The Last Outpost…Summary Post

After clearing six levels of the Last Outpost I am ready to post my summary for this project. While this doesn’t me I am going to stop “playing” I am ready to post about my results after completing my levels.

Were your expectations fulfilled? Yes, and then some. I was completely surprised by how much thought and work goes in to making and playing a MUD game. While it wasn’t the easiest online game I’ve ever played it was challenging and that to me earns it extra points. Too often I think people overlook games like these online I know I did. I am glad I got the chance to experience a true MUD program.

What do you think you might use the Last Outpost to teach? You could certainly use it to teach eye/hand coordination is there is really no time to look at the key board while playing, it teaches the use of verbs and modifiers in a way no game I’ve ever played before has, it teaches you how to complete assignments (quests) and how to communicate with other players and the computer itself. I think overall it’s a great learning tool but takes sometime to adapt to as well.

What other kinds of environments might you design using this same basic idea of multiplayer, interactive engine that you could use to teach something? I might use a game like this to teach the idea of team work, individual learning, and group learning all in one.

While I think this particular game would be great to teach high school students certain things would have to be adapted to meet the needs of acceptance like the certain command usages that allow you to kill players, the computer characters, etc which would most likely be unacceptable in a high school class environment.

 Overall- I really enjoyed this MUD and would love to try others’ like it.

April

Final Project

My final project will be to create a tutorial on creating a blog, how to pick an aggregator, and list some resources to help others create and maintain a blog.

I am going to use my Microsoft Word Program and create a brochure or possibly create a website online.

My intended audience will be high school and college students.

Why? I chose to create this tutorial because I felt overwhelmed when I had to create my first tutorial and want to help others.

Right away I won’t be able to tell if it is helping anyone but I hope that over time it will help some students create their own blogs with ease.

Distance Education

I would research the use of blogs and whether or not they would be effective in distance education. I would evaluate and study current blogs and trends to use them in distance education. After studying and researching I would attempt to use them in one of my courses and have my student’s evaluate the effectiveness of blogs and online classes.

Is Research Valid?

I think most research is valid especially in education and medical fields. What I think we fail to realize is that research will change and increase over time and these changes will allow us to validate our research efforts even further.

Kearsley

Kearsley examines many issues in his book but I think one of the most important points he makes deals with gaining skills with computers. He noted that, “Students and employees need certain basic computer skills to be successful online learners.” Now while this might not have taken much research to decide it is an important point in education and research. I think if student’s can’t obtain even basic computer and Internet skills they will have trouble with online courses and eventually may not attempt to complete any online classes at all. I think this may be a grave mistake considering online courses will quickly increase over the next decade.

Research Article Posts

     After reviewing a few research articles I decided to read a post on Stephen Downe’s site called, “Babson Survey Research Group-Making the Grade: Online Education in the United States, 2006-Sloan Consortium.” It discussed the research of over 2200 college universities and found according to Downe’s and the article that, “There has been no leveling of the grown rate on online environments; institutions of higher education report record online enrollment growth on both a numeric and a percentage basis….by an increasing margin, most chief academic officers believe that the quality of online instruction is equal to or superior to that of face-to-face learning.”

I thought this was important since I have completed quite a few in class and online classes and found at times some of my online professors to be even more effective in teaching me to think and learn than most of my in class ones. Not to say my in class teacher’s were ineffective as I have had many great in class instructors.

My *Scream* Moment

Since yesterday night my server has been down and finally this evening it has come back up so I will get my weekly posts up asap!

April

Tips and Hints for The Last Outpost

Hints and Tips From Jaguar aka April

HOPEFULLY SOME HELPFUL INSTRUCTIONAL TEXT BELOW… 

Keep in mind that I chose *Human Cleric* as my type of player so some of these may or may
not help you.

First after choosing Cleric, Mage, Thief, or Warrior find your Guild and make good friends
with its location as after your quests you will have to go here and gain…not to mention
Practice.

_____________________________

When you enter your Guild I’d type PRAC and see what skills you need right away…also if you
don’t choose cleric be sure to go and get your prac there because you will learn some valuable
spells such as
cast ‘create water’
cast ‘create food’
cast ‘create armor’

___________________________________________
Next if you haven’t checked in with one of the regular players…be sure to say HI if you see
any of them…be sure to make friends with:

Bent the Spork
Benson
Naru
Himm
Bael

be sure to meet and greet the first two they will make or break your experience on the game..as they
are extremely HELPFUL and WISE (Smiles)

IMPORTANT TIP: WHEN YOU WANT TO SPEAK TO A PLAYER YOU MUST FIRST USE A SINGLE QUOTATION FOR EXAMPLE:

‘ HIYA BENT

IF YOU DON’T USE THE SINGLE QUOTE THEY WILL ONLY SEE THE WORD OK

IMPORTANT TIP ALERT: WHEN MEETING AND GREETING PLAYERS OR THE GAME CHARACTERS ALWAYS SAY SOMETHING
LIKE HIYA OR HELLO THERE…HI IS ALSO SHORT FOR HIT AND WILL CAUSE CHARACTERS OR EVEN PLAYERS TO ATTACK
YOU WHICH MOST LIKELY MEANS YOUR CHARACTER WILL DIE BUT YOU CAN COME BACK. ALSO BE SURE AFTER YOU GET INTO
THE GAME AND START KILLING STUFF LIKE ANIMALS, GUARDS ETC. NEVER…EVER…EVER *LAUGHS* HIT THE BRINKS MAN
HE WILL KILL YOU QUICKLY EVEN EXPERIENCED PLAYERS HAVE TROUBLE WITH HIM SO US ‘NEWBIES HAVE NO CHANCE’

___________________________________

Once you have looked around town and the map ….go to your guild again and type QUEST…from
there you will begin a quest to earn points

Every time you earn points and complete quests you will gain levels…to check your points and levels type
SCO- for your scores
LEV- for what you need to complete levels

if you have enough go back to YOUR GUILD and type GAIN
then you will be able to go up a level and get a new quest

If you want to get levels in other areas you go to those guilds and gain
points are hard to come by so id complete your five levels in your area and at least one
in the cleric and warrior for spells and fight help

While this seems like quite a bit you do become very familiar over time with the layout
other than my tips and hints I will offer you a list of quick notes to type in commands
BE AWARE that this may not work right away for you if you havent practiced or gained in skill areas…

_____________________________________________

POSSIBLE COMMANDS AT YOUR DISPOSAL TO MAKE THE GAME EASIER:

INV- INVENTORY OF WHAT YOU ARE CARRYING
(ANYTHING LYING AROUND THE GATED AREAS IS FREE GAME AND YOU CAN GET IT FOR EXAMPLE BY TYPING
GET COINS, GET SWORD, GET BOOTS..)

DRINK WELL- DRINK FROM THE WELL IF ONE IS AROUND

DRINK WATER- IF YOU HAVE ANY OR YOU HAVE CREATED SOME BY CAST ‘CREATE WATER’ CUP OR BOTTLE

EAT RATIONS- IF YOU HAVE FOOD ON YOU OR YOU CAN CAST ‘CREATE FOOD’ AND TAKE MUSH AND EAT MUSH

REMEMBER THE MAGIC SYMBOLS OR CASTING WILL NOT WORK THEY ARE ‘ THESE ON EACH SIDE

GET CUP BAG- GET CUP OUT OF BAG *YOU CAN USE THIS TO GET ANYTHING OUT OF BAG JUST CHANGE THE NAME FROM CUP
TO WHATEVER YOU HAVE IN YOUR BAG THAT YOU WANT*

WIE- TO WIELD AN OBJECT LIKE A SWORD

KILL- TO GET POINTS YOU HAVE TO KILL THINGS…EXAMPLE: KILL RABBIT BUT BECAREFUL THEY FIGHT
BACK!

WIMPY- SET YOUR SELF TO WIMPY AND WHEN SOMEONE ATTACKS YOU ..YOU CAN FLEE EASIER

FLEE- TO LEAVE IF YOU CANT KILL WHAT YOU ATTACKED OR SOMETHING ATTACKS YOU

REMOVE- TO REMOVE STUFF..EXAMPLE: REMOVE BOOTS

WEAR- TO WEAR STUFF…EXAMPLE: WEAR BOOTS
 
FOL- TYPE FOL AND THE PLAYERS NAME..THIS IS HELPFUL IF THEY WANT TO HELP YOU GET POINTS SO YOU DONT GET
LOST WHILE WITH THEM

CAST- TO CAST SPELLS…EXAMPLE: CAST ‘CREATE WATER’ CUP

EQ- TO SEE WHAT EQUIPMENT YOU HAVE

DROP- TO DROP THINGS

PUT ALL.CUP BAG- TO PUT MORE THAN ONE OF THE SAME THING IN A BAG

DRINK UP- TO DRINK

PRAC- TO PRACTICE

LOOK IN BAG- TO LOOK IN YOUR BAG

PUT CUP IN BAG- TO PUT IN BAG CHANGE CUP TO WHATEVER YOU NEED TO PUT IN BAG

* BE SURE TO ONLY USE QUTATIONS ON MAGIC WORDS…OTHER WISE JUST TYPE COMMAND*

IF YOU CANT FIND A CUP TO USE…YOU CAN ALWAYS BUY A BOTTLE FROM THE GRILL AND BAR
OR GO TO THE SOD HOUSE AND BUY A FLASK.

__________________________________

IMPORTANT TIP: WHEN YOU BUY ANYTHING YOU HAVE TO USE AN ITEM NUMBER SO IF IT SAYS

1 ALL ITEMS
2 BOTTLE

YOU HAVE TO TYPE: LIST 1 TO GET A NEW LIST OF THOSE ITEMS THEN BUY AND WHICHEVER ONE YOU NEED
FOR EXAMPLE: LIST 1

1 BOTTLE
2 FINE CUISINE
3 CAKE

TYPE : BUY 1 AND IT WILL TAKE COINS…BUT OF COURSE YOU HAVE TO HAVE MONEY!

_____________________________________-

IF YOU DON’T HAVE ANY MONEY GO BACK NORTH ON MAIN STREET TO THE GATE AND YOU SHOULD SEE COINS LYING ABOUT
TYPE : GET COINS AS MANY TIMES AS YOU WANT UNTIL IT TELLS YOU NO COINS ARE FOUND AND USE THOSE TO BUY THINGS
FOOD AND WATER ARE PRETTY CHEAP BUT SPELLS ARE EXPENSIVE

YOU CAN ALSO FIND SWORDS AND SELL THEM TO THE SWORDS SHOP FOR COINS.

___________________________

* A FEW TIPS AFTER YOU GET MORE EXPERIENCE*

CREATE AN ALIAS- USE THE HELP OR FIND AND EXPERIENCED PLAYER TO EXPLAIN

CON- TO CON CERTAIN THINGS BEFORE KILLING THEM…LIKE CON ROACH OR MORE THAN LIKELY YOU WILL GET HURT

WRITE OUT THE MAP ON PAPER OR PRINT IT FROM http://durandus.com/outpost/?p=11
IT COMES IN VERY HANDY

_______________________________
MOST IMPORTANTLY: WHEN YOU GET DONE OR IF YOU WANT TO QUIT HEAD FOR THE LAST RESORT INN
MEET THE RECEPTIONIST AND TYPE RENT…THIS RENTS YOU A SPOT OF SAFE HAVEN FOR YOU AND YOUR THINGS

_________________________________

WHILE I KNOW THIS IS ALL A BIT MUCH! IT ISN’T SO BAD ONCE YOU GET USE TO IT…

GOOD LUCK

APRIL AKA JAGUAR

I’m a level 6

Well a week later and with most likely an hour play a night and I’ve completed up to level 6. While it wasn’t easy I have to say I am very proud of myself. I hope you all join in this weekend and give a try. My next posts is quite a few hints and tips which might look a bit disarrayed but it was a lot to get together~! Good Luck all

April

Working on my levels….

Earlier today I finally got a chance to try out the Last Outpost and while I have to admit it wasn’t at all easy it was actually pretty cool. Dr. Lowell signed in and showed me a few tips and hung out for awhile while I worked on my quests while I am still working on achieving my level I’ve been catching on pretty quick. I can definitely say I am working on a tip post but I want to play a little longer before I post anything.

Til Later

April