Posted by Nepenthe(IMM) on December 16, 2000 at 17:23:41:
In Reply to: But when it comes to matters of keeping secrets from the players, these imms go down swinging. n/t posted by Fly on the Wall on December 16, 2000 at 08:34:07:
When I was very young I was always surprised and delighted by what I unwrapped under the tree on Christmas morning. Looking back, my family was pretty poor and most of the stuff I got was crappy, yet the wondering and surprise made it fun for me.
When I got a little older, I figured out that there was, in fact, no Santa Claus. I discovered where my parents hid the presents before wrapping them. I was full of largely unwarranted pride in my own imagined cleverness. Thing was, Christmas morning just wasn't all that much fun any more. Sure, I still liked getting stuff, but the mystery and wonder were gone.
When I started playing CF, it was like the first set of Christmases for me. I was so ignorant it wasn't even funny. I religiously practiced all my stuff to 75 as a character with 23 intelligence. I cast enchant armor on bloody orbs until they glowed to create "powerful" eq I could use to bribe others into grouping with me. I remember hearing rumors about the fearsome purple potions which provided sanctuary, and tracking them down. I remember feeling like a genius the first time I realized that with the fly spell, thieves couldn't trip me. I remember wandering into aggressive mobs I'd never seen before and dying to them. I remember thinking I'd seen something totally rare and secret the first time I went through the holy grove to the past after playing for about six months. I fought Shadows and had no idea at all what their powers were.
It's clear that I royally sucked ass skill-wise. I died five times a day. Yet, I was having loads of fun.
Like realizing that there is no Santa, learning much about how the game goes together internally is something it's hard to undo. Still, sometimes I catch brief glimpses of the wonder and magic again, like the first time I went through the Elven Vaults or the Abandoned Mines.
Like parents leaving milk and cookies out for Santa, my hope is to preserve as much of the mystery and surprise for the rest of you as I can. I don't know if that's even possible in the "modern" CF era of numerous OOC channels by which information is frequently shared. Maybe, like a parent with children growing up, it's time to stop trying.
When the magic is gone, will anything be left?