WWJ X: Hithlum Zydeco Blues; Hísilómë in Hísimë

[Roa_Aoife]

I didn't do as much as I could have done but I had a lot of other, more pressing, matters to attend to last week. I certainly wasn't free enough to get obsessed by the game. I think we must always bear* in mind that it's just a game and we should try to put having fun ahead of meticulously getting everything right.

Check my post count- I was barely around at all, especially compared to my other games, where I usually compete with Nogrod and Lommy for highest post count. I spent the whole week moving into a new apartment, job hunting, helping my fiance with his new job, and planning a wedding. ON TOP OF SCHOOL. Yet I was still one of the most vocal people in the game.

I followed this whole game though I didn't play in it, and I didn't play because I knew I wouldn't have the time to throw myself completely into it, and I knew that if I didn't, I would spend most of my available time defending myself for not being able to throw myself completely into it. Werewolf these days seems to be getting more and more about grading other people's playing until it's not fun anymore -- the fear of being deemed stupid, useless, lazy, or reprehensible because you can't live up to other people's exacting standards overrides any enjoyment. So I've decided it's better not to play at all if I don't have the time to be (or inclination to reject real life in favor of) totally immersing myself. And that's sad, because I really have had fun with Werewolf.

No one here has said stupid, useless, or lazy. (well, except Nogrod, but how is that any different than the norm?) It's not about grading. It's constructive criticism, something that you've never seemed to be able to take. What's the point of this whole post-game discussion, if not to point out what went right and what went wrong? What would you prefer we do with it? Give hollow two-faced compliments for the sake of politeness? We aren't little kids. (Most of us.) We are, for the most part, adults or young adults who should be able to handle someone pointing out that they didn't do as well as they could.

And I believe you've heard me say this many times before- if you don't think you'll be able to give the necessary time to the game, don't sign up. It's not about wether or not you want to have fun or not get accused of not participating, it's about consideration for your fellow players, and wether or not your going to give them a good game. The measure of a game is only partly the mod's responsibility. The rest is our own doing.

Everyone in this game is known, to me at least, as a very good werewolf player, with great skill. We are all highly intelligent people, capable of great games. This game we were all under par. We've all done better than this in the past. When that happens, the best thing you can do is to look for what went wrong, and decide how you can do better next time, instead of whining about how harsh we're being.