As we all learn sooner or later, some times, things are just not fair. This carries over into the MMO world too and can sometimes be a harsh lesson.
Take Wurm Online, for example. A player was banned for cheating not too long ago. Typically this is a zero tolerance policy, if you’re banned for good that’s just the way it is. However, this particular player who was banned happens to be popular on YouTube, and brings new players into the game, so after a few months, they allowed the player back. Other players who were banned were not allowed back, and it was decided that the popularity of this one person was worth any backlash from the loyal player base that they may incur.
Fair? No, of course not.
On a lesser degree, there’s extra-life coming up. Some groups who are quite popular with social media are receiving extra attention from the games that they’ll be streaming, where the little guys who are not quite so popular, are left behind. Even though everyone is raising money for the same cause. This happens quite frequently. I’ve been running my blog for over 7 years now but it’s not a “news” site, it’s just me writing about my adventures in whatever game I happen to be playing. As such, I don’t typically qualify for contests and prizes to give away to readers. Maybe once upon a time, but things have changed as more and more news sites have been created.
Am I a little bitter? Yes, I don’t feel that it’s fair. So what can I do about this feeling I have? Well. The best thing to do (again, for me personally) is to move on and ignore it. Know that I’m doing the best that I can, and as always I’m not doing doing this for any special reason, I write because I love writing. Raising money for extra-life has been a trial in patience this year. I’m incredibly grateful to everyone who has donated and supported me, but it has been much more difficult than previous years of fundraising (this is my first year doing this particular charity, but I have raised money for NaNoWriMo in November and other events over the years). I understand that money is tight, but a small part of me wonders if it’s because with the popularity of Kickstarter and humblebundle, we now “expect” that a reward and prize comes with our “donations”.
Anyhow, just some rambling thoughts this morning – back to our regularly scheduled blog posts!