Do You Ever Wonder Why We're Here?

[magistrasa]

Hello, I'm the magistrasa. I'm not playing Arelith right now, but I've been on this server for somewhere around 5 years now. The server and I have a complicated relationship sometimes, but I'm pretty sure I like it here. I'm not in a position to be able to play on it at the moment (and likely won't meaningfully participate in the community here for the next 3-5 years), but lately I find myself yearning for a return. And that's funny, I think, because I - like many of us - spend a lot of time complaining about the server and telling people I wish I wasn't on it when I am an active player. Sure, those things are usually said as some cheeky, facetious joke, but sometimes with serious feelings of bitterness and grievance. Yet now that I'm out, I fondly dream of the day come back in. It brings to sharp awareness the reasons why I play and enjoy Arelith, and what I'm trying to accomplish while I'm actively playing. When I'm logging in, I am seeking the fulfillment of various objectives that can't easily be done anywhere else (and frankly can't easily be done in Arelith, but that's what makes success so satisfying).

One of those objectives is to discover myself through the act of embodying a new personality archetype, exposing myself to the emotional extremes of the often fraught relationships of an Arelithian lifestyle in a safe and controlled environment, coming away from that with some new understanding of my own mental fortitude and habits of coping and resolving conflict. In essence, I play Arelith as a form of exposure therapy to experience and overcome no-stakes emotional stress as a way to train myself to handle stress in the real world.

Another objective that perhaps rivals the previous in personal significance is that I also aim to help others learn about themselves and the world through our interactions. I find it extremely fulfilling to challenge others' perceptions and play some role in aiding their development and growth, even though the majority of our interactions occur through the filter of roleplay. Being able to touch upon some nugget of truth in this game of make-believe almost feels more powerful because of its unexpected serendipity. As a byproduct of these poignant shared experiences, I've made some wonderful lifelong friends along the way.

The third major reason I come back to Arelith is for artistic inspiration. I'm never more productive as a writer or illustrator as when I'm playing on this server. Here we host a confluence of creativity, a meeting of the world's most interesting and diverse and narrative-driven minds, and every time I boot up the launcher, I am looking for something to inspire me. Rarely do I come away empty-handed.

No one does anything for no reason - and if you're playing Arelith, I imagine that's an exceedingly true statement. Despite our developers' best efforts, I don't think it's controversial to say the game isn't exactly "fun" as a solo experience. So there's gotta be something else bringing us all to the table. Yes, "roleplay" is the simple answer, but that's surface level. There's a deeper "why" behind each person's presence here, something we're each looking to do with our time whenever we log in. And as I consider my reasons for playing, I find myself wondering about you. So I want to point the question your way. Not just because I'm curious, but because I bet it'll be useful for you to put the answer into words.

So, why are you here?
What are you trying to accomplish?
What is Arelith offering you?
What do you get here that you can't seem to find anywhere else?

[Amateur Hour]

The reason I came to Arelith and stayed more than ten minutes was because I'm an extrovert with an immunocompromised family member in a time of COVID. Arelith gives me a chance to get my "people time" without risking the life of someone I love. I've noticed that I find myself not having nearly as much fun in-game if I'm spending tons of time in solo endeavors (gathering materials for crafting, solo writwork, sitting in a corner and writing descriptions) rather than communicating with people, and it's something I have to stay cognizant of because I burn out fast otherwise.

Beyond that, Arelith gives me the opportunity to put obscure lore under a magnifying glass. For example, Maethiel's backstory was entirely inspired by the question "what happens to a moonblade family if that moonblade's purpose probably can't ever be satisfied?", and that kept me busy for nearly two years. My current main character heavily focuses on how being fully dedicated to certain gods is going to heavily impact every aspect of your life - how you dress, how you eat, how you speak, who you can get close to - and I expect I'll eventually get to explore the question of "what happens when you literally can't live that lifestyle any longer?" All of the character concepts that appeal to me have something like that in them.

EDIT TO ADD: Another aspect that's very particular to Arelith is the ability to explore stories in the Forgotten Realms fantasy setting that don't always come back around to combat. There are many things tabletop D&D can do, but it's at the end of the day the descendant of a dungeon-crawler; everything boils down to fighting or trying to come up with clever ways to get out of fighting. Most of my fondest memories on Arelith are of palace-intrigue style plots where there's jockeying for power, the kind of thing that's often the backdrop for your average tabletop campaign rather than the main plot. I've gotten the same kind of thing from a low-combat GURPS game, but it's incredibly hard to find a GURPS game that's low-combat with such a richly-defined setting.

[Aradin]

I've been here on and off for several years. The reason I initially stuck around: Playing D&D once a week with friends for a few hours wasn't satisfying my hunger for that kind of game. I happened upon Arelith and it was...not quite the same, of course. But it shared enough elements that those creative parts of my brain were happy - the storytelling, the roleplaying a character, the depth of the setting, the replayability with different character concepts.

The same rings true today. There are Arelith-specific things I've come to enjoy that don't exist in traditional D&D, like running writs and engaging with the crafting system & the economy, but at the end of the day I still like coming here to tell collaborative stories. I also have to remind myself sometimes that's all I should be doing.
I've learned over the years that, at least for me, it's dangerous just to exist here. It's dangerous because it's really easy. I think we all have some kind of power fantasy, insofar as existing in a magical world where you can do incredible things and be an important person is a nice break from reality. But that 'second life' can be addicting; suddenly I'm dumping tons of hours into this game to do...what? Just exist. Or, depending on my character's position, to work. The spreadsheets I maintained while playing a trade minister character - yikes! Not to say I didn't enjoy doing it. But that was all time that I feel could have been better spent with my friends and family in real life, or getting exercise, or doing other hobbies. The value of this place, for me, is being a place to share in some really great roleplay and storytelling. My best Arelith experiences have been when my character enters the world with a narrative to pursue, pursues it, and then I roll the character. Boom. Done. Don't look back. Or at least shelve them until the next phase of their story and go do something else with my life. A rule I try to stick to nowadays is never to log in just to log in. Always have something to do, somewhere to go. And if I don't? Don't log in until I do. It's really helped me keep a healthy life-game balance.

All that to say is that if I ever wonder why I'm here, it's to tell collaborative stories. And what an incredible medium Arelith is to do that!

[Cthuletta]

I've been on Arelith for coming up on three years, but I've played on Neverwinter Nights servers since 2004. Was even on Arelith a short time before 'the split™', but given it was so long ago, I don't really count those few short weeks as being part of my 'Arelith Experience'.
Back then, I was a very lonely kid, who ended up homeschooled due to some other factors, and playing on NWN gave me social interaction that otherwise just was not accessible. So I STARTED, because of that.

Now, I still play Arelith, about 20 years later, as an adult with some pretty extreme social anxiety. I was getting better with it, but Covid hit, and lockdowns happened, then my son came into the picture. One thing all my characters tend to have in common is that they are social butterflies, very outgoing and love being around people- this is something I really struggle with in real life, but am able to emulate in RP. I even tried at one point to make a character who was more like myself; shy, had trouble speaking, and hid from people, which was much harder to portray given I already deal with that and didn't enjoy playing something so familiar. But playing a confident socialite in RP feels like a safer place to step out of that comfort zone and work on it, telling stories, making friends, and then being part of this gaming community. It's still being 'social', and making those connections with others who have the same interests as me helps a lot. Plus, I've made some really wonderful friends who I see as being life-long buddies this way. When I feel overwhelmed, I can just log off, step away, take a breath, remind myself that this is, in fact, a game. That actually taught me how to deal with some RL situations when I was a bit younger.
People are fascinating to me, and while I'm kindof... scared of them, Arelith satisfies that part of me that wants to learn about people, whether that be a written character I can interact with in a story, or making a friend on the OOC side of things. It's also helped with conflict-resolution, as I am hugely anti-conflict and afraid of it as a person, but my characters face it plenty, one of them even by design by being a bit of a fireball with a temper. Weird method of exposure therapy to get over the anxiety, I guess, but it worked.

On a more minor note, I'm also an artist. I love drawing people's OCs, and my own. I have a very big interest in comics, and I find things that happen in RP to be very inspiring. While I've never made an Arelith comic, I have a list written out of ideas for short strips from IC occurrences that I'd like to do some day, when I feel confident enough to actually do them. Who knows, maybe sharing that thought will kick my butt into actually drawing them?
Thanks for asking, and I look forward to reading all the replies in this thread! Kinda nice and really interesting to get to know everyone's reasonings for being a bunch of nerds together.

[The GrumpyCat]

I hate sports.

Ok that's not entirely true.

I hate team sports. Which, by nature, a lot of sports are.

Ultimatly it comes from my days in school, where - as someone not fast, or coordinated, or very athletic, I was always amongst the last to be picked, and who didn't tend to do very well. I was always 'letting the team down' I was the drag on all the others. The thing you put up with. It's an awful feeling, knowing you're the thing that drags everyone down in an activity, the least wanted person. It's one of the worst feelings there is, for me.

I don't like multiplayer online games.

Ok - that's not entirely true either.

I like MOD's just fine... if you can enjoy the majority of their content as a single player. The ones I've tried I've very much enjoyed as that - just a single player game, with optional extras if you want to do a few group acitivites.

I've done some MOD group activities with close friends - that's fine. But I can't say I love the idea of walking up to complete strangers and saying 'Hay, help me out with this?' - I'm not very good with numbers or stats really. I can't go 'if I do x y z and v then divide by the square sume of C and go to area P then I stand a 0.113% of being extra murdery!' I don't have the most amazing reflexes. Power gaming has never really been my 'thing'. I fully respect those who do enjoy it, in the same way that I fully respect those who are excellent athletes - but for me it's both dull and just not my wheelhouse. So again - like team sports, most big online games I feel like a drag on the people I'm playing with.

I DO like tabletop roleplaying.
I'm good with words, I like characters, I like story, I like to think that I'm relitivly inteligent (Ok no, no not super smart or anything, but like, my int score would be a solid 12, at least). I'm empathetic. I like interacting with people - especially in a relitivly safe, fictitious setting. Because I'm playing a character too, I can be a bit more fiesty than I am in real life. Saying and doing things (to within reason) that I normally wouldn't. I can contribute things to the 'team' as we work together that are useful. Sure I may not be able to make the absolutly best peak tacticle moves with a power built uber monster, but I can make up for it by coming up with cool solutions to problems, playing a fun character, and making a good story. Best of all, there isn't 'winners and loosers' neccesary, there's not compeititon, or being 'the best.' It's just a group of folks, coming together, to tell a good story.

I do Love arelith.

It's like the above, but different, It's (theoretically) avaialbe 24/7. It's the opporunity to make a fun character, tell a cool story, be /useful/ to people and /liked/ by people, for things other than just being able to have amazing relfexes, or number crunch.

I think that's one thing that draws people back, honestly.

I was talking to my husband about this, last night. The thing about most online games, is without the roleplay aspect the main reason to keep playing is to be well... 'good' at it, in a certain way. To be able to do the aformentioned number crunching, or have cool reflexes to do the pvp, or raw time to just grind constantly or something. Or, for many online games, just having the cash to sink in to buy the stuff.

Arelith on the other hand - the draw isn't those things, it's the feeling for me of being liked and wanted because i can make a good story, and help others with theirs, and just... make fun characters. And of course those three things are immencly fun in their own right, and draws in and of themselves, but I think the sense of community it builds - at least theoetically, is unlike a lot of others in the gaming space. So... yeah. That's me.

[Royal Blood]

I enjoy narratives and the free flow of them available on Arelith is always amazing. I keep a bunch of screenshots of moments where characters just click and the dialog, even like years later, is still as poetic or like beautiful as it was then and evokes the same emotions of like remembering those characters and the story at that time.

I was just re-reading an IC argument between characters and the quality of writing was just so vivid with action and reactions and the emotions made plain. I just super play for those moments.

As someone else mentioned, the relationship with the server can be complicated... But it is truly wonderful players who invest deeply in their characters that inspires me to keep playing and the narratives they come up with.

I remember reading like when I was much younger. And just the emotions you could like feel from a book. And Arelith's players manage those here too it can be so compelling! Arelith is a big novel that is written like everyday.

[Old Lies Die Harder]

An ex sharran find herself on the outs with and abandoned by the people who she thought she could find redemption in. At her most vulnerable, she speaks to the one ally who persisted in displayed empathy towards her. In that conversation, her ally reveals a literally monstrous nature.

A quiet hunter surrenders a powerful bow, a badge of office, when the leader of her new home rejects her. An elven friend seeks her out and gifts her something similar - a weapon of elven craftsmanship as a parting gift.

A bitter mercenary is struck by an errant spell from a charming man beholden to unseelie powers. When she awakens from the magical sleep, she is enraged and begins to strangle him. He pleads for his life, the mercenary listens, and the two become friends.

A broken exile from the ruined light keep joins the Cordor Guard. Though there are some people he never meets, he is observed offering compassion and understanding to even the unrepentant criminals in Cordor's jails.

A community comes together after a powerful paladin falls to and is eaten by a dragon, and puts together a memorial in his honor.

Stone sphynxes bearing riddles dot the landscape. Though many have been lost to time, still some persist. Though their creator may be long forgotten by many characters, their persistence in the landscape evokes memories of the character for the players who recall her.

An aging tiefling makes a request of her friend: to permanently embed a memory in ink in her flesh. Her friend is honored, and the tiefling bears the artistry with her until she dies.

A portrait hangs in the distant reaches of some less-traveled place. A scrawl on the back of the painting frame names the faces that are present, but those shown have long since departed or died and leave behind a mystery of their lives, and questions that can be answered at least in part by records that persist. Or perhaps it isn't a painting, but a statue. Or a collection of headstones by a hidden waterfall.

These moments of adversity, camaraderie, and shifting relationship narratives and the evidence they leave upon the server when stories are told in good faith are why I keep returning.

[LurkingShadow]

Simply put, escapism in a game that I soon spent 2/3 of my life in, on and off.

[PowerWord Rage]

Nothing complicated...pretty simple....
Because the game is fun and I continue to enjoy playing.
Hence, simple as that.
A single word - Joy.

[Nurel]

I started playing on PWs back when NwN was released and the first online communities began springing to life.

It was great, as a teen, to have an environment where you could "play DnD on demand" which me and my friends loved at the time, but didn't have the means to indulge in as much as we wanted. It was an awesome journey throughout my mid-late teens. It was just revolutionary, this phenomenon that was NwN, a completely community driven thing where players just went above and beyond creating games within the game and banding together to make even greater things for all to enjoy (The PRC Consortium).

Flash forward a 1.5decade later, I was finding myself playing more and more games from my childhood years. First, it was classic WoW, then Diablo and Diablo II (though I never actually stopped playing those, I still revisit them once in a blue moon), until inevitably I found out NwN is still going strong and even has a new publisher and an Enhanced Edition 100% compatible with modern operating systems. Then you have the Steam Workshops and an automated way to install HAKs without any fuss? This is just dreamlike, if you consider what a nightmare it was to install the HAKs required to play on your favorite servers, and even worse to update to new versions etc.

So I've been here since, because Arelith is a great place to play in. I always try to visit other servers too and see what they have to offer. Its somewhat sad that the playerbase is but a fraction of what it used to be, but when put into perspective its just amazing that a game like this is still going strong with such momentum, still being loved and cared for by the community.

I guess its my love for the game, the community and what it represents that keeps me playing. They really do not make them like this anymore.

PS: Is it a coincidence that the first graphical multiplayer game /ever created/ in digital history was called Neverwinter Nights, and that the game we play and love so much for decades upon decades, is its worthy successor? I like to think that it is not.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neverwint ... ideo_game)

[Kuma]

They won't let me leave

[In Sorrow We Trust]

I'm trapped here with Kuma

please free me

[xanrael]

A few others have spoken of similar, I'll take it a step further.

My joy is in the occasional cool unscripted scenes that can emerge from role play, where it is unclear how the scene will resolve until the climax. I think elements of tension, conflict, and stakes are common, though it doesn't have to involve actual combat.

I care about larger plots only so far as they can act as fuel for these scenes. Similar for mechanics. For example, I remember when Negative Energy Flood was released and I thought "I bet I could convert an area to zombie critters as part of the 'props' for a scene. Now what build can spam it easily and still be 'viable'?"

[Dr. B]

Because it's fun. Also, because I'm trying to work through unresolved infant traumas concerning a libinal fixation on my mother. Clearly.

[Edens_Fall]

To escape reality and have fun!

Arelith is a great place to share stories and socialize. Even more so as the older I get the harder it is to do so IRL. Socialize thats is!

[chris a gogo]

Lets see.
I started playing before they released any DLC, started online with pratnix server which was a grind fest with almost no role play but lots of fun, spent alot of time on antiworld, then found a low level role play server CoA, which was great and really got me back into role playing.
Some of the people i chatted with and played with on CoA suggested I give Arelith a try, so i did played here while tisen was playing scar goran bloodletter, and spruce goose got me into the elven faction back then.
But like everything real life gets complicated, jobs change, kids arrive and you have to put playing games on hold, so i dropped out and got on with it.
Kids got older I got them playing NwN both here and other servers one still plays here from time to time.
I split my time between a couple of servers and when CoA got shredded by some terrible DM direction I came here full time.
Not looked back really i can't play as much as i'd like to but I still come back, maybe it's the feeling when ive done a dungeon with a new player/ character and they send me a tell saying how much they enjoyed it.
I may never meet that character again as my play times are so erratic, but does make me glad that another person enjoyed my characters company even if only for an hour.

[RedGiant]

Ah, the classics...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-UKzwpYtMJk

[IAmSwampFoot]

"Why are you here?"
Arelith affords me the opportunity to step away from myself and step into a character that experiences his world differently than I experience my own. This teaches me tolerance of people that may not share my own ideals as my characters, by proxy, must live alongside some that, likewise, may not share my character's ideals. In game this leads to both conflict and compromise. Such role play can be a guide to compromise in everyday life.

":What are you trying to accomplish?"
The easy answer is "nothing in particular".

The harder answer is to be remembered on the server. Something I have found after much more than a decade I've not been able to do in any of my characters. I play my characters as best I can according to their alignment, class, and stature in the settlement that they are a part of. Somehow, no one remembers my characters. I've had a Knight of Myon, a Sheriff of Bendir (before the rank of Hawk was a thing) and a Counceller of Cordor. One of my characters rose to lead the Waymen of Wharftown before it's fall. No one knows any of their names. I could name many characters that most have heard of, all of whom I've played with. Somehow my characters are forgotten despite their close ties.

"What is Arelith offering you?"
Arelith offers an escape. A world beyond the reality that we all live that we may or may not be satisfied with. It allows us to be more than we are, or less than we are. Personally, Arelith offers insight. By playing different characters I can learn tolerance of different people. This is not as complicated as one might think. I grew up in a biased house hold (albeit one that was not overt in it's bias) and through my adulthood had to relearn things that I was taught by incorrect stereotypes.

"What do you get here that you can't seem to find anywhere else?"
First is the role play experience. As alluded to before, there are characters that are remembered from years past that still shape the politics of Arelith. This adds to consistency between the various settlements and their leaders.
Add to this the respect between players. If, say I am uncomfortable with a certain angle of role play (for instance playing a slave), a short message explaining your reluctance to RP such a role most likely will change the course of the story. Players here care more about story (and a player's role in it) than looking like a winner (although, PVP is still a min/max game).

[Borin Drakkmurl]

Somehow my characters are forgotten despite their close ties.

I still remember Amand. Fondly.

As for this topic...

I found Arelith back in 06 when I was really in need of escapism from the real world. I had also been a long time fan of fantasy novels and had always wanted to try DnD, but it just wasn't a thing where I lived. Arelith provided all of that, and more.

It's insane, now that I think about it, just how this server was a big part of my life for so long. Still today, as things have changed drasticaly, for the better, in my life, and I have not really played for over a couple of years, I still find myself stalking these forums or visiting Discord every so often. Just to see how things are going, or just to see words written by familiar names.

Because I miss a lot of people i've spent my time with here. People I have never even met in real life, but that pop into my mind here and there. And I certainly miss a lot of the moments I was able to experience while playing this game.

Arelith is an insane, sometimes unhealthy habit, but damn do I still love it.

[Mattamue]

Took a break and I'll probably never come back as long as slavery is a thing.

[Babylon System is the Vampire]

I don't play all year long, sometimes I have taken years off, but NwN has been a game on my rotation for going on two decades now. Why? I think if I had to narrow it down its the potential. I'm really big on strategy games, and NwN has the potential to be the greatest strategy game of all time, and the closest a server has been in my experience to that potential is Arelith. Between the player base size and the multiple settlements this game could be the greatest king of the mountain game of all time, with folks scheming against and with each other for more political power until someone reaches the upper echelons of arelithian society only to eventually be torn down by the next power-hungry guy. Mind you, I don't think anyone else is playing that game besides me, not the players and not the admins, so it does always end up falling well short of said potential. But that tends to be the impulse that keeps me coming back.

There are some things that actively keep me from coming back as soon as I can these days as well, and I thought I might share that too.

1) The Social Aspect. I actually really like being social and talking to folks in the real world, and in game I am generally a very social player, unafraid to push myself into the middle of whatever if that's what strikes my fancy in the moment. But while I have had plenty of great conversations on discord with people I would have not have had the opportunity to get their perspective without our arelith connection, there is a feeling of peeking behind the curtain. This wouldn't be an issue if so many players these days didn't essentially play an avatar of themselves on arelith, but since they do and discord gives insight to that personality behind the character, it's hard to unsee at this point. I've said this before, but when I return next time, I am going to make a concentrated effort not to be as discord heavy with people I am playing with. Wish me luck!

2) Combat orientated pvp. I love conflict. Sometimes conflict leads to your character getting killed. That however is way different than how pvp tends to play out on Arelith, and often it seems like instead of combat pvp being part of the story the story is actually the part that serves to lead to pvp. This isn't everyone, in fact I think it's the minority of players, but winning lots of pvp brings you what passes for political capital on arelith at a far faster clip than say plotting and scheming, and therefore becomes a big part of the game to anyone who wants to get involved with the nitty gritty. I know that sounds like judgement, but it's not. If people like a thing I don't and I'm the only one who doesn't, that's a me thing not a Arelith thing.

So, to end on something positive, since I did one thing that keeps me coming back that is destined for let down and two things that are actively negative....I am certain that no matter what I will always come back to play a wizard and take on the new pve options. Wizards may have been nerfed to the ground as far as pvp goes, something even I see as a little tragic since wizards are the iconic powerhouses of D&D at least in my mind, but it's always fun to beat up on the ai with different strategies, and wizards have a whole swath of spells i haven't even tried. I'm sure that will keep me coming back for years to come, even if all else falls short for me.

[EnigmaticSpirit]

• So, why are you here?
  Ex boyfriend of mine used to play. He said the words guaranteed to get me to try anything. "I dunno, playing a drow is pretty hard..."

• What are you trying to accomplish?
  Telling stories, hanging with cool people, puns, bad D&D jokes and the occasional deep thought-provoking question.

• What is Arelith offering you?
  I am a cripple on a stick, and a nerd. There are very few nerds where I'm at. This gets me my roleplay fix without having to leave the house.

• What do you get here that you can't seem to find anywhere else?
  The quality of the roleplay has always been outstanding. And there's always some hidden treasure of an RPer ready to pop out of the woodwork and surprise me.

[D4wN]

There are a few reasons why I am drawn to Arelith as much as I am and why I play as much as I do.

For the past several years I have experienced tremendous hardships. Especially this year and last year have been very rough with several deaths in the family and major changes in my real life that has caused me a lot of stress and anxiety. Arelith helps me forget about my worries, it helps me to cope with things in a controlled manner without having my thoughts get the better of me and drawing me into a dark place I don't want to be. My friends on this server have helped me a great deal in working through RL issues and getting the support I needed. Certainly an escapism, and I'm not saying it's healthy necessarily, but right now it helps me a lot.

Another reason is that Arelith allows me to have an outlet for my creativity as I create and co-create numerous stories across various characters. I absolutely adore giving other people plotlines and helping them develop their characters. Even if that means giving them a character to hate and becoming the target of many. My characters almost tend to end up like NPCs just giving out tasks and quests to people around me and I've really come to enjoy doing that.

Thus, what I try to accomplish is creating a safe place for people to find a friend in me and to enjoy interactions with my characters as much as possible (I get not everyone is into the same play style and that's okay too!)

I also happen to be a major introvert but when I play Arelith, I somehow seem to get out of my shell and turn into an extrovert. I absolutely love getting to know many people ICly and OOCly and learning their stories. This server and game truly give me my social fix in a protected environment. And best of all, I make a lot of new RL friends and get to see parts of the world due to this. I have already travelled to places to meet up with people I met over NWN.

What I get here that I can't get anywhere else? Friends for life, the opportunity to travel to world to meet said friends and a sense of community playing with people who enjoy doing what I do.

[The First Vicar]

Hello, I'm the magistrasa. I'm not playing Arelith right now, but I've been on this server for somewhere around 5 years now. The server and I have a complicated relationship sometimes, but I'm pretty sure I like it here. I'm not in a position to be able to play on it at the moment (and likely won't meaningfully participate in the community here for the next 3-5 years), but lately I find myself yearning for a return. And that's funny, I think, because I - like many of us - spend a lot of time complaining about the server and telling people I wish I wasn't on it when I am an active player. Sure, those things are usually said as some cheeky, facetious joke, but sometimes with serious feelings of bitterness and grievance. Yet now that I'm out, I fondly dream of the day come back in. It brings to sharp awareness the reasons why I play and enjoy Arelith, and what I'm trying to accomplish while I'm actively playing. When I'm logging in, I am seeking the fulfillment of various objectives that can't easily be done anywhere else (and frankly can't easily be done in Arelith, but that's what makes success so satisfying).

One of those objectives is to discover myself through the act of embodying a new personality archetype, exposing myself to the emotional extremes of the often fraught relationships of an Arelithian lifestyle in a safe and controlled environment, coming away from that with some new understanding of my own mental fortitude and habits of coping and resolving conflict. In essence, I play Arelith as a form of exposure therapy to experience and overcome no-stakes emotional stress as a way to train myself to handle stress in the real world.

Another objective that perhaps rivals the previous in personal significance is that I also aim to help others learn about themselves and the world through our interactions. I find it extremely fulfilling to challenge others' perceptions and play some role in aiding their development and growth, even though the majority of our interactions occur through the filter of roleplay. Being able to touch upon some nugget of truth in this game of make-believe almost feels more powerful because of its unexpected serendipity. As a byproduct of these poignant shared experiences, I've made some wonderful lifelong friends along the way.

The third major reason I come back to Arelith is for artistic inspiration. I'm never more productive as a writer or illustrator as when I'm playing on this server. Here we host a confluence of creativity, a meeting of the world's most interesting and diverse and narrative-driven minds, and every time I boot up the launcher, I am looking for something to inspire me. Rarely do I come away empty-handed.

No one does anything for no reason - and if you're playing Arelith, I imagine that's an exceedingly true statement. Despite our developers' best efforts, I don't think it's controversial to say the game isn't exactly "fun" as a solo experience. So there's gotta be something else bringing us all to the table. Yes, "roleplay" is the simple answer, but that's surface level. There's a deeper "why" behind each person's presence here, something we're each looking to do with our time whenever we log in. And as I consider my reasons for playing, I find myself wondering about you. So I want to point the question your way. Not just because I'm curious, but because I bet it'll be useful for you to put the answer into words.

So, why are you here?
What are you trying to accomplish?
What is Arelith offering you?
What do you get here that you can't seem to find anywhere else?

Arelith (NWN in general) is a helluva a drug and I get my fix here. Pass the skooma.

[Dovesong]

Ah, the classics...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-UKzwpYtMJk

GIVE ME CABOOSE OR GIVE ME DEATH