Tuesday, March 1, 2011

How To Join A Guild

There are times I need a tape recorder, because my memory doesn't cut it.

Explanation of terms, in brief, for those who don't play: Free Realms = a massive multiplayer online role playing game (MMORPG), free but can also buy memberships. Guild = a group or team on an MMO that goes on quests together. WoW = World of Warcraft, the biggest MMO in the world, needs subscription.

Our entire family (father, mother, daughter, son) were all in the basement. Three of the four were on computers. Son and daughter were on Free Realms. Father was writing. Mother was watching (too tired because of sore throat). Son had to make a new Free Realms account because he lost his login information. Within two minutes of "joining" the game, he received two invites to join a guild.
Mom: Are you going to join them?
Son: I dunno (hovers over accept and decline)
Mom: Well, how do you decide which guild to join? M, did this happen to you when you first signed up? P just got two invites in less than two minutes.
Daughter: Well, the one I'm in now they asked me to join.
Mom: How'd you choose them?
Dad: I bet it was because of the name (of the guild).
Mary: They asked me and they seemed nice.
Mom: What about you J? How many guilds have you been in for WoW?
Dad: The first one I joined by accident. Something popped up on screen and I clicked it and I was a member of this guild. The second one I joined because I knew the people and they seemed nice, but then I found it wasn't going anywhere. The next one I joined matched what I wanted to do in the game and the people were nice, but (continues to explain)
Mom: Hey, are you guys hearing this? It's good stuff!
Dad: I was mostly just telling you, since you asked.

I just thought it was neat that the criteria adults and kids (at least in my house) used for joining a guild were so similar. At first it seems random (because I know daughter was in another guild before her current one), then based on how "nice" people are, and (if I can predict / project), then based on common goals or objectives in combination with compatible personalities. This is kind of like how students choose their work groups. I guess that means as a teacher, I need to be patient to see them learn how to judiciously choose partners and widen their criteria (or help them see that). Just because the study group is called "Justin Bieber forever" doesn't mean I should automatically join it. (Btw, happy birthday Justin, from a fellow Pisces!)

1 comment:

  1. Just to give you an update: son joined a guild, because he had a friend (unclear if it's a IRL pal or an e-pal) in that group. Same with daughter. Same with husband. Yeah for patterns!

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