Running a community of ANY kind is stressful. Running a gaming community is like having your genitalia caught in a thresher. Let me explain.
Most of you know what MMORPGs are, yes? Think of things like Everquest, World of Warcraft, Final Fantasy XI, Ultima Online, yadda yadda. The problem I always had with these games are... what's the POINT? You fight and fight and gain levels, but since it's not a traditional video game, there's no END to it. You fight to become more powerful, and for what? To show other people you're awesome? To make your e-penis grow. These sorts of games are NOT my thing. I don't like competition. I like community.
I like Role-Playing, and I HATE that MMORPG has "RPG" in it, when the characters say things like "what level are you?" and "let's get some XP!" If you're ROLE PLAYING, you don't talk about stats! You talk about things as if you were actually playing a role playing game. Sure, there are some servers of MMORPGs that actually encourage roleplaying, but to my experience they've been lacking; they still focus on pointlessly level-grinding. Boring.
So I created a role-playing server for the MMORPG known as "Ragnarok Online." It went well; the game had a POINT, because there was an ongoing story. People could change the course of the WORLD with their actions. Sure, it never ends (just like an MMORPG), but you actually have a PURPOSE in this fictitious world. I painstakingly wrote up histories, characters, political conflicts, mystical secrets... all the stuff that makes a fantasy world really intriguing. I created a mythology!
But... people would still do the level-grinding thing. I know, it's still an MMORPG, but I'm just weird; I've been a pure roleplayer since I was 5, and I HATE things that rely on game mechanics. I'm one of those people who could do a tabletop and never touch my dice. It's just not how I like to do things. So, I took a step down from the "head of the server" position to be "head of the storyline", and let someone else be the head of the whole server. I still controlled what was REALLY important: the story.
The problem is, the community seems to be a bunch of whiners. People complain about things, so they go to the head of the server to complain about ME, or they got o ME to complain about the head of the server. Both of us pretty much say "did you try talking to ____?" And their answer is always "no, they're hard to talk to."
It's a whole... fucking... server... full of mommy/daddying preschoolers! It's disgusting! >_< UGH!
I wish I could find someone to date so I won't have to put all this effort into a video game. ^_^; Too bad I'm too shy to go out and really meet people.
Most of you know what MMORPGs are, yes? Think of things like Everquest, World of Warcraft, Final Fantasy XI, Ultima Online, yadda yadda. The problem I always had with these games are... what's the POINT? You fight and fight and gain levels, but since it's not a traditional video game, there's no END to it. You fight to become more powerful, and for what? To show other people you're awesome? To make your e-penis grow. These sorts of games are NOT my thing. I don't like competition. I like community.
I like Role-Playing, and I HATE that MMORPG has "RPG" in it, when the characters say things like "what level are you?" and "let's get some XP!" If you're ROLE PLAYING, you don't talk about stats! You talk about things as if you were actually playing a role playing game. Sure, there are some servers of MMORPGs that actually encourage roleplaying, but to my experience they've been lacking; they still focus on pointlessly level-grinding. Boring.
So I created a role-playing server for the MMORPG known as "Ragnarok Online." It went well; the game had a POINT, because there was an ongoing story. People could change the course of the WORLD with their actions. Sure, it never ends (just like an MMORPG), but you actually have a PURPOSE in this fictitious world. I painstakingly wrote up histories, characters, political conflicts, mystical secrets... all the stuff that makes a fantasy world really intriguing. I created a mythology!
But... people would still do the level-grinding thing. I know, it's still an MMORPG, but I'm just weird; I've been a pure roleplayer since I was 5, and I HATE things that rely on game mechanics. I'm one of those people who could do a tabletop and never touch my dice. It's just not how I like to do things. So, I took a step down from the "head of the server" position to be "head of the storyline", and let someone else be the head of the whole server. I still controlled what was REALLY important: the story.
The problem is, the community seems to be a bunch of whiners. People complain about things, so they go to the head of the server to complain about ME, or they got o ME to complain about the head of the server. Both of us pretty much say "did you try talking to ____?" And their answer is always "no, they're hard to talk to."
It's a whole... fucking... server... full of mommy/daddying preschoolers! It's disgusting! >_< UGH!
I wish I could find someone to date so I won't have to put all this effort into a video game. ^_^; Too bad I'm too shy to go out and really meet people.
VIEW 6 of 6 COMMENTS
next time though dude, i love baltimore we'll come down next week or somethin. we can go to hooters