Friday, November 19, 2004

Lineage

Lineage

I didn't have a very embarrassing death, but I did have one other embarrassing moment that I would be more than happy to share.

It was early on in the week and I had spent the last 30 minutes getting killed, spawning in the center of the village, walking back to the training area, and promptly getting killed again. It was obvious. I needed help. I hadn't read the instructions, or gone through the tutorial because, well, I like to just jump right in.

I had just had my beans cooked by a werewolf when I noticed a nearby player. I moused over him and saw the name "Lothar the Tutor".

My heart began to beat faster. This is what Dave has been talking about! Online collaboration, peer assistance. Here is a player who had even named himself 'tutor' so that others know he is willing to help! I was witnessing something we had talked about in class.

OK, I have to play it cool, I thought. I can't just go up and declare myself a noob. I'll use my trusty fallback scheme. Try to be funny.

"Note to self", I said to nobody in particular, "stay away from werewolves."

Would he buy it? Would he find me funny and offer help?

I was almost ready to pack up my sense of humor and leave when I got a reaction.

"Are you new here?"

YES! Peer-to-peer, spontaneous, online learning! This is the holy grail for the class, I was a participant in the very topic we are studying!

I tried to get my grip. I had to tone down my enthusiasm.

"Yeah," I said casually, "I've only been playing for two hours. I've got a lot to learn."

That was cool. Didn't demand help, didn't ask for help. But obviously I would be open to any help he could give me.

There was another pause.

"Perhaps I could be of assistance."

YES! "I would be open to any help you could give me."

I waited breathlessly. Would he take me out to help me kill monsters? Would he give me some items he had collected? Would he give me money?

I waited some more. Finally, Lothar the Tutor spoke again.

"Are you new here?"

I'm thick, but not that thick. I had just spent 2 minutes trying to impress an NPC. The computer. I was cracking jokes, trying to look cool for a computer.

For those that may have read this post earlier, yes, I've edited my post. I realized that I'm posting what Dave wants next week. So I'm going to hold off on that, and see if my opinion changes after the reading for this week, and after more playing.

As for a description of my character, I'm an elf, Male, and currently at level 8. I've found quite a bit of stuff, but most of it is just your run of the mill, I know there is much better stuff out there to find. The day before we were going to meet as a group online I found about 7 sets of apprentice armor, and 3 swords. I passed them out to the members in class since if your ally is better equipped, you have a better chance of making it through the evening...

I played the knight first, and probably would have stuck with it, but found out that the elf, by default, could shoot arrows. Once I found out where to buy them, and found out with the haste spell, I could shoot, run away, shoot, run away, I became endeared to the elf.

Anyway, more to come next week.

4 comments:

Kami said...

Marion, you rock! We had so much fun playing Lineage together. I don't know that I would have explored so much or been as aggressive had it not been for the peer support that I got in the system. You were the coolest elf, so even though I am not an NPC and not worthy or your obsequious pandering, I think your the bomb! Thanks for helping your less literate cohorts.

Marion Jensen said...

I ignored Lothar, but didn't stop looking for help. I wrote up a piece, then deleted it, that kind of hints to that. I'm planning on publishing it for this week's assignment.

Get It Done said...

Funny thing, Marion. I did the same thing with Lothar.

Mark

CHIA Howie (Xie Aowei) 谢 傲 威 said...

>Funny thing, Marion. I did the same thing with Lothar.
>Mark

So did I... :)

BH