Metaplace, a project lead by Raph Koster of Ultima Online & Star Wars Galaxies fame, is an open-ended platform that allows anyone to create their own virtual world. You want a room for people to play chess? Cool, code up a chess game, board, design and decorate the room, and you’re on. Want a role-playing experience that teaches people about history? You can do it.
Something unique to Metaplace is the idea of the Meep. It’s a small dustbunny like critter that rolls or jumps around. It’s kind of the unofficial MP mascot, and the testing community loves them. So much so, that they created a world purely to protest the potential change of the verb “Meep” to “Nudge.”
Meep, as a verb, was (as I understand it) an idea of Cuppycake, community manager of Metaplace, that got put into the game on their free time. It was intended to be like a Facebook “poke.” There’s a context menu option when you click other players to Meep them.
The problem that prompted the suggested change from Meep to Nudge, and the backlash that ensued, was that new users just didn’t get it. I even suggested myself that people don’t really know what Meep is, and might not feel comfortable doing something they don’t really understand. I suppose I never fully explained my concern there: My problem was that users didn’t understand the idea right away, it wasn’t with the idea of Meeping people.
Nudge is a bland, boring, and emotionally blank word. It doesn’t say anything about the Metaplace experience.
Meep, on the other hand, has a story. It has personality. It’s among the first few experiences of MP: Once you venture out into a hub world, you’re bound to be Meeped.
The problem is not the Meep. The problem is that the introductory experience, where you sign up and are plopped into your own little world, doesn’t really introduce the Meep. The hub worlds don’t introduce the Meep. The Meep has huge potential to be the cute, fuzzy, lovable mascot of MP – it’s kind of like a Koosh with eyes and mobility. It just needs to be introduced better.
Maybe when you log in for the first time, a Meep will appear and start introducing you to the gameplay. It’d have a little exclamation over its head, indicating it’s suddenly aware of you, and bounce/roll it’s way over, and start talking. “Hi! I’m a Meep!” and the dialog boxes that ensue could not only explain the Meep, but expand on the verb form, “Meeping.”
You could also have a sort of billboard in the MP Central hub, something like “Keep on Meepin’!” with a picture of someone nudging someone in the shoulder with a Meep. Clicking on the billboard would bring up a dialog similar to the one your House Meep would have presented you with.
Basically, my take on it is that Meep is a far better, more interesting, and more noteworthy verb than nudge. It’s something that people can feel one way or another about, and if taken care of properly, folks will mostly feel positively about it. The Metaplace crew just needs to make sure that they communicate the Meep story effectively.
[...] And the eventual result was this (another article here, and another screenshot here. Here is a marketing take on it. I hear an MPInsider video is on the way as well). The Keep the Meep [...]