Justin Hendricks

Figured World- The Figured world in which I will be observing is the game called
Rust. In this game players must fight for survival against one another and the
game itself. Some conventions in this game include killing a player on sight,
however it is just as likely a player may become friends with you if you refrain
from hostile actions. Another is raiding each others base for loot, though this
action ultimately may cause conflicts which result in one or more players leaving
a server, it is still a very common occurrence. Players may or may not work
together. Players who work together generally will build in open spaces and be
much more aggressive toward other players, while solo players tend to make
friends when the can and hide in the mountains or hard to reach locations.
Normally a player first seeks out food before attempting to locate territory to
settle in. Then he must also choose between a small cabin or larger home of his
choice in size. Rules in the game tend to vary from server to server. There are a
couple rules which all servers tend to have in common including griefing. This
occurs when a player creates an obstruction for another player, normally so that
they may not exit their home. They may block the doorway, build onto the base
and ruin it, or add their own doors. This will get a player banned in many servers.
Hacking is also banned on all servers, though it may still occur occasionally.
Note: This is an observation of a YouTube video Lets Play series of the game
Rust which Lordminion777 (Wade) uploaded. The actors may be referred to by
their real names occasionally within the observations. Characters also die
intermittently and respawn at a random location. This causes chat to become a
mess at times with lost players asking where Wade and the group are. When
players die they drop all supplies they are carrying and respawn with a rock,
torch, and med kit. There are also minor characters who are not well
developed and somewhat unknown. These include Slendy, Tyrorex, and Zenban
who are mostly fans of Wade. The characters Wade and Zombiemold know
each other through Minecraft with their popular Youtuber friend Markiplier. JP is
a friend of Wades who was relatively new to Wades videos before this game.
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Actors Characters who are a part of the figured world a play a certain role in
events within it.
Lordminion777 (Wade) A Youtuber who does not have a lot of experience at
PVP survival games. He tends to avoid taking leadership roles and conflict. He
will generally be nice to those around him. He is a friend of JP and Zombiemold,
the other major characters.
JP-A younger teenager who is also an uprising youtuber. He is similar to Wade is
game actions and skills, however tends to have a lot of blonde moments. He
generally is a supply gatherer and also avoids conflict, not taking on a
leadership role.
Zombiemold A more unknown guy, not a youtuber, but owns a Minecraft
server youtubers use. He accompanies Lordminion777 in some games and tends
to take on a leadership role. He will often go on his own conquests to make
friends and enemies, leaving the team to defend and gather supplies. He is very
ambitious and cannot always be trusted.
Artifacts Items or anything significant to the figured world and also reoccurs
within it
Supply Drop This is the cause of much conflict within the world. When a player
calls one in, it is a beacon for other players to come and fight over it. It normally
leads to gaining enemies who all wish to gain what rewards lie inside it.
Radtown- The main town of the land, where players go to seek new items to
craft, ammo, guns or many other things. This also may create conflict as players
will often try to control a town and not let others access it.
Gunshots This sound may be considered an artifact due to the fear or
excitement it gives players. Gunshots may be heard far away and players to
either flee or investigate. The sound of a gunshot at close range may cause a
jump scare.
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Community of Practice- A group with shared interests within a figured world, who
also communicate and act similar to one another
Griefers These players have one mission, which is to annoy and troll other
players actually trying to play the game. They may block doors, or add onto
structures with their own doors preventing the occupying player from accessing
it. They may also plant pillars or do other things to mess up a players base. These
players do not seek to advance to gain anything but personal pleasure.
Wades army These players are loyal to Wade and try to help him, Zombiemold,
and JP out all they can. They tend to be weaker and not have a home, but are
beneficial to helping them fight off opponents.
Domain The domain is the deeper shared interests and goals that a group or
organization has within a community.
Aiding Wades group These players are all working closest together, in tight
communication about everything going on outside of the home. They dont
interfere, and normally gather supplies to come to aid when necessary. Theyre
what Wade refers to as his Minion Army which includes Tyrorex and Slendy
Getting Wades Attention These players know who Wade is and do things to
get attention, whether it be in a positive or negative way. They want to be seen
by hundreds of thousands of people on YouTube and look like a good or bad
guy.
Practices of the Community This is how the community is working together to
achieve a goal. The actions taken to achieve it.
Giving supplies to Lordminions group Many players here are working together
to help the group and give them ores and wood, along with guns and ammo
throughout the game.
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Begging Many players dont seek anything but to get onto YouTube and beg
for food and supplies instead of getting it on their own. They stand outside
Lordminions home and just follow him, begging for food and things.
Fighting with Lordminion The players also attempt to attack foes, however they
have limited power and often get confused as to who the aggressor really is.
Literacy Practices
Yelling loud on the mic This is common because only Lordminion, Zombie, and
JP are in a group call. They must yell on the server mic to get other allied players
attention such as Slendy who they also work with.
Throwing supplies at someone This is seen as a non-aggressive, friendship
building move that should improve your reputation.
Observation 1
The first few minutes involve instructing other players, specifically JP of how to
perform certain actions. Then Zombie requests Wade to build certain items with
his planks, while others wander and gather supplies. The house slowly begins to
get constructed. Much time is spent waiting as there is a time set on how long it
takes to craft certain items.
At about 6:00 the first person unrelated to the group appears, named Zenban.
He does nothing of much interest though, moments later Tyrorex appears. He
had been begging for attention in chat and found where they were building.
He starts to ask a question, but when he finds out wade is recording he just acts
inappropriate. Wade runs back into the small house. The players outside run
around making their characters do funny things as Wade goes to gather
supplies and discuss enemies.
At about 12, Wade returns and they begin getting their sleeping bags set so that
if they die they can respawn in their house. Moments later someone returns with
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a half dozen zombies chasing them. Zombiemold pulls out his pistol and kills
them all, then they begin to sort through the loot dropped. As the minutes pass
more supplies are gathered and the base becomes larger. Tyrorex returns with
more zombies they kill and gain loot from.
At 19:00 the first fatality occurs as someone returns with more zombies. One
person stood in the middle trying to fight back and ended up dying. The others
laughed and how is body contorted. More time is then spent gathering and
giving supplies to Zombiemold who is in charge of the house. Tyrorex, who had
died, finds his way back and tells a story about it by 24:00
After 24:00 time is spent gathering more wood in order to build the base. Wade
kills a zombie with a pick axe and gets chocolate from it. They then talk about
how in the future they will find someone to attack once they get their base
ready. Tyrorex returns with yet again more Zombies and Wade unintentionally
hits JP with his pick axe trying to kill the zombies. Nobody dies this time though.
More walks continue to be built through the episode as supplies are gathered.
Note: Between episodes the characters added much more onto the house. The
characters were also attacked by someone, however the culprit ran away.
Tyrorex now has gained enough trust to live in the home with them. He and
Slendy are given access to the downstairs area while Wade, JP, and
Zombiemold can access anything in the house.
OBSERVATION 2
As the second episode begins it is nighttime and the characters are inside
waiting for daylight to arrive. Then Wade updates the viewer on what has been
modified and added to the base, such as pillars and metal windows. Gunshots
are randomly heard through these first few minutes and continually make Wade
antsy and uncomfortable, though it is friendly fire.
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At 3:20 Wade and Zombiemold erupt in laughter as wade tries to jump down
from the roof at the same time Zombiemold opened his door halfway down,
causing Wade to fall on top of the door instead and be unsure of whether or not
fall damage exists on the server. Wade soon tells viewers that they will be
hunting bear during the episode. They debate on whether or not to wait till
morning to go hunting, since its very possible someone may get lost.
At around 7:00 in, Wade, Zombiemold, and JP leave to go hunting in the dark.
Wade makes small talk about whether or not ladies prefer to be dressed as one
another compared to guys. They arrive at a building and find a few shotgun
shells, but nothing much else of interest. They then begin mining in the dark since
they run into resources and also harvest wood. While they begin hunting and
gathering resources, Wade updates viewers on action that happened between
episodes and that they had been attacked, though the attackers didnt
accomplish much.
By 11:30 morning has arrived and Wade has gotten lost from the group, though
hes quickly able to locate them since morning has arrived. A zombie nearly
catches him so he runs away, even though he has a gun. Wade then believes
he sees an unknown person near a few shacks, though he cannot confirm this.
The three of them continue wandering in search of bears, however none can be
located at first, then Wade yells as he runs into one. He is able to kill it and
harvest it for food. They find more bears soon after and are able to gather
leather and cloth also from them.
By 16:00 they have arrived by a factory where radiation is present and their
Geiger counter goes off. If it reaches above 400 the radiation will slowly begin to
kill them. They kill a few zombies in this area though and Wade finally turns his
grass off so that he may see items laying on the ground better. Through their
activities of hunting and gathering resources, JP and Wade follow Zombiemolds
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lead, since he knows the map much better and has an idea of setting short term
and long term goals.
Note: This episode picks up almost exactly where the last one left off. Nothing
major happened between episodes.
OBSERVATION 3
The episode begins around late morning, Wade Is harvesting from a rock when
a wolf bolts toward. He calmly maneuvers around the wrong and hits it with his
pickaxe as JP kills it with a shotgun. Wade leaves the wolf for JP and wanders
off. He then nearly gets lost thinking a doe was one of his teammates. He finds
them soon though and follows them. They run together down the road killing
wolves and bears they encounter, acting very lightheartedly during this.
At 6:30 they find a house with no doors beside the road and decide to
investigate it. They find a lot of loot in the house and are very excited by this.
They now have the best armor and many resources to use in the future. They
become confused as to how they found a base with no doors and nobody
around it that also hadnt been looted. They spend nearly ten minutes sorting
through loot trying to decide what to keep and leave behind.
At 18:00 they begin to leave, gathering up wood on the way back. They talk
excitedly about their find and how it was so strange that happened.
Zombiemold then forms a plan. He decides they will get their two friends, Slendy
and JD, and come back to blow up other houses for loot later.
At 25:00 they are still making their way back to home. They become confused
slightly as to if they are going the right way, but figure out they are and continue
down the road. They arrive home to find Slendy and JD waiting, and Tyrorex
dead. It was apparently an accident so they pay no attention to it. They spend
the next few minutes putting the loot they found into storage boxes and making
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sure theyre using modded weapons, also figuring out what armor they still
need.
At 34:00 gunshots are heard outside while all the players are together in the
house. They wonder who it could be though arent very concerned since
theyre in their home. Zombiemold tells the rest of the team theyre preparing to
go raid a base. Then one of the minor characters, either Tyrorex or Slendy, are
glitching through the door. Zombiemold opens the door and the player
collapses in a very fast strange way causing everyone to burst out in laughter.
The episode ends at this point.
Wade Interview
1. Can you please explain how you interact when first encountering another
player?
First I try to figure out if I recognize the name. If I dont then Ill be
extremely cautious and keep my gun out. If he looks unarmed then I
watch him but am not quite as worried. I try to talk to him and tell him Im
peaceful if he doesnt attack me. Sometimes players completely ignore
you and run along, which is okay too, but I might kill them if I feel like it. If
its a group I try to be friendlier and have an escape route if they gang up
on me, but Im usually a pretty nice guy.
2. Can you explain where you prefer to live and why?
I always pick locations close to towns and resources. Playing in a large
group generally means you can almost always defend your base
because someone should be online. Though living in opens areas makes
you a very easy target too. I generally prefer building huge structures with
many sets of doors to thwart any attempts of raiding.
3. How do you react after youve been killed by a fellow player?
I normally try to make amends, though my group will often be a lot more
offensive than me. Unless the player did something to really get under my
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skin then Ill try to defend myself, but move on. I may also go in search of
the players base and attempt to raid it later or kill them there, bringing my
friends with me. We have done this many times in the past. Killing me at
my home will mean war though, especially if youre trying to raid.
4. What are some things you first do when joining a new server?
Since I play with friends I always try and find them, while also avoiding
wolves and the wildlife. I normally end up dying and killing myself a few
times before I can locate my friends. Once we do that though we make
sure we have enough food, then we pick a spot to build our base and
gather resources from that area.
5. Tell me about your goals in this game.
I play the game as entertainment for viewers. Im just trying to survive and
make myself and the group stronger. I guess we strive to be the dominant
group on the server, but then once were there it can get boring. We like
a challenge and defeating would be a great goal. Even if we are
defeated its still a victory for entertainment.
Zombiemold Interview
1. Can you explain how you react when first encountering another player?
Ill try to befriend him or be on good terms at least. If he attacks me or kills
me then its game on. That guy will be my rival till he leaves the server. I try
not to be the one getting a bad rep, unless Im with friends and we have
an advantage. I still cant be that good of a bad guy though.
2. Can you explain where you prefer to live and why?
Anywhere by loot crates and resources is perfect. Theres always a risk
though of running into other players and/or getting raided, but theres
normally a large enough group of allied players to stop that from
happening. In the past though Ive built by the hangar and by the mini
rad town.
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3. How do you react after being killed by a fellow player?
I make it a priority to get revenge. They may not think its a big deal to kill
everyone and anyone they see, but I remember and will kill and raid them
later. If its an accident or something and they return my things then I
might be a little more lenient.
4. What are some things you first do when joining a new server?
I always figure out where the other main players are located. I want to
distance myself a little, but remember where they are in case Im
attacked or choose to attack them, but otherwise its the standard
procedure of finding food and gathering basic resources to start building
my house.
5. Tell me about your goals in this game.
Just have fun. There isnt really much of one otherwise besides killing each
other and seeking revenge. I guess we try to be the top dog of the server
were on but its not that important. I think the thing I really enjoy most the
happiness and joy that comes with finding a ton of loot in a house you
raid or find abandoned that otherwise may have taken hours or days to
get.