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Spindizzy: A brief social history
By Chanspot, edited by Kinsor
Originally published in @Action News on October 5, 2003
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Spindizzy is a place that you keep coming back to. Over the years, I’ve come to believe that the reason would be that it’s the quality of people there. This quality best expresses itself in the muck’s atmosphere, and Spindizzy’s unique social history.
Spindizzy possesses a pleasant, small-muck atmosphere. It’s easy to keep track of the names and faces of folk and become familiar with everyone you meet. It’s the perfect place to discover a long lasting friendship, and every day is a chance to see something new. For example, Ive been friends with many folks for a year or more, many for longer. Im always meeting new faces with every guest and character connection.
Spindizzy has also had a very unique social history that has transformed itself into an interesting tradition: player-sponsored events. Spindizzy has been host to several player sponsored events, from the Fuzzy Yarns Story Circle to the Art Ambush , Puppeteer’s Club, the @Action News newspaper, the Rose Garden Themes, and several online RP events and organizations, including the SED (Society of Evil Doers,) and RP Central.
The Fuzzy Yarns Story Circle, originally hosted on Spindizzy by Tarka, began sometime in 1997 or 1998. The original had been part of TF&F, SpinDizzys predecessor, but continued for most of its life on Spindizzy. During its heyday, participants told stories weekly in round-robin fashion, and also submitted artwork to illustrate their favorite stories. Fuzzy Yarns original story archiving program is still available through the Gaelic Ruin. This ruin is still open to visitors, located in a permanent spot one east and one south from the Rose Garden. The Fuzzy Yarns Story Circle lasted for several years under Tarka, to be recently revived for a period under Adara.
The Art Ambush was originally hosted by Twohart and ran continuously for nearly a year. Argon and several others have picked up the event for several month-spans since its first run. This event encouraged participants to pick up their pencils, word processors, and musical instruments and to post their drawings or other submissions in response to a weekly topic. The more recent ambushes are still archived on Spindizzys main website.
Baar founded the Puppeteers Guild last summer, and this event hosts its meetings on a weekly basis to discuss con(vention) performances and to chat about the latest puppet purchases. Its the newest event to form on Spindizzy and I hope to see it here for many years to come. Baar says that the idea came to him partly because …several SD players were amateur and semi-pro puppeteers. He adds that the event provides …a neutral, non-threatening place to talk shop and swap techniques and ideas.
As the heart of the MUCK, the Rose Garden’s weekend themes play a fun part in the Spindizzy social atmosphere. Gilead recalls a weekend where the garden became an underwater adventure and many in the populace changed their characters to match. Other such events included Flubber Day, where everything was padded in flubber, Above the Clouds, where people were encouraged to fly, and Young at Heart Days, where everyone had the chance to discover their inner child.
Spindizzy’s newspaper easily has to be its longest-running event. The newspaper dates back to 1998 when it was published in its initial form as The Ferret. The current form, @Action News, was created in 2000 and has existed in this form for nearly three years thanks in a large part to its editor, Argon, and the many player contributions of articles, messages, and cartoons. Argon had this to say;”@Action News, in its present incarnation, has been published nearly continuously for over three years. Austin wrote the original HTML code for the current version of it and Froggar designed the current layout for it. The paper’s original incarnation, The Ferret, was published over five years ago. Through the years, the name of the paper has changed, as has its coverage area. First, as the newspaper of Toons, Fur and Fluff, and then SpinDizzy, as a resource of history and an unofficial record of the mucks. It is claimed to be a valuable reference and record of events.
These social events occur because of Spindizzy’s unique populace and wiz-staff. The wiz-staff has a strong record of having been some of the events’ biggest supporters and of actively taking a role in both helping and promoting specific events. Wiz-staff has participated in many events such as the Story Circle, and Theme Days. Peppermint and Ping support Theme Days by adding color and flavor. The most recent wizard, Morticon, deploys both help and strife in player-led RPs. Findra keeps the server chugging along, and Skyler leads the player-founded helpstaff.
An active population, as well as the small-community atmosphere, is something that, together, has kept Spindizzy itself unique. This uniqueness has also kept me here for what has to be nearly seven years: two on Toons, Fur, and Fluff and five on Spindizzy. Spindizzy is has worked hard to achieve the community it now has, a community worthy of recognition in this, the fifth year of its life.
Additional thanks for help in this article go to:
* Argon, for dates and information on several of the events, as well as for publication
* Gilead, for information on the Rose Garden themes
* Baar, for information about the Puppeteers Guild