Audio Log (ALog) #1: Thoughts and Advice on "Official" Status

My deepest thoughts, perspective, insight, and reflection on the "Official" status ordeal that's been going on lately.  It is 1.5 hours long, but this is dedicated to the roots of our great community, to official sites, to non-official sites, to those annoyed, to those hurt, and to anyone else who is interested in what I have to share.


Thank you to Ronan Dawn for his friendship and support in encouraging me to get involved with the community back in April 2010.


Thank you to The Friendly Necromancer for his insight, advice, and background stories in-game, and support.


Thank you to Prophet Feik for the inspiration to contribute to any community, gaming or real-world.


Thank you to "KT" for their support and conversations as many of us dealt with current issues.

A Rift Opens...

...but not the type where you need to suppress evil plans and destroy monsters that pour forth from portals that have metallic tentacles hovering above.  I'm talking about the one like Maya Lin's Vietnam Veteran Memorial:

Here is a quote from Wikipedia that I've condensed, though you can find much more detailed information elsewhere:

"The Memorial Wall, designed by Maya Lin, is made up of two...walls....  The walls are sunk into the ground, with the earth behind them.... Stone for the wall...was deliberately chosen because of its reflective quality...." 

"When a visitor looks upon the wall, his or her reflection can be seen simultaneously with the engraved names, which is meant to symbolically bring the past and present together. There is a pathway along the base of the Wall, where visitors may walk, read the names, make a pencil rubbing of a particular name, or pray."

No, thousands of lives were not lost in this case, respectively.  Not even one, actually.  Instead, a permanent mark has been left; one that many visitors, like those people in the picture above, will come to visit and appreciate, even if they've never had any connection with the names (or words, in this case), the artist (or author, in this case), or know of the overall significance.  But, like "the Wall," this massive Wizard101-based Blog in question is indeed "reflective" and powerful in its impact on the Wizard101 Community.  For those of us who have become acquainted or great friends with Thomas Lionblood (aka "stingite"): we know that, surely, his work, energy, and passion will ring throughout the present and future just as it had in the past like a staple that "bring[s]" these times "together."  Funnily enough, the black background and silver font drives the resemblances further, matching that of the black marble and discolored, white etchings of Maya Lin's creation.  Want to know the history of Wizard101 as it developed?  Want to understand the culture of the community throughout the beginnings and current life of the game?  Need a good laugh -- or even a small smile -- when you're having a bad day?  What about some serious down time to relax?  Searching for enlightenment, in relation to the game?  Not sure about what you want to do next?  Then, check out The Friendly Necromancer.

To elaborate what others have pointed out, the person behind the "words" is not completely gone, and neither is his -- what I call -- work of art.  He's made it clear that it will structurally change, and his writing will still continue; he's "just on a break."  Things will be all right.  Yet, I couldn't help but drop into another realm of thought as soon as my eyes laid upon some interesting words.  I came across a comment on my last post, and read through a couple of blogs today, finding a minuscule reverberation of said comment in Shadowthistle's post.  I mean not to take each out of their own context, but there's a nagging, begging question hopping up and down in the back of my head: "What if Friendly truly was gone (as a Wizard101 blogger)?"

Before writing this, I tried to grasp upon a symbol that would be fitting enough to use as a response to the posed question.  At first, I thought of a candle: each blogger burns a light of their own, sports a unique thickness, and melts their wax in different ways.  But, a candle can be replaceable, or substituted.  When one burns out, other candles will be the source of light.  Also, candles have a finite amount of life.  That's not what TFN is...at all.  So, the "rift" was chosen.  What better way to suit a Necromancer than a metaphor referring to a chasm or a downward split into the ground?

TFN is a ballpark of its own -- almost monumental -- in the sense that no one could ever "step in."  Van Gogh, Pablo Picasso, and Robert Frost may have passed away (thus, their work discontinued), and there may be future imitators, but no one (even if they tried) could ever wear Tom's shoes.  Kestrel mentioned that someone "must take the wheel," in terms of driving this community as Tom has done (and continue to do, I believe). You know what?  I think that we (his readers, contemporaries, colleagues, friends, inspired writers, etc.) all have that responsibility, as a whole, single unit.  Alric Ravensinger points out that "all you have to do is keep talking."  In the spirit of Tom, that could also mean singing (click it...it's WORTH it!), drawing, cartooning, theory-crafting, guiding, inventing, screenshotting, celebrating, more theory-crafting, Vlogging, broadcasting, PVPing, reflecting, Tweeting, and, of course, Blogging.

TFN may slow down in posting rates, but that doesn't mean that we have to, either.  Take that gift of his inspiration and make something of it.  That's what Wizard101 has been about, for us crazy, loyal fans: going above and beyond our expectations.  Friendly did it.  We can -- and will -- too, for the many new players that will join the Spiral, from April 2011 and on.  When those newbies ask us how we got here, let them know that it all began with the words, "Hi! My name is Thomas Lionblood! I call myself the friendly necromancer and this is my blog about a brand new family-oriented MMORPG called Wizard101..."

BUN: Responding to Friendly's "After Legendary" Post

(in response to Friendly's post):

Each day, without a new update to explore around in the Live Realm, the game does seem like a personal sandbox.  Actually, KingsIsle does a great job with providing enough patches and features to continually spark interest and create new adventures.  Though, after attaining optimal gear and pets, killing thousands of monsters for badges, and mastering features like PVP, Gardening, and Advanced Pets, room for more personal accomplishments runs dry.  Thankfully, such a world like Celestia and dungeons like Briskbreeze and the Warehouse were released.  Players are encouraged to step out of the realm of individuality and into the uniform shoes of teamwork, adding a new dimension to RPG gameplay:  social interaction, and success by cooperation.  In group play, each player is given the chance to contribute to a team goal, and the incentive given is the larger rewards and -- sometimes -- bragging rights.  It feels exhilarating to help others, partly due to the fact that a playerbase has grown by means of increasing someone's interest in the game.  That feeling broadens even further, as you mentioned, when one starts contributing to a community.  The truth is: I realize that there's only so much that can be contributed.

Your blog -- which is miraculous to me (probably because my writing style is too skewed towards formality that I become more serious than fun, and forget to loosen up) since there's at least a blog post a day -- inspires creativity, both in the game and outside.  You not only share achievements and news to hundreds of people, but also provoke creative thought via mind-opening ideas and suspicions.  As readers' minds roll, there come the birth of many blogs detailing their own writer's adventures and ideas.  The more that players can relate with one another, the more exciting that new players' goals seem.  "Oh, I want what they have!"  "I also want to achieve that!"  Passion for the game is developed furthermore.

As you know, I happen to be one of those inspired readers, and I take those passions and dissect it a bit further, into information, tips, and explorations of detail.  YouTube is the visual presentation of my thoughts; Blogger, a textual one.  Petnome is the "physical, virtual" embodiment of a specific passion in pets, while Mistblood is the embodiment of my creativity in an alternative lore.   Modding the Ravenwood Radio chatroom is an extension of the depth of commitment to the game and community, and transcribing is another active way of expanding that extension to another branch of our Wizard101 population.  And finally, there are the PVP parties, along with writing and discussing about it, aimed to redeem the image of a widely notorious activity.

I admit, it's a lot, and I wouldn't be surprised if people looked at me and thought I was crazy or lost.  Maybe "too addicted?"  Perhaps.  But, I think of these projects as more of a "higher plane" of what can be done in Wizard101.  For example, in Guild Wars, I grew tired of the Post-Searing environment, and decided to create another character.  Given how long it takes to complete that game, I decided on another route: get to max level before changing from Pre-Searing to Post-Searing.  Perhaps this would bring some long lost entertainment.  It did, but I ended up staying there forever, due to its peacefulness.  Eventually, I began to give away free items and gold in exchange for correctly answered trivia questions, and that sparked more login activity as people participated in the quizzes and games.  We all had an escape from the expected route of questing and bartering.

Overall, Wizard101 became very exciting to me, not just because of its content, but also because of the opportunities this game provides.  I could wake up, head to work or school, and come back (due to a minimal budgeting plan, props to tuition fees and the college lifestyle) to any of the above mentioned projects, these "spiderwebs" of interest.  They give me something to do after hitting Legendary, Warlord, Grandmaster Artisan and Gardener, etc.

Want to know the ironic twist?  Even these projects can lose their effect overtime, not due to decreasing interest, but admittedly due to the small, overwhelming feeling.  I used to blog every other day at least, and now it's around every other week.  Sometimes I'll have something to write about, but I hesitate because I feel like working on something else.  Mistblood has been neglected.  YouTube projects are still pending and halfway complete and scattered all over my desktop in the elements of music files, pictures, movie clips, and movie project shortcuts.  I'm still very active in moderating the chatroom, hosting and broadcasting the PVP parties, transcribing as soon as an iTunes episode is released, and updating the Petnome Project with the team.  Basically, the environment of my projects have shifted from long-term to short-term; the projects mentioned in the previous sentence are usually done "on the spot," dependent on some other element other than my creativity.  In other words, I've become more reactive than proactive, in terms of contributions.

Along with this interesting twist, I've been spending more time in-game.  It's like I've boomeranged from questing, leveling, and accomplishing to contributing in an overdose, then returned to questing, leveling, and accomplishing.  Nowadays, I've become more passionate in participating in the gaming itself, rather than expressing my excitement for it.  It's as if the "sandbox" effect switched over sides of the fence.

So, my point -- based on personal reflection -- is to pursue deeply in contributing to the community, or finding a niche or project that can prolong one's interest to a specific aspect of the game.  Indulge in that enjoyment, and try to keep a balance between gaming and maintaining something related to it.  If there isn't a balance, perhaps someone will fall into the same pattern as I have, which, ultimately, recreates the excitement all around.

To Chase Skullmask:  Based on the above "essay," dive into something that hasn't been done before, and try to carry it out to its fullest extent, with the attitude of a winner ("winners never quit").  Stephen Spiritcaller had many of us #twizards hooked on his fictional narrative "Courting Yeva."  Looking back on those days, I now feel like hunting her down for the infamous hat.  Cassandra Griffindreamer's Diapermancer comics (fictional, visual stories about Friendly's baby's surroundings) inspired me to create Mistblood.  She is also expanding into a wider variety of stories, each of which I suspect to have some influence from the style of Anime.  Alric Ravensinger created Fame at a Price, a story with reality -- for a well-known player and community member, Thomas Lionblood -- in a nutshell, mixed with a ficitional plot.  I hear he's creating another "issue" very soon.  Sometimes, relighting interest in the game requires thinking outside of the box, or looking at the game differently.  Once you've got an idea, approach it.  Take it head on, and I guarantee it'll be a new Spiral everyday.

Beyond the Spiral: One Year Later…

An amazing revelation hit me on my drive home from class tonight.  My group and I had just blown away our Group Communication class as we tackled our project and presentation.  A few weeks ago, as our deadline approached ominously, I decided to amplify my lead role on coordinating our team, and analyze our needs.  Between a group of six of us, none of us are close to being experts at art, yet we took on one of Van Gogh’s most favored and seldom known pieces, “Potato-Eaters.”  Here’s what it looks like:

It was a grueling challenge to dissect this piece and describe why we saw this as “art.”  To me, it was trying to answer how this picture is “beautiful.”  Yet, we managed it, and even went above and beyond, I believe.  The professor even mentioned to me, “For an ‘engineer’ type, you communicated really well in your speech.” 

I would have never expected to evolve from an introvert into someone who was able to direct, manage, and speak to a large classroom effectively.  I give credits to the class and professor for helping me understand and grasp a lot of leadership concepts, but the true kudos for my “evolution” goes to my experience with Wizard101 and its community.

My in-game friends (Missy, Cheryl Fire, and Ronan) all played a monumental role in supporting me as I took my interaction with the game to a higher level.  Instead of having a sardonic attitude when they learned about my proposed projects for a Youtube channel and comic series, these three whole-heartedly jumped up to help whenever I sought for aid.  Because of this, I did not end up shying away from expressing my interest in the game.  Again, I mention that I come from a highly competitive gaming scene; the thought of creating videos or fan fiction for a family-friendly genre would have never come to my mind.

Of course, a lot of inspiration did come from the existence of our very own Friendly Necromancer.  The fact that a family man is dedicating his gaming interests into a decently-created MMO that’s not as widely played or known as some other games was just enough of a spark.  If he can blog about this fantastic game for two years straight, producing a new article almost every day (during the time that I discovered Tom) to share and express himself while motivating others to “think outside of the box,” there’s no reason that I can’t record my adventures proudly, or develop my own storyline.

Eventually my projects spanned out to also include blogging, which is still a textual representation of my thoughts, rather than an online journal.  To be honest, I was hesitant on creating “The Chillanthropologist.”  I admit I wasn’t a very decent writer to begin with, especially when I have a stronger passion in communicating through numbers and equations (math major).  Heck, even to this day, I notice that I have run-on sentences here and there which may create awkward messages from time to time.  Secondly, I initially believed that the words and thoughts of Thomas Lionblood would naturally overshadow anyone else’s, so putting time and effort to sound coherent and organized seemed pointless.  Third, I had only been playing for a few months at the time.  I considered myself a “newbie” even if I managed to reach Grandmaster, but I was relatively new to the Wizard101 culture and community.  I didn’t think anyone would notice.

So, I was shocked when Fallon Shadowblade from Diary of a Wizard featured my post about the community.  That was enough motivation to continue writing and exercise my communication skills.  Before I knew it, I was putting more time and thought into explaining details, playing Devil’s advocate with myself, and spending hours drafting my posts before they went public.  Even to this day, especially when I’m writing for the “Arena” series, I would invest a few hours to produce up to four paragraphs. 

I put more thought into whether my message was clear enough for any reader, and if what I wrote allowed for a continuous flow of interest from an audience.  It became a strenuous mental effort to put myself in a reader’s shoes and try to interpret my sentences in a multitude of ways.  By doing this, though, I managed to catch myself from being misunderstood or misinterpreted.  As a result, writing coherent and “readable” essays came more naturally to me.  I am now spending less time outlining, and am jumping into developing full, first drafts off the bat.  This is all thanks to having my textual voice on the spot on every post, and I needed to have such diligence.

Around the time that I picked up on Twitter, I was also becoming more involved with Ravenwood Radio, and even became an off-air guest in Episode 14.  I was so nervous about my performance in that interview that I even apologized to Leesha after the recording, for my accidental interruptions (which were edited out by her, of course).  So, even with a headset and computer screen between me and the other speakers, I still could not quench the jitteriness at the time.  Even with notes in front of me, I wasn’t confident in my voice and message.  Nevertheless, the reoccurring theme of a supportive community eventually helped me out in this aspect.

I forget which episode it was in, but my Gobbler Drop guide for the show took hours before a successful recording was completed, and then a few hours of editing; it was completed over two consecutive days.  True, there wasn’t a visible audience to make me nervous, but the greater challenge was trying to find a presentation format that would hold interest while being informational.  I really lacked personality and energy in that one, IMO, and that is the main reason I felt disappointed, regardless of the positive comments shared with me.  But, because there were many opportunities to be on-air (“coached” the Death team in the Warehouse run; guest interviewer for Death Study hall; Petnome segments; and, more recently, Star Study Hall), I slowly stopped feeling as nervous as I used to be.

The positive environment that I found in this game and in all of you was my main driver for self-improvement.  My privileges and experience in working around Wizard101 directly benefitted me in becoming a stronger individual, and with that newfound energy, I delivered quite a punch in my portion of the presentation tonight.  Transitions were smooth, I stayed calm and steady, and though I stuttered a few times, I never lost eye contact with the audience.  Even the cute ladies smiled back!

Interestingly enough, today is also Kevin Battleblood’s Wizaversary.  One year ago, I was more kept to myself, shy, and hated public speaking.  One year later…well, that’s definitely a different story.  Thank you everyone, for all that you’ve directly or indirectly done.  This change in me couldn’t have happened without your interest and support in what I enjoy doing, whether it’s writing strategies and stories, managing a large pet project, or playing this game.  I’m proud to be where I am today, and am looking forward to another year of contributions, contemplations, and conquests.

The Sea Cucumber

@DragonBrightWiz made this for me :)

If you haven't seen it yet, check Friendly's post here.

That's why.

Plus, Celestia's coming up on Wednesday of this week.  I think I'm ready....

BUN: Pets and Parties

Another week gone by since the last post, eh?  Phenomenally, the week seems to roll downhill as soon as you hit the middle of the week, while the days prior feel like a steady, slow climb.  Many of the events that happen on Thursday through to Sunday seem to blow by, but I've been keeping nifty Notepad up to take notes as time passes.

Let's start off with some discoveries and questions about Pet Talent mechanics!

Crazy, unexpected situation the other week:  our Warehouse group entered with one person holding onto a pet with the talent Spritely.  For those that don't know, Spritely is a Pet Talent that triggers by chance, like an Interrupt, and is casted by the pet!  Based on every event that I've witnessed with this ability, the Sprite that's created will target only the pet owner.  It will use any Heal-related charms (Guiding Light, Infection, Entangle).  For PVP, that's definitely going to help against opponents who use the negative charms on you!  Anyway, from our Pre-Celestia dungeon run, we witnessed another great thing about Spritely:  it doesn't trigger Knuckles's heal!  So, go ahead, bring a full team of Wizards with pets that manifested Spritely; some recovery over time is better than zero recovery at all!

Another Talent issue to consider is that two Epic abilities, Spell-Proof and Pain-Giver, are no longer obtainable through current gift card pet purchases.  If you were aiming to mix pets for the sake of Wizard boosts, these would be nice to stack on/collect on a single pet.  Ronan Dawn, Fallon Deathslinger, and I are in fact in the process of developing a dream PVP pet that can be used freely in PVE:  one with Spell-Proof, Spell-Defying, and Spritely.  The fourth Talent is variable, depending on our own personal goals (Ronan and I would go for Health to complement Arena use).  But considering how hard it was to manifest Spell-Proof along with Spell-Defying on one pet, it's going to take a lot of Lady Luck's work to deliver all three of us what we want! 

As promised, here is Lord Hunter the Defender Pig (4G) at Epic....too bad I don't have a slot for a Pyromancer though, sigh:

5% Fire Accuracy, 13% Resist All, 120+ HP

He's on Titanblood, who obtained full arena gear, so now he's sporting 53% Resist!  Woot!  

Over at the Petnome Project, we managed to complete THREE more pets! Ianthine Spectre 58, Danger Hound 37, and Minotaur 54!  Check them out!  That's the power of our community; props to everyone!


Also, I've been working on a giant chessboard that's hovering right outside of my Watchtower Hall, any suggestions for what type of Life-based pets you want to see as the pieces?  I have the Defender Pig as Rooks, Unicorns as Knights, Imps as Pawns, and the Pixie Queen as, well, the Queen.  Please let me know what you guys would like to see for the Bishops and King, and I'll choose the most creative.


There was the Haunted Back-to-School Bash last week; tons of people were there early, worried that they wouldn't be able to port into Nightside, and it did eventually reach that point.  Ravenwood Radio, half of the Petnome Team (Ms. Starsong and Ms. Raven and me), the leader (John Lifeglen) and members of the Bloggers' Club, Fallon Shadowblade, and Friendly got out our party gear and popped in.  It was awesome getting to meet a lot of readers and Petnome enthusiasts!  I eventually hopped on my Death alt to do a few new adds; Battleblood is just full up to the brim, and I don't believe I'll be doing anymore Deletes for awhile, unless someone becomes entirely inactive.  Until then, I'll have to use my brothers to add; sorry!

And who would have ever thought that a Flash Mob was possible in Wizard?  Well, the amazing Heather Raven pulls it off the initiative nicely!  Check out this video by Benjamin Fairydust of our first rehearsal.  Now, I'm normally not a dance-type of person, and I admit I would hesitate in doing a real life flash mob.  While I like watching it, participating with choreography was never my thing.  That is, until this :)  Though there are limited actions and dance styles in Wizard, I think with some organization and great leadership, we can pull off something eye-catching and mind-blowing.  Imagine walking through the Commons, and all of a sudden, everyone is bursting out into synchronized moves.  Totally cool in my book!  So, see Heather if you'd like some info on our next meet up!

And, on September 2nd, both Christina Icedreamer and Wizard101 (and another Wizard...I apologize for forgetting who) celebrated their birthdays! 

It's been a pretty darn busy week!

Happy hunting!