by Moorgard on 2003-08-01
How It Came to PassI realize that few of you will find this announcement surprising. In fact, I'd imagine you are much less shocked than I am, for a variety of reasons. But before jumping to conclusions, let me give you a bit of the real story as to how this all came about.
Contrary to what you might think, there has been no long-running deal in the works between Sony and me. The entire notion of this job has been on the table for a little over a month, and before that I'd never had any kind of offer at all, nor had I asked for one. I wasn't just given this opportunity out of the blue, either; I had to fly out and interview along with other candidates, and presumably after the qualified ones ran off, my name reluctantly came up.
You might also think that taking the job was an easy choice. Well, far from it. Not only do I have to uproot my life and leave family and friends behind in the humid marsh of Minnesota, I also have to give up my baby. No, not an actual child... I mean this place.
A Boy and His Website
Mobhunter has been a labor of love, the means to combine two of the great joys of my life--writing and playing EverQuest--into one entity. While I've devoted countless hours to the site, I've also poured in a chunk of my soul as well. And that has been immensely gratifying.
Despite appearances, writing Mobhunter hasn't always been easy, mostly due to a self-imposed mandate. Rather than fall into the ease and comfort of simple ranting, I've tried to examine issues with an open mind, and to present as many viewpoints and possibilities as I could. Most important of all--and this is perhaps the key difference between Mobhunter and a rant site--I've tried to steer clear of making assumptions about the motives of the dev team and other players. When ranting, it's quite simple; you just attribute unpopular decisions to evilness or stupidity. But when you examine issues objectively, you open the door to the notion that nothing is black and white. And dealing with those shades of grey can be tricky.
In writing about EverQuest, the goal has been to let my love and appreciation of the game show through. I'm not the kind of person that keeps playing a game I don't like just to have something to complain about--that's what real life is for. So if I've been accused of kissing ass or being too optimistic about game changes, it has been because I genuinely believe that the goal has always been to make the game better, even when questionable decisions have been made.
What the Hell Are You Getting Yourself Into?
I've been very proud of the fact that Mobhunter has been beholden to no one. We've never had any advertisers or sponsors, so nobody could tell us what stories to cover or how we should write. So why trade my creative freedom just so players can yell at me even more than they do now? Well, several reasons. First and foremost, because the chance to get paid for doing something you love is far too rare in this world to pass it up. Second, I feel like my experience with this site and knowledge of the game will allow me to be an asset to players and help make the game better. Third--and I realize this sounds biased--is because EQ2 is going to be an awesome game, and the chance to get in on the ground floor and become the voice of the next generation of Norrathians is just too exciting to pass up.
The bottom line is that I think I can do more good for the players as the community guy than I can here. Though I'll have a title and an SOE paycheck, my motivation will remain the same: to make the game I love more fun.
Don't get me wrong--being an insider will have downsides as well as positives. Mostly because I will no longer be able to shoot off my mouth at will. But I think my ability to have a more direct impact on the course of EQ2 will be worth it for all involved.
Not Fade Away
So what does all this mean to Mobhunter? That's a matter we've given an awful lot of thought to. Obviously mine has been the dominant voice on this site for two years, but even so, this is Mobhunter.com, not Moorgard.com. Despite my efforts to resist comparisons, it's hard not to recall Lum the Mad's departure from his site and the eventual abortion of Slow News Day. Looking back, I came across one of Lum's musings on the whole debacle:
I should have recused myself completely from the LTM/SND mess. And the only real way for me to have done that would have been for me to shut it down when I left.
Unfortunately I was too stupid/selfish/self-absorbed/cowardly to do so. I didn't want LtM to die. So I left the people behind twisting in the wind, until they finally ate each other in an orgy of recrimination and drama. And I bear a level of responsibility for that. A pretty hefty one.
And when SND start blowing apart, the last thing I should have been doing was involving myself in it. But I did. As everyone knows, I broke SND's engine. A really stupid/selfish/self-absorbed/cowardly thing to do, that. It was wrong. Period. End of sentence. In one flick of a wrist, I neatly destroyed everything I had worked on the past few years, on many levels.
Obviously I don't want to taint whatever legacy I've established the way Lum did. So the question becomes one of whether others could continue Mobhunter in a manner that is still relevant for today's readers while respecting our established traditions.
Csenicier and Kohath volunteered to write more news-related stuff, but neither of them has the experience with the high-end game necessary for a strong perspective on that part of EQ. And really I think having that understanding is crucial to the site's credibility.
Fortunately, I was able to recruit someone who can keep that covered. I've asked Coray, a member of my guild, to take over the editorial side of the site. Coray and I don't always agree on stuff--in fact, he can be a giant pain in my ass sometimes. But he has a strong grasp on the big-picture view of the game, and a humorous style that should work well with our format here. He's also prone to get cranky, which should prove interesting reading for a lot of you.
With the new crew working together, Mobhunter will keep rolling just fine. And I think that's important, now more than ever, because with yet another EverQuest title coming soon, we need more opinion sites, not less of them. Cut-n-paste news sites and rant boards have their place, but the community needs more than that, and thankfully Mobhunter will continue to deliver.
Besides, Csenicier assures me that the chances of an orgy of any sort happening are nil, though I'd like to think that the possibility is out there at least.
Jeez, Are We Done Yet?
Okay, I've rambled on long enough. Just let me thank everyone who has read and contributed to Mobhunter during the 2+ years I've been a part of it. Okay, maybe not all of you, but most. Doing this has been a great pleasure, and I'll miss it more than I can possibly express.
You probably won't hear a lot of me for the next couple weeks as I make my exodus to California and get settled in, but after that I plan to make myself more visible than ever. Look for me to hijack the EverQuest 2 website and make it my own. What you've gotten used to in the past couple years should serve to prepare you for the onslaught of Moorgardisms that all those new EQ2 players are about to experience. Whether that makes you lucky or pitiable, I leave for you to judge.
Be seeing you.
"Good-bye and hello, as always."