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The Guild of Greeters
One thing that can't be built into the game is community. You can make an enjoyable game that is fun to play. You can make features that many people like. You can't create an atmosphere of friendliness & cooperation by programming it in, though. You may be able to create little chat bots that man information booths. This might make the game more enjoyable. Such things will never replace the volunteers that spent their time in the game to help people out & help visitors to feel welcome in the game.
I know there are probably seasoned players that know every puzzle, and have probably never felt the need to stop by the greeterville. Uru is really a different type of game, though, and if one never made any friends in the game, they were really missing out. When the story lost momentum, and we were in between 'seasons', I found that even my enjoyment of the ages wasn't always enough to draw me into the cavern. So, in between various activities, like opening doors for fun, I'd often find myself heading to the Greeter's Bevin.
What happened in the Greeter's Bevin? Visitors would often drop by to find out what was up. Sometimes they would be confused. A friendly greeter would often be able to answer questions & help the explorer. Often these greeters would go with the explorer & show them how to do things. When the greeters weren't helping new explorers, they would also provide conversation & company for other explorers that passed through. They would sometimes entertain other explorers -- sometimes even intentionally.
When the city finally opened up publically, it was a pair of greeters that toured it with me. They linked with me to the gallery, and we explored together. We took pictures together. Many of those pictures are now destined to be lost forever on a rented server. Some of them were Ki shots, others, I foolishly transferred to my imager not thinking about the consequences.
Now, activities like this took place in other Bevins. There were also other neighborhoods that were barely used. Greeter's was one hood where there was almost always someone there. (until the later days, when the departure of the "Two Guys" signaled the close of Greeter's(& virtually the cavern))
When the cavern closed, I was left in GOG. The images of everyone were still there. Sadly, what made them who they were had left. I decided to take the opportunity to record what memories I could of the surrealistic adventure that became my world & also the people that shared it with me. This is a tribute to those people that made this experience more than just a game to me. Cyan made the experience more than just a chatroom to me. The cavern had life & was breathing. Even without the extraordinary, there was treasure to be found in the caverns of D'ni -- that is, to those that chose to find it.
Once again, I apologize for the quality. I took these shots with a digital camera. They aren't as sharp & clear as screen shots. Also, in many of them, there is some monitor glare. I couldn't figure out which lamp was creating it. This creates a sunny glow in most of the pictures. pictures are large, 800x600, but they aren't huge. If the spoiler tags still worked, I would have enclosed the pictures, so that they didn't take so much room. I'm not sure about the maximum post size, so I will begin a new thread for the pictures. I also apologize if you were a greeter, and I left you out. I was going to confirm the greeter status of all the "non shirted" ones, but unfortunately, URU eventually stack dumped & crashed. I did take other pictures that I will post later. Most likely I caught a shot of you, even if there's no official acknowledgement.
So, without further ado, here they are.
_________________ 
Proud member of "Bahro for the Ethical Treatment of Adventurers" (Beta)
Maybe, there's
Gathered Restorers Awaiting To Explore For URU Lives
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