Guild: Ars Virtua

3rd Faction has received an invite to participate in a museum show this summer. Last Saturday, we met to discuss what is the role of 3rdF and what is our next move. There was an overwhelming sentiment in the proposals that our group should form and provide services to the community as an NGO – somewhat similar to Red Cross or Red Crescent. We see it as an opportunity to reach out to the minority communities ( on Demon Soul realm that would be the Alliance) in order to bring them the support needed to navigate a hostile terrain. Basic Humanoid Rights are the key here, trade the political scaffold  for the social scaffold without prejudice.

Plans for outreach that have already been discussed include: cultural events, conflict resolution, and humanoid-itarian missions. We are not naïve about the scale of the overall mission; these worlds are beholden to violence and political factioning. It is my hope that our operations can lessen the burden of even a few avatars.

yours in faith,

Myriam Moore and Mata Hari

We are now recruiting artists for Demon Soul / Horde.  Our style of play is a little skewed, and we have a tendency to be distracted by shinies, but we are generally willing to participate for arts sake and have several projects in the fire…

Look for a proper announcement in the near future.  To join contact Deaxter, Sootso, Myriammoore, Mohana or Layli.

Ars Virtua do not do instances!

I am not sure how my guildees are getting awesome blue armors and weapons from cause I do not get blue armors from mercy of diligent questing completion.

I am well ware of the fact that we do not focus on lvling or raiding, but I am tired of getting killed or beat up by spiky/ugly helboars at lvl 62 just because all my armors are lovely Green Titled.

We are going to do The blood furnace!

One of my guildmates is having a hard letting go of x9 lvl for love of BG, but the Blood of Furnace’s sweet gear drops might convince him to let go of x9 to x0. I am pretty sure he is hoping to maintain his x9 lvl after we finish the instance. I sure hope he will.

(I like BG. I held my alt char at lvl 39 for a long time.

But one day…Horde was doing so bad or I had to say all ally twinks took over AB and SWG. Horde could not keep the red flags down. We tried to scream “FOR THE HORDE!” to boost up our spirits, but the twinks did not even let us finish saying it. When I realized what was going on… i found myself at the grave yard. It was time for me to move on! )

Anyways I am forming a group from my guild:

CreativeCowmam Hunter 62 (Beast Mastery)
Elah Warrior 62 (arms)
Tookis Druid 59 (Feral Combat)
Silverlights Paladin 70 (Holy)

Good thing about this group is that we all wear different wears.

I am hoping that I will have their mercy to get the sweet Warsong Howling Axe. Or at least hoping that someone won’t say “WTF! why you choose Need for the _____. ” “you should Greed!”.

Then I have to say Greed for losers!

Quests for the Burning Furnace are:
The Blood is Life
Heart of rage
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=24394

Hopefully we can make it this Sunday.

JP, Kyung, and I are at South by Southwest interactive and dealing with intense party schedules, spotty wifi and conference sessions. We are planning to attend the regular office hours from 8-10 tonight, but may be a little late or a little less than focused.

The WoW raid instance, Molten Core, has a long and rich media history. Being the first 40 man raid and the first end level instance, it was widely known both as panicle of lament for those that continually wiped and as a symbol of triumph for those guilds who successfully completed it. The infamy of Molten Core extends well beyond the World of Warcraft into other media, such as songs, stories, video and t-shirts. However after the release of the burning crusade, Molten Core has essentially been rendered obsolete by the introduction of less tedious instances that yield better rewards. It now exists solely as a historical artifact, a small tribute to its own history.

I have never been to Molten Core and although I can not relive the past, I am interested in studying it. I would like to propose an archeology trip, a historical exploration on a once great landscape now gathering dust. I would like to enlist the expertise of a seasoned guide or two, that can assist in the excavation. As well as aiding us in strategy they can recount old war stories along the way, and thus relay the oral history to those of us to young to remember. – john

wowwiki – Molten Core

Discussion continued on the forum

The Ars Virtua Temporary Autonomous Zone

February 14, 2008 7pm PACIFIC

Join the Ars Virtua Guild for the next TAZ on Demon Soul. The meeting is a consensus session to set the rules for our cross-factional and self-governing guild association. All interested parties of both factions are welcome to join us to make this charter.

Please contact us for more information. Details to meet us in-world to follow.

Call me Blanche.

I am always impressed by those who treat me with respect. Lassa of GG guild on Demon Soul is a class act. I was fishing and she walked up behind me. I immediately went into offensive and she just stood there. I apologized and she took it very nicely. Even helped me slay a few Daggerspines. I am all for the PvP play but it was obvious that she wasn’t going to get any challenge from slaying a 32. Inspired I decide to start a photo album of cool players from the Alliance faction at: cool Alliance

Lassa, a class act from GG on Demon Soul

Performance art in WoW is not really that big a stretch if you consider the social arena that is already in place in-world. We are interested in experiments of self governance that go beyond the Guild Structure. Is it possible to maintain a small mobile ‘geo’-political faction in WoW? As an experiment in governance (and just another excuse to play the game ), we are proposing Temporary Autonomous Zones (TAZ). We will band together with a nod toward the feudal structure that WoW quotes so often. Can we hold our ‘fiefdom’? Can we protect it from poachers and those who wish not to align with our mobile zone of autonomy?

As part of our mixture of part art practice through gaming and play, the Ars Virtua Guild will be holding a number of workshops to build a team carry out this experiment and create a film about the experience. We need willing Horde on Demon Soul server to Join Us in the pursuit of Glory! Starting Sunday the 25th we will be starting a boot camp for those who would be interested. Our ’shoot’ date will be Dec 2. For more information please contact me at this email: thomas.asmuth@gmail.com or go to the Ars Virtua guild blog and forum site at : http://arsvirtua.com/guild/ There you will find an extensive page on TAZs and our plan to ramp this up

See this too: http://arsvirtua.com/guild/blog/?p=8

For the HORDE!
t-
aka MyriamMoore
aka OwenMoore
aka CartierPrada

A few months ago, I approached my colleagues with the idea that we could do a perfomance on the platform World of Warcraft based on the theories of Hakim Bey the anarchistic writer who wrote about the courageous acts of art making and intervention without arrogance or ceremony. The text is a beautiful description of those who take the chance and create for the sheer thrill of being in it.

The ideas behind TAZ is to take charge and be in the moment. Coupled with the critical reflections about the romanticisms of neo-medievalism* inherent in the platform and in our suburban communities and lives, I am interested in really engaging the platform and expressing the culture and power structures of the fiefdom.

I have attached my proposal/manifesto: WoW Temporary Autonomous Zones

-Thomas Asmuth/Owen Moore of Demon Soul/ Myriam Moore of Demon Soul/Zuluu of Kilrogg etc etc

*I owe a great debt to the writings and work of Eddo Stern , who first brought my attention to Humberto Ecco’s writings on neo-medievalism. Please see: A Touch of Medieval: Narrative, Magic and Computer Technology in Massively Multiplayer Computer Role-Playing Games
http://www.eddostern.com/texts/Stern_TOME.html

You may have noticed the new guild and projects pages on Ars Virtua.  This is to deal with our ever expanding repertoire. I hope it will be easy to find important information on this site, but of course it is inevitably never done.

Watch for more changes and updates as time passes.  Join and participate in the forum, propose and participate in ongoing efforts and have fun.

- james