they cannot squelch your voice. Bravo for proving it!

Welcome Back!

Stingite said...

Well, you might have got removed because of me. Sorry. I sent Professor Greyrose a message saying that I was heartbroken because you were leaving your blog. She probably was just doing housecleaning. I don't know about the anonymous comment . . . that's just some fun feelings there. It doesn't sound like greyrose to me.

Either way, good to have you back!

BTW, you never e-mailed me!

Countess Shadowbane said...

Welcome back dear friend. I will indeed be happy to see you around the spiral! I believe Ian Silverflame's comment puts all into perspective and states the truth very easily. Thank you for being one to take a stand no matter the outcome. Your bravery, honesty, and friendship are to be commended. Welcome back.

FilamentTheBright said...

Just found your blog. And really enjoy it. Very insightful and well spoken about many things.

I have to admit most of your reasons for quitting were very justified. But it is good to know that you will continue to blog and play.

Sierra Starsong said...

If it's a new experience you're looking for, try playing a new wizard from a different school, fire or balance or ice. After starting with Ice I was surprised how different my strategy is for Life and for Storm.

Lyssie Silverheart said...

YAY!!!! your back!!!!!!!!

Fatal Exception said...

@ Ian: Well spoke, ty.
@ Thomas: No worries, I know Prof Greyroses's writing style, and that's not it. I eriously doubt it was her. I'll be emailing you soon, methinks. Your Perspective is very important to me.
@Countess: Thank you, M'dear!
@Filament: Thanks! I hope to live up to continued expectations!
@ Sierra: Thanks, but I don't really do "alts".
@ Silverheart: TY! Yes, "back, with a vengance". I am revitalized.

Tesh said...

That anonymous comment actually echoes a lot of comments I see across the "blogosphere" of late. There is a growing sense that the "endgame raiding" treadmill game design is overused, and honestly, anyone ragequitting when they have a level-capped character who has "done everything" will likely be the subject of this sort of suspicion. A lot of players *do* want that sort of Groundhog Day existence, but a lot of others are sick and tired of it (rightfully, methinketh).

It really is OK for a player to finish with a game, even an MMO. It's especially nice that W101 Access Passes (like Guild Wars before it) allows players to keep in touch with friends without ponying up a subscription fee. But really, if you *have* gone through everything and had a blast doing so, and find little else that interests you (including alts), it's OK to be done with the game. Better to go out on a high point than drudge on forever on the raiding treadmill.

It might be good to ask: Did you feel like you got your money's worth out of the game? Do you feel that you overpaid? (And notably, if they *do* start churning out more content, you'd probably have to pay *more* to access it.) If you can make a good case that your money was ill spent, that's something that King's Isle really should pay attention to. If you're just burned out and finished with the game, taking a break is perfect. If you still have friends in the game (and it sure seems to me that you have some good ones), it's awesome that you can still come by for a visit. :)

To me, that's the strength of the Access Pass model. You can leave and come back without incurring more costs. I love that about GW and W101.

Fatal Exception said...

@Tesh. WoW. That has to rank as one of the best comments on this blog, to date. It's a reply that should really be it's own blog post. Perhaps, in the near future, it will.

"I call 'dibs'!"

Tesh said...

Heh, by all means, dibs are yours. :) I've written much the same sentiment in bits and pieces throughout articles over at my place during the last few months, and it would be excellent to see your take on it.