First Year
I started my second year in Torn with the intention of scaling back the time I spent on the game and trying to focus on pursuing joy in real life. I still went all out during official faction chains, but otherwise I scaled back my daily Xanax use and mini-chaining. I made plans to spend much of the summer hiking in the mountains of Europe, which meant multi-day stretches where I wouldn’t be logging into Torn at all.
But things didn’t work out as planned. While hiking in Norway I had such severe balance and coordination issues that I had to abandon the trip and fly home. An MRI confirmed the worst- my cancer had returned and metastasized to my brain. I spent my 50thbirthday in the hospital while they prepped me for gamma knife laser surgery to kill the tumors. The procedure was a success, and I was back to walking normally within a few weeks. However, I am now a Stage 4 metastatic cancer patient. That means no cure, just lots and lots of chemo to delay the inevitable. If I’m lucky I’ll be able to keep going like this for a few years, but I’ll be sick from chemo for a lot of that time.
Torn once again became one of my main ways of coping. I went back to 3-4 mini-chains a day, focusing on making the most hits for the most respect that I possibly could given my 222 total battle stats. Along the way I hit some satisfying marks:
16:32:20 - 08/09/22 You were awarded the honor: Combat Bachelor (started gaining weapons experience)
23:01:06 - 15/01/23 You were awarded the honor: Specialist (100% experience on 25 weapons)
12:34:59 - 19/10/22 You were awarded the honor: Globetrotter (567 days to get 365 days in the air)
10:40:29 - 10/11/22 Your maximum nerve increased from 55 to 60 (589 days to reach 60 NNB)
And most importantly, I’ve kept climbing up the ranks in attacks won (currently #26) and respect earned (#58 according to TornStats). I’m particularly proud of the respect numbers because I’ve only taken two big chain bonus hits (both 10k) over the entire two years. The rest of it is lots and lots of mini-chains and routine hits. Despite a few lapses and a plethora of medical issues I’ve been able to keep up the grind.
I’m not sure where I’ll take this from here. On some days I think about leaving Torn and finding a more “substantive” way to pass my remaining time. On the other hand, I still enjoy the game, and there remain a few crazy goals not yet achieved.
Cumulative stats for the first two years:
Attacks won- 49,415 (67.6 per day)
Respect earned- 208,076 (285.0 per day)
Xanax taken- 2071 (2.84 per day)
Time played- 131 d, 13 h (18.0% of my life over the past two years)
My numbers are down across the board over the second year compared to the first, but it appears I’m still putting some time and effort into this silly and addictive game.
Happy April Fools everyone,
IT
I started my second year in Torn with the intention of scaling back the time I spent on the game and trying to focus on pursuing joy in real life. I still went all out during official faction chains, but otherwise I scaled back my daily Xanax use and mini-chaining. I made plans to spend much of the summer hiking in the mountains of Europe, which meant multi-day stretches where I wouldn’t be logging into Torn at all.
But things didn’t work out as planned. While hiking in Norway I had such severe balance and coordination issues that I had to abandon the trip and fly home. An MRI confirmed the worst- my cancer had returned and metastasized to my brain. I spent my 50thbirthday in the hospital while they prepped me for gamma knife laser surgery to kill the tumors. The procedure was a success, and I was back to walking normally within a few weeks. However, I am now a Stage 4 metastatic cancer patient. That means no cure, just lots and lots of chemo to delay the inevitable. If I’m lucky I’ll be able to keep going like this for a few years, but I’ll be sick from chemo for a lot of that time.
Torn once again became one of my main ways of coping. I went back to 3-4 mini-chains a day, focusing on making the most hits for the most respect that I possibly could given my 222 total battle stats. Along the way I hit some satisfying marks:
16:32:20 - 08/09/22 You were awarded the honor: Combat Bachelor (started gaining weapons experience)
23:01:06 - 15/01/23 You were awarded the honor: Specialist (100% experience on 25 weapons)
12:34:59 - 19/10/22 You were awarded the honor: Globetrotter (567 days to get 365 days in the air)
10:40:29 - 10/11/22 Your maximum nerve increased from 55 to 60 (589 days to reach 60 NNB)
And most importantly, I’ve kept climbing up the ranks in attacks won (currently #26) and respect earned (#58 according to TornStats). I’m particularly proud of the respect numbers because I’ve only taken two big chain bonus hits (both 10k) over the entire two years. The rest of it is lots and lots of mini-chains and routine hits. Despite a few lapses and a plethora of medical issues I’ve been able to keep up the grind.
I’m not sure where I’ll take this from here. On some days I think about leaving Torn and finding a more “substantive” way to pass my remaining time. On the other hand, I still enjoy the game, and there remain a few crazy goals not yet achieved.
Cumulative stats for the first two years:
Attacks won- 49,415 (67.6 per day)
Respect earned- 208,076 (285.0 per day)
Xanax taken- 2071 (2.84 per day)
Time played- 131 d, 13 h (18.0% of my life over the past two years)
My numbers are down across the board over the second year compared to the first, but it appears I’m still putting some time and effort into this silly and addictive game.
Happy April Fools everyone,
IT
Mentions: One Year in Torn