Dating in Wizard101

Before the fanfic begins (as that's how I address ALL of the issues I find in game) I want to take a moment to commend Autumn Duskhunter and Kestrel Shadowthistle (Comments in THIS post and the body of THIS post.) for inspiring me to write a portion of this in verse.

Dating in Wizard101 is causing mayhem in game.  It's getting a bit better since filtered chat has had the use of capital letters removed.  And here we go.

--------------------

Upon waking the following morning and realizing my friend was gone already, I made my way for the door.  As I was about to ascend the spiral stairs leading to the surface, I heard the distinct sound of a knock on my World Gate.  I headed out into the bright desert surface above and answered my door.  A pair of wizards were holding hands, giggling and smiling at me and asked if I had a double room.  Repulsed, I responded that this is a game, not reality.  When they continued to ignore me and giggle I opened up into rhyme.

This spiral is a wonderful place,

To come and play at your own pace.

Begin, though, to date,

And soon you will hate,

Logging in without seeing their face.

Dating online can be bad, 

It doesn't make you look rad.

Even though it's not fair,

You'll end pulling your hair.

Because Reports will likely be had.

Get out of my house you fools,

This hotel surely has rules.

The boys cannot stay,

With a girl anyway,

Now get back to Ravenwood School.

There's a reason you live in the dorms,

Boys and girls in separate form.
Now get on to class,
Or start cutting my grass,
Before the oncoming storm.

Something I said must've sunk in on some level, at least, because they dropped hands and turned on the spot, teleporting back to Wizard City as I had directed them.  

I ran back downstairs, grabbed my shiny Lifeforce Blade, and made my way to the spiral door for myself; stopping only briefly to untie Pierre the lobster and take him with me.

--------------------

So as the limericks stated, dating in game is bad.  A lot of players report others [falsely] for dating.  The "I need a boy" or "I need a girl" comments in the commons are getting very out of hand.  Kevin Battleblood tweeted the following phrase that he saw in the commons on day: "Are? You? Cheating? On? Me????".  This has got to stop.

And there you have it.  Another in-game advice article courtesy ala John.  I'll be moving a copy of this to the fanfic tab immediately so that you may read it in full!

In other news, Eggbert is back in the Spiral and he brought Pet Eggs with him!  These first generation beauties all seem to be getting Snowborn rather early.  For those of you who don't know, Snowborn is a talent that places one Blizzard card into your deck *Thank you to Sorceress Miklai for the catch!*

Your Friend Always,

John Lifeglen

Duel Courtesy (Another Lesson Via Fanfic!)

Hello sports fans and welcome to another exciting...whoops...wrong intro. 

Greetings, Wizards of the Spiral!, and welcome to Through the Eyes of a Sorcerer!  If this is your first visit, feel free to look around and thanks for coming in, if you're a returning guest...WHY? Just kidding ;) After my last piece of fictional writing based around teleportation which can be found either HERE as a single or HERE as a piece of my serialized work (clicky or clicky by the way...) I received a comment suggesting a couple of topics to carry on with.  I see today as a wonderful time to continue with my story of inter-personal communications and relations in the spiral and beyond.  Today's topic, as you might have concluded from the title, involves battle courtesy (and I'm not talking PvP here, that's a segment for another time!).  Let's begin, shall we?

--------------------

Since my friend and I had enjoyed such a lengthy conversation regarding asking before teleporting, I was wide awake again regardless of the lack of rest.  I invited my friend to come with me into the Grotto to wail on a few sharks in an attempt to snag my Shark Jumper badge.  Only being a few sharks away (3 to be exact) I headed off and he followed, so now only one battle would be necessary.  Because he was life and I am balance, I asked ever so politely if he would mind healing me and I would perform the beat down. 

He happily agreed and we approached the first mammoth sized shark we could see (Due to the underwater nature of the Grotto I summoned my shark Bruce to my aid rather than seeing Mufasa in pain) and summoned a battle circle so that we may channel our powers properly.  I had equipped my short deck since it was meant to be a quick fight and my friend had on a deck designed specifically for healing purposes.  Everything was going great, Mister Zeus at my side giving me accuracy meant a lower chance of fizzling so I was confident in my ability to finish it quickly. 

Little did I know, we had someone behind us.  He jumped into the fight just as I summoned Ra to finish the job; my last attack spell even.  Upon joining our circle, a fourth shark joined into our battle.  No sweat, right?  I gave the person who joined the chance to kill as I was out of cards save for a couple of hits from my Spyglass. 

"Excuse me, but would you mind asking before you join a fight next time? We were just finishing up and I'm out of cards." I said, as politely as I could. 

He replied, "Nah, I do what I want to when I want to.  Just like this!" *Flee*

The conjurer had fled the match leaving me with only two puny hits and a theurgist who was set to heal rather than battle.  Our only choice, in that situation, was to flee after him.  We ended up fighting a second battle after the forced flee to get my badge.  Later, in thanks for his help regardless of the minor hiccup in the fight earlier, I invited my friend to stay the night in the room of his choice at Lifeglen Hotel and I stayed in the Kimono Club Suite, too tired to trek all the way back home.  After fleeing, my magic was barely enough to get me to the Hotel, getting back to the Manor would have been incredibly difficult.  Out of potions and low on mana thanks to the flee-er, it was the best I could scrounge up.

--------------------

As you can see, joining battles without asking is a problem in the spiral.  Many players prefer speedy kill decks these days as opposed to the more traditional pack-in-everything-you-can-plus-the-kitchen-sink model.   I farm with a short stack most of the time.  Joining a battle and then fleeing immediately is just cruel, and it's bad manners to boot.  Asking to join battles is always the safe bet, and becomes more necessary the further you go from Wizard City. 

Let me know if you have any great ideas on future fanfics!  Know that I currently have drafts of a PvP courtesy and "dating" in the spiral on the way!

Your Friend Always,
John Lifeglen

PS. I have a new poll up on the sidebar, and a Wizard101 Facebook account now!  Check out John Lifeglen after you vote!!

Unwelcomed Teleports

Greetings Spiralites, and welcome to another exciting installment of Through the Eyes of a Sorcerer. Today's feature presentation includes yet another fanfic meant to educate youngsters (and some older players, too...) about some important issues in the spiral.

--------------------

I wake abruptly from my slumber in Lifeglen Manor to the vibrant colors of a teleport mere minutes after drifting off from a lengthy day of library research.


 "What the heckhound is going on??" I ask to the person who dropped in unannounced.  They reply with a weak "sorry" and immediately jump into a long winded tale about how Malistaire is actually alive and remarried to Morganthe.  Please! 

Finally, rather grumpily (as I am NOT a person to deal with immediately after I get out of bed...), I ask the person "What do you think you are doing? Dropping into my home at hours that no normal wizard keeps, and starting in on a tirade about Malistaire and Morganthe secretly raising Dworgyn after rescuing him from a clocktower in France.  Goodness, haven't you heard of "knocking" first?  There's this marvelous feature called a Whisper that lets you reach me before porting...and everyone wonders why I never leave my teleportation locator turned on!"  My friend and I then had a LONG talk about teleporting after receiving approval.
--------------------

I, for one, prefer to be asked before dropped in on unless I happen to be in a publicly accessible area that is not combat based.  For instance, if someone drops in on me at the Bazaar, in the Shopping District, Celestia Base Camp, the Commons (though WHY would anyone EVER go there unless it was to sprint through at top speeds?!?), Pet Pavillion, etc, I'm fine with it.  When someone lands on top of me in the Science Center as I'm offing some Aquabots with a 1-shot Ra when I have my short-stack on (short-stack is how I refer to my quick and easy short decks...in case you were wondering) then we have problems.  Also, housing is a touchy subject.  Some people only log in for long enough to tend a garden or drop a furniture item off, and some others really don't want their houses to be viewed before complete. 

Different people have different levels of privacy. The rule of thumb is to always ask before you port unless you are certain the party you are porting to is alright with it.

Moral is: Ask before you port (especially in private locations and combat areas). Establish "safe port areas" with your friends about where you can port to each other without asking.  That will make life easier on everyone!

I'll post this in the "fanfic" tab as well, check that out sometime if you haven't already!  If anyone has any ideas on future "Tips via fanfic", please let me know!

Your Friend Always,
John Lifeglen