As the title states, I have returned to my natural white forum text state. It was truly a pleasure to have served as a link between the players and developers and I was honored to help fight for players ideas and bring to light concerns that everyone had.
The time I spent on the CC however caused me unnecessary stress when I had already been dealing with so much on my plate and trying to accomplish other things outside of WoW. It felt too much like a job with invisible barriers that caused rifts between the general player base and those on the CC. Often times I felt like I was on crowd control trying defend peopleās ideas and that of the CC when I received backlash for simply having the golden text wrapper. I felt targeted. That however never stopped me from posting here and trying to get everyone involved.
I had taken a month hiatus at the beginning of the year due to 3 deaths in my life on top of mounting stress inducing situations in the first month of 2024 alone and the stress has been building since. Being on the CC was no walk in the park either. Like I said we had targets on our back that felt like they werenāt being properly handled and that is why you do not see much CC interaction anywhere on the forums besides the designated CC forums.
I tried to break that mold, to alter the perception that we arenāt just yes-men, to show that we are literally normal players trying to make the game a little better while we have our 1 year to shine. Whether or not my topics have made or will make a difference remain to be seen.
My time on the CC was set to end in less than a few weeks of this post, but not even I am immune to the powers that govern this place. I let stress and frustration dictate my words. I have also never been good with word choice during public discussions. Iāll say one thing, post it, and leave it for an hour and then my mind thinks of something better, more fitting, appropriate and less potentially inflammatory but by then itās too late to change it.
Although Iām not saddened to be removed Iām more so relieved. I can focus on other things instead of feeling like I need to meet some invisible expectations or quotas. I can put all my focus on one thing instead of having it divided between feeling obligated to the Council and RL. I can focus on the needs of my mother. I can focus my brain power on finishing the book series Iām writing. I can actually try to enjoy the game instead of having people ask ācould you post about this more?ā
The CC is not for everyone and I cannot recommend it if you do not have the time to be both active here and in the discord. Like I had said countless times during my tenure, half the people elected do nothing; they donāt engage here or the discord and I felt that was an unfortunate loss to the players as those who sat and did nothing could have been the voices we were missing to cover the extensive wants, desires and ideas of the player base as a whole.
Would I do it again if given another chance? No, I wouldnāt. I had reapplied but as the months dragged on since I sent in the re-up application, I felt it was more and more a mistake. I have continuously mounting responsibilities in my life that probably would have caused me to remove myself from the council early in a potential second tenure.
In closing I am going to extend my forum vacation for possibly a few more months to get my life squared away and some things ironed out in my life that have become wrinkled by stress. Iāll respond a bit here today but after that itās going to be spotty when and where I show up. I will likely appear more on the weekends when I have free time than I will on work weeks. The only way you can consistently stay in touch with me is by adding āioliā to my forum name and you can practically find me anywhere.
Again itās been a privilege to help voice your ideas and make your concerns more visible and I hope those who join this year mingle a little more with the entire forums like I had and not just stay secluded to the CC forums.
