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Twitter is a multiplayer real-time virtual world, primarily text-based with limited multimedia support. It combines elements of role-playing games, hack and slash, player versus player, interactive fiction, and online chat.
Players can read, view and contribute descriptions of objects, other players, non-player characters, and actions performed in the virtual world, as well as the “real” world. Players typically interact with each other by utilizing strings that resemble a natural language.
While traditional MUDs typically implement RPGs set in distinct fantasy worlds populated by fictional races and monsters, with players choosing classes in order to gain specific skills or powers, Twitter allows every player to project their own fantasy and define their own game.
The flexible nature of Twitter makes it difficult for any singular definition of “the game” to become canonical. Conflict between players with different interpretations of Twitter is a key feature of Twitter itself. Indeed, one of the most popular games is “hey, fuck that guy”.
Unsurprisingly, few players put much thought into precisely defining the game that they are playing. Most players “pick it up” organically as they go along, inheriting the unwritten rules and norms of their peers via imitation and (limited) experimentation.
The key feature of (public) Twitter is that any player can interact with any other player. Any player can reply to any other player’s tweets, or retweet it, or quote-tweet it. This bypasses traditional limitations of both “real life” as well as older web mediums like “blogs”.
Why would such prolific players choose Twitter as a medium, rather than “websites” or “books”, which appear to be better suited to large volumes of content? Because Twitter allows any player to interact with any other player’s tweets.
Most casual players do not appear to have caught on to the true potential utility of Twitter, or perhaps they are indifferent to it. A web of tweets is a living entity that allows players to meet, interact and engage with 1000s of others *at the level of individual thoughts*.
Properly constructed, a web of tweets allows you to: - witness how other players discover your tweets, via their patterns of Likes, RTs, QTs - connect each fragmented thought and experience into a part of a greater whole - recognise and embellish patterns in your own play
We have not yet even begun talking about relationships. Players can build relationships with other players over time and shared interactions. Through cooperation, multiple players can share and merge webs with one another, helping each other find and share desired information
Players observed to be “good” and “fun” have even been known to invite each other to meetups, offer each other jobs, become “friends” outside of Twitter. Twitter is a game with extremely real stakes and consequences, both good and bad.
You are not limited to a single identity or account on Twitter. A single individual can play as many different players simultaneously. You can invent entirely different identities and have radically different experiences with each.
With a little introspection, Twitter can be a tool for self-inquiry, making friends, testing ideas, messing around, finding information, practicing speech, and pretty much anything you like. It’s also, like everything else, just a game. Have fun!
Honestly I’m still not done geeking out about how great Twitter is. Any tweet from any thread can be reused in any other thread,,, do you guys realise how wild that is??? It allows you to create your own cinematic universe
@visakanv Still sad that there's no way to see where a tweet is referenced. eg your just replied to one that is embedded in this one, but there's no easy way to see that. Would love to get your take on this btw, as it's relevant to this very thread etc: https://t.co/1N5asnjsej
@visakanv I've vaguely thought maybe a browser extension could do it? Search twitter for each tweet on the screen, then stick a thing next to the 🗨🔃♥ icons with a # of quotes. API search only gets recent stuff. I think web search gets all...? test one of your most-quoted? (search url)
@Malcolm_Ocean how do you... search for a URL without going to the URL https://t.co/OjrVHtNYJW
@visakanv If you're on mobile, you might need to use the "share link to tweet" feature. If you're on desktop, find the tweet then click on its date. The one whose url is active in a given popped-up-thread is the one with the biggest text.
@visakanv ...Yeah definitely it doesn't show all 😢 I just searched this one (embedded here) and it's showing a QT from someone else but not your own recent embed replying to me here: https://t.co/8OhE48PdZY https://t.co/1iriGGlapJ
@visakanv Also I have learned more about why this sometimes seems to not show all! https://t.co/z9v1Gw2qFB
@graphrick @visakanv Aha, speculating this doesn't work consistently because searching for the full url only matches the exact url, and sometimes the quoted tweet url will be at https://t.co/ySxqD1dX9D. If you start your search with https://t.co/55tNmySZvz (no "https" or "mobile"), it'll match both!
@visakanv ...Yeah definitely it doesn't show all 😢 I just searched this one (embedded here) and it's showing a QT from someone else but not your own recent embed replying to me here: https://t.co/8OhE48PdZY https://t.co/1iriGGlapJ
@visakanv Also I have learned more about why this sometimes seems to not show all! https://t.co/z9v1Gw2qFB
@graphrick @visakanv Aha, speculating this doesn't work consistently because searching for the full url only matches the exact url, and sometimes the quoted tweet url will be at https://t.co/ySxqD1dX9D. If you start your search with https://t.co/55tNmySZvz (no "https" or "mobile"), it'll match both!
follow curiosity develop taste publish writing make friends https://t.co/iuqZn7N3Qu
This is a thread *about* threading. 🧵🕸 https://t.co/3qcc2wlJYC
Interesting conversation with a writer friend earlier about the fragmentation of information. We both agreed that fragmentation isn't actually a bad thing - what's missing & needed is better threading. Twitter threads are a specific instantiation of a solution to bigger problem
Co-signed https://t.co/qbUaQyRszD
Co-signed https://t.co/UK96K5UnTl
How to network on Twitter 101: 1. Follow people you find interesting. 2. Share your thoughts and let others know what you think about theirs. 3. When you have a mutual follow, send a DM and arrange a call/coffee to see how you can help them. 4. Meet them! 5. Repeat 1-4.
Assemble the Mindcity https://t.co/RxDCpECJOh
Now that more of us are playing the threading game: As we compete+collaborate effectively articulate things we all care about, And weave each other’s thoughts into our respective webs, The desire paths will assemble a mindcity paved with the best individual thoughts
tiny twitter strategy guide 🔸follow ppl whose tweets u want inside u 🔸custom search engine for own tweets + fav others 🔸screenshot highlights from links (cmd-shift-4 on mac) 🔸thread threads 🔸humor (memes, shitposts) 🔸vulnerability 🔸improv, not debate 🔸goddamnit, be kind
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the matrix view of twitter occasionally reveals itself to me. I feel like I have about 80% clarity rn. (I never remember to tweet when I have 90-95% clarity). I almost wanna say “turn it off, it’s too powerful”- but I look again and I am transfixed. It’s a superhuman system https://t.co/HLLFsYJQgf
twitter_strategy_advanced.txt https://t.co/H1YpsUsL1G
actually thinking on it more I am probably weirdly/unusually well-adapted to “how do you broadcast a lot of your inner self online without getting pwned” and there’s probably stuff I take for granted as obvious that would be very useful for some people to hear
what the journey is like: https://t.co/tx05bBoNRd
@visakanv Trying to go viral is an emergent twitter puzzle game that manny people don't realize they are playing.https://t.co/7Jk8LR11EQ
@smart_intellecc @sonyaellenmann https://t.co/ppfLJlp0lT
@visakanv this is a great rabbit hole. hadn't thought of twitter in quite these ways before even though lots feels recognisable as soon as you say it out loud...and the shitposting / sermonposting / nerdposting model you drew is a memorable model! thanks 🙏🏻