Tom Tom GO?

I've been having naughty thoughts recently whether or not it is worth staying in my current Saunders game world or jumping into Toms, the first game world to be classed as 'PRO'. I always had my doubts about these first few game worlds in terms of their longevity, but I didn't think I would be thinking of changing even before my first 3 month subscription has ended.



In one of my earlier blog entries I stated that Saunders would be my only game world and that the thought of moving and starting again from scratch would not appeal to me and that is still true in a way. But my thinking behind that at the time was that Saunders would last at least 6 months, so jumping into a new game world after 3 months would seem silly if Saunders was doing ok at that point. Unfortunately my view of Saunders in 3 months time has changed quite a bit recently, mainly due to the decrease in numbers at the time I log in the most.



I am a firm believer in sticking it out with the game world you chose from the start, it isn't going to be any different by jumping from game world to game world. But how loyal should I be? Should I stick with it till I am the last man in the game world when everyone else is leaving for pastures new even though I too saw the danger signs in the previous months? Do I kid myself that the numbers may suddenly increase and that it will become as enjoyable as it was when it was very active? I really believe that waiting until things get a bit desolate to think about doing something about inactivity is far too late. And that's why, ultimately, these first game worlds just won't last very long. And then there is the appeal of joining a game world were you can keep all your skills. A rather silly move I believe, but a very attractive option for a current manager to venture into. Will Toms have a large number of first time users in it from the start? I hope not, because the noise being made in most current game worlds from non beta testers regarding the advantage of beta testers will be tenfold. Not only have they been beta testers but they also could have any number of 5 star skills which could seriously increase the likelihood of them making a dominant start to a new game world. An advantage is still an advantage no matter how small people think it is. Maybe Toms is a way of pooling the hardcore users from Saunders and Clough etc when they are nearing depletion? Pooling the most active users into an almost advertised long term game world. Here's hoping that Ov Collyer and the boys are already 5 steps ahead of everyone else's concerns, which I'm sure they are.



I have however had a change of heart regarding sticking with the game long term. I don't really play any other kind of games any more, nothing really holds my interest like this game has done throughout beta and indeed in Saunders, but SI/SEGA are clearly onto a winner with this game. The 1.1 changes mean that the game is a lot less linear, and from that point can only gain in depth and structure which in turn will lead to a long lasting game. My early, rather selfish views about paying to play in these inaugural 'doomed' game worlds have changed into the view that I have in some way supported them to hopefully help build a better and more diverse game which I can play long term.