I've noticed that when some people leave the game, say like Aesyra and the like, they leave everything behind and don't come back to the forums ever, or only under special occasions, like Skyla and Ibaesha recently did. Yet there are people who don't play the game at all, such as Gwylifar, but they still read the forums and make a lot of responses, and there are people like Visaeris who rarely write or appear in-game, but you can see them reading the forums a lot. I'm curious why people who don't play the game still pay attention to the forums. Is there still a lot of attachment to things even though you don't play the game?

While I might not get any replies to the second poll if they aren't reading the forums, I know some people get information about the forums from other OOC communications, so I am curious about people who still play the game, like Kalodan, but stop posting on the forums. So I'm curious why some people abandoned the forums.

(This might be a poll that takes a long time to get votes, since most people reading won't be able to vote).

I really feel I should answer this since I fall into the "not playing" crowd.

Whether I play the game or not, I find myself loving Lusternia's caring admin and the fact that somewhere in Estarra's and Roark's heads that they know where the game is going. That makes me, as an observer and a player, feel comfortable about Lusternia. Had I the credits to do the things I never bothered to when I first started playing I'm sure I'd at least give things a try again.

Personally, I'm just interested in Lusternia's growth and that feeling is starting to spread across IRE as a whole. Achaea finally rolling out ships (And gee.. for those of you who don't know: Ships were supposedly in the works years ago), Imperian talking about building new continents to expand their world and their five year plan, Aetolia finally having some caring staff, and Lusternia just for everything. It's a really fresh world and seeing it grow so much in such a short time span is amazing.

So yeah, in a sense I'm attached. I actually saw the bard announcement and thought I'd forget some skills to give it a try again. If all went well and I enjoyed everything (Not just the bards) I think I'd be tempted to buy myself a Christmas present of credits.

Hopefully this helps start your thread out.

I still post and read the forums during my dormant periods because I love the community, even if I'm not actively playing.

In my off periods I try and stay away on a whole, I love the players and the Admin, but if Im trying to take a break any little thing can send me right back in. But when I play, I like having the Forums open because otherwise I talk very little to people.

And I can vent my frustrations at people Im unhappy with. Ill try and save you all from the really huge rant thats building up.

I have periods, during assignments and heavy social demands, where all I can do is log in to keep up with the news. I stay on the forums, though, because I like the community.

I'm playing, and I like to troll the forums at the same time

I voted "curious about how the game is going", but also there's two other reasons.

First, I still have something to contribute to the game from here; some of my ideas are still being looked at and maybe making the game better. Maybe even better enough to play again in some capacity.

Second, once a suitably aggressive use of ignores is put into place, the forum is enjoyable in and of itself, because of the people.

Everyone I had on ignore has been banned.

Then your use of ignore is insufficiently aggressive.

(One of mine is a moderator...)

I've been tempted to ignore him too, but it's not bad enough to warrant an ignore if I just stay out of arguments with him.

love you too.

I should ignore Shiri too.

When I stopped playing for that period of.. eh.. 2 months.. maybe.. I didn't check the forums but three times. So yay me for not trolling!

I used to not read the forums as much because of some of the people, but that problem has gotten a whole lot better.

When I'm on a break (I think it's been two or three times so far), I still come here, read up on what's going on, and make sure the place is still safe and free of obscenities.

Like many other people, whenever I take breaks I make sure I look at the forums every day. I like to know what's happening in the game I love. Same goes for Imperian, I don't play any more but I still check their forums every now and then. You never know, reading the forums might get you back ingame.

The imperian forums are slow.

You already did!