This file came from my blog at http://careymartell.com/ Most people will not find this file to be interesting at all. This is a dump of all the letters I received inside a MMORPG called Nexus: The Kingdom of the Winds that I played extensively when I was younger. I tended to back-up my "nmail" box into a Word document, so that I would never forget the second life I lived in that virtual world. I am making the back-up public now for a couple reasons. 1. I think, if you follow from the bottom of this article (the posts from 2003) to the top (2009), you can get a real sense of some events that took place that were important to me, personally, in my life. 2. It may interesting to any sociologists studying videogames. 3. It may be interesting to other Nexus players. Some of the letters are from influential players, and some are from players who were very beloved and are no longer with us. My character in NexusTK was DarkMaverick. I'm a somewhat famous (perhaps even infamous depending on your perspective) player who was involved in a lot of things in the game, especially concerning the Chongun subpath. None of the posts are dated; it's impossible for me to have known the exact dates of these posts, as Nexus in-game mailing system didn't store dates. It simply stored the newest posts at the top and the oldest at the bottom. The oldest posts start in 2003. The last are from 2009. Therefore when reading this document you should go to the very last page, and then read up. Posted by DM on Rambling Thoughts, after Liadriel kicked everyone out Subject: Advice for Chonguns While you pick up the pieces, here is some advice for you all. #1: Do not accept Guideship unless you are willing to also step in and be the next Elder. Do not put your Elder in a position where he or she feels they cannot step down to anyone. #2: If you become Elder, make sure there is always someone you can step down to. Do not passively wait for someone to suddenly appear. Find a successor, even if you must look outside the path. Even if you decide the path should vote on the next elder, it is your duty as the leader to make sure there is suitable candidates for your members to vote on. #3: Treat your members with respect. Do not label yourself a "Mother" or "Father. You are not a parental figure to people on the internet; you are a member of a social club that is (ideally) supposed to play an important roleplaying social role in the game. The Chonguns are not a "real" military. Do not model everything on the idea of the roleplay, and be more practical in your drafting of rules and policy, and how you enforce them. This is a videogame. Be fair to new members, as well as those who have left for awhile and would like return. #4: Be as active in your path as you possibly can. This does not mean posting on the board every week or showing up to events while you sit AFK. Think of new events that engage not only each other, but the community. The point is to have fun, not feel like work. True, there is a great deal of organization involved in running events, but this work should be enjoyable to you. #5: Please be a lot less concerned with new NPCS, items, areas and spells. While these things have a great potential to help improve the number of activities your path and the public can engage in, focusing too much on them can distract you from what you are capable of doing right now. Be inventive and willing to experiment with new ideas. #6: If you would like to drastically alter the roleplay of the path to make it more enjoyable for current and future members, do not feel like you would be betraying the memory and efforts of those past members who played a hand in shaping the current roleplay. So long as the path as a whole has discussed the matter and fairly voted on it, what the path decides it would like to do will always be in the spirit of what the path is truly about. Remember, the lore is just a story meant to inspire members to be good to one another and give your roleplaying a foundation to build upon. It is not the "end all, be all" of the path. People are far more important than traditions the path has outgrown. #7: Be willing to set aside personal differences and negotiate in order to come to a decision that all sides can agree with, both inside the path and outside as well. #8: Should you become a Guide or Elder, do not look for glory or to leave behind a "legacy". As much as I hate to say it, this is a very low population game that probably will not stick around forever. This world is fragile and, like all things, must someday come to an end. Put people first. Try to have as much fun together as you can so you have many excellent memories of this world, and as few regrets as possible. #9: Everyone makes mistakes. In writing this I made a lot of typos and had to repost. Acknowledge your mistakes, never deny them, and then look for what you can do to repair the damage and prevent the mistakes from happening again. I do hope you can all overcome this difficult period of time. Sometimes the night is darkest just before the morn. Be that light, together. No one person is going to be your messiah. This is something you have to do together. From mug: To dm: wow nice. i smile here. we are working on the tangun maps one is already loaded. i will be busy with santa mhul this next week. then after new year we will put up application to be part of tangun. cup will go through the tickets and pick the best applications and put on board for you all to review. > Wiccan posted this for you > > ------------ > You've gotten way better at answering dreams. > > I suggested an alternative to loosing stats since tiger palace > or bloodbrother was tedious, and you created sa Sacrifice, > which is benefitial to sam players too. > > You created tangun - I wished for low level players to recieve > new items and bam Tangun is full of em. > > > Thank you for answering my dreams, merry christmas. > > -Wiccan Sakura To Sandok From dm: > > I am quite sure you think I abandoned you, but as for my last > posts you may realize I did not. I had some real problems irl > last days, including too much rain to turn my time here very > hard. But I log everyday and I am reading your posts and > finishing the last maps in RP town. > > Please contact me for anything. > > Thank you for posting the dreams on RPT board so they are > saved now and will not get lost :) > > We need to meet. What times are you available most of days > (EST time)? > > Sandok~ I admit, I wasn't sure what was going on because I hadn't heard anything back in a long time, but mug had mentioned to me last week you had some issues but were still working on things. I am EST as well. Any time around 5pm until midnight is fine for me these days. To: mug From: dm Subject: Hawkmori So....there is some major drama going down in Nag Army, which you may have already heard about. Last night I spent about 3 hours watching them argue and fight in clan chat, resulting in Sterben announcing he was leaving as General. Right now would probably not be a good time to do the event because NA is in chaos >< Other than that, I feel bad for Sterben because from what I've seen on Hawkmori, he's been trying to get the clan more active, the problem is just the same as with all clans: not a lot for them to do as a clan. I feel really bad for leaders thrown into these positions right now that want to do a good job but aren't being fully supported with what they need to suceed. I implore you again to implement a clan war system. What I get from reading the dreams board and reading NA is that people are bored and unchallenged. I know you are afraid of making changes to gameplay, but think of this: I play my Sa san character pretty much exactly the way I played DM when he was level 99. That is years of playing the same way. Thats why Sa san players are upset at the long aethers: they want their gameplay to -change- to become more fun to play. If the gameplay does not improve, the game cannot remain fresh and interesting. Quests can help renew the game, but quests are not often repeatedable content. PVP events like Carnages are repeatedable, but since the prizes are not very good for today's standards, few people want to pay the entrance fees to attend them (which is why I suggested the new token system to earn new rewards; it will renew interest in carnages and give players many more goals to pursue every day). I know you are overworked between island and events, but please consider helping clans out with something they can do as a group that would be meaningful to the majority of players.