Do your friends know about EarthBound? How about your parents? Do either of them know anything about Sm.Net and what you do there?

I like coming here and posting on the boards. Every once in a while I also enjoy trying new stuff. Like this past week I enter the Bad Media competitions for the AOE. I try to spice it up every once in a while. So today at around 12:16 AM central time I decided to enter the mailbag. So I suppose I should get to the questions.

Most of my friends are not into video games, but that’s fine with me. I love Earthbound and many other great RPGs, but I think it's good that my friends are not into Earthbound. This site helps me continue to dream about a possible Mother 3 game. While my friends are awesome because, they help me in real life with stuff that is more important to me. Like going to our college faith group, meeting girls, playing sports, and hanging out. If I didn't have such group of good friends I would be lost in many senses of my life. On the other hand, Earthbound and Starmen.net are great for me, because there are sometimes that I just want to be alone and relax. During these down times that I have I really enjoy coming to this web site and just posting in the message boards, reading news on Mother 3, and every once in a while doing something like writing a entry for mailbag or doing an AOE project. Another thing I like about this page is that it has connected me to many other Earthbound fans that I can chat with, and I do very often.

My parents know very little about Earthbound. If you were to ask them, they would say, "Oh, that game you played for five hours straight that one time." That’s about all they know about the game. That’s fine with me I love my parents, but I think that it's good we have some differences. We all have strong faiths, and we all are very competitive. But, when it comes to video games I am the only one in my family that enjoys them, and I think that’s great.

-- carryabigbat



Congratulations on writing a Letter of the Week!

THIS IS YOUR HOUSE! And in honor of StarmanDeluxe’s presence, “Congrats on the branding” That’s right, you’ve been immortalized as this week’s Letter of the Week! ...I mean, your letter has. It’s great to see somebody maintaining such good ties not only with online friends here in the community but with real life friends, and understanding the importance and benefits of each. I, too, treasure my friends, as do I treasure my minions friends here at Starmen.net. Sometimes it’s important to be alone with friends...because sometimes, in real life or online, it feels like you’re with friends but alone.

My parents know a lot about the site in general. My mom knows about the petition, my job, what we do here, my badge guide, my badges and how I got them, my hacking activities, etc. My dad just knows I have a legitimate reason to not being doing chores (Mailbag). I think for this reason he hates all of you. And now, for some semi-relevance from everybody’s favorite ex-Mailbag-staffer StarmanDeluxe.

--GuyInSummers



My friend refuses to buy Squaresoft games because he doesn’t like “the perspective.” All he wants to play is Mech games and FPSs. He refuses to play single-player RPGs. He does, however, like online RPGs. But not graphical ones. Text-based ones. He’s really annoying and impossible to buy gifts for.

--STARMANDELUXE--

Do any of my friends know of EB? No, not really...of course, since WHEN did I have friends? *laughs* Seriously, one of my friends knew about it, loved it, I even got him to sign the petition. But...beyond that...he's not much into games anymore. *shrugs* I don't understand why, but...whatever.
...do my PARENTS know of EarthBound? *laughs loudly* Now THERE'S a question! Yes, they do. They know its name, but nothing much else.
As for whether they know of Starmen.net...I've mentioned it a few times to my parents, but...they really don't know what I do here, which is post. o_o;;; That and hope for an intelligent discussion that doesn't get turned into a flame war. *laughs yet again* But my friends? Again, WHAT friends are you talking about? :) I hardly even SPEAK in real life, let alone tell people the websites I frequent and what I do there.

Thank you and good night.

--Magnus



Here we see the first of many people here that don’t seem to have “real life” friends. If you ask me, “real life” is SO overrated. With Sm.Net and Animal Crossing, I’ve got enough lives to last me a few lifetimes. Then again, there are certain benefits to each. Like, if you spend enough minutes in “real life”, you get to live under a much nicer rock.

~GiS



My parents think Starmen.net is a cult. They were very scared when I ordered an SM.net hoodie. And they were even more scared when I ordered an SM.net coffee mugz0rz. They were, perhaps, most scared when they heard me, late one night, chanting horrific horrifying stuff, such as “I LOVE YOU XOD” and “SLING IS ENORMOUSLY FAT.”

--StarmanDeluxe

My friends know about EarthBound and SM.Net, considering I constantly visit the site around them. My friends mostly like SM.Net, though, for the AoE Bad Art Week entries. My parents know about SM.Net as well, but just know I visit it. They also know that I play EarthBound, but they know not a lot about that either.

Thank you, GiS, for exposing my personal life. ;)

--Ness’s Cousin



You’re welcome. But...muahaha...you don’t know the half of it. Once I had the top secret details of your personal life, I sold them to a master blackmailer in a dark alley in Fourside. He was a tall, metallic fellow with a silver coat and spiked shoulders. Perhaps soon you will catch wind of his evil plan. Like now, perhaps.

~GiS



Yes, well, GuyInSummers may have exposed your personal life, but who’s going to exploit it, and blackmail you to no end? ME. You heard me. With this incredibly secret information, I will take approximately ONE MILLION DOLLARS from you and your family. Yes. This information is so black, so evil... That I may be able to conquer the world with this knowledge. Yes. Yeeeeessssss...

--StarmanDeluxe

GuyInSummers used the Mailbag letter!
A message appeared...

Do my friends and parents know anything about earthbound? It's more like how could they forget about it? It's been 6 years since I bought earthbound, and I've converted a lot of my friends into earthbound flunkies. I've got people who didn't like RPG's to change their opinion about them. My parents know - i only asked them about 5 bazillion times for it for my birthday, and then after I got it and beat it, I would walk around my house and say things like "Jeff hit the mother for 15 points of damage! The mother returned to normal!"

All of my friends have at least seen SM.net. Most of them dont have the internet -But i've made the internet users come sometimes. I found out not that long ago that a couple of them signed the petition, and the ones who dont have the internet found a computer to sign it on. Now at college, i am making new friends, and they will soon know about the legacy that is earthbound.

--Avenger339



GuyInSummers used the co-responder!
Another message appeared...

~GiS



My friends know about EarthBound, but they don’t care to play it. Except one, and he doesn’t have a modem (:O) so he can’t go to SM.net. Oh well.

--StarmanDeluxe

GuyInSummers used the Universal Mind Control Device!
...but nothing happened.
GuyInSummers began crying uncontrollably.

My friends know about it but not really enthusiastic about, although I attribute that to the fact that I forced them to return the game before they left Onnet ^_^. However my dad on te other hand loved it. In the summer it first came out we would rent it and one time, knowingly my dad didn't return it for two weeks ^_^. Also he occasionaly asks me about EB64, 'Alas' I say... I want the game sometime so I can spend more quality time calling my dad a moron for being really bad at it :p. The thing here is that my friend who isn't terribly enthsiastic about Earthbound is on the Forum, but my dad doesnt really visit the site. So I'm the only one I know personally who likes the game and visits this site. Both are good except that Annual Gift Man gave me nightmares :D

P.S. Am I the only having trouble getting onto the forum? Ok then Bye-yas!

--Shadow_FF6



Dude, your dad plays video games? Now THAT would rock. Especially with Animal Crossing in the house. The again, waking up at 6:02, checking the town bulletin board, and seeing “Wash the car, son” would not be a nice way to start the day.

~GiS



... Your dad plays video games? I wish my dad was like that. That’d be awesome.

And yes, it seems like you’ve been singled out by Satan himself for forum problems. I haven’t had any,

--StarmanDeluxe

Do my friends know about EarthBound? When I live and breathe it, how could they not? Though they don't really come over to my house anymore, me being the somewhat antisocial creature (or pancake) that I am, they hear enough about it when we are at school. For example, on Tuesday when one of my friends was finishing a map before school, she was coloring in England. This led me to think of Stonehenge and I started to talk about how all these spooky natural occurances were really the work of Giygas and his underlings.

I get some weird looks at school.

As for my parents, they've seen my play on the computer (I convienently forgot to tell them that it is slighty illegal..) and they think it's funny.. but most parents don't know anything about video games, so I can't really say much about what they think of it.

I'm not sure if either of them know about SM.Net.. I send them links to the petition and show them the EB fanart that I draw, but I'm not sure they actually connect this to a site that I go to.

In conclusion.. .. .. I can't think of a conclusion.

--Pancake



I brought a pancake to school once. It got weird looks too. Weird, HUNGRY looks. Come to think of it, I didn’t have lunch yet. Hello, pancake. HELLO PANCAKE...WRARAHRHAHRHAHEH *munch*

My parents know you-know-whats are illegal. But they have the same view as I do... "I’ll tell you what. When the FBI barges down our door and strip-searches our computer, then you’re grounded."

I like conclusions. That’s why I dedicate a whole box to my conclusion. I’ve got some spare ones for rent if you want. “This conclusion loves you” and “Eet mor kow” have been my best-sellers.

~GiS



I can’t ever think of conclusions either. Conclusion generally suck. They’re entirely necessary but deviously difficult.

--StarmanDeluxe



Lies. Conclusions own you.

~GiS

EarthBound is one of my fave games, and I've reccomended it to many friends. I've also reccomended this site to all of said EarthBound-playing friends, incuding some people who I met online who play EarthBound. I led them here, which means more potential sigs for the pettion!
No, no need to thank me. ^_^

-- GG Crono 4



Aw, no need to be so modest. Thank you. Now doesn’t that make you feel better?

~GiS



I think I got about 10 sigs from my friends. We should have a competition.

--StarmanDeluxe

I was writing an EB crossover on my computer once. My mom popped in and recognized what I was writing just by looking at the character names. I was impressed ^^;;

--Koppi Paula



My parents could probably do that. Except if it was about Poo. When I told my parents about EarthBound, I simply called Poo “a guy” or “the fourth member”. I wasn’t ready for the insane asylum.

~GiS



My mom would freak if she saw that I was doing anything regarding a guy named “Poo.”

--StarmanDeluxe

I don't think a single person I know in real life (or shall we say "irl?" I hate that term but it really works well) has any idea how much I do online, and vice versa. It's like two different countries that I go between. Everyone knows I do stuff in the other place but nobody really knows/cares exactly what it is. As such, the people I know online and the people I know irl have different effects on me; for example, nobody irl would've given me any clue that Tenacious D was really cool. Further to that point, I really believe that I act like two different people depending on whether I'm online (ie. SimonBob) or offline (ie. Jeremy. Yes, now you all know my real name - as well as why I like Pearl Jam so much.)

I occasionally wonder what would happen if someone popped into existence who really did know me irl and online. I think my attitude towards them would depend on where I met them first. If I met them irl, then I'd probably act the same as I do now, with the dual personalities and all that. But if I met them online first and later irl, I'd probably act more Bob-like in person. After all, if I met them online then irl, we'd probably continue meeting irl because they were my friend online, and therefore they like Bob, not me, right? (In other words: They like my online self, so I would be my online self offline.

Nope, that's still confusing.)

I like to think that I have every excuse to act differently online. It's no different from swearing with my friends but not with my parents. But deep down inside, I don't think I'm really being honest with myself. I feel a little weird explaining it like this, since it sounds like one of those stupid whiny blogs that everyone seems to be writing these days. I guess it's just something we all have to vent.

If you skipped that paragraph because I sounded like an idiot, I don't blame you.

As far as knowing about EarthBound goes, I think everyone irl knows as much about it as they know about Chrono Trigger or SMRPG or whatever. In general, I'm a bigger videogame fan than my friends, so they take my comments with a grain of salt and move on.

For those of you who have navigated this letter to its twisty corkscrew of an ending, I would like to remind you that the new Pearl Jam album comes out on November 12th. Goodbye and goodnight.

--- SimonBob



I attempted to navigate your letter all the way to the end, but at the second mention of irl I believe I flew of the course and was eaten by the Boundary Pandas. In my last moment I saw StarmanDeluxe speed past me. Darn you, StarmanDeluxe. In any case, this may be his winner’s speech:

~GiS



Your letter is too long. This disturbs me.

Also, you didn’t link me in for 25 to 1. Therefore, you die. Actually you don’t, but I shall now make fun of you, just like you did to Sephy’s freakishly long letter back when I was in charge of this section.

*Ahem*: HAHAHAHAHAHA SIMONBOB ADMITS THAT HE’S AN IDIOT AND HE KEEPS SAYING “IRL,” WHICH PRONOUNCED PHONETICALLY IS “EARL,” AND THAT MEANS HIS NAME MUST BE EARL :O:O:O:O!11!!111 I HAV DISCOVERED UR SEEKRIT!!!!!!11!

;)

--StarmanDeluxe

All my friends know about EarthBound... of course, I met them all at this site, so if they DON'T know about it, I'd be pretty worried. As for my parents, I'm pretty sure they know of EarthBound, but they don't know much about it. Pretty much the only thing my parents know about the site is Tomato and Loco-san because they all got introduced to eachother in person once, but I don't think my parents know I found out about them from this site. As for what I do here, I live a private life (especially online) and I like to keep my parents out of it as much as possible.

--LousySpy



Oh, LousySpy used HTML. Doesn’t he feel smart. I really ought’ to make that an executive privilege. ^_^ Hey, I can’t let it get out of hand.

~GiS



You met all your friends on this website? Do you live under a rock—with internet access?

--StarmanDeluxe

No. The usual response associated with me asking whether Eb is known or not. what can I say, Eb is NOT a popular game. Sometimes I wonder why I bring it up in the first place anyways, no one knows about nor do they have the desire to. oh sure, i know two, thats right TWO people who have heard the name before JUST because Ive asked them so much before about it, that the name actually stuck. It only takes 8 times to be repeated before something can be remembered and I must have mentioned it at least double that by now. Its only be rare chance that I happened to meet someone of the Eb community when I was walking around wearing my sm.net hoodie. Thank fobby for that!

-- Psionic Brawler



Unfortunately, it’s the simple truth that EB is, after all, not a famous game. However, with the incredible popularity of Super Smash Bros. Melee, the young hero’s future could be bright. And there’s no guarantee that Animal Crossing won’t contain a Super Plush Bear, or something. It’s too soon to tell. There sure are enough Pokémon references.

...okay, I’ve only seen one...but I doubt Nintendo would stop there.

In any case...I’m the only reason a good 5 people at my school have heard of EarthBound. And through my nosiness, I have determined that there are zero people at this site who live in New Hampshire, USA. Bleh, kittycat. And now for a sample of melancholic blubbering, I present to you...Starving Donuts!

Oh, sorry. I need my glasses, kittycat. Take it, SD.

~GiS



Yes, we know EB wasn’t a popular game. Thank you for bringing that back to our attention. Now we all have to cry ourselves to sleep for the next week, because of this horrific fact.

Boo-hoo... *sniffle*

--StarmanDeluxe

My friends know of EB, pretty much all of them at this point. Most don't enjoy it, and many haven't even seen the site, but they've heard me ramble on about it.

As for my parents, my father doesn't really know too much about it. As for my mother, she was very inquisitive one day about just what I do online for more than an hour a day. I had to tell her about it, and she was actually quite interested. On the day my Rock Candy set came in the mail, she asked why I was worthy of receiving it. I had to come up with something to cover up my donations, which she didn't know about. (I sneak out everytime to send them, heh)

Thanks,

--Jakob



My mom’s proud and supportive of my online life. At least that’s what I thought until about two seconds ago, when she just said “take care of Mailbag later, you have to clean your room”! ...at least she knows what I do online...

~GiS



When I got my PSI Rockin, I told my mom that FedEx had a special system where I told them my address, and they gave me a number. Any letters sent to FedEx, ATTN: *Insert number here,* would get forwarded to me. That’s how Jonk could send it to me without knowing my address. She believed it, too.

--StarmanDeluxe

Well, lets see...

For friends, yeah...oh yeah. I was able to get 2 of my closer friends to get real into it, they both bought it. (This was still in the age of SNES) Anyway, I started playing with the music on my piano, and it was decent, i had been getting private lessons for a few years at that point. Anyway, I also got some of my online friends into playing it, but not really as much, since i hadnt actually met them.

As for my family, my mom thinks im nuts, and i think my dad does too...

I collect game soundtracks, and recently (the day before i wrote this :) ) I had won an auction for the Mother 2 Soundtrack. So my mom thinks im nuts when i tell her that, and everytime i buy a new soundtrack, i get weird glances, and questions like "Its fifty-five dollars!, and for a game soundtrack!" Then i have to explain that the soundtracks are not just bleeping noises and such.

For Sm.Net, sure, they know, my brother and I both frequent Sm.Net, and the mugz0rz is a constant reminder of the Starmen on the Net.

So yes, I think i have gottan friends into Earthbound, they certainly know about it, thats for sure. I've gottan weird looks from parents, and some friends know of Sm.Net

Laters,

--Thomas Hunter



Well, it’s reasonable for them to think that. After all, in their time, it was all about the Pac-Man soundtrack. It was all the rage. Then again, maybe not. I let my dad listen to a SSB:M theme once...he was all “Where’s the blips, bloops, and obnoxious noises?”

~GiS



I wanted to buy SqaureDance, which is a collection of Final Fantasy and Chrono Trigger tunes remixed. It was kind of expensive--40-some dollars—and my mom said that I wasn’t allowed to waste that much money on video game music. Bah! She doesn’t know the beauty of video game soundtracks.

--StarmanDeluxe

Hey, isnt Tomato's Insanity Board supposed to be INSAINE? I act crazay there, yet my topics are daed! Why? And all my friends know about Earthbound.

--Earthbound Master



Actually, Tomato’s Insanity Board isn’t very well named. More specifically, it’s about Japanese language and culture, Tomato’s interests and activities, programming, and anime. Oh yes, and intelligent insanity. You must be looking for the Sexy Guinea Pig Club.

~GiS



No. Tomato’s Insanity Board is purely for TOMATO’S insanity. No one else’s. Therefore, you lose. As a penalty for you losing, I shall eat you. Slowly. Or quickly. It depends on how you taste.

...

You know, this is the last letter I’ll ever respond to. This makes me sad. Oh well. Mad props to GiS for lettin’ me co-respond ;)

--StarmanDeluxe

Now this was a VERY excellent week. Again. However, I couldn't help but notice that many of the good letters were novelistic. Or is the word novelesque? This isn't really bad, it's just something to point out. By the way...we'll all miss you, StarmanDeluxe, but don't think that was your last letter. I'll be having something called the Winter Coresponderama (more about that in January) where fourteen people in one week will get a chance to respond to a letter, regardless of their position in the community or their previous Mailbagging. Look forward to it! 'till then, I'll see you all later! Peace, out.