Liberty Lives #11 Moondance, Duchess, Ansson, Zevern
Jun 22, 2018 4:43:02 GMT
arbanka, badgirl, and 5 more like this
Post by elfin on Jun 22, 2018 4:43:02 GMT
Welcome to LIBERTY LIVES # 11
Moondance - Mayor Duchess
Duchess lives in Manchester in the UK and Sklotopolis has become a big part of her life, she jokes that she is a vampire playing during the night. Her husband works and she cannot get out on her own. On Sklotopolis she has found her Wurm family.
While out hunting unicorns with Duchess we found some green ones near her deed. While we charmed four we discovered that we both had sight problems which affect how we play Wurm. For me it is short sightedness, for Duchess it is Macular Degeneration. Duchess finds that colors are hard to distinguish and she tires very quickly when Wurm night falls.
Duchess has played Wurmonline for years. She started playing around 2008. Becoming addicted quite early she played solidly for years until Wurm Unlimited was released. She instantly bought three copies, one for herself and one each for her grandsons.
They had been playing WOW and a couple of other games together before her Wurm Unlimited purchase. Her happiness at the purchase was soured a little when the game was put on sale at half price the following week.
Two more PC's were added to her computer room. Then Duchess and her two grandsons logged into the first Wurm Unlimited server on the list and have been playing ever since.
They made three deeds adjoining each other and played for a few months before taking a break. It is only recently that they have returned. The game lacks some of the excitement of some other games the boys play.
Duchess: "They want to gain three levels a day and do molten core type dungeons where everything is frantic.
"Well, I like it just as it is, since developing my eye condition it's about the only game that's friendly to me. I can alter text and menus etc. and that's great for me.
"I mean, a big thing for me is the vusyomoxability, if that's a word. Also the mods. I have one to set the time of day so it's never dark and never winter. When there is snow I can't play at all, as it dazzles me and hurts.
"It's the customization of text etc. and the mods - all that keeps me able to play really."
Elfin: "Why the deed name Moondance?"
Duchess: "It's a Van Morrison song title. I also like to just be able to sit and think while watching my animals and the grass grow and hearing the birds sing. You don't need to DO anything if not in the mood, but can still be here just watching the Wurm World go by."
We both reflected on the beauty of the Wurm game. The views, watching the foals skip.
Duchess entered the Sklotopolis portal with Ansso and Zevren, arriving in Haven. They travelled south quite a way and deeded on the coast by a lake. Sharing the one deed for a while until Ansso and Zevren decided to make their own deeds nearby. They settled there because it was beautiful and out of the way of most players. They loved it and were excited. They settled in an area where no one else was so if they decided to go on a mad forest leveling spree no other players would be affected.
Shortly after founding their deeds the family took a short break and when they returned they found that Zevren's deed has been taken over by Canal Project. A sign was left saying that supplies would be given to help reset up his deed. He was upset. However Duchess found a little place elsewhere for him and he made another small deed there, more of a beach house. He was a little happier when told that a bridge over the canal would be named after him as compensation.
It is the unexpected things that help make Wurm, such as the time Duchess' first HH was born and the name was Alexdancer (Ansso is called Alex). Duchess was so excited she ran into the pen to adore it and was promptly attacked. She killed it with one blow as she had forgotten to unequip her weapon. Now he is buried beneath an orange tree with a nice gravestone to mark the spot.
Duchess remembers the spiders of Wurmonline and how huge they were. She never left the village.
She has watched the game develop and cannot wait to be able to put a vase on her bedside table and lives in hope of curtains being introduced.
Duchess: "I remember when I first logged into WO I was taken aback by the blue outlines around everything and thought it must be a pretty rubbish game, so I logged out after a few minutes, then about a week later I logged in again, a nice person showed me how to make nails and I went out of the newbie town and built a fence and a 2x2 house. The nice person made me a forge and I found a pig and led it around everywhere I went.
"Later I joined a village called Small Bears, the name was changed to Free Bears later. I met some lovely people and stayed with that village, but always had my own bit of land somewhere.
"I didn't play for a long time because of my eye problem but my daughters bought me a 36" monitor. That's when I bought the three copies of WU. I bought it because I couldn't afford three lots of premium every month on WO. Otherwise I would have gone back to Free Bears. The other Free Bears must have been fed up of rescuing me from spiders anyhow.
"Do you remember the first hota statues? They used to walk around! Animated statues. We had a couple of bear ones, it was rather unnerving.
"Another thing we had was a lava spider in a one tile fence on top of a high pillar of dirt, we lured it there and locked it in, I think every one of us died a few times on the way. It was next to the water, like a big lighthouse.”
Duchess likes that things can be dyed two colors. The boat can be one color and the sail another whereas before it had to be the one color.
She really enjoys that Sklotopolis has a faster skill gain. It makes the game a lot more fun.
Zevren really enjoys the animal and plant related activities and was so delighted when he saw the unicorns hitched to the large cart. He now has a green cart with green unicorns. Ansso likes the mining and smithing skills.
Recently Duchess tried to take part in the HH scavenger hunt and spent a day looking only to discover that the wrong message had been running and she was a day early. She was thrilled when Karthannar gave her the one he found with her name.
She has found the Sklotopolis staff are always friendly and helpful. A short time ago her Hota got lost and Dominikk returned to her. This was so refreshing to her as on another Wurm Unlimited server the owner has shown no patience for players and the experience was bad. Leaving them feeling bullied. They left.
An event that they truly enjoyed was the Hunger Games.
Duchess: "I can still even manage events too, I love the events, it lets we poor useless peeps have a chance to get good items.
"We were doing an event, I think we were hunting for chests and they had PvP turned on. At the start we were faced with piles of items so we got bits of armor and a weapon or two then we had to run around the terrain finding chests. I had just found a chest and Iamyourfather came up behind, whacked me and pinched the chest. Zevren just happened to be outside the building and when father walked out....
"Zevren caught him by surprise and killed him. He was leaping around the room shouting 'That'll teach you to kill my grandma!'
"Anyway, Iamyourfather was highly embarrassed when I sent him a tell asking what it was like to be killed by a nine year old, he was laughing when I told him about the 'that'll teach you ..."
Later they all laughed about it. Those games were fun for them.
As I arrived for the Tour Duchess met me with a sad story.
Duchess: "We had a catastrophe earlier. I put three untamed bears in a pen and Zevren decided he was going to try taming a bit, he went in and tamed one and of course they tore each other to bits."
Another lesson most players can relate to.
The Tour
Duchess: "We only have this one deed between us now, I thought it was better as they don't come on so much. "Well, here is my house. It's nothing spectacular."
Elfin: “A hen in house?"
Duchess: "Oh, I've been looking for that, I forgot I was leading her earlier and forgot where I'd been.”
Duchess: "That will be the alchemy workshop and behind me will be the library. Everything's rather messy right now.”
Duchess: "This is my room.”
Duchess: "This is Zevren's room.”
Duchess: "This is for guests."
Duchess: "Need rugs etc."
Duchess: "There is the med garden.The love tile."
Duchess: “That's Ansso's house. Only just built it, so nothing inside yet. He likes mining."
Duchess: "That's supposed to be a wagon and cart park but nobody bothers! My grave is in there somewhere."
Duchess: "Up here is just a row of workshops and animal fields. Crop fields."
Duchess: "Hellhorses over here. Duchess over there in her new Barding."
Duchess: "That's about it, really. There's Zevren's tiny beach house and our sailboats.”
Duchess: "Nothing fancy inside though. When this one is a bit bigger I will make a workshop in there.”
I noticed a variety of transport and the pet wolf.
As I drove away I reflected on how special the relationship is between a grandparent and grandchildren and how precious the memories Duchess and her Grandsons were making while playing Wurm together. Doing things that was just not possible for them to do in real life. How privileged I was to gain a glimpse of memories in the making. Sklotopolis is much more than a game.
Thanks Duchess for showing me around your deed, for sharing the fun you, Zevern and Ansso have.
Reporter/Editor Elfin and team Elfin
Photographer Thaurissan
Special thanks to Tomservo for the original idea of Liberty Lives.
Reporter/Editor Elfin and team Elfin
Photographer Thaurissan
Special thanks to Tomservo for the original idea of Liberty Lives.
