The Mecherican Dream
Written by Pipinowns



We joined the site with little hesitation, as we prepared to be some of the first users to play MechScape. Bragging rights became an obligatory reward, as we discussed our theories, showed off our fan art, and tried to convince other users that the image we made on paint is an actual in-game screenshot. I don't think anyone predicted just how long the wait would be, but we waited, breathlessly, for the release of MechScape.

Then we died from a lack of oxygen. So it goes.


-Pipinowns


-Pipinowns


-Pipinowns


-Not Pipinowns

Pipinowns:

It seems like it was only yesterday, being wonderfully ignorant and thinking MechScape would be released on the 24th of May. Now, it's July 11th at the time I'm writing this, and I feel an obligatory sense of pessimism when it comes to MechScape. I'm not the only one, though, because up until the newest release of concept art, many users were sick and tired of Jagex beating around the bush, and predictably, a small, yet significant amount of users still are.

Yet I still feel pessimistic, except in an optimistic sort of way. My predictions for MechScape being released later rather than sooner is simply me hoping that we won't get invaded with new users. Not that I mind more members, but I think it's safe to assume that during the first few months of MechScapes release, we will have tons of users running loose throughout what was once our sacred forums. In retrospect, it won't be that bad, but at the time, the change will be difficult to adjust to.

I realize I'm not telling you anything you don't already know, but sometimes I get in the habit of pointing out the obvious. I suppose this is because the obvious is the most obvious and easiest option when it comes to things I can present. Plus, it seems to be the thing people miss the least, which ensures that while my readers may be uninformed, they are, at the very least, not confused.

Fortunately, my main goal isn't how well you understand my article, it's to inform you (The flaw in my logic is that it's difficult to fully inform you if you don't understand what I'm talking about, but I'm hoping that by pointing out this flaw, you'll decide to ignore it). To inform you on the thing that's right in front of you, or perhaps more accurately, closer than that. To inform you on the thing you know everything about. To inform you on yourself.



The general user on these forums is someone who is looking forward to MechScape, and posts here ever so often to respond to the latest MechScape Post, or to say how totally awesome the newest concept art is. For the most part, they lurk. Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against them. In fact, they are a big asset to our community, because without them, we may not be here. Plus, lets face it, at least half of us were lurkers at one point, so just because they rarely post doesn't mean they don't matter. Quite the opposite, in fact.

When you exclude the lurkers, though, you have a mixed bag. Around two weeks ago I made a thread where users answered various question about Jagex and MechScape, and I'd recommend that you make a mental note that a lot of my following observations are based around this thread, which can be viewed here. While the majority is predictably positive towards Jagex, and obviously positive towards MechScape, their reasons aren't as predictable. The reasons are pretty various, but the mode seems to be everything about the game (AKA: The fact Jagex is making a futuristic game in the spirit of RuneScape). I wasn't too surprised with this result, but I was surprised with some other user's reasons, such as movement. I mean, how you move your character around being the thing you are most excited about in a game seems to be rather strange, unless it has some new "interactive" feature to it, which MechScape obviously won't.

It gets more interesting, though, as we look at how the members view Jagex's "silent release" of MechScape. Some people enjoy having very little to go on, so they can speculate more, while others loathe this. Then we have people who feel like we already have plently to go on, and others who were annoyed up until the recent release of concept art, which got them excited all over again. If I had to generalize this, I'd say most people are slightly annoyed and frustrated at Jagex, and just want to have more to talk about.

When it comes to our excitement about the game, I predicted an average of eight, so I wasn't surprised that, after calculating, the average excitement towards MechScape for our community is 7.736. For anyone who is wondering, I came to this conclusion by finding the average (adding up the numbers, then diving the sum by the number of numbers I added up.)

Even though this result wasn't exactly surprising, it certainly was strange. I mean, all of us are here discussing a game that hasn't been released, and we practically know nothing about, yet we are pretty damn excited for it, but not that excited. So we aren't spending hours a day discussing what we think is going to be the next Holy Grail of gaming. We are discussing a game, which we are somewhat excited for, despite the lack of reasons we have to be excited for it. So maybe we have nothing better to do with our time, maybe we just like the community, or maybe we get off on speculation. None of this matters though, what matters is that we are all here, for whatever reason, and that reason is why we are here.

MechScape World is satisfying a part of you. That's why you are here. That's who you are. You are somebody who likes satisfaction.

But aren't we all? Satisfaction is, after all, quite satisfying.



We joined the site with little hesitation, as we prepared to be some of the first users to play MechScape. This is how we began. So the question we have before is:

Where are we now?

Besides the obvious answers (I.E. sitting at our computers, the planet Earth, ect.) I'd say we are sitting at our computers, on the planet Earth. Our community, however, is in a much different location. It's inside our computers, on the planet Earth. So the question we have before is:

How can our computer fit such a big community?

Unfortunately, I don't have the answer to this, so I suppose it's damned to remain a mystery forever, or at least until somebody figures it out.

And while the mystery of the strangely large community in the strangely small box may never been solved, what about the mystery of the strangely large community that strangely wasn't large enough? While we may be bigger than our monitors, we certainly can't compare to many other internet forums, and unfortunately, there has only been a very small amount of discussion about this. Fortunately, small amounts of discussion are discussion none the less, so it's definitely on people's minds. Yes, we are somewhat of a mini-community, but we are still a community, which is what's great about us. Even though we are small, we are still "we" and we are still "us". We are still MechScape World.

Unfortunately, the fact we are small is sort of our Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. Many of us don't like being small, because it's not active enough, yet we know that being small will soon end, and we will soon be in a much different situation. We DO have the opportunity to not to allow this. We could halt the evolution of our forum, cancel our relationship with Jagex, and stay in our own cozy little corner of the internet. But we aren't going to. We are going to eat the fruit, but if we will regret it or not, is the question of the century.

Although, as the days go by, new members seem to be a topic of increasing popularity. We've had several members metaphorically jumping for joy about the consistent increase in members, and several others requesting a private forum for pre-MechScape members, in attempt to have some sort of familiar place to go to on this site after MechScape is released. This is a natural response, but it can, and probably will, lead to some tense situations. I myself have had to control myself from posting pictures of facepalms on various threads. I wouldn't recommend anyone doing this though, as many of these users are simply learning the ropes of online forums, and they will most likely become a delightful and active member in the future.

So maybe you should contemplate your own mecherican dream. Ask yourself why you like this site. Ask yourself what you want the site to be like. Ask yourself how you are a useful member to this site. Ask yourself what you are going to do when "The Great MechScape Flood" meets "The Great MechScape World". Ask yourself these questions, if for no other reason than for yourself. For your own satisfaction. Because you are an important and significant part of us, and without you, "us" just wouldn't be us.



I suppose this isn't exactly a goldmine I'm digging on, as obviously people are different and have different tastes, and obviously our community is going to get bigger, and so on. The thing is, sometimes I get in the habit of pointing out the obvious. I'm hoping that by pointing out this flaw, you'll decide to ignore it.


MechScape and Community News


Boss Fights
Does Jagex's mention of "boss fights on massive creatures" have anything to do with MechScape? (Read more)

New Staff
Our writing team has just gotten a little bigger so please give a big welcome to Xelb and Pliigi! (Read more)

Previous Issues:
MechScape Post #20: Desert City Art Review and New Beginnings Review
MechScape Post #19: Cultural Differences: How they might affect MechScape
MechScape Post #18: The Economy of an MMORPG
MechScape Post #17: Influences on MechScape
MechScape Post #16: MechScape Moderation
MechScape Post #15: The MechScape Environment II
MechScape Post #14: The Community of MechScape
MechScape Post #13: Codename MechScape
MechScape Post #12: The Importance of Music to MechScape as a Game
MechScape Post #11: How MechScape Will Appeal to an Older Demographic
MechScape Post #10: "Dynamic" Combat in MechScape

Footnotes
Contributors: Ed5, Ren(Content Research Team); mike470, Pipinowns, Xela, Zepherusbane(Writing & Editing Team).
Disclaimer: The views expressed by members of staff do not necessarily represent the view of MechScape World.

I must say that it was a very interesting read. I've always enjoyed reading your articles!

I was disappointed in your Average excitement number of our community, not even 8? Simply pathetic by us ha, we need to increase that.

I enjoyed reading your article, very informative, from your perspective and the article itself was very smooth and easy on the eyes and brain, well at the same time conveying a clear message. We all have to point out the obvious sometimes to get the point across to those who fail to acknowledge it.

Also, for those members who have been here for quite a while, for example a year or more and are still waiting, I can understand if they're a little moody about waiting and waiting. I've only been here since late April and the wait isn't affecting me too much. I log onto the forums to talk about the game and other things and give my input on what I think the game will be like. We all have our opinions and people are obviously different like you said. I'd very much like to see how different the forums and community are going to be once the game itself is actually released.

Edit:

He only has 1 other Article that's a MS Editorial. If not, feel free to correct me.

^

Pipin has another MSP, an article-type thing called "Can we just pretend that I have a girlfriend" and he's working on another IIRC.

That was a great article Pipin! I guess I could consider myself a lurker. I had lurked on these forums for months before I decided to actually join and contribute on February. I guess a lot more people are doing this as well, but are instead waiting for MechScape to launch in order to join and contribute. Hey, I'm an optimist for big communities, and I hope new members join so that this "Great MechScape World" can even become a greater one. :)

Well this is the earliest post I have gotten on an editorial. I myself really enjoyed reading this wonderfully wacky piece of literature. Just one question remains. What came first? The Chicken, The Egg or MechScape World?

~Brad

The Egg - Source

Great article, Pipinowns! I'm going to make a great arc when the mechscape flood comes along and put one of every pre-mechscape member in it.

I don't think I've ever been a lurker. The minute I heard about mechscape I searched it up on google and your site was the first that came up, so i visited it, read a couple of topics, and joined on that same day.

Excuse me but I believe no mere mortal may answer that question...

WE MUST QUESTION THE EVIL CHICKEN!!! CREATER OF EGG!!! CREATER OF KFC!!! THIS OMNIPOTENT FIGURE OF A HEN/COCKREL WILL KNOW!!!

~Brad

P.S. I just realised. Only Hens lay eggs. Does the Evil Chicken lay eggs? Perhaps this is another great mystery for the infamous Chicken Farmer your source refered to!

I guess I will state the obvious and say "great article!"

I can relate with almost everything you said.


QFT

I have gone from being very optimistic and eager about MS when I joined to just plain old depressed now. Lately I've been getting more and more impatient and irritated with Jagex on every little thing. The latest being the content testing thing that Jagex is doing with the 11-16 year olds.

I was pretty miffed at the general information vacuum prior to the music/desert art/"very soon" quotes, but I can see myself lapsing back in to miffedness if we don't start seeing a slightly larger trickle of teaser treats heading this way. C'mon Jagex, you know you can loosen up just a teeny tad!!

SleepyMatt

For the record I consider myself an Uber-lurker. Man, I even lurked for two or three months before I became a registered lurker. It's a real challenge keeping my post-count so low....

Pretty much this.

(For the record) I've known of MechScape since Jagex first TM'd the name and have been fascinated and frustrated by it ever since (mostly the latter (release some more information you pretentious muppets, I know you're reading this)).

An article about the existentialism of MSW, pipin? :P

lol, deep. well-crafted.


This part confused me. While the rest of your article seemed to be about.. I dunno, vaguely, what is real and true about everything, purpose and reasons.... this part seemed to be about perception, yet you spoke of it like truth. This community is not in our computers, it SEEMS to be in our monitors because that's how we view it, instead of our real eyes to see the community directly, together, physically, as a localized group. The community it OUTSIDE of our computers, spread out over vast distances. Instead of us all standing around in a public, Roman Forum, talking about Mechscape, we're far away, buy still communicating due to our technology.

so i wans't sure what your point was with that.


I found it interesting how you worded this because it sounds a lot like something I realized about a year ago, just a little thought; it was nothing groundbreaking or important that made much difference to me.

and what was with all those random quotes at the beginning? and most say "-pipinowns" after them. What? are you praising yourself on your own article or something?

Interesting article. I must say though that it was quite long, but it was still good.

Your calculation however, with the 7.736 average is bias. The fact the study took place on a fansite directly related to the cause of the survey skewed the results, but there isn't really a medium to attain proper statistics at this time so I'm not sure how else you would have managed.

I would also consider myself a seasoned loafer, lol. I visit MSW every single day I am on my computer, which is about every day but your right, I don't always post and when I do it's usually here or there. I myself am more about community though. I love community and I love to see how this community functions. I was really upset that I missed the latest community event, but I would love to participate in the next one, and if possible, help to organize an event the users of MechScape World want - meaning it's totally their agenda, their events, their time, their everything meaning not many get left out. This as worked well for me before (I organized an event on the Wiki which had close to 100 registrants) so I'm definitely interested in setting something up here if the community will allow me to. As a fansite with a relationship with Jagex, I think we should take advantage of their involvement and also see if they want to get involved in such an event - I think their new CM team would be interested.

Anyways, nice article.

I agree entirely with you. It is just plain irritating. Yeah, concept art is nice... for about 10 minutes until you remember that it's CONCEPT art and still doesn't tell you really anything about the game other than it's in space.

I was really pumped at first as it was meant to be out in Q1. Need I say more? After over a year of waiting with only concept art to go by, I've lost my enthusiasm.

Thank you everyone for the comments/contributions. I really appreciate them



This was a smart ass response to the "Where Are We Now?" question, which was obviously one of the key questions in the article, so I assumed readers would be quite interested in seeing exactly how I'd answer this, but instead it was stalled somewhat by three smart ass paragraphs, which I felt would fit in well with the other humorous themes in the article.



I have seen this used a few times before. The most widely known place I saw this was on Stephen Colbert's novel "I Am America (And So Can You!)", where he humorously put a quote that praised his book, then put "-Stephen Colbert" under it, revealing that this quote came from the writer himself. Being a fan of Colbert, and a fan of making various references that nobody is going to pick up on, I decided to do this.

Basically, this type of joke is poking fun at the product, suggesting that nobody else gave a positive critique on it, so the maker had to do it themselves. These kind of jokes even further poke fun at the product by the fact that even the worst movies and book have at least one positive line on them from any random critic.

I felt like this would be a creative and successful way to introduce myself, introduce the article and it's purpose, and suggest what the article would be like, all at the same time. And hey, it's also a Colbert reference!



Well, it's supposed to be biased. The article isn't about the MechScape community, it's about the MechScape World community, so since the study took place on this site, it is accurate for how this site feels about the game.

I've ultimately lost my excitement for Mechscape.

u write very good :)

it's enteresting.

Pipin, can you adjust my vote for total enthusiasm down a 3 points?

i suppose their going to stall us with a slow flow of concept art and goodies for while buying as much time they can before we get very angry :/

We are a cult community by defention aha

just the way i think.

i just wanna forget about mechscape and msw.

and get surprised when it comes out.

btw, how do we make a picture to the left of our posts?

i uploaded some pictures to a personal pic or something. but nothing happens.

never asked before because i thought it was too nooby to ask. but whatever. its just internet. so anonymous.

i can't wait for mechscape to come out! =P

ive been a lurker till this very moment lol.

What is this article. What's its purpose, and how can I get more of it?

Everybody joined this community in the first place for (problary) more news about Mechscape, and just to talk about it. Atleast I did

This mechscape post made me want to join MSWorld. I have been one of those lurkers for about 9 months probably... just watching the front page for more news articles and MSPosts. But this one made me think about how it is also a community and how I can get the community aspect that I missed from Runescape and then apply it to Mechscape.

Another reason for me joining is that I was a Premier member of the massive IPBoard LEGO Bionicle forum BZpower for like 3 years.... and it was an amazing experience. My mind was triggered by your excellently written article to think back on all the friends I made and all the moments I have missed out on now that I left that community.... Maybe I can pick that back up here and make something equally as awesome as my old Community Forums experience was.

~Aslancsc

When I signed up I just started posting, later I became a lurker :-) now I'm just between those things hehe

I loved this article. I was a lurker all this time, and your article wants me to be more involved in this community. I mean, I am excited over Mechscape whenever it shall release. Even if we know very little about it. It's the concept art and the audio that was release and posted here on MechscapeWorld that makes me jaw drop in amazement.

That was a great read about our small community. I must say I'm a lurker, because despite been a cool community, we are small. And very little happens in terms of big, new things. So I come on when there are new posts, interesting topics, etc. But once the mechscape rush happens, the game is released and we get more members, you'll slowly see my post count clock up the 4-digit numbers

Not going to lye, this kind of stuff puts me off reading your articals as you tend to repeat your self and it can cause a brain headache but never the less it was an over all decent read.