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Description
All things must come to an end.
It's been over four years since I joined the Nordanner admin team. The ARPG world was a very different one back then - transferring points into money wasn't a thing yet, and while point economy was on the rise, it was still more about art and characters than strictly business. Nordanner was a large breed by the standards of the day when I became an admin - having thousand some horses - but compared to modern breeds, or indeed modern Nordanners, it was tiny. The admin team consisted of only five people, including myself, when I joined, and would stay quite small for a good while.
I must admit I have a certain sense of nostalgia for those days. The admin team back then was very small, and I knew the people personally. The community as a whole was smaller. Sometimes extremely dramatic - everything has it's downsides - but there was still less pressure, and it didn't feel as time consuming.

A lot has changed since then. For better, and for worse. Most of the people whom I used to talk to and whom I was close with have either quit Nordanner entirely, or are on an indefinite hiatus. Over time, I've felt that my position as a moderator has become more and more of a wall between myself and the rest of the community, partially because I've let it. This is something I feel quite sad about, as being somewhat outside the community at all times has made me quite cynical.
Money has become more and more of a thing. I don't mind it - why would I, I do usd sales myself at times - but as time passed, I felt like the focus shifted more and more towards the business aspect of ARPG, something I personally don't enjoy as much as the designing and character creation. To each their own, of course.
To me, Nordanner, and ARPGs in general, have always been mostly about collecting and breeding. I enjoy owning "rare" things - I like to have good lineages and unique colors in my stable. Recently I feel like I have beaten the game. There is nothing really left that I want, and don't yet own. This has, sadly, affected my enjoyment of the game quite significantly. I love the characters I already have, but there is no real reason to keep playing.

Which segways us nicely into the actual topic. Me leaving the admin team. It's been a long time coming. I'll say right now that this has nothing to do with Drakehests or with anyone else's decision to leave. I've been making a very slow way out since the end of 2015, and my day of leaving has been delayed multiple times. The original date was in March, then mid-May. Now I've finally done the work I'd promised to do - writing the Nordanner color sheets, and with that, I am ready to leave.

It's not a decision I made lightly, but over the last year or so, it's become increasingly apparent that it is the right choice. Being an admin for Nordanner, spending several hours every week working with the breed, has become a burden. I used to be very proud of being an admin, and was very motivated to work and felt that the continued success and well being of the breed was, at least to an extent, my responsibility. Recently, I've been forcing myself to do it. There is no more passion there, no real interest in the breed. The hardest part was admitting to myself that it was time for me to go. Staying as an admin would not be fair towards myself, nor towards the members, who deserve to have someone more motivated than myself working on their horses.

It's no one's fault. People just change, and interests change. Spending so much time on something you don't enjoy is not healthy in the long run, regardless of who you're doing the work for. And believe me, it can be a lot of work. During the last few months of my tenure, I've been writing the sheet texts, handling foal approvals, and rolling genotypes. Emptying the foal design log took me about 16 hours over the span of two days. You must understand that this work is done for free. The rewards admins get (2 natural imports + some additional perks depending on the amount of work done + a small cut of imports designed for the breed), while very nice, are not a salary. They shouldn't be - it's volunteer work. The rewards are there to be just that, rewards for work you've already done, not a salary to motivate you to work. If it was a salary, the hourly pay would be abyssmal.
My point is, I've never been an admin for the rewards. As enviable as some people certainly do seem to find them, they do not compensate the time spent in any real way. I've always been an admin because I loved the breed, and wanted the best for the community. When I started thinking how not worth it the rewards were, that was my clue that it was time.

What does this mean then? Well, first of all, I am not leaving the breed. I am keeping all my horses for now, and keeping them as Nordanners. I am simply resigning as an admin, not leaving the breed as a whole. Of course, my general activity in Nordanner things being what it is, this basically only means that no, you don't need to rush to use your slots to my horses. And even more so, no, you should not pester me about sales and try to snag my horses for yourself. They're still mine, admin or not.

I've also been working on a breed of my own in the background. I feel like I'm pretty burned out on horses, to be honest, so we wanted to try something different. Mirakkis will be a rideable canine breed that we are hoping to launch this summer, now that I can focus my full attention towards it, rather than juggling both it and Nordanner. If you like dogs and breeding games, you should come take a look when we're finished. Planning a big launching event when all is done to get them in circulation.

I guess that's it then. If you have any questions, feel free to ask. I can also be reached over on my skype (rex_kazard, screen name Denver) if you want to add me, but please only do if you actually indend to talk with me. I do regular purges of my contact list to remove people who I never talk to, so it's nothing personal if I've had you as a contact before and then deleted you.

Adios, and all the best to all of you in your future efforts.

Description
All things must come to an end.
It's been over four years since I joined the Nordanner admin team. The ARPG world was a very different one back then - transferring points into money wasn't a thing yet, and while point economy was on the rise, it was still more about art and characters than strictly business. Nordanner was a large breed by the standards of the day when I became an admin - having thousand some horses - but compared to modern breeds, or indeed modern Nordanners, it was tiny. The admin team consisted of only five people, including myself, when I joined, and would stay quite small for a good while.
I must admit I have a certain sense of nostalgia for those days. The admin team back then was very small, and I knew the people personally. The community as a whole was smaller. Sometimes extremely dramatic - everything has it's downsides - but there was still less pressure, and it didn't feel as time consuming.

A lot has changed since then. For better, and for worse. Most of the people whom I used to talk to and whom I was close with have either quit Nordanner entirely, or are on an indefinite hiatus. Over time, I've felt that my position as a moderator has become more and more of a wall between myself and the rest of the community, partially because I've let it. This is something I feel quite sad about, as being somewhat outside the community at all times has made me quite cynical.
Money has become more and more of a thing. I don't mind it - why would I, I do usd sales myself at times - but as time passed, I felt like the focus shifted more and more towards the business aspect of ARPG, something I personally don't enjoy as much as the designing and character creation. To each their own, of course.
To me, Nordanner, and ARPGs in general, have always been mostly about collecting and breeding. I enjoy owning "rare" things - I like to have good lineages and unique colors in my stable. Recently I feel like I have beaten the game. There is nothing really left that I want, and don't yet own. This has, sadly, affected my enjoyment of the game quite significantly. I love the characters I already have, but there is no real reason to keep playing.

Which segways us nicely into the actual topic. Me leaving the admin team. It's been a long time coming. I'll say right now that this has nothing to do with Drakehests or with anyone else's decision to leave. I've been making a very slow way out since the end of 2015, and my day of leaving has been delayed multiple times. The original date was in March, then mid-May. Now I've finally done the work I'd promised to do - writing the Nordanner color sheets, and with that, I am ready to leave.

It's not a decision I made lightly, but over the last year or so, it's become increasingly apparent that it is the right choice. Being an admin for Nordanner, spending several hours every week working with the breed, has become a burden. I used to be very proud of being an admin, and was very motivated to work and felt that the continued success and well being of the breed was, at least to an extent, my responsibility. Recently, I've been forcing myself to do it. There is no more passion there, no real interest in the breed. The hardest part was admitting to myself that it was time for me to go. Staying as an admin would not be fair towards myself, nor towards the members, who deserve to have someone more motivated than myself working on their horses.

It's no one's fault. People just change, and interests change. Spending so much time on something you don't enjoy is not healthy in the long run, regardless of who you're doing the work for. And believe me, it can be a lot of work. During the last few months of my tenure, I've been writing the sheet texts, handling foal approvals, and rolling genotypes. Emptying the foal design log took me about 16 hours over the span of two days. You must understand that this work is done for free. The rewards admins get (2 natural imports + some additional perks depending on the amount of work done + a small cut of imports designed for the breed), while very nice, are not a salary. They shouldn't be - it's volunteer work. The rewards are there to be just that, rewards for work you've already done, not a salary to motivate you to work. If it was a salary, the hourly pay would be abyssmal.
My point is, I've never been an admin for the rewards. As enviable as some people certainly do seem to find them, they do not compensate the time spent in any real way. I've always been an admin because I loved the breed, and wanted the best for the community. When I started thinking how not worth it the rewards were, that was my clue that it was time.

What does this mean then? Well, first of all, I am not leaving the breed. I am keeping all my horses for now, and keeping them as Nordanners. I am simply resigning as an admin, not leaving the breed as a whole. Of course, my general activity in Nordanner things being what it is, this basically only means that no, you don't need to rush to use your slots to my horses. And even more so, no, you should not pester me about sales and try to snag my horses for yourself. They're still mine, admin or not.

I've also been working on a breed of my own in the background. I feel like I'm pretty burned out on horses, to be honest, so we wanted to try something different. Mirakkis will be a rideable canine breed that we are hoping to launch this summer, now that I can focus my full attention towards it, rather than juggling both it and Nordanner. If you like dogs and breeding games, you should come take a look when we're finished. Planning a big launching event when all is done to get them in circulation.

I guess that's it then. If you have any questions, feel free to ask. I can also be reached over on my skype (rex_kazard, screen name Denver) if you want to add me, but please only do if you actually indend to talk with me. I do regular purges of my contact list to remove people who I never talk to, so it's nothing personal if I've had you as a contact before and then deleted you.

Adios, and all the best to all of you in your future efforts.