Deficiencies in the New Armory

As I've mentioned before, Blizzard has launched their new Armory pages. Overall, I think they did a great job. But as I'm playing more and more with it, I'm finding there's just certain things that are lacking.

I already spoke of a couple of these. I really think you should be able to schedule events and make announcements from outside of the game. It appears that you can accept scheduled events, but the creator can't change the status of each accepted person out of the game. I guess I'd just really like to be able to do some of these menial, mundane tasks outside of the game... while I'm waiting in line at the supermarket on my smart phone. Never would I do it at work or on company time... no.. never that.

With Cataclysm dropping and 95% of the stuff in our guild vault becoming obsolete, I realized today how nice it was to be able to see all of the stuff we have in our guild vault in armory. What? What was that you said? The non-beta Armory doesn't show the guild vault? Well... that's actually less helpful. Grr.

But luckily there's a great "new" service where you can sell all of your stuff on the AH outside of the game. Thanks to the Remote Auction House, for only $3 per month, I can easily clear out all of the old mats in the vault and replace them with new ones, right? Oh... Remote Auction House is only for players and your own personal banks. I see.

Well... hopefully that's the next evolution, right? Now that guilds have statistics, maybe they can become their own entities. Instead of JoeGuildVault selling all of their enchanting mats, the items can be posted straight from the guild vault with the proceeds going straight into the vault as well. Yes, I realize this would be a lot more programming on Blizzard's behalf, but it logically seems like the next step to me. Even if we can just get one more step of a toon that pays for the Remote Auction House to post things on the AH on behalf of the guild; that shouldn't take too much programming, right?

So, while there's a lot of hopes and dreams in this post, I guess the biggest thing is that you can no longer see the guild vault through armory; and honestly, that makes me sad.

How Big is Yours?

In light of the recent Burger King ad in Singapore, I decided to play on words a bit with the title. But just so you know, it has absolutely nothing to do with that ad whatsoever.

I am not a chronic switcher. I've been on the same server since I started playing World of Warcraft years ago. I have a small handful of toons on other servers, but I don't think any of them have gone over level 10. I've had Leiandra, my mage, as my main from the very beginning. She's been in 2 guilds. I got my priest to 70 because I leveled shadow (wannabe mage?). I got my shaman to 80... well... maybe that's been the most out of the cookie-cutter thing I've done in Wow. lol. My druid got stuck at 60 (back with the cap was 70). My rogue got to 40, but I didn't really much enjoy the class. Paladin, warlock, and hunter all got to about 30. I got a DK to 68 back in beta, but haven't done more than create one on live.

So, last night, a couple friends signed on that I haven't seen in awhile. They raided with us awhile ago, but RL got a bit too hectic, and so they settled on a smaller server with his brother, but they still have a few toons on Bronzebeard. In our conversation, they said that I should "totally transfer a toon over to" their server. Ultimately, there's no way I'd make any of their raid times (they start at 6, and I can't usually get on until 8), so it won't happen. But they were talking about all the benefits of being on this smaller server. And it really got me thinking.

Bronzebeard was one of the original servers when wow was first lauched back in November 2004. It's certainly never been one of the cutting edge servers as far as progression goes, but there's always been a healthy population of people. We've had a small share of drama (who hasn't heard about Vinkar?), but on the whole, I assume we're pretty average.

But more on general terms, I think there's always going to be positives and negatives for both small and large population servers. The only way you'd really be able to know what another server is like is to spend some serious time there. But with the majority of my friends (both RL and only met in-game friends) on Bronzebeard, it's kind of hard to think about leaving.

We did have a brief guild discussion about other servers. Two guildies actually started playing Wow on Horde on another server. Actually... they started on the same server. They said they should have had me try Horde. Hmm... maybe one day I'll get a Horde toon above level 10.

Raid Motivation Before Wrath

Just before the release of The Burning Crusades, I had a lot of fun with guildies trying out new content for us. I wasn't in a raiding guild back then. And we were excited to press on and see new content and kills even though we knew we'd be replacing the gear soon enough once the Dark Portal was open. And once the new talents came out, we found an additional boost in our ability to do new kills in Zul Gurub.

In Primogeniture, lately we haven't had as many people signing on for raids. We discussed it a little in guild chat last night. It appears that some people want to get their alts to 70. Some people don't understand that the T5/T6 gear we would be getting wouldn't be replaced until level 76 or so. Some people realize they can get upgrades, but know it's not the same gear they'll be raiding in at 80, so why bother?

Unfortunately, there's not enough of a core (or so it seems) that are interested in the kill for the opportunity or satisfaction of a job complete. We'd easily have enough time to kill Vash and Kael if we had people signing on, but alas... we don't have the consistent numbers. A shame really... I was hoping to get that title. I'm not saying we have stopped raiding, but with cancelling raids due to lack of attendance, it's kind of frustrating.

But I can't believe that I'm alone in the current situation I find myself in; or rather, that Primogeniture is the only guild having this issue. We have a lot of core friends in the guild, so we can continue to do stuff... it just might not be the 25-man content we had been planning for. Maybe we'll see how few people we can take to bring down Mag. (Hey... then I'd at least get one title. lol.)

Yet Another Guild Vault Hacked

Just when I was wondering what to blog about today, the idea hit me in the... guild vault.

One of our guildies has been having computer issues. To make a long story short, he sent in his computer and gave them the password to his computer. I guess he used the same password for his Wow account. I don't know. Anyway, he claims that that's how his account was hacked. I trust the guy, he's been around for a long time. I can't fathom any reason he would have to steal the stuff. He's a lot of things, but certainly not a thief. (He's actually a lot of good things, I kinda said that in jest... just sounds like a line from a movie. heh.)

At any rate, he kept getting booted off last night at around 1. Then he couldn't get on at all; they changed his password. Shortly after, they ransacked the guild vault. We lost almost 30,000 g worth of mats. (The majority of which were Hearts of Darkness that we had been saving for shadow resist gear.)

So... anyone know a number I can call over at Blizzard? Or do I have to open an in-game Ticket when I get home tonight? /sigh

The other strange thing is that the log on Wowarmory and what's in game (at least per what my friend has said since I'm at work) don't match. Strange. I think the correct one is the one in game, but I guess I'll see when I get home tonight and look. Yeah... that sucks.

Suggestion: Guild Bank Tax

Since I somehow started trolling the WOTLK forums today, there's been a couple of things I've wanted to point out as news. Looks like WoW Insider beat me to the punch on the realms first level 80 titles removed, but there's another blue post that they didn't address.

There's a suggestion on the forums that states the following:

Hey I thought it would be a cool idea for guilds to be able to have a set % of earnings from killing a mob goto guild bank. Guild master can set the amount. Not from vendored items just from what is picked up from a mob.

You receive 95 silver from %t, 5 silver goes to guild bank.

something along those lines. Would help towards guild raid mats/mounts for people.

It's an interesting idea and got stamped with a seal of approval from Tigole:

This is an interesting idea. We won't be able to get to this for the WotLK launch, but we are compliling a list of future guild improvements that we'd like to make in WoW.

Since I can't actually put my 2 cents in on the forums since I'm not a Beta Tester, I figured I'd voice my opinion here. I think it's a good idea, but only in certain situations. So, for example, the Raid or Party Leader should be able to turn this tax on or off. If you're out farming your own gold, you should be able to keep it all. But if your guild is doing some raid, I think it would be fair that a portion of those funds be directly deposited to the guild vault. I think with that spin, it would work. Otherwise, as a Guild Leader, I wouldn't use it.

The New Guy

Due to various issues (some real life, some other reasons), we've had a few key tanks leave the guild recently. I think we spent about 2 days recouping and running ZA instead, but then we bounced right back up and killed Kaz'rogal on our first attempt on Tuesday night.

So, with the departures, there's obviously some holes that we had to fill. We did it with a few people respecing, a few people shuffling around, and some new recruits as well.

Not to single him out per se, but one of the new guild members was a little... shall I say... overly excited about raiding with us. His first night on a trial run, it seemed to be great. Enough so that we invited him in to the guild as an Initiate. The next night, things got a little more out of control with him. I think he annoyed about 1/2 the guild, and our guild members aren't shy about voicing it either. He ended up apologizing at the end of the night for his actions.

I don't bring this up to discuss drama or belittle him. It's obviously import to not only make a good impression on a new guild, but also to fit in. And if you find you don't fit in, then make the necessary changes or leave the guild. It's much easier to change yourself than it is to change 24 (at least) other people in the guild, especially if you're the new guy.

At any rate... Chick GM wrote a great post about it about a month ago. So, if you're that guy (or gal) in a new guild, you should definitely read the post. (Click here to read the post.) And there's even a lot of important things to read even if you've been in your guild for awhile.

For those that don't normally click links, here's her bullet points:

• Avoid making it the "Me Show"
• Know your Leaders
• Do your homework
• Mind the feedback
• Make a friend

But seriously... go read the post.

Locked Up

Well... I got my alt-guild vault back. Then I transferred the GM-ship from my wife's toon to my bank alt, and I lost all the items again. And now I'm locked out of my toons. My Shaman was the first to succumb, and then on Sunday, my bank alt cannot be found.

I can see them both in the Character Selection screen, but when I try to enter the world, it loads, and then gives an error message of "Character Not Found". /sigh.

Oh well... at least it will get fixed soon. The Game Master I was speaking with on Saturday said that the guild vault issue has been going on for awhile (pre 2.4.3), and that it's usually taken care of in weekly maintenance. (Glimpse of what they actually do in the downtime? lol.) And with the planned rolling restarts that started this morning, maybe it's already taken care of.

It's kind of an inconvenience, but I know it will get taken care of.

One funny story from one of the Game Masters I spoke to. He asked if I could switch toons, and I was in the middle of an instance or something. I told my group that I would be right back after that fight. Then I told the Game Master something like "One second", and then "brb". Just as I was logging out, he said something like, "Using words like Hurry Up and Now can buy you a vacation to the couch. I suggest you be patient." Since I am always aware of the generally irate people that file tickets (whether it be in WoW or your local Help Desk), I am cautious as to be extra nice to them. So, it was an obvious Mis-Tell. But since there was only about 5 seconds before I logged out, I didn't get a chance to call him out on it before I logged out. When I came back on the other toon, he ignored my inquiry about it. heh. I just thought it was funny.

Progression Explained

So, after all the progression we've had in Black Temple and Mount Hyjal, we're now moving "back" and starting on Kael in TK. The plan for last night was actually to clear the 3 bosses we have downed in TK. We killed Al'ar, fine. We went and did VR...

Wait, what? VR? We've farmed that bad boy for months, are there really people that still need him? Unfortunately, this revelation didn't hit me until we were about to engage VR, so I didn't bring it up with the other officers. But then I started to really question Solarian.

Sure, there's like 3 people that need stuff from her, but I thought it would be better to move on, and start killing more bosses. So after one pull towards Solarian, we did a U-turn to head towards Kael.

It was already a bit late, and we still had trash to kill, so we only got two actual attempts on Kael. It's a 5-phase fight, so it's super complicated to explain. Our generally long-winded raid leader did a great job at explaining the minimum, and getting us moving. Phase 1 was pretty much a joke, but the legendary weapons fighting us got out of control fast. They wiped us on both attempts. And then we called it for the night.

So, why would anyone care about this? What's my point? The point would be that as guild leadership, you have to determine when is the best time to be moving on. You can wait until 100% of the raid gets all the drops they want, but then you're likely to be boring 24 people every week because that one warlock wants some random item. But if that's your guild rules/guild culture, then go for it.

For us, it's about progression. We want to see new content, kill new bosses. Al'ar, for example was great last night. I saw a number of people running around in their little Broken disguises, so they could continue progressing that quest line. Once we down Kael and Vashj, there will most likely be 25 people that will get an upgraded ring. And yes, there's still a few new people that need VR, but if we waited until everyone got everything, there'd be no way that we'd be in Mount Hyjal/Black Temple now. Heck.. I still need the Mongoose enchant. Let's go back to Kara! lol.

So, Progression for us is about going as far as you can go, as quickly as you can, while learning the necessary skills and obtaining the necessary armor to progress on to the next boss. Do we really, really need Kael and Vashj? No, but it's one of those notches in our belts that we'd all like to see. Give us one full night of tries, I'm guessing we'll down Vashj.

Note: Because we were only doing the 3 farmed bosses, we actually didn't have our strongest squad in there either. A number of people were on alts, etc. So, I see a cleared TK in the near future.

The Worst Punishment

For those that aren't familiar with the Leotheras the Blind fight, he basically switches between demon form and human form every minute. About 15 seconds in to the demon phase, he'll summon people's inner demons on a few random people. Those people have to kill their own inner demons (nobody else can do damage to them) within 30 seconds, or the demon will MC them, and then the rest of the raid has to kill them. So, every 2 minutes, you have to deal with the possibility of some people getting MC'ed/killed.

It gets kind of tricky for some classes as well. Hunters and Warlocks cannont use their pets. If the pet lands the killing blow on the inner demon, then the person will get MC'ed anyway. Then there's the obviousness of not all people in a raid are used to having to do DPS.

At any rate, we've had a few people get MC'ed while fighting Leo. We've told people what to do to practice and get ready for the scenario that you get Inner Demons. So, on our forums, we started posting ideas of things for non-dps classes/specs to do to kill your Inner Demon. My "suggestion" was that any mage that did not kill their inner demon would be kicked out of the guild.

It was a rather flippant suggestion, but it got me thinking about how bad of a thing that would be. I mean, we generally value our raiders, and kicking somebody out would most likely be just a joke. There's only 1 person that I can think of that we actually kicked out of the guild.

We used to have a derogatory rank where the person could not talk in Guild Chat. Then it almost became too much of a joke (people were asking for it), so we got rid of it. It was always a joke, but when people starting asking for it, it got a bit too distracting from our purpose.

At any rate, I was trying to think of what a "horrible" punishment would be. Or what have other people done? You could always hit them in the pocketbook by making them pay x amount of gold, or else they wouldn't get invited to another raid until doing so. If you have the guildies on the sidelines, you can always sub the person out. But that seems to be more along the lines of a bad raider... which a lot of these people are not. If they live close, you can make them bake you cookies. (Okay, see? I've run out of ideas already.)

So, any effective punishments that you've seen in Wow? And no, I'm not talking about /gkicking. I'm trying to think of creative punishments. Hmm... maybe something like making the guildie kill a certain type of elementals until they've farmed a certain amount of primals. If it was a fire mage, for example (and none of our mages have gotten MC'ed yet), you'd make them farm primal fire.

Creative thoughts?

Playing Favorites

Almost any time you get a group of people together, you're going to have your favorites. Even grade school teachers that are supposed to treat all of their pupils the same, most certainly have some children that they like more than others. (Unless, of course, it's one of those grouchy teachers that hate all the children.)

Now, I'm going to take this post in two different directions. Basically, I'm making two stories become 1. Why, you ask? Because I can.

Last Friday, I made it happen that I hung out with my favorite people that play Wow. My wife wanted to play, and I suggested that we run an instance. Then so we wouldn't have to PUG it, I got my best friend (of 25 about years (Wow... has it really been that long?)), his brother, and his brother's wife. We've been friends for so long, that they're all my extended family. My best friend (who actually introduced us all to the game) got to tank for us, which was something he doesn't do much. (While he seems to have about 15 alts, I'd consider his "mains" a priest and a hunter.) My wife and I both dinged 67 while in Sethekk Halls. It was a lot of fun to just hang out and do an instance.

I've found that I'm a voice communication elitist though. They suggested using the in-game chat system, and I claimed that I couldn't take an hour (or however long the instance took) using tin cans. So, I made them all download the latest version of Vent, and we used our guild's Vent server.

Why was this so different than any other night? Well, my wife hasn't hit 70 yet, and so she hasn't raided at all. My other friends aren't really raiders either. They like instances, but aren't the 4-night a week dungeon crawlers that the rest of my guild is. So, we chat almost nightly through our own in-game channel, and then get together on fun nights like last Friday.

I wouldn't trade my guild, but it's a heck of a lot of fun to hang out with RL friends as well.

Next favorite: This one was a case of me wanting to play favorites. One of my guild members was asking if we could basically alter the DKP system we have so that he (it could also be a she, but I'll use "he" for simplification) could get a T-5 item before others of the same token group. This guildie's argument was that they'd been running with us for a long time, and because we have a zero-sum DKP system, some of the newer guild members might get some loot before him. I really wanted to make it happen because I like the "guy", but there was really nothing I could do. We'd set the policy, to maintain the integrity of it, we must adhere to it. Any deviation would most certainly be cause to scream "murder" from other guildies. So, as much as I wanted him to get what he wanted, there was nothing I could do. I took a day to think about it. Then explained why we couldn't do anything about it. I told him that he's one of my favorites (which is true.. the "guy" is always very nice and considerate and asks me what he can do to improve), and after the explanation, he understood why we couldn't change it.

So, the point being here... you can play favorites, but just don't screw up established rules. :)

Guild Growing Pains

I hope this wound isn't too fresh to talk about, but I think it has some good points for discussion. I neglected to mention a bit of drama that happened last week. As I mentioned, I am now the new Guild Leader. I also mentioned that the previous Guild Leader was going to continue to raid with us, but due to "personal reasons", he has left the guild.

Some mass hysteria ensued, mostly fueled by one officer in particular (from the best that I can gather). We had changed focus from Karazhan towards the 25-man raids. Not that we weren't doing Kara anymore, just that the 25-mans were more important. There were other issues why people left as well, but I think that was one of the main reasons. After that this officer said he was going to leave and start a new guild, the mob mentality set in and we had 11 people leave the guild! (Does this sound like an issue of Guildwatch from WoW Insider or what?)

The remaining officers and myself have since spoken to almost everyone, and 6 of the members have returned. I'm guessing that we'll have some other people return as well. We've also recruited an additional 4 or 5 people. So while it was kind of a really tough weekend, it looks like all will turn out for the best.

The question that I'm bringing up for discussion has to do mainly with communication. I guess most guild leaders have at least the stereotype of being jerks. Once they make up their mind, that's the final thing and whatnot. I have no idea how true that is, but that's the stereotype that I've heard. I'm not like that. I've generally tried to listen to arguments so that I can better understand positions as well as possibly strengthen my own. But before you get all bent out of shape, and especially as an officer, wouldn't you at least try to talk to the Guild Leader? Verify that you have the whole story and make sure you understand all facts? (The officer that left our guild did neither of these things.) And for those reading this blog that are not in Primogeniture, how do you interact with your Guild Leader? For those in Primo... try not to embarrass me too much, k?

State of Zanderfin Address 10/10/07

So, I've had a couple things going on in my life lately. Mostly all Wow related, so that has been taking up a bit of my time. If the quality of posts hasn't been the highest lately in your opinion, then I'm right there with you. The non-Wow stuff I don't really talk about here, so I won't bore you with those details. Suffice it to say that I've had a couple projects at work.

Now, the Wow-related stuff...

First off, I've been very excited that my wife has been enjoying playing Wow again. Many months ago, she got her shadow priest up to the low 30's. I'm not exactly sure if she got burned out or what. Honestly, I think that there were just too many good books that she was excited to read as that is more of a passion than video games for her. Well, she's been playing again, and we've gotten our Shadow Priest / Shaman duo up to a respectable level 37. Kind of funny that every night she asks if I'm raiding, and is dissappointed when I tell her yes. (She enjoys the game, but enjoys hanging out with me most of all, so not really one to play if I'm not leveling along side her. Plus, I'd probably make her do those quests again so that I don't fall behind. heh.)

Secondly, we've always known that the /roll method of loot was not the most equal means of loot distribution. I think we've had at least 2 sessions of 7 pages of posts regarding the matter at different times, along with numerous tells and e-mails in between. We had originally planned to implement a method by the time we started Gruul's, but because nobody could agree we fell back on gearing up 2 tanks and letting everyone else /roll. Well, we finally sat and came to a decision of what we wanted to adopt. From what we've seen, every method of loot distribution has negatives and positives. Hopefully they all equal out over time. We settled on a Modified Zero-Sum DKP Point system. "Modified" being basically that you can get points by waiting outside the instance in case somebody needs to bail. So, our points won't always sum up to zero, but I think they'll work for us. There's also a small bias in that if two tank Tier items drop, one of them will go to a tank. Gotta keep the tanks alive.

Since I'm basically the one supporting our forums now, I also took it upon myself to figure out how to track this DKP. So, I've been spending a lot of time playing with at test forums to integrate phpBB3 with eqDKP. Don't think that I coded it or anything... it can all be found over at the eqDKP site. It's just a little tricky to have everything installed. Then, I launched it on our main forums. All the data is now there, but there's a small issue with Itemstats and some formatting that I need to take care of. (There's the coding part.) I'll repost about it once everything is completed.

Finally, because of major RL issues and lack of free time to commit to the guild, our Guild Master, Thellonious, decided to step down. He'll still be raiding with us; but is no longer the Guild Master. So, as of last night, Leiandra is now the new Guild Leader for Primogeniture on Bronzebeard. I've been along him every step of the way, so I guess it's really no surprise that I was chosen. I'm feeling a little bit of pressure with the responsibility, but I think we have a great bunch of guys and gals, so that should make it not too bad. Will we have issues? Of course. Will there be guild drama? Like you can avoid that. We'll push forward. We'll progress. And if we can consistently get 25 geared people online to do these instances, I think we'll be kicking a lot of butt.

So, that's my life at the moment. Or at least it's a small peak into my Wow life. I'll be sure to come up with thrilling, thought-provoking posts here in the future. Oh, and with "Flair"! You've got to have the flair. :)

Guild Professions

So, I was giving thought to all of the professions in World of Warcraft. There's not a lot of professions that benefit the guild as a whole. For example, there's not a lot a Blacksmith can do for a mage or warlock. Sure, they could make the Eternium Runed Blade, but that's a one-time thing, and then they're done. Tailors can make bags, but after everyone has 20-slot bags, there's not much more they can do. I'm being slightly flippant and over-simplifying, but I think you get the point. Furthermore, these few items can "easily" be bought through the trade channel or the Auction House.

But there are some professions that benefit everyone. Enchanting is one such profession. No matter what class, there's enchants that will help most of your armor. Yes, technically you can argue that Leatherworking can do the same, but that's just one small aspect of Leatherworking, and the rep "enchants" seem to take care of me just fine. Almost every time somebody gets a new shiny equipable item, they'll need it enchanted. So, what should be required of a Guild Enchanter? Accessibility would probably be a big thing, in my book. Because the enchants cannot take place through the mail or AH, you need somebody that will be online most of the time. You also need somebody that will be in instances (those BoP recipe enchants can be such a pain).

Jewelcrafters are very similar to enchanting in this fashion; and again, everyone can benefit from their end products. The one thing that makes them more accessible, is that gems can be sent through the mail. Reputation seems pretty important as well as it seems that there are a lot of recipes that are by reputation only.

At least on Bronzebeard, I can see where a Guild Alchemist (or two) would be huge. Get one specialized in Elixirs and one in Potions, and all of your potion making can be funneled through these two people. Unless I'm wrong, transmutes are still only 1 per day, so it doesn't make sense to funnel all guild transmutes through one person. Just like a specialized Tailor should in no way give up his extra primal mooncloth manufacturing over to whoever is next in line. But to have a chance to get free potions or elixirs... that's awesome!

Keep in mind that I'm not saying that other professions are useless. As a mage/tailor, I love my spellcloth set. Every profession has a lot of things that can benefit many people. I'm just pointing out the universal need for enchants, gems, and elixirs/potions.

What are your thoughts on Guild Professions?

Boggled

I'm gonna need some help on this one, because I don't really understand. The subject today probably boils down to lack of communication. I'll be the first one to admit that guilds don't really mean too much in WoW. For the most part, it's essentially a glorified friends list. It's not like the guild gets anything from downing an individual boss. Sure, members of the guild get something, but the guild itself gets nothing.

Before WoW, I played Everquest 2 for a while. It's been awhile since I've played, so things may have changed. You had certain designated members of the guild that completed writs to gain status points to help level the guild. At level 5, you got your guild name above the players' heads. At level 10 (I think), you could get guild housing. Eventually, you could have crafting tables in your guild hall, and special things to buy, etc. If one of these designated members left the guild, the guild and the player would lose the status points. I'm not sure if there were any repercussions if one of the "normal" members left.

I bring this up because we have a few members that have joined, gotten a few pieces of epic Kara gear, and then left the guild all in a matter of a week or less. And most of the time, it's without even saying anything to anyone. I've heard the gambit of excuses as well: I joined my friend's guild, you guys don't raid at the time I want (which they knew when they went on our their first raid with us), somebody made fun of my name, etc.

While I'm not discounting the validity of the excuses, what I do think is inexcusable is the /gquit without saying a word to anyone. I equate the guild aspect of WoW to a normal job. You don't just stop showing up. If you decide you want to quit, you normally give a two-week's notice. You let your boss know that you are leaving. Of course, you don't get paid in WoW or by your guild, so maybe that's not entirely the best comparison.

Maybe a better analogy would be that of a sport's team you signed up for. Think back to High School. (Some of you may only have to think back a few weeks.) You sign up for the Soccer team. You're pretty good at soccer, and your team really appreciates that you're there. You've all spent time together. You've played some games together. You've won some; you've lost some. Maybe your team even won a trophy at a tournament that you get to keep. Now, for whatever reason, you decide you don't want to play anymore. Don't you talk to your coach, your teammates, whomever to let them know that you're not going to play? You'll still see those people around the server... errr, school. Sure you can still go play baseball or whatever other sport.

/sigh. I guess a large part is due to the anonymity of the Internet. "Nobody really knows me, so why should I give them the common courtesy I would my High School friends?" Anyone else have any thoughts to help my head stop spinning about this?