Orchid Mo
I loved Mo. I still do. I miss her terribly, all this time later.
Who the heck is Orchid Mo?!
Well, I never actually met her. Orchid Mo was her email handle. And I can't confirm that she was even actually female, though I feel like she was honest. I met her a bajillion years ago in Everquest Live, even before I knew Paul, so there you go. She played this very dynamic, interesting roleplay character, a bard, on Torvonnilous (that's my shout-out to my other Torv reader. <3 Mick). She mesmerized me with the way she wrote. She always made me want to log in and see what other creative things she'd come up with. I really had a strong affection for her style, even before I knew anything about her. She was frigging brilliant.
It was a lot of years (I mean real life YEARS of play time) before I even really spoke to Mo out of character. She was super guarded about her personal identity, and I understand why. But even with the little tidbits that we shared through email about the things we loved, the things we found funny or painful or ironic, my affection for her grew, and I honestly considered her a real friend to me. A lot of people felt that way about her.
Our time in EQlive ended, and she, along with many of my other friends, moved over to Star Wars Galaxies. It was a really painful, chaotic time in my life, and I was sort of hit or miss over there. I had her email address, and kept in touch. One day, my email bounced. The box was no longer in service. I tried again. Same deal.
I went to the boards for the old EQ guild she was in. None had heard from her. I talked to many of her friends. Literally no one had heard a word from her. It was as if she fell off the face of the planet. It's been since 2003 since I heard from her, but it still actually hurts. I'm not offended -- I don't think she was trying to shut me specifically out -- I just never told her how much her friendship meant to me. I wish I had.
I still have a hard time with this. I still think of her a lot. In real life, if a friend stops communicating, you can go to their house and say, "hey, what gives? Are you okay? Are you angry with me?" Online, you can so easily draw near to others emotionally, but they can just unplug you if they want, and never give you a reason. I admit that I've done that before when the online interaction is too much for me for whatever reason. Hell, I vanished from my own blog for like six months. I think it's quite easy, as well, for a person to underestimate their importance to their online friends. Mo mattered to me. For many of my friends, even my real life friends, the internet is how I keep touch.
Anyway... I just thought I'd toss that out there as an adjunct post to the Romance Online one. It's tough -- I still do MMO's, and with all the games coming out, etc... there are people I know I will lose touch with. I miss them already.
Ever lost touch with an online friend that you miss?
Who the heck is Orchid Mo?!
Well, I never actually met her. Orchid Mo was her email handle. And I can't confirm that she was even actually female, though I feel like she was honest. I met her a bajillion years ago in Everquest Live, even before I knew Paul, so there you go. She played this very dynamic, interesting roleplay character, a bard, on Torvonnilous (that's my shout-out to my other Torv reader. <3 Mick). She mesmerized me with the way she wrote. She always made me want to log in and see what other creative things she'd come up with. I really had a strong affection for her style, even before I knew anything about her. She was frigging brilliant.
It was a lot of years (I mean real life YEARS of play time) before I even really spoke to Mo out of character. She was super guarded about her personal identity, and I understand why. But even with the little tidbits that we shared through email about the things we loved, the things we found funny or painful or ironic, my affection for her grew, and I honestly considered her a real friend to me. A lot of people felt that way about her.
Our time in EQlive ended, and she, along with many of my other friends, moved over to Star Wars Galaxies. It was a really painful, chaotic time in my life, and I was sort of hit or miss over there. I had her email address, and kept in touch. One day, my email bounced. The box was no longer in service. I tried again. Same deal.
I went to the boards for the old EQ guild she was in. None had heard from her. I talked to many of her friends. Literally no one had heard a word from her. It was as if she fell off the face of the planet. It's been since 2003 since I heard from her, but it still actually hurts. I'm not offended -- I don't think she was trying to shut me specifically out -- I just never told her how much her friendship meant to me. I wish I had.
I still have a hard time with this. I still think of her a lot. In real life, if a friend stops communicating, you can go to their house and say, "hey, what gives? Are you okay? Are you angry with me?" Online, you can so easily draw near to others emotionally, but they can just unplug you if they want, and never give you a reason. I admit that I've done that before when the online interaction is too much for me for whatever reason. Hell, I vanished from my own blog for like six months. I think it's quite easy, as well, for a person to underestimate their importance to their online friends. Mo mattered to me. For many of my friends, even my real life friends, the internet is how I keep touch.
Anyway... I just thought I'd toss that out there as an adjunct post to the Romance Online one. It's tough -- I still do MMO's, and with all the games coming out, etc... there are people I know I will lose touch with. I miss them already.
Ever lost touch with an online friend that you miss?