Cyril's Application 2

Hello again!

I think it has been 30 days since my last application. So if it’s okay, I humbly ask that you consider my application again please. xD

To be honest, I am still conflicted with myself about returning to Mabi. I am sorry that I have been so undecided on this. I am certain about applying to this guild though. I figure I may not be motivated to come back to Mabi even if I join this community. However even if I end up deciding not to return to Mabi, I’d actually still like to apply to this guild anyway because I am already having fun just being on the forums haha. Only if that’s okay ofcourse!

I will be making another effort to get back to Mabi but I probably will not be able to help out for awhile. In fact, I probably need more help than most people in the game at the moment. To catch up, I’ll need to focus on myself instead of others. It might sound funny, but while most people are happy with focusing on themselves, I actually feel depressed about not being able to help anyone anymore lolz. So hopefully you can be patient with me as I am not used to being in this predicament in the game. I would like to continue being helpful outside the game though.

I still have interests in exploring the game, meeting old friends again, and making new connections so those are the main forces that drive me to come back to Mabinogi. I’ve also become curious again about a research I’ve been doing which may benefit from inputs found on online communities.

This part is unrelated to Mabi but to tell you more what I like to research, I like computers and I am also interested in human behaviour. So I tend to idealize ways to combine them both. Most of my research explore “strong AI” theories. Ofcourse research on this has always been disappointing throughout history except for a few branches. I have my own theories on how to go about strong AI. If you’re interested maybe you can look at my informal explanation of one of my theories here -> [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

It’s funny and embarrassing to compare but I seem to have the same curiosity as Twilight Sparkle from MLP. Like her I am interested in observing connections such as friendships to learn more about them. I was interested in this even before I knew MLP. Friendship is magic science! lol =P

If you notice I guess it is obvious that I am a big MLP fan haha. I was first drawn to it by its music but my interests on it has long since expanded. If you can get past that the characters are ponies, the intended demo, and negative stereotypes, generally it is a good show with a very creative community behind it.

Anyway here is the rest of my application. Some information would be the same as my previous application because nothing has changed significantly in the past 30 days~

In-Game Name: Cyril0321

Your real name or age (Optional): Cyril (24)

Total Level and # of rebirths. Snap shot of your rebirth information is required, please make the maximum size of the snapshot 800x600 so it will not stretch that thread:


[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]


How active are you in game?:
I will be on and off depending on how busy my schedule is. I might average between 5-10 hours a week~

Joined any previous guilds? If yes, which one(s) and why are you looking for another guild? (You must list all your previous guild(s) - we will conduct a thorough research. If you're in another guild at the moment. Please state what's your current guild on your application:

My guild history has not changed so you can refer to my old application.

Other than guilds, it might be relevant to know that I do have some friendship problems recently haha. Unfortunately, due to misunderstanding I have hurt a few of my Mabi friends’ feelings and they have hurt mine. So you might find that some individuals and I are avoiding each other at this time. No one from this guild though so don’t worry! And I don’t usually escalate drama! I’m hoping for a resolution as soon as possible. xD

Why Dreams?:

Aside from being similar to Visions, resolving any past conflicts, and “League of Tarlach” as I’ve mentioned on my previous application, these are additional reasons:

• Creative Works - I like being in an environment where I can express creative works once in awhile. Most guilds do not have a website or any online presence like Dreams that make it possible to share creative content. I don’t want to impose but I would really like to finish making a fitting music for Dreams and possibly help out with other creative works! =P
  
• Familiarity and Support - I have already become familiar with several of you. It wouldn’t make sense that I apply to another guild even if I found another community that fit all the reasons I mentioned above. I see a good amount of people I knew from the past that are now in Dreams. I like being around familiar people, especially since coming back to the game has been so strange for me.
  

Who have referred you? The person who referred you must post in your application as recommendation (you need at least 2 referals):

Some of you were very kind to refer me on my last application. I felt I was stretching Gilbert’s kindness when I approached him to refer me again. Good thing Gilbert is a nice person. Medic has also agreed to be one of my referrals on this application this time. These are my two referrals. Thank you to both for their kindness.

How long have you been playing?:
Since the beginning of time for NA Mabinogi!

What kind of skills/accomplishment do you have?:

On my previous app I didn’t really talk about my mabi skills. So I will do it for this one. I am r1 in most skills in combat, range, magic, and clay alchemy except for the new skills added since 4 years ago ofcourse. From the services listed in Dreams’ public service, I can help out on enchanting and fragmentation since I am r1 on those.

My friends compliment me on my pet control. I guess its because if you party with me you’re going to notice that my pets always have a “!!” (call command) above their heads like 99.9% of the time lol. This is because I am really precise with my pet hits so I can position myself in combat and maximize my damage. I am very reliant on pets for good reasons! If you care to hear about my past obsolete playstyle, read on, otherwise skip to the next section haha.

Pets are ideal for aggressive playstyles. My general strategy was to use pets to disable targets for me so I can be aggressive on my attacks that deal a lot of damage instead of losing time defending, running away or disabling enemies myself.

Pets have very fast attack speed. They don’t do much damage but their poke can stun targets for 3 seconds~.  As a result, a single pet can protect me from at least 3 aggressors almost every time (if they don’t have PD). What that means is on a single aggro room, I can usually protect myself and two friends from ever getting hit with just with a single pet. Combined with the old WM back then, the invulnerability almost made it impossible for me to get hit as long as I focused my pets on the right targets. I remember being comfortable with clearing most dungeons while on “deadly state” just by using Pets + WM. I would never get hit! xD

Pets in combat are not only great for protecting myself, they were also good for breaking enemy guard, luring/distracting enemies, interrupting ranged enemies, helping me and my friends position, and do additional damage. It was important that I unsummon my pet after it collects a lot of heated aggro to save my pet from dying. If I wasn’t sure that a target has aggro on my pet, it was always best to unsummon the pet then summon another so I didn’t risk my pet’s life. Sometimes I can’t save my pets from dying but ideally I wanted to keep them alive so I can use them again.

My greatest “pet peeves” (no pun intended!) was when I summon dead pets on critical moments, or when I run out of pets to summon, or when I get pet summoning lag! Those situations would kill me. I developed a good reaction with using “play dead” or transformation to get me out of messy situations while on deadly state. These strategies probably are not appreciated in the new mabi anymore though since everyone is so OP already but I thought I’d mention it for the memories!

I have tried puppetry recently and I am really liking it. Puppetry seems to have a similar freedom of input as pets. I’m hoping I can become skillful at it.

Even though I like to risk on combat, I’m actually not a big risk-taker overall. I only risk on combat when my full attention is on Mabinogi. If I was multitasking on other things which I always was, I would pot just enough to take 1 hit before going on deadly, but WM still takes a lot of HP so if you remember me from back then I was always “pot poisoned” haha. I remember trying to keep my health below 300 so that the 10% health loss from WM was less than one 30 HP potion. This allowed me to conserve on potions when keeping myself above deadly state to take at least one hit before dying.

I am also very conservative when I upgrade my gear. I always upgrade another item to replace my old equipment rather than risk upgrading my current equipments. As a result, upgrading equipments takes me longer than most people, but this process ensures that I always have a gear I can rely on. My luck on the game is VERY bad though so upgrading my equipments take even longer.

Recently I tried to be the opposite of my conservative nature in upgrading equipments since “I was quitting anyway” AND I TOTALLY REGRETTED IT! At least it made me realize that I still care about Mabinogi though! Regret/Sadness really seems to be the most visible indication of how much you love something...  or someone. Unfortunately this clear realization only comes after you’re already hurt! xD

Any other information you would like for us to know:

So I took some fictional character personality tests and these are my results:

As a Disney princess, my personality is closest to Belle because “I see the best in others, I am smart, and shy”. I also have significant similarities with Ariel apparently because “I am sweet and gullible, but will do anything to be with those I love”. Finally I am also like Tiana because I am “a hard worker and sometimes work is the only thing I think about, but I will find love and happiness” (I did! And unfortunately I found extreme sadness too. But I believe I may have also found the equations that represent them on my research xD).

For MLP I'm most like Twilight Sparkle who care deeply about learning but never loses sight of the "power of friendship" lol. I also have significant similarities with Rainbow Dash who is competitive in nature and loyal to her friends, and Fluttershy who is kind, sweet, and caring.

As a pokemon? I am a Blissey apparently because, “all I want to do is help others, and it makes others like me very much”.

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On my theory, “the choices we make” (c value) is always less than or equal to “what we are willing to do” (a value) and our willingness (a value) is always less than or equal to our potential or “what we can do” (b value). Also the “b value” can never be 0. Do you know why? I’ll explain my thoughts on these but perhaps it is best you take a guess first? xD

What do you think happens to these values when you are willing to get $100 but you received $150 instead. Is your “c value” really greater than your “a value”? Or if you are willing to fly like a bird but we know that human cannot fly like birds. Are you really “willing to do” more than “what you can do”? Can an entity really have no potential or things it can do? What happens to these values when an entity dies and when they are remembered? Do you think imaginary entities like Santa and the Tooth Fairy have an “a, b, and c value”? How about our ability to simulate/empathize feelings and control them to an extent? =P

Sorry for the big wall of text by the way. I feel bad for posting something this long.

I know most people are probably just going to skim it. Please do not hesitate to ask me questions even if you think it may have already been addressed. I do not mind repeating myself. We may end up stumbling upon more interesting details when we talk about it.

Please ask me anything. Even if it's silly or really serious! I'd like to indulge your curiosity.

Thank you.

Hello Keo!

Thank you for replying! I do enjoy surprising people. It's usually more creative and fun that way! lol =P

Yes I have made attempts to progress in Mabi. I've explored most of the new skills. I am really liking Puppetry but ranking it seems to be difficult. Unfortunately I do not seem to have the same patience with ranking skills as I used to.

Toshi told me about that event that can gives you items that train your skills. I'd like to take advantage of the event but unfortunately I've also been sluggish with that. I find that I am so unmotivated to do things on my own in Mabi right now. In contrast, I enjoy my time when I play with other people. I think it's a must that I get involved with group activities for now.

Zeru has been awesome at inviting me on such group activities. He has been a big contibuting factor for me returning to Mabi again. You already know Zeru. I am really thankful for what he does.

In the past I said that "I no longer have anyone that can make my time in Mabi meaningful". Well this is no longer true. Now I do have connections that can make my time in Mabi meaningful again.

Regarding my friendships, unfortunately it's just that sometimes I am too "pushy" with how I help people. One of my greatest fears is somehow hurting people while trying to help them.

Thank you for your questions and concerns Keo. I'd be happy to answer any more questions from anyone.

Hello Cy! Welcome back. I wish you the best of luck and I'm confirming my referral. Cy is a great person and I have no doubt her enthusiasm would add to this guild.

Thank you for confirming the referral Gibby! I hope it's not just my enthusiasm that would add to this guild. =P

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Hi Jeweldragona, "the dragon with fabulous hair" xD

Thank you for asking! That is a good question.

We've never had "someone coming back from 4 years ago" applying to Visions so this would be a new experience. But like all applicants, she would have to follow our recruitment process. Our recruitment changed several times depending how we wanted to control the number of new members coming in the guild. Typically if we want to be moderately careful about an applicant, they would need one approval from a council member (equivalent to a recruitment officer I believe), and two approvals from members.

To ensure fairness, those who give approvals must follow the guidelines found here [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]. It is in the discretion of the Visions member giving the approval to do his/her own research about the applicant as long as they make an observation for all 7 secions found on the guideline when they approve or disapprove.

If I were to evaluate someone applying to the guild like me, then I'd say that she meets the guidelines for personality, background check, fighting skills, usefulness/service, and loyalty. However, her commitment to the game and potential to improve would be questionable because she has been undecided about coming back to Mabi and expresses that she is uninspired at building her character by herself. Seeing as she indicates that she is motivated to play when she's with her friends though, and because she has a number of friends in the guild, I would give her a chance but with recommended supervision from her friends in the guild.

The decision is not solely up to me though. Any full member can post on the applicant's application to state why they decline and it would only take one to reject the application even if others may not have liked the decision. Fortunately, most people in Visions do give chances and when we decline an applicant the reasons are normally obvious.

We don't have a week wait like Dreams's application so once this applicant has all 3 required approvals, they can be approved to join the guild immediately. All council members have shared access to the "guild officer" to accept applications from the guild stone. The password for this account is changed when a council member leaves obviously lol.

Once this applicant is accepted, she will become an "apprentice" for at least 30 days. An apprentice has access to most things but does not have the privileges of a full member so she won't be able to see private guild discussions, vote for council, or participate in applications.

During the apprentice period, a thread is created on the private guild discussions forum for any full member to comment on the progress of the apprentice. We observe if the apprentice follows our guild rules found at [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]. If anyone reports any details that were missed during the application process, we add it to the apprentice's thread. Any council member can decide to remove the apprentice from the guild or extend her apprenticeship at any time depending on what was observed about the applicant.

I know Dreams also has an "apprenticeship" period. If I were to evaluate an apprentice such as myself after getting accepted, personally because of how old the game is, game commitment and potential to improve are not very important to me anymore. As long as this new apprentice is overall fun to be with, then I don't mind if her commitment and potential to grow is very minimal. Ofcourse we would help her become more committed to the game so that we can have more fun. But seeing as this apprentice is very active on the forums, there should be no worries.

After the apprentice is approved as a full member, her apprentice thread is archived in the officer discussion so she doesn't see our nasty comments haha. Once she is a full member, it would be very difficult to remove her from the guild. The guild would fight for her to stay on the guild.

I hope this answers you question Jewel!

I'm looking forward to more questions! =]

Confirming my referral for Cyril. It's great to see you back, and I hope you'll stay this time! I think Cyril would be an awesome addition to the guild. She's a well-rounded, devoted person that's always ready to help, and I think she has qualities of a great leader. I would say that it is really rare for her to behave confused and unsure the tiniest bit, but even so, we are all human and I think everyone goes through personal struggles at one point in their lifetime. That said, I have no doubt that she can get over these personal problems. Good luck on the app and see you in game!

Thank you Medic! I will be staying as long as my stay is enjoyable. And so far there are many potentially enjoyable things I have in mind so I'll probably stay for awhile once I get a running start! xD

Ofcourse I have my personal struggles! I'm not a robot! haha. People may see me as a great leader in Visions because I appeared composed, reliable, decided, dedicated, strong and in agreement with other leadership. I had to be. Otherwise people would doubt my leadership. But I am not afraid to admit that behind the scenes sometimes I felt lost, confused, sad, undecided, stressed out, and powerless. But that's why I coudln't have lead Visions alone. What made me a "great leader" were the supportive and often more knowledgeable people around me. As much as I loved to help people, I also relied on the help of many others.

Since I won't be in a leadership role anymore and I don't intend to be, you might see a new different side of me Medic! =P

I often write too much on my forum posts. I know some people don't like it. So I am very self-conscious about that now haha. Let me know if I am writing too much or too little to keep you interested.

Also I rarely talk about myself in real life or online unless it is appropriate. Even though some people observe that I am skillful or talented with some things, I am not very boastful about my abilities. I am very humble by nature. Combined with my limited activity in game, my application might be a rare opportunity to get to know me more. Please do not hestiate to ask questions or express concerns about me! xD

Thank you.

Hi Cyril! Thanks for applying ^^!

I have just a few questions for you.

We are a guild primarily based on Mabinogi. There's a large portion of the guild that doesn't visit the forums regularly to converse. There's also periods of quiet where people are doing their own thing and not likely to be visiting with each other.

If you were to be accepted and found that the guild wasn't keeping you interested in the game what would you do to keep yourself invested in both the guild and the game?

Are there any current group activities in the game that you'd love to try exploring and how would you go about encouraging people to come?

Are there any situations you can think of that would cause you to want to leave the guild?

That's all I have for now! I know it's close to the application closing time but I wanted to ask a few questions before that time came.

On a final note I'll be honest with you since you've been honest as well ^^. I am very much hesitant with your acceptance. Not that I'm against it but I'm not entirely for it either. While I think you've a big heart and are an intelligent person, I fear that we won't be able to keep you in the game and that we'll end up with another guild member that is, for the most part, inactive in the game. I've always felt that, while friends can do a lot to keep you in the game, ultimately we need something more to keep us going when those friends leave or we too will leave. It's always hard to see friends and guildmates leave, for everyone involved with that person.

Good-luck with your application ^^!

I'm in the same boat with the others on whether you will be on more if you were accepted. Every time I log in to Mabinogi I look into the guild tab and find that 70% of the guild offline. I really don't want to look at it anymore and would like this guild to be as lively as it was in the past IMO.

Hi Goddesslinda and Cassa,

Thank you for taking your time to read my application.

Sorry to hear that you are concerned about inactive players in the guild. I will be trying my best to build my level of activity in Mabinogi gradually. However, ultimately the guild would have to decide on its priorities and I have no say on those at this time. If Dreams is in agreement that inactive players are a problem then declining the applications of inactive players (like me) and removing the "70% that are inactive in the guild" could be a viable solution. In this case you would have to be really careful at defining "activity" though before making any decision regarding this.

For example, during my later years in Mabinogi, I was also very "inactive" in the game. I only went online in Mabi on Fridays and Saturdays and spent less than 10 hours a week~. However, I still managed to keep Visions active and busy by working on events, ideas, goals, applications, and other guild activities while I wasn't in the game.

Visions might be an exception though because our guild culture was very forum oriented. Only 10%~ of our members didn't use our forums. So I don't know if it's also surprising that when I posted something on Visions' forums a few weeks ago, there were still 7 different people who remembered their logins that replied even after 4 years of guild inactivity! Maybe they like to come back to hear the guild music on the homepage or something haha. =P

But ya. I may not be active in-game, but I believe you should still be able to count on my inputs in the guild like an active member because I tend to be active on forums. Since Dreams' culture is different where most of its members do not use forums, I know I would have to make adjustments on my "activity style" eventually. With your help, perhaps we can take this one step at a time.

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Regarding Cassa's other questions:

If you were to be accepted and found that the guild wasn't keeping you interested in the game what would you do to keep yourself invested in both the guild and the game?

Right now it is actually hard to imagine that the guild will not be able to help build my interests in the game because discussing things with some of you has already improved my interests in the game and the guild. I don't think you or everyone who has communicated with me from Dreams would be gone anytime soon right Cassa? xD

But let's suppose it's not enough? I usually try to work with people and explore all the options I can think of before I "give up" (I normally don't give up, I just explore my options again later). But if I do run out of options, then I guess I'd be forced to leave the guild and Mabinogi when that happens.

Are there any current group activities in the game that you'd love to try exploring and how would you go about encouraging people to come?

There hasn't been a group activity I don't enjoy at this time. If there was a group activity to help me train my skills that I'd really love to do that. I know that unfortunately most skills I'll have to train alone.

If you would like to invite me to any dungeon runs, I don't mind giving you anything I pick up. I don't want any items. I just want your company at this time. I hope this is "encouraging" enough for people to come with me. xD

I used to organize many guild activities and events for Visions. I liked doing them and I wanted to do the same for Dreams. I know I am not in the guild yet but I actually do have some guild events in mind already. How do you think I should go about suggesting and sharing it to the guild? Am I allowed to? xD

Are there any situations you can think of that would cause you to want to leave the guild?

Yes. Although unlikely right now, I guess I would have to leave the guild when it starts preventing me from doing the things I personally value more. Certain commitments with family, friends and personal development for example are more important to me. But I do not see how being in the guild will conflict with these other commitments at this time.

Yes. That is a reasonable request Keo!

As I've spent more and more time here, I feel like I've been more and more willing to be a part of this community. At this point, I'm actually feeling pretty excited to be welcomed to this guild!