Well, I'm back, finally. I know I've said this once before but that was premature (I had one more weekend out of town visiting in-laws.) Now I'm really back, and I'd like to make a personal request to everyone in this clan....

I've been playing this game for nearly 3 years now. During that time, I've logged nearly one full year of gametime (that's time spent inside the game). I have logged over 300 days muling (at least, that's how much time my two main mules have spent online combined) and have led countless missions, parties, and events for this clan.



Unfortunately, in that time, I'm still yet to reach rank 10 for myself in my main nation, take a job completely to end-game (I was at 73, but thanks to several clan related events, I'm now back at 72 and at the virge of dropping to 71) or get a tradeskill much past 70.



How can this be when I've logged so much time in the game, you ask? Well, I've been asking the same question of myself lately. In fact, I've also been asking myself why I keep paying for this game every month when I wind up spending most of my time not actually playing the game.



Let me explain....



Being the leader of this clan is a difficult and time consuming thing. In addition to the time I spend keeping the website up and running, I also have to lead up a lot of events. This is not something I am complaining about... I like leading up events and I enjoy managing this site (even if it is getting a bit too costly :-)



Unfortunately, being the leader also means that I have to be a diplomat, negotiator, investigator and judge whenever people in my little clan can't seem to get along. Whenever someone says something without thinking of someone else's feelings, or whenever someone argues or attacks another player, or even whenever someone just has a chip on their shoulder and takes offense over nothing, I'm the one called on to resolve it.



The bad thing is, this has been what I've been spending much of my time dealing with. Last week I was only in the game around 10 hours (because of my trips) and I spent the entire time online dealing with drama.



So this is why I'm questioning why I'm paying for this game. Why should I pay for a game when all I do is deal with other people's problems when they can't take care of them themselves?



Which brings me to my request....



I want to play. I want to enjoy this game again. I'm anxious for the XBOX 360 release of the game and for the ToAU expansion pack. I'm anxious to take my NIN higher and to wrap up my MNK. But I can't do these things while people continue to be childish and come crying to me every time they are offended by someone.



Please PLEASE try to be adults about things. For those of you who have been taking a lot of offense recently, please try to not take offense at everything. For those of you who tend you be argumentative and confrontational, please try to abstain from hostility or attacks.



And for heaven's sake, if you find you're in the middle of a disagreement try to work towards a civil resolution yourself. Please don't come crying to me begging me to kick someone from the LS or to "deal with this problem". Thus far, in nearly every situation I've had to be investigator and judge to, both sides share the blame. If you think you're 100% free from all guilt in a disagreement you've been involved in, chances are you're wrong. Be an adult and just lump it. Apologize, accept apologies, and move on.



And if you find life unbearable in my little LS, then I wont be offended or angry if you leave. All that I ask is that you check to see if you are a sack holder. If you are a sack holder, please do not toss the sack until after I've verified all the people you've invited in have new pearls. The reason for this is because when you toss the sack, everyone you've invited will come back with a broken pearl. This can be a very bad thing and will send the wrong message. Contact me privately, and I will work with you to get your sack status removed before you toss it.