Writing Machines is the course website for English 170L at Pomona College in Claremont, California.
inhabiting caroline's world
Submitted by thisismycheese on 29 October 2006 - 12:42pm.
Like most of the class, I haven't been too impressed with my first five days of Online Caroline/Planet Jemma. Jemma bores me completely, and Caroline didn't interest me until I read Walker's article and got spoiled for the end. The problem for me isn't the false sense of friendship, it's the fact that Jemma's story is just really boring, and I just don't care at all about the stuff she's interested in (the little asides on astronomy or whatever). And it wouldn't be any more interesting if she were real--I wouldn't read a blog with the same content.
What I do appreciate about Online Caroline is the depth of Caroline's fictional world--the fact that there is an XPT website, for example, and pages like this one on that site.
Also, I played with IT3C, the service you can use to send stuff to Caroline. Anyway, you can also pretend-send gifts to real people. Now, I don't know how it looks from the receiving end (the person I sent the gift to isn't actually speaking to me right now, so I can't ask him). Maybe he's not getting anything at all. But it's pretty cool that these websites exist to sort of lend credence to Caroline's story--it reminds me a little bit of all the Blair Witch Project stuff a billion years ago.
So I thought that was really cool, but--I can't quite figure out why. Is it just the faux-realism that's cool? Or is this sort of thing an example of the world-building that defines so many computer games? It takes it to a different level, somehow--Myst and Zork and even multiplayer games are self-contained worlds, while Caroline's fake world intersects and interacts with our "real" one thanks to the internet, and there is something very creepy about that.
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sending packages!
The IT3C site is so awesome! I have spent the last half hour debating sending a "nuclear warhead", "an iceberg", or "vitamin pills"--apparently the way to "cut out meals between drinks" ;)--to my big brother in the Navy.
What I did send was "A Goat" (subtitled: "Quick & Offensive (with chips)") to an ex-boyfriend... My sister received "A Big Hug" (she has to write a lit review for her BA paper; it's due tomorrow, and she hasn't read one piece of lit or written one word of review, and apparently she just decided to procrastinate some more by ordering Chinese take out!).
I got to send a note with my packages (to the goat recipient: "I knew this was the perfect gift for you--you two look absolutely identical in profile"), choose an emotion that it was supposed to inspire (the goat was supposed to cause "feelings of tenderness" about "lobsters", the hug was supposed to inspire "religious zeal" about "work")... and then I got an email telling me that I needed to keep watch over my packages to ensure it's delivery--that weird stuff could happen. So, even package delivery is interactive!
This is way, way (way) more fun than Online Caroline.
I love the emails they send
I love the emails they send you. The one I sent my sister earned me the email of "The precious gift of A Goat is on its way to Ugly Butt!" I was so tickled. I hope she and the other recipients are too.
Oh, and I sent one to myself to see what it ended up looking like. I do hope it takes less than the expected 3 shipping and delivery days to get here.
Yeah. Wow. IT3C is the
Yeah. Wow. IT3C is the coolest thing ever. When I tracked my first package, I was informed that someone had graffitied the box, and asked whether I wanted IT3C to do anything about it. Now, I'm not sure if there's actually a way for me to do anything about it, but in any event, the site's elaborately maintained pretense of reality is the perfect kind of quirky.
Don't even get me started on
Don't even get me started on Planet Jemma. After spending 4 months in Scotland listening to vaguely stupid Brits and Scots blather on about "oh this is my dorm, this is my best mate, I love the drink, oy!", I'd rather punch myself in the face than continue with Jemma's story. It didn't help that the kids we were living with were freshmen who were all legally allowed to drink, combining two scary factors into one lovely dorm of ... ugh. I loved study abroad, but I do not want to take part in a dorky British girl's life and her bad acting. I just can't deal.
Actually, I had the opposite
Actually, I had the opposite reaction to all the British-isms in PlanetJemma. While I did not love PlanetJemma, I found it easier to deal with Jemma than Online Caroline. While I absolutely hated Online Caroline, I was not as hostile to PlanetJemma, and that may've partly been due to the fact that she's almost my age and also a college student--so I could relate more to her and her environment.
And, having never been to England, I actually found Jemma's British English cute. Yes, I'll admit it. The only useful part of PlanetJemma was learning new words like "snog" or "skived off." Since the emails and her language is meant to be casual and informal, I found it interesting hearing an everyday British girl talk.