Mhmm. Minor essay time. Argument, reflection, or sheer demented rambling? You decide.

i. Introduction
ii. Estarra
iii. Conflict
iv. Roleplay
v. Culture
vi. Tragedy of the Commons
vii. Ignorance
iix. Exclusion & Entitlement
ix. Conclusion

i. Introduction

I've given Lusternia a lot of my life - yes, this is the mandatory 'lol look at how nerdy i am' passage, I need to get it out of the way. I stayed up late at night and snuck through my parent's curfew to play in open beta. It was actually what taught me to type quickly, having to do it the dark necessarily teaching me where the keys are. Linking on old Astral as a level twelve trill celestine remains one of the most adrenaline-rushing experiences I've ever had. I gave up on it for a short while but when I got some money from an inheritance and could buy credits, I came hopping and skipping back to make Veyda. It's made me fall asleep in class, ignore my parents, cry, hit things, break things, dance, sing, laugh, and shake with excitement. It always invokes a primal passion, be it joy or wrath or despair.

These are some observations in a loose format.

ii. Estarra

Whatever it may have started as - a dream, a feverish sketching on a restaurant napkin, an acid trip - Lusternia is the brain-child that Estarra has painstakingly raised and nurtured. And what a child! The histories are intoxicating, and so is the combat, and the culture, and the roleplay, and all the myriad twists and turns of this little alphanumerical playground. Whatever her failings may be, the basic underlying masterpiece cannot be denied.

With that sugary happy platonic-side out of the way, there's another side to Estarra, just as there is to every artist. Next to attention lies paranoia. Next to the desire to be involved stands the desire to control. Estarra is very possessive of Lusternia. It's her vision. We've all, in a sense, been given permission to join her in this playground, and it's always in the back of her mind that she can show us to the gate.

So, yes - Estarra in a few words? Brilliant, demanding, absent, attentive, mercurial, jealous, controlling, paranoid, warm, goofy, caring, engaged.

iii. Conflict

Such a buzz-word, no? The very word 'conflict' brings to mind a host of inveterate fears and hopes. The joy of victory and the despair of the defeat. I've always been a competitive person and I've never been shy about it. The conflict is a big part of what I like about this game, and yet even with that badge firmly pinned upon my chest, I've often as not caught myself bitching and screaming about this or that imbalance or overstep. Passion comes to all of us.

The conflict quests...there's another evocative image, a token to be easily turned in for an ocean of implications and associations. Here, again, I want them - and yet realise their dark side. Fire can burn, which ruins all the fun of playing with it. Yet I wish our gods would, if you pardon the drama, unchain our prometheus and see if, with the right wood, we can handle it better this time.

Yet what's the point? One hurt, twice shy. The administration doesn't want to go there when legions of the displeased lie in wait at the slightest misstep, and I don't blame them.

iv. Roleplay

Roleplay can bring just as much of an adrenaline rush as conflict. Yet it has it's own problems. In some ways it's easier to start role-playing with someone then it is to fight them - the lack of material punishment is an upside - but it's also easier for them not to participate. Roleplay also has a disturbing tendency to settle within cliques and be harder to share across wider groups. Again, somewhat like combat - good for a good group, poor for the individual.

Hmm. I thought I was going to have more to say here. Dunno.

v. Culture

Yeah, this too. Culture is an incredibly important thing that it just...defies words. The culture of the game of organizations sets so much of tone and experience that it just...dominates the game.

vi. Tragedy of the Commons

This is really at the heart of a lot of problems in Lusternia - the inevitable fashion in which a common resource becomes abused. Be it astral nodes, player conflict, political expediency - it all ends up being used in ways it shouldn't. I can hardly try to address a problem which has defied economists and thinkers around the world. There is no answer. It's life. We have to...well, we have to listen to Murphy and go out to the supermarket and buy our favorite brand of harden up.

vii. Ignorance

As generally wonderful as the forums can be, they can also be generally poisonous and ridiculous. Information is tossed around that isn't true, and people speak about things they don't really understand in officious tones, and a sort of meta-Lusternia is created because if it's on the forums, it's gospel. Passion is not a substitute for experience when it comes to understanding the game. People decry elitism and insular behaviour without realising how dumb the mob is. You say it produced the American Revolution? It also produced the french one, and the chinese. Stfu.

iix. Exclusion & Entitlement

Alongside that, of course, is that fact that some people are too elitist. Some people do sneer for not particularly good reasons. This, currently, is one of things that burns me out the most - the tendency so much of Lusternia has towards exclusion. And alongside it, its foul twin entitlement, where those in power or the inside feel that they have earned their right to be there, and have such rights and obligation that all should bow down to their glory.

ix. Conclusion

I decided to just end this with quotes - it ended up being a little less serious then I expected - one doesn't belong, see if you can spot it!

"L'enfer c'est les autres!" (Hell is other people!) - Jean-Paul Sartre

"Consistency is the last refuge of the unimaginative." - Oscar Wilde

"Glory is like a circle in the water,
Which never ceaseth to enlarge itself,
Till by broad spreading it disperses to naught." - William Shakespeare

"However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results." - Winston Churchill

"A countryman between two lawyers is like a fish between two cats." - Benjamin Franklin

"Only the shallow know themselves." - Oscar Wilde

"Get your facts first, and then you can distort them as much as you please." - Mark Twain

"A casual stroll through the lunatic asylum shows that faith does not prove anything." - Friedrich Nietzsche

I choose c) sheer demented rambling.

Oh, and now that you realize

can we have our Glomdoring back?

Expand the section on conflict and tie it in with the previous statements about Estarra and boy do you have a bowlful of truth.

Tragedy of the commons- solution is private property rights. In Lusternia terms, however, that really wouldn't be workable short of giving everyone their own little bashing spot... which is sorta self defeating. Either that, or giving IC ownership of these astral dealies I have yet to see... but the drama there seems like it would be exponentially worse than the status quo.

Though, as for quotes, here's one of my favs:

"Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination are omnipotent. The slogan press on has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race. No person was ever honored for what he received. Honor has been the reward for what he gave." -John Calvin Coolidge

I'm glad I'm not the only one whose gotten so sucked in. I've literally shaken in excitement when about to enter a battle. I've been so furious and angry I felt like crying or punching my keyboard. In high school I was so tired all the time because I'd fall asleep having been up late playing Lusternia, I too snuck downstairs in the dark way past my kerfew. I withdrew from my family (though I think most teenagers do that) and even somewhat from friends. Jesus... that's kind of sick actually. All in all it's somewhere like 140 days. That's almost half a year of solid playing I've put in to this. Yikes!

If anything, Lusternia's been the funnest of the IRE experiences I've ever had. Rather than make my life bad (okay, I -do- need to get outside a bit more), it's made life rock. I've learned more things from Lusty, the people and experiences in it than I probably have in a year of my crummy excuse of a school, so..who cares what happens! I love it!

Admittedly, we all have our positive and negative sides!


However, it's not paranoia when what your suspicions are actually true!
(And I do not feel I am a jealous person--what do I have to be jealous about?)


Thanks for your thoughtful observations!

I'm not sure what you mean by that, but the truth of the matter is that I wouldn't care how Glomdoring operates if it didn't bloody drive players away and have such a dismal activity level. I thought it was on the rebound but apparently it has been slipping backwards....

Lawl... I seriously think admin insanity has been extremely detrimental to Glomdoring. Do I need to support that? No thanks.

The comment was aimed at Veyda's leadership style, but if you really want my thoughts on the admin intervention in Glomdoring, you know I'd be glad to share. Bring kevlar.

High atop the Basin Estarra sits, looking over her kingdom and surveying all of her territory. It is a good territory, she thinks. She looks to Magnagora and sees that their new street lamps are illuminating the city, granting them a steam punk look that is oh-so-lovely in its own way. She turns her gaze next to New Celest, and silently ponders making the Holy Supernals sick again, just to watch all the Celestines scramble. Next her gaze reaches Serenwilde, and after knocking over a tree so that she can actually see the place, Estarra notes with satisfaction the Moondancers doing a skyclad dance with the Spiritsingers providing music. Finally she looks to Glomdoring and gives a little sigh as she watches Tajalli trying to help a novice while Shamarah tortures a novice Shadowdancer with his horrid singing. Estarra sends a warning zap to Shamarah in the hopes that he'll stop, before turning her attention to the aethermanses.

Bypassing the numerous manses in which various couples are copulating, since as the Creatrix Goddess she has seen it all before, Estarra comes across one rather elaborate looking manse, and leans forward to take a peek. Her face twisting in a jealous rage, Estarra's voice booms out over the entire basin and every plane, from prime to astral, "I thought of that first!" and immediately destroys the manse in question with a massive ball of fire.

Ildaudid and Luciden, having agreed to go into business together at The Hanky Panky, slowly crept from the wreckage and looked at one another, feeling decidedly lucky to be alive. "Man, what a jealous ," Ildaudid commented. "Yeah," Luciden agreed. "She must not get any, as a Goddess."

Gnashing her teeth in rage, Estarra immediately obliterated both of them, and blew up the wreckage of the aethermanse just to make sure.

What the hell?

I don't see what's all the fuss over Glomdoring. I've only been playing for 2-3 weeks, but I've never seen a problem.

Maybe it's because I'm a bit of a loner, and I therefore don't miss what's missing, or maybe it's because I've not ever been a member of any other City/Commune and so I don't know how Glomdoring stands apart, but I really don't see a problem.

The people are helpful when I need it, and I try and repay in kind. I'm not forced into any role or event, yet I'm not shunned or demeaned and am instead encouraged and rewarded when I try and help, despite my inexperience. I'm thoroughly enjoying my time in Glomdoring and I can't name a single thing I'd change about it.

Well, you know. Estarra wasn't sure what she should be jealous about!

@Aoife:

@Lokin: There were a few very very long threads on it. I do agree though, haven't seen that many things I would call problematic since going. And I'll ignore politics, they're just pure crummy anyways.

I've said it before, I'd like to say it again: I think the Administration puts too much time in to working on player retention when they should be working on making the retained players happy and having a fun time. Would you rather a large group of people kind of having fun but really kind of aren't, or a moderate group who have an immensely fun play experience who can then convince their other friends to come join in (thus eventually solving your retention issue anyways)? In my opinion, your attempts at retention are becoming counterproductive because they all target and harm a specific crowd of players who are slowly filtering out of your game because they just don't have any fun.



No, you don't need support - in my opinion, the Administration should have stepped in.. but not the way they did. They should have just given the commune a small nudge in the right direction - not a 'do this, you people need to step down despite the fact that besides a small handful of uninterested people, only novices are really around and eligible for leadership positions' mandate. That's the kind of 'interaction' that makes me think a little less of the way Lusternia runs itself.

As it happens, they tried this initially, a whole year ago. It didn't work though.

NO U

I'll have you know that I have a lovely voice!

Just to second and expound a little on what Nejii said, they tried this. They tried it a lot. The wyrd was supposed to be a 'step in the right direction', then not one but TWO new Viravain personalities. Yes, you could argue that even though the second of these Viravains was given a clean slate and still chose to be an exact replica of the prior incarnations that it wasn't really helpful, but the point still stands that the meeting and mandate was definitely a last resort.