Real Life

Acts of Gamer Kindness

stargrace December 19, 2009 No Comments

This year I got it into my mind that I would run a 2009 Gamers Secret Santa, asking anyone who was interested in games in any aspect to participate if they wished. I drew names to match people with their gift receivers, and kept the pricing low. I kept myself out of the draw because I didn’t think it would be fair to know who had me, and just ran it for those who decided to participate. It was a small turn out, but still enough interest to make it worth while for next year (and hopefully more will decide to partake next year, we’ll just have to see).

Anyhow. I had a few reasons for running this which I mentioned before, first and foremost simply because I wanted to bring the community together a bit. Sure, we all play video games – but behind all of those pixelated characters we’re actually people, just doing our thing. We may not be particularly interested in learning more about one another but that’s one of the main aspects to why I game. I love meeting new people, learning about them. Their life, their culture. Differences in opinion. Sharing experiences. All of that keeps me coming back for more. I wanted something simple that would be able to open up that door a bit.

As a thank you yesterday I received the items pictured above in the mail, a thank you for running the 2009 Gamers Secret Santa, and a request to “keep spreading the goodwill”. I was so incredibly touched and happy for the remainder of the day. When Spyderbite posted on twitter that people should ‘pay it forward‘ I couldn’t agree more.

Some times we forget that we have an influence over whether or not someone has a better day then they’re already having, by doing some really simple things. Scarybooster for example has been posting some ‘getting to know‘ posts on his web site, bringing awareness to other writers. I think this is wonderful, and I bet it cheered some people up immensely.

With the new year coming up, I think we should all be a little more aware of our personal random acts of kindness in the gaming world. Giving away gear for free, sending a friend something just because. Not spouting off that rude comment to someone who may actually deserve it. There are so many small things that we can do to make the gaming experience better for someone else without expecting something in return.

To all those who have demonstrated random acts of kindness to me over 2009, thank you. So much. It’s these things I remember and I take with me when I go through difficult times, and it’s made all the difference in the world.

Back to our regular scheduled blog posts! I think I’ve got enough syrup for my pancakes now..

Redemption Mud – Where I came From

stargrace December 3, 2009 2 Comments

I’ve mentioned a few times that I’m still pretty new to MMOs and gaming in general. I grew up with two brothers who always wanted to play the games, but myself I was involved in other things. It wasn’t until 2001 when I started playing games, and at the time I was playing muds. One specific mud that had a large population of people playing from here in Ottawa. We had mud meets, and I met a lot of really great people who eventually became close real life friends. The mud was called Redemption – and is still running fairly well today for such a local game. I decided to log in last night and wander around, after not playing for a good 7 years.

I used to code for the mud, back when I was an immortal, and designed a zone that revolved around Gulliver’s travels. I also designed a second zone that was themed around gnomes building a theme park that was falling apart, with a house of mirrors that had all the text written backwards. It was a lot of fun. It was also a long time ago.

I logged in and there were 13 others on at the time, which is pretty neat to see. The mud has been around for a very long time, and a lot of love went into building it. I spent hours playing this game at one point in time, eagerly leveling up my characters. The game has three levels of game play. You can be a NC – non-clanner which means no player killing (and also means you can’t be killed and looted), a PK’er (player killer) where you can participate in killing others and there is limited looting, or, ravager (which is new to me) which is full on PK complete with full looting. There are four clans, one was Seeker, which disliked PK (even though they could still be PK’d) and would not initiate fights with anyone, but could defend themselves if wanted. They tried to get along with all of the clans. Kindred were the ‘big bad scary’ clan, they would kill anything that moved. Then there was also Kenshi and Venari.

The whole reason I even mention this game is because as I was cleaning out my desk I came across a notebook filled with directions and it just brought back a flood of memories. I used to have a non-clanner named aimee, and she would write an article twice a week called the NCN – Non clanner news. All of my notes for these articles are stored in this tiny notebook I have, and some are quite amusing.

• Deck clan halls with lowbie corpses Fa La La La La, La La, La La
• T’is the season for full looting Fa La La La La, La La, La La
• Kindred’s coming, time to flee now
• Fa La La, La La La, La La La
• Joining Seeker, Can’t catch me now
• Fa La La La La, La La, La La.

It was little silly things like those articles that kept me entertained and still playing the game. I did interviews with IMs and Clanners, and generally just had a good time. I was pleased to see that the game still runs and not a whole lot has changed. The clans are all still there, commands are basically the same. I completely forgot how to set up my prompt to display things I actually wanted shown, in colours so I’d pay attention. I know everyone is always saying you can never go back, but honestly, I’ve been back to EQ and WoW and Redemption and have enjoyed every moment of it. The games have evolved but not changed from when I played. They’re still fun – I spent over an hour in Redemption last night, a welcomed break from my regular MMO gaming. Of course it also means I slacked on work, but hey that’s what Thursdays are for, right?

Happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself. If you happen to find yourself in an older game then by all means write about it and let me know!

2009 Gamers Secret Santa

stargrace November 27, 2009 1 Comment

I’ve been pondering this idea for a while now, and I’ve decided it’s time. I’m going to host a “Gamer Secret Santa” – I have no idea if this idea will take off or not, but we’ll see. I’m hoping it will be a huge success.

What it is: Those who want to participate, are more then welcome to. You can be a gamer, blogger, a member of the game industry, whatever. As long as games are some how a part of your life. I will take names / addresses, and assign everyone a ‘secret’ person to buy a small less then $20 gift for, as well as give them the address required. Send out your gift and wait for one to head your way, and that’s it. Ok, let me explain it a bit better.

What is “Secret Santa?” here’s the definition!

How:

1. Send your full name and mailing address to me at stargrace@mmoquests.com, make sure it comes from a valid email address. If you happen to run a fansite or a blog, please mention which blog you write for. If you’re just a gamer mention that too. It doesn’t matter who you are or how involved in the gaming community you are, anyone can participate.

2. On December 7th I will email you back with someone else’ address.

3. The price limit is $20, don’t spend any more then that. Be creative, make something, have it be unique to your culture or your life, if you need suggestions then please don’t hesitate to let me know. Try to keep in mind that we’re all gamers, no matter where we come from.

4. Keep your person a secret! Don’t tell anyone who else you have. If you DO happen to run a fansite or blog, then when you receive your gift write about it and let everyone know.

5. If you have any other questions, don’t hesitate to let me know below in comments, or email me.

Details: I understand that you may not be comfortable with me or one other person having your mailing address, so if you’re not please don’t feel pressured to participate. The idea is to share with one another and realize what a fantastic community we have, not make you feel on edge that you’re going to potentially run into issues.

If you’d like to participate but simply can not afford to no matter what, send me an email and let me know, I will do my best to help you out. I want anyone who’s interested to be able to participate in this event. I think some times we forget that these people we all talk to online are not just random pixels, but are actual people on the other end of those computers.

Please keep in mind that only myself, and ONE other person will have your address. It won’t become a mailing list or anything like that. If you’re only comfortable with me having it and no one else then let me know, and I’ll have your gift sent to me and then I’ll send it out to you. Anything to make sure people are comfortable and still able to participate.

YOU HAVE UNTIL DECEMBER 6th TO EMAIL ME YOUR ADDRESS – please take your time to think about whether or not this is something you really want to do. If it is, get me your address by December 6th so that I can give people some time to get their shopping done. If it’s a little late (the gift, not the address) that’s alright.

If you don’t celebrate christmas but still want to participate that’s alright too! This isn’t a religious thing, I just want to try it out and see how it works this year. There are some amazing gamers I have met from all over the world, and I think that we have a lot to share with one another.

I think that’s about it. If you can think of something I’ve missed then please let me know and I’ll do my best to answer it. If this is a completely horrible idea don’t feel shy to let me know. I just wanted to share some of the christmas joy that’s going to be flying around before too long and figured this would be a fantastic idea for people to experience it with one another.