The Menu Chat Challenge

Best graphic I've ever made, right here.

A couple of weeks ago, Elizabeth and I were doing quests in the Last Wood. We were buffing to kill some roaming ice monsters when I saw a bubble - menu chat - from the sidelines, asking "Please may I join?" I was pleasantly surprised by this request, since many players don't bother to even asked, so I told them that it was okay.

When the two wizards, whose similar names revealed that they were being run by the same person, joined the battle, I received another pleasant surprise. I noticed that they had excellent gear and the best wands available in the bazaar, besides a concrete strategy. This revealed that they actually knew how to play. As the battle went on, we had a rather nice discussion, as far as menu chat can go, and we added each other, discovering that we were even on the exact same quest.

More recently, I logged on. My friend whispered me, using text chat, and I soon found out that he had received text chat for Christmas and was thrilled about it. As we talked more, he revealed that he'd been playing since the game opened, he was active reading in the community, and he knew about this blog.

Where's my point? Menu chatters are not necessarily the immature and inexperienced players many people make them out to be.

I was on menu chat for a year because I didn't lie about my age when I joined. At first I was clueless about what I was missing, but then Elizabeth joined. She was just barely old enough for text chat, and the difference was monumental. She made so many more friends. Sometimes people would walk up to her and start conversations, but more often than not, I was treated like an inanimate object.

Menu chatters are people, too.

And here lies the point of this challenge. Go without your text/open chat for a week, just to step into the shoes of the menu chatters. This can be disabled via the Parental Controls screen in your account settings page. To make this an organized event, Elizabeth and I have chosen to set the dates from January 5 - 11, 2014. Although I hardly relish the thought of adopting menu chat yet again, I will do it to raise awareness.

Will you do it with me?

- Sophia E