AWTeen is undergoing a rebirth
An archive of the original 2007–2008 blog. Articles and reviewed discussion are preserved; posting and voting are closed.
October 2007–January 2008, in the order the articles were published.
Hi. My name is Brant, and I've been involved with the AWTeen community for nine years. Over that time, I've participated in as well as followed AWTeen closely and watched how its community has grown and changed. Now, AWTeen is being reborn with a new system of elections that will define Caretakers of future generations. I should make it immediately clear that I have no intention to run for the position of Governor in this election, and that I have no…
This post has been moved to this blog where it is more relevant. It was previously posted at www.gamesareforchildren.com. ---------------------------------- The resignation of JerMe from the AWTeen Caretaker position earlier this month caused a number debates among those active within the world's community. While somewhat (but not entirely) off-topic for this blog, I thought here a better place than an HTML page to post this article because of the ability…
On the Activeworlds newsgroups, there is currently a debate raging over whether AWTeen's upcoming election should be strongly organized, or whether the election should be a loose affair. The "strongly organized" system involves slowing down the election process so that it takes place over the course of several weeks to a month, publicizing the election, setting up a timetable, and making sure that all candidates are on the same page at all times.…
Recently, Matthew asked me a hypothetical question: if there were only the resources to enact one change to AWTeen without any remaining for anything else, what would that one change be? I answered the query without hesitation: AWTeen needs to host a major event, and needs to do it in a well-organized fashion within a reasonable timeframe. GC has said many times that he liked AWTeen's Inauguration and Generations Days and considers them to be the best…
Note: The following post was written by Matthew, not Brant. Following the post by Dr. SquaiLboonT on the AWTeen forums that the world would be handed over to Flagg and the Peacekeepers, discussion quickly moved to the reason behind this. While Boont and Digigurl would not provide any (real) information as to the reason behind this decision, many of the users of AWTeen, and people who were not users, talked about the reasons. There were disagreements. Some…
It's interesting how often references to the former global chat network in AWTeen are appearing in recent flame wars. Often, one side has a beef with the other because that person made a disparaging remark against the other across global chat. Many of the alleged abuses of powers also involve the global chat network: for example, digigurl was recently accused of muting people for little cause, and Tony M has been accused of monitoring the chat over the…
Every time I talk with people in-world and on the AW forums, I am shocked at how many turn a blind eye to the actions of JerMe, Tony M, and digigurl. Apparently, the three citizens still have quite a few supporters, and I'm writing this article to question why. It is time for members of the AWTeen community to show themselves some self-respect and stop defending the actions of these former Caretakers in any way. There have been many Caretakers of AWTeen -…
I wrote this open letter to AWI regarding the current happenings in AWTeen. My point was not to comment on anyone's actions, but to encourage AWI not to write awteen off and to keep an open mind towards its future, along with providing some context and history of where I'm coming from. I figure this to be an appropriate venue to share it. ----- Aloha, My name is Eric Rosloff, citname Eric (formerly XelNaga), citnum 315650. I'm writing this letter to…
Over the past few days, I have been working on a proposal to change AWTeen. I had figured that it would be better to actually do something about the things I'm criticizing instead of simply commenting on them. Before I was able to finalize the proposal, however, it was leaked to the Activeworlds forums. Now that it's already publicly available, I figure there's no reason to take it down from the website, so instead I'll comment on its seemed reception. I…
With the deadline for candidate registration having passed, today I'll start by writing one of a series of articles reviewing each of the candidates' platforms. I've chosen Matthew first because he recently entered the race to replace Jaguar Hahn, who effectively had been running a campaign in absentia. It is a good move that Matthew became the head of his own campaign, because his commitment to Jaguar Hahn's campaign shows that he definitely has the…
Strike Rapier posted his "manifesto" before all of the other candidates in the AWTeen election, way back on October 21. Currently leading the polls, Strike seemed all but guaranteed a win in the election. However, with the recent announcement that GC had been eliminated from the race, Matthew appears to be gaining votes from GC and his supporters, shortening the gap. Strike Rapier starts off well in his platform by stating that he would appoint two…
Eric (XelNaga) recently made a post in the Activeworlds forums regarding the age of AWTeen election candidates. The topic has stirred up quite a bit of controversy in recent days. Some believe that the world should be For Teens, by Teens, while others believe that older people will have more experience and be more suited to the job. I subscribe to neither. Nobody should care how old someone is if the person does a good job. To illustrate, imagine that…
DaBean/FlyYukon, while currently in third place out of the three candidates for AWTeen Governor, could draw a significant number of votes in this election. DaBean, unlike the other candidates, hasn't posted a detailed platform containing numerous paragraphs of text. Instead, he and Kapara have simply stated they would ask for community suggestions and implement whatever the community wishes to get done. While community input is a great idea, his lack of…
Strike Raper expressed his displeasure with the use of free speech in the Activeworlds forums with several long tirades and a series of personal attacks. His recent behavior both in the forums and in the Universe itself clearly shows that Strike is not fit to hold the office of Governor, and AWTeen's citizens will benefit most from a responsible and open leader like Matthew or DaBean. It is in the community's best interest for everyone to ensure that…
Well, the endgame has arrived. I cast my ballot for Matthew earlier today, and there are only a few hours of voting for the AWTeen elections remaining. With the election drawing to a close, I thought it would be interesting to take a look back at the process while awaiting the winner to be announced. The most striking detail I noticed was how non-political the elections process was. There was almost a taboo against asking or answering any questions of…
Flagg has announced that the AWTeen election results will be published tomorrow, November 14. We're not completely in the dark about how the race might turn out, though, as exit polls have shown a close call. However, some interesting interviews have shown that additional forces are at work that I believe will lead to a startling upset in this race. After analyzing data from several sources, I predict that DaBean will be AWTeen's first Governor. I…
Well, unfortunately, the news has broken that Strike Rapier won the election. I'd like to congratulate Strike on his victory, and wish him the best of luck during the coming months. There isn't really much else to say. While I'm obviously disappointed in the result, I'm much more disappointed in the voting method. Flagg himself said that this election was won with only a plurality of the vote, and I have no doubt the results would have been different had…
I have a lot of respect for how Activeworlds, Inc. handled the last election, but actions this morning have caused me to question that respect. The voting was fair and honest, the results were announced publicly, and the schedule was followed as prescribed. Flagg definitely knows what he's doing, communicates well with Citizens, and he is a great asset to the community. However, one of AWI's other employees, Martin, has not been as understanding. After…
I had hoped that, by now, I would be able to write about Strike Rapier in a positive light. After all, he did get AWTeen's world services restored quickly and world population has increased significant week-over-week. However, I can't help but think that either DaBean or Matthew would have done an equal job in restoring world services. However, Matthew and DaBean would both have been superior Governors because both would have been considerably more…
As if on cue, four people declared their candidacy to AWTeen Governor yesterday, two days less than a month until the new governor takes office. Some of the candidates came as a surprise to many, and others said that they would run only if Mark decided not to. Mark has not yet officially announced intentions to run, however it is predicted that he will. Of course, GC declared that he would be running, which came as no surprise to most people. He only…