Twinkleheal, Shadowpeeg, DoubleE, Eric and . . . my response to my "friends".

“I think those rules generally serve to temper our own tendencies, not replace them. “

So, I was supposed to level up a character to play in SMASH. I mostly did. BobNotBob sits there in my list of characters, but I never load him. Hellfire, I think he has 50g even that I . . . well . . . ViaMedia . . . err . . ok . . “I” could use. DoubleE can be Twinkleheal AND . . . it’s something Peeg . . . I know that, but can’t recall. Yet, I don’t like “being” “other” than “ViaMedia”.

I’m starting to think Hallgrima has more alts than Bany. I get ‘tells’ [holdover lingo from Planetside] from “people” I don’t know who have to identify themselves NOT by their actual names, but the names of other alts . . . or non-alts . . . what is the lingo for our main toon?

Back to ViaMedia . . . it took me a very long time “become” ViaMedia in WOW after “being” “OrneryBob” in Planetside. Yet, in the end, they really are not different. Same bad jokes and borderline humor and. . . ok, sometimes the humor is on the other side of the border . . . but still, same show, different game . . . same “e-dentity” . . . different alternate reality.

“. . . but ignoring the ruleset will limit the immersion that a player can achieve.”

My thought here is that this “ruleset” of the "game" must conform to the “ruleset” of the "player" or "person" or "personage" or . . . damn, I'm confusing myself with all these quotation marks. The more “games” accomadate greater latitude in rulsets the more "people" will “play” them.

“. . . he’s [James] become clear in his choice of the fury spec. Making this choice opens some doors for Viamedia and closes others – he’ll never be the main tank in Molten Core, for example – his hold on aggro, improved though it is, is still too light – but he’ll always be able to solo safely.

Thank God I will NEVER be the main tank in Molten Core!!! Do you have ANY idea how much responsibility a MT has? Every wipe is your fault. Every death is your fault. Every time someone doesn’t know their class or their jorb and it leads to accusations . . . leveled at the MT.

So, the solution? Bill yourself as a ‘drunken’ tank. From the start, play up your lack of responsibility. Make everyone clear they need to do their jorbs . . . then do yours. Tanking is a specific activity and action. I don’t know Twink’s jorb . . . or Hallgrima’s. Yet, I know what it isn’t. When I run with what I call my family they are the best runs. I don’t try to do Twink’s jorb and he doesn’t try to do mine. For the life of me, I can’t figure out what he does or even why he does it [how dull must healing be compared to killing?], but I know to keep agro off him so he can do it. I trust him to always heal me regardless of how low my health gets [that isn't true, I will drop a pot if it gets too low, but I never think it is cause he isn't doing his jorb, but that he is busy doing it] and he trusts me to let a mob hack at him for a few moments . . . that I'll not let him die willingly anymore than he'll let me die willingly.

“He [James] may still have a greater tolerance for losing party members than I do, but now I’d argue that that’s a personality choice, not a reflection of the ruleset.”

This is where Twink and I diverge in our playing style. I love a wipe almost as much I love a successful run. I love to see the social interactions . . . anger and accusations and accommodations . . . but I am the ‘drunken’ tank and have few responsibilities.

“I’m changed by Twinkleheal, just as I change Twinkleheal – but even at my most immersed, I’m never not simultaneously me as well. What’s fascinating to watch, I guess, is where the boundaries are, and how they shift.”

And here is the interesting thing . . . I’m not sure DoubleE is the same friend as Twinkleheal. I think I like Twink better. I’ve spent more time with both than “Eric”. I think I've been a better friend to Twink than Eric. I watch my interactions and they do vary with them. So, expanding the question here . . . not just the question of our e-dentity, but the e-denties of others.

I am reminded of the fifth part of T. S. Eliot’s “The Hollow Men” as I think about all of this . . . and perhaps it is fitting that it is poetry and not prose that leads to an understanding of e-dentity.

Between the idea
And the reality
Between the motion
And the act
Falls the Shadow

For Thine is the Kingdom

Between the conception
And the creation
Between the emotion
And the response
Falls the Shadow

Life is very long

Between the desire
And the spasm
Between the potency
And the existence
Between the essence
And the descent
Falls the Shadow
For Thine is the Kingdom

For Thine is
Life is
For Thine is the

This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
Not with a bang but a whimper

. . . and respawn!