So like Raven, it seems Elv's email somehow ended up in my spam folder which is why I never saw the Lets' Talk thread over at WoC. I just had a quiet several minutes reading it smiling at all the familiar names. I havnt seen some of those names in years So I figured I'd share my little bit.

Like many WoC played an amazing place in my development as a teenager, a gamer and later a writer. So happy to see the community evolve and remain. NWN was an incredible platform, as we all sadly know, nothing like it has ever come since. I havnt touched NWN in years like many. Reading through the thread I loved Urz's statement. NWN helped to birth this community but now it moves beyond any one platform and becomes what its really about. Community, RP, Gaming, Writing and Fantasy/SciFi.

Though we float in and out of our own lives I hope to keep this community a part of my life for as long as I can.

So on that I thought I'd ask this question. Ive learnt bits about many of you over the years, but I thought this would be kinda cool. So how has your life changed since first joining Caenyr and whats happened since?

So......whats the last ten years held for you guys?

Im sitting here trying to remember when I actually joined WoC. I just remember that Urz and I joined within days of each other. NWN was released 2002 so 2002/2003? That was when I was about 20yrs old doing a biomedical science degree. After progressing through original Diablo online and then waiting for Ultima Online to be released into my first actual RP experience. RP was always intermingled with Player Killers and such there. So after an hour playing the single player I found Caenyr and my first real Rp (and it turns out though I didnt realise it at the time) my first writing experience as my first character Cey'larn Dayan, the one who still really lives in my writing world. You know how characters sometimes change you? Well she did alot of good for my psyche

I think I stopped dropping into Chail and the BLI regularly in 2005 after I finished my degree. I ended up spending a year overseas in 2006/7 in India and on a Kibbutz in Israel which is where I discovered all my personal world building writing and Caenyr RP equalled the obvious fact that I liked writing (there was some input by a new mate who was a writer himself).

I came back to Aus and started concentrating on my writing more. Thats when I rejoined Caenyr and invented Cey's sister Nav'liel I think. I tried an evil character at that point. I didnt like it, Im terrible at mean characters. Thats also when I decided to apply for Med School. when I started in 2008. Med was quite an RP wasteland for me. I was so busy and every time I tried to commit to something it just fell apart.

I have an incredibly full MS OneNote on my computer, its my lifeblood. My writing, my stored old writing, my med school notes and now my teaching and research stuff all lives in OneNote. During med school I built a onenote notebook full of writing prompts, pics which inspired me etc. That was my compromise, that even thought I didnt have the mental space to write RP regularly I was doing something in some way creative.

I finished med school in 2011 and 2012 playing intern (I refer to scrubs for the feelings of a medical intern ) plus the start of a big relationship in my life played out like the years before. Only now I was getting inwardly frustrated and so 2013 I decided not to work full time and relearn life away from medicine for awhile.

And that brings me to last year where I started tutoring at university and doing some work as a research assistant on the side. I started my first ever PbP group in 2007 (Played with Ed!). I ran a star wars PbP which fizzled out about 4 months in. Somewhere around the same time in my life I played a Vampire the Masquerade game with Spikey.

Since 2007 I tried to build another PbP group a few times. I had this awesome idea for a storyline and I really wanted to play it out. I tried restarting my star wars game in 2009 and 2011 but as with RP always it was difficult to find players. So last year SW:CtF got started and I got to harrass zeppy for free! That has been my main RP outlet for the past year, I did a creative writing course last year to get my own writing going but Im still learning how to rebalance my life after ramping up so much in med school and as an intern. Im looking at psychiatry training so im hoping I can keep more reasonable hours here on in (compared to those poor surgeons who dont leave the hospital much!)

And thats 10 years of Day (sorry my addition isnt working. Thats 11-12 years) Woops that was long. Anyway love to hear what you guys have been up to over the years

_________________
Previously Dayanim

I think I wrote a similar thing a couple years back for WoC's 10-year, but here it is again.

I joined WoC in Nov 2002. For many years I had heard of all these online fantasy games (Everquest, Ultima, Diablo, etc) that folks were into. I had always intended on checking one out, but was loathe to spend the actual cash. Plus, I had been a tabletop gamer for a decade previous, so if it didn't work like "D&D", I wasn't too motivated.

Then a WoC'er by the handle Harridan told me of this game called Neverwinter Nights that was basically D&D 3.0, with online gaming components. It was just what I had been looking for. So, that November, I picked up a copy of the game. I played the Campaign just enough to get a feel for the controls and then joined WoC. (Yep, I bought NWN just to join WoC.)

My first char was an Elven Arcane Archer before PrCs were included. Embrenestis Laurentian. I ended up rebuilding him as such a few years ago. But this first attempt I was crap at builds and leveling, so he didn't make it past, I think, level 12 or so. My next char was more lasting. Evil Priest/Barbarian Duregar named Brick OrcRender. He ended up in the KRL and I played him until the big Server Crash of '03.

After that, I didn't log into WoC much, spending most of my time on other PWs... like Cornflower's Glorwing, or later Dawn of New Magic (by a former GW'er). Those PWs were good, but didn't really have the same "feel" as WoC. They lacked something about this community, and to this day I can't honestly say what that is. I stuck around on those PWs for about a year.

2003 was a big year of change for me... not only because I was "testing the waters" of other PWs, but because of many other changes. I got married in the summer, my wife graduated college, and we got two cats. Then in August, there was one week that was a complete game changer. I lost my car (dropped transmission), my job (without car couldn't drive the 50 miles to work), and apartment (without employment couldn't pay rent). We ended up packing our belongings in a U-Haul and with my very last $100, drove to my parent's house. We stayed there for a little more than a year.

In 2004 I joined the USAF. Training took me away from the game, and I ended up uninstalling NWN for a long while. More than a year. Mainly because I realized I was way too addicted to it and wasn't doing my growing family any favors. (my marriage almost didn't happen because of NWN, and my first child was born in '05.)

Late 2005 I decided to reinstall NWN and put limitations on myself. I'd only play certain days at certain hours. I still abide by that, for the most part, though interweb surfing still tends to get carried away sometimes. I was in Japan at the time, having arrived Oct '04.

When I reinstalled the game, I returned to WoC and made new characters. One, Red Thunderaxe, you all should know by now as the new NPC proprietor of the BLI. He was my longest lasting character, having been built before Gretch and being played some after her death. Gretch was also built around this time, based on a successful build from Glorwing. I always enjoy subverting the min/max tendency of builds which is where my idea for a halforc sorceress came from. And to make her a Verinian, well, that was just perfect. She was arguably my most successful character, and my most loved. Even though she was crap in combat (re: anti-min/max), but her RP was very memorable. In fact, the multitude of RP threads that dealt with the events leading up to and following her death are some of my most prized memories.

But I'm getting ahead of myself.

2006 I moved again, this time to North Carolina. I had another 6 months of training that took me away from NWN. But when I came back, Gretch became my main focus. I got her into the Arcanum, and eventually rose to Guild Leader (I don't remember what year that happened though.)

'07 I left the Air Force due to politics. There's a long story behind that, but this post is becoming a wall of text already, so I'll skip it. Anyway, the job hunt wasn't going well, so we ended up foreclosing on the house. Luckily, I landed my current job mid 2008, so we were able to move back up north before the bank took possession of the property. After a short stay at my parents (again), we found an apartment. We've moved once more since then, but this'll be our last one until the final move into a 30-year house.

'09 I became a DM, so I had to give up the GL-ship of the Arcanum. That's what prompted me to write Gretch's death. (That, and felt it was time to let her go. Though I do still miss her.)

Since then I've had a few other characters. Notably the rebuild of Embrenestis Laurentian, a female Dwarf (using a male toon) that wasn't as successful as I had hoped, and Mallister, my super-double-secret Torn Shadows mage. He was a lot of fun, and not just because of his infiltration RP in the Arcanum. I put a lot of secrecy behind him; not only a new GSID, but new forum accounts and everything. I was very careful to separate "zeppy" from him when I replied to posts and/or logged into WoC. I think about 5 to 10 people ended up knowing who I was.

After that, I built a couple new characters I currently play (on occasion). John Thomas, my Innuendo Machine and member of the CAF. And Raych'ell, introverted and socially awkward Draconic Initiate.

And now, I've applied and interviewed for a meteorologist position in South Carolina. It's a really cool job involving Antarctic support. Still waiting to hear back whether I've got it or not, but because it's government-related, it might take a while.

TL;DR:

WoC changes:
- Joined '02, left '03-04, re-joined '05, GL, Staff, Admin, then left all Staff positions in '11 or '12. Now I'm just a player like everyone else.
- Roughly 8 characters.

Life changes:
- got married
- had two kids
- joined and left the USAF
- had financial ups and downs

So, anyway, that's my story.

I joined 2004, when I was 16.

I got expelled from a school and my parents decided to send me to Montana to fix my behavior. I'd admit to having a meth addiction and overcome it (9 years clean and sober.) After graduating from Spring Creek Lodge (2006) I came home and prepared myself for college. Once at college I partied and had a great time enjoying freedom, at the expense of my grades. After going home and working for a bit, I went back to College and started trying. (2007)

in 2008 I met Beckee (Moochy) and we began talking almost every day. In 2009 I asked her to be my girlfriend and she said yes. in 2010 I had a bad quarter (got all Cs) and due to my first two quarters at the university, they put me on academic suspension, and I moved back home. I moved around trying to find a job, which lead me to Canada where I lived for two months. The Red Robin up there offered to hire me as a way fro me to get a green card. Unfortunately the government said no, there was no reason to hire someone from the states. So I came back home. Shortly after i moved to Ohio and moved in with another person I met here: Grimm (Dissideous Rex/ Daemon Zej.) I got a job at Chipotle there and things were fine.

Beckee started really feeling the distance though and said I couldn't stay that far away from her if we were going to continue dating. So I transferred to a Chipotle near home in Washington. I started going to school at Bellevue College and I got my own place with a friend. We lived together for two years, in that time I began turning my life around and turning my grades around. Beckee and I broke up near the end of it, and during a talk with my dad about the situation, he helped me realize I wanted to get into public speaking.

A relationship, a couple random dates, and six months later Beckee and I got back together. it's 2013 now and I had to move out of the apartment because my roommate had decided him and his girlfriend were ready to live together on their own. I got another place and Beckee and i tookt he summer to try dating again. By september she wanted to be a couple again, and Grimm had moved out to live with me this time. We were planning on getting a place together, and found one. I moved in with my mo m during the transition to the new place. However, he got a call from his old college offering to pay for the rest of his education (he's only a handful of credits away from graduating) but he had to go back home. This put a damper on our plans and left me at my mom's without a plan B. However, it's understandable, and we're still friends.

It's 2014 now and I am working as a MC for the biggest entertainment group in Washington. I perform at weddings, bar/bat mitzvahs, and in a couple weeks I'll be performing at graduation ceremonies. I have plans to spend two weeks in England with Beckee and meet her family. I also have plans to get a house with four other guys. The rent would come down to about 200 a month for each of us.

I think we should put pictures of us when we first joiend vs now. Would be fun to see how much time has changed us.

don't have any pictures of me from 2004, but I found one of me from 2006:

https://scontent-b-sea.xx.fbcdn.net/hph ... 5685_n.jpg


and here's me from the last time I visited Canada with Beckee:

https://scontent-b-sea.xx.fbcdn.net/hph ... 4116_n.jpg

If I recall correctly, I came on the forums and poked around, but didn't get really active until maybe January of 2005. So, I've only got about 9.5 years here. While I've had a few alts (Bav'Small, Ginawa, Karl, Pierce) I would always come back to playing Hiroshu. Since I've been here I've had two kids, crashed a motorcycle, founded and disbanded a motorcycle riding club, renewed my interest in martial arts, earned a black belt, picked up the guitar again, got good and joined a band, been promoted a few times at work, and that's the big stuff I can think of.

Basically, life got so busy that I had less and less time to game. It became to much trouble to log in to the server and then be interrupted, so I gradually drifted away. Most of the people that played characters important to Hiroshu moved on, giving me less incentive to return.

So here I am, pretty pleased that we have an expanded place to talk about more than just the mod.