So Another One Bites the Dust

Revisions:
9-5-10: Initial release.

---

This past weekend I was checking my e-mail and I got one of those e-mails you never want to read.

I’ll summarize what happened. So I run a “Versatile Street Team”, a separate effort that was created as a way for volunteers to help me out and that I can focus on separate projects a bit easier.

You can read more about it here. http://www.tinyurl.com/VersatileStreetTeam

I got an e-mail from member Ivertusen.  He is a great member, and is one of those guys that I always relied on for giving me advice, more specifically for Modern Warfare 2. If there were any questions about the game, co-op implementation, or Alteriwnet latest news, I would redirect questions and people his way.

Technically, I could cover it myself, but with so many “pet” projects these days, I can’t be burdened to keep an eye on a game that is installed on my PC and do more troubleshooting that I have no more time or desire to do.

I can talk broadly about it yes, but if I had someone more in tune with the game than I am on a daily basis, then its a win-win situation for all.

Ivertusen and I did talk on Skype all the time, and for the last few days I did notice his presence was almost gone.  Then I got his email and suddenly things started to make sense.

So where am I going with this?

Someone had asked me if I was sad or angry at his departure, and you know what I said?  As you might have (or have not) expected, I said it is not that big of a deal. Life WILL continue.

Many of you guys may not realize this, but I have been using the Internet for a long time, maybe since the 56k days back in late 90s.  Since then to present day, I have been part of a lot of social online groups, and I have experienced what it is like to see people just move and and leave things behind.

In fact, I started this blog back in September 2006, but didn’t get real hardcore traction on it until Summer of 2007.  Between 2007 to present day, I have met a lot of great people. In fact, some of my friends and new found friends wanted to be authors on this blog. I was enthusiastic about it.

Then after awhile, I had my own fair share of seeing these guys write an article or two, and then realize they didn’t have it in them to continue so they left.

The first time around it did hurt inside, but over time I just learned to accept it. I almost called it the “Underground Virus”.  I’m sure I explained this many times before, but I know what it is like to see a new person join on board, and you can literally see the “twinkle” in their eyes because they want to make a difference.

The newcomer gives his “all” in everything he /she does to impress you.  It might be writing articles, or helping people inside and outside the game or just whatever.

The bottom line for them was that they were another asset that I or the team could depend on.

Well, as time goes on we know that people’s priorities change.  The blog is not the #1 thing to them anymore like they originally thought.  We have our own lives to attend to, so maybe graduating from college or trying to figure out how to save your relationship with your girlfriend is more important right now than trying to help out Versatile with his own efforts.

From this standpoint, I totally understand it, and I am not sadden anymore if people have to leave. I said it once, and I’ll say it again,but a lot of what I do (whether it is the blog, youtube, or whatever) is largely dependent on me.

In fact, 98% of the activities you see here on Youtube or the blog is solely me.  You would expect me to get burnt out at times, and yes I do. This is why I/we focus on quality, and not quantity.  I take long breaks, and making video tutorials is easier than writing articles all the time.

But my true love is always the blog. I can’t get away from it, but I can’t say it is the same kind of passion for other people, so I am fine with it.

With the departure of Ivertusen, does life change for me? Slightly. I’ll learn to cope with it and move on.  The bright side is that there are other people on the VST team that I can rely on for different tasks, but is there a possibility in the future that they will just get up and leave one day too?

Yes, that is definitely a possibility.  It is not a question of why, but a matter of when.  Ask me a year from now on the outlook of the VST team and I can more accurately describe if this concept group worked out as well as I had envisioned or not.

Remember, anybody can apply for a position to be on the VST team. Your involvement will not be that much at all, but if you are accepted, you must be dependable, reliable, and able to respond in a timely manner.

In fact, there are about 10 participants. Over two weeks ago, I sent out an email to the whole group asking them to respond and tell me a story about their life achievement.  Only 3 people out of 10 responded, and the remaining 7 still to this day has not responded. Hmm, that makes it real easy to sort out the best from the rest. 🙂

If you know what its like to be left behind, let us know in the comments. I’m always interested in other people’s sob stories. 🙂