warning: use of jargon (glossary included)
Online identities are pwnage. Pwn and get pwnt! In an online community, you can take on any persona you want - that is, if you're cool enough to live up to it. The online game Utopia is an excellent example of a virtual community where the issue of identity is an important aspect. |
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In Utopia, you manage a virtual province in a group of 25 (or less) other provinces called a kingdom, led by a player-elected monarch. Your kingdom plays as a team and you attempt to ravage your way through the Utopian world, winning wars against other KDs. It's quite a complex text-based strategy game, but for the purposes for this article I will talk about the user-related aspects - more specifically, the role that identity and reputation plays in the Uto world. In Utopia, you don't get to choose your KD. You might have a good, active team, which make the game more fun. Or you could land in a ghetto KD and be frustrated by low activity levels, uncooperative players, inefficient leadership, bickering, or just general incompetency.
The unpredictability of your KD's quality can be frustrating, but for some time now trading accounts has been quite common. SKDs have been known to script entire kingdoms, and in a decent KD with good leadership, it's not unusual that players who want to leave are asked to give the monarch their account information so that another player can be found to fill their place. Some KDs pressure new randoms to do the same, especially if said randoms are nubs.
A lot of the game goes on outside actual gameplay on the Swirve site. Players get in touch via other forms of communication (besides in-game PMs) and form formal alliances, trade strategies, settle war terms, discuss treaties, and find players. Finding reliable players from the correct locations (traded players not located where the original province was registered from are more likely to be found out and Mehulled) is a tedious process. Most KDs do not rely on trading to form their core of players - instead, experienced members try to train the new players first.
Utopians have brought the game to a new level, quite independently of Swirve, by setting up player alliances. It's quite a natural move, after all, to help your friends in-game - alliances just formalise things. Alliances can also be very helpful for the better KDs as they have a tendency to get picked on by multiple KDs once they start climbing the charts. Besides game competency, a valuable resource in Utopia is contacts. Contacts, contacts, contacts. The more people you know and are on friendly terms with, the more fun the game is likely to be for you. Firstly, it's no fun playing alone or with people you don't like. KDs work closely towards their goals (unless they have no goals). Secondly, friends are useful for protecting you against bullies, both actively and passively. For example, if your KD is tagged Abs, you're unlikely to be hit OOW. Having many Uto friends also makes it easier if you have to do diplomat work for your alliance, or if you have to settle a messy war.
So how do Utopians decide who to trust and who not to? Here's where identity and reputation come in.
Unlike the internet in general, where people take advantage of the ability to "have, some claim, as many electronic personas as one has time and energy to create"(Donath, 1996) Utopians tend to stick to one identity, probably to claim their in-game achievements as their own. Also, established Utopians are more likely to be trusted than new or stranger players, as they have an in-game reputation to preserve (perhaps as an alliance leader or a KD representative or a diplomat - roles that require trust).
Competency at the game is of course a large factor (incompetent people just seem so dim) but this does not mean new players are automatically dismissed. Honesty and reliability, as well as activity, are very valued. If a new player manages to identify himself as a trustworthy person, and a player who is willing to dedicate time to the game, he will quickly be accepted into the Utopian community and gladly trained by older players.
Where does all this interaction take place? On IRC. Check out the server dedicated to Utopia-related channels, irc.utonet.org(6667). This server was set up by Utopians, independent of Swirve. There are also many forum sites, such as
Alliance Rankings and
Utopia Temple etc where players interact.
Utopians establish their reputations through a combination of interactions. Most obviously, in-game achievements signify that the player is competent at the game. Fellow Utopians will then be more likely to listen to that player's advice or suggestions as to alliance or kingdom decisions. This can also be achieved by being active and present on IRC and forums, and giving good advice to new players who ask. Other experienced players will then be able to evaluate the player as competent and knowledgeable. This is an assessment signal, which "requires that the sender possess the relevant trait." (Donath, 1996)
Through conversations on IRC, utopians can also create an identity for themselves that others will know them by, by their choice of word, conversation material, and responses. For example, appropriate use of Utopian jargon shows that a player has played the game for a long time. Trying to fake this, however, can backfire as the jargon is easily misused. They can also establish a pattern of symbiotic relationships with other Utopians by helping them. By showing themselves to be generous and reliable in fulfilling promises or duties, Utopians gain other players' trust and the implicit promise of a favour in return.
Utopians also consider fair gameplay to be very important. If a Utopian consistently plays honourably and refrains from taking advantage of loopholes in the game, he will gain a reputation for that. No one likes a KD/alliance that strongarms or bullies others, and others will be quick to take advantage of a bully at any opportunity.
Stealing a Utopian's online identity can be both hard and easy. It depends on the extent of the theft. It would be easy enough to assume a nickname and make a single post on a forum board. In fact, this has happened before. At
FuR (a new alliance) forums, MetallicaJeff's account was hacked and a post made using it, threatening to take over the alliance and intra the alliance leaders so that they would lose their kingdoms. The situation escalated as alliance leaders could not contact the original owner of the account and verify the claims made. However, the matter was cleared up after a while, and nothing really happened.
On IRC, nicknames are fluid. Anyone can take any nickname they like (although Utonet does have the Nickserv bot which enables nickname registration, it doesn't really prevent anyone from taking any nickname). It's easy enough to enter a channel under someone else's nick and say things. That's why almost all experienced Utopians register their IRC nicknames so that even if someone assumes their nick while they aren't online to recover it, their friends will see that it's an unidentified nick when they do a /whois search. If you didn't understand that last paragraph... http://google.com FTW.
The Utopian virtual community adds a whole new dimension to the game. Utonet has many social conventions which are unique to it, and certain channels too have different expectations. It's fairly easy for a new player to get a foot in the door, but harder to establish a good reputation. Also, one-time identity theft is easy to pull off, but sustained pretense might be harder. Players in Utopia grow close after long periods of time working with the same KD or alliance, and exchange pictures, emails, phone numbers, and addresses. Some make plans to meet up, even from opposite sides of the world. Many players make close friends on Utopia, who share not just the game, but also their personal lives. In fact, I'm going to be celebrating an ex-KDmate's birthday with some other mutual friends in a short while. (:
References
Donath, Judith (1996, November). Identity and Deception in the Virutal Community. Retrieved February 23, 2007, from
http://smg.media.mit.edu/people/Judith/Identity/IdentityDeception.htmlGlossary
Abs: Absalom; big fat angry scary aggressive alliance
ghetto (kingdom): a kingdom that is inactive, disorganised, uses ineffective strategies, or otherwise IS LOUSY. Also used ironically to refer to any KD that isn't undisputedly pwnage
intra: intra-kd; hitting provinces in your KD
KD: kingdom
Mehul: Mehul Patel, creator of Utopia. Can be used as a verb that refers to having your account deleted. e.g "My monarch was a stupid multi and he just got Mehulled"
nub: not unique to utopia. Refers to a new player that is not only new but stubborn/stupid/a loser. Commonly used ironically - e.g. "i am the nub king!" related: nubcakes, nubkeks, nublar, n00b, noobo, nubby. Not to be confused with "newb", which simply refers to a new player.
OOW: out-of-war; unprovoked attack - RETAL IT!
PM: personal message or private message; using the in-game messaging system
random: landing in a KD randomly (the only legal way) e.g. "i randomed into that KD" or "that province is a random"
script (kingdom): the practice of using automated scripts to create many new accounts, in the hope that some will land in your kingdom and can then be played by either yourself or an experienced friend/other desired player. Usually preceded by killing off players in the KD, to make it more likely that the new accounts will land there.
SKD: super kingdom; a kingdom that is in the charts of the top 50 kingdoms for land, honour or networth
tagged: short "tag" attached to your KD name, to signify alliance affiliation, or KD status. e.g."Fratzia GOING TO WAR KEEP OUT" to discourage other KDs from randomly hitting into yours in the hours leading up to a formal war.
traded: provinces being played by someone who did not originally register the account. illegal but very common.
Uto: short for Utopia, Utopian, etc
