I just had to post a page and say what a Wonderful Kin I am in!  Flame Imperishable-Elendilmir is a merged kinship of Divine Inspiration and Founders of the Third Age; both are very old kinships going back to beta (Fotta) and shortly after public release (DI).  Our kins grew together by the frequent questing due to Fotta’s great Leader Silrien (my friend IRL that got me into beta) and I.  We formed an alliance (Legacy of the Last Alliance) with Tranquility and Knights of Amon Sul.  It was a good alliance while it lasted, and it brought our kinships of DI and Fotta together even more.  And we merged.  We merged not only our Members, but also our ideas and visions.  For Fotta, it was ‘Camaraderie and Fellowship’.  For DI, it was ‘Sacrificial Sharing for the Mutual Benefit of All’.  Thus, together, we have become a really really great kinship and fellowship of Friends and Family both ingame and out. 

Two years ago I was new to MMO’s, and quite skeptical of getting to know people ‘ingame’.  How things have changed!  I now have friends from Australia, New Zealand, Mexico, New Mexico, Utah, Michigan, Washington, Florida, Kentucky…..and the list goes on and on.  I am thankful for each and every member, their quirks, their personalities, their character, their friendship.  And I am thankful for all the Friends I have made. 

It is a tribute to Tolkien and the Middle Earth he created to make a world based on the interactive interdependence of ‘people’ within M.E. to have to rely on each other….a continual Fellowship.  And it is in this game that we experience in more ways than many of us recognize the values and character that Tolkien wanted to bring across to his audience in his books. 

And I experience that every time I log in and say ‘Hi’ to my kin:  Flame Imperishable

What to do….Freep or Creep….or level my (fill in here)? 

For me personally, leveling and crafting and doing things and getting things accomplished ’ingame’ take lots of time to do.  I just don’t know how people can ‘have it all done’ within a week or two after a new patch comes out.  (Well, I can imagine, I just don’t know how they do it.)  Every step, every accomplishment along the way ingame takes me lots of time to do.

Not that that is a bad thing.  I know that I like to experience the game fully.  I like to do every quest on my main (though, Moria is starting to rid me of that goal).  I like to do every deed (on my main) as well.  (Moria has started to wean me of that too.  Well, that, and doing alts.)  

I know that my play style is to ‘do it all’ or as much as I can, and I can usually do that within my great kinship.  But, I’m also Leader of that kinship and it’s awesome set of people, so I have other ‘duties’ and ‘obligations’ that take up my time as well.  Most of it is good:  like helping others, etc.  But that division of my focus also delays what others in my kinship want me to do to:  to ‘level’, to ‘get busy, Rin’, and ‘get that done’.  Not that that is such a bad thing either: I don’t mind the ‘encouragement’.  But it IS a conundrum, of sorts.

How to I help others and yet help myself?  How do I appear to be unselfish and yet need to be so-called ’selfishly’ attending to my leveling/deed/questing needs?  Such a conundrum is a challenge to balance, because you don’t want to offend anyone in The Kin (well, at least I don’t want to….I like the people in my kin too much to not care about giving that opinion.)

And that does not address event planning either, which is a whole ‘nother subject altogether.

But, for now, I am content, although full of quandary, to play as best I can, as complete as I can, as fast as I can, and still help those others out in my kin who need it, and still play my alts that I love so much and neglect my main for a time.

Thus, it’s easy to just go to The Moors instead and just forget it all, and burn off RL steam.

I don’t suppose anyone else sees my point, eh?  Just wondering.

It’s a bit of a conundrum.

Leader, Flame Imperishable
Dwarf Armourer of the Iron Hills
Head of the Tetsuyama Clan
Kindorin, Dwarf Minstrel Woodsman of the Blue Mountains (FI)
Ryoshirin, Dwarf Hunter Weaponsmith of the Lonely Mountain (FI)
Mojirin, Dwarf RuneKeeper Scholar of the Grey Mountains (FI)
Mierin, Wife Captain Jeweller of Breeland (DJ)
Finrindor, BloodBrother Elf Champion Explorer of Rivendell (Fotta)
Rinric, Brother-in-Law LoreMaster Explorer of Rohan (DI)