Aaaannnnd… Done.
Let me start out by saying I am not ending Exiern. But I am changing my relationship to the comic. This is a LONG post. Feel free not to read it and go about your day normally.
September 6th, 2005 was the day my first comic was posted on Comic Genesis. I use that date as the official start date of Exiern even though at the time the comic was called “Dimension Hopping” and the Exiern comic had existed on the Wotch forums for about 2 months prior to that. 9/6/2005 is the only solid date I have on record so it counts as the official start of the comic.
You never forget your first time. I was nervous and unsure of myself but I soon found a rhythm and soon everything just felt right as I thrust forward, but enough about learning to drive a car. Posting a comic online was an amazing experience for me. All my life I had these stories and jokes bouncing around in my head. To be able to get them out was a catharsis. For years I had been imprisoned by my dyslexia, afraid to write anything or post anything publically. Webcomics gave me an excuse to explore my creative side.
At the time I really needed something like this comic in my life. I had a job I hated and a relationship that was not doing very well either. Exiern was an emotional crutch for me. It was something in my life I could take pride in. Something frankly I could justify my existence with. I was in bad shape emotionally in those days and the comic was my therapy. I think you can say that for a lot of webcomic creators. A fair amount of us are damaged goods using the comic to both express the demons with in us and as a way to salve our emotional wounds.
I was proud of what I was accomplishing with Exiern.
“Pride comes before the fall.”
Fast-forward to today. I am out having lunch with a friend again. This is the one that has this habit of nonchalantly pointing out when I am being crazy by asking seemingly innocent questions. Honestly I don’t know why I‘m friends with her. Who needs friends that make you examine yourself?
The current topic of conversation is the Half Pixel crew and their constant use of the phrase “at my level”. They say the phrase a lot and it’s always to belittle other creators. “At my level” pompous and self absorbed phrase was really getting under my skin.
“Why does that phrase bother you so much” she said as she pulled a single blade of lettuce out of from the bulk of her Caesar salad with quick strokes of her fork. I think she believe separating her food from the heard weakens it and makes it easy prey.
“It’s just so arrogant. They are so oblivious to the rest of the webcomic world. It drives me nuts” I said with righteous anger.
My friend took a long time to respond. Taking bites of blades of lettuce, each on exactingly separated from the salad pack. Eventually she spoke. “Are you upset that they are oblivious of the ‘webcomics world’ or are you upset that they are oblivious of you?”
“I… well I mean I am part of the webcomics world.”
“So you want to be on their level? To be a peer of Scot Kurtz”
“Oh good God no! If I was on THEIR level I would leap off to the sharp rock and icy ocean below. A painful unpleasant death is far preferable to being on that level. And if you ever refer to Scot Kurtz as my peer again I will… well I don’t know. Something that is horrible and humiliating but not sexual harassment because you’re a girl.”
“Let me know when you figure something out.”
“I will!”
“So you want to be better than them?” she asked rolling a cherry tomato across her plate.
“There really isn’t a better than them. They are making a career out of webcomics. Not any higher level than that. I mean I could be a better human being than them but I generally already am a better human being or at least I’m better than some of them. I just want… I want them to treat me with respect. To recognize all the work I have put into this comic. Every time I interact with them they are so condescending.”
“And that’s why you make the comic? To be recognized?” My friend said looking up from her salad and fixing me with a steady gaze.
“No!” I yell a little louder that I wanted to and causing a group of elderly diners at a near by table to turn and look in half concern and half annoyance, “I make the comic because I have to. I make it because the stories are clawing inside my head screaming to get out. And every story I don’t tell is like a tiny death of my soul. The stories may not be the best story but they are my stories and they have to be told. I don’t care what other people think about them.”
“So what do you want respect for?” My friend asked still fixing me with her dark eyes.
“For all the work I have put into the business. It is drudgery, I hate it and it gets in the way of writing stories. I used to work on the business in hopes of this becoming a career but I like my new job now and margins of the webcomic business don’t work out well if you have to hire an artist. So why am I killing myself developing this business model if no one is going to recognize it?”
“Oh” my friend replied nonchalantly and turned her attention back to her salad. A carrot slice had foolishly wandered away from the radishes making it a prime target.
“Why am I killing myself?” I say to myself my friend ignoring me in her pursuit of the wild carrot.
“Why am I killing myself?” I repeat slumping down into the venial diner chair producing a sound somewhere between singing mice and flatulence. I just sit there for a little while letting the enormity of it all percolate thought me.
I don’t have an answer for the question. And that leads to the natural conclusion that I don’t have to kill myself. Like a lifting fog all the stress and anger I have felt about this comic lately is gone. I realize that this can be fun again if I want it to be. I slump down further in the chair producing another flatulating mouse song sound.
I am at peace.
I am not longer angry at Half Pixel’s “At my level”. I even forgive Scot Kurtz for being well Scot Kurtz. Don’t get me wrong I still think he is a horrible human being but now that fact is really more his problem not mine. All the petty arguments I have gotten into over the years all the stress no seem so needless. I don’t need to be recognized for anything, I just need to tell stories. I can enjoy making this comic again.
I have decided. Exiern is a business no longer. Fes of the webcomic beacon has a phrase “For the love of the hobby”. I always though it was a corny phrase. Actually I still think it is a corny phrase. Perhaps it would sound better in Latin or Aramaic or something. But the point is I finally get the phrase. Why it’s so important some time to do things just “for the love of the hobby”.
Now this change in attitude has a number of implications.
First of all the amount of “fan service” around here is going to drop off quite a bit. Not disappear mind you since I don’t really see anything wrong with naked people. And naked people can on occasion be hilarious. But I am done with random stupid reason to get people naked just to bump up revenues.
On that line of thought Dark Reflections is now officially dead. The comic stop being fun for me a long time ago and the fight to keep it alive is just not worth it. It was a noble experiment that had some success and some failure but I just don’t want to deal with it anymore.
Also on the kill list is Sarah Fin. A fun TG comic set in the 1930 but the artist had to bow out after page 6 and really it would be a struggle to find another of his caliber. I also had no idea where the comic was going and it was just recycling a number of Exiern jokes. I thought i would probably do well commercially but if I am thought out those concerns then I have other places I can put my attention.
On the other side of the coin I think I am going to try and revive a comic that I enjoyed but I just did not “sell” very well. This would be the comic Legacy. I will have to figure out how to work this since the artist has move on to other projects but I would like to see a return of this comic.
But here is the important part of this realization. Since I will not be hustling for Exiern anymore, since I will not be breaking my self to make as much money as possible, this could very well mean the slow suffocating death of Exiern as a webcomic.
Lets face it Exiern is expensive to make with a professional artist. I have never even broken even with Exiern. And that is when I was really trying. Now? Well the costs will continue to rise and the revenues will decrease. So I will have to cut back on updates to offset the losses. Less update means fewer readers and that means less money. The cycle perpetuates its self until the comic dies.
I love Exiern. I love writing it. But at the same time I am done being a business man. If the price of peace of mind is the death of Exiern I am willing to pay it. I can still tell stories. It just will not look as professional as it has in the past. And I am ok with that.
Granted Exiern may continue to make enough money on it’s own to support it’s self. I will still continue to make donation comics and commission wallapapers because frankly they are a hoot. So Exiern may continue. Or it may die. Either way I am fine with it.
I am done.
Amor enim pasatiempo
Nope. Still sounds silly in Latin.
Sad to hear, but one must do what one feels is best. I know well the drudgery of fighting to get something illustrated and the costs involved. May your selected projects, both new and continuing, sail smoothly for you!
Well, I hope that Exiern continues, but the main thing is I hope you have more fun with it now, and with webcomicing (webcomicking?) in general.
One idea (you may have already done this) would be to put the shout out for artists who’d be interested in doing it as a hobby, for a share of whatever revenue comes in. You never know, there might be someone out there with the urge to draw, but without their own stories to tell.
Good luck with the job *and* the comic. Have fun!
The art is great but I would rather follow the story. Get a cheaper artist and be done with it. Really, does every thing need to be so damned pretty for everyone? I’m not saying take a page from Order of the Stick and South Park but there’s plenty of talented artists out there that might enjoy drawing Exiern as a hobby too.
Also, glad to hear life is better for you.
Thank you for giving us all Exiern.
You should absolutely do what makes you happiest and most comfortable in this situation. If you don’t enjoy it then of course the creativity will be sapped out of you.
I did take issue with one part, and maybe I am just not correctly understanding what you meant.
“Lets face it Exiern is expensive to make with a professional artist. I have never even broken even with Exiern. And that is when I was really trying. Now? Well the costs will continue to rise and the revenues will decrease.”
Earlier this year however you posted this:
“I could sustain Exiern on 1/3rd the income but the point is that the other 2/3rds of that income has been going to other projects. Knit Princess and Blade Bunny paid by the excess from Exiern’s revenues.”
Now perhaps the cost has gone up since then, and your own time is valuable so maybe that is what you are referencing, but from this earlier post it does sound like exiern was at least breaking even. I was just wondering if you could clarify.
Why don’t you go back to drawing the comic yourself like when you first started. Then you could tell the story and you could have people donate towards getting individual pages they like illustrated professionally.
Then finish it off. The story has reached a point where Tiffany can come to the realization she likes being female. (That’s why the monks failed to change her back perhaps) Have her agree to marry and become queen. The End.
I myself would rather see this than have it peter off into oblivion, as several web comix have.
DV8
I love this comic and would hate to see it go, but you’ve got to do it first and foremost to please yourself. If running it as a business is sucking the joy out of it, make a change. If it dies I’ll be sorry to see it go, but such is the way of all flesh and all pixels.
Oh, and the Latin should read “pro amore studii” or “gratia amore studii” if you mean “for the sake of the love of the hobby.” I’m a bit of a grammar fascist when it comes to Latin.
Glad to read this post, and I wish you the best with re-discovering your enjoyment of the comic.
I partly agree with DV8, write an ending if you think it is going to die. I don’t agree with guiding it specifically to the specific ending recommended and killing it now. You obviously are enjoying it again and that is important and valuable.
The minute you start doing anything for the audience, you lose yourself. It has to be fun or you will burn out. So enjoy it, but keep some possible endings in mind and if you think it is time to move on, then go ahead and end it.
Plus, if you have an formal ending, you can always do a collection to go with book 1 and have something to look back at and show. As a writer myself, I know that things like that matter down the road.
DV8 your guess that the spell reversal didn’t work because Tiffany likes being female might actually be true, remember she does have feelings for Denver so maybe subconciously she didn’t want to return to being a man. When peonie was teasing her about a shy librarian possibly taking her aside and looking her in the eyes she did get pretty flustered.
I agree with DV8. Better that it have an ending that I dislike than no ending at all (or the worst ending ever-I’m looking at you RPG World).
If you can’t find an artist, just tell your story. If the story is the important part, write it out. Write a long one or a short one. Hire an artist to perhaps add images to add to the text, to emphasize the story instead of tell the whole thing.
-A thought from a reader that’s enjoyed Exiern, Dark Reflestions and others of your stories.
Frowny face! But alas, I can do naught but watch. I understand that as we grow and change some things we enjoyed no longer appeal, such is life.
A shame about Dark Reflections. That had great story potential.
Did Exiern ever have a definitive ending?
I tell stories and I ‘kill’ myself over making them because if I didn’t I would simply cease to exist. But that’s just me.
Now I wish I’d bought a “cameo” appearance…I would’ve submitted my name as Scot Kurtz and chosen Evil alignment, so Drow would have the pleasure of killing him off. Illegitimi non carborundum, Drow!
Wow. This is big news and no mistake. What is there to say? As one of the readers who’s been here since you were drawing Exiern yourself, I think I can say this: I’m glad you’re finding peace with yourself more important than ruining Exiern by making yourself unhappy doing it. I’m in agreement with DV8 as well, to a degree: end the comic with a bang rather than a whimper. My hopes are that Tiff ends up with Denver rather than the king, but that’s just me; maybe Brother/Sister Thomas would make a good queen instead! LOL
Seriously, though, I’d rather see you end the comic and be happy with life rather than continue struggling to make it profitable, lose interest, and have everything fizzle the way the Wotch seems to have done. That would be jus depressing.
Merry Christmas!
Mellissalynn
O please wind up the marriage theme.
A few years ago, Bryan Richter (LCD) had become dissatisfied with his earlier artwork, and was seriously contemplating going back and redrawing. Ironically (to me), he mentioned his love of Penny Arcade. I wrote him, imploring him to not do a rewrite, as 1) this is usually the death of a comic and 2) we read much, MUCH more for the humor than the art, as witnessed by his love of PA.
My point? The story and the jokes are what make the comic. I would appreciate it if you didn’t change styles in the middle of an arc, but you can downgrade the art a LOT without losing nearly as many fans as you expect. You might also find an illustrator willing to parter for love.
Now, if your are tired of the story, then it’s going to suck in any event. But please don’t let your artistic sense get in the way of delivering a great joke.
Why were you killing yourself? You were trying your hand a being an entrepreneur. I’m glad you’re more at peace.
Thanks
Sorry to see Dark Exiern go but you gotta what you gotta do to make yourself happy.
If your happiness means fewer updates then that’s OK by me.
And if Exiern does go then let it go out on a high note and everyone is ends up having a happy ending.
Probably won’t be published but here goes… Personally I think it’s about time this comic ends. TG has gone the way of the dinosaur. This puppy needs to be extinct yesterday. How’s this for an ending? All the characters get killed off in a zombie apocalypse.
Except maybe the king. I like his obnoxiousity (if there’s such a word).
Hail to the king baby 🙂
I’ll have to say that I hope you continue the comic; and if not, that you bring it to an end where you can revive it if a new inspiration hits.
I would definitely buy another collection if you publish one.
I’m a bit saddened by the realization that the comic will be losing its safety net, so to speak. I do want it to continue, because I think I enjoy reading it as much as Drowemos enjoys telling the story. But being short of money is something I can understand. I myself didn’t think the service shots or donation offers were a bad thing per-se. Had I the funds, I would have bought them and/or donated anyhow, but everyone knows how these last few years have been. I am a bit bummed that Dark Reflections never really had a chance to take off in flight, rather having been hampered by practical needs. Drowemos, I hope that you do find a more enjoyable experience with Exiern from here on out, and I also hope that the comic does not die a slow death, but that you can sustain the momentum and finish out the story you needed to tell. I’ll try and be with you every step of the way.
I have been reading Exiern for several years now. I really enjoy it. But let’s face it, you have been working on this project for five years now.
My advice is to bring this story to a close. You are at the perfect spot for it in the comic. Faden is gone, the princess is home, and the king is trying to solve Tiffany’s problem. Decide if she will return to being a man or remain a woman, and wrap it all up in the next 5+ pages.
I would even suggest putting the ending in the hands of your readers. Setup a poll, and allow us readers to vote for how we want it to end. Hide the results, so that we can’t see which gender is winning (which would ruin the story).
I would rather see the comic come to a real ending, rather than have it suddenly die an unfinished death.
You gotta do what you gotta do, I just hope Blade Bunny stays around a little longer
I agree with GrapeKiller and Mellissalynn said, if the cost of paying someone to draw it is too much, PLEASE go back to drawing yourself. I miss the old pencil line drawings of the original story.
Tell your story, and we will gladly stay. The colorful fancy pictures were nice, but have never been required.
I agree with wolf the original art was fine with me and I wouldn’t mind if it went back to that.
I agree with what the others have said about returning to doing your own art. While the look of the professional artist’s work is nice it is the story that hooked most of your readers and made them want to keep reading it.
Also looking back at the ‘Classic Extern’ we could see your art greatly improve as you went. One of the things that is interesting about reading comics is the evolution of the artist’s style as they become more skilled.
If you do stop doing the comic completely please do your readers a favor and properly end the story.
I fourth Wolf, sandman and “nobody.”
Having professional art for your story is good, but there are many great webcomics out there that attract and satisfy tens of thousands of readers without using professional art. Just look at xkcd! And yeah, I concur with everyone who says any ending > no ending for both you and your readers. Closure is great for peace of mind.
Sounds like great news to me. Things done for the the love of it tend to be of higher quality than things done for profit. In my experience.
I for one will continue to support you with the membership fee and if everyone else buggers off and I get one comic every 5 years, then so be it.
Have fun mate!
M
Drowemos, as a casual reader of your comic over the last few years, I’d first like to say that you’ve done a fantastic job improving over time. After reading your post, there were some things I found thought-provoking…
Obviously, there was a point in time when you felt you deserved to be recognized and/or pursued recognition from the likes of Scott Kurtz. Personally, I’ve followed his PVP webcomic and several others, just as I’ve regularly read your own. I do not know whatever backstory goes with the animosity that you came to feel towards him, and now is obviously not the time to go into it. Suffice it to say, Scott has obviously been successful in his endeavor, at least enough to become known well enough for his efforts. However, regardless of what he and others of the ‘Half Pixel’ group may or may not have said to you, in the end, it isn’t THEIR opinions you should concern yourself with. When you do, it only distracts you from focusing your efforts in making ‘Exiern’ the best it can possibly be.
The most important thing is whether YOU are satisfied with what you have done, and whether you believe you’re doing all you can to make Exiern the best it can be. Quite frankly, webcomics come in so many forms that it is to be expected that not necessarily everyone who likes PVP…will like Exiern…and vice versa. Not everyone who likes The Wotch will like Starslip or Shortpacked or (take your pick of webcomic).
Either YOU are satisfied with what you’re doing, or maybe you shouldn’t be doing it. After all, more than one individual who has become successful has uttered these words…’You’ll never be truly successful at what you’re doing if you don’t first enjoy what it is you’re doing.’ If you’re slaving away at creating Exiern just to get other webcomic creators to notice you and give you kudos, will that make you enjoy doing it any more? Or will you find yourself enjoying it more if you actually like doing it…regardless of what other people think?
You’ve got talent, there’s no denying that! I know I couldn’t draw what you’ve drawn, and there are probably thousands more out there who would admit they couldn’t either. But it is a talent that is wasted if you’re not enjoying what you’re doing. You said it yourself, you were getting frustrated and mad and it was driving you nuts. Your friend gave you some sage advice…without telling you what to do. She made the suggestion, but it was YOU who came to the conclusion to do what you felt was best for YOU. Which is probably what you’d been struggling to figure out all along.
I hope you continue to create more Exiern…I know I enjoy it and would like it to continue, but if it doesn’t, so be it. At least you could look back at what you did and be confident in the knowledge that you accomplished something that a lot of us would never dream of trying.
Eric, may I make an alternative suggestion? Why not find a PARTNER like I did? I have two comics with awesome artists who, by virtue of their patience, I can provide my own services to a comic that may actually help me make money “4 realz”. Starship Moonhawk is a labor of love, and a singular vision only I can create. I learned that the hard way by hiring my own “pro” artist, and dealing with that rigmarole. I won’t do it again. Sure, I believe in artists getting their fair share. But I also believe that you have to be realistic about what this “industry” can do. If you don’t mind the gatekeepers, people still get paid big money to produce print comics. But, if you prefer doing 1/50th the output per year, then you can take a pay cut, work on volume, and hope for the best in webcomics. Even if you take on all aspects of production, unless a cartoonist makes 4 full-page comics every day, they are still way under “industry average” for production. THAT’S why those guys get up to $250 per page. Not because they are good or anything. But because they can deliver. On deadline. And maybe on multiple books. Oh yeah, and work well with others. That’s a big plus. I mean, come on.. .Rob Leifeld still has a career… just saying.
Having just discovered Exiern, I would hate to see it die. I hope you can find a way to keep it going and maintain your joy in creating it. Eye candy is nice, but the story and humor is what drew me in and is what keeps me here.
Why don´t you change the format instead? If you love writing, write a page and add an ilustration showing the scene. Like the guys at Erfworld do sometimes. This way:
-You´ll keep the readers who are only interested in story rather than “eye candy”. Thus decreasing the number of views per day and the cost of bandwith in the future.
-You´ll also reduce the cost of drawing different panels per page. From what I know, it´s cheaper/easier to draw one big panel rather than different panels with different chracters with different expressions in each one.
In the end, what I´m suggesting is to turn Exiern The Webcomic into Exiern The Webnovel.
This doesn´t need to be the end, but rather a new beginning. Of course, it´s your creation, and it´s your right to end it whenever you want it to end.
Cheers, merry christmas and a happy new year!
I was going to post a comment, but it essentially was going to say what Tipp said – write the story that needs to get out of your head, but not in a completely graphical manner. When you’ve got enough to cover some art, wonderful, go for the art every now and then to underscore certain expressions or show the nature of a beast or capture action, but don’t let the story be constrained by the format you’ve been using.
And, as Tipp said, see Erfworld as an example.
I hope to not see this comic die. I will be honest and admit I do read some of the other webcomics that you mentioned above, but I have to say that I put exiern above them at the level of sluggy and schlock. I like the more long form stories that have a plot that continues on instead of a shtick every day. I like to see characters grow and change. And I do understand, for some people this is a business, for others a labor of love.
The funny thing is, both the above comics are not the best on the artistic side, but I enjoy them for their maniacal humor as well as their plot. Which is why I like exiern. You have a great sense of humor. One thing I love about the comic, and I have read some tg fiction before, is that the character isn’t turned into a woman mentally…but placed into that body. Tiff is going to live her/his lfie the way she/he wants to, and damn anyone for telling him,her otherwise. The one thing I will ask, if you do end up having to let this comic die, don’t let it die like this…finish the story. Don’t let it just die. I personally would like to see a happily ever after, and have Tiff get back to his body and end up with the princess…but it is your story and your dream.
As for the respect thing you mentioned before…I would like to make one observation and I hope you take it to heart. You have the respect of the more important group…your fans. Speaking as someone who has been in the same shoes…I have a great job, I love what I do and I am successful at it, but I do it in a way that is not normal, and while it works great, I do not have the respect of my colleagues. that bugged the hell out of for me a long time until finally I decided I just don’t give a crap about them. I am going to go out and rock on, and be successfull. If they decide to respect me later so be it, if not that is there problem not mine. But we both have the same thing, the respect of our customers, and I hope that that will mean something to you. The colleagues, if they want to look down their noses at you and be all superior, let them. Keep rocking on and doing great things.
i have been reading exiern for a while now and must say i will be sad to see it go…
i love the fantasy, quirky dialogue and..well…i admit it, the hot girls are a plus.
im a super geeky female but my webcomic reading list is very small…and i greatly look forward to every update you bring to us.
regardless of what you have to do to make this comic work…
any true fan will keep on reading…
so do what you have to do to make this enjoyable and..well..affordable.
i would love it if you finished this storyline the way you wanted it to end, rather than letting it disappear into oblivion or making a cop out ending..
i may not have any money myself to donate, but i can continue to share your work and hopefully help keep the interest up.
good luck with whatever you choose…
and congratulations on finding your love for your craft again
Well dude, you might not be “on the level” with Herr Kurtz and his crew, but you’ve been entertaining this amateur webcomic reviewer for years now. I’ve been reviewing for nearly six years now… at times barely writing reviews at all (I had issues with writer’s block and laziness for a while). But I persevere because I love webcomics.
Exiern may not be a financial success. You might not be able to make a living doing it, or even have it break even. But if you’re doing something you love, and you’re telling the story you want to… then that means something.
BTW, I stopped reading Kurtz a couple years ago. His comic just didn’t entertain me and I didn’t enjoy it. I don’t bother reading the vast majority of his cadre’s comics either. And over the past couple of years I’ve been actually dropping comics when I realized I honestly didn’t care any longer. Yet I still read yours… and I still enjoy yours.
So you must be doing something right.
Rob H.
“So long, and thanks for the fish”?
Well… I suppose you have to move on / pursue other endevers, ect.
Thanks for a fun read.
(Anyway you can keep your options open for Exiern in other media? Just asking.)
If you find that you can no longer afford an artist, I implore you to not just let Exiern die. If it came to that, I would gladly read a novelized version of the story. With your existing character art, it is easy enough to get an image of the characters and scenes without the comic format.
Just a suggestion.
Well, let me pitch in with the give it an ending if you’re gonna end it crowd. It wouldn’t have to be much, you could just do it like an 80’s movie with text over pictures of the characters.
And I vote the Tiffany gets his equipment back! Poor guy, all his fans want him to turn into a girl for realz. 😉
The goal of earning money off the webcomic is something of a noble goal; to entertain while still making enough money to cover the cost of making it; if you can live off it, then you are making a living by entertaining others and making people happy. That is, to me, something worth aiming for.
I’m sorry to say; your friend sounds like a jerk, I don’t feel extreme wisdom exuding from her every pore. I feel that she just assumes the absolute worst of everything you said in order to make you feel uncomfortable. Its an easy way to make somebody become introspective without you actually having to know anything yourself. If you came out of it with new wisdom about how to keep sight of the fun good for you, if you have been disheartened and think that it is bad to make a business of entertaining others then she has only made you suffer.
[It may not take a lot of self-knowledge to make someone feel introspective, introspection is still quite useful. For people who do not have the introspection intrinsic, having a friend who can provide the introspection extrinsic can be very useful. I don’t care whether they do it to be helpful or just to appear wise.
Regarding Scott Kurtz: I wasn’t familiar with his work when you first made this post, so I’ve been doing some catchup there. Having done that, my question is, “Why would you want to be on the same level as someone who is apparently less competent than you in every artistic manner?” Yes, he’s able to produce his copy sufficiently cheaply that he can make it profitable. That’s the *only* aspect of this job he appears to be able to do better than you can. Note that I’m using the original art as a reference here, rather than the current images, as I understand someone else is doing the actual artwork here.
Yeah, I know, he posts more frequently than you, and with more consistency. But most posts are significantly less, and most of them are far less imaginative. For example, the first time I recall hearing someone got their wife a WoW BoE they couldn’t yet use for Christmas was 2004 – basically a month after the game was released. But, IIRC, PvP didn’t feature it until the next year. In 2005, I heard of dozens of people doing that – which is more people than I actually knew who were playing the game at the time. Yeah, it’s funny, if you only live in your little box – it seems like the artist knows your soul. But it’s just selection bias.
Maybe I’m just not in your cultural niche, but I found the jello creature, the squirrels, and Tadpole to be delightfully unexpected. Just to name a few, of course.