ratcreature: What? Who? When? Yes, I have been living under a rock... (under a rock)
RatCreature ([personal profile] ratcreature) wrote2011-08-30 08:46 pm
Entry tags:

help the clueless

I was reading the [community profile] daily_snitch and saw in the community section "[livejournal.com profile] fantasyverse is a new land community." My reaction then was "what is a 'land community'?" so I headed over to the comm profile, which in the about section also only says that it is a "land community" but does not explain what that is, but it apparently involves teams and challenges. I then head to the FAQs which unfortunately don't give a definition either.

At this point I assume that it must be some sort of incredibly common thing that everybody (except apparently me) in fandom is familiar with. I tried looking in Fanlore, but that wiki failed me too, because it does not have an article on this. I tried following affiliated links, but aside from ending up on a master list of land comms that showed me that there are a ton of them, I didn't easily find a link to a clear definition what they are either.

Could anyone on my flist give me an explanation what these communities are/do?
busaikko: cartoon brain captioned "Life of Brain" (* brain life of)

[personal profile] busaikko 2011-08-30 09:57 pm (UTC)(link)
I am laughing so hard, but only because there is a Stargateland comm and I've been trying to figure out what they do for ages! But apparently secrecy and flock are norms....

As far as I know, a "land comm" divides members into teams, which compete with each other in games and contests (logic puzzles, drabbles/drawbles, etc.). Because it is meant to be "all in good fun", the flock is meant to protect members from non-members' criticism.

Stargateland members are evangelically passionate about how fun it is! and how everyone should join! and make new friends! I like to know what I'm getting into before I commit. They say it's easy to quit if it doesn't work for me. So who knows!
busaikko: Ronon facepalming (* facepalm Ronon)

[personal profile] busaikko 2011-08-30 11:08 pm (UTC)(link)
Yeah, my husband is in a cult, and it makes me super-sensitive a lot.

I think members find the secrecy protective; some of the challenges might be embarrassing? (because of the time limits, fic and art produced isn't up to the public standards of the creators - unbeta'd and sketchy would be my guess; I have seen some people repost stuff they made for Stargateland, but I think that's the best efforts of the creators.)

In my experience, land comms are very much against the idea of participation by lurking....
brownbetty: (Default)

[personal profile] brownbetty 2011-08-30 11:58 pm (UTC)(link)
Kind of like HP sorting comms, but hopefully less wanky, then?
astridv: (Default)

[personal profile] astridv 2011-08-30 11:09 pm (UTC)(link)
I've just been talking to someone about that. Leverage has one of these too, and it really sounds like a lot of fun. I just don't want to commit to a comm where regular participation is required in order to stay a member, even if the requirements are said to be low stress. Anyway, a bunch of people on my friends list post fic originally written for the challenge comm, so it seems to be a creative place. But to see what exactly is going on there one has to join first.
astridv: (Default)

[personal profile] astridv 2011-08-31 09:35 pm (UTC)(link)
I have an idea what to expect after hearing a bunch of people talking about it, and I'm really tempted right now (Leverageland is recruiting right this moment) but the idea of being expected to participate each week in something, no matter how small, is just so contrary to the whole stress reducing thing I got going that I'll probably pass. Maybe next time though.

But if you want to see what it's about you could probably just sign up, try it for a month, and drop out if it's not for you. Way I understand it it's not a big deal.
astridv: (Default)

[personal profile] astridv 2011-09-01 11:09 am (UTC)(link)
Huh, that's a weird combination, these three have, like, nothing in common.
alexseanchai: Katsuki Yuuri wearing a blue jacket and his glasses and holding a poodle, in front of the asexual pride flag with a rainbow heart inset. (Default)

[personal profile] alexseanchai 2011-08-31 11:57 pm (UTC)(link)
From network: You join up. You join a team. You participate in challenges--fic, art, games of skill, games of chance, whatever. Participation gains your team points. Winning gains your team more points; winners are determined either by the mods or by the comm. The winning team gets bragging rights.

[identity profile] marag.livejournal.com 2011-08-30 06:49 pm (UTC)(link)
It sounds like something that involves invasions! I have no idea what it is.

This happened to me when suddenly everyone was talking about SeSas and for the life of me I couldn't figure out what that was. Finally, I think someone spelled out Secret Santa and I understood.

[identity profile] an-kayoh.livejournal.com 2011-08-31 04:09 am (UTC)(link)
I think the idea is that you sign up, select or are selected by a team, and then do stuff for your team. What you do probably depends on the community's focus and there's usually a leadership team who determines what gets what amount of points.

I participate in a crafting/Harry Potter thing that's similar - you're 'sorted' to a house and craft items that fit class assignments, 15 points per project. Plus there's special challenges like Quidditch and OWLs. I have no idea how you'd transition that to a fanworks-based community though.
ext_85481: (Default)

[identity profile] hsavinien.livejournal.com 2011-09-04 04:07 am (UTC)(link)
Never heard of them. *shrugs*