Well this will be my last post before my and Ivan's dazzling presentation tomorrow in discussion. Some final followups on my time in Discworld. I've clocked just south of 10 hours so far, and I don't want to say I'm necessarily addicted, but this "game" definitely becomes more intriguing as I shed my "newbie" layer and get deeper into the excitement.
I've gotten to go shopping in villages to replenish myself, buy weapons (I own three knives and a grenade, so it's not that cool...yet), speak to travel agents about getting to the other side of the Disc and even talk to some local children. The tricky part about this game, and a focal point of my talk tomorrow, is definitely figuring out how to solidify and fit in the "community" that exists in Discworld. It's unbelievable how much the other users use their own special lingo, and how quickly new users (a.k.a. me) can feel left out and confused.
Some examples: "godmother help", "GNAP" and "pepper flee" will be highlights for the presentation. Don't know what they are? No problem; I barely to either.
It's really tough for me to convince people that Discworld (and MUDs and MOOs in general) are social communities. But I really think they are. As you'll see from Ivan, his most definitely is. But his is a New York City community; mine is more like Middleton. Let's face it--people would rather play a game like Ivan's that you can see where you're going, what you're doing and can listen and hear others than mine, where you simply type in what you want to do and read what is going on. At one time, there has never been more than 50 people playing my MOO at a time.
Some questions for everyone to think about heading into tomorrow:
Does number of followers influence if you're in a social community or not? Or does simple communication, lingo and interaction of the followers suffice?
What would make a game like XBox's World of Warcraft deserve a "community" label more so than a MOO world?
What does it take to become an established member of an online community? Followship? Interaction? Communication?
See ya tomorrow!
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