Remembering those Left Behind
Falling Leaves and Wings is one of the WoW blogs that I follow on my eReader. I especially like her transparency in dealing with the hard issues as a raid leader. Her candidness is a welcome relief in my RL world of happy masks.
She has recently posted a gut wrenching (to me) post. You can find it here: At What Cost?
In it she shares both her satisfaction and frustration at attaining a “Server First” with their kill of Sinestra. They were the first ones to get all three boss kills on their server.
Congratulations!
This isn’t just a post on the satisfaction, it is a post about the cost of it. The emotional cost, the mental anxiety that came along with the achievement. The post ends speaking about changes in the guild that naturally seem to come. To me, it is about relationships gone by.
This is where my point is, if I actually have one.
It is about relationships.
(From this point on, I’m not speaking about Beruthiel’s guild. Instead, I’m talking about my general opinion of WoW related group goals and the potential cost. Her post is simply the inspiration. She has kicked some major digital and interpersonal butt, and needs no one’s critique. )
Yes, we can do something. We can set a game related goal that requires a group to fulfill it. Guilds are made for this! Progression is such a goal, PvP has some aspect of this (Arena and Pre-made BGs). I’ve even been a part of an RP/PvP guild that had stated goals which could only be met through group participation.
When the point becomes the goal, we have the very real possibility of sacrificing persons for the goal.
I believe that the real strength of WoW (and any other MMO) is found in the community. I don’t just desire to attain a group based title, to complete a particular raid event, I want to do them with a particular group of people.
The people, the group, the friends bring the greatest sense of satisfaction at the end. How later on, maybe even years later, we can look back and talk about the time when we took down so-and-so. It becomes bitter sweet when we look back and find that we are alone in our memories, for no one else around us shared in the experience.
I’m not sure about you, but our guild has taken a hit with this release. Some have gone on to LotR, some to Rift, and some are just taking a break of an unknown length of time. But, the people we’ve accomplished things with aren’t online for us to goof off with. This is the bitter moment of being an MMO player. For good or ill, the player base changes. In the end, this is a game, and therefore has a different place of priority in the life of each player.
So, what do we do?
I suggest that we each love those around us (even in the virtual realm of WoW) with great immediacy. Perhaps “love” is to strong a word. Instead, maybe you can appreciate those around you with intentional immediacy. Talk with them. /emote a “high five” to them just because. Give words of encouragement, random acts of kindness, or maybe just a /pat. Bypass the asshats, not giving them another thought, and /hug your nearest guildie. For too soon, they may be gone.
Zwingli
