Ahem*.
You can do lots of things with Google. One of those things that I’ve been using for a while now is Google Alerts. It’s a service that sends you an email when google comes across a certain search phrase. I’ve had it send me stuff on a variety of search phrases over the years, but there are only two things that it sends me links for now: “Lincoln Lutheran” and “Sie Ming”. The former is pretty obvious. The latter is the middle name of Tony Sie Ming Yuen with whom some of us went to High School. Tony moved back to Hong Kong our Junior(?) year and has since fallen off the face of the earth. But, while he was still on it, I borrowed his middle name to use on those video games into which one has to enter a name. Now it’s over twenty years later and I still haven’t returned Tony’s name.
While I was working for Oetting’s Detasseling (a job that really only kept people busy for about 3 months of the year), I played the game Ultima Online. I wastedspent a huge amount of time on this game. This was one of the first “main stream” games that you played online with other people, so it was much more interesting than a normal computer game. One of the subgames that went along with it was suggesting ways to improve the game (and that type of game). There were enough people interested in making and reading these suggestions that people spent some time putting them together.
About a week ago google sent me an email that said it found “Sie Ming” in the index of the book Designing Virtual Worlds by Richard Bartle. This is the guy who wrote the first “virtual world” game. Well, I had to buy the book. It came today. I’m proud to report that I have a footnote (well, “Sie Ming” really, but lets not be picky). And, not to brag, it’s actually two footnotes, two entries in the index and a paragraph. Really, calling it a paragraph is not doing it justice. It’s more or less most of a page.
But wait, it gets better, the book is a required text for Telecommunications T366: Multiplayer Game Design at Indiana University which, incidentally, is not where the author of the text teaches. I have now been footnoted in a scholarly text. My life is complete. Oh, you can read the articles that he mentions here and here (and the paragraph here)
*I was worried that someone might think I was terribly serious about this and Lauren said, “No one can think you’re being snooty if you start off with ‘Ahem’.”
So, What does this mean?
I love it! Only a Lutheran Pastor would ask that!
To attempt to ascribe meaning to it would be to elevate its status far above what is appropriate.
That… is so… AWESOME!
(Can you hear how I’m saying that? I’ve tried a few different arrangements of characters, and that one seems to communicate the tone the best.)
Maybe Tony will return from Limbo so he can sue you.
You know, we probably have the name thing all wrong anyway. I’d lay even odds on “Sie Ming” being Tony’s first name. All these years I’ve been living a lie.
Dnag it! I’m trying to get to school early and you’re distracting me with all these articles! I’ll finish them later so I can comment.
I always dreamed of being married to someone famous – now I’m one step closer to the dream. He’s like the Brad Pitt of geeks.
Dad, it means that you can be proud of me. Very proud. (Of me, not Lloyd.)
Lauren, you done really good!!!!!!!!
Go Lloyd! Go IU! Go Sie Ming!
I really can’t believe you’re not boasting a no school day to all those Baltimore lurkers. Finally, 5 inches and 1 foot drifts!!! Lucky Lincoln kids, Seward only a late start.
Okay, I read both of your essays and the text book paragraph. Thanks for using up half of my free period. 😛
The essays are good. They’re very well written. Did I know you were a good writer? Maybe it went without saying, what with all the reading you do. But how Archie comic books taught you to write well, I’ll never know.
I, too, was impressed with your writing. Mostly with the fact that I found ZERO spelling errors. Spell-check has served you well.
I didn’t understand more than a few sentences… apparently I’m not so high on the geek list…didn’t we take a test on that a while back?
I actually wrote everything in numbers first. Then translated it into words. Otherwise it would have been chock full of nuts and berries. You didn’t know I was okay at writing because I used up all of my best writing for Larry Laubenstein. “Don’t get it right, get it written… Then get it right.”
Did he used to say that? It’s a great saying, and I’m going to adopt it.
He actually remembered a piece I did for his class, and when I visited 2 years ago with my daughter, she was very impressed that he recalled the paper.
Oh!! I had forgotten that one. I’ll have to add it to my list. I also really liked Rogner’s “Let it ferment.” I use that a lot.
Of course, you can’t forget John Stahl’s “Into each life a few tears must fall.” Oh wait, none of you guys went to my grade school. Oh well.
Congratulations!! That really is cool! And I’m sure I’d agree with you all the way if I knew what you were talking about … have you thought about running for congress?
Oh and Yippee for no school … for you …. !!!!!
“I sense a soul in search of answers.”
The only thing I wonder about is where you say, “Evidence suggests that I don’t cost a lot to support…” It would seem to be quite complex, judging from two essays that appear to only scratch the surface of the many issues that would be involved. So is crafting potentially expensive to develop, but not expensive to keep up?
There are other things involved, but the main costs to this sort of thing are Design/Programming, Content Creation and Customer Support. I was thinking of customer support. Content creation would be negligable if the design/programming was done well, and the design/programming has to take most of this into account anyway for other reason. For a more complete answer, I can send you a book.
Thanks soooooo much for the offer. But I’m going to be content with my little toe-dip (reading your interesting articles). I was just wondering about the value proposition.
Now I’ll wonder if you couldn’t get paid whole piles of money for your thought-provoking ideas. I was thinking that it’s geeks like you (and I use the word geek in a very positive way) who develop expertise and then go get loads of cash for it… and it was all just for fun in the beginning. I’ll let you know if I run into any game developers who are looking for smart people to put “baking” into their game. (not very likely, I’ll warn you…)
Wow! You are “celebrated” and “eminently sensible”. I never would have guessed.
Well, technically the article was celebrated and the suggestions were eminently sensible. But that has to reflect a little bit on me, doesn’t it? Doesn’t it? Just a little?
a LOT!
Yes, Google Alert really is handy, isn’t it? It shows up when people mention your having mentioned them in your book.
I would have footnoted more people if I’d known it was likely to make them buy a copy of the book!
Richard
Hooray for Richard! 🙂 Welcome to our website, second celebrity! (Jeff Hertzberg beat ya to us.)
I’d hardly count myself as a celebrity…
Still, nice to be welcome!
Richard
The book, by the way, is quite well done. Really interesting stuff in here. It makes me wonder how the state of the art has progressed in the 4 years since it was written. I read through all of the economic sections first, and am going back now to pick up other sections. Of course, I got side tracked by the online bibliography. What a nice day for a snow day.
So what’s up with the Walmart receipt? Does Walmart carry that book?
It actually has nothing to do with anything. It was just sitting on the counter. Well, that’s not entirely true. It’s other purpose was to give people something to comment on if they didn’t want to say anything about Richard Bartle’s book.
What about the apron-shaped invite? It’s too cute!
It’s to a Lincoln Lutheran staff dinner thing. I have to make food – do you think they’ll eat bread?
Everyone loves bread!!!
Someday will you teach me about all this jargon, so I’ll understand how you got 24 comments from this?
Think of it as the antithesis of everything you care anything at all about. It is sort of amazing that people spend so much time thinking about this sort of thing. People even make a living at it. Ha, 25 comments.
Teacher, please help me get this straight. Is all this thinking about nothing?
Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more: it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.
Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow…
Did we have to memorize that for Rogner or Fedline? …or was it Larry?
I was impressed!. Keep on writing. Love you and as usual I am late in reading the post.
Hi Lauren. I got here after many strange hops on the internet and am completely enchanted by your blog. It reminds me of when the internet wasn’t such a cold and hostile place. I hope that there are more places out there like this that I haven’t found.
I have worked in games since 1999 and was astonished to only recently discover the existence of Stratics. (I actually worked on a deployment of Shadowbane redesigned for MMO aesthetics in Asia called Shadowbane: The Lost Kingdom.) In googling it I found a link to your blog reprint of “I Want to Bake Bread” and am again astonished that I somehow missed it when it first came out. Richard was more on top of things than I was, clearly.
I wanted to just let you know how deeply I appreciate this original writing and the whole blog thing you have going on here. And also that Richard’s book is much more widely used than that one class, which I’m pretty sure is the work of Mike Sellers, a friend who sadly passed away last year. Richard’s book is one of the best written on the topic, and I’ve used it in classes as well when I’ve taught them (I was a professor for a year at Carnegie Mellon, and have done assorted workshops etc) — I would even go so far as to say it’s one of the critical texts in game studies, though of course lots of academics would debate me because they debate everything.
Anyway, your essay is really excellent, was very prophetic (re the rise of social games and social-mobile in which crafting is an enormous component), and is still a joy to read all these years later.
Aw, shucks – thanks! Though it pains me that your lovely comment is on a post that Lloyd wrote, not me. (Lloyd has really been slacking on this blog for several years. 😉 ) Your words tickled him mightily, and he might even respond!