Some things just never get old

Take April Fools Day for instance. In the world that I live in, which is Online Gaming mostly, there is a long-standing tradition of silly April Fools jokes on Company Websites. I admit when I first started my MMO Career back with the original EverQuest I found these things totally hilarious not so much for the amusement value as for the shock and outrage it provoked within the die-hard gamers out there. Since I left EverQuest lo these many years ago (Geez I feel ancient right now it’s been like 8 years since I played EQ) I’ve moved on to other games, Guild Wars, EverQuest II, Rappelz, Conquer Online, Eve Online and of course the grandpappy of them all World of WarCraft. In every instance there was the tradition of April Fools trickery and it was fun…until a few years ago I started to realize it was less about amusement and more about expectation on the part of the client base. That’s when the fun went out of April Fools for me.

April Fools is a day for everyone to let out their inner devil and do something both amusing and treacherous to loved ones, friends and co-workers for the sake of getting a simple laugh out of the ridiculous situation. That’s all it’s supposed to be, not some massive event akin to a Holiday Celebration. I want to get back to that and not let April Fools end up being the commercialized mess that most modern Days of Celebration have become.

Some things never get old…and some things need to act their age.