Stephanie's+Card+or+Online+Board+Game+WikiPage

1/27/10  So I started my online Scrabble project through a multi-game website called Pogo.com! [|Click here to check out the site....] Anyway, I'm already I'm kind of addicted! The setup looks very old school which you'll see from my snap shots; very robot-like fonts, not quite user friendly and lots of *click*-->new-window-with-new-options*click*repeat (haha, does that make a lick of sense?) instead of pull down menus or other more modern options. Anyway, you get to play the computer OR other live players OR play the computer until another live player joins to replace the computer mid-game (or vica versa, you can replace a computer in someone else's game). There are group chat-rooms, and a chat box solely with your opponent, but so far every time I've sent anything I haven't gotten responses...

I've already played for an hour, a few games with the same player, but I was babysitting and when the parents got home I couldn't find any option to pause or quit so that the computer could replace me, so I just shut the computer and when I came back my time was up and I'm not sure what happened with the game... I'm sure I'll figure this out soon enough.

 1/28/10  Just played another hour... beat the computer!! I know I'm supposed to be playing real people but I TRIED and no one was awake to play against me, so I had to play the computer hoping someone would join, but they didn't........ but like I said, I won!! How often do you beat a computer at anything? A first for me....

1/29/10  Just woke up and played a round of Scrabble and kicked ass!! It's really fun playing real people, at first I thought it would be kind of weird, but chatting with them (a little) during the game is kind of fun. Also, my screen shows ideas they're playing with, like if they set tiles down but don't end up using the word, I see that, and it's kind of entertaining sometimes to see the letters they put together possibly thinking they're actually words. I do the same thing too though, trying to be funny, so maybe they are too. Anyway, below is my celebratory snapshot of without a doubt the best Scrabble game I've ever played. I was able to build the word "INERTIA" as a triple word score from the "E", which I added as an extension of a vertical "FINAL" that the opponent had just played. The letters of "INERTIA" used up all my tiles so I got all the points for "FINALE" and "INERTIA" both tripled, and then I think some kind of bonus for using all my letters. Needless to say, it was SWEET! And I am now feeling like a huge nerd!!

 My 29 point "INERTIA" plus the 50 bonus points gave me my 29 total points for the play, but I just realized they screwed me over because I should have had the point for creating "FINALE" out of "FINAL", too!! Must have been out of mercy for my opponent, "GabbyTheNerd". Mwahahaha. <--- "Oowe! Oowe!"

 Alright, now that I've gotten all that bragging out of my system, I just want to mention that there are advertisements, such as this Valentine's Sweepstakes one, that appear as an "intermission" several times a game. They last 25 or 30 seconds and everything times out as we watch the ads, then game resumes. It's basically the same idea as the ads that come up while watching shows on Hulu. Annoying! Gives me 25 seconds to think about my next move though! ;)  1/31/10  I've already put in more practicum hours then I even feel comfortable admitting... (haha!) Scrabble online is so addicting. I even got my boyfriend on there so now if we're on at the same time we can play each other, so nerdy! The members of Pogo even use internet lingo I wasn't even aware of. "gl" for good luck, "gg" for good game, etc. The chatting option is still kind of weird, I don't like to chat while I play but sometimes compliment a nice play or say good job. I always check the ongoing games to see if anyone has just started playing a computer, then I'll sit in to replace the computer if the board is pretty fresh. I don't like joining right in the middle of the game, though, so sometimes I just start my own game against the computer and wait for another player to join and replace the computer. Usually someone does, at least for part of the game (you can join, play, and leave, giving the computer its place back). Sometimes no one ever joins though, and I end up playing the computer the whole game, and while I mentioned earlier that I was so impressed with myself for beating the computer, it turns out that's not so hard after all! Anyway.... here are a few of my screen shots from today.

<-- an example of the lingo. "gg"="good luck" <-- a 60 point play! :) [quay= a wharf] **Learning new words and expanding my vocab is all a part of the online Scrabble experience!! And... for better or worse, Scrabble dictionary or ANY online dictionary is always only a click away, which compared to the regular board game feels a bit like cheating, but since everyone on here has an equal chance to utilize the dictionary, it seems to work out pretty well.** 

a bunch of wins ;) 

2/16/10 Well... I haven't written on here in awhile but I've certainly been playing. Now that I see almost my entire collection of pictures have been replaced by uploads intended for other students' Wikis, I'm a little hesitant to post more pictures. But, I have a few from a game I played yesterday so I am going to put them up. Unfortunately the ones that have been replaced by other people's pictures aren't saved on my computer anymore so they are all lost. I am still enjoying playing Scrabble online but I also played a real life game of Scrabble last weekend on a board and was reminded of how different the experience and game itself actually is online. With the computer telling you if the tiles you've put down are a dictionary word, and having a dictionary provided to you by Scrabble online, the game is much easier. In real life I am naturally less bold with the words I put down because I am not confident that they are real words, and run the risk of a challenge by the other player. It's still a fun way to multitask if I'm watching TV or something like that, but like many other things that have been transferred to the digital world... it's just not the same as the classic way to do things.



<span style="color: #3809be; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 249%;">Okay, so I am going to kind of start over on here now that I have prepared my practicum presentation, have new pictures saved, and figured out how to update my wiki without it ending up an awful mess of everyone else's pics!! <span style="color: #3809be; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 130%;">

My Main Page at Pogo.com, where I could play many free games on the website, but focused my attention and study on Scrabble.

This is my MINI avatar, as they call it on Pogo.com. I can design the face and hair however I want but if I wanted to change the outfit, add accessories, etc., I would have to purchase Pogo Gems with real money, and then purchase the apparel at the "Mini Mall".

This is Pogo.com in all its glory, full of advertisements and colorful calls for players to try new games, spend real money, and interact with other players. One of the main pressures throughout the website is to join Club Pogo, an exclusive group of members who get to play games without ad interruptions and get other cool offers, Gems, etc.

This is the actual Scrabble webpage within the Pogo website. Here you can choose from many options, navigate back to Pogo.com, and begin gameplay.

After choosing to enter the Game Room called "Ladies Lounge", a pop-up window opens and forces an ad on you while you wait for the game to load....

This is what it looks like once the game has loaded and you are inside the Ladies Lounge. Here you can chat with the other players, choose a table to JOIN against another player, or sit down at an open table to begin playing the computer. If you play the computer, you can leave the option open to other players to join in and replace the computer, picking up where they left off.

and THIS is the game in play. Here I am playing a real opponent, and I have replaced the computer to play the rest of the game.