One Hour One Life Forums

Morti

Member

Registered: 2018-04-06

Posts: 1,323

Playing a game, for 180,000 years.

You might not realize it, by some of the other posts on this forum, but this is a really fun game.

I have not only enjoyed working (yes, it's like work) with Jason, but with the community as well; the people he and his game have attracted.
Many have come and gone, and many have stayed, and worked, and played, for comparable amounts of time as I have. Some with tens of hours have stated they have done everything, some with hundreds of hours say they know everything, and those with thousands of hours, still, haven't really figured things out. Not, really.

We can know all we want, about numbers, about values and layouts, recipes and formulas. Yet, those of us who have played the longest, still haven't figured out the most important part of the game; each other. It's hard, to put numbers on satisfaction. It's not easy, to make everyone feel like they belong. But we get by. We always get by.

What about me? What have I done, in the 3,000 hours I've played? I've made a lot of roads, to bridge people, to resources, to bring towns together. Roads to give people a way to spread out, and roads to give people a way, to find their homes, if ever they were lost.

I've made a lot of tools, probably not as many iron and steel tools as others, but a lot of the basic ones. Fresh starts have always been enjoyable, but we wouldn't bother with them if there wasn't the chance that our little camps, didn't have the chance to be the greatest cities we've ever known. Some of my strongest memories, from the earliest days of this game for me, were of the largest towns. We made the walls of adobe, before adobe decayed, before there was plaster, before there were even, really, races. At least, before we even really defined them as such. An avatar was more just an avatar back then, and we distinguished ourselves more by our ages and our talents, "The old woman" "The blacksmith" "The baker" "The old man". We were the tools we used, and our ages, in practice.

I sure have started a lot of farms. Planted an awful lot of gooseberries and carrots, that's for sure. You gotta start somewhere, right? It's really easy to long for simpler times, but it's also very natural, for us, to want what we don't have. I suppose you could say we, have domesticated a lot of other plants since those days. You could, imagine it that way. You could also say, we, have come up with a lot of recipes for them as well. As of the time I am writing this, the gooseberry is still one of the cornerstones of the game, along with it's faithful companion the carrot. The day may be fast approaching when that will no longer be the case though, and, we'll have to adapt, and adopt, new agricultural and culinary strategies, for keeping the hunger of our characters and our crops, satiated. We'll see. In the meantime, we'll keep planting berries and carrots, along with wheat and milkweed, just to keep things running.

Have I baked many pies? I wish I could say yes. I have so enjoyed the convenience, of a nice pie. The kitchen, or, bakery, is probably one of the least likely places you will have found me, on a regular basis. But it is the second most common place I am likely to go, next to the farm. But, once the problem of hunger is dealt it's hand, where then do we go?

The prairies have always been a go-to for me. The rabbits, providing food, clothing and the ability to increase carrying capacity, increasing the efficiency of all activities. The prairie is where you learn, some of the most important lessons, about food scarcity, about reading the landscape, about paying close attention to details, less, you miss a rabbit hiding just behind a nearby juniper. I have always loved the rewards, of adventures into the prairies. Balancing things like carrying snares, rabbits, and now bait, has been one of the most enjoyable, games within the game.

Collecting resources in general, and bringing them back home, for people to process and make useful products from, that is definitely an underrated aspect of this game. Especially, when there aren't yet roads, backpacks, horses and carts, simply visiting a swamp, naked, making a basket, filling it with clay, stones or food, and dropping it off at home for others to make sense of, and repeating that for fifty minutes, every hour - I could never get enough of that. Even when I had to accept that times were toughest, and food was scarcest, return to my family with a basket of only three berries, made me feel like Superman, pushing an asteroid off the Earth's course. Imagine feeling that 50 times an hour, ten hours a day, and you may start to realize why I've put 3,000 hours into this game over the last 2 years.

I don't want any of you to suffer. I don't want anyone, starting out, to ever die, one step away, from a berry.

It's been fun though, hasn't it? It certainly has been rewarding; to give, to give life, to every player.
Even if it is, just a few more seconds, a few more weeks, to someone I may never, have the pleasure, to play with, again.
You are all, of so much - such, tremendous value, to me.
I love you all very much.

--

That's another thing, this game has had a very profound effect (effect or affect? effect) on me, over the last, two years. I can't say exactly what, or, even, if it's made me feel better, or worse. Mostly because I've forgotten a lot of things, about the ways I felt before playing this. I've always cared a great deal about the future of humanity, but, just having people, not strangers, but people, tell me they love me... even just via this game, it's... it's really been wonderful. I don't know who started that in this game, absolutely zero clue, but I am very glad they did. I really wish it was something we all did, on a regular basis, across the planet, but I know for most people, most people on Earth, probably don't even hear it once a year, said, sincerely to them.

People want to imagine that life is not easy, not easy enough, to take the time, to say you love someone else. But I assure you, if you don't, it only gets harder. A lot harder, and lot less satisfying, and, for some people, a lot less interesting.

You are loved.
You have never met me before, we may never hug one another, our fingers may never embrace each others hands, but I will always care for you and your future.
I want you to understand life, to understand yourselves and each other, and to begin, and end, being loved and satisfied, that someone cared for you, that we cared for each other, as much as we all possibly could. In between, the beginning and the end, we will make things better. We always have, and, they are better now than they ever have been, but we must carry on.

That is the lesson, of 180,000 years of game playing experience.

Take care of each other, remind each other of your value to one another and keep your eyes, at night, on the stars.

Morti

Member

Registered: 2018-04-06

Posts: 1,323

Re: Playing a game, for 180,000 years.

If only it did speak for itself?
It does.

It does.

Elsayal

Member

Registered: 2018-11-04

Posts: 262

Re: Playing a game, for 180,000 years.

Players have played collectively 180 years so far. (1 614 418 hours)

Love you too.

---

"I go"
"find"
"iron"

Morti

Member

Registered: 2018-04-06

Posts: 1,323

Re: Playing a game, for 180,000 years.

Players have played collectively 180 years so far. (1 614 418 hours)

Love you too.

Reminds me of my Latin teacher's wife's favorite expression: Gutta cavat lapidem.
She was also my junior high (grades 7 and 8, ages 13 and 14) and high school (grades 9-12, ages 15-18) principal.
I got to know her well, because I caused a lot of trouble in school, but I knew her better, because of that one phrase, told to me, by her husband.

Each of us, is far more remarkable, than we tend to imagine.

Thank you for that context, Elsayal.

MrGold

Member

From: Space

Registered: 2019-11-18

Posts: 136

Re: Playing a game, for 180,000 years.

Oh i have for like 487,000

---

Im Mr.Gold I /hmph

Morti

Member

Registered: 2018-04-06

Posts: 1,323

Re: Playing a game, for 180,000 years.

Oh i have for like 487,000

And how do you figure that, Mr. Gold?
I can only imagine.

There was someone that ran bots, back in the day, and perhaps some that have been existing in towns to this day, I know people have suspected the firecows were bots, but I would like to imagine they were people who just closed the game, and the town continued to feed for lack of a fertile female. Otherwise, I cannot see anyone but Jason, claiming responsibility for more, in-game time spent.

Were you, perhaps, responsible for the notorious satanbot, back in the day, as well?