So I received a PM

It's quite funny how some things happen. Whether it be by chance, coincidence, luck, fate - whatever you want to call it. Recently, as I became once more fully immersed in WWIIOL, I've been trying to find my 'old blog'. I'd started it back in the day when I read SRES' I believe, and Comstar's, so it's been here a while. As it was, I just couldn't find the link to it, or remember the username or password. I thought it was a rather lost cause, and it drifted to the back of my mind.

I got a PM today from one "Svedala," who said he'd been waiting almost three years for me to update my blog, and provided a link to it. Well, more welcome news I couldn't have received - or perhaps I could, in the form of the Allied map breakthrough. So it's been a decent day on a few fronts - excuse the pun. After spending a few minutes getting the account fixed up - apparently there have been a few changes since 2006 or whenever I was last here, fancy that - I logged back in to write my first blog post in a very long time.

Today in game was a fantastic show of teamwork on the Allied side. I think that it has been a great day, too, for the mechanics of TO&Es to be fully realised. What we have seen is opportunity taken, risks embarked upon, and so far as the game mechanics should be concerned, in a fairly successful way. It has occupied a large portion of my time, which should have been spent studying and doing other work, watching and helping the map move. Don't get me wrong, by helping I mean grabbing a rifle and walking towards the nearest enemy with the hopes that the large "BAIT" above my head will guide the Allies towards safety through showing them where not to go. I'm certainly not as proficient with the map as many others are - and there are quite a few.

So what about HC's ability to influence the game and the fact that they can control where supply is. Well, what I've seen tonight, as HC and players are both struggling to work together between three towns, is exactly that. HC are providing the resources correctly, players are getting in there and fighting. It is a tribute to CRS that the mechanics are - at least currently seem to be - working well; for the Allies they are working well, I should say.

It has not been the great day for our Axis counterparts. Regardless, it has not been a great day for the game in general, if we are looking at it this way. While one side prospers, another is torn by apparent HC infighting, and while I would rather not delve near to this, it seems apparent that there is tension, friction and fighting which is causing havoc among the Axis players and HC equally. It is only in the best interests of the game that this is resolved.

Spawn timers in action have been seen tonight. As we battle for Kreuzberg, defend Musch and attacked Liege, we were and are sitting on a 60 second plus timer. That's longer than a CP table! It is interesting to see this in action, because it has been severely impeding Allied advance, as has the AO limit and restrictions, but still created a decent battle. Well, sort of - a lot of players logged, and even I grew very tired of spawning into a camped CP to die, wait a minute, rinse and repeat. None the less, it has stemmed the flow of Allies Eastwards, for the moment.

So what started as a post that I had no idea what to write ended in exactly the same way. I try to avoid any Allied/Axis bias; it's a game and we're all in it for the game. There are some issues currently which cannot be avoided though, unfortunately, which threaten the harmony of WWIIOL, and that is not good for any stakeholders. We're definitely stakeholders, we spend a lot of time in front of the comptuers - all warranted, by the way. I keep asking people who question $15 a month - I can see one movie a month for that, or have a game which I enjoy and interact more, for far longer, whenever I want, from the comfort of my own home and chair. Plus, the food's cheaper around here than at the movies!

And it is with that I leave you for tonight, a rambling mess of a blog post, but at least it's a blog post, Svedala!

/Tomba