How Ryzom Affected You....

[sx4rlet]

Ryzom is a highly educational piece of software, it encouraged me to learn about:
- C# (lots of my tools are written in this)
- LUA (custom ring components)
- Reverse engineering file formats (mats)
- C++ (another programming language)
- NeL (the ryzom engine)
- 3dsmax (started working with that too)
- DirectX (graphics stuff)
- And lots of other stuff ...

It also got me lots of people on my contact lists in msn and google talk and whatever.

And this is what I'm now studying.

Actually... You are one of the few people I wondered about why they didnt hire you already to fix bugs in Ryzom. When I read some of your replies on Ryzom Ring, I got the idea you knew your way around it better then the devs themselves....

[bf649ztp]

Ryzom's been great. a starting point of my online gaming. Possibly the best starting point you could get. I feel lucky Ryzom was the first online game I tried.

Kodel

[arfindel]

[...]
The greatest online homins I've ever met.....

Darmina :- Absolute and total dedication to teaming, guild leadership and making sure everyone involved feels part of it. A great leader.
Geniastrid:- A seriously great person to play with, so friendly and someone you miss when you aren't playing an online game with them.
Yaffle/Kye:- This guys generosity and sharing knows no bounds. You'd never be bored no matter the game if this guy is playing with you.
Frydeswinde:- One of the first people I got to know and speak to online. Miss this guy alot, he's the first person i'd ever had a proper chat to online about stuff other than the 'game'.
Annykin:- He's about the smartest person i've spoken to. Very funny and he's only rivalled by me, not on his knowledge but by his love of Jack Daniels. Miss ya mate.
[...]

I'm sorry my logic doesn't leave me alone and leave others alone as well )
But when you can make such a great list of people (and I mean real people, not cartoons) how can you in the same paragraph almost say "ryzom taught you to be alone"? Just doesn't make sense for me.

By the way when I have met Ryzom, all my friends with 2 exceptions were online only. That's not about bad life or anything, just history that conditions us all which made all my college and childhood friends not share the same country anymore so I cannot say I had to chose between RL and virtual friends.

[d29565]

I will mention one of the main faults I found in Ryzom. While I gained a good amount of friends, and even met a few people I can honestly say I love to death, I also began to lack in the amount of friends IRL.

I'm only now beginning to reimerse myself in society. I hate it. I have never been a big fan of people. But the best way to get anywhere is to "network," so now I'm having to learn how to talk to people and make friends IRL, without the help of a common interest like Ryzom.

[xzizoux]

10th April 2005 i started with Ryzom ....i spend nearly every free minute i got in Ryzom ... Found loads of Friends here...so ryzom is a Part of my Life and will always be a part of my Live

LONG LIVE THE SAGA OF RYZOM

[iceaxe68]

Ryzom...

The first computer or video game (of any kind) that held my attention for more than one session. I've followed my guild into Eve since Atys went dark, but may have trouble staying there when Atys returns.

I was already long since graduated from the university when this came along, so my studies were not hampered...

I already had a family, so my social life had already been destroyed... Also, the kids keep me from getting too addicted, their needs always come first.

I've gotten slightly fitter since then, but I've always been an exercise addict.

Aha! I waste time at work reading Ryzom forums instead of cycling or kayaking forums! That's an effect!

So... I suppose the main effects on me have been that I actually play computer games now, which I never did before, and I have some wonderful new friends scattered all over the globe. That's really cool.

[arfindel]

I will mention one of the main faults I found in Ryzom. While I gained a good amount of friends, and even met a few people I can honestly say I love to death, I also began to lack in the amount of friends IRL.

I'm only now beginning to reimerse myself in society. I hate it. I have never been a big fan of people. But the best way to get anywhere is to "network," so now I'm having to learn how to talk to people and make friends IRL, without the help of a common interest like Ryzom.

Allow them to befriend you instead of aiming yourself to making friends, people are surprisingly happy to make you a friend. Be a good listener then you'll soon find what other common interests might there be apart Ryzom

I am living both my experience and one of my closest friend's one and paralleling it a lot. When I left Ryzom (because actually I "retired" some weeks before the Big Lag) I realised I miss a lot nature, earth, rain, a river, such things. That was easy to put back, I was lazy before gaming, now I was thirsty to go out more.

On the social part I realised it's harder to make words come to me because I was too much in the writing rhytm and less in the talking one. That was both amusing and irritating because all my life before gaming I used to be very outspoken among friends. Maybe it was a sort of temporary cripling but when you get over it you realise also you learnt to keep your moth shut and think a little more before uttering your first judgement.

On the opposite side though my friend who was lazy before now got even more indoors and it takes a huge effort to get him out. So... yeah, can go both ways. Now we all have dreams that come true and some others that fail. From our experience I feel there is a danger to think that the character you created in Ryzom (which highly represented you and made you naturally happy) is the real good dream came true and stop pursuing the harder and at time less satisfacting RL dream, or cease seeing it, which is the same.

Now living indoors or outdoors doesn't make for me a huge difference - you can tell I'm not a doctor Nevertheless most big brains of this world (doctors included) lived mostly indoors as life is short and most of our dreams are a bit longer than natural life. But the second thing, abandonning the RL search for your dreams and being only happy with your Ryzom life, that's dangerous and certainly bad. Not because RL is more important, important is what you feel important, after all. But because RL achievements can so much deeper make you happy, and also because every achievement in RL changes a little our world. Because Ryzom, like any other game, puts in front of you fake difficulties. Prevailing over them tells little to nothing about yourself. Finally because Ryzom, like all art (living inside a novel or a movie is by no means better), like all games is some people's imaginary world.

While it is a beautiful experience to dive into other people's interior world (no matter if we listen to a piece of music, see a movie or understand a MMO world), creating our own interior world is what really defines us as humans. Borrowing/buying other's is - more or less consciously - cheating and we are not forgiven if we do it.

[thlau]

Ryzom was my first experience of modern computer games since a long absents of them. I think the last computer games I played before I tried Ryzom was Gunship 2000 and Might and Magic II on my Amiga 2000. So I mostly only used my computers for work and learning purposes for about 12 years.

Ryzom first came to my attention as I googled for games running natively on Linux, and I stumbled upon an interview with David Cohan Corval where he mentioned that Ryzom will launch on Windows and that some when after the release a Linux client will be released too. I then saw some early screen shots, and read about the class system and about the different races, which was quite intriguing.

So it came that I was ill over the year change 2004/2005 and I needed something to distract me from the pains and I decided to try (* oh shock *) a game on my linux box. And with the help of GrandMa's [FAQ] Ryzom in Linux (The Unofficial HOW-TO) and the 15 day trial I started my Journey and Trini took her first steps in Barkdell - on Arispotle of course, because I needed an excuse to myself playing computer games, and so forcing me to hold conversations in English was just right.

As Kyerna, Sxarlet, Rikka and Starflow might remember, I had many problems to write in English, and was very slow to answer, because I feared I would write something wrong and would make a fool of myself. So that is the first thing that changed. That fear is gone, and if I appear silly so be it that way, at least I can put some information in a few sentences and get them to the destination. I think the fact that all German speaking guild members of the Darkmoor Rangers forced Kyrix or me to translate pushed this a lot.

The second thing that changed is, due to instabilities of the Windows emulation on Linux I installed my first Windows on a computer at home, and I still use the Redmonder OS on my gaming rigs.

The third thing I realized is, that I suck at leading people, and that helped me to decide that I won't be any good at a job where I would be liable of subordinates.

So Ryzom is at fault that I now play computer games on Windows, and I have problems writing in German because most of my conversations are held in English.

[mikkii]

I've thought hard how best to put the emotion into words i'll give it a try but forgive me if it goaes a little astray.

For me Ryzom taught me patience tollerence and understanding, Thinking back to my first days on atys and how i was welcomed with open arms, How we have all stood together through pleasure and pain. The joy of new servers opening and the pain of seeing them close, how we welcome refugees from those servers without any thoughts for ourself.

How when we first heard the news that Nevrax was going into reciervership we all comforted each other and then again when Gameforge followed the same track, The closeness we felt when the lag monster was born and how everyone came together in the ring.

My fondest memories and those that have the biggest impact though are of my time as a CSR, before that i of course knew most of you but when i was appointed as a guide it gave me greater insight into who you were and what kind and generous natures you have, You watched me grow from a baby guide to senior game master and both supported and encouraged me to fulfill my role to the best of my abilitie those were the best times for me, and even after i was fired the support and goodwill was still offered freely.

In short what Ryzom means to me becomes quite simple and can be summed up with one word, there is only one word that explains a group of people that support each other through good times and bad, there is only one type of person that will forgive your mistakes no matter how large.

To me Ryzom means "Family"

[rajron]

Paul B. Gingo lost contact with reality, buying on the idea of being a Matis prince, started crafting armors and digging in his garden. He developed paranoia, stating that he could not remove his PvP tag.

I've done this
"The bar? Um... maybe tomorrow night - I'm still tagged."

Bob J. Kincher started buying pizza or junk food too often. That affected not only his health but his wealth too. He neglected cleaning up the house so he could play for a bit more. He would stay up all night, going on boss hunts or treks, and finally trying to get some sleep at 6:15 AM, sleeping through his saturday morning waiting for aussies to log in so he could resume hunting. Bob increased the consumation of alcohol/cigarretes/coke due to messed up sleep habits.

No cigs... but we all remember all-nighters that turned into 2-day-ers thanks to yet another shift of friends coming online...
Um... guys? I'm not the only one, right?


Bill could always tell when the servers had been down because the Apt was actually clean