Howdy, Stranger!
Categories
- 3.7K All Categories
- 3K The Midnight Age
- 757 Announce posts
- 125 Newbies
- 6 Class Guides
- 804 Harpy's Head Tavern
- 57 Echo Canyon
- 310 Self-Affirmations
- 163 Town Crier
- 135 The Exchange
- 167 Sparring Grounds
- Combat Guides
- 30 Combat Logs
- 188 Idea Box
- 9 Classleads
- 581 Roleplay Logs
- 107 Aetolia Development
- 5 The Void
- 744 Miscellaneous
- 9 Announcements
- 417 OOC Chat
- 217 Tech Talk
- 47 Scripts
Looking for more active discussion? Join our Discord at https://discord.gg/x2s7fY6
Comments
I stay because Imperian sucks, I guess?
“Newb moments,” to me, are something longer-lasting than a simple blonde moment or brain fart. They are almost a sort of epiphany, moments where you discover something fundamental and profound – except in this case, that discovery is something you really should have known about.
My very first memory of a newb moment was when I initially began playing MUDs, over a dozen years ago (ugh, I feel so old saying that). I remember reading the game’s website and imagining how I could become an amazing, powerful….something. I wasn’t that clear on how it all worked. Eager to become awesome, I set off exploring.
Now, I had played other games before this. I had a Sega Genesis as a kid and even before that we had an Atari ST (it was the Cadillac of prehistoric PCs kthnx). Even better, we had internet access before the internet was even a fully-fledged thing. This meant that we got, in addition to all the important boring government DARPA defense stuff, SHAREWARE (and demo) GAMES!!!
While some of these games were amazing displays of graphics and sound likeTURRICAN, some were little freeware ditties, including a range of text games: virtual trucker games, a Clue knockoff and " rel="nofollow" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zork">Zork-esque adventures. The text adventures, in particular, resonated with me, and I spent many an hour trying to “get dragon” and “kill dragon” (and lots of subsequent “you have died”ing).
So, when I got older and we got ourselves a fancy new computer and super fast internet – the phone jack went STRAIGHT INTO THE COMPUTER!!! – I started looking at what games were out there on the web and found a game called Avalon. Fast-forward to my imagined ascent to greatness.
Oh boy. Telnet.
I explored the virtual world, merrily typing north, north, east, look, get dung – you know, the usual. I discovered things all over that I could pick up. I found a whole castle on top of a mountain filled with dwarves! I got lost in the caves under the castle and got killed by an orc. I dropped all of the awesome shinies I had been carrying. Le sigh. A roadblock on my path to becoming amazing!
It didn’t matter. I was enthralled. I played for hours straight, and then again the next day. And at the height of this enraptured gameplay, something happened – the newbiest newb moment of all newb moments – that changed my paradigm on games completely.
I was still caught up in my voracious exploring and questing when I wandered into a building that appeared to be a temple. The rooms had vaunted names and the text descriptions detailed columns and ornate carvings. I felt a shiver of apprehension. Was I nearly at the part where I became the ruler of the world?
I came upon a dead end. There, standing out in bright aquamarine text, was what had to be part of my ultimate quest: “Archimedes, the God of Wisdom.” Normal quest creatures weren’t named in colors that brilliant. Normal quest givers didn’t have names that illustrious. Normal quest givers didn’t hang out in a sacred temple. Exhaling slowly, I readied myself for the final task and then typed in the phrase I had learned would prompt the game’s creatures to give me quests – GREET ARCHIMEDES.
You warmly greet Archimedes, the God of Wisdom.
I waited, breath bated.
And kept waiting. Weird. The other creatures always gave me quests instantly.
GREET ARCHIMEDES.
You warmly greet Archimedes, the God of Wisdom.
Still nothing. I was getting frustrated.
GREET ARCHIMEDES
GREET ARCHIMEDES
GREET ARCHIMEDES
You warmly greet Archimedes, the God of Wisdom.
You warmly greet Archimedes, the God of Wisdom.
You warmly greet Archimedes, the God of Wisdom.
Archimedes, the God of Wisdom lets out a broad chuckle.
Archimedes, the God of Wisdom says, “Quite the persistently friendly one you are, aren’t you?”
GET QUEST FROM ARCHIMEDES
Archimedes, the God of Wisdom says, “Are you lost? Need some help on your novice quests?”
NOVICE
NOVICE commands are the province of the Ministry of Public Relations and the barony.
Ok, what did that mean?! All of a sudden this game was getting confusing.
Theresa appears before you through the black screen of a magical portal.
Whoa.
“Hi!” Theresa happily says.
Theresa says, “Lost novice here?”
Archimedes, the God of Wisdom nods emphatically.
Theresa says, “No worries. I’ll help her out.”
Theresa says, “Follow me. Just type FOLLOW THERESA.”
WHOA.
Suddenly it hit me – these were not computer creatures. THESE WERE REAL PEOPLE. There were other people playing the game with me. The world fell out beneath me. I had been completely oblivious to the vast, expansive nature of the game I was playing…oblivious to the potential of the internet itself. I was in a fantasy world inhabited not just by monsters and dragons, but also by other living, breathing people. All on my computer. The realization was astounding.
This, here, was my newb moment, when I discovered I had been overlooking an essential element of the game. In my case, I had missed the fundamental nature of what a MUD was – a multiplayer dungeon.
Once that awareness sunk in, the game was never the same.
On one hand, a whole new vista of gameplay unfolded. Player-to-player interactions are far more complex and ever-changing than scripted AI. Roleplay develops, alliances form, enemies are made. Combat is intense and politics compelling. The game develops endless playability.
Then again, there is something vital lost in that awakening. It’s like a kid realizing that (spoilers!) Santa doesn’t really exist. Yes, you see the more complex mechanics of the gameplay (or reasons for the holiday) and learn to play at a deeper level (ie be a grown up), but there is still an element of blissful ignorance that has been shed. What started as an impossibly engaging magical experience establishes itself as just a game.
Any level of competent gameplay requires this transition (which is probably a better topic for anotherentry, as this one is getting rather long). Sometimes,however, I look back on this first massive newb moment, and nostalgically remember what it was like to be clueless.
For me, being able to interact with other people at that time in my life was really important - I had gone through some Bad Stuff and was having trouble handling social interaction. But in MUDs, I was clever and funny and popular and it was SAFE. I wasn't freaking out or panicking, and I developed a ton of confidence and honed organizational/leadership skills, to the point that after about a year or so of playing I returned to student government and campaigned for some much needed changes in campus security and rape reporting...which ended up helping to completely change my university's process for the better. It sounds cheesy, but MUDs kinda helped me tackle some heavy demons, come out swinging, and get a home run from it.
And, to me, that's because they really highlight the social interaction in ways that other games don't. That's why I still love playing them, even though I'm happy in crowds and love my life. In MUDs...you help shape the world - it's not just escapist. There's cooperation and teamwork and awesome moments where you feel really powerful or successful or simply proud for something you've done or made. You make REAL friends here. Sure, we meet in a game and our shared interest is Aetolia, but I consider people like Toz and Aldric and Malak some of my best friends, period.
Moving to Aetolia itself as random google luck, tbh. I was trying out a bunch of different MUDs just to see what else there was because Avalon was feeling toxic, and everything I kept trying had these weird skill systems, whereas Aet was very similar, so I felt more comfy diving in. I think I've said it elsewhere, but stealing Anfini's web boots (<3) got me sticking around a bit longer outside of my initial interest, and Ensoi got me hooked. Had he not adopted me and brought me into his group of pals, I probably wouldn't have lasted - which also kinda highlights the double-edged sword personal interaction can be. Interacting with others is what will get you hooked on Aetolia...but if you don't get that interaction, you may never get drawn in. So make an effort to say hi and hang out with that new player! Who knows - they could be the next you!
Sorry for the novel >_>
"To be awkward or unkempt, to talk or move wrongly is to be a dangerous giant, a destroyer of worlds...any accurately improper move can poke through the thin sleeve of immediate reality." - Erving Goffman
I was always pretty comfortable with other people, but the MUD community is a lot more like -me- than the people I knew growing up. I had friends, but none of them were really geeky. I read weird books -all the time-, I was fascinated by code and computers at an early age, I debated politics and discussed trends in science (and weird philosophy and religion and social justice and -insert the weird things hippies/bikers/musician-types dig-) with the friends of my parents. My friends mostly wanted to discuss boys, make-up, and crappy music. I could hang out, but I didn't really -bond- with them.
In MUD communities (it took awhile before I discovered RP), and in BBS communities, I found out that people could take me seriously and have conversations that engaged me despite my age, because -they- couldn't make assumptions based on my appearance, all they had to go on was the content of my words.
Then I turned into an angsty teenager and forgot about MUD gaming for a decade or so. Probably would have turned out better if I'd stuck with it :P