Hey there Exiles,

this morning i woke up and read back through much of last night's LS chat. I noticed for a rather extended period of time, two pearlsack holders had a rather vicious argument. It's rather plain to see that little love is lost between these two people, both of which are rather good friends of mine.

That's ok, people have different opinions, ideas and goals. What's not okay is to keep this kind of ongoing argument in LS chat. While it may be LS business to an extent, it is not business that needs to be shared by everyone, this, in the future, needs to be taken into /tells or party chat or whatever, just try not to spam it all over the LS. This has happened before, and i'd imagine it will happen again, I'm just reminding people to please bear in mind that while Exiles is and always will be a free forum to talk, debate, and poke fun - it is not a place to air out dirty laundry.

That having been said, there are some important things that do need to be said, and perhaps i have been remiss in not bringing them up recently.

on ambitions

I think everyone in who bothers playing this game probably has some goals that cannot be reached without the help of others. This is one of the /obvious truths about this game. I think everyone who is, or has been in our linkshell knows that we do try to help, as often as possible - without creating a complex point/reward system. I'd hate to think that Exiles could become a LS that isn't interested in the challanges, fights and rewards that this game has to offer.

To that end, i've never thought ill of anyone who left to pursue a HNMLS or dynamis or whatever challanges are out there that we as a team could not do ourselves. I've always hoped that they would remember that they have a home in exile, and they'd always be welcomed back with open arms. I suspect that i'd always hoped that as the LS matured they'd bring back their knowledge and help us grow to meet some of those challanges together. This then brings up another important point:

on leadership and pearlsacks and loyalty

Exile has been reborn many times during it's duration as linkshell. Leadership has passed 4 times. I'd say that we'd still identify ourselves as the same linkshell that we were those years ago. It's an important distinction, because we've always treated, and yes sometimes abused exile as "everybody's" linkshell. That whoever holds the shell itself holds it in trust, not as a president, king, godhead, or tyrant, but merely as a person who would dedicate themselves to maintaining the integrity of the LS to make sure that what makes us special survives.

When we first recreated the shell, 5 of us chipped in to buy it. that's really how i got started as a sack holder. Since I have become shell holder, i've been more liberal at handing out pealsacks, and i've not ever once recalled one. As a person puts forth time and effort in working with, and for the LS, and they exhibit the attitude and whatnot other sack holders will come to me and recommend a person to receive a pearlsack.

Again, we have no point system, so it is generally taken on the honor system that a person with a pearl sack will put forth that extra effort to help grow, develop and guide the linkshell, both as a whole and the newer members who need someone to help them or teach them, or show them around. I had always thought that a person would wear that Exile sack with pride, as it shows that they had really gone through a lot to do one thing - help their friends. They may benefit, they may not, but they have worked hard to make the linkshell better, stronger, and had fun themselves.

However, people have ambitions, people have their own direction, and there is attrition just as their is new membership. Members come and stay, others go off and find other friends. This happens, and people should feel free to find what they like best and do it, for god's sake this is a game, it's not worth playing if you're not having fun. I have always thought that folks would always feel as though they were welcome back - providing they didn't leave insulting the LS and on being a general ass. So what about those Pearl sack holders? Take a look at the list. These are the people who hold sacks for Exile:

Aydann
Hogie
Piper
Quetre
Ruo
Timofh
Vaudian
Widget
Zelllo
-both formerlybcakes and Zoran have dropped theirs, although cakes still has a pearl.

I would point out that a number of our sack holders are part of another LS, mostly HNMLS's. I do not have a problem with this. However some of our members do, and some of our pearl sack holders do. This is not just my LS, and i'm not going to make my word law - but i think there should be expectations of Pearl Sack holders

1. They should come around often. No I can't tell anyone a % but for crying out loud, you know if you're making a difference, you know if you're an active part or not. If you're not, talk to me, and keep your pearl, a pearl sack is not a medal or a reward for you being a high level person. It is a recognition for hardwork given and the promise of future work.

2. They should recruit. Not just anyone and everyone, but the linkshell should grow, i'm sure many folks would enjoy the kind of friendship and humor that we bring, and for the love of god we can only call tim fat so many times - new jokes {yes please}.

3. They should help. Not all the time, no one can be expected to be the LS bitch. But when feasible, they should help out someone who needs it.

4. Make suggestions. think something could be better? Don't just sit on your thumb and bitch, be the leader that the sack says you are, organize something and make it happen - oh, and this doesn't just have to be for you, you could help organize something for someone else.


on sky and the future

Yes I think one of our goals as a LS is to do some tough stuff too. Exiles should fight the gods someday, just because It's something we've not done together. We should have LS sky farming parties and fights, and maybe when we're ready to do those, we can work out a system of reward. but for now, we need to learn more about this part of the game, as the vast majority of our LS has not participated in this. That's why we need folks like Zelllo and Piper to help lead us in this direction. But I believe that as we start to be able to offer these types of fights and these sorts of challanges that we can help meet some of the ambitions of those members that we have not in the past. And I'm quite sure that those that help and maintain their relationship will enjoy the rewards that come with it - both in pride as a LS and in (with any luck) shiney stuff.

But these are just ideas, and I hope that others have some too, and I want to read them, and we should discuss them.

Fishy the longwinded (o0)


-- Edited by fishy at 13:57, 2005-12-12