Untitled Document

Candy Hearts and Pretty Flowers

By Aunraye

It's the month of candy hearts and flowers. Roses everywhere,
not that I dislike roses. They are beautiful, but I always preferred carnations.
This was only reinforced by years of carnations from my father and miracle
of miracles; my college class flower was the carnation! Love and romance are
in the air, and we all start thinking sappy loving thoughts. No this is not
bitterness from a single girl. The thoughts really are sappy, but sometimes
sappy is good. In fact I have my own moments of sappy thoughts.

There is one thing that seems to be forgotten in all this talk
of love too often for my tastes though. Friendship and familial love are just
as important as that all-consuming romantic swept off your feet love that
we focus on this time of year. Going to a woman's college I was lucky to be
reminded of that when, after walking down a hall overflowing with roses to
be picked up by those lucky girls who had considerate boyfriends, I got flowers
not from a boyfriend but from my father and from a friend. I was lucky enough
a year later to be able to return that favor to a dear friend by sending her
flowers when the lack of being with family at another event and without a
boyfriend had her feeling depressed.

This is true in real life and in MMO's. What game would be complete
without your best friend? You raid together, craft together, and adventure
together. The world is your oyster and you have had a big lunch of them, together!
You have guild mates, and if you are lucky you care deeply for them. After
all in an ideal world they are your mmo best friends. Just like ideally your
roommates and club mates in the real world would be your best friends. Nothing
is ever perfect but we're talking ideals here. There are times when we are
all on our own in the MMO world wandering about practicing new spells, or
working on our crafting while we wait for someone to come around. Then you
get that tell, "Where are you? Wanna group?" Now this could be annoying
except for one thing, it's your MMO buddy.

Why is this tell so great? Well not only does it create someone
fun to interact with in your world, and a potential role-playing partner depending
on what you prefer to do, this tell means that your buddy thought of you.
You didn't go looking for them; they came to you. It's true love! I know,
I know, it's not romantic. It is however heart warming when it happens. It
brings that smile to your face and hopefully to your character's as well.
Or maybe it's your main's worst enemy but someone who is just so fun to play
out that story line with. Keep your enemies close right?

We all know how it feels to be remembered and thought of when
you were feeling alone. Sometimes that comes from lovers, but more often it
comes from our families and friends. Who is the person you rush to tell when
you finally finish crafting that amazing piece of armor? I can think of the
first person I rushed to tell after my char killed their first npc on their
own, and after killing the first npc higher than them. It wasn't my true love,
or my characters. It was in fact a dear dear friend. It was a moment that
made me want to shout with joy, and I did to friends. So while February is
all about candy hearts and flowers, it's also about love in all its forms.

In all its forms I feel means I should add the love your cleric
or paladin have for their chosen deity. To serve any deity that fully would
invoke some emotion, the most common would surely be love. Maybe in honor
of this month of love it's time to pull out our paladin and cleric alts and
dust them off. It's time to take them out for a spin to enjoy the powers and
life their deity has given them. Maybe even time for our druid alts to spend
a bit of extreme time with their goddess and the natural world. For my dark
elf her greatest love, outside a friend or two she has made a bit, is herself.
So it's time for me to take her out in honoring love of course! And let her
play in the woods she has come to adore exploring and prove to herself again
how great she is.

So enjoy those candy hearts and flowers, cuddle up with that
teddy bear from your sweetheart, and then grab some time with that best friend
you haven't seen in awhile. Take out that character make a date with that
buddy and send them the tell first to make them smile. Then go out and do
what your character loves most, whether that's crafting, raiding, adventuring,
or exploring. Then when you're done make sure to let that friend know you
love them. It's the month of love after all. Don't be the one staring at the
hall of flowers and going, "Oh man I forgot." Be the one to let
all those you love IC, OOC, in game and in real life that you really do love
them.



To read the latest guides, news, and features you can visit our Vanguard: Saga of Heroes Game Page.

Last Updated: Mar 13, 2016

About The Author

Karen is H.D.i.C. (Head Druid in Charge) at EQHammer. She likes chocolate chip pancakes, warm hugs, gaming so late that it's early, and rooting things and covering them with bees. Don't read her Ten Ton Hammer column every Tuesday. Or the EQHammer one every Thursday, either.

Comments