Hey everyone :)
 

Hihi :).

Generally I go by the name Zahri these days. I've been playing online games/MUDs since 1995. My first game was Federation (the old Federation on AOL) all the way up until the day it went pay to play in early 1998. My handle there was Jswritin. Tried Federation II a few times, but it just isn't the same without my old friends. :) Sadly lost contact with them.

These days I mostly play Avatar MUD (outland.org); it's my home. Found it through zMUD. I have met a lot of mudders from there in real life, etc. I have built 12 areas or so, though most of my time now is spent helping new players in various ways.

Oh, and random tidbits: I like the color blue and peanut m&ms. As a builder I have spent some time crafting the perfect room titles in some of my more challenging areas, with the sole purpose of showing them off on death info. And I am working towards a masters in Library Sciences. Wonder if I can get a library computer class set up to show off MUDding... Do you guys think I have a chance? ;p

*cackle*
- Zahri

Re: Hey everyone :)
 

And hello to you!

I think you have a great chance to show off Mudding! The more players the merrier I always say, regardless of which MUD they like!

Re: Hey everyone :)
 

Yeah, there are some cool MUDs out there! What I like is how they all specialize in different things. RP, PK, tiers, remorts, etc. Hard to get bored with MUDs when they have so much variety. :)

Re: Hey everyone :)
 

I agree. There are already some serious pk muds like God Wars II and everything Muds like Iron Realms (a slice of every pie almost) and Sci Fi fantasy like 4Dimensions and Serious RP muds like Threshold and NW.

So really you do have some great variety.

Re: Hey everyone :)
 

Word up, and welcome to the forums! (I'm starting to think Newworlds has a sponsorship deal or something, the way he rattles off that list of recommendations all the time :P)

Anyway, I'm all up for peanut M&M's, and what on earth do you study in Library Sciences? Is that a humanities subject? Business?

But yeah, welcome!
-Kereth

Re: Hey everyone :)
 

Welcome Zahri !

I thought the same =)

Re: Hey everyone :)
 

I did manage to get to the store last night to get a few packages of peanut M&Ms, so the world is right again.

For Library Sciences, it is tied closely with Communication and Information; that seems to be the focus that Library Sciences takes as well. It's not just about books anymore -- it's hard to get away from people unless you're working in the back room cataloging new books, and even then you need to communicate well with co-workers.

Last semester I studied Principles of Searching, Information Technology, etc. I also did the more generic References Sources and Services course, which teaches you about library anxiety (who wants to approach a librarian who is surrounded by a battleship-sized reference desk?) and how to tease what the patron wants out of them -- some/most don't know how to formulate their request the second they step up to the desk. One nice thing I found with this Masters program is they also introduce the 21st century into it. I took an information visualization course, and will be taking multimedia production next semester (flash, gifs, etc). There's also a social networking course, too.

But you can also tie gaming into it, which was a surprise. Right now, I am taking Human Information Behavior, and the professor is trying to get us out of the "library" mindset. Thus I contemplated for a few days doing a paper on the information seeking behavior of mudders, though I had to go with something more conventional for lack of time (but there is stuff out there! just not a ton yet).

And, for the "weirdest" thing I have found to come out of Avatar MUD, about how well group members communicate during low/high stress periods. ;p It's actually a popular run on the game, though nospell rooms and snipers aiming for your throat tends to raise up the stress levels ;)

- Zahri

Re: Hey everyone :)
 

I just went looking for an article I read recently but couldn't find it -- but it was about the first formal librarian position of 'gaming librarian' or something like that. I could be getting that wrong, but as a candidate for a masters in Lib Sci. you can probably find it better than I can ;). Anyway, sounded like a cool job.

Re: Hey everyone :)
 

Yes, yes we do. It comes to a cool $799.00 USD per month for NW sponsorship. Less if you admin a decent mud. How else do you think we keep NW free?;)

Re: Hey everyone :)
 

Hehe. It might be , not sure. :) I remember reading that one when it first came out, but it's a year old now. They did make claims of being the first one with a gaming librarian position, though!

It always sounded interesting, but I would never be sure about mixing employment with what I do for pleasure after work.

- Zahri

Re: Hey everyone :)
 

Yes, that's the article :).

People do say the best work is doing what you love, though, no?

Re: Hey everyone :)
 

Welcome, Zahri! Glad to have you on board.

Do you have a favorite M&M color? :)

Re: Hey everyone :)
 

Ide -

Hmm, maybe ;). There would probably be more variety of gaming types in that job, which would be nice. And I doubt I'd ever get to try out Second Life on this laptop of mine..

Milawe -

Blue, of course... ;p Though one must not be too discriminating, since they are all so good...

- Zahri