Stipple

I find it fascinating that we all have approached these submissions in our own unique way. When the contest was first announced I did enquire whether we were to do a classic newspaper article (who, what, where, why, why) or if subjective articles were acceptable. I think Fyrd’s openness to accepting either method shows a lot of flexibility. It is hard to separate the persona of the avatar from the persona of the forum poster at times, but I did attempt to achieve that goal. My forte is in research, flavored with my own impressions of the avatar in-game that I write about. I admit it makes for subjective articles as dst points out but also contend I do try hard to show rather than tell about the person I write on. Sometimes that might “pretty” someone up more than others might like, but never to the point of making them unrecognizable. Others have submitted purely factual articles that detail the who but not perhaps the why. They provide valuable nuggets of information and illuminate deeds that might otherwise be obscured by time. Both methodologies are valid and leave it up to the reader to decide what portion of any article is relevant to themselves. Certainly critiques should not be based on the mechanical aspects of the presentations but rather on the dynamics of them. As some in game know I rely on a screen reader to play this game. This is because my personal real life world is reliant on aural rather than visual input. It tends to flavor the way I react to others when their words are divorced from the nuances supplied by tonal changes. I have to be extra vigilant that I do not read into the cold equations of verbiage any unintended slights or slurs. I’ve been told this is not a problem unique to the visually challenged, that most people can misconstrue the written communications of others. I will try hard to express courtesy of other’s viewpoints and request the same in return. For me this particular writing contest has proven to be as much an internal journey of exploration as it has been a method of reaching out and appreciating some of the others that share their time in game with me. I cannot thank Fyrd enough for offering that opportunity.

[quote name='Chewett' timestamp='1309935981' post='87209'] please read this thread before posting Bugs, http://magicduel.invisionzone.com/topic/2904-posting-bugs/ Always check a forums pinned topics before posting in the forum, they are generally important. [/quote] I apologize for not being clear enough in stating the refresh option listed in the known bug (resolutions) did not work nor did restarts, cache clearing etc. Since the recursive loop was not being resolved by any means under my control I ended up working with Freedom Scientifics' support team and they were able to help me get functional again. The issue should now be ignored by my interface and I won't have the attack sound and voice constantly coming out of my speakers and making my dog jump.

Keep getting the attack click and notification but shows "This battle was forgotten or never took place" under the crossed swords. Goes on constantly for last two days the whole time I am on. Have refreshed, restarted, hard booted etc. but still the phantom battles go on behind the scenes. ID:219901 Stipple

[quote name='Ravenstrider' timestamp='1309823661' post='87137'] Left Hand of Darkness > Diaspora when it comes to examining the condition of gender neutrality. [/quote] In many ways Ursula Le Guin broke gender and androgynous landmarks with that book indeed. However she still referred to all the people of Winter as "he" and I was looking for a gender netral term and thus the New Zealand author being cited (who also borrowed the terms from someone else). I do agree very few of the classic science fiction writers ever reached the full world building abilities of Le Guin though.

No visit to Wind’s Sanctuary is complete until the wise adventurer spends a bit of time delving through the logic stream of Emerald Arcanix. He is that rarest of thinkers, in depth deductive reasoning leavened by flashes of inductive brilliance. He is a seeker of enlightenment in fact and alliance. Speaking with Emerald Arcanix may result in a glittering pile of multi-hued particles of information, scattered into discordant bits of unrelated confusion. Gently smiling at your puzzled countenance, he will softly speak of this and that event , pointing them out with his long slender fingers. The disparate pieces begin to form a pattern and then resolve into a tapestry before your wondering eyes. As his voice continues, the tapestry animates and draws you into the events unfolding, wrapping around you and then settling deep inside. Emerald Arcanix sees patterns in chaos and finds connections that start out being implausible but coalesce under his practiced gaze from translucent theory into solid fact. Unlike many a stodgy professor, he does not hoard his knowledge or obscure it in esoteric tomes. He shares openly and gladly with all. His catalytic nature offers each of us a chance to augment the chain of facts with our own interpolations of the base events.

I have elected to use Keri Hulme's gender-neutral pronouns as Innocence is genderless. An excellent example of them can be found in a novel called Diaspora. "Diaspora focuses in large part on the nature of life and intelligence in a post-human context, and questions the meaning of life and the meaning of desires. If, for instance, the meaning of human life and human desires is bound up with ancestral human biology, then what meaning do lives and desires have,and what serves as the basis of values when biology no longer forms a part of life?" From the Wikipedia article by the same name.

A visit to the MDA library will give the adventurer a chance of meeting one of the more intriguing denizens of the land, an intangible named Innocence. Ve is normally ensconced in a cozy nook by the Librarian and displays as a pearly iridescence dancing in the sunlight streaming through the chancellery windows. Innocence is unfettered from the tugs of time, completely outside the constraints of our three dimensional sight, yet puzzlingly concerned enough about our fleshly forms to offer interactions with us. Ve slides through space to cunningly reform a candle into a fantastic form, untether the dancing flame from its wick, and brand profound tales from long ago onto pages before the wondering gaze of the librarian. Flowing back into ver accustomed corner, ve responds to greetings with unworldly charm and a fey sense of the ridiculous. There is a sense of hidden pain, quickly concealed, that threads through the warp and weave of ver conversations. The alert adventurer may find that questions about the Gatherers and their influence on Innocence laid the groundwork for ver presence here and shepard ver towards a future even ve barely senses. Interactions with ver are apt to help us refine our half formed desires, slake our thirst for knowledge, and leave our minds refreshed and ready for more adventures. Innocence may be intangible but the results of meeting ver are permanent.

Awakening in Magic Duel the first time can be very confusing to the new adventurer. Their mind is full of questions about what to do, where to go, what is this all about. The clues are there hidden in plain view yet obscured by the very wealth of sensory impressions impinging on the sight. Fear not, before panic can set in, the gentle voice of a smiling lady helps set one’s trembling steps on the path to enlightenment. She explains the mechanics and provides a welcome that eases even the most timid. Mya has the innate ability to offer help in a fresh manner no matter how many thousand times she gets asked the same questions. She leaves each new adventurer with the sense that they matter to her, to Magic Duel, and to themselves. Mya reminds me of the quintessential maternal figure, offering guidance without orders, providing the tools to learn without filling in the answers, aiding faltering steps from a distance, and able always to let go at the right moment. Watching her handle a clutch of new ones with charm and grace quickly demonstrates her ability to maintain balance internally as well as externally. Not content to just use her deft hand and smiling words of encouragement to introduce Magic Duel to the very newest in the land, she follows up with a series of beginning quests that expand on the initial information and help develop a fully sufficient adventurer. Many an adventurer can point back to the days of her tutelage with a smile of gratitude for *Mya Celestia*. Any visit to the Paper Cabin is apt to find a few of her graduates back to drink tea and swap tales of exploration with her. Mya always has a warm smile and graceful conversation ready to welcome them home again.

[quote name='phantasm' timestamp='1308999078' post='86732'] In game, legends are often defined while the player is still around. Wether active or not, they are noted for whatever deeds they have done, and looked up to by enough people to be a thumb sticking out in a crowd of fingers. [/quote] Although I am very very new to this game I feel we do have legends walking among us today. For instance there is: Mya Celestia Rare is the new one who enters this game without the privilege of meeting her warm, helpful voice in the very first minutes of our time here. She is instrumental in far more new ones understanding enough to stay around to learn then many of the older players might realise. She also offers mini-quests that flesh out our knowledge and gives us the tools to venture further in the game. Princ Rhaegar is called Sensei by many of us. He builds on the basic knowledge that Mya helped us learn and sets our steps firmly on the ladder to success. He is willing to listen and help us frame our questions in such a way they turn around into answers. I know he has a huge backstory and enjoy reading and learning of it, but even more important is he has a glorious future story unfolding as we watch. Handy Pockets is another who goes out of her way to change Marind Bell from a cold scary city into a warm, inviting land for the new ones. It has to be hard to always face new ones and wonder who will hang around and who will fade away into the winds of chance. Yet she never falters, always has a warm smile and gentle communication to everyone. Fryd Argentus is a legend to me. His writing, quests, and story developments unfold in front of us and create excitement in the land. He has stepped up into a large gap in the land and poured his heart and creativity into it. He may not be 'old' as to time here but he is already timeless and even if he went away tomorrow people would still look at each other and say 'pickles' and laugh and nod. Innocence reaches out to new ones in the archives and offers mystery wrapped in envigorating conversation. I've rarely walked into the library and not seen the tail end of a grand trail of words that Innocence has shared with others. Sometimes pure role play adds a dimension that transforms the ordinary to sublime. Sometimes that lasts longer and hangs inside deeper than many other things. There are so many others (Lightsage, BFH, Emerald, Z, Windy to name a few) who brighten this land and if not considered legends should at least be considered legendary in their own right.

Although I am very new in age compared to just about everyone else that plays Magic Duel, I have played browser based games for more than a few years. Similarly to small businesses, a hundred start up with grand dreams that don’t last much more than a year or two for 99% of them. The failures seem to fall into several broad categories: •Limited content that depends on a repetitive grinding routine or stylized PVP rules. •Shallow, unchanging back story that does not contain enough flexibility to grow on. •Single coder, game master who rigidly controls the game and does not accept input from the player base. •Games that fall apart over arguments about multiple changes, constantly chasing for new players without keeping the older players interested in staying. •Lack or time, resources, funding to keep a good game alive. Magic Duel has set itself apart from those failure categories by providing a framework allowed (encouraged) to be fleshed out by the player community. A new player reading the forums can readily see Mur and the council have encouraged the evolution of game mechanics, environment, creatures, back story, quest lines, etc. The current richness of the game is directly attributable to that unique approach. Of course it has not all been pie in the sky rosy; growth is hard work and there is no such thing as a “fair to all” approach in games or in real life that ever succeeded. No matter what side of the screen one sits at, an evolving society swirls and ebbs around conflict into resolution. Certainly the cross cultural player base of this game has added places, quests, changed places, set up rules, dropped them and added more over the years of history in the archives. Some had lots of conflicted postings, a few slid in with little notice, and there must be at least one that the whole community cheered over somewhere. To me it seems that the changes to the Angien Shrine are only one more step in the evolution of this game. Is it fair to a new one like me to make it harder to acquire one? Or is it more fair to hand a new player a complete pack full of goodies to instantly make them equal to the seasoned players that spent years growing their main? If I thought that way I could go play a different game but would miss out on the very things that make Magic Duel so enticing to me. So I came into the game while it is in flux and changing - is that not better than starting on a static game that you can leave for two years and come back to only to find it is the same boring game you left? Reading the forums leads me to believe the true constant here is change, and I have to wonder what is so wrong with that? I’m happy to watch and learn as the world evolves in front of me. If those that are closest to the Angiens feel this is a necessary change, then who am I to try and say it isn’t?

Category A @magicduel :The game where you can be ANYTHING you've ever wanted:from King of the World to a Rolling Stone That Gathers No Moss. (14) MagicDuel is a game without classes, races or main goals. It is fueled by your imagination. Follow the game of legends on Twitter.@MagicDuel (12) @MagicDuel Adventure, Puzzles, Role Play. All that and much more: welcome to #MagicDuel the realm that will evolve according to YOUR actions (10) Category B @MagicDuel = Successfully using humans as Guinea pigs since 2005! #magicduel (14) Pimp 5 Silver, Drach 12 Gold, Accidentally porting all BHC participants from Trib for a party with Ailith, Priceless #MagicDuel @MagicDuel (12) sorry today I couldn't feed my cows, not even just to plant a patch of potatoes, I'm stuck in golemus right now.. #MagicDuel @MagicDuel (10) Category C @MagicDuel A World for all... Even transsexual clowns! #magicduel #clowns #joker (14) #aintnothingsexyabout a grasan rubing against an animated tree. @magicduel #magicduel (12) #youknowyouuglywhen you wake up your Grasan in #Magicduel and he opens his eyes saying "Daddy, that's you?" @MagicDuel (10)

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