The WSL has a new CEO

I worked in gaming. One year in the simulation. Selling war games to teenagers for a ludicrous profit. 

Every day I worked with brilliant people, all using their one wild precious life to, well, sell war games to teenagers. 

But soon I found, gaming was not just a young man’s game. People from all walks of life booted up every night. 

Even people who couldn’t walk. Who felt like their avatar was them. In the human world they were restricted. Here they were limitless. Kinda beautiful, no? 

But much like the WSL, our dev team, executives, and gaming studios would read the feedback from the community on what they thought could be improved about the game. 

Quality of Life Improvements, they were dubbed. Nerf this weapon, it’s too powerful. Make these rocks easier to climb. Relaunch that level. Small things that would have huge impacts on the morale of the community. 

Rarely were these things implemented. Worse, most often the exact opposite of what the community wanted was put into place. Yes we hear your complaints, how about another anime weapon skin? 

The core gamers of this particular community eventually got fed up, moved on. The casual gamers (VALs) still signed on to relieve stress once the kids were down to sleep.  And all that was left was a once-great platform now populated by a lightly interested community engaging in surface level participation to pass the time before their mind drifted to the things that actually mattered in life. 

Sound familiar?

Ryan Crosby Colapinto, I hope this goes well. I hope the sprinter van with the Mammoth sticker fits in the El Segundo parking structure. I hope you listen to the community. And the surfers. And your shaper. You should get a shaper, if you don’t have one. And most of all, I hope you play the game differently than it's been played. 

Back to you, Strider, 

—Ulysses