The Metaplace Meep Persecution

Cuppycake, Community Manager of Metaplace, recently posted this to our Metaplace users"

"What is meeping?"

This is one of the most common questions we hear in chat and in our focus testing. While we all (well, most of us) love the furry little meeps and enjoy the act of "meeping", we've come to terms with the fact that the concept is one that most new folks don't grasp. In the sake of making things easier for everyone, we've decided to rename "meeping" to "nudging".

What does this mean?

It doesn't mean the meeps are going away. The little critters will still be available on the Marketplace, and still bouncing away in all the worlds they're in. The only difference will be that we're referring to "meeping" (comparitive to Facebook's poke) as "nudging" from now on in the portal, badges, and embed.

The meep dynasty isn't coming to an end, we are just making changes to help make Metaplace an easier experience for everyone to grasp. Feel free to post any questions or concerns here

Needless to say, the Metaplace community is in an uproar.

Meeping has become a tradition and core identification icon to many of the folks who frequent Metaplace.

KStarfire: Taking away meeping makes me a sad panda...

TaoArtGuy: I don't think this is the meep-ing meep-est idea I've ever heard. If you squash the meep, do we not bleed?

feconix: I think it would be a travesty and an outrage to remove meeping.

demosthenes2k8: If we get rid of the meeps, then a bit of the culture here will vanish...

So the question is, will this close knit community stand by and let the meep be cast aside and led away into the a new age of holocaust and concentration camps? Stand up my friends! Make your voices heard! The Meep Needs You!!

footnote: as those of you familiar with my UO writing will attest, I NEVER write anything tongue-in-cheek.

This just in!

Cuppy has announced that there will be Meep In tonight at 6m pst! We will have a chance to speak with the Official Meep Representative, so don't miss out!!

http://beta.metaplace.com/Keep_the_Meep/play

Show your support by obtaining your own Keep the Meep sign at Marketplace, which also serves as a portal to Keep_the_Meep world!

written by joecastille:

Declaration of the Rights of Meepers


We the Meepers, in order to secure a more perfect user experience, do hereby call upon the gracious Overlords of Metaplace to heed our most sincere plea for retention of Meeping as a core social activity of this most august and progressive platform.

Indeed, we recognize the inability of traditional focus testing and marketing analysis to measure the importance of a social networking tool that prompts new users to ask 'What is Meeping?'.

To our view, this key question places the new user into an open and receptive state of mind. It is a key cognitive marker that the user is now experiencing something new and different. That, in fact, 'this is not your father's mmo' ! Such is the very fabric of life, liberty and the pursuit of (virtual) happiness!

We believe this core recognition is at the very heart of allowing new users to understand the profound possibilities of this grand cosmos of user generated virtuality.

In that spirit, we implore the gracious Overlords (and their pernicious marketing consults) to carefully consider the implications of allowing traditional marketing analysis to cloud the glorious values of the Declaration of the Rights of Avatars, and the Meeping revolution that they themselves have fomented for the greater good of humankind!

Meepers of the World Unite! You have nothing to lose but the chains on your brains!