Zen EFU

[PanamaLane]

Hi all. So, I'm posting this in response to some other threads kicking about of late. I feel like I used to have a big problem getting frustrated in EFU, upset at dying or not getting DM attention exactly when I wanted it. I used to get jealous of other players who got more attention. I used to feel like many of the DM's were arrogant and that they thought they were better then me. I used to get so damn upset, but I've come to understand in the last year or so, that it was totally pointless.

EFU is a game, you come here to have fun. However real your character's may feel to you, they aren't. They are a bunch of ones and zeros. None of it really matters in the grand scheme.

Much like life really. You can try to get everything you want, and yell and kick and scream when you don't, but its not going to make you feel better. Getting angry is not going to change that. Getting angry will only leave you angry. So why be angry at all? I'll tell you from experience its a lot more fun having fun then being angry.

Here are some ideas that keep me a sane, happy and productive member of society (both in RL and IG):

1. Remember you are not in control of everything. Its much easier on the mind to go with the flow then it is to swim against the tides.

2. The DM's are your equals. In fact, so are the players. So is everyone, including the president. Though these figures may hold power over you, you are always just as good as they, and them just as flawed as you. If they seem like they are being arrogant, laugh. Because you know in your heart, you are equals.

3. See death as a new opportunity. Hey, dying IG is a hell of a lot better then in RL. Yeah, you lost xp, so what? Its a new chance to gain more xp and be better looted next time you reach a higher lvl. Hey, maybe you'll even roll max HP's this time around.

4. You were PVP'd and your character is officially gone. Time to roll a new character! Don't mourn for the intangible. Don't get angry over what was destined to happen. No character in EFU has lived forever. In fact, no man has lived forever either. Death is a part of life you must come to accept, or you will drown in the impossibility of trying to avoid it.

5. If you absolutely need to vent frustration, then do it, but do it to the right people. Yelling at a DM isn't going to get you a damn thing, trust me. If you're annoyed, catch me in IRC and complain all you like. I'll listen and probably agree and then we can put it behind us, because in the end, who cares? I'm not the only one you can vent to either. Just do it to the right people.

6. As Howland alluded to, play the game the way you want to play it. And honestly, to hell with everything else. There is no right way, or wrong way, there is only the way you are going to do it and the way that you aren't. In the end the rewards don't come in the form of loot, or xp, or rp, or whatever. The rewards come in the form of enjoyment. Have fun out there.

That's all I've got for now. I hope that perhaps it will help some of you come to realize, in the words of Bill Hicks, that life itself is just a ride.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1RQmnSJoRg

[lovethesuit]

In Escape from the Underdark I played Frances Allegretti, a cleric of Lurue. I made it to level 9 with her for the first time, and came within one zone of the Seeker camp underneath The Way when I was killed by a storm of animatrons. I was quite upset because at the time, a rule was in place for Underdark characters that prevented them from respawning. I intended to try for the Surface, but instead my character ended right then and there.

But then my next character came up, and with the right friends and a lot of luck, I made Jawl. I'm very happy with this character, and I know that if I'd just stuck with Frances it wouldn't be the same. Jawl would never exist, and all the awesome experiences I've had playing that character wouldn't exist either. The DM closes a door and opens a window, man. Don't harsh about the death thing.

[9lives]

The sound of one hand fapping.

[Pestilence]

But RL and IG pain is always rewarded and prospering as Loviatar says

[derfo]

EFU is a game, you come here to have fun. However real your character's may feel to you, they aren't. They are a bunch of ones and zeros. None of it really matters in the grand scheme.

While one could easily submit to the fact that EFU is a game, it's unique in it's own right what a wide variety of people and play styles mesh into this server. From my viewpoint, I do believe that pretty much anyone can 'succeed' with enough effort, including those who are able to secure their mechanical power, to those who establish some sort of social dominance through well-used linguistics. There's even those who are just eventually lucky, by being at the right place at the right time, or rolling a lot of twenties. (SUP LOL)

Apologies for the digressing response.

I believe that characters are as real as you want to make them out to be. While when it comes down to it they might just be fictional, and maybe just a sort of character you rolled up in a game for some, or a 'real' person with some sort of backstory. I can feel like I have put myself in both mindsets.

Thoughts, ideas, and symbols aren't real in the material sense, but their ability to influence is real enough, even those that are derived from someone's time playing a character.

Anyone is certainly free to think they don't really matter in the 'grand scheme,' but it is my personal preference to realize that it remains possible, while acknowledging that inevitably you're going to incur a loss of sorts.

That's all I've got for now. I hope that perhaps it will help some of you come to realize, in the words of Bill Hicks, that life itself is just a ride.

I'd confidently say my life is not just a 'ride,' that mine and anyone else's is as malleable as their skills, effort, and luck might allow. I would definitely say that extends to even what you mold out of characters in EFU or any other game or story you'd like to relate - but that might be a discussion for another topic or a later post, I suppose!

[Drakill Tannan]

Is there something to stop me from getting frustrated at rolling critical mises when disarming a trap and taking 118 damage in the process?

[Efu_Executioner]

Is there something to stop me from getting frustrated at rolling critical mises when disarming a trap and taking 118 damage in the process?

It's called skill mastery, or don't disarm traps in the middle of combat.

[Drakill Tannan]

It's called skill mastery, or don't disarm traps in the middle of combat.

Either the druegar attacked a team mate while i was doing so, or mr impacient screwed me agan. I never disarm traps when in the middle of combat, i limit myself to flag them.

But that's not the topic is it?

[Jayde Moon]

SUP I RAGE IMMA WORG!!!

[Letsplayforfun]

Is there something to stop me from getting frustrated at rolling critical mises when disarming a trap and taking 118 damage in the process?

There is: laugh at what just happened.

What fun would you have if you succeeded everytime at everything you tried? What fun would you have if you were never caught by surprise? What fun would you have if your PC reach lvl10 in a week and then just couldn't quest anymore?

So your pc needs to respawn and looses a lvl? Cool, you'll get the chance to get better equipement, to do more quests, to meet lower lvl pcs you didn't pay attention to until now, to make other and perhaps better mechanical choices upon lvling up again, to postpone that pvp that was going to slay your pc for good, to... lots of things!

What's the downside? You're anxious to reach lvl n? Upon reaching it, you'd be anxious to get to n+1, so what's the difference? So your PC can't compare to that other PC you want to humiliate? Don't worry, he'll get wacked too. You want other players to admire your playstyle? Tough luck: lvls don't show on player list, and what matters is your PC's accomplishements. You feel you've wasted your time for a month? Honestly, if you don't want to waste your time, accomplish things in RL, not in a video game.

That's all there is to it: enjoy the good things, leave the bad things for another time.  I assure you: it works.

And... if you feel sucky about a PC getting wacked in a video game, geez, you must be sad all the time in RL.

My 2c.

[dragonfire9000]

Be at peace, young ones (You're almost all older than I) for there is a real world outside. It is filled with adventure, challenges and beautiful women.

Breathe in through the nose, breathe out through the mouth, blow your perma off and your day will not go South.

[Drakill Tannan]

Well not of me Dragonfire. I'm in quarentene.

[core]

Wat

[Gwydion]

It's hard to give advice and not sound smug or superior, but this topic seems to come up frequently and it's good to discuss so I'll give it a shot.

I used to get mega-pissed when my characters died or seemed "ignored".  Having just played a fairly successful character helped me to mature significantly as a player and I think my perspective is much better than it used to be.

A biggie to me now - is that character death then re-spawning is not that big a deal.  It's a setback in some ways like XP and levels, but in others its actually an advantage.  You'll have better supplies/gold/equipment then you did the first time you were at that level.  You can pick different skills/feats sometimes to modify your character more to your liking.  Certain scripted quests that are really fun are doable again, and you can do them with charcacters you might not have RPed with at the previous level.

Try not to have OOC goals for your character that are mechanics-based.  Like, "I'm 500 XP from 8th and then I'll get Improved crit for my keen scimitar!"  Then you die and are PISSED because you were so close.  Instead, try not to pay attention to XP too much and expect to be that level forever and have fun with what your charcter CAN do right now - don't focus on what they can ALMOST do.

Getting DM attention is hit or miss, but assume you'll never get it so that when you do its a nice surprise.  Try to make the character very visible in some IC way, and RP with a broad range of PCs in as many factions as you can.  This interaction can be hostile, neutral or cooperative, but the DMs like to see it.  It's interesting to them I think, and it defines the way your character thinks.

Finally - and most importantly - you are never going to accomplish everything you want with your character if you play it right.  You create interesting goals for them, and make new ones as you succeed with the old ones.  That way the character is always striving for something.

For example -  Erasmas Ortred did some EPIC things, but I'm sure Caddies still had goals for him to strive for.  Aaron Tarquin got promoted to Sergeant and made the Governor's Court, but Oskar Maskon surely had him working towards something else.  

DMs want to see characters working toward some goal, be it big or small, and are more likely to engage those characters if they see or know this is happening.  Use the Private Forum to inform the DM staff what those goals are and how it is going, and they might throw some plot or encounter at your character to help them reach - or fail to reach that goal.   Both results become the story of your character and enrich the server.

As an aside, a character that fails to reach their goals (if well-played) can be even neater than those that succeed.  What will the paladin sworn to protect someone do if their charge is killed?  How will the lazy warrior respond when his offer to serve is rejected by House Sharboneth?  Does being beaten in jail put a normally restrained half-orc over the edge and result in murder?

Hope this provoked some thought.