Computer died, then I went through 3 years of massive life changes, 60 hour work weeks, lost all my accounts due to inactivity wipe (which is fine, I like the early game, building characters, and have decided anything over a medium transport is too much hassle anyway). Also did a dip into D&D a bit, which is overwhelmingly expansive.
Ultimately, the thing that bums me out most is the lack of server population US East Coast time zone. I remember when I started Discovery, there were over 100 people on, sometimes 200+, now when I finally have time to log it's like 30 max. It makes everything too easy, the games of cat and mouse are gone. Before I left, I literally ground a billion credits in a medium transport smuggling cardamine mostly ON THE LANES with an unlawful ID and almost no one stopped me.
I was starting to feel like a lot of the cool Role Play aspects of the forum where being handled on Discord instead of Role Played out on the forums. I know Discord is a valuable tool for the community, but it does drain a lot of the Role Play aspect of the mod and lessens the stories unfolding where people can read them.
I also have been just flying solo all these years, so it gets old quick. I tried getting some of my friends to play, but the game never really stuck with them. Also, the whole no multiboxing on the same IP address thing stops me from getting my kids into this game. I could probably convince my oldest to play, but we're all on the same connection. Factions here are extremely intimidating to outsiders, especially when the server drama ramps up, so it's something I've avoided.
But despite all that, I still find myself updating the game and thinking about logging in. This mod is brilliant, the environments are compelling even though it's an old game, the feel of the controls is oddly smooth, and the integration of the forum roleplay is brilliant. I keep coming back for the crazy never ending story that is Discovery and the characters you all create.
