The AI image looks like Forge of Empires…

I wish a good Sunday morning to you all. Bill and I have a lunch date planned for later today. We’re going to one of our favorite restaurants. We haven’t been there in awhile, so it should be fun to enjoy a nice meal outside of the house. Lately, I’m finding it harder to justify venturing out into the world. I think maybe the pandemic took away my mojo for exploring on the weekends. That, and I’m getting old, and I don’t enjoy interacting with people as much as I used to when I was younger.

That applies to social media, too. I think, in general, people are getting tired of social media. I’ve noticed a lot of people are leaving it. This doesn’t surprise me. In my 54 years of life, I’ve seen many “fads” come and go. I don’t think social media will ever go away completely, but it’s going to evolve into something beyond what it is now. Also, social media is now infested with bots, “influencers”, and toxic weirdos. It used to be a fun place for catching up with friends. Now, it’s a real shitshow, and I waste too much time on it.

Another thing I waste a lot of time on are online games. I play several of them. They give me something to do while I watch YouTube videos or hang out with Bill. I shouldn’t play games, because they often end up costing money. But I can’t deny that I enjoy them… except for ONE very annoying aspect of online gameplay. I don’t enjoy the expectation to join “guilds”.

What are guilds, you ask? Guilds are “groups”, often of complete strangers, in online games. Players are encouraged to join guilds and work together on community goals that reward everybody. In a perfect world, everyone who joined a guild would cooperate and work together in an efficient, non pressuring manner, and it would actually be fun. Unfortunately, I generally find the guilds to be kind of dysfunctional and irritating.

I recently started playing a game called Big Farm Homestead. I kept seeing it advertised on Facebook and, one day, decided I wanted to try it. I think it was because the ads had horses in them. There are horses in the game, but they aren’t (yet) a big part of playing. So far, I have just had to round up “wild” horses during certain temporary events.

At first, when I started playing Big Farm Homestead, I thought that maybe I wouldn’t like the game. But then I got hooked on it, and after leveling up a few times, I was encouraged to find a guild to join. I went through the list of guilds. Some of them were “open”, meaning I could just sign up. Some were open by request.

I joined an “open” guild. It was one that had a lot of people in it, and a “leader” who was a real taskmaster. She kept sending messages to the guild members, demanding that they continue to craft and produce goods for the tournament, as we were also working on upgrading our individual farms.

The guild leader was quite annoying. Besides pressuring us to craft non-stop, she also ordered us to watch ads, to enhance our production. The ads were usually the same ones for Gossip Harbor, a game that promises that it’s 100 percent “free” to play. 🙄 As ads for games go, the ones for Gossip Harbor are okay… the first or second time you see them. But I was seeing the same ones over and over again.

Ads for other games are annoying because they basically try to force people to play them for thirty seconds or so before they will end. Or the ads get stuck and I have to reboot my iPad, only to not get credit for watching the stupid ad.

Anyway… in spite of my efforts to be a productive guild member, one morning I discovered that I’d been unceremoniously dumped. I promptly joined another guild that had few members and basically no action. It was frustrating, because one aspect of the game is “helping” other members. If other members aren’t active and don’t ask for help, there’s no opportunity to earn valuable loyalty points.

Then, after a short time, I got an invitation to join another guild. Since it looked like it would be more active than the one I was already in, I accepted the offer. At first, it was great. The leader seemed more laid back, and wasn’t as obnoxious about people being “good” team members. He even made me a “co-leader”, which gave me the power to start quests and even accept or boot people (which I never did).

But then, the messaging started… 🙄

The guild leader sent multiple messages to the group every day. The tone of the messages grew in intensity. Soon, the leader was writing in all caps, shaming people for being “lazy”. Then he got threatening, warning everyone that he was going to be removing those who weren’t contributing to his satisfaction. I was actually contributing a lot… I produced stuff and helped other members. I even used some of my “diamonds” to build the guild’s treasury. Diamonds are actually worth something, so that was not a small gesture.

I wasted plenty of my precious time on Earth to “help” in that guild. I played the game often and contributed every day. However, I did not respond to the guild leader’s constant group messages, because he’s a stranger to me, and frankly, I didn’t have anything to say to him. He seemed to be taking the game a lot more seriously than I do.

Yesterday, I saw that he’d kicked out almost half of the people in the guild, claiming that they weren’t “good” team members. This morning, I found out that I, too, was among the discarded. 🙄 I guess all of the things I did, in the end, were simply not enough for him. He was expecting absolute loyalty too, perhaps?

Does he not realize that people have lives? Some folks have jobs, children, chronic illnesses, or other hobbies they need to attend to. Playing an online game is pretty low on most people’s lists of priorities and life goals. But this guy actually demanded that people let him know if they weren’t going to be playing due to life happening. What an inconsiderate asshole!

This “guild obsession” phenomenon has happened to me in other games, too. For instance, I also play Forge of Empires, and guild participation is highly expected in that game. I got kicked out of so many guilds in that game that I finally decided to make my own. After awhile, I was recruited away from my own guild, mainly because it was just me in it, and I was having to spend money to progress in the game.

But then, after I quit my own guild and joined another person’s guild in Forge of Empires, I eventually got kicked out of THAT guild, complete with a nastygram! So I made my own guild again. This time, I’m staying put, even though people still try to recruit me. Some other guy has joined my guild. He’s playing at a much lower level than I am, but I gave him leadership powers, and we just play in peace. I help him out sometimes. He helps me out sometimes. That’s that.

This morning, after I was kicked out of yet another guild, I was about to create my own guild for Big Farm Homestead. But I decided to try one more existing guild, simply because there are certain things you can’t do in the game unless you’re in a guild with other people. I don’t really want to run a guild, because I don’t want to spend that much time on the game. I don’t want to manage other players or bug them to produce or watch ads. I just want to be in a guild, and play in peace. I don’t want to socialize or kiss ass. I just want to play my game, dammit! Stop harassing me!

If I get kicked out of this new guild, I’ll either make my own guild, or I’ll just quit playing… which I probably should do, anyway. Playing online games is a huge time and potential money drain. The guy whose guild I joined is at a lower level than I am, so perhaps I can stick around for awhile… until someone tries to recruit me. 😆

Seriously… it’s just a game. 🙄 It’s supposed to be fun. It IS fun to play the games, which is why I continue to do it. But constantly bugging people to play, threatening to kick them out of the guild, calling people “lazy” isn’t something done in a spirit of fun. It’s just annoying, obnoxious, and kind of unhinged… and enduring that kind of bullshit makes me wonder if it’s time I dyed my hair blue and hung out with cats.

This post may seem silly to some of my readers. On its surface, it IS very silly. However, it’s also kind of a running theme in my own life. I’ve been kicked out of and excluded from a whole lot of groups… 😆 After awhile, that kind of rejection makes me feel like I have nothing of value to offer anyone and I just quit trying. That’s one reason why I’m an “overeducated housewife.” I always seem to be on the outside looking in.

Not everyone rejects me, though. Bill hasn’t… yet. 🤣 And I have dogs who wouldn’t reject me. Poor Charlie got locked out last night, as Bill was grilling steaks. I got up from where I was sitting and noticed him staring at me through the glass. His ears were pricked up, and his eyes were bright. He was just standing there silently, as if to say “You’re about to eat steak, and here I am outside, looking in. This should not be.”

I opened the door and Charlie immediately flew into the house like a bat out of Hell. I admire Charlie’s healthy personality. He’s very spunky and scrappy, and once he became a part of our little group, he quickly adopted a congenially entitled attitude. He wasn’t offended that he was forgotten outside. We rectified that situation quickly, so all’s well that end’s well.

Charlie is well assured that he’s in the group, and thus he’s supposed to be allowed to eat pieces of steak. He’s supposed to be allowed on the bed. He’s allowed to be butt scratched. In return, he does his job of being cute, friendly, and lovable. He encourages us to take health promoting walks. And he welcomes Bill home every day with great fanfare. Hell, Charlie probably thinks he deserves a promotion!

Meanwhile, Noyzi spends stints with me, hanging out when I blog, watch TV, or nap. He spends as much or more time in his room. He’s not as self-confident or assured that he’s in the group. Actually, I feel like Noyzi is more of a loner. I kind of identify with that. He doesn’t impose himself on anyone. I try not to impose on people, but it seems like I constantly fail. I don’t live up to expectations… and invariably, people kick me out of their guilds… groups… family circles, both online and off.

SIGH… and then they wonder why I don’t want to go home to see them…

Anyway, I hope you have a good Sunday. I’ve got to log off and get ready for my Sunday lunch date!