Explaining FK

[Kinal]

I'm curious how the rest of the FK playgroup explains FK to friends, family members, significant others, etc. who don't know what Dungeons and Dragons is, what MUDs are, and whose most extensive knowledge of anything fantasy related comes from maybe watching one or two of the Lord of the Rings movies in theaters.

I find this a difficult ask, and I'm curious how everyone else explains it!

Does anyone else avoid telling new girlfriends/boyfriends, or coworkers?

[Andreas]

I explain it as text based gaming.

[Kinal]

When I say that I always seem to get:

"What like no pictures?"

Or

"Like, you just type in 'hi i am a dragon'

[Beskytter]

I have all nerds as friends, so they pretty much got it when I told them it was a text based online game focusing on group creative writing.

I play more than one type though, so MUDs are faster paced line by line screen writing challenges while MUSHes are paragraph by paragraph story building challenges. For the most part, people seem to get it even if they're not nerds. Old folk say: "Oh that's a really great thing. I'm glad you're developing your academics rather than wasting your mind on games." Young folk say: "That's... I couldn't do that. I need to /see/ what I'm playing." and nerdy fold say: "OMG that's awesome!" (to which I offer to bring them to FK or elseMU* ... and nada)

So, that's what I do to explain it. MUDs and MUSHes are text based online multiplayer games that focus on group creative writing challenges centered around a main theme, typically swords and sorcery high fantasy similar to Dungeons and Dragons.

[Rycird]

Young folk say: "That's... I couldn't do that. I need to /see/ what I'm playing."

Ha! I started MUD'ing when I was like, eleven or twelve. So just over twelve or eleven years ago.

I am one of the younger text-based game players I know, though I do know one that's even younger than I am and I've known him for like nine years, from when we met on a MUD. He plays FK a bit, too, but not as religiously as I.

I tend to explain it as "text based gaming" and then, if they're knowledgeable, tell them it's a roleplaying or "creative writing" based game with coded mechanics.

[Mattrik]

Killin dragons in the land of make believe.

Basically using imagination with a few rules to make it fun.

[Lylena]

Ha! I started MUD'ing when I was like, eleven or twelve. So just over twelve or eleven years ago.

^^^ Meee tooo.



As for explaining FK, usually, I don't.

Conversation goes typically like this:
"What do you do in your spare time since you don't watch TV!?!?!" (Not watching TV is a really hard concept for some people?) "I play around on computers."

Usually that's sufficient. Then you get the advanced ones who dig deeper. "What sort of games?"
"Oh. Uh, text based RPG games." "Oooooohhhh..." "Like WoW but without graphics?"

And then I'm called a nerd and conversation stops.

[Areia]

Conversation goes typically like this:

Yep, that's about how it goes with me, too.

For the three people I've met who do get past that, though, I explain the fantasy aspect first--medieval combat, knights, elves, magic, swords, all that--and then something to the effect of, "It's like a book that people write together in realtime, without pictures or prewritten scripts or anything." The horror that is using one's imagination is just too much for most to handle. I have gotten one person to play longterm, though!

As for significant others... Well, I was lucky enough to have met my girlfriend before I discovered FK. I say lucky, because she hates, with every ounce of hatred she can muster, that I play FK. Not sure we would have ever gotten far past "hi" if I were playing before I met her. But for whatever reason most things I enjoy tend to be so strange to the average person that I just really don't bother unless I'm asked directly, FK included.

[Yemin]

Hates FK / MuDs in general does she?

I'm curious as to why if you don't mind the question, pm acceptable for the answer of course.

It's just hard to imagine someone who would hate MuDs. Perfectly understandable to dislike them, or be indifferent but straight up hate? Seems a little mysterious. .
I've found that sighted people find it hard to attach strong emotion to things they don't see in the game world. All the complaints about violence or objectification of women are very plainly exposed visually but no one complains about the implied content.

for explaining FK, I just say I play games. Then I just say RPGs if they press further. At this point 90% of people get uncomfortable imagining some blind dude wondering around aimlessly on WoW all day. This thought then makes me smirk and then this 90% ask if I was joking, to which I attempt a wink anthem and change the subject. The other 10% that ask how get a, It's the text base gaming that was popular in the 90s that was the base for every MMo you know today.