Neonir
Posts: 118
8/3/2016
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Now lemme preface this, of course, with my saying that Bizarre is in no way a bad thing. I mean, for one, it lets you get notability easier, which is always a plus.
But It is most definitely unusual.
I have been here for...well, somewhere around...well I started playing in late April at some point if I recall, so it's just a tad shy of four months.
And since then I have lurked and occasionally participated in various community engagements, on and off.
And I have witnessed....well, some peculiar things. Most notably the way the community kind of...revolves?
I would be willing to wager Fallen London's community is one of the most stable I have ever encountered. Many, if not the majority of the people I see here have been playing this game, and participating in this community for what may as well be eons. They've carved out a nook in this, and many other community based websites and they're bunkered down for the long haul.
Because of this, there also seems to be a lot of...recgonition. Many of you have accomplished your own desired feats, shared content and have participated various forms of hijinks, and many of the other people, who similarly have been here long enough to witness it, remember the fact. There is an enormous amount of familiarity, and in some cases, a players actions will be so extensive, that they will reach near celebrity status. (The big players in the Eaten content sit quite happily in this basket) And not only will many players recognize them, but it will be expected that if their name is mentioned, others will recognize it in turn. The mods, admins and even game developers also seem to join in, with similar levels of familiarity, to the point where traditions developed to send rats en mass to Alexis for the explicit purpose of "slightly bothering him".
Now, this is occasionally seen in other, but what strikes me as astounding, is that despite the fact that it has a very sedentary userbase based on large amounts of familiarity and common understanding; it strikes me as lacking the cliquey nature that leads to communities feeling closed off and unapproachable.
When I originally entered into the forums, I noticed very little of what I am now describing, the majority of posts seem to be on point and functional. It's only when you dig into one of those threads, that you can excavate the raw untamed intimacy of a community that has had years of bonding time shared throughout tiny fleeting moments of friendly connection spread through thousands of posts in hundreds of threads.
......Or I might be imagining the whole thing and am just overthinking what is actually just basic friendly communication.
Side note: DAMN WHAT AN APPROPRIATE TIME FOR A 100th POST!!
edited by Neonir on 8/3/2016
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http://fallenlondon.storynexus.com/Profile/Lord%20Gregory
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NiteBrite
Posts: 1019
8/4/2016
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Don't give all the credit to the game alone. We do get our share of bad eggs every now and then if you can believe it. The community is made great by its stewards as well. Shout out to the folks who work hard out there every day to make our community great like Fred and Sara, the forums mods. Hannah and Haley, the social media crew. Me and Spacemarine9, the IRC crew. Cammy and Theresa, the discord crew. And don't forget that this is all made possible by participating community members like you :-)
edited by NiteBrite on 8/4/2016
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I AM currently accepting calling cards.
Stats loss counter: reset, irrigo equivalent: none
[00:34] <@ortab> NiteBrite's laugh is that of a condemned soul gazing into the abyss.
Merciless Modiste avatar by Paul Arendt (based on an original image by Joe England)
http://fallenlondon.storynexus.com/Profile/TheBriteModiste
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Pnakotic
Posts: 266
8/3/2016
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Well, by it's very nature Fallen London does a few things that are fairly unusual in gaming:
- Players advance by progressing a written story, so the game is more literate than purely click-happy.
- While players can achieve a wide range of personal goals, this isn't a game that's "won" or "lost" so much as a journey that's enjoyed.
- While the gameplay is not generally challenging, certain mechanics aren't obvious and finding some things can be challenging. This gives players who explore obsessively or love unraveling mechanics an opportunity to contribute to the community, since not everything is laid out cut and dried.
- Gameplay is mostly non-competitive, ergo there's little incentive to hoard resources or knowledge, or develop animosities with other players. No one player's style of gameplay can inhibit any other player's progress or choice of gameplay (unless they voluntarily opt into it via social actions, K&C, etc.)
- There's no way to really "rush" through the game (though there are more optimal approaches to certain goals), and the volume of content and limited pace of gameplay encourage players to stick around for at least a year (or more likely 2-3) to play through the content.
So with a game that's more attractive to the literate and curious than people looking for something to "win" at, and where there's no particular incentive towards knowledge-hoarding or ruleset-lobbying, where griefing opportunities don't really exist, most of the things that encourage communities to turn toxic just don't exist.
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J. Ward Dunn, Glassman
Book of All Hours 9:99: Journey's end in lover's meeting. Progress is ascendancy.
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Diptych
Administrator
Posts: 3493
8/4/2016
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We're not just bizarre - we're -Echo- Bizarre!
Okay, but seriously, you guys are great. Keep on being you.
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Sir Frederick, the Libertarian Esotericist. Lord Hubris, the Bloody Baron.
Juniper Brown, the Ill-Fated Orphan. Esther Ellis-Hall, the Fashionable Fabian.
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Arandia
Posts: 127
8/3/2016
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I very much agree that the FL community is very special, and I very much enjoy being here. While I admittedly do not contribute much to the forums as I feel a bit hindered by my less-than-perfect grasp of the English language, I love reading what you all are writing. Even though I have only been playing since June last year, I have had great fun learning all about former times in Fallen London too, be it by reading old forum entries or blogs by shining personalities such as NiteBrite and Spacemarine9.
So, with the risk of sounding quite a bit soppy: I am truly happy to have found, and descended to, Fallen London. Erm. And now back to stabbing, lying and carousing with devils.
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Arandia van Graeff, Midnighter and crazy cat lady: http://fallenlondon.storynexus.com/Profile/Arandia
Horace Glendower, a Seeker: http://fallenlondon.storynexus.com/Profile/Horace%20Glendower
Looking for plant battles!
Always happy to partake in social actions. No Affluent Photographer, no chess and no coffee invitations, please!
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Neonir
Posts: 118
8/3/2016
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I honestly think a large part of it is also because of the way the nature of the game pans out the further in you get.
When you first start, it's actually remarkably fast paced. It's fairly involved and you go from one wild activity to the next with little regard for what's going on.
But as you go on, and get more invested in the game, hoo boy does it slow down. It becomes a fairly passive and casual grind, interlaced with occasional bonus stories and little tangents as people work on whatever goal they have at the time.
As a result, a lot of these people, as they do their casual grinds, look to the forums to find other people who are having more complex issues in the game, or maybe just share their grinding experiences/achievements. This leads to a userbase of a lot of long term players with huge long term goals exploring the forums looking for whatever, wherever. These are people with a wealth of knowledge, a large amount of time spent on the forums and a desire to experience more fallen london stories while they make their way through the less interesting parts of their own stories.
Thus: Helpful, genuinely interested, long term and consistant users prowling around on the forums on a regular basis.
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http://fallenlondon.storynexus.com/Profile/Lord%20Gregory
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BlabberingMat
Posts: 385
8/3/2016
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There is also the fact that there is a specific kind of people that this game attracts. This is sort of content that either grabs your attention in the first five days, and never lets go, or you lose your interest very soon. Patience, litteracy, love for the period and mythology, exploration, theories of conspiracy and everything that is not mundane in general...those are some of the traits that most of the community posess, no matter where we come from.
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Alt-Lana Loter
Main-Always Drunk Slav
"To see a world in a grain of sand, and Heaven in wild flowers.
To hold an infinity in palm of hand and Eternity in an hour”
Finally, I am Crooked Cross! Feel free to send invitations for Salon!
As of June 5th, 1895, I am London's newest Legendary Charisma!
The current progress in Mega Soul Grind: 53727/1 639 121 Souls
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An Individual
Posts: 589
8/3/2016
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Fallen London is kind of a bizarre game to start with. Text based and narrative driven, it's fueled by curiosity and rewards patience. Themes of passion and love are woven throughout the game and it's nice to see those themes reflected in the community that's grown around it.
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An Individual's Profile
The RNG giveth and the RNG taketh away.
Goat Farming or Cider Brewing? This browser extension may help.
Want a Cider sip? Please refer to this guide before requesting.
Scholaring the Correspondence? A Brief Guide to Courier's Footprint.
Contemplating Oblivion? First Steps on the Seeking Road.
Gone NORTH? Opened the gate? Throw your character in a well.
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Morucant
Posts: 184
8/7/2016
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Yeah, this game attracts unique people. You can't go into the history of the community for more than a minute without uttering the words "oh my god, I wish I was there."
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Morucant, who was once called Scholar of the Name.
Good for Chess, Sparring, Caligula's, and perhaps Midnighter lectures at Orphanages.
Uilx-Magnus, who truly loved...to Hate.
October is as unpredictable as wildfire and twice as dangerous. Don't ask his real name.
He has seen Hallowmas, now he will stay silent no more.
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Vortigaunt
Posts: 51
8/4/2016
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I've been here for about a year now, and I agree, it is truly very Bizarre. Just earlier this week, I was honored to have the privilege of being beaten in a sparring bout by the famous NiteBrite after I made a few inadvisable boasts on tumblr. Needless to say, my character learned a little something about humility.
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http://fallenlondon.storynexus.com/Profile/Vortigaunt
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A Dimness
Posts: 613
8/3/2016
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I'd like to add to that that an immense amount of people here share similar interests. I can't name many specifics, but I was delighted to find out a shared knowledge and love for and of several games, artists, and pieces of literature, communities, etcetera. I'm nearly always a lurker, but I really got drawn in by the community.
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A truth so strange it can only be lied into existence
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phryne
Posts: 1351
8/3/2016
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I feel exactly the same: this is one of the more unusual communities on the web, but unusual only in good ways 
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Accounts: Bag a Legend • Light Fingers • Heart's Desire • Nemesis • no ambition
Exceptional Stories, sorted by Season and by writer ― Favours & Renown Guide
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Emain Ablach
Posts: 348
8/3/2016
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I like seeing these kind of posts. It's true FL community is quite weird. People help each other, they are polite and friendly, very creative, and the admins/devs are present and easy to reach.
I'm happy to be part of it, and always have a little smile when I see a player talking about it like you do. We're lucky. :')
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Went NORTH. Got salted. Never came back. We won't remember him.
https://www.fallenlondon.com/profile/Emain%20Ablach
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Shadowcthuhlu
Posts: 1557
8/3/2016
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I have to admit, it was one of the most welcoming communities I've participated in. Which isn't many admittedly, I usually just lurk.
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https://www.fallenlondon.com/profile/Dirae%20Erinyes. Closed to calling cards, but open for all other social action. I also love to roleplay.
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Amelia Syrus
Posts: 626
8/3/2016
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I agree. The community here is far more welcoming and full of such warmth than most I tend to visit or even lurk.
Also happy 100th post! What a nice reflection to have for the 100th.
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Amelia Syrus: A Drunken Thief For Hire.
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Swinging Dove
Posts: 24
8/4/2016
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I only recently joined, and after a mere week, I can honestly say that this is the best community I've ever seen. I very much hope it stays this way!
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http://fallenlondon.storynexus.com/Profile/Ron%20Morrison
Just who is Ronald?
Accepting all invitations and the like. Do come and get acquainted!
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Zero
Posts: 136
8/4/2016
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The FL community remembers me of many little RP communities I was in - usually play-by-post games, inhabited by 30-40 players at maximum, all very close and friendly. The fact that a fandom as big as FL can have the same atmosphere of those little games truly is amazing.
I think it's just that this type of literary games attract a very definite kind of people - the kind of people that just want to sit, read books and be nice with each other. Hell, we even took a personality test and almost everyone got the same result.
So yeah, basically thanks everyone for existing and being lovely.
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SEND ME CHESS AND I SHALL RECIPROCATE
Daniel Ember - Once a doctor. Now something else.
My Twine games
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Myrto
Posts: 209
8/5/2016
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Funny you should have posted this because I was thinking along the same lines just this morning. Actually, I was marveling that the forum here is what I wish all online forums could be: literate, respectful, helpful, and funny. Many thanks to all the moderators and participants for your help in keeping this forum such a nice place to visit.
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Myrto, a mysterious veteran spy who is only on their own side. Married to navchaa!
Edith Alpha Doyle, social climber with grand ambitions; Correspondent who would be happy to assist you in whatever way she can.
, teenage orphan who came to the Neath to pursue a career in crime; monster-hunter. Currently on the Seeking road.
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Ben
Posts: 657
8/5/2016
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I shall admit, without hesitation that I tend to be the quiet one.
If I posted, most places I'd just be asking blunt, to the point, mechanical questions.
This is one of those excellent places that has drawn me to speculation and deep thought, and for that I will always be thankful.
... before that, for me, it was glitch.
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The wind has no destination.
http://fallenlondon.storynexus.com/Profile/IcountFrom0
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