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August 11, 2009 14:03
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On the way to lunch today, I queried two collegues about <a | |
href="http://www.eveonline.com/">Eve Online</a>, their favourite way to spend | |
evenings and weekends: | |
<code> | |
<masak> So, are people confused by all the detail when they first | |
join?<br> | |
<jonalv> Of course.<br> | |
<masak> And how do you... handle that? How do you make it easy and fun | |
for people to get up to speed?<br> | |
<jonalv> Well, people tend to find the fun in it themselves. As to | |
getting up to speed, they simply have to start in one end and unwind the whole | |
thing.<br> | |
<Gpox> It <em>is</em> complicated. There are occasional jokes about the | |
<a href="http://upload.0x1011.org/files/LearningCurve.jpg">learning curve</a> | |
involved.<br> | |
<jonalv> Nowadays people have the wiki to help them get started as | |
well. There wasn't one when I joined.<br> | |
</code> | |
I think the parallels to the Perl 6 community are so clear that I don't even | |
need to point them out. | |
I'm sure there are many differences between multiplayer online games, but the | |
social dynamics seem very similar to what we have over at | |
<code>#perl6</code>. Which brings me to today's thesis: | |
<em>The Perl 6 community has the structure of a MMORPG.</em> | |
We have just as much fun, and — what's perhaps more important — | |
the bits we're putting together won't end up being owned by Blizzard | |
Entertainment or CCP Games. Instead, we're building something that we | |
ourselves and others will find directly useful during a large part of our | |
lifetimes. I'm not out to devalue online multiplayer roleplaying games, just | |
pointing out that there's perhaps an extra dimension to the acheivement we get | |
to feel in the Perl 6 community. | |
Just for the heck of it, let's take the analogy one step further. | |
Ahem. | |
So, you want to join the Perl 6 community? If so, congratulations! You're | |
about to embark on a quest that will seriously impact your day life, your | |
habits and your sleep patterns. You will be building things, fighting unknown | |
dangers, and communicating with your peers in order to make sure people are | |
maximizing the benefit to the team and to the quest. | |
Here are the different classes you might want to occupy: | |
<b>Warrior</b> | |
One who actually fights the creatures out there, who braves new, possibly | |
lethal dangers every day. In short: a Perl 6 application writer. | |
Being a warrior requires <i>strength</i> (you will have to hit the keyboard a | |
lot when writing all the code, and the code will mercilessly hit you | |
back... often), some <i>dexterity</i> (because working around known bugs | |
requires adaptability) and perhaps a bit of <i>charisma</i> (should you want | |
to collaborate with people, it's good to be pleasant). | |
We're currently on the lookout for warriors, so if you think you have it in | |
you, be sure to stop by #perl6 and help us equip you for the perilous quest | |
you have before you. | |
<b>Mage</b> | |
The mage is important for the group, but doesn't put himself in the way of | |
direct danger like the warrior. Instead, they perform vital tasks with their | |
hands at a safe distance. In the Perl 6 world, mages submit bug tickets, write | |
tests and answer newbie questions on the #perl6 channel. | |
Being a mage requires <i>intelligence</i> (because their job is mainly to | |
increase the collective knowledge of the group), <i>constitution</i> (because | |
it's a lot of work) and perhaps a bit of <i>charisma</i> (so we don't bite the | |
newbies). | |
I must say that I admire the mages. The impressing thing isn't in the magical | |
formulae themselves, which are individually quite basic. The impressing thing | |
is that their mana doesn't seem to run out. moritz++ and KyleHa++ especially | |
come to mind. I'm sure there are slots for a few more mages too. | |
<b>Priest</b> | |
In the flurry of activity during a quest, the priests are the ones who call | |
down miraculous favours from the gods in the form of new features in our | |
implementations. The priests know some pretty hefty incantations, but speak in | |
codes (like "Haskell", "Parrot" or "Lisp") so that us mere mortals can only | |
stand by in admiration when they get going. | |
Being a priest requires <i>wisdom</i> (because, hey, you're implementing a | |
compiler), <i>intelligence</i> (in figuring out how to fix the bugs and still | |
pass the test suite), and <i>constitution</i> (because it's a lot of work). | |
Learning to be a priest looks nigh-impossible, but our priests assure us that | |
there's actually not much to it. And the rewards are of course enormous: you | |
get to have an incantation of yours immortalized in millions of installations | |
around the world. | |
<b>Healer</b> | |
Some people are in the group to make sure the group is doing well, and that | |
no-one is critically low on hit-points. Discussions can sometimes get heated | |
or sharp, by which point we're very glad to have the people around who are | |
specially trained to see beyond the ego and help us focus on the important | |
parts of the picture. We simply need to be reminded at times, that we're (as | |
S01 expresses it) "a bunch of ants all cooperating (sort of) to haul food | |
toward the nest (on average)". We don't need to agree always on everything, | |
but keeping the group coherent is important, and healers do their magic in the | |
background to help us with that. | |
Being a healer requires <i>wisdom</i> (to know where and when to intervene), | |
<i>intelligence</i> (to know to pick the right soothing words), and plenty of | |
<i>charisma</i> (to get it across that <code>-Ofun</code> is what we're | |
optimizing for). | |
I think many people jump in as healers now and then during our quest, but we | |
also have one permanently employed high-level healer among us. TimToady++. | |
<b>Archer</b> | |
As for long-distance influence, and reaching outside of our own circles, the | |
archer fills the important role of blogging, tweeting, iron-manning and | |
generally making a positive noise about Perl 6, which can reach people far | |
away. | |
Being an archer requires <i>strength</i> (again, typing is hard, and | |
commenters/other bloggers might shoot back at you), and <i>dexterity</i> (you | |
need to be fluid in expressing yourself). Having <i>intelligence</i>, | |
<i>wisdom</i> and <i>charisma</i> — something I as a simple warrior | |
often find myself wanting more of in my blogging — is not a necessity, | |
but sure helps in getting your point across. | |
<b>In conclusion: LFA, n00bs?</b> | |
The Perl 6 community is on a pretty awesome quest. If you'd like to enter as | |
one of the above classes, you're sure to find your place as a productively | |
contributing members. Filling several roles is perfectly fine too, but | |
people tend to find their specialties and favourites. | |
As to when we'll be "done", who knows? When is an MMORPG "done"? All we know | |
is the quest we're on until April is our most ambitious yet, and that it's | |
guaranteed to be an interesting set of months on #perl6 until then. |
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