Cabal Community Manager. CM Charms.

Cool. Charming. Cosplayer. Cabal Community Manager. CM Charms.

These were just some words which I can summon to describe this very wonderful girl gamer I've seen the very first time way back July 4, 2009 in Cyberzone SM North EDSA Annex. I could never forget how awesome she was wearing that Arionell costume as she joined the other emcees in leading the first Cabal Online Philippines' Anniversary event. I, as you might have suspected, was one of the gamers who attended. It was my very first time to join such an event and I was overwhelmed by the huge number of attendees which really emphasize the 'MASSIVELY MULTIPLAYER' in the term MMORPG – like Cabal Online.

Cabal Online Philippine's First Year Anniversary with CM Charms as One of the Emcees

I was in third year college during that time and I remembered skipping a couple of classes just to attend this event (haha!) and I never regret it. That day, I met the good-natured Cabal community manager by the name of CM Charms and it was the time that I believed that girls also have the right to play online games. What I didn't realize was the inevitable truth about me falling deeply in love with Cabal Online–and that is all because of CM Charms.

Of course, I didn't go alone. I was accompanied by my big brother – who was actually the one who taught me how to play Cabal (he has been playing since the beta version). I recalled we stood far from the event stage but we were still able to see the emcees and there are also live LCD displays so they were more visible even from afar.

From an Ordinary Gamer to a Fan Girl ♥

Up there, CM Charms was really, really noticeable because of her costume. She was very cute and she never failed to smile whenever she was talking to the community or encouraging more attendees to join one of the games on stage or dealing with the winners or someone who asked for her help and assistance during the event.

As I write this article in from of the monitor, there was a rush of memories – simultaneous flashbacks of encounters with this remarkable community manager.

I remembered a screenshot of CM Charms' GM character (blader) and it was wearing that seductive mystic set. My blader was already five months by the time of the event and she was only equipped with a 1-slot Osmium set and a pair of 1-slot Osmium katanas as well. And after seeing that, I knew that I would be dying to have such a gorgeous outfit for my dandiely. Since then, I cherish the mystic set like no other.



I wanted to go for a dungeon raid with her, but we were from different servers so it's impossible to meet her in Nevareth. And of course, no one should know the GM's personal characters, so up until now I really didn't know her character/ in-game name :(

The Passion and Commitment for the Cabal Online Philippines' Community

I remembered during her time as a community manager, there wasn't any social media page for Cabal Online PH yet. Everyone was relying on the new posts on the main website. CM Charms never fail to post updates on the website, especially on the official cabal Blog. I was one of the avid readers and commenters of her posts. She was a great blogger – she always has new ideas to post. She reached out the gamers through her blogging.

She was also the one who pioneered the event "Cabal Babe of the Month" where they featured female Cabalists on the blog. I believe many players like her. Most Cabalists loved the in-game events during her time. I think she was also one of the inspirations why I still dreamed of cosplaying a Cabal character.

I believed that her commitment in reaching the community has been one of the reasons I made my way to the forums. I remembered registering in the old forum just to know if she also posted stuff there. But I hardly survived in the old forum because I didn't know how to navigate through it. That was my first time to participate in a forum and looking back, I considered myself a forum-noob for having only two posts during the entire lifespan of my old forum account (haha!). Time passed and I finally made it to the new forum and became an active member for some time (until something happened and I have to avoid it). But now I was back to forums but not as active as before.

Her presence in the Cabal community actually made me comfortable because we were both girl gamers. I looked up to her like a fan admiring her idol. It's cool to realize that there was someone to idolize and that you know that there are girls who can understand why you are playing an online game.

Every time I saw her during mall events, I always wanted to simply talk to her, see her up close and to have a picture with her. Sadly, during that time, I didn't have a camera – but I had a picture with her that was taken from my aunt's cellphone camera – it was the only picture of us and I cherished it so much.

Left: The only picture of me together with CM Charms (the pretty lady in white shirt). I was fourth year college when this picture was taken.

My guild mates and my aunt kept on saying that we looked alike in some ways (they mean it literally – same facial features). Do I really look like her? I didn't believe them because she was far prettier and charming than me! There were times I think I had a crush on her – I want to be like her, haha! There were times I considered her a big sister of mine – learning from her good deeds.

Her Passion as my inspiration inside-and-outside Cabal

Then, all of a sudden, I got news that CM Charms left her position (for some personal reason). I was really, really sad. I asked myself "What happened to her? What will happen to our community? Who will be the new CM? Will it still be a female CM? Why did she leave?" and I didn't discover the real reason until after several months (or even a year) when she shared something on Facebook – which reminded me that she still didn't accept my friend request up to now, maybe because she never really know me :(

There were times that I dreamed of becoming a Cabal community manager just like her. Maybe because I idolized her, or maybe because Cabal has been a big part of me and I somehow cared for it like she do. And now that the Cabal community was really under some stress and lots of issues (third-party programs, bugs, crashing clients, spammers and trolls in forums, etc), I reminisced the time when CM Charms was there for Cabal. I know that the community managers after her also did their best for Cabal, too (it's just that, CM Charms was my favorite). So I was just hoping that all these issues will soon be over and we can have the fun back in Nevareth.

Every one of us has an idol – and she was one of my idols. I really liked her even though I only knew a few about her (mostly about her being a CM).

Maybe She's the Reason Why I Put so Much Dedication to this Cabal Blog of Mine

I simply didn't know why there are moments that I remember CM Charms and miss her as Cabal's community manager – like this moment. I simply couldn't resist the fact that I somehow missed the first girl gamer that convinced me of staying with Cabal without her really doing anything but being with the community. I knew that all along, she had been my very inspiration of being a female Cabal gamer and I wanted to be more like her – she cared about the community, she blog about Cabal, she always easy to talk to, she always smile, she was active and carefree and cheerful. I wanted to have the same kind of concern and passion for the community that she always showed whether in-game, on-ground, in forums or in blogs. She is simply so adorable and amazing. ♥

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If you want to know more about her, you can visit this two links, these were the most recent articles about her: Getting to Know CM Charms and Cabal Babe for November: Ex-CM Charms