So long and thanks for all the fish

animaniactoo

I will probably still be around the forums some as I am still interested in the game. However, I've been forced to retire my game by the fact that having lights or other things flashing at me is a bad idea for me in particular. I'm having regular silent migraines and lights flashing trigger vertigo during them and you've never realized how many light flashes there are in this game until every single one of them triggers you. It will likely never be a good idea for me to spend an hour or more every day playing a game that has these features. So, this sucks. This is not the way I want to be special. Nope, no ty. But here I am.

I have played this game for 2 years and loved it most of the time. Over the past year I've enjoyed hanging out in the forum, debating points of the game and being fans of these characters I grew up with and those who have developed since, with many of you and have become friendly with a few. I will miss being here regularly and having the forum be a part of my daily life as well. I freely admit I am an addict so I'm probably not going away completely - I want to see where the game goes next, if things that I think are issues get resolved, what new features get added, etc. I'm sure as I get farther and farther out from playing the game, it will be harder to really understand what's going on and I'll probably just fade out. So I am going away (eventually), but I'm not going away mad.

broll

@animaniactoo
It's sad to see you go, especially for such a reason.  Take care of yourself and I hope you can find something enjoyable to do that's less harmful for you!

You'll be missed.

DarthDeVo

That's too bad, sorry to hear that. But definitely take care of yourself. And remember the good times.

JackTenrec

That's a real bummer, both that you're having health issues and that we may lose out on one of the most thoughtful, level-headed regulars posting here. Hope you can find a way to bring the symptoms under control and meander back here in the not-so-distant future.

tiomono

42.

Don't forget your towel. 

Flying is just the art of falling without hitting the ground.

Take care of those migraines.

Sim Mayor

That really stinks, sorry to hear it.

Not that I have any special insight into these things, but I just thought I'd toss out something that helped a friend with a similar problem (although he plays on a computer screen, so maybe it's different?). Have you looked into getting a yellow screen cover? He says that it dulls the flashing on the screen enough that it doesn't trigger his migraines. Just my last-ditch attempt to keep you in the game

Brigby

Hi @animaniactoo. It's definitely sad to see you go, but I also understand that if the animations and FX are causing you to experience such severe discomforts, then I certainly support you in making sure your health is a priority.

Much akin to what Sim Mayor said, have you also tried disabling character animations, as a way to try and avoid the migraines and vertigo?

animaniactoo

Thanks all, I appreciate. @Sim Mayor - that might be something I look into eventually, but I still have a minimum of a few months of tracking food to figure out which ones are (likely) causing the migraines to start with. More below about focus....

@Brigby, I truly appreciate your thinking about that and trying to find a solution. Unfortunately, turning off the character effects is what I did back in December (this all started Nov 20th, and I have been consistently dizzy every day since then until the last few days, some worse than others and not all attributable to the migraines, but the migraines are what creates the vertigo symptom in response to light flashes). And then I resorted to making my move and immediately covering the screen with my hand to try and prevent being triggered from flashes.

But ultimately I got to a point where I felt like I was just torturing myself and I need to stop doing that. lol. I'm not sure if you've realized how many flashes there are in the game (I sure hadn't until this) but there's one for clearing a 4-match, for a 5-match, for a countdown tile landing on the board, for a repeater tile going off, for.... and on and on. Some of them are small flashes, but combined with the rest, it adds up fast. That's also not to mention the flash when you use a token for a cover, and a few other places too. It makes for great "exciting" or "pay attention to me down here" effects, and I understand completely why they're utilized as they are.

So I don't think there's an easy solution to getting to a point where playing the game is going to be doable for me (at least not any time in the near future), and I just need to avoid doing things that unnecessarily trigger me while I figure out what is causing the migraines.

spatenfloot

Have you tried turning down the brightness and wearing shades while you play? It has the added benefit of making you look cool.

animaniactoo

spatenfloot said:

Have you tried turning down the brightness and wearing shades while you play? It has the added benefit of making you look cool.

lmao. Yes, I've tried turning down the brightness. But no, not wearing shades. ;P

broll

spatenfloot said:

Have you tried turning down the brightness and wearing shades while you play? It has the added benefit of making you look cool.

Make sure they're not polarized.  Every time I play with low brightness and polarized shades I can's see anything and have to take them off (this happens a lot when I'm in the car [not driving] or walking outside)

Brigby

@animaniactoo That's certainly understandable. Well at the very least, I'm glad that you're considering still hanging out on the forums, as you've been a pleasure to have as a part of the community. I'm sorry to hear that you're experiencing such a difficult situation, however I wish you the best of luck in a swift recovery. 

Bowgentle

I thought this was going to be another "game sucks, bye!" Threads.
But this is actually very sad to read.
I'm sorry that you can't physically continue to play a game you still enjoy.
It's pretty sad how stuff that is a minor annoyance to most of us is actually causing harm to others.
Take care and make a speedy recovery.

Punisher5784

I see you just hit your 1-year anniversary on the forums too. Sad to see you leave but I hope you feel better. Best of luck!

TPF Alexis

  Very sad to hear. We'll miss you in Above Average. Best of luck avoiding flashing things as much as possible in the rest of the world.

ZootSax

animaniactoo said:

...So I am going away (eventually), but I'm not going away mad.

This line alone makes this easily the best "farewell" post I've ever seen on these forums.

Best wishes for your health and hopefully there really is a work-around to keep playing if you're still interested enough.

badsaj

I was sad when you said in our alliance chat that you would be leaving, but now I understand why. Hope you feel better, you will be missed in the game and here on the forums.

 - JugglerEmperor

DFiPL

Good luck to you in bringing the nasties under control. Hope you're able to return someday.

Quebbster

I hope you find Another enjoyable way to waste your time that's easier on the migraines. Good luck wherever Life takes you!

Yepyep

Wow, this must be a difficult and jarring reality to come to terms with, @animaniactoo -- I sympathize especially because I imagine it has repercussions in areas of your life beyond your need to set aside a fun game. I wish you the very best in negotiating your way to better health. 

But to me it seems worth noting that change, even change that's forced upon us, frequently has a way of spurring growth and evolution. Adapting one's patterns of "visual consumption" might open up whole new areas of exploration and discovery even if it takes a while to learn to appreciate them.

Hang in there and good luck.

P.S. I realize this is really freaking tinykitty easy to say and hard to do. Trust me, I struggle to keep what I wrote above in mind as I negotiate some pretty onerous changes in my own life. But I know the words are true and I write them with a spirit of encouragement -- both to you and as a reminder to myself...

animaniactoo

@TPF Alexis, @badsaj - thank you both. I have really missed being in our alliance. Even more so now that Civil War is about to run! It was the first boss event I ever played, and I guiltily slunk away as I got to the point that I couldn't get past much of anything without immediately dying. Now I realize my then-alliance knew I was a newbie (relatively) and couldn't have cared less!

@Yepyep - yeah. I am looking forward to being able to drive again. Eventually. Feeling so dependent to get around to some places sucks hard. But I've been able to make a number of adjustments which mean that I am not totally down and out. As far as MPQ - in some ways it will be a positive change as one of the things that I most wanted was game adjustments that meant that the game wasn't eating ~2 hours of my day every day in a more or less consecutive manner for PVE in order to advance. But I would have preferred for that to be my pro-active choice ty. . And it really hurts now when I want to be back in my alliance and finally taking on Civil War with a cohesive alliance that will strategically work together and has the capability to stick with it to get most if not all of the rewards. But this too shall pass as some wise annoying person once said.