Documentary

So the Documentary we put together over the course of Warjamming is now up on Youtube, take a look and tell us what you think. (click here)

[Mayhemme]

(9:30pm-2:15am)
(7:00pm-12:30am)
(10pm - 3:30am)



So we held two "peace island" protests where we entered the Nordenwatch RvR scenario and headed straight for an island to the northwest of the map where no one ever goes. Screaming "PEACE PARTY ON PEACE ISLAND COME JOIN US!" over and over aggrivated the players, and we received some interesting responces. The first time we encountered a player named Mayhemme, who ended up revealing a lot about people who play the game. See if you can follow this conversation, then click on the screenshots below to read the second half of the interview with her:

(I was playing on my alt, "Yoimchiln," "Gunthrax" is my friend Nick Peck, playing with us from harvard. Everyone else you should recognize. I find it interesting how text-based these rpg's remain. The conversation takes place over the course of two nordenwatch scenario's and is unedited. Note: Boin was the only person to actually come to PI, and he only stayed for a brief moment.)

[Scenario][Mayhemme]:Thanks for !#@&ing up the scenario for the rest of us. How about you just not queue up and let the folks who actually want to PvP play?
[Scenario][Yoimchiln]: We are playing in a way that best suits us
[Scenario][Yoimchiln]: and having ahell of a time with it
[Scenario][Gunthrax]:weve got destruction out here too
[Scenario][Yoimchiln]: Aye, both sides are represented on peace island
[Scenario][Mayhemme]: Yeah, but I'm sure your Destruction are taking full advantage of your sitting on your asses doing nothing

Lexaeus does something special.

[Scenario][Yoimchiln]: nah, theyre here with us
[Scenario][Gunthrax]: come join us
[Scenario][Gunthrax]: its 10 minutes off your pvpfest
[Scenario][Yoimchiln]: we are part of a digital anthropology experiment at dartmouth college,, visit warjammers.blogspot.com for more info
[Scenario][Gunthrax]: see that theres a different way
[Scenario][Yoimchiln]: YOU NEED NOT KILL
[Scenario Party][Meredith]: playing this is my protest against real war
[Scenario][Yoimchiln]: define real'
[Scenario][Alas]: Are you honest?

You recieve 34 brass coins.

[Scenario][Gunthrax]: weve never been more serious
[Scenario][Fluffles]: Why can't we be friends?
[Scenario][Gunthrax]: come join
[Scenario][Fluffles]: why can't we be friends?
[Scenario][Yoimchiln]: yees, this might seem trivial, but the combat will only grow more real. We need to learn how to interact digitally in constructive ways.

You receive 64 brass coins. You receive 49 brass coins. You receive 54 brass coins. You receive 48 brass coins. (a long period of time passes)

[Scenario][Alas]:I hope is works well for you
[Scenario][Yoimchiln]: Come join us!
[Scenario][Yoimchiln]: no one has yet!
[Scenario][Alas]: Well fancy that
[Scenario][Cuisinart]: fort
[Scenario][Yoimchiln]: haha we dont take it badly, people play warhammer to play warhammer [Scenario][Yoimchiln]:we're just trying to raise awareness
Rargr laughs at the Squig
[Game 1 Ends]

[Scenario][Fluffles]: Yeah, vote for Obama
[Scenario][Fluffles]: Yes we can!
[Scenario][Gunthrax]: come to peace island
[Scenario][Yoimchiln]:COME TO PEACE ISLAND
[Scenario][Silentblade]: dumb *%@&!&&s
[Scenario][Gunthrax]: were all friend here
[Scenario][Yoimchiln]: heya!
You cheer at Yoimchiln. Kapuey cheers at Boin. Lexaus cheers. Gunthrax cheers at Yoimchiln. You cheer at Yoimchiln. Boin cheers.
[Yoimchiln] says: welcome
Gunthrax does something special before Yoimchiln
[Scenario][Silentblade]:ty for the lose asshats
[Yoimchiln] says: to our digital protest
[Yoimchiln] says:no need to fight
[Yoimchiln] says:what do you think?
[Scenario][Gunthrax]: we have destruction out here
[Scenario][Gunthrax]: they're protesting too
You tell [Boin]: what do you think
[Scenario][Gunthrax]: you cannot lose if you dont play
Boin] tells you: thats too funny
[Scenario][Mayhemme]:Okay you *!%%ing dartmouth hippis - I'm at your website, fess up - Who's who? There's supposedly only 6 asshats on order side
[Scenario][Murphy]:congrats, you all rolled dps chars for the lose
[Scenario][Yoimchiln]:Im Scully, playing on an alt
[Scenario][Yoimchiln]:kapuey and lexus you would recognize
[Scenario][Mayhemme]:Who's Danielle, Who's Jilary? Who's Joseph, who's Scott, Who's Brendan and Who;s adam, so I can send you personal mail with my best regards, $@&#ers [Scenario][Gunthrax]:I just joined the cause
[Scenario][Yoimchiln]:gunthrax is joining us from another college
[Scenario][Yoimchiln]:yo come to the island we'll talk about it
[Scenario][Silentblade]: You guys must go to tech school, dumb @*@%ers
[Scenario][Mayhemme]: that would work if you were actually on the island instead of PvP'ing whilst pretending to be a hippy
[Scenario][Yoimchiln]: dude we are on this island northwest of the map come chill [Scenario][Gunthrax]: just past the fortress
[Scenario][Yoimchiln]: you got nuthin to lose

You recieve 49 brass coins.
[Scenario][Silentblade]: eat a !!#!!&#hrax
You recieve 63 brass coins.
[Scenario][Yoimchiln]: why?
[Scenario][Yoimchiln]: whys it like that?
[Scenario][Murphy]: all you have to lose is your self respect, your pride, any chance of becomming a good warhammer player, so yea why not
[Scenario][Yoimchiln]: how is your pride and self respect tied to killing other players in a game? [Scenario][Yoimchiln]:and I'll beat you every time in a duel, dont worry
[Scenario][Murphy]: good thing there are no duels
[Scenario][Murphy]: idiot
[Scenario][Yoimchiln]: haha murphy, ive played with you a lot. my alt is cosmos. chill the #@#% out and think about it
[Scenario][Yoimchiln]:digital wars need to be taken seriously
[Scenario][Yoimchiln]:so we're doing this, then we'll keep playing
[Scenario][Yoimchiln]:come join us
[Scenario][Mayhemme]: Instead, you come interrupt a game designed to engage tactical minds in which Combat is a major factor and basically you do nothing
[Scenario][Yoimchiln]: interesting, so you dont think violence in warhammer has anything to do with it?
(GAME 2 ENDS)

Mayhemme then sends me a personal message that spawns a detailed discussion between the two of us. Her message reads:

[Mayhemme] tells you: Seriously. This just isn't a realistic experiment. But, then again, it's dartmouth, what could I expect = )

(i ask some questions...)

[Mayhemme] tells you: sorry almost done
[Mayhemme] tells you: and sorry about the dart comment - I thought
jon had one of his buddies set up being an ass for fun
[Mayhemme] tells you: We sass each other constantly
[Mayhemme] tells you: I went to a state school
[Mayhemme] tells you: ;)
[Mayhemme] tells you: somehow I turned out ok
[Mayhemme] tells you: kk sorry - we're done here.
[Mayhemme] tells you: Happy to answer questions if you still have any - if you don't, that's cool too.
RvR status removed
[Mayhemme] tells you: last call before keeps and scens...
[Mayhemme] tells you: one more scen with midwest then camping into one
of my mains

(time passes, I'm away from the computer)

[Mayhemme] tells you: alrighty, ive got time
[Mayhemme] tells you: I play cause it's a nice way to blow off steam with friends that involves far more strategy than our usual multiple online chess games. there's a seccinct answer.
[Mayhemme] tells you: and it's easier to coordinate play with more than two folks =)
[Mayhemme] tells you: I really don't believe that online violence begets further irl violence, but by nature I'm not a violent person
[Mayhemme] tells you: I mostly play healers, but I do get my nuke on.
[Mayhemme] tells you: and it's fun to see folks, both realm-mates and challengers, be so very clever and adaptive
[Mayhemme] tells you: The end
You tell [Mayhemme] heya im back lemme catch up
You tell [Mayhemme] wow, interesting. How do you think the game affects you, your family
your mind, your body, your spirituality... do you feel compelled to play?
You have slain a Blackfang Wolf!
[Mayhemme] tells you: I excercise 1 hr / day weekdays plus nice hikes sat and/or sunday
[Mayhemme] tells you: My family is spread it's a nice way to be with them (siblings play with us)
You tell [Mayhemme]: so you play warhammer with brothers and sisters?
[Mayhemme] tells you: I work probably 50-60 hrs week
[Mayhemme] tells you: Yepper and college friends and colleagues
[Mayhemme] tells you: very fun bunch
You tell [Mayhemme] wow
[Mayhemme] tells you: On three servers
You tell [Mayhemme] that sounds awesome!
[Mayhemme] tells you: Play probably 20 ish hours a week
[Mayhemme] tells you: It's a fun evening activity my husband and I share =)
You tell [Mayhemme] and youd say youre better off for those experiences
You tell [Mayhemme] thats amazing
You tell [Mayhemme] you are the perfect gamer, not all are like you
[Mayhemme] tells you: LOL hardly
You tell [Mayhemme] no really
You tell [Mayhemme] you use it with moderation, with a purpose
You tell [Mayhemme] many play as a way to escape
[Mayhemme] tells you: Perfect welcher, really - cheap way to go hang out with
the folks I hold dear, even when we're worlds apart =)
You have slain a Blackfang Runt!
You tell [Mayhemme]: :)
You tell [Mayhemme]: well thankyou for your time
You tell [Mayhemme]: warjammers.blogspot.com if you wanna watch us progress
[Mayhemme] tells you: No worries - have a great night and yeah, I bookmarked
you guys on my laptop...Quite a hoot : )





So it turns out Mayhemme is a professional, adult female from Alaska who plays Warhammer with her family and friends in order to spend time with them over long distances. She brings up some legitimate points: Warhammer isn't about violence, its about tactics and strategic multiplayer competition. Perhaps we should be studying Second Life! Interestingly, this perfectly agreeable woman initially used game-culture insults (asshat!) and reacted with typical violence to our protest. What does this say about the people playing warhammer? They're open to anything IRL but react reflexively out if you break their magic circle?

Anyway, thanks to Mayhemme for putting up with us, hope you're still reading and we'd love further comments.

Most interesting statement in the whole thing? "Meredith"'s only comment:
[Scenario Party][Meredith]: playing this is my protest against real war


-Yoimchiln

Level 17

(6:00 - 11:00pm) Lot's of pictures, click to enlarge

So I haven't posted in awhile, mainly because I've had too much to post. Firstly, I leveled up to 17 with Nick and had an amazing time exploring the world. Got some decent armor with the words "YE SHALL SUFFER NOT A HERETIC TO LIVE" branded into the leather along my abdomen. It's pretty impressive that the game developers pay so much attention to character/lore detail (Warrior Priests obviously hate heretics).


Tried to complete a public quest but three level 20+ witch elves showed up and slaughtered us. We tried to put up a fight but they caught us unaware, stabbed us and took off on gigantic raptor mounts.


Met a player named "Inferno Dragon" who played City of Heroes on the same server we did in High School and spent a long time reminiscing about our shared MMO experience. He was cool, said he enjoyed Warhammer but that it was too easy at times. Peck accidentally flew to Altdorf, Order's capitol city, and we spent a few hours just exploring, talking to level 40's and commenting on the city's design/narrative. Decided we should hold our next experiment there, which ended up going well.

The High Elf and Dwarf Kings ^^^ Strange enough that we would be allowed to see the Kings in person, their guards sat by idly as we stood on their table and danced. "Age of Conan," another popular MMO, centers around the actions of "King Conan" and yet the monarch is never seen in person by players. I felt that Warhammer lost a bit of it's immersive quality with this one, (especially when Nick went up the Elf King's skirt)


Discussing professional options with a level 40 Ironbreaker.


The city's "library," none of the texts held within are readable.


A perpetual Brawl on the docks.

Patriarch Thyrus Gormann, head of the bright wizards, hovering above my dead body.

We explored for a good three hours, and saw pretty much everything. How pathetic.
I mean YES the game is beautiful and complicated and they insert humor at some choice moments but the overall feeling falls short of my expectations. I started to grow tired of the place, tired of the game. I turned off the Warhammer sound and put on my own music, it helped. Strange.

The war narrative changed a good bit too. I was told to kill human "plague victims" and felt a little strange about it. I played A LOT of rvr and became pretty good with my character (self call:)


But the more I fought the easier it became to see patterns in enemy decision making. While in-game fight/flight decisions are made to optimize scores, intimidation still works like it does in reality. People would run away from us and fear became the most useful tool we had. As the RVR became comfortable, my concern for the server-wide war lessened. I don't think I can explain why exactly. Maybe the more I came to understand destruction the less I wanted them dead? I started recognizing enemy player's names. It's a strange feeling.



A few days later Joe and I invaded "keeps" with a team of 24 people. These invasions were challenging, open to the public and pretty fun all around. You have to deploy battering rams at the main doors and slay an insanely difficult tower boss. I ended up ressurecting players nonstop for a good five minutes toward the end. We took the two fortresses near "troll country. "I wish people from the other side had shown up. As the towers were taken they changed aesthetically, barbed steel and bats replaced with white marble walls and eagles. Cool attention to detail, made you feel like you could change the game world (for once).


... SO: exploring felt pretty shallow. RvR/PvP was engaging and fun. The two experiences combined... feel strange. The gap between an un-fulfilling game world and hugely entertaining combat makes the overall game experience a fragmented, chaotic blur. I guess we should have believed Paul Burnett: imagination is the goal, immersion really isn't. So I have to use my imagination to fill in the gaps of disbelief that form between me and my avatar? No, Paul. The game doesn't facilitate or encourage imagination, it bottles it, makes digital hallucinatin fast and easy. Quick, streamlined player vs. player combat IS the central aim, and they nail it; I appreciate the game for things it has introduced. Yet to have A+ PvP in a world that can't convince me that it matters feels shallow somehow, repetitive. It's just counter-strike from a third person perspective.

Wasteland, our server, suffered a mass exodus and we have been instructed to transfer our characters to Iron Rock. Doesn't matter too much, just another chip at the magic circle.
It's the right game for certain people. But Warhammer isn't heading in the direction I want MMORPG's to go. It's pulling the genre toward a more easily digestible, effortlessly repeatable level of game play. Bring back death penalties. Expand the game world. Give me an identity. Make things more difficult. You'll impress me, but lose a lot of your market. People like easy things. Especially easy killing.

-Khosmos

"You have killed 100 orcs"

12am-6:15am

"I've got the itch."

"Define itch."

"I want to continue because it gets better as you go, they show you that early on. And, considering that my enjoyment increased significantly over just those 6 levels... i mean it was amazing once we turned the tide in pvp, going to town on people. I went 33 and 0...I've gotta say that public quests were pretty funny, that giant f*cking cannon that you use to blow up the level 40 general? That's hilarious. I laughed."

So I conscripted a friend from high school to play with me tonight, my team has other things to do. He played ironbreaker, I played runepriest and we blazed through the Dwarf starting area. He and I go way back with MMO's, and having explored Runescape, Acheron's Call 2, World of Warcraft, City of Heroes, Neverwinter Nights 2, Vanguard, Age of Conan and Everquest 2, we know how to orient ourselves in a game world.

In fact, it's often the most enjoyable part.

"What's renown?... oh aight"
"Do the cannon's hurt people? I'll go pull orcs, let's see."

Ventrilo, some caffeine and a new character (third one)... I was in my happy place. A lot of people I encounter say they avoid Videogames because they "don't have time to learn." Learning is the best part! Exploring alongside a real person prevents over-immersion, comparing notes makes the disorientation less intimidating. But people should be more open to places unfamiliar, the more you adapt the better you become at adapting. Becoming accustomed to new potentialities and rulesets through videogames might teach us something about the perspectives we hold in real life. Personal growth through digital orienteering!

Or is the game just so easy to navigate, the controls so programmed and static that instead of furthering our understanding, these interfaces streamline and encapsulate thought, draining their users of energies that should be projected into the real world. Video hallucination destroying IRL spiritual health?

Whatever. The dwarf zone is beautiful and compelling with impressive architectures, entertaining npc dwarf personalities and swarms of violent npc orcs there to meet you from the start. As we made our way through the first few stages I found myself reacting to the virtual war; I really wanted to kill "Greenskins". Not hard to believe, the game had placed my friends and I in situations of self-defense and our fellow dwarfs seemed perfectly content blasting them away with cannons. I had spent hours doing nothing but killing orcs.


So what? The game is playing off of a basic, primal adictive emotion. Something Hobbesian, something barbaric. War is fun(?), and in Warhammer it is made meaningless, commercial, hallucinatory. War becomes a game but doesn't fully shed its emotional and moral baggage. There are still grudges, casualties, orphans!

I don't really know what this all means but I'm going to think about it. Staying my hammer during peace protests may grow more difficult, however, as Warhammer's biased narrative and compulsive combat carefully cultivate my thirst for revenge.

: )

Lag

(12 noon - 6:10pm)

Held our first RvR experiment session and six people showed up.

We held a successful peace protest! Went swimming around, cheered, jumped up and down. A few of the online players we encountered were 100% down with it, a few had to be told to leave. If only we could speak to members of the opposing faction... (game developers are purposely encouraging the war)


Eventually held a pow-wow on an unihabited island until the other players became bored and left. I wish Warhammer would GIVE US MORE EMOTES. We can't dance. It's an important
step towards peace.


The team seemed to have fun and we learned a lot. In the end the discussion will remain interesting because we have people who are addicted/immersed, people who are devoted to the project, and people who are busy/ held back from immersion by ties to the real world. In the end their varied perspectives will allow us to comment on the experience more thoroughly. I understand that everyone is busy, I just wish the first round had gone smoothly; we don't have a lot of time.

Even more sadly, it felt AMAZING playing on my warrior priest again. I had made an alternate character while waiting for everyone to catch up and being able to finally open up on people with my "main" was cathartic. WP's are underrated. I missed it. I'm becoming attached.

I guess I'll keep leveling, no point in waiting up if I have an alt.

The four Destruction warjammers who were here slaughtered our two order players in open RvR, but only because other people kept getting involved. The game made it way too frustrating to fight eachother in the open world; spawn times and NPC's get in the way.

Nordenwatch was different. Scott showed up and slaughtered destruction with me and danielle. The tank - healer - dps trifecta worked and we learned about the psycological aspects of instanced pvp: You just have to scare people. First team to flinch / turn back/pause loses the game.

I hit level 11.



-Cosmos

Chat Room

Usually online chat rooms are filled with spammers and "a/s/l?" weirdos.

I haven't used one since middle school.

Yet I've been in the same chatroom for the past 4 hours @ an anonymous gamers addiction site.

These people are amazing.

Ding

4:15pm - 10pm (hit rank 10)

PVP match grinding is by far the fastest way to level. You receive bonuses for killing/healing/taking damage and can refresh "kill 10 RvR players" quests. Bright wizards are overpowered, tanks are way more useful than I expected. If Danielle can be agressive, she'll dominate.

I slept for three hours last night, went through today in a haze and decided that i "had" to hit 10 today...

I'm back in it. I can feel the pull. My friends heard that I'm playing and are asking "what server?" The experience is immersive in that it never blinks, never gives the player a moment to idle or become bored. The PVP perfected: quest-> pvp-> experience, repeat. The last few days have almost made me sick, I'm sitting in sudikoff coughing my lungs out. I need to sleep. I need to do laundry, walk my dog, read my homework, do work stuff, do personal work stuff, talk to my girlfriend... and I'm not. She thinks I'm mad at her.


I am stopping at 10, and devoting the rest of the week to IRL. I can't keep pvping: they give you experience for every kill and if i go past 11 I'll be in a different bracket, ie, won't be able to warjam.

Then again, I figured out how to craft today. Im a cultavist. I grow plants. Fake plants. I watch digital grass grow.

yea.

Today was big.

12am - 4:15 am

We decided to start on a new server, Wasteland, because Sea of Malice didn't have any people on it. The difference was remarkable; there were people everywhere. Finished three public quests, they are an amazing idea: Instances you can just walk in on!


I leveled to 7.5 in 4 hours; Joe and I blazed through the human place. Fought a bunch of PVP scenarios, began to see how amazing this game will be. I'm a war priest again, named Cosmos. Joe is still an Archmage. I feel great! Other than knowing I have to wake up, I feel amazing.

We killed a lot of people. The scenarios are timed territory capture games that reward kills with substantial amounts of experience. Fun when you win, cool when its close, terrible when you get walloped:


People in the lab didn't patronize us this time, they laughed with us and talked and we all listened to music together. It was cool. Took screenshots because fraps isn't set up yet.

IMPORTANT: We had a meeting in Rocky, assigned a group of people to in-game economy duties, and another group to campus publicity. Hopefully people have a better idea of what we are doing now. We're going to change the blog a little, and everyone has to be 10 by saturday so we can fight.

This is going to be great, its a shame we only have three weeks.

I didn't read for tomorrow's shakespeare.

(yesterday)

(written yesterday, 4am)

11:30pm to 4:11am


I Walked out of an RJD2 concert, it wasn't interesting enough, I wanted to play. Wanted to get some "work" done. The agreement was that we would all hit level 10 by monday, but leveling didnt go as quickly as planned; I only made it to 7 and a half from 5. The experience was amazing though, I made two in-game friends (a bright wizard and an engineer) headed over to the dwarf place, explored the capitol city, chilled with a few irl warjammer team members.

My throat hurts. My eyes hurt. I'm afraid I am getting sick and sitting here playing allows me to forget about it. I killed a level 11 shaman as a level 7 war priest. The fight lasted for 10 minutes, and the game server crashed as i killed him; it was awesome. Engaged in my first public quest, killed 100 orcs and didnt seem to recieve any reward for it.

BUT. I had fun. I came to understand my class.

I fear for the overall experiment. Dartmouth asks a lot of us. I have papers to write, work to do. It's 4am and tomorrow is out the window. I don't know if we'll make it work. I'm tired of being laughed at in the computer lab by bored CS majors.

Sea of Malice is a low-population server; this may prove to be a problem later. All of my reservations about WAR as a game are gone now though. The empire capitol... the npc battlegrounds... my two new friends... this game has it. I could have leveled faster if i wasn't exploring.

Come Listen In

Our Ventrilo server is up.

go to http://www.ventrilo.com/download.php and download/install the program. Then click "new server" and enter the info below.

HOSTNAME: tiltfactor.guildvent.net

Port: 5388

(IP ADDRESS: 74.63.40.184 but you shouldn't need to enter this)

Stern Ports

Today I spent $600 on 12 copies of Warhammer Online.

The guy behind the counter plays already, says I should go Destruction and find him on the "seas of anguish" server. Told him I was going to be a Warrior Priest and he shook his head.

Went to Sudikoff (Dartmouth's CompSci department) and had the really cool SysAdmin, Tim, install six copies of the game in lab 003. Our Destruction team has their fortress.. Then walked over to Thayer Engineering School where Anna, her father and I talked with a much older SysAsmin who took a copy of the game and said we might be good to go by wednesday. Slower than hoped for, but still... we're almost there.

So I headed back to Sudikoff to chill with Linden and play Warhammer, but I cant.
The Ports are blocked.

8046
1164-1380
1203
80
10622

Thes goddamn numbers are holding my update client back, keeping me from connecting to the game server. I WANT TO PLAY. It was sunny outside when I started this little romp about campus. Now it is almost dark and I'm sitting in a cold room waiting for some guy named Sandy to open these nonexistent doors for me so I can slip into a hallucinatory state for a few hours and ruin my IRL friday evening.
-Scully