UZZAP AND ME, AND THE HARRY POTTER WORLD

THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF UZZAP
by Alvin E. Lauran on Sunday, September 19, 2010 at 9:07am

(excerpts from the original, OPEN LETTER TO ALL UZZAPERS AND THE UZZAPWORLD WEBSITE ADMINISTRATOR, from the same author, hogwarts201)

I am hogwarts201, as known in Uzzap chatroom. I entered the wonderful world of Uzzap, a week after its virtual birth on July 6, 2008, simply because of SMART’s strong tri-media campaign, plus the insistent demand and recommendation of my friend who was already an uzzaper ahead of me. On the first day, I was groping in the dark and wandered how this uzzap worked. They were only few rooms then. Basically the current rooms under the category Universities were the pioneer rooms. I entered UST2 as frequently as I could when I logged on to Uzzap, by choice. We called ourselves “pioneers” or “reg” as others called it. When you entered your nickname, it appeared in the chatroom. The more you entered your name, the more nicknames appeared; hence, the discovery of this stuff called “flood”. With the passing of time, flood variations came in many forms. Me and my fellow uzzapers sung to high praises when graphic flooders had been given their rooms via Clans. I am a proud witness of the evolution of Uzzap, especially on the technical aspect; from its dull emoticons to its animated series now. The additional rooms when Olympic games in 2008 had been added to the delight of sports-minded chatters.

The evolution/innovation of rooms from a university rooms only up to date with its numerous categories. Not to mention the trivia games conducted by would-be GMs, the knowledge we gained. To annoyed chatters, kicking bot was a delight to see when a flooder's butts would be kicked. Being a social mobile network, Uzzap is a big help when you have nothing but just 1 peso load then, because of its 10 free texts daily. Game masters missed the unlimited PR, however replaced by much better feature of creating own rooms - name or rename the room, and call it, your own. Now, with its fresh media sharing format, uzzap really soared into greater heights. Uzzap is really the pioneer in this endeavor among social mobile networking. We can't thank enough with all its technical features, downsizing the fact that it is still free to log in. I am fully aware of Smart's efforts to totally improve Uzzap system. The perennial lag/freeze is already minimal these few months, and hopefully, onwards. Also the Mute feature that when activated becomes a powerful tool in flood control.

But amidst all these technicalities, I knew that personal relationship has been developed. Pinoy regionalism among uzzapers melted down as building friendship had been established. Many have gone as far as meeting each other, regardless of distance or geographical boundaries in a term they call, group eyeball (GEB). Uzzap is exactly making the earth smaller, thereby friendship and ties are being bonded even more.

On my part, I content myself in conducting trivia games in chatrooms. This is because I found uzzap to be a perfect venue to share my knowledge, even on little things. I started in my “home” chatroom, UST2, and then moving on to UP1, UP2, UP3 and Gamers room. I did my trivia games during weekends because of my job during weekdays. Then someone suggested that, in as much as hogwarts game became popular in some rooms, why not conduct a game with the end in view that many, if not all “trivia addicts” could participate in a bigger battle, in a bigger venue. And what bigger venue it would have been other than what we call as “PR”. This is an extension room in uzzap, as we know it, that uzzapers can talk privately. Thanks God, I am blessed with a laptop connected to a broadband connection. Hence, it wasn’t difficult for me to conduct trivia games. HOGWARTS BATTLE OF THE ROOMS was born then. It was the much-awaited game over the weekend among trivia addicts in uzzap. Imagine, a bigger PR that could accommodate as far as 200 chatters. You may not believe it, because uzzap public and private chatrooms now can only accommodate up to 20 chatters. It wasn’t easy to control a crowd of 200 chatters, it wasn’t perfect though, but I managed it to the satisfaction of my fellow trivia addict participants, acknowledging their thoughtfulness on giving thanks to me on a stuff well done after every game. One good thing was that NO MONETARY PRIZES involved on Hogwarts Battle of the Rooms. It was a very friendly competition among uzzap rooms then, that many of them gained “personal” connection.

There were floods of course, even in my PR, but we just simply ignored it, by creating another PR. That was the beauty of the older version of Uzzap, that you could create as many PR as you wish, and invite as many chatters as you wish, with no cost at all. Hogwarts Battle of the Rooms lasted over a year, and was terminated due to the untimely demise of my mother. Many of my friends texted me to resume the game after some months that of my non-appearance in uzzap. When I fully recovered from our family predicament, it was the time that uzzap had gone so many technical improvement, thus impossible to create unlimited PR anymore. I quit conducting Hogwarts Battle of the Rooms now. However, my love for sharing my knowledge is still on my system. That is why, some chatters could still see me conducting trivia games in random rooms, when I have free time. Sometimes, a give-away load of 30 or 60 to the trivia winner is my way of motivation so that chatters can participate actively, thus minimizing flood or posting of annoying comments.

Meanwhile, hogwarts201 is my second Uzzap account after my first account cedric69 was banned by cycop-deckard during my first few months in uzzap due to “flooding”. My flooding is not the same with the usual flood then and now.

Hogwarts201 is already my nickname even before this HARRY POTTER room under Favorites category had been created. I hope many chatters can attest to that fact, especially the participants of my trivia games then. I intentionally didn’t join the Dumbledore’s Army (DA) clan or any clans for that matter so that I can freely enjoy chatting without being branded as a clan member of any sort.

Of course, I was overjoyed when Harry Potter room was created. On my own, I smiled with the thought that at last I could chat a fellow HP fanatic in a chatroom that I could really be “in”. I had this experience before that when I entered a chatroom and saw my nickname, they keep on giving inputs that I am a nerd. Pathetic comments.

My love for Harry Potter series, be it in JKR books or movies and similar stuff goes beyond posting Harry Potter pick-up lines in HP room and even conducting trivia games about Harry Potter. Some were annoyed of my being HP fanatic and even criticized my weird antics. More often than not, even on weekdays, when I am at work, I managed to logged on to uzzap just to take a peep what’s going on the Potterworld of Uzzap.