My expectations of myself are that I maintain an impeccable level of quality within my role, my every action and reaction in keeping with the Gorean mindset and the guidelines set forth by John Norman; it is when I expect the same of others that I am usually quite disappointed. I have learned, after long years, that I cannot change others, I can only improve myself and refuse to compromise my own integrity. My happiness on Gor has definitely been improved by surrounding myself with like-minded people, my master definitely included, and pretty much ignoring the rest.
So many don't know or care enough to be realistic within the chat venue they claim to love. Still others have read the entire series and do know better, yet they seek to twist this world into what they wish, peppered with whatever onlinisms and mindsets suit their whims, always with a ready justification of why John Norman's exact words just don't "fit" onto a computer screen and why that invention or another is a necessary compromise. Perhaps nine years have made me a salty "old" crab, but I'm no longer afraid to step out of character and say, "I'm sorry, but not in John Norman's Gor, it didn't -- and not in mine, either! If you don't like it, don't role-play with me!" (See the debate on slaves with capped names for an example; no, wait, better yet, don't. LOL) To my surprise, I have found that many people DO appreciate the realism because they recognize in me a kindred spirit; and many who are relatively new to the venue never imagined that honoring ALL of John Norman's words was "appropriate" for online and DO want to learn by the example I set. And if they don't? Hey, no worries. I'm having too much fun to let it bother me!
