Contemplating Going Inactive

I realised that Torn has different players. My first faction is pretty chilled. Nothing to militant and we are called Beer Drinkers. Somebody came in and literally the first thing they said was "Right, let's see what this faction has........NOTHING!!!" He was referring to the armory. Then he started saying we are a weak faction! He didn't take into account that the faction was literally just a few days old and we didn't have any faction upgrades yet. Needless to say, he didn't stay for very long. I realised his attitude was something I needed to avoid if I wanted to enjoy this game. I'm glad my faction leader doesn't enforce strict regimes and is pretty laid back. If i'm in a faction that starts to enforce strict militant rules then I would probably just leave. I'm definitely chilled out with Torn and just have fun with it. I don't care about being the best and i treat it more like a mini simulator. Despite how addictive it can be, I don't want it to become a second job.

I have been there sometimes. Gotta find something that inspires you and to make you the best. Crimes 2.0 and OCs made it for me. Stats with no war because of a broken TT system is pointless. 

Gotta find that special thing to burn for. 

just stop playing for a bit, eventually you'll crave it again when you're ready, this game fills a unique void

Yes, go take a break! The habits of Torn fragment your  attention. It's best to spend that energy elsewhere. Then come back when it's novel again.

I really doubt I would have stayed playing for so long if I didn’t run a company and faction.  I have obligations that inspire me to show up. So I suggest if you want reasons to show up, come up with things that might obligate you to show up.  Find a game in fun and games, or find another goal to complete. 

If you want reasons to stop playing then you already have them. Games are supposed to be fun and if it is work, well, you already have a job. You have nothing causing you to continue playing. 

I would suggest you move into your shack and move to a public job. I know the job doesn’t keep producing while you’re inactive but if you pop in just to say hi you’d get a little benefit.  You might as well not incur a bunch of debt either.  Also, Ohadik reminded to turn off your subscription.  

You can restart when you’re ready or at least not lose it all to rent.  Good luck regardless of your choice

go climb a mountain, you get about halfway and realise you shoulda stayed at home playing Torn, Load image: beard

I am a restart myself and when I was debating on opening a new account (as lost access to old), the main thing that drove me to do so was the community. There is so many great players on this game who I now class as friends and excited to chat too and play other games with them and hope to visit some on my holiday. Being a leader and watching allies and families smash there goals and watching sexy group attacks is my muse to the game :D

I appreciate everybody's responses.  Clarifying a few points:

1.  I am not unhappy in Chain Reaction.  I am very happy with them.  Endearing, patient, kind, capable people who tolerate when I lace faction chat with random bombs of nonsense.  No trolls, no poison, supportive leaders.  I had that at Natural Selection too (overall, not with the specific sub-faction I was in)...but CR is a different vibe that fit nicely, and still does.

2.  I am not burnt out, per se.  This could simply be a byproduct of the New Year, where existential questions like "why am I here?" or "what am I doing?" or "why aren't there more feet pics?" come up to the surface.  It's not just Torn, maybe.  It's everything in my life.  So, maybe this is just a phase I get through, and until then, I continue to click buttons.

3.  There have been many in private messages and other places who have suggested things like "start your own faction", or "move to another faction and switch to mentoring other players".  In real life, I'm a leader for ~600 people world-wide and I enjoy when people depend on me, and I witness their personal successes and growth over time...but I get paid for that, and I deeply connect with people's lives, families and identities which drives the emotional motivation to see people grow.  That's not Torn.  A deeper game commitment with more time and effort spent in an anonymous infrastructure with not much perceived benefit isn't the play.

I think I just need to STFU and figure myself out, and make a decision to leave the game or not...and if not, have a good enough reason (or many of them) to stick around.

If I DO go, I'll just stop logging in.  No farewell announcement, no sending of stuff to people, no thread...nothing.

You leave me I'll have your balls on a platter.

do it, no pussy

[image: c.tenor.com]

I actually think the stagnation of warring has a lot to do with this

The entire point of growing stats and money and all this clicking is to feel like you contribute more to wars, playing a more central role in the faction. Every player I speak to has goals that relate to being stronger and being richer, arguably they are solely warring focused.

There isn't much point in pushing yourself to hit goals that are only relevant to a dead or dying system.

I agree with others, maybe a shift in mentality to suit parts of the game that are actually interesting to you, rather than the generic warring ones that are not.

It helped me at least, to focus on other things that are sub optimal for gains, and I only play for pvp

It depends on what you want, and what you need. If Torn is a good break from the boardrooms and the corporate world, I'd say lower your activity (and perhaps standards) to be the minimum you need to enjoy your time here. I've semi-retired for long periods of time, just logging in to collect stock payouts and do 1-2 xanax a day. And flying to South Africa as I still need to finish the 365 days in the air merit.

My other goals are long term, e.g. 100b stats merit. My build is trash (after 1b each I just went defense only) because it's just focused on getting to 100b total, which will be ~95b def, and only then will I train something else.

That goal is probably quite a few years ahead of me. It's fine, I have managed to abdicate from the faction (although it had run itself for years at that point), which was the most pressing of my responsibilities.

There's a more serious war happening for the first time in years, which has seen a significant uptick in my activity, and which has been very fun. After this, I will return to semi-hibernation.

Key takeaway, do whatever the f**k you want. Torn is a game, it's meant to be fun, if you're having fun you're doing it right. I suck at the game too, but it's fun to improve/progress if I am motivated. I am not inherently competitive and so it doesn't bother me that I play inefficiently. Some people experience this very differently, and some are just shocked when they see how little I know [about recent changes/updates, or about meta gameplay], lol.

I just want merits, that's what I play for and what I like to do, and the current state of my progress means only the most tedious of grinds (and literally the RNG merit) is my major goal, although RNG can't - to my knoiwledge - be worked towards. I'm also working towards a few easier merits, but the long term ones are my main focus.

Late addition:

Some factions are so f**king sweaty (not a diss to our foes in the current war - they seem like they're having fun, not like they ended up in the routine that top tier factions have) and take everything so seriously. That never really seemed for to me, so I made my own faction, with blackjack and hookers and really cool people. The faction quickly developed a really chill vibe and a cool mix of people, just from chatting and helping each other grow, and when we started I was the only big boy. Had endless fun teaching and defending the noobs of the game. Now, some of those very noobs absolutely wipe the floor with me. And they're still chill and cool people.

I guess the moral of this late addition is: HOF factions take everything so seriously, and it drains the fun out of the game for me personally. I can't be that active, and don't want to be either. You're always welcome to come to FLUX (although this is not a recruitment message, and if you enjoy the work of building out a faction I'd recommend that instead), we have all the basic "amenities" in terms of faction perks, so it's not like you're gonna be paying out the nose for rehab bills. I started the faction by buying an existing shell and then slkowly chaining to build it out. If you pay more, you get a higher starting point.

Our faction (and other small factions) also has a ranked war shell that wars regularly (whenever they can), so if RW is fun to you then that's also an option.

I'm still 4 decades from retiring - if I'm lucky - but I imagine the way I play Torn is similar to how retirees spend their time. Doing whatever you want, no pressure from your environment.

what if, instead of being bad, you instead chose to get gud

When I went inactive, I wouldn't come back if it wasn't for HOLUX. I didn't miss the game one bit and after few days I forgot it ever existed in my life...

Of course that was in the time of territories when coming back actually meant fun playing.

Don't go inactive, just be more crime focused -> switch to a faction focused on OCs and that give you 40+ nerve, do some races with friends and chill

the current meta game of 3xan a day train war buy expensive weapon is a little too tiring

there is way more to it

The game gets stale, life gets busy. Don't give your stuff away unless you really never want to come back. Once you break that activity streak it feels pretty good and then taking a break here and there is much easier and well worth it. 

Torn is played like a job, it's true, but it is not one. 80% of what most people do is literally identical if they're active and you can do a lot by letting go of the 20% secret sauce while you focus on more important things until you're back on your feet again.

It's exhausting sometimes to toe the line. I've been hyperactive for months and am finally stepping back (a little) for a mental health break so I can keep up with the team long-term. I don't know when I'll be as active as I was but putting energy into what makes me smile is more rewarding than worrying about that third decimal point of rewards or xyz. My sole focus right now are goals I can near-passively work toewards.

If you do go inactive though, you'll be sorely missed. My only request is that you send me your feet pics and give me a month's heads up to save for enough storage space to contain it all. 

Ive quit a lot of old mmorpgs. The biggest mistake I always did was giving my stuff away or gambling it all because a year or 2 later I got that urge to play again, but not without my gear.

Yes you are correct, im just here to ask for your stuff. 

Please and thank you🙌

Seriously though, hope you figure out a way to keep enjoying the game