I find it quite amazing to see things from a different point of view. You know how when you see something for the first time, and then it becomes just everyday?

I started Aetolia June of last year. I quit about a year later, and made this my home. I remember when I first started, it was actually to play this stupid game, and kill someone that a girl I liked was dating online. I entered and found he was a million or so percent of my might.

Eventually, I got hooked.

Some names started to pop out at me. Murad, Vhaillor, Spirokai, and many others. As a character I was wowed, as a person, I felt removed from these titans.

Then, I get a year's experience, $600 or so worth of credits, first gen, and start to establish myself.

I find it humorous that some newbie will join, and look upon you or I with the same kind of awe as I once did, my first venture into the MUD world.

A change of perspective... it's great, isn't it.

-Richter

I, in all the newbie glory that is me, do not so much suffer from awe as much as I get frustrated and give up because everyone is better than me.

*tantrum*

Then there's the cocky newbie who will see you and think that he can take you anyway, just because he got a pair of shiny new shortswords.

Yes, it is interesting to see things from a different perspective, especially if it's just a changed version of your own.

Aye. It reminds me of, years and years ago, when I just started playing Runescape. The game was still fairly new, and absolutely nothing like it is now.

Anyway, my first thoughts upon entering the game were a bit of awe as I saw a bunch of people in big, full suits of armor marching past me, blade and shield in hand. I sort of vowed to myself, standing there at the newbie spawn, that someday I would be a big bad knight in shining armor. Eventually I did get fairly good at the game, and it was odd to think that newbies would be thinking of me that way... "I want to be just like him, the big heavily armored v3tz0r!".

I started on Achaea back when I was still looking for a job. Being unemployed meant that I could pretty much log on 24/7, limited only by my ability to stay awake.

At that time, I felt pretty much the way you did, but in defiance, made a promise to myself not to buy credits directly from IRE (didn't really have a choice then).

So I spent all my time questing, and questing, and questing, and got my Achaean monk tri-transed, and then some. All without buying a single credit from IRE.

Of course after getting my current job, my free time was cut short considerably. I started seeing the other end of the spectrum. Without the time to build up my character, I was at a disadvantage to those who could play long hours at whim.

So I succumbed to the dark side... :ph34r:

If you've read the forums at topmudsites, you'll know that IRE constantly comes under fire because of its somewhat controversial business model. Having been on both sides of the coin, I have to say that it isn't as bad as the detractors make it out to be.

Just remember that people with jobs to fund their credits don't necessarily have the time to level as quickly as those who have time but no money. Of course there are still those with both time AND money to spare...

but who said life was fair

Names that inspire the Awe, back in the day.

(Note, this is notably Achaea, back in the day)

Gijan, Servelan, Zaklin, Israfel, Elentari, Changcoix, Anaidiana, and many others

Old Achaea, I use the term old to facilitate Achaea as a game before you required a Lawyer to properly fight, and back when it was an enjoyable, roleplay experience without needless deaths (there was still fighting, don't get me wrong. You even killed people just for being in a guild. I remember quite clearly that part of when I was inguilded was 'Do you hereby knowingly acknowledge that you may and will be killed for your duty to this guild, merely by being a member of it'


Achaea had a lot of memories. Nothing can quite facilitate them. That was the period of my awe.

I have neither the time nor the money . So, it's a slow growth for me. Oh well.

Lemme' see....alrighty, so I was 15 and bored, a high school nerd by trade at that time. I still can't remember exactly how I found Achaea those 6 years ago but I remember it became a fanatical obsession. I had my friends to play it, my relatives to play it, everyone that I could think of. I started as a Kharon monk in Hashan and had really no clue what the heck I was doing. I would just go out, fight and get my lessons, practice-practice-practice and then go do my belt test. Somewhere during that time, I was seduced into taking Juniper as my mother *shudder-remember I was young and impressionable* but eventually I broke free from the bonds there, this after going to boot camp and training, and became an Occultist in Ashtan. I busted my rear and made it as high as Guild Rank 3 I believe, even picking up a couple of city ranks. I spent a lot of time doing research on various subjects and then I stumbled upon the works and tales of Servelan de Vermiis. I spent a solid 24 hours *IRL not IC* locked in the Occultist GH pouring over all of the writings in the Occultist guildhall and ALL of the posts by or about Servelan. When I finished, only one other person knew my plight and that was Polly. I announce my intentions on GTS and was met with a backlash of spiteful words. I argued for the better part of an hour with them all with only Shakti giving me the go. When finally I resigned myself to defeat, a wonderful voice echoed over the waves asking me what I was giving up on; that was the voice of Eris. So, with Her permission I went on and did what was required that I may take up the de Vermiis name while it seems that Simultaneously, Epoch *spellcheck me* took it on a whim to all himself a de Vermiis with fictional names as backing *mutter*

Now........all of this was mentioned for a reason.

I went into Imperian and least slightly more knowledgeable about Roleplaying and IRE environments *Back when it was still Achaea L.L.C.* But still found myself awash in indecision....it seems a habit for me. I went through several guilds until I really hunkered down and reviewed the history, pegging the Dwarves as what would become my staple and then working until I got them put back into the realms.

The thing that I hope for Lusternia, even from my closed beta impressions is that I am able to find a niche where it doesn't just end. In Achaea, I wanted the de Vermiis name....I got it and that was the end. In Imperian, I wanted Kaark'Krazul back, I got it and that was the end.....in Lusternia, who knows what it will be. True I want Gaudiguch and Hallifax back but I hope that I find something much deeper and long lasting to set my roots into.

Never realised I was particularly important on Aetolia I feel so loved now.

*sniff* Long time ago memories, how emotive... *sniff*
I was, with some more friends, testing around the MUD world to see the market of a new mud that we would make.
Then we came across achaea.
Our project was doomed and sent to sleep in the bin.

I made a year without buying credits, just to show around I was able to survive without paying a single euro. I ended up buying credits, but anyway, it was fun to quest and bash endlesly :-)

Ah, memories. I remember mocking my college roommate when he started spending hours in that stupid telnet game when he could be blasting rockets with me on a "real game" like Quake. Nonetheless, he convinced me to give it a shot.

Still convinced of the game's silliness, I started out doing stupid stuff, like running around in a frilly dress and doing "things" to the corpses of pixies I had slain in Minia. But over time I found it addicting, became hooked, and started to take the game seriously. Massive awe set in as I saw people with their trans skills. Secrecy was tight, and I could only gape in awe at what my guild's trans skills could possibly be. And I held awe at all the ancient people who held leadership positions in the guild.

Over time it became the opposite. Eventually I was the guy with all the trans skills and was the dinosaur in leadership positions for guild, city, and order. Newbies would message me how they wanted to be my disciple and learn my ways (based on what they saw or heard secondhand in the character's RP).

But the novelty of the game never wore off for me. I'd set my sights on new goals all the time. When I achieved a goal or gave up on it, I would find new ones to keep my interest. Specific goals I set my sights on at different times throughout the many years of playing included: city council, GM, rank 10 in the divine order, #1 spot in the explorers, all the honors quests, undermine the political career of politicians I didn't like, creating a commercial trade empire, becoming the guild's most renouned intellectual, becoming the guild's highest ranked through GFs and eventually attain GR 19 through GFs alone, creating a network of political infuence in all the cities to help shape their policies, etc., etc. (I certainly did not achieve all of those!) If I was still playing a mortal, I'm sure I'd find something else to chase after.

That is the appeal of these games. If you put your mind to it, you can always find something new to conquer! When you find you've "put your roots" into something as deep as they can go, you can try planting yourself into something new.

Damn you again for being so smart One of the things I have never managed to do is be a guild master. I have been a Secretary but never really a Secretary with a position. I became a Guide which was one of my goals and I want to be a Builder for an IRE game. I only ever ran in one city election as politics are never my thing really. I just like to be diligent in my studies really. I'm always trying to be the loner scholar for some reason and it's challenging to break from that role.

It's possible to be the lone scholar and a successful politician; I've seen it happen. It's just very very difficult and takes lots of time.

Yeah! When you are out of the spotlight politics are sort of a hard arena to fit into. I am hoping that I can kinda' teeter the scales with my new Serenwilde character making him far more amicable and personable....though it's possible people are going to get frustrated with him pretty quickly *evilgrin* But it isn't because he is a bad person, it's just because of some other issues.

Oh, memories. I was god maybe 14 when I found Achaea. I had played a few, been big and bad in Jedimud(think thier dead now). Bored with that, I went over the mudconnector to find a new one. Saw a nice pretty banner, said ooh lets try that. Oh that banner has been the bane of my real life....I forget what it is to have one of those now.....

Playing Achaea back in the day, when there was only 2 monk guilds and one of all the others, was great. I still remember big events like when my beloved Duecalion died, and we all fought to try and bring him back. I remember as Celani on Aetolia talking to one of the others up there about that Death's Heart incident, when he said damn that was like 6 years ago we both realized we've been here way too long. But I achieved my goals, the behind the scenes man, controling everything. The money grubber that gambled away over 6m gold because he was bored. Trans everything(in aetolia), then the ultimate goal I always wanted, to be Celani. After going back down, that realm was not what it was, and a few months later here opened. I like it all so far, playing a different type of charector, thou still money grubbing. Ofcourse, I hope at some point I can go back up, and code again. That is a life I'll perfer over any mortal like, a different type of RP on a whole different scale. Those that have been there, know what I mean, those that love in know how hard it would be to go back down.

As Roark said, set goals and go for it, achieves those and set new ones. That's the beauty of these worlds, and why on a survey years ago, IRE was deemed more addictive then drugs(and we all know it is). A friend of mine here in Korea knows Matt(Sarapis) IRL, he said when Matt started Achaea, he didn't believe the business model would work. What proof it is, that if you try anything will work. Matt built that into the soul of IRE, the nature of these worlds is simple. If you want to do it, you can.

Ok, I'm tired and rambling, time to kill something....where's those Celestines.....

When I started in Achaea when I was...eh...twelveish? I think. I was sooooo fascinated. In the newbie intro, when you walk to the bride of what d-city, I kept pausing and reading the room descriptions and then thinking about it and it took me about an hour to get anything done, just because I kept reading room descriptions, and...oo...sparkly...and yeah.

Once I got out of the intro (with my eyes burning from too much reading), I joined the Arcanists. While standing around innocently at the Portal Room, someone came in and said they had a message from the Garden. So I was all, "oooo." So I followed him, and he told me he was a Prophet from Eris, and that the end of the world was coming and that I had to warn everyone.

So, I went back to Cree and Kitt, and I told them that I was a prophet of Eris and that I had to warn everyone to flee because the end of the world was coming. And then someone, I don't remember who, made me kick Cree (blush). I got outguilded, and then I got all depressed, and then I left Achaea.


That is my super duper story.


-Etanru

My first newbie character in achaea somehow ended up accusing an occultist secretary of homophobia, after which he got outguilded, outcitizened and hunted down for days...after that I got so trilled I never quit playing achaea.

I randomly pressed the banner on Nuklear Power after I finished reading the 8 bit theatre archives one day, got addicted, stayed addicted, left Achaea in February after maybe a couple years or so for various reasons, suffered massive withdrawal symptons, found Lusternia, is never letting go. EVAR.

And the reason I quote you, Iridiel, is because OMG! I wish I had to actually stop myself buying credits! I've been trying to get the stupid things since the start!

Mmm. I love nostalgia...

I can recall first going into Achaea and honestly having just about no idea what was going on. Through some miracle of my poor mental mapping skill, I firmly convinced myself that the Paladin guildhall was located in a forest. Eventually I dissolved myself of this notion, and Aldair helped me to get started on my way as a Paladin. She was pretty busy at the time though, so Juno came and helped me out. Juno was the best thing that could have happened to me in that early time, and just stresses the importance of a good mentor. He taught me some basic things about combat, all of which I still incorporate into the systems I use today (Though I haven't started making a system for Lusternia yet), and got me going into early politics by letting me sit in on Secretary meetings. This really got me hooked into the whole intrigue of the IRE games, which is the PvP. I don't mean PK, though that's obviously an integral part. But just the interplay of factions created by groups like cities, guilds, orders, and eventually clans (which didn't exist yet when I played) is perhaps the thing that most separates IRE's games from most run-of-the-mill MUDs.

I recall first starting to organize daily shrine runs. Those of you who remember the old shrine system, props. I loved that thing. I remember helping Zaklin start out his Zaklingrad, though that didn't last long. I remember my very first PK, getting an extremely lucky hit on Dalamar right after he vivisected Juno. I think I stayed in my city for the next two months after that. I can recall running, always running, from Valor, and getting killed seven or eight times any time I had the gall to NOT run. So many times I got braziered away after winning a Freezetag or Frogbait and killed by Valor. I used starbursts back then (Gods was I ignorant) so I always died twice. Lovely, that.

Being elected to Vizier for the first time was an enlightening experience. The politics that are involved at that level are amazing, and quickly became even moreso when Maran ascended to become Pentharian. A lot of problems cropped up relatively quickly, and within a few years I left Shallam. Took a few years to get Excommunicated, (Cooper, we were the best excommed knights...ever.) and eventually joined Aegis' Order and the Infernals.

Ahh...Have to stop there. Life stories are only so interesting for everyone else. *grin*

Animal mastery in Devotion, the old Shrine system, the two year waiting period for the Magi creation, the Pirates of Jaru...I don't think anything will ever be like Old Achaea was for me. But then I suppose that's just Golden Age syndrome popping up again.

And now we're five or so years later. There are four IRE games, Lusternia is making waves across the community in more ways than I can count. I've been the city leader in...7 different cities over four characters, GM once or twice, filled every ministry position at least once, been on every side of the Good/Evil spectrum I can conceive of, and worked behind the scenes on a number of projects. It's been a great time, and I've met plenty of people that I'm closer to than most.

Yet through all of this, there is always that sense that there is more to accomplish. This is what IRE games allow. There is a treadmill, sure, and for those people who like it, they can bash to their heart's content. The PK is unrivaled, and obviously there are more than enough people that love it to make it a constant area of interent. But ultimately, it all comes back to the politics, the relations we form, the way people interact within the confines of the worlds, that keeps me here. I think it's the same, in some respect, for a lot of people. And in that, I can only see more good things in the future.

It's also funny how your ability to roleplay can change so much in a year or so. I started out in Aetolia just wanting to screw around and waste a bit of time. I got hooked, and I was still just in it to play. But now my character's serious, because that's how I want him to be.

In hindsight, that's quite good roleplay. After all, your character's personality WOULD evolve from an eighten year old page to a sixty year old knight...