Heart vs Brain; COH vs WoW
Today felt absolutely surreal. I want to beleive it never happened, that I didn't lose an entire day of my life over this.
So, I have this friend in the community, and he seems like a pretty decent guy, right? Except he has issues. Not with me, but with other people. I can't say I didn't see this coming. Up until recently, it was all nice and quiet behind the scenes, but when I saw a breif glimpse of it come out a few months ago, I knew in the back of my mind that he wouldn't get over it. It just wasn't consistant with his personality to do so.
So yesterday, it all came to a head. My friend was kicked out of the community. The current duration is for a year. He's my freind though, so I chat with him about it, try to find out what's going on, see if there's anything I can do to help. Only..I'm talking with my other friends now, getting their side of the story, and I see just how badly he transgressed, just how far he overstepped those lines that should have been stayed well behind. And suddenly, I'm not so sure if I can help him. I try to think up ways to distract him from the catalysts, but my ideas prove hollow and stupid once I gave them some thought. So he brought it on himself. And he recognizes this. And there's nothing I can do that will make things go back to even a semblance of the way they were.
He hurt my friends. I don't think such was his intention. I know he got ahead of himself, and said and done things that never should have been said and done to anyone, especially not those you're tying to be friends with. He alienated a lot of folks. His own best friend blocked him, which is a testament to how bad it was. But I know he still has a few friends in the community. People like me who won't turn their backs on him until he's screwed up every last chance that he's given. He's a nice guy when he isn't being a dick. I know a lot of you think that's just a manipulative face he puts on, but I've watched him long enough to know that he isn't capable of such a machivelian charade. He's too hardheaded and egotistical to pull that off knowingly for as long as he's been coming here. On the other hand, I know he's going to try and make things sound like apple pie and deflect the blame. It's human to do so.
So I sat down with him and told him "Look, you fucked up. I tried to think of ways I could help you, but I really honestly couldn't come up with anything that wouldn't either A) gloss over the real problem you have, or B) fuck things up worse or put me in a bad situation. You need to take this as the clarion call that it is and cleanup your act with how you socially behave around certain people, because right now it's just not acceptible." He agreed with my points and we spoke at length. I just hope he listens to me because I'm pretty much the last chance he's got. His former best friend agrees with me on that point. The ball is his to do what he will with now.
City of Heroes...I picked up a timecard today. I sort of regret it, because it set me back more than buying the actual game would have costed. You can buy COX for $9-$10 these days. The damn timecards cost $30 bucks. I don't know about you, but I'm having a hard time wrapping my mind around how time to play a game can retail for more than the actual game itself. Especially when you have to purchase a timecard to play the game out of the box? The short of it is, there is no way I can afford to regularly stock both games. I'll have to decide wether I want to play one or the other, and I was really really hoping that it wouldn't come down to my having to make that decision. Still, I'm grateful to
skunktaur for giving me the chance to at least experience some of it. Even though nobody offered to take his buddy code aside from me, I'm sure there were a number of people he could have chosen to offer it to.
So, I have this friend in the community, and he seems like a pretty decent guy, right? Except he has issues. Not with me, but with other people. I can't say I didn't see this coming. Up until recently, it was all nice and quiet behind the scenes, but when I saw a breif glimpse of it come out a few months ago, I knew in the back of my mind that he wouldn't get over it. It just wasn't consistant with his personality to do so.
So yesterday, it all came to a head. My friend was kicked out of the community. The current duration is for a year. He's my freind though, so I chat with him about it, try to find out what's going on, see if there's anything I can do to help. Only..I'm talking with my other friends now, getting their side of the story, and I see just how badly he transgressed, just how far he overstepped those lines that should have been stayed well behind. And suddenly, I'm not so sure if I can help him. I try to think up ways to distract him from the catalysts, but my ideas prove hollow and stupid once I gave them some thought. So he brought it on himself. And he recognizes this. And there's nothing I can do that will make things go back to even a semblance of the way they were.
He hurt my friends. I don't think such was his intention. I know he got ahead of himself, and said and done things that never should have been said and done to anyone, especially not those you're tying to be friends with. He alienated a lot of folks. His own best friend blocked him, which is a testament to how bad it was. But I know he still has a few friends in the community. People like me who won't turn their backs on him until he's screwed up every last chance that he's given. He's a nice guy when he isn't being a dick. I know a lot of you think that's just a manipulative face he puts on, but I've watched him long enough to know that he isn't capable of such a machivelian charade. He's too hardheaded and egotistical to pull that off knowingly for as long as he's been coming here. On the other hand, I know he's going to try and make things sound like apple pie and deflect the blame. It's human to do so.
So I sat down with him and told him "Look, you fucked up. I tried to think of ways I could help you, but I really honestly couldn't come up with anything that wouldn't either A) gloss over the real problem you have, or B) fuck things up worse or put me in a bad situation. You need to take this as the clarion call that it is and cleanup your act with how you socially behave around certain people, because right now it's just not acceptible." He agreed with my points and we spoke at length. I just hope he listens to me because I'm pretty much the last chance he's got. His former best friend agrees with me on that point. The ball is his to do what he will with now.
City of Heroes...I picked up a timecard today. I sort of regret it, because it set me back more than buying the actual game would have costed. You can buy COX for $9-$10 these days. The damn timecards cost $30 bucks. I don't know about you, but I'm having a hard time wrapping my mind around how time to play a game can retail for more than the actual game itself. Especially when you have to purchase a timecard to play the game out of the box? The short of it is, there is no way I can afford to regularly stock both games. I'll have to decide wether I want to play one or the other, and I was really really hoping that it wouldn't come down to my having to make that decision. Still, I'm grateful to
skunktaur for giving me the chance to at least experience some of it. Even though nobody offered to take his buddy code aside from me, I'm sure there were a number of people he could have chosen to offer it to.