Watching the Bronco Busters Work

I'm watching the initial posts about Dragonflight from the sideline, such as Kaylriene's, and I wonder whether Dragonflight is for me.

Or maybe a better question to ask is whether Dragonflight is for someone who liked the open world of Vanilla Classic but gradually became disappointed with the tone and direction of TBC Classic and Wrath Classic. 

I already know I don't like the revamped Old World brought about by Cataclysm over a decade ago*, and the focus of you in Wrath (and onward) as a sort of superhero for merely doing the job of killing ten rats kind of wears on me. Yes, other MMOs have something similar in design --such as SWTOR and LOTRO-- but... the transition from Vanilla's do a variety of things or a couple of mini stories in a zone to your character having a soundtrack straight out of a Bonnie Tyler song by the end of Wrath doesn't quite do it for me. 

If I'm coming back to Dragonflight, it will be from the standpoint of a player who had effectively retired after defeating Arthas, teaming up with Neve to teach apprentices away from the crowds of Stormwind and Silvermoon. Card would have to be coaxed out of retirement by acquaintances among the dragonflights; in her case it would likely have been Haleh (or maybe Awbee) asking Card to come help explore the Dragon Isles since her eye for detail would prove invaluable. 

Coming back into the fray after having been (effectively) away for 20 years would be difficult for Card, which mirrors my own difficulties stepping back into Retail and finding so many different systems and expectations beyond what things were like in Retail Wrath.** Look at it this way: there have now been just as many expansions in World of Warcraft after I left than before I left, 8 years ago. That's a lot of "learn something only to discard it two years later" playing, but also a lot of changes to the basics and the systems behind the game. 

One need only look at the map to see evidence of that.

This is Wrath Classic, but it's functionally
unchanged since Vanilla Classic.

Yes, that's the original Azshandra.
The map is that smallish thing
with all of the quest markers and
whatnot in it.

The integration of the map with quest markers --along with other items-- would have been provided with addons until when the default map was changed, sometime after the Mists of Pandaria expansion. 

You can customize the map to an extent:

I had to hunt around for it, but this
is brought up by the magnifying
glass, above.

But not too much. The main quest markers are still present.

I guess I wouldn't complain about it so much if it was something I was used to from the start, such as SWTOR's map, 

Courtesy of my baby Imperial Agent.

except that SWTOR's map has changed a bit over the years. Some of the "non-story" quests are now hidden by default, and you have to manually select an option to show them, but largely it has remained the same. In fact, the quest design itself behind SWTOR is very similar to that of Wrath Classic, down to the display in the default UI.

Linna taking a short break at
Valiance Keep. Note the list of quests
in the upper right.

It's been so long since I played this
Agent that some things have been
reset, but the quest list is still present,
again in the upper left.

Of course, I never knew that the quest list being turned on by default was an innovation in Wrath itself until I began playing Vanilla Classic and discovered it simply didn't exist wasn't turned on. [EtA: corrected this but kept the original in editing. Thanks to Indy for pointing out the miss here due to my lack of clarity.]***

What I have found is that throwing away the map and playing in a non-optimized manner allows me to just explore and figure things out on my own, something I'd never experienced before in MMOs until I had the chance to in Vanilla Classic. I'm obviously in the minority here, because MMOs have evolved away from exploratory play and in favor of directed play. All you have to know about that is that Retail conditioned players to sprint to max level to begin the grinding of prepping for raids, despite design intentions in Dragonflight to counter that FOMO.

The relevant portion is at 0:51:10, about the

design change of players logging in without

mandatory content. However, if you've the time

the entire video is VERY much worth it.

Old habits are hard to break, particularly when the next expansion is well underway.**** 

***

All of that aside, the question remains: will a person who likes more of the open world, more cold war version of the pre-Cataclysm World of Warcraft find enough to love in Dragonflight, which on the face of it seems to be a completely different game?

If it were a matter of using the same subscription to go ahead and play that'd be one thing, but WoW still requires a person to pay for the expansions, so it becomes a matter of whether $50 is worth it to buy, play for a few hours, and then discard if I don't like it. And I don't know about you, but especially during the Holidays I don't have $50 just sitting around to blow on what to me seems a pretty risky gamble, so I'm going to sit on the fence for a while. I'm kind of used to that, as after all, it's not like I haven't done that before.

*I've been pondering that quite a bit lately, and I considered several reasons why I didn't like the revamp: the focus on the Horde and Alliance conflict, the shoehorning of Goblins and Worgen into an already existing world, and the constantly depressing viewpoints of the conflict (::cough:: Hillsbrad ::cough::). But I think the biggest reason why I didn't like the revamp was the need for every single zone to have an overarcing zone story. In Vanilla WoW, and to a lesser extent TBC and Wrath, there may have been stories set within a zone, but with a few notable exceptions (such as Westfall) there hasn't been a singular dominant story arc like that found in The Storm Peaks in Wrath. However, almost all of the revamped Old World zones have one dominant zone story to help propel the questing from hub to hub.

**Yes, for the record I stopped playing at the end of Mists, but I effectively stopped playing any sort of PvE group content shortly into Cataclysm; the toxic atmosphere and LTP noob nature of the LFD tool killed any interest in learning how to do group content beyond the occasional Normal dungeon run. Instead, I focused on (regular) Battlegrounds and by the time Mists of Pandaria was coming to an end I grew tired of the pervasive nature of bots and how the Alliance could only win the 40 person BGs. 

***Hence the prevalence of the Questie addon in the Classic community.

****It's like that in any software development house. At the one I worked at back in the 90s, the "official" release of our product was barely noticed by the development staff, as we were about 1/3 of the way into the projects already identified for the next release. And we didn't have issues like MMOs do, where the reception of systems and changes for the current expansion won't have a true impact on the game until two expansions later. That's because you simply can't change direction on a dime and devote a huge amount of resources to changing the game potentially mid-to-late expac development. In our case, it was a matter of which project got priority more than changing projects entirely.

EtA: I meant to put the proper code for Preach's YouTube video in there, but I forgot. Oopsie.

Meme Monday: Questing Memes

Oh, I could fill a year's worth of Meme Monday's strictly with memes from quests, but here are four that popped out of my pile...

And it even has "you meet in
a tavern"!
From Pinterest.

I guess being a courier IRL
is good training...
From Reddit.

Ah yes, quest weirdness.
From ifunny.co.

Pick a quest... any quest...
From knowyourmeme.com.

Good Enough for Government Work

I woke last night to the sound of thunder

How far off I sat and wondered

Started humming a song from 1962

Ain't it funny how the night moves

When you just don't seem to have as much to lose

Strange how the night moves

With autumn closing in

--Night Moves, Bob Seger, from the album Night Moves

This week is the first anniversary of my brush with the Hereafter.

After that week, and my subsequent trips to visit the Diabetes team, my Cardiologist, and my Primary Care Physician*, the past year has been... Rather boring.

Which is to say, that's a very very good thing.

I continued to lose weight --not a surprise given the diabetic and low sodium diet I'm under-- and my numbers continue to improve. To put this in perspective, let's talk about my A1C percentage. 

A1C is a measure of my blood glucose levels over a three month period. No, it's not a three months long test, but it measures the percentage of hemoglobin in my blood that has sugar attached. Everybody has some glucose attached to your hemoglobin, but diabetics have a greater percentage. And since it takes about 3 months for diet and other changes to affect those levels, that's why it's said that my A1C percentage measures the past three months' worth of blood glucose.

Here's a handy chart for what the percentages should be**:

Normal:            Below 5.7%

Prediabetes:       5.7% to 6.4%

Diabetes:          6.5% or above

Now that you know what the numbers ought to be, when I walked into the hospital a year ago, my A1C percentage was 12.6.

That might not sound all that large to you, but when I mention that to diabetics I've gotten to know, they all stop what they're doing and go "HOLY SHIT!" Typically followed by "I'M SHOCKED YOU'RE STILL ALIVE!"

So yeah, 12.6 is a lot.

Over the course of the past year, my primary care physician set a goal for me to get my A1C down to 7.0% and keep it there.

By June, I'd smashed through that goal and was down to 6.2%.

At my physical a couple of weeks ago, I tested at 5.8%, barely in the Prediabetic range.

My physician was pleased, and during the physical he began talking about dialing back some of my medications. (Within reason, of course.)

My cardiologist has also been upbeat, as since my tests back in April 2022 confirmed that my heart function was back to normal, she's been on the "keep doing what you're doing" path as well.

***

So where do I think things are?

Overall, a lot better than where I was a year ago, but anyone could say that.

I know I still don't hit my numbers all the time, and I've been repeatedly assured that I'm doing great by everybody, from my Cardiologist down to the Diabetes Team. Outside of persistent aches and pains that I've inflicted on myself by exercising too much at once, I feel pretty good. There have been a few notable side effects --one of which I have another prescription for that shows up on television commercials on a regular basis***-- but overall I guess I can't complain.

(About this, anyway. I mean, complaining is in my job description at PC here.)

I don't mean to disappoint people with more angst, but I'm doing well enough that it feels embarrassing to be talking about it. I mean, who wants to read a post saying "I'm still doing okay, thanks!" without much drama?

But I'm here, and that's good enough for government work.

*That is the current standard name for "my doctor" these days.

**Courtesy of cdc.gov.

***I swear, just about all commercials --outside of those for eczema or gout or HIV-- seem to cover drugs that I either currently take or had taken in the past. I suppose I should have more angst about this particular side effect than I do, and I'm sure that a lot of people in my position would do precisely that, but I'm happy that the drugs work. My having to plan my life around medications --and this is just one more on the pile-- is something I'm going to have to live with. My life is very much a planned set of activities, because I can't afford to let my guard down, and this is just another part of my life I have to regiment and plan for.

Meme Monday: Thankful Memes

This Thursday is the Thanksgiving holiday in the US, which is a day to be thankful for the friends and family we have.

And watch football.

And, unfortunately, listen to your crazy relatives spout off about whatever is stuck in their head at the moment.

But still, the original sentiment is a noble one.

Truth.
From makeameme.org.

"Mmmm.... Eat turkey, you will..."
From geeksandgamers.com.

From munofore.com.

And for my son, a Warhammer
Thanksgiving.
From warhammer-community.com.

Just A Taste... A Small Taste...

"No Regrets?" Silk asked Garion that evening as they rode toward the sharply rising peaks outlined against the glittering stars ahead.

"Regrets about what?"

"Giving up command." Silk had been watching him curiously ever since the setting sun signaled the resumption of their journey.

"No," Garion replied, not quite sure what the little man meant. "Why should there be?"

"It's a very important thing for a man to learn about himself, Garion," Silk told him seriously. "Power can be very sweet for some men, and you never know how a man is going to handle it until you give him the chance to try."

"I don't know why you went to all the trouble. It's not too likely that I'm going to be put in charge of things very often."

"You never know, Garion. You never know."

--Castle of Wizardry by David Eddings, pg. 50.

I've been noodling around Icecrown Glacier in Northrend, because the progression across the continent has taken me there. 

And when you get to the point where the only places left to explore are Sholazar Basin and Icecrown Glacier, you go to where the quests point you first.* I mean, I suppose I could have gone to Sholazar Basin just because, and it's not like I haven't done that before, but my memory of that place is pretty much "meh". Icecrown is where the expansion comes to an end, and it only makes sense that all the drama points you in that direction. 

But the further I've quested into Northrend, the more the "subtle" changes to questlines and quest texts become overt.

We've gone from this...

...through this...

...to this.

Yes, even OG Cardwyn got that first quest above, which I found particularly amusing since she had never visited Outland at that point.**

When your quest text starts sounding like the theme from Cheers, you know you've veered heavily into celebrity territory. 

I imagine a substantial portion of the player base either doesn't care or likes this change from Vanilla/TBC, especially given that Blizz went all in on this story slant in future expacs. But to me, it simply rings hollow. You're basically doing what you're told to do, and because you can follow orders you're a Champion of Azeroth? I mean, I do what I'm asked to do all the time at work (or at home), and never once has that ever translated into anything other than "Meets Expectations" on my performance review. If I want to get a better review, I have to go above and beyond following the basic instructions.

It might be a limitation of the state of Wrath Classic that Blizz can't break out of questing format, but I suspect that Blizz simply moved in the direction of making Reputation and the story line more overtly about you, and how powerful you are. Like Garion, we have been granted some power, and while we're really really really limited --story wise-- how we can use it, it's undeniable that first comment you get when you pass by an NPC when you're Exalted with their faction can be... intoxicating.

Much better than being "dragon dinner", I suppose.

I guess the thing that bugs me about all this is that I'm being fêted by these factions (and the quest text) without me feeling like I've really done anything that important. When you reach Exalted with a faction they lavish praise on you, such as Wyrmrest Accord in the graphic above, but they'll do that even before I entered into the Oculus for the first time, much less The Eye of Eternity or The Obsidian Sanctum. While I can understand the dragonkin being happy to see me after The Nexus War was brought to an end, but before, when I spent most of my time grinding rep by running instances?*** Come on; I know better. You could make a pretty big argument that I spent just as much --if not more-- time dealing with The Sons of Hodir ("Hodor!") via in-game quests than three other factions combined (Wyrmrest Accord, Argent Crusade, and Ebon Blade), and I'm only up to Honored with Big Blue Nation.****

In the end it's all a simulation --and not a very complex one at that-- and I shouldn't expect anything more than what I'm getting. But still, it irks me that this wasn't what I remembered about Wrath. I remembered interesting stories and fun instances and --unfortunately-- guild blow ups due to the difficulty raiding. Now, years later, I can see where WoW began moving in a narrative direction that didn't appeal to me. The instances are still there, and I've countered the raiding issues with being recruited into a 10s team that is focused on fun and not speeding through progression. And I still have my friends. It's just that the focus on the player --in the manner presented in Wrath Classic-- no longer appeals to me. It becomes less about you the person and more about you the wielder of great power. And in that sense you are merely a tool for others, something I never even thought about at the time. 

Circling back to the quote I use to kick this post off, is this taste of power and influence sweet? For others it might be, but for me, it feels... Tainted. Something feels off about it. Perhaps that's part of the influence of Arthas himself, and how he allowed his fatal flaw of revenge --and the pursuit of power for revenge-- to corrupt him into The Lich King he is today. Will we find this taste of power and influence so sweet that we are, in turn, corrupted as well? And if we are, how can we see it without others to point it out to us?

*Yes, I'm quite aware there's seed quests for both Sholazar Basin and Icecrown at the landing platform in Dalaran, but I've ignored them in favor of quests from out in the field. If nothing else, the overall lack of quests out Northrend proper that send a player to Sholazar reinforce my opinion that Sholazar Basin was merely tacked on because Blizz felt obligated to have a place where Hemet Nesingwary would end up. At least as far as the Mists expansion, Hemet is considered too important a side character to not have some quest hub and chain assigned to him and his crew. If that held true all the way through Shadowlands, I'm not exactly sure I want to know how they pulled that off with Hemet in the Afterlife.

**She has since had to go there because the Enchanting trainer wouldn't give her Outland's Enchanting, whereas Tailoring had no issues with giving her Outland's Tailoring ability. I'm inclined to think it a "feature", not a bug. And Blizz would likely give me a weird look if I told them I skipped Outland and leveled to 70 strictly in the Old World.

***A very 'meta' way of gaining rep, but hey, that's how you do it in Wrath Classic.

****Sorry, University of Kentucky Wildcats, those overly large giants are more impressive than coach John Calipari's plausible deniability about recruiting basketball players.

Meme Monday: Frosty Memes

We had our first snowfall of the Fall on Saturday, which got me in a more seasonal mood. So I went with those memes that encompass gaming, RPGs, MMOs, and --of course-- snow.

And this is why Hogger should be
a raid boss.
From ifunny.co.

This is why Wrath of the Lich King
gives you that frosty feeling.
From Pinterest.

Forget the dice, I want to know
what the hell Cambridge Naturals
is, and whether I should be concerned
if it's a NSFW site or not.
From Pinterest.

They're more menacing that the
White Dragons I knew and loved,
but hey, still accurate.
From diy.despair.com.

Playing Around With Resonance

Playing an MMORPG is an exercise in compromises.

There's the ability to play with others, and there's the ability to play by yourself.

On one side, developers have to accommodate group content and make it available for all, but on the flip side players want to feel like they've affected the world in a way that a single player game* provides.

Originally, MMOs did not have instanced content. Everquest was (in)famous for raid bosses spawning at random times and the first guild to make a hit on said boss got the credit for the eventual kill. This led to some rather dubious behavior among some guilds who would have toons parked, watching for boss spawns, on an around-the-clock basis. The hardest of the hard core guilds wouldn't even allow for bio breaks, which gave rise to personally disgusting methods of relieving oneself** while performing your duty to your guild.

Despite popular appearances, Blizz was not the first MMO to solve this problem: it apparently was Anarchy Online. Even Everquest beat World of Warcraft by about a year. However, Blizz integrated the concept of instanced content into World of Warcraft from the start, along with a lack of loading screens between world zones and other innovations, that it's understandable that many still believe that WoW "created" instanced content: they merely popularized it.

But with the stories that Blizz wanted to tell with WoW, they had to do more than just instance 5-person and raid content: they wanted to provide that "affect the game world" feeling that single player RPG video games have.

If you've spent any time at all in
front of Karazhan from TBC through
Wrath (at least), you've seen this 
interaction on repeat.

It was into this environment that Blizzard decided on a "solution" when Wrath of the Lich King debuted back in 2008: phasing.

***

On the face of it, phasing looked like an elegant solution to the problem of affecting the game world yet allowing players of various levels of progression to still be there. People could permanently see the results of their questing, yet the "important" content --5-player, raids, and BGs/arenas-- remained instanced.***

Kind of ironic that phasing turned into yet another method of FOMO and player annoyance in implementation, particularly in Wrath Classic.

Fun With Phasing.

My first exposure to phasing in Wrath Classic wasn't the Wrathgate, although that was a close second. The Wrathgate is easier to explain, however: a dungeon group of my raid team was heading out from Dalaran to wherever, and we passed by the Wrathgate area. I took note that everybody except me was marked as 'In a different phase' and I quipped, "Well, it's easy to see who did The Wrathgate and who didn't."

"Oh?" the tank asked.

"Everybody else is listed as 'in a different phase'."

"Ah."

But people --and I-- expected that.

My first encounter with phasing in Wrath Classic was in nearby Wintergarde Keep, where my questing buddy needed a hand in killing a mini boss. I rode up to her, and promptly was attacked by a steady stream of respawning ghouls. 

I didn't worry, since she was on her Priest, and she could heal me without batting an eyelash.

The only thing was, she wasn't healing.

"Uh..." I said to myself after the third wave of ghouls respawning so rapidly I couldn't stop to eat and drink and recover.

"Are you being attacked?" she asked in chat.

"Uh, yeah," I replied.

"I can't see any of that."

"Shit. None of it?"

"Nope."

I eventually managed to break away from the onslaught long enough for me to get my health and mana back. We then acquired a couple of other people nearby who were on the same quest as she was and we engaged the boss.

"Are you on the quest?" she asked me.

"No."

"Here, let me share it... Says you're not eligible."

"I guess I'm not far enough along the chain to get it."

"Okies."

The boss was successfully downed, but waves of ghouls came at me again in the middle of the fight and I think I died once along the way. No worries, I thought, I'll just rez and go back to the Inn at Wintergarde Keep and find a vendor to repair at.

I arrived at the Keep, but something was missing.

LOTS of somethings.

"Hey," I typed out, "where is everybody? Am I missing the Innkeeper or something?"

"Oh!" my questing buddy replied. "You have to do the first couple of quests here to unlock all of  those people."

"You have GOT to be kidding me."

"Nope."

"@#$% phasing."

"Yeah, it sucks. Do you need a hand in doing those first quests?"

By then, my stubborn streak reasserted itself, and I was determined to give the game the middle finger. "No, I'll get to it when I get to it," I replied, angry that the game was not-so-subtly trying to force me into doing quests I didn't want to do right then. I came over to help someone, not be helped when I didn't need it.

"Okies."

***

After that sequence of events, I learned fairly quickly that Wrath Classic made far more extensive use of phasing than I remembered.

Such as in Zul'drak with the Zandalari quests, or The Storm Peaks with the Hyldnir/Thorim/Sons of Hodir questline. But phasing is most egregiously used in Icecrown Glacier, where in Scourgeholme that first screenshot in this post was taken.

Just the other day my questing buddy needed a hand with some bosses, and I hopped on Deuce to help out. I flew over and...

"Where are you?" I asked.

"I'm phased. I thought this might happen."

"Shit."

I dropped into the area where the boss was, and not only could I not see her, but I couldn't even see any enemies at all.

"Let me send you a screenshot so you can see what I'm seeing," I told her and sent the pic above (the unadulterated version) to her via Discord.

I was able to find a small portion of Icecrown where we weren't phased, so I could buff her and give her some food, but after that I was reduced to being a cheerleader for a fight I couldn't even see. All I could do was watch her mana go slowly down... down... down...

And then the Questie alert popped up. 

"Hey, gratz!" I typed out.

"Thanks!"

I followed her blip on the minimap until she headed south into Crystalsong Forest, and then I was able to assist on killing some mobs, but with phasing keeping us separated in Icecrown and my ire at being not-so-subtly pressured by the game into 'catching up' with her, I told her that I was just a spectator, and I logged for the night.

***

I get it. I understand the why of phasing. It exists so that more detailed stories can be told in the game world. It's just that unless you're completely on the same phase with another person, grouping up to quest together is a pretty useless endeavor.

Which sucks.

Layers, which is WoW Classic's bastard cousin of phasing****, has similar problems. Such as last night, when my questing buddy was going to go on a Naxxramas 25 person pug.

After she unsuccessfully tried roping me in*****, she asked me if I could get her some Mage food.

"Sure," I replied, parked Linna, and hopped on Deuce.

I hopped on a flight over to Wintergarde Keep, along the way answering multiple whispers who wanted me to join the Naxx raid with a "No thanks"#, and landed.

"Where are you?" I asked.

"At the flightpoint."

I tried targeting her, but no dice. "Uh, what layer are you on?"

"I don't know."

"Well, crap. That's probably why I can't see you. You'll have to drop from the raid and invite me, so I can then see you."

A few moments later I received an invite, which I accepted, and she reappeared next to me.

I handed over the Mage Pastries, gave her a wave, and swapped back over to Linna.

That entire sequence was far more complicated than it needed to be, mainly due to the presence of layers. You should be able to go right up to someone, hand over what's needed, and then leave. But now, with layers, you have to group up so you can actually find each other, which is a royal pain if one of you is already in a group. And if you're phased, well... Sucks to be us, I guess.

***

I already know the 'answer' to the problems phasing creates.

"Just consume the content!"

Yeah, but here's the thing: not everybody wants to --or is able to-- go at the same pace as everybody else. And by creating that artificial barrier, Blizzard is inserting FOMO into something it was never meant for.##

I realize that I'm likely the only person who gets annoyed at phasing in this way, but I don't like to be pressured and told what to do, whether it be directly or indirectly. And WoW has enough peer pressure already present in game without any more being added, thankyouverymuch.

*Or a tabletop game.

**You were expecting me to say more? No way. I'm pretty sure nobody wants to read about THAT while eating a meal and perusing their blog readers. And if you do... What the hell is wrong with you?

***Kind of interesting how Blizz has pretty much ranked what is important using the three tiered system: Normal Quests; Phased Quests/Quest Chains; Instanced Content. Different players might have different opinions on what they perceive to be most important, but Blizz put the unofficial imprimatur on their design based on which content goes into which bucket.

****Several MMOs in a post Wrath world that use multiple servers do have layering in place. They just call it something different. I think SWTOR calls them Game Worlds, for example. But more and more, MMOs are migrating toward a singular megaserver with multiple layers to accommodate the sheer population size yet also adjust the game to make the game not seem overwhelmingly populated.

*****She did give it a good attempt, but I wasn't interested. There was more drama in the franken guild that day that I heard about secondhand, but it was sufficient enough to not make me want to go into any 25 person raids put on by the guild.

"It's Jes' raid," my questing buddy replied, trying to lure me in, and pointing out to me that it's not an official alt/pug raid put on by the guild.

"I know," I replied. I like Jes. A LOT. And she does a great job at raid leading. But the most recent 'official' response to an incident concerning the guild banks is to restrict the guild bank usage to the 25 person 'real raids' only. This is not what I'd consider a correct response (punish the offender and change operation of the bank so that withdrawals need to be handled via a banking toon identified by the guild), so the capricious nature of the response just stuck in my craw. We already knew that 10 person raids were considered 'casual' by the guild's leadership, but lumping our raid team in with the person who caused the problem, and implying it's a 'casual vs hardcore' issue rather than someone who abused the guild banks infuriated me.

From my perspective it certainly seems like they're pissing away all of the goodwill they'd earned over on Myzrael-US, and they're going to acquire a poor reputation on Atiesh-US if they keep this up. And why would I want to be associated with that?

#There were enough whispers that I wondered briefly if I was conned into swapping over so I could be recruited. But I knew better; I was just being paranoid.

##Unlike, say, Apple stubbornly refusing to change their iMessage app to utilize the RCS standard, which is quite deliberate. Apple is --in a passive aggressive way-- utilizing peer pressure and bullying by iPhone users to force people into swapping from Android phones to Apple's iPhones. It's mainly a US based thing, since most of the rest of the world uses WhatsApp or Signal or other messaging applications, but it is quite effective, especially among tweens, teens, and 20-somethings, to pressure their peers into buying iPhones so they can stay with their friends' group chats. You'd think that Apple CEO Tim Cook, who as an LGBTQ person was likely bullied, would step in and try to change this "marketing tactic", but I guess profits are more important than integrity.