a not very important announcement
 

Hi all,
This is probably a bit vain to have a forum thread about it, but I wanted to make a quick one just to announce my resignation so people who don't log on much also know.
It's been a long time coming. While I had a lot of fun being on the time, I felt like it was time to move on both for personal reasons and reasons on Graal.
I know I always didn't hit the mark on my stuff (Christmas was a bit of a mess, eh?), but I honestly gave it my best effort.
*****END ANNOUNCEMENT, BEGIN RANT**********

I just wanted to give a big shoutout to a lot of the great staff I've been lucky enough to work with.
Exolia, thanks for letting me do my thing with the devs. It was great working with you
Amsel, you're a cutie
Ice, thanks for scripting stuff when I had no idea what to do
Rogue, thanks for being a great family cat
Swift, you're a crazy kid. Thanks for being the ying to my yang. We made a good team.
Fuubaz, you make the best graphics I've ever seen on Graal
Mesh, you seriously go above and beyond your job
Namey, I'm so glad you came back <3 you make great levels and are just a swell guy
to my devs current and past, thanks for the hard work and for putting up with me.

To all the players, a shout-out and a condemnation.
Thanks for playing. Seriously. It's 2015 and I can go onto steam and buy fantastic games for like a buck or two. It's wonderful that people still play Graal in a time like this. By you guys playing, you're allowing a volunteer team of developers to work on games in a unique environment. It's a lot of fun to make new stuff. When I was hired as Gun Admin, I knew 0 about anything development related. Now I know the basics. Thanks for that.

On the other hand, I see so much hostility on the forums and in game towards staff. You all fail to realize that every level 4 admin on Era is 22+, has a job and/or goes to school. They do this in their free time for absolutely no compensation. In fact, all the staff on here do it on their free time (they get compensated with like 1 EC per 4 hours of work... that's it)

When you spew hatred at us day after day after day, are you really surprised when we quit? When we ask ourselves "why are we spending hours and hours on stuff that is not even appreciated by the ~200 people in the entire world who will actually see it?"

And what's far worse than any of that? When certain individuals side-line coach and say "why isn't it like XYZ? If I were X admin, I could do so much better." You don't know the half of it. Not only the immense work that goes in, but the amount of trust and responsibility required for these positions.
I once explained it as a certain paradox- the people you want to be high staff on graal cannot put forth the time to be high staff, and the people who want/ have the time to be high staff are not fit for the position.

The average level 4 admin is: 20+, working full time, smart (often a computer scientist or at least has a background in it), responsible. In short, we're adults. We don't have a ton of time.
Who has a ton of time? Kids or the unemployed/ people not in school. Do we want those kinds of people running Graal? Probably not, to be honest. Granted, Rick was super young when he was manager, but I think that's more of an exception than the rule.
In short, it's very hard to assemble a good team. When Exolia consulted me on who I thought would be a good gang admin, I honestly could not think of a single person whom I both trusted and thought would be a good fit. That's unfortunate, but true.

So, sorry for the rant. I'm only speaking for myself here and not the rest of the team. Take it all with a grain of salt.
Love,
Ish Soul

I will miss you Ish. :(
Thanks for Whitney hat on your way out. <3
I was trying to get that hat for years.

Thanks for all the time and effort you put in the game.

Appreciate anyone who puts the time and effort in to my childhood game, thank you.

Good luck with whatever you're doing :)

Good luck for the future that awaits.

Best of luck. Keep in contact.

Didn't really know you that well, but the server won't be the same without you.

Good luck on future endeavors.

Sorry to see you go Ish. Yes you weren't perfect but nobody can fault your efforts. You were one of the few staff members that actually attempted to give back to the players and sadly now you're gone.

However, i feel i must step in and put something right here. I've played this game since 03 and the only reason i ever played this game was because of gangs. I enjoyed raiding and participating in anything gang related. A lot of people would tend to look at me and say ohno koho but in truth it's not really fair. I can provide some of my accounts and including the current one i use my comments are not even as bad as half of you guys that are currently hired.

I have been in a lot of heated debates on forums and it doesn't take a rocket scientist to notice it comes down to one reason because i truly cared. I've been in a lot of staff positions in the past and i have never did anything wrong i am even still a PR to this day so trust wouldn't be an issue. I am also 22 and 23 soon with REAL responsibility due to military life. It amazes me how much responsibility and maturity you guys say it takes to be staff on a game but half of you guys know nothing of the meaning (not bashing) but it amazes me that you think like this.

I dunno what it has to take for me to become gang admin. I have built a forum that got so much done for era, I've pushed out a lot of new stuff for players i even went to the lengths of sacrificing my own fun by not taking part in gang events to host them for months on end when i was the ETA. I mean, i dunno what it has to take. Nick who is only a kid with a lot worse history and background than me gets selected and apparently my "application" was the most liked. Makes no sense.

I'm not going to blabber on about this subject but im sick to the teeth of being over looked when i am one of the few people left who truly care about this game and gangs. Certain person told me i was next on the list to get hired but yet i still sit here as a PR and not GA. I dont take GA as a gift, i feel its being treated in that way lately. Tags and rights aren't gifts... It's giving people what they need to get the job done and sadly era is dying and something needs to change before it's to late.

I'm getting fed up waiting for the chance. I have solid plans and motivation to change the gangs and if a new gang admin isn't sorted out soon to fix these gangs then I'll be moving on to. Also Ish it wasn't long ago you told me part of the reason you where leaving was due to the lack of nobody wanting to hire a gang admin. I don't make sense of you saying that.

Sorry for the rant. Long story short. Ish, who cared is leaving which sucks and I'm a mature adult with motivation and a desire to change gangs but keep being over looked to youngsters like Nick with horrible history and cant say one sentence without a troll word being said in it. Sadly im losing patience and i'll follow suit if change doesn't happen every soon.

Koho out.

Bye Felisha!!!11!!

gj ish take care

Love you Ish, and I'm very sad to see you go. I understand your reasons, however if it were up to me I would force you to be here as long as I am, because we work so well together.

Also, if you people didn't read what he wrote up above, I suggest you read it again, because this hits the nail on the head:

Just to put it into perspective; I am 26. I went to college for Computer Engineering. I currently work 50-60 hour weeks managing a very busy restaurant, as well as try to maintain a social life. I can't always be on Era, and I do my best to maintain a staff that can be trusted in my absence.

Sorry that you all think we do a horrible job, but I don't think I'm doing half bad if you continue playing all while complaining (you are playing after all, aren't you?) Seriously though, have some compassion and think before you blast us on the forums or scream at us in game, I don't get paid for this.

Engineering -- what is a social life

Hire me at your restaurant, thanks.

Right? I can't even justify getting upset or stressing about graal anymore now that real life commitments actually matter.

What kind of development work do you do?