Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, so of course this is my own. I spoke about this subject before on my blog; although my opinion has definitely shifted since then, to some degree. I'm going to talk about the community in this post; my thoughts and ideas on rebuilding it. I'm going to be a lot more blunt then in my blog post from a bit back.
The community isn't really a community anymore. The word "Community" has many definitions, ranging from sharing a trait to working together as a group. To me, a community is a group of people with common interests and goals; which is one of the official definitions. The Graal Military "Community" doesn't work together, nor does it share common goals among it's inhabitants. Years ago, people worked together; and shared common interests. As odd as it might sound, one of these goals was to fight the admins. You could relate this to the term "The enemy of my enemy is my friend." The truth is, the admins were a common enemy which united the people. Everyone knew, and understood how the administration mistreated the players, especially the ones in the graal military community. People followed the State, and the State fought the admins. When people didn't have their minds on customs, and ranks, and bullshit, they got stuff done. Which brings me to my next point.
Everyone nowadays seems to talk about "REBIEUKDL THE COMUENTITY1!!!!!1!!", but a good majority of the people crying for change are the people who resist change the most. The people who won't give up the bullshit claims to power and rank chasing are the same people who talk about how the community isn't what it once was. If you're someone who guild hops constantly, iFiles customs, and whines about how "I HEV BEN HER3 1YEER DAT MEN I DONT HAVE TO GO2 DA TREANING11!!!!!", then you're part of the problem. If you're someone who can admit to at least one of these things:..
-Custom Stealing, distributing
-Rank Chasing
-Guild Hopping
-Bitching about attending activities
-Not following orders
-Refusing to wear uniform
Then you're part of the problem. There's no reason anyone at all should be doing any of this stuff.
Since we keep calling it a community, (not really is one lol) we need to look at how we can really turn it into a community. We don't really need to focus on all the little details now. If everyone would throw their bullshit in the garbage can, and work together towards a common goal, we would do a lot better. And unfortunately, people don't understand that.
The solution is much easier said then done; but it's not at all complicated. People need to work together, and serve. It's quite simple. I named some of the cons up before, and I'm going to name the positive opposites of these cons.
-Not stealing, taking credit for, or distributing graphics without permission
-Focusing your efforts on the well being of the guild, and the goals of the guild; rather then public image and rank
-Attending all trainings, regardless of service time or experience.
-Regardless of personal opinion or beliefs, following all orders given from a higher ranking officer.
-Wearing the uniform issued to you, for all guild activities.
It's not as easy as it sounds. But there was once a time when almost everyone was like this; as hard as it is to believe.
Follow the examples of predecessors who have done legendary things; by being the model soldier. Those who are not prepared to follow are not prepared to lead, and anything is possible once you set your mind to it... as cliche as it sounds.
Don't worry about the GFX, don't worry about the ranks, don't worry about how powerful you look, and don't worry about any of that. The funny truth is, power isn't determined by your rank. I've seen generals be less powerful then 1st lieutenants and sergeants. Power is determined by other things; and in the long run, you'll only truly ever be able to attain power by first serving.
Kusan is one of the most respected people ever to be in the community, and he's also extremely respected for being one of the few to serve from private to general. (I went private to colonel from 2013 to 2016)
Think about that. Kusan didn't waltz in, serve for a month; and then demand a high rank. And he certainly didn't just guild hop (*cough* Leon *cough*) when he didn't like his rank.
It's that simple. If you look at yourself and think, "hmm. I can really improve on the fact that I really go after ranks a lot." And you actually improve in that regard; then you'll pretty quickly become a well respected soldier.
I'm going to quickly use Hythes as an example; because he's someone who oddly has drawn my attention recently; for both good and bad reasons.
Hythes has a lot of potential. When I was newer to the community, I was almost as edgy as Hythes. After a year or so, I matured, and ended up leading all the guilds and doing all the stuff I did. Sometimes I think Hythes might be going through his "early stage community edgephase" that I went through. That makes me think sometimes that he could go on to be the next Fessler. And I don't necessarily mean someone holding the title; I mean someone who goes on to do things on the level of the things I did.
Hythes also has a lot of cons. My whole "theory" or 50/50 coin flip on Hythes is simply based off of the fact that he is edgy. There's tons of edgy people in the community, but sometimes he reminds me a lot of myself. I remember telling Auel once I wanted to turn America into a dictatorship, lol. After a year or less, I grew out of that though. Hythes has a lot of flaws. I think you can give Hythes at least a little bit of every con I listed. That's not good. But it doesn't mean he can't change.
He's in a odd spot right now, and he's hit the crossroads that many of the veterans had to go through years ago. Although people rarely have to face this time; with the way 2016 has played out.
Right now, he has a choice. But it's not a test choice; it's not a yes or no answer. He can only answer through his decisions. It's up to him the type of militant he is going to be. Is he going to go through the Arno route? A arrogant customs thief? Is he going to put little effort, and stay a NCO forever? It's all up to him.
And so with Hythes, he has to change. Use this as an example. Hythes can look at himself and say, "oh. A lot of times, I don't stay in uniform." To fix that, he could simply make sure to switch out his uniform before every activity. Simple.
He'd just continue on down the line, maybe modelling his actions off of famed captains like Karthas, or SAFF soldiers like Eaglevision.
Everyone can change. It's just up to you to make the choice.
Will you go down as the wasted potential that never could get his/her act together?
Or will you go down as the legend who started small, but rose up to become a well respected soldier?