DAW2015: I Am TSW

What is DAW?
Dang! it's already Tuesday of Developer Appreciation Week, and other than soliciting posts from my fellow bloggers on Friday, I haven't really done much. I blame the folks that actually pay my wage. Busy, busy day yesterday.

A few years ago, not long after I started blogging, the MMO Gamer Chick brought to my attention the efforts of The Blogger Formerly Known as Scarybooster. He set aside a Week every March to explicitly show Appreciation for the Developers who make our favorite games, and encouraged other bloggers to make similar posts to their blogs. Since then, TBFKaS, has decided to shed his "Bad Boy of the Blogosphere" image, but the spirit of DAW lives on. I hope if you're reading this, you make a post, on whatever soapbox you use, thanking the Devs of your favorite game(s).

Funcom, The Secret World

In the summer of 2012, I played the public beta for a new game, different than any other MMO I'd been involved with, from the setting (Modern-Day Lovecraftian Horror?!) to the character progression system (Take a spin on the Ability Wheel of fortune!). It is perhaps a tribute to the abilities of Ragnar Tornquist, Joel Bylos, and their team that they built a game that thoroughly enthralled me in a fictional genre that does not really appeal to me at all.

I am more attached to my characters in TSW than I am to other characters I spent much more time with. With deep backstories (of my own creation), they move through stories crafted by Joshua "Scrivnomancer" Doetch that are are creepy and wonderful. Romain "Tilty" Amiel and the rest of the TSW dev team have created an astonishingly detailed world, depending in part on our own, but incorporating our legends and myths into a credible cosmos of horror, intrigue, and grand adventure. A realm that is both in the now and firmly rooted in our own often nightmarish folklore.

Thanks to my association with the crew from Beyond the Veil, I have had opportunities to interact with Joel, Scriv, Tilty, and the community managers Laurie "Sezmra" Payne, "Tomium," and (formerly) "Morteia." They are all gracious folks, working hard to bring us a little scary and a lot of fun. Even though I am not currently playing, some of the best times in my life during the past three years—and certainly the best times playing MMOs during the same period—are thanks to these wonderful people and the effort they have made to make my hobby more enjoyable. Damn if I am not going to have to re-up now.

P.S. Belghast, of Tales of the Aggronaut, has made another logo for Developer Appreciation Week. Feel free to use either mine at the top of the post or his when you write your own DAW post.

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