Hello!
First, I want to thank the community for the kind words =D.
Second off, I can't say that the community has played a part in my abrupt resignation.
While I do notice that the community has been slowly becoming apprehensive, I've always chosen to turn a blind eye to that side of things.
You get what you look for -- see a community as it is, and it only get worse; but see a community for what it could be, and it becomes what it should be.
Plus, I've always considered myself a player first, and an admin second.
I honestly wouldn't have lasted almost 15 years if I didn't genuinely enjoy playing the game. Not only does it keep me here, but as an administrator, this has given me the insight to continue to preserve and protect the game that I enjoy, and subsequently, the game many of you have grown to enjoy as well.
Being a player also puts me into that community, rank and file along with many of you. So again - I can't say that the community has pushed me away. Quite the contrary -- the community is part of the reason why I've been able to stay for so long; and the kind-hearted responses I'm seeing in light of my leave is validation of that.
The main thing that has contributed to my abrupt resignation, ironically, is my work ethic here.
Knowing that so much work can be done here, and my genuine passion for wanting to improve things for the players (and for myself), I have been putting in major hours this past month or so.
I've been helping HW out wherever I can lend a hand because she's fantastic. She's a different type of manager than Snk, but she has a genuine care for the server and the community that I can relate to. I've known her since 2012, and was glad to lend my services any way she needed.
Having previous experience as a Gang Admin(I was Gang/Business Admin in 2007 on PC Era), I took on the Gang Admin title when she said she needed one; unfortunately, this also happened when GST Qualifiers had my focus, so I couldn't jump right into it.
When GST qualifiers ended, I expressed a concern with the way it was being run, which ultimately caused Anero to drop out of the GST team. He had previously been the one that did the behind-the-scenes work, such as graphics (gang flags, tiles, signage, stream transitions, etc.), managerial stuff(brackets, getting team info, prizes), as well as the arena.
And honestly, I'm not a graphics guy -- I know my way around photoshop, but it is very time consuming, as I don't do it regularly; and I don't want to compromise on quality. In addition to trying to fumble with the Stream transitions and figure out what the hell is going on with the GST Arena, I have people asking me to make their flags for their GST team, and I honestly don't have the heart to tell them, "You're probably better off making it yourself".
Granted, I could probe the graphics team for some help, but I literally can't afford for them to tell me "no"; I don't want to put them in that kind of position, on such short notice.
During this time, I was also having trouble getting GST teams to cooperate -- like vote for their preferred bracket method, or give me a list of their GST roster; given that many people can't make it with the GST date change (and I couldn't make the previous date).
These same people were asking me to schedule a tour with them around the GST arena(as I promised), while others were asking me to make changes to the arena.
So if changes were made, I would then be obligated to give the gangs yet another tour of the arena.
To put it simple: It was ridiculously overwhelming. If I knew I'd be doing this GST alone, I would have done it much differently. Before the qualifiers even started, I would have announced a thread stating specifically how the brackets were going to be done, and what gangs can expect to happen once the qualifiers are done. That way everybody would have had at least three weeks to prepare -- gangs would have their rosters way in advance, graphics team would have had time to lend help, we could have had the arena finalized, etc.
I also wouldn't have ousted basing from the competition -- it was literally painful to see the Basers cut from competition, and even more painful to see that they were cut out in place of people who were putting in a half-hearted effort.
After having spent literally my entire weekend on trying to get teams together, brackets, graphics, making appointments with people to walk the GST Arena, and gathering input on the GST arena, I still had much to do. The more input I got, the more work it meant for me to do by myself -- Plus I had people messaging me about the Gang Admin stuff; rewards that they should have gotten at least 6 months ago.
All of this, while knowing in the back of my head that I had a proctored exam Monday night, which I had hardly even looked at, given that, for the three weeks leading up to Anero's drop from the GST team, I dedicated 100% of my free time(not impacting work or family) towards working on Graal -- Doing the qualifiers, assisting with Northwest release, leveling a new base(yeah, I said it
), and now fully organizing a GST.
So there I was, Monday night, frantically trying to cram the information for the proctored Exam (they literally record your screen + tap into your microphone and your camera).
The result wasn't surprising:
That, ladies and gentlemen, is a solid F.
Keep in mind, the lowest grade I've ever gotten on an exam on the University level is a 75% (C).
Fortunately, it's recoverable -- there are two other major exams for this class; and, along with projects, I should be able to skate by with a B, or perhaps even an A. But it will require much effort now.
With that, I cannot afford to put any more time towards Graal for this semester; especially the kind of work that GST requires at this point. If it was a mere "show up on the 22nd and punch in commands, while working a microphone and stream", then I'd be down.
But as you see, there is much more that needs to be done.
As many of you are aware, I'm an accounting student at USF, set to graduate this year (Fall 2017). In order to stay in the accounting program at USF, I need to maintain a 3.0 GPA. I'm currently floating around a 3.50 (which isn't bad at all).
My leave is most likely not permanent. Again - I enjoy playing the game, and lending a helping hand with the staff team any time I can has also been a pleasure of mine. I also love hosting these large-scale events; but not at the cost of my University grades.
Until next time,
Meph
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Originally Posted by imaginary
