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Yesterday made one year that I have been a member of Fubar. I rarely post blogs, but I wanted to do one, to commemorate being on here for a full year. I don't really have anything in particular to say about playing the same internet game for a year straight, so this will mostly just be some "ramblings", rememberances, and basic "blah blah blah" from me. Any of my Fu-Family or Fu-Friends who SB or PM with me on a daily basis can tell you that I have a tendency to "ramble on" sometimes, so this blog will be like that. Before you continue reading, you may want to get a cup of coffee or something, to help you stay awake. You were warned! LOL :p
I don't think I have ever played any computer-based, game console, or internet game for a full year. On XBox, my favorite games are the Fable series of games, but I will usually play them for a few weeks, then not even turn on my XBox again for several months, then suddenly get another "itching" to play Fable, so I will fire up the XBox and play for a few weeks again. I have played the Fable games for many years, but that is an "off and on" sort of thing. When I was playing Farmville, I know I played that for at least 6 or 7 months, but I don't think I made it a full year, before I got bored with it and quit playing. One year on Fubar is definitely the longest I have ever played one game. :)
I had never even heard of Fubar until last year, when I happened to see a banner advertisement on Facebook. From the looks of the ad, I honestly thought it was an online dating site. I had tried Eharmony, POF, Match, and other sites, but gave up on all of them. I had originally thought that using online dating sites would help me to find women who are mature, intelligent, professional, and looking for a serious, committed relationship. As it turned out, online dating sites only gave me access to even more of the same kind of women that I would meet in real life (immature, needy, self-esteem issues, liars, cheaters, etc.). I gave up on dating about 2 1/2 years ago, and I have not allowed any woman to date me, since then. I originally joined Fubar thinking that I was joining another dating site, but I immediately discovered that it is actually an online game with an integral social component. I consider myself somewhat of a "gamer", so once I did a few levels and achievements, I decided to do what I do with any other game, which is shoot for the top level, to see how quickly I can get there. At the time, the top level was 61, so I started working every achievement and level requirement that I could. I am usually very good at figuring out any game's algorithms, the best way to optimize point values, how to achieve game challenges in the quickest and most efficient manner, etc. I originally thought that I would be able to get the crown in a month or two. At first, I had no idea just how much longer it takes to level, the higher you go in levels. It took me a whole month, just to get to level 59 (screenshot in my "Fubar Stuff" folder). By then, I think they had already added level 62, before I had made it to level 61, so I was no longer shooting for level 61, but level 62. I was honestly surprised, because at first I was not aware that levels continually get added to this game. I think that is one of the things that makes this game more interesting than many, because you can get to the top level, but they will eventually add another one, to challenge your gamer skills again. Also, I went through very early, doing as many polishing, rating, liking, poking, gifts, etc. types of achievements I could, but Fubar also adds new achievements to work on every once in a while, which is also really cool. It is almost like buying the expansion packs for some of the other games I have played before. I did eventually make it to level 62 for the crown, but it ended up taking a total of about 4 1/2 months to get it. Definitely a lot longer than I had originally thought it would take. I ended up having the crown for THREE DAYS, then they took it away when they added level 63, so then I had to get level 63 to get my crown back. I actually held the crown for a while, before they added level 64 and I had to go for the crown again. After one year, I have now held the crown for three levels.
Some of the achievements are fun to do, but a lot of them are very tedious and take a very long time to do. If you are reading this, and new to the game of Fubar, then one piece of advice I will give you that many of the people who befriended me early on gave me, is do as many of the achievements as you can, as early as you can. As I got to the higher levels, I was so happy that I had already finished almost all of the achievements for polishing, poking, liking, rating, fanning, uploading videos, etc. Of course, as new drink/gift achievements come out, I have several Family members and Friends, with whom we all just spend hours sending each others drinks or gifts, so we can knock out those achievements. If you have a drink/gift achievement that you want to shoot for, then the best thing to do is simply find someone else who needs the same achievement and both of you just start sending those things to each other, until you both have the achievement. It is always so much better to help someone else get their achievement at the same time, rather than just expecting everyone else to spend hours of their time to "hand you" achievements, while you do nothing for anyone else.
At first, it took me a little while to get used to the social component of this game. I am used to playing against a computer, game system, game AI, or whatever. Other than that, I might play against one other player who is sitting next to me. I have never really had any interest in an online multi-player game, before Fubar. I did adjust to it pretty quickly, and I actually enjoy the social features of the interface now (SB, PM, etc.). I have had the pleasure of making a LOT of really good online friends on here. Several in my Family and Top Friends list aren't even there for anything to do with leveling or achievements, but just because they are really sweet people with whom I enjoy messaging, laughing, and joking around with. The funny thing is that I have several on here with whom I message and/or SB on an almost daily basis, but I am not like that on Facebook. On Facebook, I approve very few friend requests and it is almost all just my family and close, personal friends whom I know in real life. Fubar is the opposite, because you are people with whom I really enjoy talking and being social, even though I know we will never meet in real life. I am intentionally NOT going to name anyone in particular in this blog, because there are so many with whom I have become good online friends with on here, so I don't want to leave anyone out. You all know who you are, anyway. :)
As a "gamer", I not only enjoy leveling and completing game requirements as quickly and efficiently as possible, but I also truly enjoy helping others to do the same. Every day, I am helping people on Fubar with their leveling and achievements. I have quite a few Fubar Family and Friends who will send me links to people who need help, or they will tell that person to message me directly. I know I can always count on those same Friends and Family to help out, when I send them someone's link. There are actually a LOT of people on Fubar who are always more than happy to help others gain levels and finish achievements. That is most obvious when people are going for Like, Rate, Poke, etc. types of requirements and hundreds or thousands of Fubar players constantly keep coming back to that person's page over and over again in one day, to help make sure they get all of the numbers they need. There are all of the other things that we help with, like advising people how to knock out the "level others" requirement in a couple of minutes, messaging others to Fu-Own someone, giving 1 credit blings to help someone get the 10 they need, networking to get Secret Admirers for someone, and all of those other things that we do multiple times on a daily basis. I do a lot of these things every day, but I am not one of those people who does a lot of statuses or posts that basically say "Look at me everyone, I am helping someone over here. Look, see how helpful I am?", or whatever. I just help them and move on to help the next person, just like many of my Friends and Family do. Helping other people on Fubar is actually my favorite part of this game.
SOME OF THE "WEIRD STUFF" - Of course, I have Fubar Friends and Family members who joke around all of the time about some of the strange behavior of a few of the players of this game. Even though those people are actually in a very small percentage, and the vast majority of the people I meet on here seem to be emotionally stable and normal people, it is difficult to post a blog about my experiences over the past year, without also talking about some of "those people" that I sometimes run across, in this game.
FU-DRAMA - "FU-CONSPIRACY" and "FU-STATUS ATTENTION SEEKERS" - "Fu-Drama" is probably the very FIRST Fu-specific terminology that I learned, shortly after I joined. I have seen quite a bit of it from other game players, in many different forms. During my first few days on here, I ended up adding a Family member who ended up being in my SB every day, warning me about the people watching me, telling me how she can't level only because she isn't pretty enough, how Fubar management is monitoring and editing her communications to others, how she has seen them "roll back" her counters when she is in the middle of going for an achievement, and all other sorts of conspiracy nonsense about Fubar and other game players who were all out to get her. She was one of those typical conspiracy theorist types who apparently had no personal sense of self-worth, so she would create a pseudo-sense of worth for herself, by imagining that she was so important to so many people that they were all watching her and out to get her. Of course, in High School psychology class (and college level psychology classes) we all learned that these particular mental issues are known as "Delusions of Grandeur". It is actually frightening how many others I have seen exhibit those same emotional issues on this site. She ended up sending me a "good bye" message, because she couldn't take it anymore and was leaving Fubar. I visited her profile and saw that she had posted a status begging anyone to explain to her how to delete her profile, because she had tried and couldn't get it deleted, because Fubar was apparently stopping her attempts, and she would be gone forever as soon as her profile was deleted. I was actually quite happy and relieved to take her out of my Family, because I couldn't take any more of her constant negative "everyone is out to get me" nonsense in my SB anyway, so I was glad she was leaving Fubar. Of course, a couple of days later I got a scathing message from her, because she could not believe that I actually removed her from my Family. She had publicly posted that she was leaving Fubar!!! Oddly enough, I have now seen this sort of attention-getting gimick employed by numerous game players on here, and I have even seen a lot of others posting joking/mocking statuses about this juvenile attempt for attention. Everyone who joins this site is supposed to confirm they are at least 18 years of age, so when someone publicly posts that they are going to do something, then I generally "expect" them to follow through with their public statements, like most adults do. If they choose to make public statements of their intended actions, then they should not be upset or confused that others actually take them for their word. If you post that you are leaving, but change your mind, then just be a mature adult and simply say "Yeah OK, I changed my mind, I am staying now", instead of expecting the other 10 million people on Fubar to also alter reality and history in their minds, as you did. Even though this particular person was one of the most extreme examples of the "Fu-conspiracy" and "Fu-Status Attention Seekers" that I have encountered in this game, I have seen examples of both of those behaviors from a few other players, but usually to a lesser degree than her. I can still only shake my head in disbelief, at those people.
FU-RELATIONSHIPS and FU-JEALOUSY - These probably go without much explanation and I know that everyone has seen plenty of this stuff. A few people on this site act as though they are in a REAL relationship, just because they Fu-own someone, or they are Fu-married, but they have never met the other person in real life. I have seen plenty of people get really freaked out about another game player who is their "Fu-partner" of some sort, then they start following them all over the site and getting all kinds of upset over their partner blinging someone else, posting complimentary comments on other players' pages, or whatever. This often ends up with the jealous one making a lot of "Fu-status Attention Seeker" posts. I was very confused at first, when I started having some women on the site contacting me about wanting to date me, but when I would point out to them that we live on opposite sides of the country, or even different countries, they would respond to me that it was "Not a problem", or something like that. A few of my friends finally explained to me that a few people on here actually consider it "DATING" if they talk with someone a lot on the site and they agree that they are "DATING", even though they never meet each other in real life. The very concept of this still freaks me out and I will simply never understand it. In my mind, if I never meet someone in real life, then I am definitely NOT "dating" them! LOL :D
SELF-WORTH ALA FUBAR - A few people on this site seem to think that their sense of personal self-worth in real life is a direct result of how well they do in this online game, whether it be how high they rank for rates, how many Fans they have, or whatever. I sincerely feel a deep sense of pity and sorrow for those people, if it seems like they have no real sense of self-worth and they only build their own self-esteem from an online game. As a gamer, I enjoy doing well in any game, but if I play a game and don't do that great at it, then "Oh well, I am just not that good at this particular game." LOL I am very happy that I was able to get the "Top Dude of the Week" achievement, and that ever since then I have still continued to rank pretty high every week, even though I don't actually TRY to rank. The only times I actually TRIED to rank were for the "Top Ten Hottest" Level requirement and for the "Top Dude of the Week" achievement. Other than that, I just FAMP for fun, to help out others who are doing runs, to return the favor for people I have seen FMAPing me, and because it is nice to work on my Lifetime ranking sometimes. I have never asked anyone to add me to their Family, I have never asked anyone else for a permanent Family or permanent Boost trade, or anything like that. I have had a few ask me for permanent trades that I agreed to a while back, but I don't even agree to those when others ask me anymore, because a couple of times it was more trouble than it was worth. I don't have a permanent Boost list, because I prefer to just bookmark anyone I see FAMPing me, so that I can return the favor the next time I FAMP. With a permanent Boost list, I would have to ignore people who are FAMPing me today, in order to FAMP others who may not have FAMPed me for days or weeks. A "rotating" boost is really the most fair way I can think of, to return the favor for people who are kind enough to FAMP me. I am currently in over 370 Permanent Family lists, and a lot of people who don't have me in their Family list add me to their Boost every time they FAMP, so it is simply impossible to be able to include everyone every time I FAMP, with only 50 Family slots and 15 Boost slots. I am VERY humbled, honored, and grateful for every Family and Boost add that everyone has given to me, because I have never once asked anyone to add me, so I know that people have added me simply because they WANT to include me in their Family or Boost. I DO sometimes do "one for one" FAMP swaps, if I happen to be running a FAMP that day and ask others to trade spots in their FAMPs, but that is not nearly the same as the kindness so may of you have done by adding me to your Permanent Family or Boost on your own. Thank you all so very much for that. The only down side is that some people seem to think that just because I have a tendency to rank pretty high, because of so many amazing Friends and Family helping me out, that I have that same emotional "NEED" to rank, like a few others do on here. I receive a lot of very nice "thank you" messages from people who are thankful that I actually FAMP them back, even though many others do not do that for them. However, I have had a couple of people (thankfully only VERY FEW) who have messaged me saying that they don't think I FAMP them ENOUGH, and actually asking something stupid in their message like "Should I remove you from my Family?" Of course, my response is always "If you don't think I FAMP you enough, then yes you should definitely remove me from your Family!" It is very odd to me that someone would "threaten" to remove me from their Family, when I never asked to be added to their Family to begin with. I am on Fubar to play and have fun. If you want to add me to your Family, then "Thank you very much", because I truly DO appreciate it, but if you are only doing it because you EXPECT something in return, and you don't think I am living up to an agreement that you made with yourself in your own mind (because I had never made ANY sort of agreement with those particular people who messaging me with nonsense), then simply REMOVE ME from your Family! It really is that simple. Don't bring your nonsense into my inbox. Those people seem to feel like having a high rank in this online game somehow makes them more important, or they somehow develop their personal sense of self-worth from having a lot of people FAMP them and getting a lot of rates, but I honestly don't care if I rank or not. If I do, then that is pretty cool and I am happy about it, just like I am happy about doing well in any game. If I don't happen to rank really high, then I jut don't rank that high and it is no big deal to me. This is JUST A GAME! It is supposed to be for FUN! I do not take it nearly as seriously as a few people on here. Luckily, the vast MAJORITY of Friends and Family I have on here are normal people who do not fit into these categories of "Fu-drama", but a few of those people ARE on here and are difficult not to mention in a blog of this nature - LOL. I have plenty of real life responsibilities, achievements, and accomplishments, so I do not need to create a pseudo-sense of self-worth from an online game. I am more than happy to be online friends with anyone who wants to play, laugh, joke around, and have fun on here! :)
OK, that is the end of my "ramblings" about my first year on Fubar. I have never played a game for an entire year, before. I have definitely enjoyed this first year, very much! There are a few strange people whom I encounter on here once in a while, but they are FAR outnumbered by the normal, mentally stable people who are on here to play a game and have fun. The fun and benefits of this game definitely outweigh the occasional instances of "Fu-drama" that I run across once in a while. I have a feeling I may actually still be here to post some ramblings about my second year on here, a year from now! :)
