Importance is where you find it
Howdy reader,
I have been given the great honor of posting my own thoughts and stories here, alongside the supremely talented Mr. SFNdust. Try to keep the two of us straight, because while I know the rumor was floated out there that we are one in the same, you will soon be able to tell which is which just based on the fact that he writes well, and I hack away like everything i write was for an IM or Txt. Which explains why I like IM and Txts so much, I suppose.
Kaneva is a lot of different things to a lot of different people. There are thousands of stories. Some use it as an escape from their own boring or abusive reality into a world where people are friendly and accepting. Others are forced to use it from their beds, and their only reach into any form of socialization. Unfortunately, some use it as a place to push their agenda. Others use the world and its people as their drama sandbox, to see who they can push around who they can fish-hook with niceness, then gut with drama, rumors and lies. Others quickly pop in and out to say hello and go on with their lives.
Myself, I originally started Kaneva as a past-time. Like having baseball on the tv in the background while you write checks for your bills, or like the Nascar race playing while you do the dishes, vacuum the carpets, and mate socks. As a past-time. Something to do when there simply is nothing else going on.
As you can tell by me, since I am writing a blog about Kaneva, and I can tell about you, since you are reading a blog some guy wrote about Kaneva, this game’s roll in your life changes as you go, and one finds themselves much more ingrained that they expected.
I started out hitting up the world for hellos, dances, and to build and see interesting buildings with my lady by my side. Since that time almost 2 years ago, now I have 10 communities with ambitious building projects in all sorts of levels of completeness, I am one of the chief officers of an in-game clan, I am an in world DJ of some renown, and I have almost 1800 raves, 300 friends and 300 more pending friend requests.
What happened?
Well, I guess I ended up with more spare time then I thought. Or more specifically, I created more spare time. Its amazing how 2am on a work day doesn’t seem late when you’ve got about 12 more floor panels to lay and texture, to get a new building complete. Or how it easily buys another hour of your time when someone in the club you are DJing shouts that they love your music, or that the song you just played as their jam.
However, I think that type of system has its disadvantages. I haven’t gotten all the sleep that I’d like. I have new building ideas all the time, so of my 10 communities, somewhere between zero and none are complete. There are RL friends whose IMs i have ignored because i was looking up a song someone requested. My freelance graphic design work has almost completely dried up.
But the big disadvantage for me, was that recently the cruel roulette wheel of misfortune dislodged from its moorings, rolled through the city, with fleeing Kaneva citizens screaming and running, and ran smack into my head, knocking my vision blurry, my head dizzy, and the arms full of people in the game I loved, scattered all across the road like the gummy snack wrappers and fast food cartons from someone’s minivan’s trash bag tossed aside.
Drama hit, and it hit hard. It hit long. An issue that should have been over in a weekend went off for over a week. Feelings were hurt, long term friendships were severed, events were canceled, members quit, cell phone records were subpoenaed, real physical relationships were tested and strained.
All in all, it was a really bad week.
Which is why I encourage people to do one simple thing. Chill.
Remember and remind yourself that its a game. Its an option. Its a past-time.
Recently, a guy who was a big part of the Mafia, who was responsible for a large part if its success, a guy whom i spent countless hours next to, building, talking, or simply dancing in a club, announced that the reason he hadn’t been in game for a while, was that he was battling cancer.
At 24.
It really put the game in perspective for me. Here we are, moaning and bitching and hastily pounding out IMs to people about what she said about her statement about him… and an in-game friend is laying in a hospital bed waiting for the doctor to tell him his chance of survival.
Made me very self-aware at how silly we had all been, how seriously we had all begun to take it, and it humiliated me. I felt guilty. It was that creeping heat up the back of your neck like when you were 8 years old, and you could hear your mother’s (or worse, father’s) footsteps behind you as you were up on the counter, reaching your hand deep into the Oreo bag, less than an hour before dinner. You knew you were wrong, and the prickly heat of guilt told you so.
In order to make myself feel better, selfishly, and in order to help make a difference in this world, selflessly, I conceived of the lasted large effort in Kaneva: The Kaneva Mafia Cancer Benefit group and event. You can visit the community page here: http://www.kaneva.com/channel/TheKanevaMafiaCancerBenefitPage.channel I also encourage you to join and rave the community.
Here is the simple version of the plan; We will spread the word, collect credits, world items, world clothing, as well as cash. We will create one bundle, and post it on ebay for sale. On October 12th we will have a big event in world, to raise awareness. We will announce the total donations to that point, and direct as many people to the ebay acution as possible.
At the event, we will accept additional donations, to assemble a second bundle to sell on ebay. The proceeds from both of these auctions will be donated, in our Mafia brother’s name, to the American Cancer Society. http://www.cancer.org
I’m hoping people in world will be generous. I’m also calling for everyone in world to politely ask their local GM to donate to the cause as well. I’d love for this to be a featured event in admin blasts, for the GMs to donate large ticket items, exclusive items, etc. I’d really like this to become bigger than me and my Mafia friends expressing our love for our brother. I’d like for it to become a large rally, with Kaneva as a company involved.
Please donate as much as you can. If you would prefer, I am also accepting donations through PayPal, so as to shortcut the credit-buying process, if you prefer. Just contact me here or through the KMail feature.
All in all, I think this now gives us reason to take Kaneva so seriously. Something serious and important and urgent. Much more so than the Nascar race on the tv while you vacuum.
– Paynomind
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