Still pluggin'

I attempted to get on and explore Secondlife over break. I logged on from home this time and discovered that I didn't have enough bandwidth/speed to load clothes (even the body parts). So I was in a world of ghosts. It was pretty funny. I found that I could move around much better (without drowning myself) because the lag wasn't as bad. Unfortunately my DSL over WiFi wasn't fast enough for Secondlife to work properly and so I had to give up. It appears that I am going to have to directly plug my computer into a high speed connection to get it to work right. The set up at my apartment is not conducive to do this - the only phone jacks I have are in the kitchen (and there is no place to put the router in my kitchen) and my bedroom. So I have the box in my bedroom behind my bed and to directly plug in I would have to sit on my bed and unplug the vonage box (because the dang router has one port). Consequently, I'm going to try to find a way to plug in directly on campus sometime this week.

This week was spring break which meant I used it as an excuse to spend too much time playing Neopets. I accomplished the large goal I had of purchasing a honey potion (a bomb) for the battledome. I also purchased a smaller ticket item, a golden compass, the week before as a backup weapon. All my weapons now do 9-11 icons, which I think is a decent amount for an intermediate battler. I remember a time when an six icon weapon was pretty standard - now I don't even have 6-8 in my lineup.

The guild was in party mode with St. Patty's day. I had no luck and won nothing in any of the competitions and games. :( I even ended up missing a few games entirely because the start times weren't announced. Oh well. Our guild leader's goal is to have 50 active members and so there have been a number of people who were kicked out because of lack of activity and at least two new people in the last week. The sad thing is I can't even tell you who was removed (which I guess shows they have been really inactive) but I'm sure I would know them all if I asked for a list of those who were removed for lack of participation.

I guess this just shows the transiency in the online environment. Because of the lack of being able to see each other it is easy to not notice when people stop showing up unless they are extremely active in the community. For example I am aware that player "R" is only around occasionally these days because she use to be around daily. She doesn't have a connection at home anymore but she manages to get on certain days a week for a little bit at a time. I would notice if she disappeared, but I'm not sure if newer people would because she hasn't been super active in months. However if a newer person left (and some have) I don't notice unless someone makes a comment - for example one of the new members left and the only reason I found out was because I read someone asking why she left. I suppose just like a F2F community you have to become involved before people will notice your absence beyond the "welcome back" that you get when you haven't been around a F2F community in a while. For people to call, write an email or start widely enquiring about your welfare you have to be missed. It is hard to miss someone on the periphery.

Lost on orientation island

I’m feeling kinda stupid here but I’ve managed to get lost on orientation island. I tried to fly and that worked but now I’m in trouble. I hate 3D games!

So far my character has drowned herself on multiple occasions and is flying around the island stark naked (at least she looks that way to me). She has ended up in quicksand (and she shreeks when that happens) but I don’t know how to save her. Finally I figured out how to fly her to one of the islands but there wasn’t a door into the walls. So after cracking her head into a wall repetitively I flew her up to the top of the building. I think running into the wall has adversely affected her because she was acting as if she could swim on the roof. I was really hysterical looking back – stark nuke and attempting to swim on a roof. I was really frustrated at the time.

Secondlife makes me feel ill. After fighting with the system for about an hour I was feeling sick to my stomach and developed a headache. This is why I have been avoiding playing in the game. I try to avoid all games like this- I’ve tried other 3D games and I usually end up having to lie down because I feel so ill. Tried a 3D ball game one time and I thought I would puke within 10 minutes. I’m really concerned about having the class in Secondlife (not only because I’m still on the island) but because I’m not sure I can handle a whole class in a 3D environment without compromising my health.

People often tell me to find a more adult game than Neopets. After this experience I'm ever more committed to sticking with what I know!

A brief introduction to the world of fuzzles

The fuzzle is one of the many plush toys that can be used to amuse your pet. Fuzzles come in many varieties in most every color of the rainbow and specialty colors like cloud, spotted, electric, starry, ghost as well as evil fuzzles (that look like they have been playing with light sockets and ripped fuzzles (who have lost most of their fuzz). They are no more significant than the thousands of other toys that you can buy for your pet.

In the AGW there is something special about fuzzles. The fuzzles have taken on a life of their own. One of our guild members- who I will refer as Spazz – has a special love for fuzzles. She began to collect fuzzles, but her fuzzles are extremely ill behaved. They cause all sorts of mischief and trouble. They constantly are escaping from her and invading the guild halls and showing up individual members inventories.

When dung gets thrown around or when people get yellow snowballs it is always blamed on the fuzzles getting loose (yes there are really yellow snowballs and dung in many different disgusting configurations). Any inappropriate behavior seems to be caused by the little guys. You would think they were innocent by their smiles but in our guild they are really the source of all mischief. They finally got to sponsor their own game during the winter holidays where you got to feed the fuzzles. If they liked your gift they would give you gifts and if they didn’t you were punished with dung, yellow snow, and rotten veggies.

Fuzzles are so commonplace around the guild that people view them as part of the furniture or decoration. Our guild leader has the bad habit of fuzzle smashing. She “accidentally” sits on the poor fuzzles- flattening them. We started out with a fuzzle sofa and now we have lots of furniture that resembles fuzzles (I’m thinking that someone is using smashed fuzzles to reupholster the furniture!).
One morning the guild was decorated completely in fuzzle furniture! This lounge picture is just one of many representations of how we visualize our community. You will notice beyond the fuzzle furniture that we are almost exclusively a bunch of women. We are sprawled all over the place, chilling. Our one male is kinda watching over us wearing pirate garb. We only have 5 men in our guild – the most active is our pirate. He is big time into the battledome and likes to flirt with the ladies ☺.

In another representation we also have the informal atmosphere and many of us have drinks as we unwind. Again we have the sole man surrounded by women (this time it appears to be “Matt” – another of our active guys who has managed to hurt himself ☹). You will notice the fuzzle couch still present with one guild member (most likely Spazzy) surrounded with fuzzles.

All of this to say, fuzzles are part of the lore of our community. They have become more than just Spazzy’s special item, they have a lifeforce of their own. Fuzzles have been known to “help” people win bingo, they have influenced the decisions of who’s won raffles, they have caused chaos and evil far beyond what mere pixels could normally hope to accomplish. They have provided comfort, an outlet for evilness, and seating to the members of our community. I personally am developing an army of fuzzles of my own – never know when they may come in handy. ☺