Shattered Kingdoms

I've made some weighty decisions in the last 24 hours and decided it was time to send some characters the way of Old Yeller. I really did like these characters and the concept that I wanted to get out of them, but there were also times I really intended them just to be exposed characters on the level of a knowledgeable player. There's a lot that I enjoy contributing RP wise and there's a lot that I really want to get out and explore still that I've never had the chance to explore. Overall I've really been looking for the pinnacle exploration type character where I can see most of what I haven't seen in the MUD. I feel that for all the roleplaying "requirements" there supposedly are with this game, it seems as though there's a precedent PK requirement that takes higher priority over all other aspects of the MUD.

From the day I first logged into this MUD and created my first character, I had the expectations of exploring a vast and richly embroidered world of imagination that could only be seen visually through the mind's eye. When I saw the roleplay required and rewarded selling points of the MUD, I was hooked on the notion that people spent a great deal of effort getting to know the characters around them and feeling out much of their strengths and weaknesses before they ever engaged in a war of attrition with them. The problem with these high expectations, though, resides the altruistic fact that there are people whose sole focus is simply just to be better than everyone else, no matter the cost. What's going to kill much of the MUD and hopefully what's going to potentially revive it is people taking a stand a returning the game to its very roots. Unfortunately, in order to do this, it's going to have to break many of its traditional standards of interaction that currently stand and embrace some neoclassical ideas of respectful roleplaying. People know too well that much of what they decide to do doesn't hold a significant roleplaying ground other than what's in their close knit mesh of personal desire. People want what they want right then and there, and they're going to do anything they can do get it right away. This mentality obviously doesn't fit for everyone, but it seems that the vast majority of those who follow this have taken over the MUD. We can't follow this normal human behavior if we want to see SK continue and possibly thrive.

The immortals and Dulrik have been putting a considerable amount of effort lately in putting things together to help SK survive and for that I couldn't be any more grateful. Even a great deal of the playerbase has made an effort to take a step back and look at some of their actions when called out on them by other players. We have to face the facts that we're all obviously going to make mistakes, but we also have to face the fact that everyone who's still here is putting nearly the same emotional and time investment into seeing a work of art of theirs succeed. We're all shaping and sculpting something that's a large part of the Shattered Kingdoms world and with fewer and fewer people around now, that makes up a much larger part than before. The impact that a few people can make can be phenomenal if we really try.

I wanted to thank Randy for taking a step back and really looking hard at his actions when it truly upset another player and as a result, I've decided to take my step back. I don't really try that hard to simply "win" SK and I'm definitely not nearly one of the great PK powerhouses, but I do try to get the most out of what I can when I play and, in turn, give back a pleasant experience to others who are looking for the same thing. I'm not asking that SK be a tea party MUSH where there's such heavy PK restriction that people just don't want to do it, but in the same turn I want to see a much greater deal of personal interaction between characters that have goals they wish to accomplish and need each other to make that happen. I could think of a million and one different ways many of the outcomes of my interactions in the last couple weeks could have been different, but to do so wouldn't be holding true to many of the philosophies I believe in. The past is the past and I very much look forward more to the future and how it could be made brighter than a dark past.

Hopefully this will be my last diatribe and critique of my experience with SK and all of you can take it as you will. Hopefully this will open even just a few eyes and help people to see a potentially bright future for SK. You may say I'm a dreamer, but I really think that I'm not the only one. I'll decide whether or not I continue to play Dayamin in the coming weeks or just start my new job and quietly make my way out the door of SK. Either way, I'm commited to the very belief that I want to see SK thrive and continue for many years to come, even if it's just a piece of nostalgia of a golden child everyone once adored and remembered as something truly original and beautiful. I apologize for any harsh words that may have been brash lashings of an upset and troubled mind and I don't bear any animus toward any of you. I wish you all well and may we have a prosperous 2008 that revives SK for the time to come.

This game goes through a few stages in my mind.

1) Loving the game for purely the roleplay.
2) Hating the game because you die all the time.
3) Learning the way mechanics work and finally avoiding death
4) Relaxing back to enjoying the roleplay and completely ignoring the pk aspect of the game.


I love the fact that in SK you can play a character who PKs all the time and is militant, angry, spiteful, and would kill people just for the symbol that they wear - or you can play a character who wants to avoid combat at all costs.

Admittedly, knowing the mechanics of this game takes some time - but after you learn them this game is nearly as good as those first few days when the entire world was a mystery.

In the words of Ghandi:

Be the change you wish to see in the (text-based fantasy RPG) world.

If this is what you want Dayamin, then you ought to stick around and try and make it happen. I see plenty of people old and new to the game leave in a big huff, with a big speech. I can assure you the only thing they accomplished in their leaving was hurting the game further. Your behavior in-game will always be more powerful than any goodbye speech you make in the After-Life forum, that's just the truth. I would encourage you to stay if you like this place the way you say you do. We could certainly use more players, grand visions or no grand visions. Worthwhile goals tend to be challenging, if not frustrating to achieve. I think that's another saying.

Toodles!

I claim he is the sole winner of SK, he played for fun, and it made others have fun as he did so. I played because he did, I will continue to play because I have fun and others make it that way. But he was special in a way only someone who wanted to make the world better could be.

What was Viken's background story?

Just the greatest gnome of all the time. I remember RPing with him for a week once because they were such great friends, he was required to do something for a year IC and I stuck by with him.

Carl Jung would disagree. I think you have plenty of the male side of the ego.

Now animosity, that's different.

Aw, Terrian!!! I was wondering where he went... Sigh, I will miss all 3 chars. Considering Alifer has had interaction with all of them, though the last interaction with Viken went a little less than planned, but was good all around.

Good luck with everything.

I find it awesome that i went through only two characters and he went through 3, finallyu someone who deletes more then I do!

Terrian was awesome, only one I really interacted with of the bunch. The mentoring sessions were completely awesome. Also people who show up with a full set of steel/tanso and +2 int mods for a warrior he's mentoring deserves 2 mentor points that month. Much luff all in all.