[Community Content, Essay] Is it really quitting if you keep coming back? or Stalker Ghosting Empires

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[Community Content, Essay] Is it really quitting if you keep coming back? or Stalker Ghosting Empires

Budget busting

A Family friend was a huge spender. They quit over the HotM business model when they went over their massive monthly IAP budget for the third time. And their real life suffered. One less reason Empires was fun.

Grind

A 2 year, F2P teammate quit because it took too much to grind for resources. And their real life suffered. One less reason Empires was fun.

Auto play

Loot tickets are a good monetization, but the gap between auto play 1.7-4 and loot tickets AR.15-9N is too big.

Season 2 was a missed opportunity to fix the auto play/ loot ticket gap. Either making loot tickets more common, making loot tickets use the entire available energy, or overhauling how the map or auto play or loot drops or loot itself works.

Multiple daily logins

Several teammates quit because of the need for multiple daily logins. And their real life suffered. One less reason Empires was fun.

Temporary storage

World energy bar for 8 hours requires level 63. Who knows what 24 hour world energy bar requires.

Raid energy bar is only 6 hours.
Watchtower level 20 only holds 11.65 hours of iron production.
Titan energy bar is only 12 hours.
Advanced house level 9 only holds 17.6 hours of production.
Advanced Mine level 10 only holds 19.82 hours of production.

Wife

Gryphonkit, my wife, quit our alliance on October 31.

She got tired of Empires being a fourth job.

Titans are king

A teammate with Tarlak, Falcon, Frida, Evelyn, quit Empires for 16 hours.

A friend of theirs formed a new alliance to fight 10* titans.

The teammate rejoined Empires and switched to the friendā€™s alliance fighting 10* titans.

But how long will that last?

Alliance

I quit our alliance November 7.

Short message

November 7, I posted a short message in alliance chat.

Too short for months of coordinating with each other on war attacks.

Too short for all they have done for the last 771 days.

Too short for finally reaching 8* titans.

Too short to say goodbye to my teammates.

Too short to say goodbye to my found family

Forum

I quit the forums November 7.

I logged out for the first time since my 4 month Empire rage quit.

I logged out for the first time since before Sand Empires 2018 ( and war opt out ).

Yes, yes, I am a flighty, and inconsistent, rage quitter, but lootbox / HotM business models give me SO much practice.

Forum friends, Part 1

I always said I would quit when @Garanwyn @zephyr1 @Kerridoc @BarryWuzHere quit.

I did not notice when @Garanwyn had real life issues and slipped away.

Kerridoc

My quitting, over @Kerridoc retiring, took weeks since I am terrible at saying goodbye to guild mates ( see above ).

Stalking

But I still looked at the forum since @Kerridoc retired.

There is so much joy in Empires before Stronghold 12.

There is so much joy in Empires before Legendary recruit training ( RT20 ).

Ghosting

But every day since @Kerridoc retiredā€¦

I skip more topics that used to fascinate meā€¦

But every day since @Kerridoc retiredā€¦

I skip more replies that used to intrigue meā€¦

But every day since @Kerridoc retiredā€¦

I skip more notifications that used to make me smileā€¦

I logged back in today after logging out November 7.

But how long will that last?

Forum Friends, Part 2

This is a strange love letter to the friends I have found on this forum.

Any list would miss people I have forgotten.

Or have left.

But If you ever smiled after reading something I wrote.

If you ever civilly disagreed with me.

If you ever helped a new forum user learn about the how, or why, of a game mechanic.

If you ever loved the forum as much as I did.

You are a friend.

Even if I am long gone from this forum by the time you first read some of my writing.

A future friend.

Indifference

But I am reminded of a quote:

ā€œthe opposite of hatred is not love, its apathy or indifference.ā€

I will never be indifferent to Empires.

But that does not mean the love, and the hate, will keep me from drifting away from it.

Like the fun slowly draining away under the longer, and longer, grind and the higher, and higher, costs.

Not indifference.

But not enough reason to stay.

Notes

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Sadlyā€¦ I know how you are feeling.

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Tons of blessings on your journey beyond E&P. Iā€™ve always enjoyed reading your insights and have learned soo much and bookmarked a few of your posts - thank you immensely.

I will miss the expertise and wisdom you shared freely. Tons of blessings :hugs::heart:.

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@Gryphonknight,thank you for your help and wisdom. You will be missed.
But who knows, all things change with time, including our outlook on life. Maybe we will see you again? But if we donā€™t you will still remain on the forums in all your past, helpful, posts. Itā€™s almost like living forever in the ether of the internet. You are leaving a little bit of yourself behind, and I guarantee that little bit will help MANY newer players on their journey to where you are now. Good luck my friend, I wish you nothing but the best.

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@Gryphonknight this was so beautifully written and from the heart. You put into words all of the poignancy of moving onā€¦from graduations to changing jobs, breaking up, leaving home, having kids leave home, having people move away or dieā€¦It struck a deep chord and gave me a good cry (primed by @PeachyKeen ā€˜s story ā€œA Thorne in the Ointmentā€ā€¦ā€)

In a game like this, one should expect to say good-bye at some point, right? I have deleted games without a thought, without looking back. But the depth of relationships here on the Forum and alliances is real. Donā€™t second guess it and donā€™t be surprised when you grieve as in all those other passages (although perhaps not as deeply). But like other grief, it is a sign that you have given a part of yourself & others have given parts of themselves to you. Some might call it love, or friendship. Certainly it is an investment of yourself. I know we have all gleaned much from your investment, and I hope you and @Gryphonkit feel the same.

I will miss your presence & help & input here. I will miss the way you said ā€œmy wifeā€ like it was something sweet on your tongue. Thank you for being a part of what has made this Forum a very special place filled with something hard to leave. Know that you & your wife @Gryphonkit have been part of a legacy that will make the Forum a place thatā€™s hard to leave for me and those who will be here long after weā€™re gone.

:vulcan_salute: God bless you both - and may both of you sleep well!!! :bouquet: :bouquet: :bouquet:

P.S. I am still grieving the departures of @Garanwyn & @Kerridoc & @Brobbā€¦

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@Gryphonknight

Your posts are always top draw - efficient, knowledgeable, well researched and referenced

And more importantly fun, friendly and informative.

We will miss you greatly; contributors, and people, of your quality are hard to find.

I hope Gryphonkit is also enjoying her new horizons.

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More likesā€¦or, not likes. More hugs :sob:

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@JonahTheBard hugs back! You found a way to balance & come back. I hope the balance part is still working for you - when I eye the exit door some days, it makes a difference that there are more choices than ā€œgoā€ or ā€œstay.ā€ You are the picture in my head of what that looks like and I continue to be grateful!!! :bouquet: :hugs:

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Omg, the timingā€¦and how well written. Iā€™m not sure which (and who cares anyway) was ā€˜betterā€™ but I would like to thank you both, @Gryphonknight and @Joyful818, for saying what I could have never, ever, said nearly as well although that is exactly what Iā€™m feeling. I just left my alliance of 570 some days an hour ago and came here toā€¦idk, say Something because it really does matter. Itā€™s amazing how affected we can be by a game that Iā€™m sure None of us thought was going to have such an impact on our lives. Iā€™ve made true friends within my alliance and even though I am not a prominent figure here on the forum, I still feel a connection to so many people that frequent this platform. Itā€™s not an easy thing to leave, if you ever really cared. I think of Jedon, 1st and foremost, but really all the frequent posters/mods etcā€¦Iā€™m not going to start listing folks but I am grateful to have ā€˜metā€™ you all. Thanks to all for advice and being a voice of reason-especially back when I didnā€™t know any better and thought Thorne was the best pull ever lol. I may stick around here a bit but I definitely have decided to take a very long hiatus from the game itself. I wish all the very best of luck in game and otherwise. Who knows, we may run into each other again elsewhere.

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@Mojo1 I know weā€™ve crossed paths and I hope you will drop in once in a while! Maybe the community game thread can be a place to stop by & say hiā€¦ I donā€™t knowā€¦Or a thread called the Jedon Emeritus Players Lounge where retired players can kibbutz re: the newest HOTMā€¦ or post on dogs/cats of E&P or Copperskyā€™s memes. I wish you the best as you go on to a new adventure!!! :bouquet:

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If you go without returning, I will miss you @Gryphonknight Your perspective and analysis was always a delight to read.

As an added bonus, I still smile about the time you found out what the longest title allowed by the forum software wasā€¦

I hope you find some joy in the game, more than the frustration, and I will see you again then. Perhaps in a new alliance with new fun people, getting a chance to hit bigger titans.

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Hi @Gryphonknightā€¦ howā€™s things? Have you found a new balance or still a work in progress?

Or just disregard if Iā€™m being too nosey :slightly_smiling_face:

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I must be a friend indeed as I always found your posts informative and well thought out. I didnā€™t always initially agree with you but I usually changed my mind on ā€œsober second thoughtā€. And I always got a laugh at your signature closing.

Fin

Postscript

I should also mention I got a secret thrill every time a like from you popped up in my notifications.

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Hi @Gryphonknight

Miss you Mikeeeyy

Hope youā€™re enjoying a healthy hiatus.

Fin

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Part 1

Thank you.

I definitely miss all the old forum crew. @zephyr1, @Garanwyn, @Kerridoc @JonahTheBard , @BarryWuzHere, @Rook, @Petri, @mhalttu, @Na.na Plus a bazillion other forum old timers - both users and staff.

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Part 2

But @Guvnor ( awesome moderator choice @Petri ), @Math4lyfe ( doing a good job, maybe make a moderator ), @Rigs ( NEVER make a moderator ) @Saanzi ( still using the default forum avatar, why has @Petri not guilted you into uploading a graphic for your forum avatar yet? ) and the rest of the people are helping to pick up the slack for all the Missing In Action forum accounts.

No worries about the forum going forward.

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Part 3

Like @JonahTheBard 's return,

I noted @Mai is back ( huge fan :heart_eyes:, love digging through your posts for historical info on Empires) @Coppersky ( so helpful for a newbie @Gryphonknight ) @Brobb ( always wanted to grow up to be you or @Rigs or @Dante2377, but I had to settled for hanging out on the forums ).

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One dayā€¦ one day

Glad youā€™re alive, man :blush:

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Pffft. I canā€™t imagine thatā€¦ ever.

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