While I have been busy sorting my honeymoon pictures and looking forward to uploading wedding pictures, thinking about the design of the “Thank you” cards and getting back to work … I have also played a little bit.
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| Picture from our post guild meeting Stranglethorn “Raid” |
Now I have been playing for more than 4 years, longer than any other computer game (there is at least one game I have been playing far longer: I am talking about our Pen&Paper campaign).
The game appeal is long gone. Yet I still play – and nearly exclusively – this game. The exclusive part mostly comes from having switched to Linux and being too lazy to get other games to run.
I have no trouble at all filling my time with my other hobbies (reading, photography, cooking, gardening) and meeting friends. Still I make time for the game. Sometimes I think I should really quit playing completely because however little time I wish to spend it always ends up being more than I planned.
But … I still decide to not quit. To me the game is a colorful backdrop for meeting our lovely guildies. Our guild adventure took off nearly four years ago. The guild turns 4 in late August and we are hoping to have an in-game celebration and if everything works out we’ll meet up at a Reenactment Faire and celebrate iRL as well. There are still people left from the earliest days and many more who have been with us for years.
The other day we had someone apply to the guild. As often the application had a couple of points that didn’t quite sound like it was the right guild for the person. So I wrote up a short description what he could expect from us as a guild and closed the description by writing: “The basis that this guild is built on is friendship. It does’t happen overnight and it may take a new member a while to really really be part of the guild but once you get there you will probably stay.”
We do have our disagreements and people leave the guild because often friendship is not enough when people want more activity, more progression or just disagree with the direction the guild is taking on some issues.
During our absence two founding members of the guild left (not for the first time but this time it’s for good I am sure). This happens but in the end it changes nothing that our guild model can be summed up as “Circle of Friends”. It is as much or more work and emotional stress as the other models that exist but it is very rewarding and keeps me playing … (yeah and I still help run the guild after 4 years so one more argument for playing).
When writing the answer to that application it was for the first time that I realized that it really was so. We are not a Raiding or Progression Guild and always made that clear to everyone. We are not a Casual Guild either – we take the guild itself and often the game much too serious for that. While many of us do PvP we are not a PvP Guild. The missing element in all our attempts to describe ourselves has always been the fact that we place a lot of value on the dedication and commitment of our members despite not wanting to be a progression guild.
I was delighted when several members noted that they had enjoyed reading my description and found it fitting.
So the reason I am still playing are not achievements, content or gameplay, it’s just all about the people.