Posted by Jaehiko on June 16, 2000 at 16:34:36:
In Reply to: Something that deserves reposting: Ponderer's "This Game, This Life" posted by Oft-Arbiter(VIP) on June 16, 2000 at 14:17:17:
Yo. I've been playing CF since a few days after it came up. I never had played a mud before and I was on a local BBS here in New York City. My friend (known to the CF world as 'Guile' the Anti-Paladin) of a few years prior to CF asked me if I ever played a MUD. I said No and he told me to go to some cheezy mud (I forget the name now, I think it was Barren Realms or something) and to 'learn' about mudding, and then to head over to CF, because I would simply DIE and get discouraged if I LEARNED mudding by playing the intricate and 'hard' CF.
Well, despite his advice, my first MUD was CF. More than half a decade later I still talk to him, and I still play CF. Did he ever help me in the game? No. The only thing he advised me to do was to learn by playing an Anti-Paladin. No equipment was given to me, and he wouldn't ever 'favor' me. That is the only relationship I have made outside of CF in all of the years its been up.
I've never told someone to e-mail me or whatever, even if we're in a group for 4 or 5 real hours (which happens a lot)... Despite how well you know someone, people seem to lose focus.. You don't know the person, you know their CHARACTER. I have nothing against people that (after getting to know someone's character) mentions 'hey, e-mail me
I hope more people har your call, it is a good one. The character relationships should be developed IN game, not that characters are thought up outside of the game to complemenet one another, and then those few people start at level 1 together, power-rank and go around slaughtering people for no real purpose.
*cough*Ragers*cough* what?
-Jaehiko.
> Posted by The Ponderer on August 12, 1999 at 04:38:04:
>
> The CF experience, so grand, so engulfing. I'm sure it has ruined a life, a relationship, or maybe just a semester. We become so engrossed in making the experience enjoyable, so fulfilling that we often forget about the real world. What happens though when the experience expands into the real world? What happens when we begin to embrace EVERYTHING CF, the forum, IRC, ICQ relationships, the soap opera that is CF?
>
> I'll tell you what happened to me. CF itself was made a lot less fun. When you begin to form relationships outside of the game, when you begin to realize and take notice of the other relationships between people who play the game, the game itself suffers.
>
> Like it or not there is a monstrous web of relationships out there that is getting people special favors. I'm not going to sit here and say that these favors are a result of nepotism and the like, but what I am going to say is that these favors happen. It might just be because one player who knows another player knows them well enough to know that they won't screw it up. They won't take advantage of, abuse, or ruin the favor. However, knowing that this takes place takes from the game. You examine it and realize that it's not necessarily excellent roleplay or skill, but ooc relationships that leaderships, quests, titles and so forth are based on. Not all mind you, but just enough to make it less enjoyable.
>
> Then there's IRC. You spend a lot of time here and you begin to realize that the CF playerbase(at least those that go to IRC) is a sorry bunch of people. Monstrous egos, delusions of grandeur, jealousy, cheating, and name-calling abound. Maturity sits in the corner and weaps at its lack of power. People begin hating other people. They begin to scheme, waiting for that person to name one of his chars so that they can jump on the opportunity and ridicule and degrade them for any little thing they've done in the past.
>
> Read the forum and realize that not only is the playerbase immature, but they're also a whiners. Whining goes on endlessly. Whether it be because something isn't going their chars way, or because the player is trying to use some hightened form of morality to degrade a certain cabal, player, or immortal. Again, people wait for opportunities to harm another player, assassinating their char, posting a log of the char going against its "belief" system.
>
> Sit back and look at this closely enough and you begin to hate the game. You begin to despise the other people that play it. You begin to wish you'd never even started partaking in these ooc forums of discussion. You begin to yearn for the blissful ignorance that is simply playing the game and leaving it at that.
>
> I encourage all of you to cut ties with at least one form of ooc forum. Whether it be IRC, the forum, or the relationships you've formed.
>
> I think you'll find much more enjoyment when playing the game.