Thank You for not Wiping My Home Jeremy

[GreenRoc]

I just read a PC gamer article interview with Jeremy Stieglitz, and it tugs at my heart.

I am an artist first, and a gamer second. I play games like Minecraft, Creativerse, 7Days, because I LOVE building! I play Peaceful in these games (7Days takes a bit more tweaking to get peaceful than just toggling a game option). These worlds are my canvas for structures! From an early age, I was always fascinated in buildings, and architecture, even taking it as an elective in Jr High. Looking at buildings in real life catches my eye, even moreso since I can build in these games.

I have always loved dinos since I was a toddler, playing with dino toys, having a collection of so many, my favorite was Dimetrodon (prehistoric creature, not technically a dino) and in adulthood, I collected Jurassic Park "Flyers", and wanting all the sets with them in it!

 

I am an eye-candy seeker. And I fell in love with eye candy in games when Warcraft came out, and I wanted ALL of the mounts, because they were so visually beautiful, and riding them gave me that sense of control over the eye candy! I never knew how pretty a game could be until I laid eyes on H1Z1 before it separated into two different games, and I played Survival. And I didn't play it to survive, I played it to explore, I played it to build! And I loved hoarding items as well. That game was so visually stunning! Never knew a game looked so good.

Then one day saw a friend streaming a game, and he was sitting next to an unconscious Stego. It was Ark! I laid my eyes on this beautiful game in the patch just before scorpions were released. Then I saw him take that Stego to his base, saw that base, and I fell in love! I asked him if I could come play with him, show me the ropes, and put up with my noobyness. He warned me that he was on PvP (which I loathe playing, and he knew that) but with such a beautiful game, and not knowing anyone else who played it, I agreed to put up with it, just to learn the game, to build, and play with friends. I played there for months, without being attacked, without fear of it. Then one day, wheras I hadn't provoked anyone, someone shot at me while I was riding a carno full speed, they had an aimbot. With other friends being attacked with DDoS, I left that server that day. This was in the days before BattleEye.

I had tried other private servers with my friends, they only played PvP, but it was only a matter of time before I gave up PvP in Ark, because deep down I knew I would never be able to keep my builds, and I couldn't stand that heartache.

Then I decided to try a PvE server, official. I had asked around at first, seeing if anyone knew some pretty good communities. The one that stood out is the one I picked. This was back when the Island was the only map. I found a tiny sliver of land available amongst the pillared landscape, and understanding the need for pillars, I wasn't bothered by them.I had some space to build, and I was determined to have a place to call home, to build my beautiful structures, and ride the beautiful dinos.

But the lag back then took it's toll. I gave up playing Official, cried as I gave away my dinos, tore down my structures, and left, to play on private servers with my Best Friend. The week I left the Official is the week she decided to play official, and stick around for a long time. One day she told me she had DC'd and was in the middle of a bronto tame, and worried about her, I asked to come help out. And I was added to her tribe in the official server i had once called home, and met some lovely people who were so happy to help, it was so heartwarming that there were people who actually cared about me. I was so nervous and afraid to shoot tranq arrows at things (I just wanted to build and ride the dinos) that my first dinos were knocked out by the tribe. My first to call my own was an anklyo, my second was a Dire Bear.

The Anky was lost to timers running out when I thought someone else was refreshing them. Thankfully my bear was elsewhere, so I still had him. That timer that caused me to lose my anky, was also in a batch of all of my Best Friend Dinos that were lost, and with Redwoods addition coming to Ark, she would lose everything she spent months building. She was too upset with all the losses to keep playing on that server. And focused her efforts on the private server that she and I played on. Then TheCenter came out.

The Center. A new map.  A fresh start. Me and my BFF went looking around for a nice Official PvE to play on, she picked it, I followed. We found a home. But she had ties in other private servers she didn't have time for this new map. We found a big chunk of flat-ish land, we worked together to put thatch foundations in the area on day one. We did get complaints from others about putting thatch down, but as soon as I could, I crafted pillars (that got complaints too). We never took more area than what I had planned to build. I found such joy in building, and taming, her little unconscious body kept safe inside, feeling like I was making it for her, and I just kept building and expanding, and taming.

I kept thinking, "I am doing this for her, let me tame this Raptor, and put her name on it" and so on. She had tribe ownership. But when it was realized she would be unable to play, she passed the lead to me.

Over time, this natural introvert encountered some issues, and others on the server were interested in helping out. I was hesitant, but eventually they warmed their way into my heart. Our community on the center became my family! Willing to help out, and be my friends.

But things were changing. The game was changing. Things were added, or taken away. It was frustrating! what I was comfortable with, became a daily struggle. Then Pegos were introduced, intending to steal your precious items. And I had enough. I cried, mourned, and gave away all my dinos, and all my items, and all my land to the people who still played the server. It broke my heart, but what good is playing a game that will hurt you more than it would bring you joy. So I left Officials. And spent the next several months playing alone, as before I had quit, my best friend I had had since 1999 had broken up with me. I was dealing with some really rough times.

I got involved in other gaming communities, Twitch, TwitchCon, 7DaystoDie, each had it's own group of people, and I was slowly accepting that being part of community was temporary, no matter how much I fought against it. Then the Flyer nerf was introduced, and ruined my Private server, unmodded, and no configs to fight against this unwanted change. So I gave up on Ark.

I was trying to fill the void in my heart that was once occupied by Ark, with Creativerse, and 7Days, and Minecraft, but the beauty in these games paled in comparison to Ark, nor did they have dinos. My longing for a beautiful building game was not being satisfied.

Many months after quitting Ark, watching my Twitch friends, some started to play Ark, some played modded Ark. and my love for the game started to rekindle. I was hesitant, because of all the aspects of the game that infuriated me. Thieving dinos, Metal destroying dinos, griefers kiting, and flyer nerf. I had many reasons not to play, but I felt like something was missing. And no other game was able to quench my thirst for a beautiful building and item hoarding game.

So I gave in and decided to try a friend's modded server.  Fell in love again. and then Ragnarok came out, and GRIFFINS!

What got me back into Officials was an unfortunate situation I dont want to go into details, but some of the people welcomed me back into the Center with open arms, into their tribe, but the server was tame capped, and I felt like I was unable to have my own dinos, and I didn't feel comfortable building on their land. I was allowed into that tribe's Scorched Earth Tribe, and tho I hate the map and the weather, I still put up with it, because of the people.

I was reminded that someone from my Island server still took care of some of my dinos that were left there from long long ago, including my bear. I was ever so grateful I'd hate to disappoint them with all of their efforts to keep things alive by not coming back.

So I came back. I still have my bear. Ties to some of the friends made over the years still hold strong.

To hear of the news of a possible wipe terrified me. As I would lose my bear, and lose the new buildings I had built up again, and lose the hoard of items and dinos that were stored away all these years. And possibly lose friends. I knew if there was a wipe, I would never play Ark again, there would be nothing to go back to. The people were still around, we hung out in discord, and other games, so I wouldn't lose that, maybe... I have known gaming communities to fall apart, or never the same again, when the place they call home is gone. RIP TMW-Pixelmon Server.

If not for the sheer beauty of this game, I would not play it. If not for the ability to build, to create something, I would not be here. If not for the people, I wouldn't play Official. I would not post passionately about this game, and against the changes I didn't like, and post about things I want added, if I didn't care so much about this game. I wouldn't be here posting here, spending my time within this game, if it didn't mean something to me, to my heart.

 

Why draw on a pad of paper if you knew it was going to be thrown away? Why build in Ark if you knew it was going to be wiped?

I am so grateful that the wipe was decided against. Thank you. Thank you for choosing not to wipe my canvas, nor destroy the place that I call home. Thank you.

 

" Part of the thing about Ark is it's not a standard MMO where you grind out loot, it's a creative game. People build structures, draw paintings, breed dinosaurs, they paint them too—you do all these things, you'll spend all this creative output inside the game world, that's kind of irreplaceable. "

[Arkasaurio]

Interesting read. You play Ark for completely different reasons than I do, but it's cool to see other perspectives.

There have been a lot of posts about how dividing servers between new and legacy leads to legacy quickly dying out. Especially on the PvE side, it's because of players like you that I don't think that will ever happen. I'm sure some servers will die due to low population, but healthy active communities of breeders and builders aren't going to let years of work go just because the server now has a legacy tag. If some do and space opens up, new players may well join also to experience your work and fully developed communities.

Keep at it!

[Jeremy Stieglitz]

Good read and thank you for the insight! Cheers for making ARK your (virtual) home  

[Jognt]

Wow, quite the story you wrote there. There's some real feels in there.
Though I'm not very good with words/feels, I want you to know I wish you the very best in life.

[CyanicEmber]

Good read. Ark means a lot to me too. I am glad others feel the same.

[DeningWei]

I love this story!! No no there's just something in my eye. :')

[XcookedX]

Greenrok next time I read a post from you I need to make sure I'm at my main base and not the sea base. I don't have tissues at sea base. Loved it just glad you did not quit. Wish you the best of luck

[phantomman01]

Very good story! I wish you the best of luck on all your future adventures.

[Drinkinthepink]

Very nice story, I read it in depth. Firstly, sorry to hear of the loss of your BFF,  it seemed however that she never really wanted to stay on the same server as you, so maybe for the best?

However, what I wanted to clarify for curiosities sake... Are you really an artist that wants to build or a story teller that wants to be heard?

The reason I ask, is you write about how you love to build and the pride you put into it; then in the next chapter,, you complain about how you will lose everything left and be unable to bring yourself to rebuild if they wipe what little you have left...

If you truely love to build, you would cherish the idea of building fresh.

It seemed like your mostly upset because you will lose your dire bear.... you can literally tame another direbear, even better you could breed one and raise it.

I took them time to read your long sad post, but unfortunately all I got from it was that you were a sad person who wants to talk about his problems.

I hope your life gets better, and I wish you luck. Sometimes I am sad too.

[GreenRoc]

17 hours ago, Drinkinthepink said:

Are you really an artist that wants to build or a story teller that wants to be heard?

I am an artist who likes to build, and admire structures. I also like to type out my thoughts. So I'll say I am both. Sometimes my friends tell me I should write a book. And I think they mean that genuinely, like an autobiography.

I do not like to throw any of my artwork away. I hoard irl. I hoard in game too. I loathe loss. I keep all my Minecraft worlds and never get bored of them. Some worlds are years old, and I still love them. I hate when modpack makers update their packs and are like "sorry it will corrupt your world save" And so I rarely update those packs in fear of losing the world that I put so much effort into building up, and have the potential to keep going forever.

I dont like the idea of starting fresh, if it means I have to lose what I had put time and effort and heart into.

Another dire bear is not the same. Doesn't have the same sentimental attachment. Back in the days when Wildcard was replacing lost dinos due to bugs and glitches, a GM offered to replace my ptera that glitched above the skybox (I had video too, so evidence that I had the ptera was pretty clear). I told him no thanks, it would not be the same.

My story length might just be from my Aspergers. Didn't intend to write a story, I just elaborate and type on my thoughts and ideas at the time, and that kinda morphed into a story. I wanted to thank Jeremy, after I had just read the PC Gamer article, and elaborate why.

If long posts weren't socially unacceptable in most places, all of my posts would be lengthy. When I realized my post was getting a bit long, I decided to roll with it. I didn't even put in most of the details I thought about. I wasn't even thinking about any "point" to my post when I started it, other than to thank Jeremy. No pre-planned choice to type a story.  It's my thoughts at the time, a summary of my experiences in Ark.

I type instinctual most of the time, with little thought to "how might someone interpret this". I type whatever I feel like typing about. And edit after (if I have the time to edit, which I dont right now, I gtg)

That post was inspired by me reading Jeremy's recognition of how important our builds/dinos/servers are to us.

[Drinkinthepink]

1 hour ago, GreenRoc said:

I am an artist who likes to build, and admire structures. I also like to type out my thoughts. So I'll say I am both. Sometimes my friends tell me I should write a book. And I think they mean that genuinely, like an autobiography.

I do not like to throw any of my artwork away. I hoard irl. I hoard in game too. I loathe loss. I keep all my Minecraft worlds and never get bored of them. Some worlds are years old, and I still love them. I hate when modpack makers update their packs and are like "sorry it will corrupt your world save" And so I rarely update those packs in fear of losing the world that I put so much effort into building up, and have the potential to keep going forever.

I dont like the idea of starting fresh, if it means I have to lose what I had put time and effort and heart into.

Another dire bear is not the same. Doesn't have the same sentimental attachment. Back in the days when Wildcard was replacing lost dinos due to bugs and glitches, a GM offered to replace my ptera that glitched above the skybox (I had video too, so evidence that I had the ptera was pretty clear). I told him no thanks, it would not be the same.

My story length might just be from my Aspergers. Didn't intend to write a story, I just elaborate and type on my thoughts and ideas at the time, and that kinda morphed into a story. I wanted to thank Jeremy, after I had just read the PC Gamer article, and elaborate why.

If long posts weren't socially unacceptable in most places, all of my posts would be lengthy. When I realized my post was getting a bit long, I decided to roll with it. I didn't even put in most of the details I thought about. I wasn't even thinking about any "point" to my post when I started it, other than to thank Jeremy. No pre-planned choice to type a story.  It's my thoughts at the time, a summary of my experiences in Ark.

I type instinctual most of the time, with little thought to "how might someone interpret this". I type whatever I feel like typing about. And edit after (if I have the time to edit, which I dont right now, I gtg)

That post was inspired by me reading Jeremy's recognition of how important our builds/dinos/servers are to us.

This post had much more happiness, the response is appreciated. Thank you.

[Moonie1]

Other options exist. You could have played Single player since you are an self professed introvert. You also can play on a private server with things like Pegos and Seagulls turned off (thats how we run our Rag server). Wiping servers doesnt have to be the end of your playing with friends. Why couldnt you all start all over on a new server? One with plenty of land to grab, dinos to tame, etc.

[GreenRoc]

3 hours ago, Moonie1 said:

Why couldn't you all start all over on a new server?

We could, but I prefer not to. I've tried a new server, with the same tribe, more than once, and with different games too. Rarely does it stay the same. More often than not, I do not stick around, or they don't stick around, or the motivation to do stuff just fades, from them, or myself. Or we make new alliances with other people, and I clash with the additional folks. Repeating pattern in my life is being in a group, but because of one or two people I clashed with, I had to leave. But as some have often said, when one door closes, another opens.

There's been times I started on a new server, but still played on the older servers in addition to the new server. I've recently come back to playing on the official server that I first played on, took time away because of unwanted stuff was upsetting me too much to stick around. Tho I came and went from time to time, due to being angry at changes, or at people, I was always sad to let go of my dinos and builds every time. I do not want to leave my dinos behind, but when I do lose them, I get so upset (had many meltdowns as a result of lost dinos, bad for my health). Losing my stuff was never easy. The ability to move dinos between servers has been such a blessing.

I guess I have started over, many times, when it comes to my buildings. Abandoning my builds was always from a situation where I had to choose a lesser evil (where cons outweighed the pros if I stuck around). Sure starting a new building is ok, but if I had to choose from starting over, or keeping what I have, I'd pick keeping what I have. I so am glad the players have a choice of a wipe (a self-chosen wipe is easy to do in this game: play on Extinction servers, or just go play on another server, and leave all the older stuff behind), instead of a wipe being forced upon all of us.

3 hours ago, Moonie1 said:

You could have played Single player since you are an self professed introvert. You also can play on a private server with things like Pegos and Seagulls turned off (thats how we run our Rag server).

I do play singleplayer as well. Although I am a natural introvert, I still crave social, just not with big groups, or with people I don't get along with. I'm very happy keeping to myself most of the time on official, and I am occasionally chatty when the chat talks about stuff that I am interested in talking about.

In my singleplayer, I have many dino spawns turned off(replaced), as well as dino replacements on my private server (currently offline). My private server has pretty much the same settings as my single player. I plan to be playing there again soon, whenever I get the server reconfigured and paid for.