Legends of Arthengard & ME/CFS
Why this game is being made differently
This text is not an apology and not a plea for donations. It is an explanation.
What is ME/CFS?
Myalgic Encephalomyelitis, abbreviated ME or ME/CFS (Chronic Fatigue Syndrome), is a severe neurological disease affecting 17 to 30 million people worldwide. The name is misleading – it is not about fatigue in the everyday sense, but about a systemic illness that affects nearly every system in the body: the nervous system, the immune system, energy metabolism, and cognitive function.
The central and defining symptom is so-called Post-Exertional Malaise, abbreviated PEM. This means that even minor physical or mental exertion – a short walk, an extended conversation, an hour of focused work – can lead to a massive worsening of symptoms that lasts hours, days, or weeks. This mechanism is what fundamentally sets ME/CFS apart from ordinary fatigue: pushing through does not help. It causes harm. The body simply does not have the capacity for it, and that is not a matter of mindset.
Additional symptoms include cognitive impairments – the so-called "brain fog" –, pain, sleep disorders despite extreme exhaustion, circulatory problems, and orthostatic intolerance. From the outside, none of this is usually visible. This makes ME/CFS an invisible illness that is chronically underfunded and rarely taken seriously in Germany to this day – even though the number of cases has risen significantly in recent years due to Long Covid.
My Story
In July 2022, my life changed. At the time, I was working as a marketing freelancer – strategy, content, campaigns for various clients. Then came an infection, and afterward, much changed. What initially looked like a lengthy recovery turned out to be ME/CFS after several months. No safety net. No disability pension that kicks in quickly. Just the question of what comes next.
Freelance work was no longer sustainable with ME/CFS. The energy I still have is limited and unpredictable. Some days go well – I can work with focus, think through problems, make decisions. Other days barely exist, because I can hardly perceive them. Predictability is an illusion I eventually stopped trying to maintain.
What remained is curiosity. And the ability to work intensively in short windows – when I respect my energy budget and don't exceed it. Legends of Arthengard was created in those windows. Not as a grand ambitious project with a release plan and investor deck, but as an answer to a simple question: What can I do that suits me, gives me meaning, and is still realistic?
Why Legends of Arthengard?
Game development had interested me for a long time, but I never had the time for it. With ME/CFS, that paradoxically changed: I have more time – but less capacity to use it. What I can use, I use deliberately. And Legends of Arthengard offers me something that almost no other work model provides: complete flexibility. I work when my body allows it. Not because someone is waiting, but because I want to move forward myself.
The game's concept is not coincidental. A cooperative idle MMORPG where the community can actively participate while the streamer coordinates and makes decisions – that also came about because I understand what it means to not always be fully present. The game respects the time of everyone involved. Actions run in the background, viewers can participate at their own pace, and streamers don't need to be active every minute. What I experience as necessary for myself, I built in as a design principle.
That's not a marketing statement. That's simply how it happened.
What This Means for Development
Legends of Arthengard is being developed more slowly than a studio would. That's not an excuse, but a fact I want to communicate openly. If you don't hear from me for two weeks, it's usually not because the project has gone quiet – but because my body doesn't have the capacity at the moment. I've learned to accept that, rather than fight against it. Because fighting against it has a cost I cannot afford.
What I offer in return is transparency. In the Discord server, I communicate when things are quiet for longer and why. Updates come without a fixed schedule, but they come. The community that has formed around the game so far knows this and responds with more understanding than I ever expected. That makes a difference.
The Blue Ribbon
The blue ribbon you find in the Legends of Arthengard logo is the symbol of the ME/CFS movement – similar to the pink ribbon for breast cancer. I carry it not as a design decision, but because visibility for this disease is important to me. ME/CFS is largely unknown in Germany, even though the number of those affected is considerable. If this game contributes even a little to more people knowing the name and understanding what it means, then that is a standalone value for me, entirely separate from the game itself.
I don't want pity. But I want you to know why this game is being made the way it is – and that what sometimes looks like a weakness is, for me, the opposite.