___The Official AVATAR___________________________________
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________________________________________ 25 Aug, 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. Top 10 Reasons Why Sprites Stink by Aurelia
3. The Fearless Mage by Sali
4. Sponges by Phi
5. Book Review & CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES by Peaceflame
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1. Editorial by Dizzy
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Early Edition this week! I wanted to get this one out today because I'll
be out of town and (mostly) out of Internet contact for the next 10 days.
This means that we won't have a Gazette next week, unless Darii and Raven
publish an issue Saturday 04 Aug ust (I owe them both a steak, and a crack
at editing the Gaz as a "prize").
I own a nuclear powered ray gun. Well, technically it belongs to my
grandson, but he isn't competent to fire it without disintegrating nearby
objects at random intervals. I also own a diamond willow walking stick
that my dad carved in the Alaskan tundra 2 0 years ago. I also have an
old and beautiful folding knife that has been handed down to me. I am not
a particularly materialistic person, but these items, and a few others,
hold great sentimental value for me.
During the first few times that I played Avatar (It was Farside in the old
days), I grouped with the RL brother of one of the original coders. He
had a sword that he was sentimentally attached to. His brother had made it
especially for him, and presented it to him as a gift. He even renamed it
"The Pebble" (silly name, but *shrug*). In my estimation, the best thing
about this sword is that it did 200 average damage (yes, it was COMPLETELY
illegal by today's standards). From his perspective it was the s entiment
that mattered. The only thing that consoled him after he lost it was
another IMM renaming a perfectly standard Holy Avenger to "The Pebble".
We become attached to items and characters in the game. Of course we do.
Its just our nature to invest something of ourselves in those around us,
and items that remind us of those relationships. I find it difficult to
pass by my diamond willow walking st ick without caressing it and thinking
about the strong hands and warm heart that fashioned it. But how should
we respond when we lose an item with sentimental value, or a friend leaves
our virtual community, or (a harsh, but sometimes necessary action) t hey
are forced to leave Avatar?
When we lose something of value (an object, a friend, our dignity, etc.),
a knee-jerk reaction kicks in as a self defense mechanism. BOOM! We'll
take our marbles and go home. My marbles have made the trip from Avatar to
home so many times that I seem to h ave lost most of them along the way.
Hrmmm, that doesn't sound quite right, eh? I have created, played, and
deleted characters on many, many MUDs since 1989 (my first MUD: AlexMUD @
alexmud.stacken.kth.se 4000 for a quick look at the OLD days of mudding.
..its still Diku Gamma 0.0 code), and usually felt no remorse in deleting
because I was finished with that code base, or particular world
incarnation. The exception is Avatar.
I've played every race and class (and most combination of race and class)
available to mortals, and races/classes that aren't available to mortals!
I've walked all over the MUD. If I haven't fought every mob in the game,
I'd be surprised. Many of you ar e comrades that I shared my most
intimate thoughts with. In short, I know this game, all of its secrets,
and many of the players that make it a great place to live.
I said all that to say this: If you've lost a friend, an object, an
argument, your respect for , or the FUN of playing
Avatar... Do NOT delete. A better approach is to take a break. I know, I
know...you don't EVER plan to come back he re and play anymore. Ok, Ok,
that's cool...if you don't come back, then the automagic pfile
reviews/deletions will erase your character sometime in the distant
future, and you won't need to delete. You may find after a few day, or a
few weeks that your w hole way of thinking about the issue has
changed....and you just might want to come back to play, or socialize,
etc.
Deleting is often a Grand Gesture. A kind of public suicide that is
really a public protest against . The
exhilaration of pulling that particular "D" ring starts to fade in a
surprisingly short time. You begin to wonder what yo ur friends and group
mates are doing. "I wonder if so-and-so has Hero'd yet?". "I bet CC's Lord
quest was awesome....sigh. Missed it." " I used to just LOVE it when Darii
rained cookies on me before a restore!"
You may find yourself coming back as a newbie, just to gain an
understanding as to how the MUD can possibly be surviving without you. And
you may eventually decide to come back. It does happen, and more often
than you may think. If you've deleted, you'llstart all over. Few things
are so important, and NOTHING is so urgent that you should delete your
character. Hang on, baby...things always look different (and usually
better) in the light of a new day.
Diz
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2. Top 10 Reasons Why Sprites Stink by Aurelia
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*Note: These are for humorous purposes only. These are jokes, and not to
be taken offensively*
10 They hit worse than Aurelia on a bad day.
9 They blow up stuff too much
8 High-pitched, whiney voices
7 Get stuck to the bottom of your boots
6 Hard to pick out the bones
5 Always the ones to get aggied
4 Low hps
3 Gronolt likes one-round kills, and they bog him down
2 Freaky looking wings
1 Taste HORRIBLE without salt
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3. The Fearless Mage by Sali
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Decked out in magical attire provided by the great Lords of the Realm,
Sali set out with a group of friends to prove that Lords could survive in
little armor and very powerful weapons. Each lord called upon a powerful
vortex to transport them to the Kzin ti Homeworld to fight their way to
find Sali's evil cousins, the Samalanders. The Samalanders were notorious
for their cunning and deceptive ways of tricking the residents of their
homeworld into traps that would lead to their deaths. After that, the Sa
malanders would loot the corpses and sell the gear to the local Kzinti
merchants.
Sali was tired of his evil cousins doing this to people. So once he got
the band organized, he took out every mobile that stood in his way to get
to the Samalanders. Once he reached their underground lair, he found
himself in dire peril. The Samalander s knew he was coming and had set a
trap for him! Suddenly, 3 pyrolisks and 4 samalanders jumped out of the
shadows and attacked Sali! Sali was thrown against a cave wall, but
luckily Chuft stepped to protect him! Then the other Lords sneaked up and
attac ked them from behind! The evil pyrolisks and samalanders fell
quickly, but the lords also suffered heavy injuries. The lords begin to
shift back to Thorngate, their homeworld, but Aeriel didn't have enough
mana to make it back, Sali stood guard over Aeri el while she slept for
mana to return. Aeriel awoke, but it was too late! When Aeriel awoke, she
saw that Sali was already being attacked. She wanted to help, but she knew
she didn't stand a chance without more lords. Sali told her to go, and she
went, th en Sali died. The end :)
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4. Sponges by Phi
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First off, a sponge is a person who gets experience points, and levels by
doing nothing, soaks it up without work. Throughout my experience sponges
have come to be more common amongst low-mort and hero levels. When a
person sponges, or when you let a person sponge, it takes away their
chance to do something good during their time on avatar...learning.
Without the knowledge of avatar, which is what is left out when one
sponges, we will eventually have a game that nobody wants to play, because
nobody knows how to do anything for themselves. I've seen many players
that have sponged, and it is extremely obvious that they have sponged. It
is easy to tell this because they don't contribute to groups, they go AFK
(away from keyboard) without informing the group, and they "forget" to
change gear when running. Sometimes these behaviors can be understood,
emergencies, and the such, however...going AFK to get something to eat
without letting the tank know is just something that shouldn't happen.
With groupies like this the atmosphere of avatar will dwindle.
Now a note to the sponges- Would you appreciate it if when you tanked, if
you ever have, that your groupie did nothing? Cleric didn't heal, hitter
didn't go into hit gear, etc?
Now a note to the groups- Sponges are something that shouldn't be
encouraged. If you notice somebody not doing something, address it. If we
let it continue to happen, avatar will be nothing except mostly players
that know nothing, and tanks that won't want to put up with them.
Side note- With this new mercy change, we all must work together to
eliminate sponges, they could cause a group death if we aren't careful.
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5. Book Review CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES by Peaceflame
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A while back, I read ``The Cuckoo's Egg'' written by Clifford Stoll, and
published by The Bodley Head. ISBN:0-370-31433-6. I heartily recommend it
from several perspectives: First of all, it's a fun book to read. Cliff
Stoll is definitely a "free spirit" and his somewhat twisted world view
is entertaining and provocative. This book is also unique in that it is a
detective story written by a guy whom hackers believed to be an
astronomer, and whom astronomers believed to be a hacker. Finally, you get
insid e the head of both the good guys and the bad guys....an interesting
place to be.
Anyone with an interest in the Internet, computers in general, and network
security will read The Cuckoo's Egg the first time for fun....the second
time for tips and hints, and the third time for the cookies (he makes us a
gift of his fave cookie recipe).
I'm not kidding here... These are THE BEST cookies I've ever eaten.
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup regular sugar
2 sticks softened butter
2 1/4 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon vanilla
(3 tablespoons of cocoa if you are a chocoholic)
2 cups chocolate chips
Bake 375 for 10 minutes
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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
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If you have any questions, comments, suggestions, criticisms,
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You can also view the latest issue of the Gazette while playing
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