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Omegaworld

From Faces To Friends Through Work In Wurm

  

53 members have voted

  1. 1. About what percentage of your time on Wurm do you spend actively watching chat?

    • <5%
      12
    • 5% - 25%
      8
    • 26% - 50%
      8
    • 51% - 75%
      7
    • >75%
      18
  2. 2. How many people have you gotten into conversations deeper than gameplay on a normal basis?

    • Nobody
      6
    • 1-3
      17
    • 4-5
      11
    • 6+
      19


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Many might not notice the effect Wurm can have on the players.  How many of us have sat around working our tails off in Wurm for hours at a time? I'm sure it is safe to say that we all have at some point got bored of the repetitive grind of taking our saw and going through the motions of making a house.  But seriously, that takes an hour minimum if you are on your first character making a one tile big house.  So many of us go to freedom of global freedom chats to kill time.


 


Personally, I know that I can not play Wurm for hours upon end without becoming bored.  But I find chatting helps increase the length of time I can stand the repetition. Many of times I try to socialize and fit in while watching freedom chat.  For most people new to the community though, they might find the fact that everyone knows each other intimidating.  I know I have on multiple occasions have thought that I could never be a big part of the game's community like these other people.  But new players, I will assure you, that is wrong.  In my days back on Pristine, I rarely messaged in freedom chat, but months later I came back to people remembering me.  Experienced players, if you are a big part of the community, I beg of you, please try to develop friendships with the newcomers, because the community is Wurm's strongest asset.


 


But the main thing about chat is the friends you make.  Most games are about hey invite me to the team so we can kill the boss and never talk again.  In Wurm, most people are so co-dependent, you need allies.  Personally, I feel the game developers have implemented that quite well.  Yes it is a pain you can only add a friend if they are next to you, but they also added a great town system.  You can play with your friends even if they aren't in your deed, because you can form an alliance with their deed as well.  Many people aspire to own their own land, but so many of us make friends in the process and are torn between joining them and following our dream.  But give them the opportunity to have an alliance and still both own land, and you satisfy both desires.


 


One day I was bragging about how amazing Wurm is at a barbecue.  It was funny, because I had two people jump on the idea of trying it. One of which was just a guy I knew from elsewhere.  This guy eventually got on, and while working in my mine, we got to talking.  I didn't really care for the guy before then, but I got to learn he is great to talk to and quite hilarious.  It's funny how you see someone so often, but through working together even on a game, you develop a bond you couldn't in real life.


 


But this forum is  just about me telling you how I play Wurm, or how Wurm has changed my life.  I want us as a community, to reach out and grow our server and cross server bond.  We are like one very extended family, and I love to see us working together.  Also, I wanted to see how others view Wurm's community building skills.  Please do reply, I'd love to read what you guys think.


 


A part of your community,


Omegaworld


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Not really a Wurm story, but I am a firm believer that communities made in online gaming are every bit as "real" as ones made in that other world. Often you learn people's values and outlooks on life as well or better than you would for someone you judge on more superficial "first impressions."


 


In my family, online friends are a very important part of our lives. I met the Love of My Life over a decade ago on the Morrowind gaming forums, he ended up flying across the country to join me and we have never been apart more than a day or a mile in the ten years since then. That's actually a better track record than I have had with guys met in "real world" settings  :) Then one of my four daughters married an absolutely delightful young man she met while playing FFXI, and he has been part of our family for around 6-8 years now (I forget when they first met). My next daughter has recently been in a rather serious relationship with yet another young man met while online gaming. I still have two more daughters to go and I will not bat an eye if they happen to meet someone online.  In fact many of my very favorite people, and the closest people in my life other than blood relations, are ones met online through games. 


 


So count me on the side of a Wurm community being "a real thing". 

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There's whole bunch of Wurm people I'd like to kiss IRL, ingame kisses fulfill that need at least a bit.


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I don't have the joy that is talking to another person here on an personal level. 


A little while ago I may have told a person some personal things but that's a regret I have as that 'friendship' pretty much ended up as going back to being "Hi" and "Bye" after that lol. I have always played alone before so for me, not having anyone to talk to on a deeper level or at all, doesn't faze me. Makes for a boring time though.


Good for others if you can get it. 


 


I'm boohooing and all that 'I'm so lonely, why does no one like me' stuff too btw.  :ph34r:


Edited by Lolly1
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I don't have the joy that is talking to another person here on an personal level. 

A little while ago I may have told a person some personal things but that's a regret I have as that 'friendship' pretty much ended up as going back to being "Hi" and "Bye" after that lol. I have always played alone before so for me, not having anyone to talk to on a deeper level or at all, doesn't faze me. Makes for a boring time though.

Good for others if you can get it. 

 

I'm boohooing and all that 'I'm so lonely, why does no one like me' stuff too btw.  :ph34r:

 

Im dying to know what was said, that reverted the interaction to "hi" and "bye".

 

Btw, hi.

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Im dying to know what was said, that reverted the interaction to "hi" and "bye".

I'm curious to know too haha.  

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I have no friends on a deep level so no one will ever know!! 


But really, wasn't just one thing, was the whole conversation and now that its back to being "hi/bye" .. i regret telling them some things that I did. That's all :)


 


Perhaps I worded it wrong earlier. 


Edited by Lolly1

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Well, some people are just very uncomfortable sharing ANY personal information, and it may have been other things also happening in their life that happened about that same time rather than just the information you had shared with them, that caused them to retreat. Sometimes if I have a lot of "personal demands" on my time in real life (4 kids can do that, even once they are "all growed up"), I back off myself if people start getting very personal with me online.  At that point there is not much you can do except back off and give them their space.


 


However,  I do know that two years ago, when you lived close to me near Eastern Steppe in the birch forest there, and bison were first being introduced to the game, that I had quite a number of different people tell me what a sweet, kind and lovely person you are. Many people seemed to like you very much. So its possible you are not always seeing how much people here DO enjoy your company.  I myself suffer from extreme depression for extended periods and it can be very hard to see anything positive in the world when that is the case. My kids suffer from it too so it always hurts when I see a nice person in pain. 


 


*hugs*


Edited by Brash_Endeavors
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The guy who lives across the landing from me, Ducky, I met in Wurm. We were thick as thieves for years, so we decided to meet up when I was in his town. Hung out at the airport, became good buddies, he needed a place to stay so I invited him to move into my spare room.

 

Two of my best friends, Kevin (who will likely see this and get annoyed at me using his real name) and Keith (who pretty much never uses the forums), we sit there for hours on a weekly basis in deep discussion on theology, metaphysics and the meaning of existence. Lots of gets slung, but none ever sticks, and we're closer for it. I think that's how you know they're really good friends, when you can offend them and they drop it entirely next time they log in.

There's even someone special to me who I met here, she knows who she is, trust her more than I ever have anyone before. We've been on the sorts of adventures ingame that she's unable to go on IRL and that's made us so much closer than we would be if we'd met IRL, although we probably never would have.

Wurm is a funny game, you wouldn't expect the social interactions to be so deep in a sandbox game, but they are. Somewhere in between the politicking and the diplomacy, you can really come to trust people.

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Wurm is a funny game, you wouldn't expect the social interactions to be so deep in a sandbox game, but they are. Somewhere in between the politicking and the diplomacy, you can really come to trust people.

I agree completely, it is a funny concept to think about.  And Thank you all for your replies, I quite enjoy the openness in talking about our Wurm developed relationships.

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I have a few really close friendships that I developed through Wurm, as well as countless other people who I know and enjoy chatting to and playing the game with. It's a highly social game and it's definitely one of the big appeals for me - I can log in and it really is another world, with different people and opportunities. It's refreshing to have such an asset with life being as busy and hectic as it is.

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I find doing other things (browsing forums, looking for info online, just reading a book, practicing an instrument or playing wurm with multiple accounts) while "grinding" (doing actions that dont involve alot of effort but alot of waiting) to be a lot more enjoyable than chatting with random people. 


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Wurm is a funny game, you wouldn't expect the social interactions to be so deep in a sandbox game, but they are. Somewhere in between the politicking and the diplomacy, you can really come to trust people.

Edited by Dextrome

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I think wurm has very specific kind of community, quite wide ranged in variety, but those who stay for longer seem to have a certain "spark" to them, that all wurmians share and which makes working and playing together more often pleasant than annoying :) I met alot of people over wurm that I can call really good friends now, one of them turned out to be even more than that, it changed my life, literally.


thanks to wurm, I'm pregnant with a healthy little girl, got married recently and moved into a country I always wanted to be. Got a supporting family and even better friends, than I ever had before. 


Yup it sounds quite cheesy, but as someone who had long time trouble with depression (still have) and with some really bad life things going on in my past I'm really happy how everything turned out and I can't imagine anymore, how I would be even remotely able to see Wurm friends as something lesser than real life friends :)


 


Specially in our time, when it seems that more and more people are crouching into their mobile phones and virtual realities etc. to be who they really are :)


  • Like 5

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Well this is the first MMO since 97 (UO) my wife (Dinkleberry) and I have been able to have intelligent conversations with the player base.


 


All the other MMO's we have played seem to be all a rehash of trolling kids and immature adults.


 


It's a breath of fresh air.


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I wouldn't play wurm if it wasn't for my little group of friends, simple as that.

Only reason I've come back from my wurm breaks is because of the people

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When I first started playing I barely played. And I had every intention of playing completely by myself. Even when I joined villages I always had a big picture of having a little hermitage in the middle of nowhere. Unfortunately I met some really cool people and I realized just how fun this game is. I don't think I would have become so addicted to Wurm if not for the people I've met.

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I hate all of you, and myself.

And especially Radni.

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I hate all of you, and myself.

And especially Radni.

awwwww but we love you *hugs*

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I actively watch chat permanently, but only really CA Help and the staff channels as currently my internet won't let me log in a staff account barring the hideously early hours so I'm unable to moderate chats, so I turn off Freedom and GLFreedom because I almost never want to get involved in the conversations. But as I don't think that's really what your poll question is asking, I didn't vote.


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Loved the community regardless some drama here and there. Well, actually without those dramas things will be less interesting. Without conflicts I won't find similar minded people.


 


I don't socialize much in real life, actually I pulled myself out of those. So internet is where I get my daily dose of human interactions and wurm actually have interesting people... really interesting... people.


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