Postby Millhouse » Sat Nov 10, 2018 6:52 pm
Ok, folks my Cantr playing days are over. It probably shouldn't have come to a huge surprise to those that had a character near mine the last nine months or so.
So basically what happened here is that I took a Cantr haitus in the spring to focus on work and personal stuff. I was here but not really for about four months. I came back to play during the summer and found that I just really wasn't getting into it. I kept playing through the summer hoping things would go back to normal but they really didn't. I just felt a lot of apathy every time I logged on. I didn't even bother working on projects with most characters.
I continued through the summer but by fall I was ready to call it quits. It wasn't the first time I wanted to quit, but it's the time that stuck. It wasn't any person or event that happened in-game. Honestly nothing in-game influenced my decision to quit. It was just time. The alternative was to keep sleepy and boring characters around that I could dust off when I felt nostalgic. That might be ok for some, but that's not me.
One thing I had always wanted to do in Cantr was to give my characters unique and fitting deaths. Just hitting the X button quietly is boring. So that why all the sudden deaths. I'll list their causes of death below.
And so, here the are.
Howard Cromley aka Howie
Cause of death: Acute Necritus (or whatever you call the corpse proximity sickness). Howie had bad luck catching the desease and was gripped by fear of it for a long time. One of his final acts was pulling a corpse from a building and burying it, so it made sense that's how he would die.
Howie was my first character and I made a lot of early mistakes with him. He had sort of a shady past that not many people knew about. It's surprising that he wasn't jailed or killed. I eventually made him legit, and he became a ship captain of an exploration team that went off on a RL year long voyage to explore the Seven Isles and Fu. After that I spent another six months preparing for an Omeo settlement and then almost a year on Omeo. At times he was my favorite character to play. I'll miss him and the people around him.
Marco Paublo Juliano Diaz-Francesco
Cause of death: Steam engine boiler explosion
Fare thee well, Marco. He was a blast to play. I spawned him with the intent to make him a Renaissance man, hence the alphabet soup of a name. I think I achieved my goal, though I took a pretty quirky path there. He was a traveling salesman, curio shop owner, religious zealot, leader, diplomat, husband, mad scientist, architect and so much more. He was also my favorite to play at times.
Forest Evergreen
Cause of death: Accidental self inflicted crossbow wound. This was a throwback to the time he accidentally shot Naedell Blackrock in the middle of Klojt while trying to help her drag something.
Forest was a lover, plain and simple. I spawned him to see what all this Cantr sex RP stuff was all about. He honestly wasn't my favorite character, though. Not because of his interactions with people, which were great. He was just kind of flat and not that interesting to play when not doing his Forest thing. This may be due to the fact that at some point I pictured him as something like Fabio Lanzuli. Still, I'll miss him and his Zuzi girls.
Damascus Rubio
Cause of death: Crocodile wrestling accident
Happy trails, y'all. Here is one I'll really miss, probably because I saw a lot of myself in him. I don't know at what point I decided to go full cowboy with him, but when I did I went all in. Based on a joke made here on the forum, he and some friends settled a town they named Texas where they sold horses to the people of Treefeather. Later he lived on the ranch in Siom where he loved to tell stories and do trades. Then later he split his time between Siom and Blackrock Forest. Special shout out to Malena and the folks in Siom for playing along with what turned into a very intense death sequence.
Smiles Softly
Cause of death: Hypothermia (she went skinny dipping during a blizzard). This was another throwback death to that time she was inducted into the Ancient Order of the Penguin by Ann Robinson.
So I spawned Smiles pretty much as a joke, if that wasn't obvious. She had cartoonishly good looks, perfect body, perfect teeth, big ol' anime eyes and everything. But she was a walking parody. And for those counting at home, she never once used the *smiles softly* emote. Something odd happened and I ended up having fun playing her. She took ownership of the tavern in LFE and I spent a lot of time with her coming up with crazy ideas and seeing them through, like making a bronze elk statue with a huge rack, building a pair of buxom mermaid longboat landmarks, or filling 100 jiggly water balloons (do you see a theme here?). She gained modest fame when she became a ventriloquist, performing at various festivals on Treefeather. Last year she earned the number three spot on top 100 characters. Not bad for a character I once considered a throwaway.
Summer Storm
Cause of death: Alcohol poisoning. She drank 2000g of rum at once from a custom amphora named Summer's Mug.
I killed this one off several months ago but I never confessed to playing her until now. She was a pirate, and a damn good one. She was a member of the Whatever pirate crew, and later whatever that group became when it merged with the Ice Sisters. I basically played her as a sociopath, an ice cold bitch that only found happiness when her dagger sank into the hearts of her victims. She was also a cunning strategist, helping the pirates narrowly escape capture many times. If you knew her and wondered what happened to her, she spent the last half of her life far from the EZ, hunting polish merchant ships. There were a lot of pulse-pounding moments with her, and I have no shame saying it was some of the most fun I had playing Cantr. My biggest regret was capturing and killing Cookie in Morgan Cliffs. To Cookie's player, you're cool and I'm sorry we murdered you and everyone in town. Also, the EZ could learn a lot from the PZ about pirate hunting. Seriously, gg PZ.
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Alright, so I know this post is already super long, but I have just some final thoughts. I hope that players aren't too sad about me quitting. Never forget that this is a game and it's perfectly normal for people to quit after years of playing. With most online games with community involvement, when an old player quits there's maybe a bit of sadness but it's mostly positive. So if I've made you laugh or smile, maybe leave a little positive comment. Or if I frustrated you near to insanity, I'd even appreciate criticism above a sad comment.
For those that didn't know me, maybe you're new or we just didn't interact thanks for reading this if you made it this far. If you're active in Cantr or even an old player struggling with staying active, my advice is to make lots of different types of characters. Don't just stick to one personality. Make them all as disalike as possible and when you dial in to a personality, turn that dial to 11 and make them stand out. And when you've finally tapped all your creativity, there's no shame in letting them go. Its not easy but learn to know when its time to let go.
That's all from me. I'll do my best to keep up with your PMs and comments here. Goodbye again, Cantr.