I'm working on an article about librarians or teachers who are working in other fields due to the current economy. I'd love some input from teachers, media specialists, and librarians either in that situation, or who know someone in that situation. Also, feel free to contact me if you have opinions on the line of questions below.

What do you miss about the library/school?

Are you waiting to find a job in a library or school, or have you decided to stay in your new career field?

Do you think new graduates have a better chance at getting a teaching job than veteran teachers who would receive higher pay?

What do you want to share with new librarians or teachers entering the job market?

Any other comments about the topic are welcome. Thanks for any input!

Email me here

It took me a while to understand what people meant with the phrase, "Do not feed the trolls." I like to chat as I play. But, it was difficult for me to recognize when someone was trolling until long after I had responded to the bait. So I would often respond to comments that were actually just someone trolling, and would end up the victim of a flame war. Over the years, I have finally learned to recognize and deal with (or not deal with) the player who enjoys being the neighborhood troll.

Why trolls troll

The first thing you have to do is understand why a bully or troll does it. Usually, it stems from unhappiness and insecurity of some sort. It makes them feel better to make someone else feel as bad as they do. Also, some just want the attention that comes from the response from the community to the red flag the troll waves around. That's all a troll is -- a bully behind an avatar or forum alias. When you understand the emotional need behind the taunts, you will know that you can't actually argue, discuss logically, or debate with a troll. Imagine a tiger backed into a corner, lashing out. That is the troll.

Don't try to out-troll a troll

Much like a bully, you can't fight a troll on his turf without taking damage. You will always end up looking just as bad or worse than the troll that started it. One sure way to have the entire community jump on you is to try to take on a troll. All you'll end up doing is sending verbal jabs back and forth until everyone has decided you are both idiots and shuts you out. 

Don't argue with a troll

A troll is not interested in your side of the argument. All you will do is raise your own blood-pressure and, once again, get yourself ignored by the sane part of the community. Much like arguing with a bully, all you'll get from a troll by arguing is a verbal punch in the face.

Don't discuss opinions logically with a troll

Trolls don't care about logic. They are just looking for the response -- any response. Once someone responds, it's on. I used to try to discuss logically. All I would get back was zingers -- insults about what was wrong with me for whatever logical explanation I had come up with in response to whatever they had said. Yeah. Logic does not work.

Don't fall into a troll "debate"

Sometimes, on forums or in chat, players will debate aspects of the game, or even life events, news, politics, and so on. Don't fall for troll "debates." You can recognize a troll-bait debate by the way that it will seemingly come out of nowhere. It also will usually contain a negative opinion about whatever the topic is. Any attempt to debate the point raised by the troll just leads to insults.

Just walk away

If you see someone trolling, the best and easiest response is no response at all. If the troll is really inflamatory, just use the ignore function. Most forums and in-game chat systems have some sort of ignore function. Don't be afraid to use it. The likelihood that they'll one day say something useful is slim.

If you find yourself in a troll's grasp

Oh no. You missed the cues. You responded to what seemed like an innocent comment and now find yourself the target of a troll. You don't want to just ignore them, because you feel like you want to end it with some dignity. (Too late, but okay, if that's how you want to do this.) The next thing to do is - laugh it off. Kind of half agree with them (agree to disagree), change the subject and move on, making no other responses directed to anything the troll says.

Example - "Okay. if you say so." or "lol"or "Well, I have a different opinion, but that's what's great about this community." (The latter usually brings on the community cheerleaders to help drown out the troll.) {brief pause} "So does anyone have a ___ cloak they can link?" or "Who wants to run ___instance?" or "Did anyone see the episode of _____ on tv last night?" 

Help troll victims with bacon, pie, or cake

If you see the chat window start to fly past with a troll-led flame war, you can easily douse it with food. It's amazing. I have seen trolling stopped more often than you could imagine just by the sentences "I like bacon." or "I like cake." or similar simple comments. It's so random and silly that it usually gets the community responding and the troll fades away.

 

 

Okay, forget it. I admit it. I am not a hardcore, raiding player. I enjoy raiding. But it seems you can’t be a casual player AND raid.

Back in the early days of LOTRO, you could actually pull it off. When LOTRO came out, it was intentionally designed to be geared towards a casual playstyle for those players who didn’t sit and study videos, strats, exploits, and everything else for days upon days before attempting an instance.

You wanted to go do the Rift in Angmar, you just got a group and did it. Heck, even up to VM and DN, if you were good at your class and had a good leader, you could do it - within the first few times, if not the first time. (At least I could. And did.) All you had to know was how to play your class and how to follow instructions. I’m not talking walkthrough instructions. I’m talking basic, logical instructions.

In Moria, that shifted. In Mirkwood, it shifted further. Now with OD and the approach of Isengard expansion launch, it seems to be shifting to the other end of the spectrum.

I dunno. Maybe it’s just the kin I’ve recently joined. When I was being recruited, I made a point to ask if it was a laid-back, casual kin.

ME: Are you a hardcore training-for-end-game kin or a laid-back, casual kin?

RECRUITER: Yes, it’s casual and laid-back. We just chat and enjoy the game.

ME: Do you raid at all?

RECRUITER: Yes, we have an alliance, but we’re not hardcore about it.

ME: Okay, we’ll join. We’re just looking for fun.

RECRUITER: GREAT! *invites* We do have roundtables and help people learn their class, but it’s not anything hardcore

ME: by “helping people learn their class,” do you mean “training (like boot camp) to set someone up to raid the way you think they ought to raid - gear, traits, structure, etc.” OR “helping someone with questions figure out the game”?

… .They SAID the second thing. Come to find out…they MEANT the first thing.

The problem with that first thing is that you assume from the start that I don’t know what I’m doing. You inspect my gear and pass judgement on anything I do that is different from what you do. Nononononono. Don’t act all shocked when I balk at your commentary.

Example for the LOTRO people: Kin leader asked me today why my hunter didn’t have a specific item with more agility on it.

Really? Seriously? My agility is at max. WHY on EARTH would I do that???

After putting up with the in-depth critique of my main character, the leader (on a hunter) tells me they need me on my alt (healer) who I don’t raid with. They are going to assign a person to me who will tell me how to gear, trait, play, etc. They did the same thing to hubby on his tank (who is also his alt, not his main). Then they will run us through instances to get “the best” stuff and teach us how to play the way they want us to.  Casual? Laid-back? WHA?!?!

We started running instances - that 2 of the 6 people had ever been in before, and people started yelling at everyone else until one of the other guys finally “went link dead.” Yup, that’s casual alright.

Is anyone else in LOTRO noticing this trend? Please tell me it’s a kin thing, not a game thing? Or is it a community thing?

Is it possible to be a casual player AND raid? If not, why not?

April 24, 2011 -- Today is more than just the anniversary of the launch of Lord of the Rings Online. Today is my anniversary.

It may seem silly to say that a video game could change someone's life, but it has. My life is markedly different than it was at this time four years ago, and had you told me what would happen, I wouldn't have believed you. But sometimes, a seemingly insignificant event can change everything.

One day in the early Spring of 2007, I was at the local mall. I happened to stop into the Gamestop to say hello to a friend who worked there. While we were talking, I noticed a little disk in a display on the counter. Anyone who knows me can tell you that I'm an avid reader of fantasy and science fiction, so when I saw that a game was coming out based on LotR, I was skeptical, but intrigued. My friend said that a five-dollar preorder would get me that disk and into the beta of the game. Five dollars wasn't much, so I decided to try it. Why not, I thought. Could that have been the moment that changed everything.

Once home, I installed the game and began to play. I ran around doing all those things people do - you all play, so I don't have to tell you about the starter gameplay. I had beta-tested before, but not for an MMO. I learned that when things didn't work right in an MMO, hilarity would ensue. Things like Ghost Bear and the suicidal stable horse kept me playing more than I probably would have otherwise, not just because it was funny when things didn't work, but because the community was fanastic, and when things went wrong in the game, the chat between players was hysterical. I'd played other MMOs, but had never really gotten very involved in chat conversation. The community in LotRO was different. Everyone was helpful and nice, and added another layer of interaction to playing the game. It was sort of like watching and participating in a sitcom.

So a few weeks go by, and I'd started getting to some group content here and there, and a couple times, I grouped with a couple people in a kinship for some quests. A few days before launch, while we were working on a quest, they mentioned that their kinship was going to have a party for the launch of the game. The officers were going to have fireworks, food, and games to celebrate. I didn't originally intend to go. However, that day, after a long day at work, I decided log on to the game to relax for a bit. When I got on, I got a message from the person who'd invited me to tell me they were at the party location. So I decided to go. Why not, I thought. Could that have been the moment when it all changed?

I went to the party and did all the normal stuff people do at in-game parties. We dueled, traded off food and drink, watched fireworks set off by a little dwarf on a rock (watch him, he shows up later). Everyone joked around and chatted. All in all, it was a fun evening. I decided to join the kin. A first for me in a game, but again, I thought, why not? Maybe that was the moment.

A little while after the party, shortly after midnight on April 24th, I was at one of the town banks. I saw a person with a blue name walk in -- a player from my new kin. A captain -- with a herald he had named SexyBeast. He was funny, and we began talking about his herald's name, then about the movie it was from. It turns out he also had a dwarf character who'd been launching fireworks earlier. I talked to him and then the others for a little while via kinchat, and suddenly noticed I was missing out on parts of the conversation. The guys said they were all also talking on headset. I had never used a headset in an MMO before. I was a little hesitant, being female, but when they said another female kinmate, Pebbz, was also on headset, I decided to try it out. Why not? 

Turns out, it wasn't so scary. Everyone was nice and friendly. None of the guys were creepy or inappropriate. People talked about their families and kids, other hobbies, work, and other general conversation. I got to know the real people behind the avatars.

I ended up playing LotRO quite a bit, probably more than I otherwise would, in part due to the group of friends I had made in the new kin and the rest of the great community. Over the summer, I ended up talking to the captain pretty regularly. We ran quests together, planned kin events together, ended up talking on the phone for hours, and finally, in August, he traveled across the country to visit. He never left. A few months later, we got married. We're still married. We're both officers in three kins now, still friends with many of the people I met in the game that Spring. We play LotRO together almost every day when we have time, and we will be playing LotRO until they shut the servers down.

LotRO is OUR game. LotRO's anniversary is the anniversary of us - the day we met. I will always feel a personal connection to Turbine and this game because the day they launched the game, they also helped launch a wonderful new relationship and a new life for me.