For my MMORPG I decided I would play Star Wars: The Old Republic (SWTOR) since I am a Star Wars fan and it was listed as a suggestion on the list in class. I decided to look into getting help on playing the game in general and using in game chat. I spent about an hour looking into possible classes of characters to play, how to interact in the game, and any useful info I could find. I felt overwhelmed. Like I would not be able to figure it out just looking at how much information was on the internet about the game.
I chose the Bounty Hunter Mercenary character based on suggested classes of characters to play from Reddit and easiest character to play on YouTube. For some reason it didn’t work so I finally created a Jedi Knight, cause who wouldn’t want to be a Jedi.
As I began my journey into the game, I had to figure out slowly how to navigate the whole interface of the game. I learned through tutorials to use the a,w,d,s keys to move my character. I learned to attack flesh raiders (mission) using different abilities. I attempted to communicate in the chat area?…section?…bar?…in the upper left hand corner of the screen. I got barely any responses to my questions for help in navigating the game, but someone did inform me that “PIE is the path to the dark side.”
I continued to attempt to chat and ask questions as well as learn how to play the game, what to do, and how to find where my mission was. I tried to figure out how to join a guild but came up empty in chat as well as on my own. In over an hour and a half of play, I got basically no feedback or help as I ran around a world with my Jedi character.
I thought to myself how the hell am I going to write about culture if nobody frigging talks. I felt pure frustration and hopelessness. I figured I might get an F on this practicum project because I don’t know what I am doing in this game or if I am going to be able to find any interaction. At this point I was ready to give up after neglecting coursework in my other classes to work on a project that now made me want to punch a hole in the wall.
Last Thursday I decided to try SWTOR again cause I didn’t know what else to do. I attempted to read more tutorials as they popped up and attempted to reach out on the chat again, and god answered.
I found two friendly individuals who decided to respond on the chat and directly help me through the game. I asked questions about what games had lots of interactions so I could really get something good for my practicum project. I asked how to complete my current mission and how to perform certain functions. It felt like I had been carrying around the Millennium Falcon on my back and that weight had just been lifted from me.
Vella-karnn, One of the two friendly people and certainly one of God’s children, proceeded to lead me through the planet we were both on with his character guiding me through missions, and typing in the chat area how to complete it for over an hour. If you ever encounter Vella-karnn in any game, you should make it your life’s work to help him complete his missions.
I ran around the world with vella-karnn, gaining insight into mmorpg’s status and learning how to play the game. He also answered some of my questions about what the community was like and informed me players get more interactive in later level and missions. It felt great to be ale to pick up on some basics of the game to the point I could navigate and perhaps progress through the game. It was a huge relief to have interaction with someone and my hope was renewed.
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