I'd be happy to do my part to promote our community and have fun there but health problems have drained my bank account. I'll keep doing what I can from where I am and hope yall have a blast at FF. Think positive, fam.

I didn't get to snapshots till later in the eve, had mah hands full in the DJ department Here's a few I grabbed - I know we got more people who were clickin away there too, I wanna see some of those here as well!

Had to play "Ladies Night" cause we were ownin the dance floor, chicas. Villemar appears to be struggling with his digital camera.

People from far and wide come to boogie on down, even if their ideologies don't quite fit with the Merv

Predictably, we ladies took some advice from Nelly and then not so predictably, Villemar put on his prettiest dress

Bad touch! Oh wait, maybe not-

If you ever hope to be spanked by Gretyl, you better plan to show up next year!

Not surprisingly, a lot of individuals have chosen to take personal offense at a message directed at no one person. The language of the original message was meant to be strong enough to shake its reader into thinking about adopting a different perspective than that of the victim. If this point of view angered you, that's unfortunate but maybe it means it holds some truth for you.

My intention is entirely well-meaning here. If I didn't care about this community I wouldn't have risked posting something I thought could eventually help but that I knew would be received as an unpopular point of view. However, for those who are not moved enough to say anything but do happen to share this perspective, I hope that it was a reminder that they aren't alone and don't need to succumb to this wave of negativity that is choking us.

In an effort to push people to step back and zoom out to a broader view of things, it does not seem to have been clear just how broad I meant for it to be. Most backlash has been framed within the same sphere I was hoping to help nudge us out of - that is, the extremely narrow sphere that constitutes our little corner of cyberspace here.

It sounds to me like what most detractors of my message are saying is that I don't and could never understand the depth of their loss and that I'm invalidating their grieving process. Also this set seem to think that new perspectives automatically belong in the garbage for some reason. That's a very reactionary point of view for a crowd inspired primarily by a guy who finally gained his power by learning to believe in his ability to change things.

By no means do I think anybody is wrong to grieve the loss of this fabulous game as it once was (and please don't tell me I don't know how it was, while I've been trying to make a good time out of what IS here, all I've heard about since I got here is the "good old days" - in extensive detail - repeatedly). However, making it into a protracted grievANCE is not helpful to anybody here, including the grievance lobby.

So a major international corporate conglomerate failed to come through for you on your expectations. That's just you, me, and everybody else in the world. Sony is too big to care about what is going on here - that's just how it is with a large corporation. There's only so much personal touch you can expect. And it's just not worthwhile to demand accountability from your entertainment. You won't get it. You'll get told to go elsewhere. If you demand often enough you might eventually get enough attention to get us canned, but that's about it.

My strong suggestion that we all try to look at how much we still have to be thankful for here has been met with almost nothing but retaliatory arguments suggesting that there is "nothing left". This is the crux of my argument - I'm not saying nobody has lost anything. I'm saying that "nothing" is a very relative term. Your idea of "nothing" is not the same as everybody else's. If this looks like nothing to you, I recommend having a look at a bombed out Afghan village or a Brazilian slum sometime.

And that's it - I'm asking you to consider that while you have experienced a loss here, if you let that consume your perspective so much that it stops you from taking responsibility for your own enjoyment, the only person who loses in the end is you.

So I'll repeat - let's show everybody how well we the people can rock this house without any help from The Man.

Villemar_MxO wrote:

P.S.  Who are you supposed to be again?

Supposed to be? Nobody in particular, just another player. Who are you supposed to be?

GypsyJuggler wrote:

Kreis

Joined: Feb 18, 2008

 

Yes? Your point?

Obviously this is not addressed to everybody, but I'm not sure where the sense of entitlement that's become so prevalent here comes from exactly. Perhaps it is a lack of perspective.

I fail to see how anybody has been "screwed over" by Sony, a corporation far too large to intentionally screw over such a small population of its clientele, and far too interested in the bottom line to go around making enemies out of customers. As far as I can tell, this game has been really fun and has had a great run. Just because nothing lasts forever doesn't mean you are owed anything. No one held a gun to your head and forced you to keep subscribing. There is nothing in the EULA that entitles us to fabulous MxO prizes till the sun burns out. I myself am very disappointed that I didn't find MxO earlier in its incarnation, but what can you do? These are the kind of problems you WANT to have.

In a time where there's major wars going on and people around the world are losing their livelihoods and even their homes, I find it repugnant that anybody has the nerve to complain so stridently about something they were very lucky to ever have in the first place at all. Yes, losing MxO would be incredibly disappointing, however, it's great to still have a roof over your head, heat in your home, food to eat, and a working computer among other amenities denied a large number of the world's population.

And at any rate, clearly the fate of our game is in our hands. We can either whinge and moan like spoiled brats about having our toys taken from us before we felt like putting them down, or we can take this thing and turn it into the best thing it could be.

Complaining that Sony makes no effort? Fine, let's show them how it's done, then.

A friend of mine in NYC had sneak preview tickets to this and warned me not to go when it came out here. I hated 300 and was really disapponted to learn that its director would be taking on the number one graphic novel ever. Sounds like they managed to get the Comedian and Rorschach right which is very important but all the other crap that went wrong sounds downright painful. Alan must be beside himself. He wasn't even pleased with V for Vendetta which admittedly was chopped up and resized quite a bit from the novel but the main theme of the story was intact and of course there was Hugo and Natalie to make us all happy along the way, thanks again Wachowskis, I loved the movie anyway. I'm a pretty hardcore purist about my graphic novel characters and stories and hate seeing them twisted and warped beyond recognition which is what reports about Watchmen seem to be telling me. Also I don't need to see some giant blue CGI wang flinging across the IMAX screen.... seriously..I know Dr. Manhattan was naked in most of the book but... what the phò??

It is decided. I guess the prices are too good to pass up.

Croesis wrote:

Kreis wrote:

I know that was kind of a tangent, but I think the nice people here will forgive me.

I forgive you.

See?

Edited to remove too many "Re:s"

MatrixRefugee wrote:

Due to RL concerns, we hit a snag with these, but I assure you, next week, the fights will return...

See, you are a fine PR rep, Sieges. Thank you for keeping everybody up to speed.

We are returning this week with more tunes including those requested by the participants in our last event, and more prizes to help you look and/or fight your best. There's a Chinese New Year and a new Merv faction to celebrate and some partying going on in general this round! Please see Ascendant Radio's Homepage for additional details.

I can't let this go by without commenting - I have had a similar experience to yours with other games' forums, where simple questions are treated with disdain by caustic people uninterested in anything but spewing garbage for their own perverse enjoyment, and I have been reluctant to post anything here because of that previous experience - but in a year of observation (guess I am really paranoid from so much abuse, took me a while to emerge) I have to say that MxO is really first class when it comes to handling this type of thing. Even people who would easily be treated as annoyances (not saying this is you) by most other communities are handled with respect and genuine concern here, and it's so unusual and fantastic it deserves noting. Virrago's efforts and the general attiude of the MxO community and its players make this forum a safe place where one need not apologize for not knowing certain information or having varying perspectives, and that is something I cannot commend enough.

I know that was kind of a tangent, but I think the nice people here will forgive me.

MatrixRefugee wrote:

I'm already picking out a dress to wear to this party. Sounds like a lot of fun! If you need music, Ascendant Radio will be more than ready to provide.

Sounds like a blast, I'll be sure to pack a dress along with my gi. Since this event is at the same time and in the same neighborhood as Monday Night Fights, Ascendant Radio will of course be pleased to offer some choice tunes to boogie on down to. I'll take a throat losenge.

Previously only practiced within the Familia, we’ve decided it’s time to let everybody else in on the fun. Every Monday night, we gather at the dojo near the Sai Kung Central hardline, and kick the crap out of each other for practice and fun. As participation grows, there will be fabulous prizes to be won. This will be our second public run, with the first round of organized competition taking place. As it's the initial attempt, we estimate that controlling it may be something like herding kittens, but there will be plenty of room to dance anyhow.

When: Every Monday from 7:00-9:00 pm MCT

Where: Sai Kung dojo (Recursion)

As this event is being done in conjunction with Ascendant Radio broadcasts, more details can be found at www.ascendantradio.com .

Did someone say Limbo? I am so gonna beat you at this, Human.

Thank you for the props on the fight mix, Sieges

We very much appreciate the support, everybody - we've been having a few technical hiccups as you might expect would happen with attempting to steal airwaves from the System, but overall we're pretty good to go. Programming that includes talkshows/commentary etc will continue to develop but in the meantime we have a variety of music to cater to many tastes - if you don't care for what you're currently hearing, just wait a few minutes, basically, cause it'll change.

I'm right now in the process of vastly expanding our musical library to even better serve your varied interests, so keep tuning in and checking back.

Also we're doing weekly competitions in the Sai Kung dojo on Recursion, for details please see our ever-developing website, www.ascendantradio.com !

Merci beaucoup, mes amis!

THANK YOU PARTY PEOPLE! - You made our launch a success, and we intend to reward you with more fun. And prizes. Lots and lots of em.

((This is extremely entertaining, one reason I love this game so much, thank you for bringing us along for the ride! Mad props!!))