Right in the nostalgia!

So, this picture was posted on Facebook a while back. It's been stuck in my mind ever since. Granted, back then, there was a much bigger obstruction in the middle of thte picture, not a tiny little placeholder for that part of the view that's currently gone... but it's enough to inspire a lot of dwelling on old memories, and the reason for this post.

This is the view overlooking Lions Lake, at my yearly childhood summer escape, Lions Camp.

I've always loved that time of night; bright enough to see, dark enough to be comfortable on the eyes. Temps for that time of year were always comfortable at dusk. I'm not surprised there's nostalgia- almost every night was spent at a communal area behind the picture. That view was always waiting for us as we'd wander down the hill and off to our cabins to settle in for the night.


But... I wish those memories weren't there.

I suppose I should say, I wish the sad memories that my brain immediately associates (and then, of course, jumps to instead) weren't there. For every happy memory I can muster, there's always something sad that decides to tag along and overshadow the whole thing.

I know, in retrospect, that some of it was my own doing. But, I know a lot of it wasn't, too, and it's really sad to think that, even in a circle of my own peers, I still didn't fit in.

My mind's too muddled, so I think I'll cut this short and let it stew some more. I really need to get back into the writing thing, to some extent. I'm rusty.


Bleh.

Feeling old

Listening to a podcast about MMOs and one of the hosts, while introducing herself, said "I learned of MMOs like many of you- World of Warcraft".

Yeah, I feel old now.

I remember Everquest and WoW coming into the picture. I'd been on MMOs for probably five years at that point, though they went by a different moniker, MUDs. Old-school, text-based, but they had plenty of population.

And no fee. I remember thinking "No way am I buying plus paying per-month to play a game." Even later, when I finally did sorta enter the real MMO realm with beta-testing Earth & Beyond (still have the Stress Test t-shirt), I couldn't bring myself to pay to play. It took me forever to get past the upkeep cost, especially for a game that was (and still is) still releasing content regularly and runs mostly on player donations.

The mold did finally break, though- I enjoyed the crap outta Auto Assault (another t-shirt still in my collection, heh), to the point I paid for it upon release. I think I even stayed subscribed for its whole lifespan.

WoW did get my money for a little while, right after WotLK came out. By that point, though, beta testing was the new marketing thing, so I hopped from test to test. Free-to-play popped up, and I wandered aroudn those, too.

And then came Star Trek Online. Ugh. Beta, pre-order, special sub price for a year. I think that's why I've never paid a sub fee since. I'm surprised STO even exists in the F2P space with how much the game was built around microtransactions. Forget fixing bugs, we've got more stuff for you to buy! Such a shame. (Especially having a Klingon faction that was just PVP. I REALLY wish they'd make something in that part of the ST universe. It's always been interesting.)

Hell, now even kinda-MMOs like Guild Wars 2 are going the way of the dodo for me. It sucks not being able to see and getting bogged down in end-game content that's designed for multiple users, that depend on quick reactions and everything else that I can't offer.

So, what's next?