[jameswalker85]

Hey all. I just wanted to let you know that all is well. After a mini-meltdown this afternoon, I decided to delete my Facebook account. There are several reasons behind this, and it is something that I've been contemplating for a while. I'll explain a little of why.

I was getting straight-up pissed off with those who were posting in the 500k group whiny statuses about being screwed by Sony, or that after 14 years of waiting we shouldn't have to pledge via Kickstarter. Ordinarily, this wouldn't bother me. However, around 12 hours prior to Shenmue III being announced, I was in the hospital holding the hand of my dear wife, distraught at the thought that we had lost our baby. Eventually we found out everything was okay, but for the 6 hours between my wife starting bleeding heavily and having an ultrasound to check on the baby, we thought our baby was dead.

Something like that kinda changes your perspective a little. And I realised that, while I am absolutely over the moon that Shenmue III is finally a reality, and I am so very proud of all that we have accomplished as a community, I just can't stand seeing people piss and moan over a video game.

I don't want to quit the community. I'm not planning on leaving the forum. My Shenmue bead art and Shenmuenopoly projects are still going ahead (when I find time). But I just need less drama on my feed, lol. Therefore I've deleted my Facebook profile and started a new, private profile (since I need a profile to manage my 1upbeads page) to which I am only adding close family and friends.

I hope you can understand. I didn't want anyone to think I was just throwing my rattle from the buggy or anything. When I've previously talked about emotional rollercoasters, I hope you can understand. If anyone still wants to contact me for any reason, I'm still here... but you can also add me on Steam (jameswalker85), PSN (jameswalker85), Skype (jameswalker85) or Twitter (HazukiSensei). Curse the bugger who got jameswalker85 on Twitter. Grrrr.

Thank you, and I hope I haven't put a dampener on everyone's mood.

[James]

I'd say that's more than understandable, James, and I'm very glad the DLC is still on track.

Gamers will always find something to moan about, but within 500K on the whole I think it's a minority pursuit and once things have calmed down perhaps you'll give the group another try. Or not. There's nobody who won't respect your choice either way.

[jameswalker85]

Thanks man. I know it's a minority... it's just that it seemed to be all I was seeing whenever I opened Facebook. And since I've deleted my account, I've stopped receiving notifications every two seconds. It's kinda nice.

[jameswalker85]

Just a note, I made it sound like it was all to do with that vocal minority complaining about Shenmue III's Kickstarter demo or whatever. It wasn't just that. Like I said, I'd been contemplating it for a while. That stuff just pushed me to the door that I was already thinking of going through.

[xiuying hong is brill]

My life has seen a 110% improvement since I left Facebook. It makes everything just a little bit better.