I have to admit, most days I'm a bit curious why people are online so much and why they are so in love with writing for Mizahar. Indulge me, will you, if I ask humbly? Talk about why you are here, what draws you to Mizahar, and what you get out of your Mizahar experience day in and day out.
I would be really curious to know. Sometimes, I feel, that I log on and honestly ask myself this question and then have to think about it. That might seem strange to you, but my reasoning for being here has changed significantly over time.
Once, long ago, I was part of a website that made me hellishly unhappy. I loved the process and idea of the site, but the management was terrible and they were so bad at backsliding or ignoring the needs of the player base, I knew anyone could frankly do better. I had friends that felt the same way. Tarot, our wonderfully gifted Admin, is one of those people. And in some ways we are kindred spirits because the driving force behind Mizahar at first was a desire to prove to everyone, and most importantly ourselves, that we could do something that was meaningful, tasteful, well-thought out, and catered to the needs of the players. And lets face it, by being successful, it was in essence a way of thumbing my nose at a place that was in a huge downward spiral.
So fast forward from 2009 to 2013. We are still here. In four years, we have managed to do things most other sites only dream of. By that initial competitive streak itch in me hasn't been scratched for a long time. Why? Because our posting rates, our thread counts, our pbase, and our staff are stellar. We've so far blown the competition out of the water that it is proof to me that we were right about how to do things and why. Which, I might point out, was one of the reasons why Mizahar for me had to happen. I wanted to be right.
As far as I'm concerned, we proved everything we needed to prove to most importantly myself.
So now, what's the draw? I love the stories. I honestly do. I love those plain jane or joe pcs that rise above and do something great. I think that's one of the reason Syka is scratching that itch for me right now. We get to make believe we are Indiana Jones and Columbus and all those people we read about in history that did incredibly foolish things. And I can't wait to see which pcs rise above and which fall short, and who does what that's surprising. I want to see where this rag tag group of explorers can go and what they will make of the epic level story I've come up with for them. Will they even think its epic? Will anyone talk about it after its done? I know Fire Dreams didn't start out to be anything special. It started out to be something to get my favorite hottie (lets face it, Ivak is a hottie) out of jail and roaming the world again. Simple concept, but it turned out that I got to write with one of my favorite writing buddies of all time, meet a few more great players along the way, and tell more stories. People that weren't here while it was happening, still know about it. Will anyone find anything meaningful out of Syka and the plight of the Nyavanni?
Will these PCs love being explorers and sailing off into the unknown as much as I love that idea? Will they be okay? Who will die? Some might. It's a really big possibility with what's coming. And who will stare at the screen with their eyes wide open and go OMG OMG OMG!
That's what I'm living for now. I also want to see the gods, gnosis', and wiki more finished than it is now. It will happen. I'm driven to make it so. But I guess I'm most curious about why YOU ARE HERE.
WHY?
Can you just start talking about it? I'd really be interested in knowing. I think others would be too.
I would be really curious to know. Sometimes, I feel, that I log on and honestly ask myself this question and then have to think about it. That might seem strange to you, but my reasoning for being here has changed significantly over time.
Once, long ago, I was part of a website that made me hellishly unhappy. I loved the process and idea of the site, but the management was terrible and they were so bad at backsliding or ignoring the needs of the player base, I knew anyone could frankly do better. I had friends that felt the same way. Tarot, our wonderfully gifted Admin, is one of those people. And in some ways we are kindred spirits because the driving force behind Mizahar at first was a desire to prove to everyone, and most importantly ourselves, that we could do something that was meaningful, tasteful, well-thought out, and catered to the needs of the players. And lets face it, by being successful, it was in essence a way of thumbing my nose at a place that was in a huge downward spiral.
So fast forward from 2009 to 2013. We are still here. In four years, we have managed to do things most other sites only dream of. By that initial competitive streak itch in me hasn't been scratched for a long time. Why? Because our posting rates, our thread counts, our pbase, and our staff are stellar. We've so far blown the competition out of the water that it is proof to me that we were right about how to do things and why. Which, I might point out, was one of the reasons why Mizahar for me had to happen. I wanted to be right.
As far as I'm concerned, we proved everything we needed to prove to most importantly myself.
So now, what's the draw? I love the stories. I honestly do. I love those plain jane or joe pcs that rise above and do something great. I think that's one of the reason Syka is scratching that itch for me right now. We get to make believe we are Indiana Jones and Columbus and all those people we read about in history that did incredibly foolish things. And I can't wait to see which pcs rise above and which fall short, and who does what that's surprising. I want to see where this rag tag group of explorers can go and what they will make of the epic level story I've come up with for them. Will they even think its epic? Will anyone talk about it after its done? I know Fire Dreams didn't start out to be anything special. It started out to be something to get my favorite hottie (lets face it, Ivak is a hottie) out of jail and roaming the world again. Simple concept, but it turned out that I got to write with one of my favorite writing buddies of all time, meet a few more great players along the way, and tell more stories. People that weren't here while it was happening, still know about it. Will anyone find anything meaningful out of Syka and the plight of the Nyavanni?
Will these PCs love being explorers and sailing off into the unknown as much as I love that idea? Will they be okay? Who will die? Some might. It's a really big possibility with what's coming. And who will stare at the screen with their eyes wide open and go OMG OMG OMG!
That's what I'm living for now. I also want to see the gods, gnosis', and wiki more finished than it is now. It will happen. I'm driven to make it so. But I guess I'm most curious about why YOU ARE HERE.
WHY?
Can you just start talking about it? I'd really be interested in knowing. I think others would be too.