___The Official AVATAR___________________________________
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________________________________________ 27 Nov, 1999 ___
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` ~ )Telnet to Avatar at: avatar.walrus.com 3000
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Table of Contents
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1. Editorial by Dizzy
2. Haiku by Niki
3. Kessel by Chuft
4. A Cynical View of Group Competency by YoYo
5. How to Map (Hand drawn) by Niki
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1. Editorial by Dizzy
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I'll be on vacation for the next two weeks, and we'll likely be
Gazetteless (I may be able to connect and get one out, but since this is a
private and primitive island off the east coast of the Southern U.S.; I'm
reluctant to make a commitment). We will be sending our regular annual
Scientific Inquiry into the Phenomena of Santa Clause, and soon you'll be
enjoying a recurrence of player and mob interviews in the Gaz. Meanwhile,
hope you enjoy these....
In America, Thanksgiving is just past, and Christmas looms large before
us. It's a time of unusual good will, cheerfulness, and inward reflection.
We're human (mostly), and we just can't help but measure ourselves against
the accomplishments and demeanor of those around us. In that spirit of
generosity and syrupy kindness, I respectfully submit the following:
*If you can start the day without caffeine;
*If you can always be cheerful, ignoring aches and pains;
*If you can resist complaining and boring people with your troubles;
*If you can eat the same food every day and be grateful for it;
*If you can understand when your loved ones are too busy to give you any
time;
*If you can overlook it when those you love take it out on you when,
through no fault of yours, something goes wrong;
*If you can take criticism and blame without resentment;
*If you can ignore a friends limited education and never correct him/her;
*If you can resist treating a rich friend better than a poor friend;
*If you can face the world without lies and deceit;
*If you can conquer tension without medical help;
*If you can relax without liquor;
*If you can sleep without the aid of drugs;
*If you can honestly say that deep in your heart you have no prejudice
against creed, color, religion or politics;
.... Then, you are ALMOST as good as your dog! (Lord, please help me to be
half the man that my dog thinks I am...)
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2. Haiku by Niki
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I.
We come to kill mobs
fleeing to save ourselves now
fight another day
II.
Ah, No group for you
Oh no, no!, no group for me
talk a while shall we?
III.
Cloud, please be fluffy
for me when I die, ok?
I would like that, Cloud.
IV.
Sanctum is a mall?
so big and vast and spacious
so many choices
V.
Should I quit tonight
and get some much needed sleep
or play all night. Hm.
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3. Kessel by Chuft
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"Kessel."
I am the dragon of the night;
The shadow-dragon.
Thief lurking in alleyways:
On my dagger is engraved thy name.
My venom is selected for your suffering,
your pain is my pleasure;
Your gold my hoard,
Your shock and fear when I strike,
my very meat.
So, meat, watch where you walk tonight;
for my claw lurks,
ever in darkness.
Alone if fly the night skies,
Those mortals whom I called friends,
long passed from this place.
My bitterness runs deep and cold;
and the Dragon fears not loneliness.
I go to sleep on my hoard;
Fear the hour of my awakening,
for thy doom will once again be at hand.
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4. A Cynical View of Group Competency by YoYo
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[Ed: Not everyone handles bad news gracefully. Not everyone would consider
the topic YoYo has chosen in the same light that YoYo does.... And not
everyone would classify the news as "bad". Read on, and draw your own
conclusions. One thing we can all agree on is that the more informed our
player base is, the more fun it is for all involved. -- Diz]
Bad news?
Ok, just want to say something that has been bothering me recently. I've
played here for what I think is a while (year and a half), and I've
noticed a slow change in groupie competency. Each time I group someone I
haven't met before, they just get more clueless than the next. The other
day, I grouped someone, they did a good job sponging, as well as anyone
could sponge. (they didn't die pretty much). And then later that day I
noticed the same person asking where you got a golden feather? One of the
first pieces of eq you get.
I'm not the only one person noticing it. I've even seen lords in lord
groups act completely clueless, and totally not pay attention or afk. I've
seen certain eq runs that are reboot only go from being a well organized
group of lords to being a group of idiots all doing there own thing and no
sense of unity.
If people are going to group, and expect to level at least some, they
should at least learn the ABC's of mudding. And if they don't well, they
can expect me to leave them in some aggy area, or not rescue. Stupidity
should not go tolerated. The more you care, or help someone who is utterly
clueless (giving them equipment, spellups, etc. etc) 2 more clueless
people are created. Thus the cycle continues, and grows and grows. For the
stupidity in groupies to stop, we must show them tough love.
I'm not saying don't help out any low mortal who needs gear, but at least
let them try on their own before you graciously go gather it for them. And
if you are grouping your own alts, try to either group with other
competent lord/hero alts, or when grouping with absolute newbies, do
everything the hard way. No spellups, no drone, no full gear. The only way
to the teach the newbies is to teach them that they must do it on their
own, and not by having some larger character hold their hand through their
mud career.
I really, strongly wish for the incompetency in lords to stop also.
Though, I fear it is too late for them. I suppose they will learn when
repeatedly killed by corpse eaters/stompers, but until then, the stupidity
continues, and the angered tanks shall remain angry.
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5. How to Map (Hand drawn) by Niki
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1. decide if you want to map an area or a connecting area (IE, Whitestone
road or Wildwood).
2. you'll need a piece of paper or 2, pencil (not pen), a ruler and a lot
of free time (mapping wildwood took over a hour).
3. divide the paper into *small* grids - no bigger than half an inch
square.
4. go to where you want to map - be prepared to die mapping.
5. shade the starting box, and if you want to go north, shade the box
north and take note of exits.
6. if your exits were: north; south; east; and you would like to go east,
darkly shade east and lightly shade north and south; indicating there is a
path north and south that you have not yet taken.
7. if you need to go up or down, write a small U or D in the upper
corner, or if the area up or down is extensive, get another sheet of paper
and write "air of areaname" or "underground of area name"
8. if you find rooms you like or landmarks, number them on your map and
include a seperate sheet of paper with a listing of them.
9. don't panic, some areas might run off the edge of the paper, simply
get more sheets and continute, don't cram it all in.
10. Make sure to label each map properly when done.
11. If you are doing a connecting area, write numbers for areas you find
in the squares and almost list them on a seperate piece of paper, like Zin
could be 2 or 3 on a wildwood map.
12. If you die mapping a certain room, or have to flee, you can write
beware or danger on that square. :)
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The Avatar Gazette is what you've just been reading, and it is the
official newsletter of Avatar, it is published weekly by Dizzy, in
conjunction with The Avatar Staff.(Original concept by Asamaro).
The Gazette is written in plain vanilla ASCII text to ensure that
everyone can enjoy it regardless of computer type.
To subscribe to the Gazette, send internet e-mail to
gazette-request@avatar.walrus.com. In the body of your
email put:
subscribe username@hostname (MudName - RealName)
eg subscribe snikt@walrus.com (Snikt - Kevin Jagh)
Your real name is optional for the Gazette list.
eg subscribe snikt@walrus.com (Snikt)
You can FTP back issues of the gazette from ftp.walrus.com in
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If you have any questions, comments, suggestions, criticisms,
compliments, or (best of all) articles that you've written for the
gazette, please send them to Dizzy via my e-mail address:
dizzy@avatar.walrus.com.
You can also view the latest issue of the Gazette while playing
Avatar by typing 'help newgaz' anywhere in the game, or by surfing
our web site!
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