I look at the page and wonder what to write...  I think about all that is happening in game, and all that is happening in my life, and all that is happening in the world...  So why is the page still blank? 

In the world, laws have been passed, companies change, tributes are made to those that have died.  Wars grind on, weather hits, illness strikes...  We look to home and family.

People come, some should go, we want others to return sooner.  We cry, laugh, and get angry.  Play and work, worry and love, somehow our lives go on.

In game, in the guild, I am constantly surprised by how close we come to real life as we escape it.  We see friends, we go to war (even if it is only RP, and ooc you would rather hug your opponent), we make enemies, we find love.  Problems are solved, places are visited.  Some folk have too much, others too little, and just like in RL there are those that are happy with what they have.

For many of us EQ2, or SWG for those TN'ers that are part of the PTC (Polaris Trading Company - run by Ay'enn in Star Wars), these are not just games, they are learning grounds.  Children learn to read, write, use money and mathmatics.  We all learn how to socialize, how to settle disagreements, how to work at something we want or need.  Some of us learn leadership skills, statistics, coding, eye/hand coordination, cooperation...  Somehow these games are so much more than a game!

We can practice being nice, being bad, pretend we are evil or saintly, learn the shades of gray of personalities.  In games, I find that folk whether they RP or not, tend to fall back to their basic personality in some way or other.  A jerk, will eventually come across as a jerk, a sweety will still be a sweety even when they are trying oh so hard to be mean! 

Alts do that for us, we use them to learn how to react to others in different ways.  I have good alts, bad alts, neutral alts, grumpy alts, troubled and peaceful ones.  I can play according to my mood.  My grumpy alt sees little time, my evil alt is not really so bad, my troubled alt has those that love her and she is learning to stand on her own.  All much the same way I do in RL.

Most of all, MMORPGS, allow us to meet people we would not otherwise know, from places we may never see.  Good people, smart people, people that enrich us in so many different ways.  People we learn to like, love, respect without the shallowness of looks, race, religion, gender, physical capabilites...  The game transcends those and puts forth a person based on thier intelligence and personality, how they treat those they come across.

This genre is so important to us as a civilization, these games, these fantasy worlds.  The people on the other side of the pixel are teaching us so much more that we can learn alone, and we return the favor.  Interaction is what sets us free in the end.

Look, the page is no longer blank.

*hugs*

Summer, so close and yet so far...

In America, summer is often regarded as running from Memorial day to Labor day, most folk forget that it actually begins and ends a month later on the equinoxes.  People here are moving away from the natural change of seasons and towards artificial ones changing winter to run from Thanksgiving to Easter, autumn from Labor day to Thanksgiving and spring from Easter to Memorial day.  I am still not sure why Easter is chosen and not St. Patrick's day unless it is because for many places here the day of green may still be buried under white. 

Hallmark seasons instead of those based on ancient observations of sun and earth.  Perhaps with the advent of calendars that are consistent, printed, and readily available over the need to find a local shaman to measure the stars the seasons are more correct now?

Solstices and equinoxes have become curiosities where only those who are astronomers, wish to balance an egg on its end, or admit to some sort of witchcraft or shamanry tend to remember.

However you time your seasons, enjoy the weather and remember that we hope to see you June 12th & 13th for the picnic!  (details in the forums, folks!)

*hugs*

Arbreth

One of my simpler joys as a Guild Leader is receiving a random tell informing me that one of our folk have helped someone do something, or that they always see us about and think that you are just all awesome...  Well, I think you are too!  This past month I not only got several of these tells, but a Kudo in the general guild leaders channel.  I just wish they would remember the names of the characters as well as the name of the guild *grins*

I was thinking of this as I drove to Virginia this month as it is time to seek out another Polaris - a shining example of True North.  An Explorer, or Cartographer, that has gone out of thier way to help others in some way and deserves to be our next star.

Nominating someone is as simple as sending me a mail here in GP, or in game, with the name of the player character.  I do not have a closing date for this yet, as I will not be home for a while and I do need to send out this message in game mail, but I would like to try to have an announcement for the next newsletter (roughly a month).

Thank you, for being who you all are and for making TN a guild recognized as a good bunch of people!

*HUGS*

~Arbreth