Oh, I intend to do a great many of things. But first, I shall drink my coffee, and then spend the rest of the day being puzzled about this question. (Sometime during this, I will work some on my little pet project which pretends to be a “novel”. Of which I hope one day will make me super rich so I can spend the rest of my days killing myself with alcohol. Yes, yes, one can only dream…)
So what does it matter what I intend to do?
I’m just one of many, a random person on the internet. A delusional fool who is getting overly philosophical over a random question. It likely won’t matter much what I reply to this question, in the grand scope of things that is. The sun will rise and set, and we, as a whole, will continue to drift across space on this giant roundish rock (or disc, it’s up to your belief). All the things we did, do, or will do, will eventually be forgotten.
Over the past years I followed Stonehearth with eager interest. A little sproutling, an awesome foundation which could become a magical place (like Tahiti). It became this so far. Whether it is a magical place or not is a decision to be left for each individual to decide for themselves. For me, it’s almost.
It’s easy to say that we, the little nameless people, don’t matter much. Right here, we all did matter, really. We bought the game and supported Team Radiant in their quest to make Stonehearth. Others went out of their way and created some most awesome mods, tore apart the game to little bits of pieces and with their findings helped TR fix things, expand things, make things awesome. I admire and, in a way, envy these people deeply. I don’t have much talent when it comes to anything, so, for me, the idea of modding and tearing apart the game was off the table. (Well, I did try, but it ended in a ragequit, and so never again.)
Some people have irresistible urge to change things. To contribute. To shape things, the way things go, the world. I am one of these people. And though I failed modding, over the years I did the best I could to be of use by throwing my voice into the soup, provide feedback and make suggestions. Many of us did.
Many of us had different ideas indeed. Often conflicting even. In the end the feedback we, the nameless people, provided mattered, our suggestions often came true. We shaped things. It’s easy to think we don’t matter at all, that we are ignored. But in the end, our collective voice shaped the game. I am glad I was, and am, part of this noisy voice, working hard to deafen all of TR, which all of us together form.
Even if the unlocking of things (forced re-embark) remains without an alternative path to follow, I shall continue to play from time to time. I will just force myself through the questline several times, and in the end extract that one file which holds my dream team. I will make backups and hold it as precious as a gemstone I’ve taken from a dragon’s hoard. After, I will be finally allowed to play as I like. In a way this is a sort of goal, is it not?
Many of us will leave, many of us have already left. Onto other journeys, each to their own. Others will take their places, add their own voices to our collective voice. Some will make mods and make things even better. Someone out there will eventually fix the whole re-embark fiasco with a mod everyone will love.
In the end, life will carry on, because life is far too stubborn to leave things be.