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A crash course in changing the world.
How to get ahead in EVOKE
This is the very first version of a guide that we in AWAKE will create during the next days. Consider this blog entry simply 'working notes'. Don't worry, the final result will not be so wordy.
1) Introduction
This guide to "How to get ahead in EVOKE" is not a definitive guide. It is simply a collection of advice. There are other ways of doing things, and all of this also depends on what your goal is within EVOKE. This guide is for the player who wants to get on the leaders board, and maybe has a goal of reaching the top 10 list.
2) How to 'win' in EVOKE.
As the site clearly states, there is no simple way to win in this game. It all depends on your goal. Your goal could be to: Make friends, gather data, find sources of inspiration, chat, meet people from specific countries around the world, compete with others to reach the top of the leaders board, and so on.
2a) How to make friends in EVOKE.
Show people attention. Let them feel heard. By enabling email alert when new members join (do that here) you can get ahead in contacting new members if you pay attention. (Tip: Unless you want your inbox spammed, create a filter on your email system). Besides showing people attention, which is basically just small talk, you need to have the courage to dig deeper. Find common threads in your interest with some other player in EVOKE. Or if you yourself are not interested in X area, you might know about other agents who are. Make the connection - refer to that other agent. Who knows, maybe They will go down a path of collaboration, and both will be grateful to you.
2b) Datamining on EVOKE
So far, there hasnt been datamining tools created for EVOKE, and I am not even sure what EVOKE's point of view would be on that. For instance, if you want to get a list of members from Ghana or Canada, there are currently no tools for that. If Blizzard allows tools like addons to WoW, EVOKE should (with its less capitalistic goal (I assume!)) also be fine with addons being created for this game. Sooner or later, tools might be created, and they could also help you with your other goals.
Another way of pooling information from EVOKE is to search for certain keywords or tags, like education or food security. The problem with this information is that it will be quite overwhelming, and context is not readily available from the outset. Again, tools may be added to enhance this experience.
2c) Find sources of inspiration
ACT1 is a good start here. Read who inspires other members. Who knows, maybe the way they talk about their heroes can inspire you as well. There is a ton of good people profiled here, so just take a dive and swim for a while. You might come out with 4-5 heroes to follow.
This is a very tricky one. There are basically a few different ways to do it, and most of them require hard work.
Time: You need to have time. Lots of time to write blog posts, to come up with ideas for things that are currently not available in the EVOKE system but which could be useful for others. Or simply just useful concepts which can start discussions.
Creativity: You need to have some level of creativity. If you are not creative, your writings will not get the amount of +1's from other members that is required to make it up that list.
Persistence: You need to not give up! You might have 3 meagre points now, but just like it takes time to get to the max level in MMO's, it takes time to get to the top.
Be the early bird: EVOKE launched on Wednesday March 3rd and as of this writing we are still during the first week, the first cycle. The longer you wait before you start climbing up that ladder, the harder it will be. That's a state of fact.
Be productive: Sadly, this is a matter of quantity. Even though EVOKE changed the way Powers were awarded for new content (earlier you could get +2 points for every picture, video or blog post you published - one automatically given from systm, one which you awarded your content yourself - now you don't get the +1 from the system automatically, but it is manually added by admins after they review your content), it still is important to frequently be on the "live feed" of recently added content. That's unfortunately the way the world works: Unless you create a meme, your content is mostly considered "cold" after 1-2 days.
Go for the meme: If you are creative, you time your launch correctly, and you are able to have a blog post turn into a massive discussion, then you can have a little EVOKEmeme on your hands. This can lead to several +1's from other members, and if you are really lucky, and the content you provide is seen as original/valuable by EVOKE admins, you will be given a bonus of up to +100 Power (I think +100 is the maximum given at the time). +100 is a BIG boost to your path up the Leaders-board.
All of this may be seen as cynical, but it is not meant to be so. This is a guide, just like there are guides of how to "Level up to 80 in 3 days /played" in other games.Just because this is not 'really' a game, we cant go away from the perspective of adding guides of how to 'get ahead in the game'.
3) Conclusion
There are several ways to get ahead in the game. I have not mentioned things like "you need to present yourself in a like-able manner" or "if you criticize others, be sure to do so in a way which doesnt seem like you are insulting them", but those are important too. Basically, EVOKE is a lot about social skills. Learning to deal with people. People of different opinion than you, people who might just spamspamspam, or who might be so filled with themself that they become obnoxious.
I am currently on the top 10 list on EVOKE, but that may change very quickly. Just like any other online community, things can change while you are asleep, or away on that one week vacation.
I hope some of these tips have been useful to you. Please give your comments to this guide in the comments field. I particularly prefer criticism - what can be done better? :)
Also, what other guides would you like to see in EVOKE?
Views: 42
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Comment by Nick Heyming on March 6, 2010 at 8:45am
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The Game.
You just lost it.
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Just kidding, great post as usual. With insight like this, you'll be a level 500 Paladin/Blogger in no time.
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Comment by Raymond M. Kristiansen on March 6, 2010 at 8:47am
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huh? how? why? :D
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hah! you almost had me there. my first reaction was something like "hmm, maybe this was too meta? but people are meta all the time here!" and then "hmm, maybe it Does seem a bit too cynical" and then "hmmm its hard to talk about such things where it really is useful for people. People dont see many guides on "how to get popular on youtube". Oh wait... they do. Lol. There are those "entrepreneurs" who have sites where if you pay them ONLY $49.99 you will be given the link to a unique video showing Just How you can use the Amazing Power of online video to boost your sales of your _____. Almost feels like the CarbonCopyPRO spam :D
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Comment by Greg Stevenson on March 6, 2010 at 9:20am
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Cheers Brother. Looks like I need friends. Any one out there want to make friends with a grumpy middle aged man? :-)
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I love grumpy middle aged men! I will be one myself one day if I am not careful and lighten up more :D (too much reading indoors)
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@Marcinina Glad you liked it. Please feel free to ask if you have any questions or let us know if you have suggestions for what we could include :)
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Comment by Amos Meeks on March 6, 2010 at 4:44pm
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I want to link this to a related post and discussion: http://www.urgentevoke.com/profiles/blogs/just-a-game
Also, while everything here is true, and most of it beneficial (you do better by talking more, saying great things, meeting new people, etc.) I think there is potential for gaming the system, and there is a potential for making great things but still not being successful. An example of this is what you say about timing posts at the right time so that lots of peole read them and you get a discussion. I've seen examples of posts on certain topics that are small and provide relatively little, but that becoming every popular and spawn lots of discussion, while posts about the same subject that provide more get less views and no discussion (Example: Here and Here)
A possible fix to this would be having a good and very active Alchemy team that reads through the posts at a decent rate and advertises the ones they think are good posts in the featured blogs part, which I think they do to a certain extent but I'm not sure it's enough. I think their adding people with 10,000 points to give out could also help this, although it could also just make it more imbalanced and leader to power point inflation... We'll see.
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@Amos: Power point inflation is a good point. We had a discussion elsewhere about the possibility of spending your own points for badges or tokens which you yourself can spend on posts you particularly like. For instance, I think this post is awesome, and points at something crucial, and if I could give it extra +Power, I would. For instance, you should be able to spend 3 of your own Power Points to add +2 to an item. That blog post/picture etc would then also gain some extra time on a premium area of the UI, meaning that others would be more likely to check it out as well. Today, items are given visibility based on comments on the item in the 'latest activity' feed. That is decent, but its really hard to see whether someone actually found that article Very valuable, or if their comment perhaps is a part of the discussion that simply happened to take place on that page.
Using our power points as currency in some manner is an idea which I would like to see implemented.
I know about the "Mentor" feature of the site, and that Mentors are given special assignments etc. I have been hesitant about joining the Mentorship programme because I more or less see that as equal to becoming a 'Game Master' in other games. (I have no previous experience in ARGs before EVOKE). I don't want to be a GM, or a part of the site Management. I want to be a player, and good at it.
Yes, gaming the system. it is a real risk. Some people have gamed the system already, and some of them are punished, and others not. I try to not game the system too much, but yeah, I do it a bit, I admit that. I game the system a bit when I use my creativity to come up with blog ideas that might be of use to others, or that might spark discussion - I then do that, and spend less of that time giving comments to new blogs by other people. It's the eternal attention whoredom of social media which is, frankly, sickening to me. (And I have been blogging since 1999, videoblogging since 2004, etc).
As a game, this site isnt fully developed yet. That's fine, I don't blame anyone. But the site admins need to be more active in showing the players / site users that they are aware of certain problems, just like Blue Posts in for instance WoW terminology can be used by admins to tackle certain issues.
Thanks for a great comment Amos, if I could give you +1 for that comment, I would. But I can't, and as such that is a feature/flaw in the sytem which is obvious.
(Actually, I have in the past given comments to other blogs or written something in a forum discussion or whatever and some people go "Hey write a blog post about that so that we can give it +1's!". I have only seldomly taken that opportunity. I think that forking discussions is a bad thing, and I hope we instead try to Merge discussions, by creating narrative structures which - almost like alchemy - create new meaning from the added substances)
@Marcinina: That's a very good question! I can add a section about that, but I am not sure if I really can give very good advice which would be different from "Be very creative, make sure your posts get a lot of attention, and hope that you get 'lucky' by site admins giving your work +20, +50 or even a +100 for your work".
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Thanks for you great reply, Raymond! I think the best way to give a + for someone's comment is to go take a look at their blog and power up those.
I like the idea of using your power points to do things for others. I read that post and thought the same thing you did, although the giving multiple points was sort of taken care of by the people with abilities to give it +25 and +50.
On worry I have about making power points too powerful is that it will shift the focus even more to just getting power points. The level it is right now is I think a pretty decent balance between incentive to excel and greed. However, using power points only to give more points to other people I do not think would be a problem.
I do not think you game the system when you use your creativity to come up with blog ideas that might be of use to others, or that might spark discussion. The reason those are so beneficial is because that's exactly what they want to encourage here. The only ways you mentioned that I could consider gaming the system would be being prolific just to get views and points, instead of because you have so many great ideas you want to share, and posting at certain peak times to get more exposure. The latter however would be a good thing if you are posting good ideas. It's very subjective it seems.
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