Wednesday, October 21, 2015

The Value of Community

When reading through past View articles, it is obvious that the value of our community and connections stand out to people.  We have the type of relationships where we help each other out, often regardless of personal feelings. I’m fairly certain there are few in game that would drive by another Realmsie broken down and not stop to help, and when we’ve needed to come together as a community country lines and geographical lines blur and people have often been surprised by who has stepped up to help them.

We’ve provided each other with job leads, references, places to live, goods and services along with support achieving our Realms specific goals.  We are at our best when we’re helping each other be the best we can be. Yet we, as many others limit who can help us by only sharing our aspirations with a limited group.

Thus I’d like to re-share some goals both in and out of game that were shared with me. In them you may see commonalities with people you didn’t realize you had, differences to celebrate, and perhaps ways you can help.

Angela “Monique” Wood- In Realms: move into a leadership role within my nation (in action more than in title). Out of Game:  to reach a point of financial stability.

Allison “Hippie” Cunningham- In Realms: I would like to get into the Order of the Peacock, now that it has been restarted. Out of Game: I have a goal of passing the CPA test when I finally get to take it.

Jacob “Hermian” Bouvier-  In Realms: figure out how best to enjoy myself again. Out of Game: Finding better ways to connect with people. I feel like I lose connections really easily. One for both might be becoming more reliable

Ed “Tulli” Drummond- In Realms: My goal is to become the best player I can. Not just fighter, but involved in the community as an NPC, as an Event Holder and as a player. I want to do the people I view as mentors proud, them knowing it was their influence that brought me to where I will be. Out of Game: My goal is to provide my son and wife with the best life I can help provide. To share in our families triumphs in order to give them a better life than I did growing up.

Zach “Rubis” Senchuk- In Realms: to contribute to the Realms in a permanent and meaningful way. Out of Game: to be self supporting.

Carol “Charwindle” Eddy- In Realms: I want to make archery a viable weapon combination for fighters in unlimited combat; by 'viable' I mean 'respected' - not relegated to a caster's weapon combination. Out of Game: I have all sorts of concrete achievable goals... Things like 'learn Arabic' and 'publish my novel'. They matter less to me than other, more foundational things. I want to live my life as a witness to intellectual Catholicism. The benchmarks on that one are a little harder to measure!

Will “Viro” Beatty- In Realms: to be active for a long time and to help out and be at least somewhat respected. Out of Game: I'd like to have a house of my own eventually.

Becky “Naralia” Garbos- In Realms: to make sure they game stays fun. Out of Game: to be as healthy as I can be.

Andrew “Rorin” Bancroft- In Realms: I've accomplished a lot of the Realms goals that I had this year. The major outstanding ones atm are helping to throw the next great Realms plot and really driving player re-engagement in questing again, and making Order of the Magi. Out of Game: either getting back into shape and staying that way, or improving my career to the point where I'm more comfortable financially, and with my day-to-day in the office.

Josh “Enlon” Whalen- In Realms: To at least qualify for Order of the list (and go if i can. I might not be able to because of the military). I also want to help the UCONN newbies. Out of game: to get my life situated with the military.

Josh "Lako" Fitzgerald- In Realms: Trying to make the realms community more immersive not just in the quest lines that are thrown but in the world that we create. While being in-character I hope to show people that staying IC isn’t difficult but does come with a little self attention and that doing so can bring on a plethora of opportunities for fun and entertainment that may be lost while chatting out of character and that staying IC can create a much more vivid world we play in. I'm talking about a lot more than just staying IC so you can get involved in plot lines cause I don’t feel it is the EH’s job to entertain everyone that is there at all times but rather to give people the opportunity to entertain themselves. As for the Eh side of things I hope to make a large impact in standards for eventing and show larger options for Eh’s to latch onto and take from. to show people that sometimes big and flashy aren’t what is needed sometimes it's in the little details that matter and where to look for those details. Out of game: Right now I am going through a personal struggle with an injury in my back which is severely inhibiting my ability to be who I am, I have to be careful of how I move at all moments and aware that I am not as strong as I used to be so one large goal in my life right now is to get my back fixed and back into shape as soon as possible. I wish to be able to enjoy running hiking, climbing, and many other physical activities I am unable to right now.