Post by Erwin on Mar 14, 2015 1:42:58 GMT -8
Well, now that Noble's down and I can't play even if I wanted, I've been put into somewhat of a more meditative, contemplative mood lately, and the subject on which I have been philosophizing lately has been spurred by a so-bad-it's-good movie called The Frozen. Death is everywhere, really, so it should be inevitable that someone eventually relates mortality to NobleStory. Or maybe that's the sort of thing that only I would do. It's been a few weeks since I last posted something like this, and if you don't feel like engaging in pseudo-intellectual discussion then you probably shouldn't read any further. I acknowledge that this sort of thing isn't everyone's cup of tea, and that's fine.
Anyway, how should I begin? That Frozen movie which I watched earlier today was for the most part rather mundane and banal, although it did have an interesting ending which, as I mentioned, got me thinking about death's inevitability. For those of you who have seen Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan, or for those of you who listen to Pink Floyd, this is likely not a new idea. In Wrath of Khan, Captain Kirk has reached something of a mid-life crisis where he ponders over what he has done--reflecting on his past life, if you will, and wonders what he has amounted to and how long he has left on this earth; in Floyd's "Time," Roger Waters and David Gilmour have a similar "mid-life crisis" (even though they were in their late twenties at the time--incredible) and examine over their own lives. They employ a masterful metonymy of the sun which symbolically represents our lifespan: "And you run and you run to catch up with the sun but it's sinking / Racing around to come up behind you again / The sun is the same in a relative way, but you're older / Shorter of breath and one day closer to death."
Brilliant. I believe that these guys perfectly and poetically capture in essence this idea of mortality, which is basically this: none of us are going to live forever, so what are we going to do in wake of this? Yes, some of us realize it at the age of forty or fifty, as is the case with Captain Kirk, while some of us realize it in our late twenties, as is the case with the Pink Floyd guys... but regardless, it's a problem that we all face.
Further complicating the issue is that we don't know how much time we have left; the wheel in the sky keeps on turning, and I certainly don't know where I'll be tomorrow. This aspect is perhaps the one about which I have been thinking most heavily lately, especially in light of what's happened to the server over the past few days. The server going SNAFU was something which nobody expected (except for those scumbags who are likely to blame for this whole debacle). I sure as hell didn't expect it; you didn't expect it; Ace likely didn't expect it. And although the server going SNAFU for a few days isn't the same as dying completely, it nonetheless reminds me of this issue of mortality. We, as humans, won't be around forever (And, worst case scenario, this ordeal causes Noble to die, but I have confidence that our staff will be able to deal with a couple of petty trolls). NobleStory, one of our human constructs, will likely be around for an even shorter amount of time than most of us will be. For all we know, when shit hits the fan for real and Noble ceases to exist, it will happen suddenly and unexpectedly. For all we know, we could die tomorrow. And while I'm sitting in the shadows, listening to Steve Perry soulfully sing about this uncertainty which ultimately leads to anxiety, I understand that this subject is naturally both very troubling and very sobering.
I likely need not elaborate upon why this should be troubling, but I'll talk about what I mean when I say that it's a sobering prospect. Think about what would happen if you were to die tomorrow, or tonight in your sleep. How would you be remembered? Would you be deeply missed? Or would it be like some suicide of an outcast, where nobody cares, nobody cries? I understand that this may sound cliched and sappy, but I'd encourage anyone reading this to think about this hypothetical situation and apply it on a more microcosmic, localized level. Think about what would happen if Noble were to die tomorrow. How would you, the player, be remembered? How would the server, as a collective amalgamation of our diverse, peculiar, and sometimes eccentric personalities and consciousnesses be perceived by the typical outsider? The issue of mortality raises such questions and that's why I find it to be sobering. It takes us out of our mechanical routine of going through the motions.
In the end, when we die, we don't get to keep anything. That English play, Everyman, really speaks to this. When your spirit slips away, there's nothing you can do or say. Our strength leaves us when we die. Our intelligence leaves us, and those of us who are most unfortunate may be stricken with Alzheimer's or some other mind-related infirmity. Our talent and artistic ability leaves us. Our possessions will all eventually pass away, as will our physical bodies. All that we will really have in the end is our reputation. So do you have a bad reputation? Is that the word out in this town? Or do you fancy that you will be remembered here on Noble as a kind, caring, generous individual? I think that this is ultimately where any discussion on mortality should bring us.
Of course, nobody is perfect. Regardless of your worldview (atheistic, theistic, pantheistic, or what have you), you have some sort of explanatory system which tells us why; we might disagree on why this would be so, but we are all basically in agreement that we are by nature an imperfect species. You have your flaws. I have mine, and they're probably more noticeable than those of others (for instance, if you haven't noticed, I'm quite stubborn when I'm convinced about something, and I'm something of a powder keg personality which is dormant most of the time, but dangerous and unpleasant to be around when that lighted match sets it off).
But one important factor which we share as humans is that, for the most part, we can choose how we behave, and we can actively improve on these flaws. While it is true that old habits die hard, I believe that the saying "You can't teach an old dog new tricks" is complete bullshit (when applied to humans) and that we always can change for the better. Our actions are by no means set in stone; there is no fate but what we make. Now bear with me--my intention is definitely not to call out any particular person here, because I think this community is generally really great, but rather to just get anyone thinking about the issue of mortality and how we can apply the Greek concept of Arete to even something ostensibly inconsequential such as NobleStory. So I guess I'll close with that set of questions which I raised two paragraphs earlier: how would you like to be remembered when you die? How would you like to be remembered when Noble dies? While NobleStory truly is a lesson on how the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, I do believe that this Story has a great deal to do with you and with me. This is not simply another old Maple Story. This is Noble Story. This is your story.
Anyway, how should I begin? That Frozen movie which I watched earlier today was for the most part rather mundane and banal, although it did have an interesting ending which, as I mentioned, got me thinking about death's inevitability. For those of you who have seen Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan, or for those of you who listen to Pink Floyd, this is likely not a new idea. In Wrath of Khan, Captain Kirk has reached something of a mid-life crisis where he ponders over what he has done--reflecting on his past life, if you will, and wonders what he has amounted to and how long he has left on this earth; in Floyd's "Time," Roger Waters and David Gilmour have a similar "mid-life crisis" (even though they were in their late twenties at the time--incredible) and examine over their own lives. They employ a masterful metonymy of the sun which symbolically represents our lifespan: "And you run and you run to catch up with the sun but it's sinking / Racing around to come up behind you again / The sun is the same in a relative way, but you're older / Shorter of breath and one day closer to death."
Brilliant. I believe that these guys perfectly and poetically capture in essence this idea of mortality, which is basically this: none of us are going to live forever, so what are we going to do in wake of this? Yes, some of us realize it at the age of forty or fifty, as is the case with Captain Kirk, while some of us realize it in our late twenties, as is the case with the Pink Floyd guys... but regardless, it's a problem that we all face.
Further complicating the issue is that we don't know how much time we have left; the wheel in the sky keeps on turning, and I certainly don't know where I'll be tomorrow. This aspect is perhaps the one about which I have been thinking most heavily lately, especially in light of what's happened to the server over the past few days. The server going SNAFU was something which nobody expected (except for those scumbags who are likely to blame for this whole debacle). I sure as hell didn't expect it; you didn't expect it; Ace likely didn't expect it. And although the server going SNAFU for a few days isn't the same as dying completely, it nonetheless reminds me of this issue of mortality. We, as humans, won't be around forever (And, worst case scenario, this ordeal causes Noble to die, but I have confidence that our staff will be able to deal with a couple of petty trolls). NobleStory, one of our human constructs, will likely be around for an even shorter amount of time than most of us will be. For all we know, when shit hits the fan for real and Noble ceases to exist, it will happen suddenly and unexpectedly. For all we know, we could die tomorrow. And while I'm sitting in the shadows, listening to Steve Perry soulfully sing about this uncertainty which ultimately leads to anxiety, I understand that this subject is naturally both very troubling and very sobering.
I likely need not elaborate upon why this should be troubling, but I'll talk about what I mean when I say that it's a sobering prospect. Think about what would happen if you were to die tomorrow, or tonight in your sleep. How would you be remembered? Would you be deeply missed? Or would it be like some suicide of an outcast, where nobody cares, nobody cries? I understand that this may sound cliched and sappy, but I'd encourage anyone reading this to think about this hypothetical situation and apply it on a more microcosmic, localized level. Think about what would happen if Noble were to die tomorrow. How would you, the player, be remembered? How would the server, as a collective amalgamation of our diverse, peculiar, and sometimes eccentric personalities and consciousnesses be perceived by the typical outsider? The issue of mortality raises such questions and that's why I find it to be sobering. It takes us out of our mechanical routine of going through the motions.
In the end, when we die, we don't get to keep anything. That English play, Everyman, really speaks to this. When your spirit slips away, there's nothing you can do or say. Our strength leaves us when we die. Our intelligence leaves us, and those of us who are most unfortunate may be stricken with Alzheimer's or some other mind-related infirmity. Our talent and artistic ability leaves us. Our possessions will all eventually pass away, as will our physical bodies. All that we will really have in the end is our reputation. So do you have a bad reputation? Is that the word out in this town? Or do you fancy that you will be remembered here on Noble as a kind, caring, generous individual? I think that this is ultimately where any discussion on mortality should bring us.
Of course, nobody is perfect. Regardless of your worldview (atheistic, theistic, pantheistic, or what have you), you have some sort of explanatory system which tells us why; we might disagree on why this would be so, but we are all basically in agreement that we are by nature an imperfect species. You have your flaws. I have mine, and they're probably more noticeable than those of others (for instance, if you haven't noticed, I'm quite stubborn when I'm convinced about something, and I'm something of a powder keg personality which is dormant most of the time, but dangerous and unpleasant to be around when that lighted match sets it off).
But one important factor which we share as humans is that, for the most part, we can choose how we behave, and we can actively improve on these flaws. While it is true that old habits die hard, I believe that the saying "You can't teach an old dog new tricks" is complete bullshit (when applied to humans) and that we always can change for the better. Our actions are by no means set in stone; there is no fate but what we make. Now bear with me--my intention is definitely not to call out any particular person here, because I think this community is generally really great, but rather to just get anyone thinking about the issue of mortality and how we can apply the Greek concept of Arete to even something ostensibly inconsequential such as NobleStory. So I guess I'll close with that set of questions which I raised two paragraphs earlier: how would you like to be remembered when you die? How would you like to be remembered when Noble dies? While NobleStory truly is a lesson on how the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, I do believe that this Story has a great deal to do with you and with me. This is not simply another old Maple Story. This is Noble Story. This is your story.
