*realizes how he's been advertising the wrong way all this time*

*finds a straw*

---

"Ain't nothin' left to do but smile, smile, smile." -The Grateful Dead

You mean to tell me this isn't the best dream I've ever had?!

But no, I don't have anyone to really talk about the Island to other than other players IRL. No one else I know of in my old friend groups would understand.

---

The wise and knowledgeable man is sure of it. Even the fool knows it. The rich man wants it. The greatest of heroes fears it. Yet the lowliest of cowards wo

I usually don't talk about it unless my housemates are wondering what I'm doing as I'm cracking up at a wall of text.

I try to explain that I've been sucked into a couch and am gamboling friskily with hoodies in a train station. Or that I'm trying to get rid of a lion so that I can eat my sandwich in peace.

They usually give me a blank look and then walk away.

I actually found the island after seeing an ad for it on Dominic Deegan. It looked so nonsensical that I clicked, read the homepage, and was hooked.

I tend to explain my clan's going ons. Most of the people I know who are interested are too tied up with other online games to join. The people I've talked to who are interested and aren't, tend to not stick around long, the internet's not their thing.

I'm on the "group writing project" train. Since my only actual friends happen to be Islanders themselves, I don't have to tell them a thing. It's when one of the normal people asks me what I do all day, or how I met these interesting people I know, or what have you, that I have to explain.

And "group writing project" makes me sound much less like a deranged loser than "I roleplay a furry on an island full of filthy, diseased midget whores and well-dressed men who want to inject you with strange chemicals! The object of the game is to have a giant evil computer explode in your face, and it doesn't even have any graphics!"

I love this place, by the way.

Hm. I'm not exactly sure how to answer this. *cracks fingers and neck before getting to work*

In all honesty, I don't try to explain the Island to people. The reasons why? You know that girl who looks super annoyed that you see walking through the mall, in heels, $300 jeans, a designer bag over her arm and Gucci sunglasses on her face? I have a secret. That's me.

And you know why she's annoyed? Because she's going to work instead of curled up at home with her eyes glued to a computer screen as she plays a MMORPG, a text-based game like this one, or anything else involving sneaky-sneakings and stabby-stabbings.

The handful of friends I have that know about the real me, not the label-obsessed work-addict you see about town, I don't have to bother explaining it to. They simply are like, "Oh, well, not my cup of tea. But sounds like fun."

... But I like this "group writing project" thing. It makes it sound legit and academic.


P.S. She's also pissed because her randomly-decided-to-be-slow internet connection makes it impossible to support her WoW habit.

Well, let's see, there have been four times I've tried to tell people about the Island.

Try 1: "It's an awesome game I found! It's a text based RPG game, where you run around an island, getting attacked by ridiculous creatures, trying to kill a giant computer which just won't die, but will send you back to the beginning again."
Friend: "A text-based RPG? Pfft, Bucky, you are such a nerd. Now, can we get back to our Magic: The Gathering game? I want to get this done as quickly as possible so that I can show Doug a video I made of my Halo game last night, and then my new WarHammer figurines."

Try 2: Same thing, but repeated EVERY time we talked, until...
Friend: "FINE! I'll try it already!"
Did for about... 10 minutes, then never again.

Try 3: Repeat try 2, only with more make-fun-of-me-while-doing-so.

Try 4: repeat try one on a friend who has played D & D and other such games before.
Friend: "Sure, I'll try it!"
A week later, Me: "So, how're you enjoying Improbable Island?"
Friend: "Enjoying what now?"


As for my family... they know I do something on the computer, but when I tried to explain it to my parents: "What? You're talking to strangers on the internet? They're trying to steal your ID, bank info, kidnap you, rawr rawr rawr, blahblahblah..." so now, when asked "What're you doing?" I reply "Oh, just talking to a friend from work/school/somewhere-else-they-don't know.

I don't tell people.

My mom found out a little bit about it and I got the "OMG! YOU ARE TALKING TO STRANGERS! THEY KNOW YOU LIVE IN ARIZONA! THEY WILL FIND YOU!" response. My mom is also convinced that every time I leave the door unlocked someone fires a flare gun to alert all the burglars and rapists to free loot and pillaging.

My friends are all into nerdy habits, but I think if I told them I'd still get that glazed eye look and then laughed at.

It is always hard though trying to explain why you are busy though. I've told my friends and family several times that I could not go out with them because I had a wedding to attend (on Island) and then they asked if it was fun, how was the reception, and why didn't I post any pictures on facebook? Which friends of mine got married? Oh dear.

I would like to though.

Actually I didn't know until just now Also I'm ironically going to miss an important wedding on the island because I'll be in Arizona. (Geekery is great, but conflicting geekery not so much.)

Exactly. My mom is slipping in age.

Enjoy the wedding! It's nice in AZ right now.

My parents are opposite. When I tell them I met people online through a text-based game, they just ask when you all are coming to visit.

Both my parents play Earth: 2025, and since I was young, we've had people coming from all over the world to stay with us. They've got a more lax view on internet security.

That's not to say I've got an open door policy... there's only two people from here so far I'd be comfortable inviting to visit.

Wow, earth:2025. I played that once, but Utopia, from the same creator, was more my thing. I've met a lot of cool people in there, both on- and offline.

---

http://maniak.cu.cc/

You also may have met the Arizona shooter - He used to play. He was in my mom's alliance 7 or 8 years ago, she kicked him out for being a creep... now she's talking to the FBI.

Most of my friends are either programmers or gamer nerds (or some lovely combination) so they are familiar with the Island or the idea of a text-based RPG already.

That said, they have told me to at least say "Guild" in public when I'm talking about clan stuff, so that nobody thinks I'm actually saying "Klan" as in KKK.

I think I remember that. I was that Stranger, Edith. I was your Internet Stranger.