Secret Diary of a Mud Player

[Thraxas]

I wake up in the morning and breakfast, check my email and diary then drive to work.

Mostly mornings are spent in meetings with customers and potentials.
Lunch comes and most days I log in to Sloth vote and spend some time over coffee and sandwiches building new scripts, modifying existing scripts, checking a few eq mobs and maybe some light coin running.
Afternoons I spend working with my team on technical solutions and providing guidance and support.
End of the day I grab one last coffee tag those emails that still require attention the following day or that evening and drive home maybe stopping by the shops on the way.

Once home I do the housework, make tomorrows sandwiches, cook something for dinner which I normally carry into the study put some music on, eating while I log into both of my pcs.
Its been a long hard day, I'm still receiving and replying to work emails on one machine while on the other I log in and look for those three little words to greet me and bring a smile to my lips "Chop XP Open"

This is my relaxation time, the time when I choose what to do and should be doing something I enjoy and makes me happy ... what I dont understand is why then I sit at a keyboard watching my well honed scripts heal, blast, enter portals, use gateways, go to sleep, man back, recast aegis while someone 3000 miles away dictates to me when and for how long I can go to the bathroom, how many cups of coffee I'm allowed to drink and at what frequency, (somehow this remote control seems slightly perverse) I dont understand it but I do it ... the sense of progression and achievement it brings with the prospect of each new x40 seems somehow to egg me on and keep me going.

It somehow dosent seem enough, I think I'm a heavily addicted mudder spending most lunchtimes and most of every evening logged in and joining groups where I can, but my paltry 1bill / week if I push it (paltry in comparison to the 4-5bill / week I see some manage regularly) is now getting me a level every 10 days, in a couple of months if I keep that up (and I know I wont) this will slow to a level every 20 days ... one level every 20 days and thats what justifies me allowing someone so far away to dictate when, how far and for how long I can spend outside of the study in my own house ... I've got to be mad to be playing this game, to be volunteering for this sort of control order that would seem inhumane if enforced on the most unruly delinquent or suspected terrorist, but then perhaps I am ... mad I mean not a terrorist.

Dont get me wrong I'm not complaining about any aspect of the game, or asking for any changes, generally speaking I think it all seems to be working ok right now, the worst aspects for me right now are not the game mechanics at all.

Hopefully I'll see you all later when I log in and see that lovingly typed phrase "XP Open" to which I will undoubtedly respond "Yah! Sailing" then spend the next 3-6 hours crossing my legs and hoping if I'm lucky to get 10% closer to my next level.

Thraxas