Apparently, I posted the content below to Storify “7 years ago.” It’s six calendar years, given the link in the original content, with no precise timestamp within Storify.
Why did we ever think Storify could be used to archive digital content? Mess, metadata-wise.
glitch unstuck
I’ve been looking forward for a while to Glitch’s open beta, but not for the usual reason.
I’ve been looking forward for a while to Glitch’s open beta, announced today. As one of the fortunate “alpha” testers whose player character has been walking through Groddle Forest, petting trees, crafting food items from ever more complex recipes, and donating the stray sapphire to the world’s gods, I’m interested to see how Glitch may change when its player base expands. (“Alpha” gets quotation marks because the term usually refers to a testing round within the development group.)
Glitch is a Flash-driven graphical MMO without violence, albeit with a sardonic edge to its treehugging nature. Reality is askew in a manner that doesn’t need an artficial contrast between light elves and drow; each player can choose from a full spectrum of skin hues, for example. The ores and trees from which the player gains raw materials for crafting respond to the player’s interactions. Shrines complain if the player’s donation isn’t suitable.
As a former DikuMUD player, I’m familiar with the range of player behavior that can manifest in a shared space. Player conversation–typed in a public chat channel or sent directly from one player to another–can bring violence into the system even if player-versus-player combat isn’t permitted. It isn’t that I need Glitch to remain a violence-free space, or expect it to do so; I wonder to what extent the worldbuilding on display will influence player behavior. The success of in-game crafting turns upon the availability of materials. How will players react when there’s a temporary dullite shortage?
I’d have made this story more interactive, but at the moment all the embedders are clogged, it seems.