Tonight I was in the Callopee mines. I tend to avoid them, because the factory farming of piggies in Neva Neva makes me sad. But tonight I found myself in them, because of the location of a shrine, with my destination set to a street in Pollokoo, my home turf. All was well…the new day happened. I got up to go afk for maybe 5 minutes. I came back, and lo, at my feet was a dying chicken, begging me to help her, saying she’d been rooked.
Never having participated in a rook attack, I was unsure how to help her. I clicked on her, and the “revive” option came up. So I “revived” her, but even then, she was in distress, and begging for more folks to help her. Thank goodness there were a couple of gals in the area who answered my plea for help…Glitchens to the rescue!
I checked out all the other critters in the area, and all were fine…I then went to local chat to find out what exactly had happened. Turned out some dude had been rolling his die…he rolled a number of Giants before he rolled the rook. And yes, it was only one guy; apparently he acted alone, with no help, and got the rook.
Well, I found him still there, and I went up and splanked him and then blocked him, but what else could I do? I couldn’t say anything to him, because he was well within his rights as a player to do what he did. I, with my multiple alt accounts, am suspect. I give tons of stuff away; I use my accounts to feed myself and my piggies and to benefit other players, and yet my gaming could be called into question, because I have a few alts. Whereas this dude can get away scott free by being an asshole, because that’s allowed. Justice?
This incident really upset me, for a few reasons. For one thing, it was distressing, to be sure, to come back from afk only to find a dying chicken at my feet. For another, it was maddening to see a sleazy player acting like an asshole, and to be helpless to do anything about it. Lastly, I disagree with the whole “rook as villain” thing, and have from the beginning, and so I’m taking this opportunity to speak out against it.
Ravens are lovely beings, as anyone who has taken the time to observe them or gotten to know them will attest. For me, as someone who dearly loves them, you might as well ask me to stun puppies or kittens or dolphins. Ravens are SO dear to me, that I simply cannot do anything to harm them. I have managed to avoid the dreaded “rook attacks” thus far, except for this last. I am led to believe that the rook will play an even larger part in the coming changes, and this I cannot abide.
I quit playing in alpha because I got the “smash the rook’s egg” quest, and I couldn’t do it. It’s not that I *couldn’t* do it, more that I would not. When, at the urging of a couple friends, I agreed to come back in beta, I simply ignored that quest, and tried to focus on the good aspects of this game, and there are many. I love this game, and I love the community…but the rook aspect saddens me and I will not participate. If the rook is going to be an even greater villain in the coming changes, then I will respectfully bow out. I would hate to lose this community of friends, but I hate to see such negative stereotypes being perpetuated.
I'd love it if the Giants could see fit to “redeem the rook,” as it were…that is, perhaps, find a way to make the ravens our allies in the fight against something greater. I am not opposed to fighting in general; not opposed to defending our beloved Ur against an outside threat, providing the threat is a worthy foe. That said, I don’t like fighting, and I sure as hell don’t like coming back from afk, only to find a dying chicken at my feet. Let’s take the fighting elsewhere, and then I may fight…if the fighting is contained to a certain area, an arena, as it were. But again, I will only fight a worthy enemy, like George Bush, or Sarah Palin, or the ultimate…Monsanto (*shudder*).
Or perhaps, something entirely made up? I'm sure the Giants are capable of exercising their imagination to that extent, and giving us a fearsome foe...something beyond imagination, like out of a Stephen King nightmare or some such. I will not fight ravens. I love them, and will not feed into that stereotype, and I hope you won’t either. And I’d like the battles to be removed from gameplay, so that those who choose to fight can, and those who choose to refrain will be left unmolested. I don’t think this is too much to ask. I left alpha because of the egg quest, and I would hate to leave again, after I’ve found such a wonderful community of friends. This game is so wonderful and positive and a *light* in so many lives…please keep it that way. Loves, K