Twitter – A Beautiful Game

So for a couple of years now, I’ve been a bit of a laughing stock in the geek community because I’m a luddite.

You see, I did not posses a smartphone. Neither did I have a twitter account.

This might not seem like a crippling social affliction, and most of the time it’s not. Most of the time I’m at home in Wisconsin, writing and hanging out with my little boy.

But then I go to a convention, like Origins, and while I’m there, I hang out with John Scalzi, Felicia Day, and Wil Wheaton. And while we’re playing games, someone snaps a picture. And then, when they’re posting it up online, someone looks at me and says “I’ll tag you here, What’s your twitter handle?”

And I say, “I’m not on twitter.”

Keep in mind who I’m hanging with here. Wil, John, and Felicia. If you added some sort of animal sidekick to this mix, I’m guessing they could join together and form a giant robot that would somehow defend the internet. The looks they give me are the worst sort of mingled pity and scorn….

Ah hell. I just realized *I’m* probably the animal sidekick in that group. I’m Lubar, the great shambling bear-man from the frozen tundra who is charmingly baffled by the subtle magic of the interweb.

Anyway, the point is that I’ve finally, *finally* taken the leap.

20131016_165726

But that’s only the beginning. The phone itself isn’t enough. To really wire myself in, I know I need to get on twitter.

*     *     *

Part of the reason I want to get on twitter is because it will save me time. I tend to be… um…. wordy. Verbose even. Sometimes a blog that starts out as a simple announcement turns into a 500 word screed.

Twitter will help me reign that impulse in a bit. I’ll be able to mention things to y’all without feeling the obligation to make a meaty blog about them.

The other reason I need to get on twitter is to stay in better touch with my readers.

You see, I’m not a total technological schmendrick. I’ve been on facebook since before it was cool, and I’ve slowly built my army over there. For years I’ve used facebook to clue-in readers when I’m doing events, running contests, or going to conventions….

But these days Facebook deliberately throttles back the reach of most pages. These days I’m encouraged to “boost” my posts by giving facebook money. If I don’t boost the posts (and I never do) the things I write there only show up on *half* my reader’s news feeds.

It happens all the time. I schedule a signing in Boston. I post on facebook letting people know about my signing in Boston. I go to Boston. I get home and later that day I see someone howling on my wall “You Were In BOSTON!!??!?”

Twitter doesn’t have this problem. If you follow me on twitter, and I post something on twitter, you’ll be able to decide for yourself if it’s worth reading.

But here’s the problem. I don’t want to spend ages slowly building up my twitter following.

Also, you only get to lose your twitter virginity once.

My thought is, why not have a little fun with this?

My thought is, why don’t we play a little game?

*     *     *

So here’s what I’ve done.

I’ve created six twitter accounts, all versions of the name “Pat Rothfuss.”

I’ve recruited 5 members of the geek glitterati. Friends who are good with words. They’re witty, wired-in, and social media savvy.

Starting today, each of them will claim one of those accounts at random and do their best to convince the world they’re the *real* Pat Rothfuss.

They’ll connive and scheme. They’ll share links, twitter at you, and generally attempt to exude an aura of Rothfuss-y-ness.

I will take the sixth profile and attempt to do the same.

The contest will run for two weeks and finish on Halloween at midnight.  Then everyone will vote on who they think the real Pat Rothfuss is.

CSG_WhatDoILookLike_Reveal-smaller

The winner gets that most valuable commodity of all: Bragging Rights.

Even better, the winner will have 1,000 dollars donated to the charity of their choice. The prize money being provided by DAW Books, my lovely publisher.

I might also see if I can find a trophy of some sort.

  • The Rules:

It should be blindingly obvious to everyone that I could win this game pretty easily. I could post up a selfie with today’s newspaper and that would be the end of it.

But what would be the fun in that?

The five other people who are playing are going to have to win through sheer cleverness, trickery, and guile. I plan on winning the same way.

What I’m getting at here, is that I’m looking to play a beautiful game. Why would I want to win anything other than a beautiful game?

Aside from my self-imposed handicap, there are only two rules:

1. Players can change anything on their twitter profiles except for their pictures. Those will remain the same throughout the contest. Otherwise things would just be too confusing.

2. Stories about Oot are out of bounds.

You see, I love telling stories about my little boy: (Codename Oot.)

A lot of the stories I tell are funny, silly, or irreverent. For example, on facebook I recently shared how Oot spent 20 minutes running around shouting “Gangnam Style!” and dancing naked.

I shared the story because it’s funny, and because he has no sense of shame at this point in his life.

But the thought of someone *else* making up a story along those lines…. It creeps me out a little bit.

So. No Oot stories. He’s out of bounds.

That’s it though. Everything else is fair game.

  • The Charities:

The charities are people are backing:  WorldbuildersArchitecture for HumanityTeach for America826LACon or Bust or Project Nightlight.

(Here’s a hint. I’m playing for my home team, Worldbuilders.)

If you want to know more about these charities, you can read some brief summaries over on the page where you can see all six twitter feeds at once.

TheRealRothfuss

Fair warning: We kinda threw this page together. If it gets hammered with 100,000 visitors in the next two days, it might crash.

So if you want to follow the contest, you might consider following all six of these accounts right now. That way you can watch the entire beautiful game without fear of tech glitches getting in the way.

As of right now, each profile is virtually identical except for its name and the profile picture. While the pictures will remain the same, (as per rule #1 above) the profiles will doubtless change as soon as the players take charge.

A careful observer will notice that each of the profiles has one tweet from Oct 14th saying, “I am the real Pat Rothfuss.”

A *very* careful observer will notice that that post is actually from Oct 14th 2012. That’s how long I’ve been planning to do this contest, but I’ve never managed to get around to it until now.

Because the profiles have been sitting around for a while, some of them have collected different numbers of followers.

I’m guessing that in the next couple days they’re going to get a few more….

In case you’d like it again, here’s a link to the page where you can see and follow all of the accounts.

Game on,

pat

P.S. Just now, minutes before we launch this blog, it has occurred to me that we should have some sort of official hashtag associated with it.

I consulted with my staff, and my twitter-smart assistant Amanda has confirmed that yes, this is a good idea.

What’s more, she has implied to me that this tag could even be used to ask a question of all the different accounts at the same time. Something along the lines of “If you’re the *real* Pat Rothfuss, what’s your favorite flavor skittle?”

And then you’d somehow… um… hash things. Together. I guess that’s another thing I’m going to have to figure out…

Anyway, how about we use #TheRealRothfuss. Using it all the time would would probably be cumbersome and cluttery. But now it’s there for people if they want it. (Sorry to make y’all use caps, but otherwise it looks too much like “There Al Rothfuss.” Which would be some other, entirely lamer game.)

This entry was posted in Achievement Unlocked!, Beautiful Games, contests, My brilliant ideasBy Pat93 Responses

93 Comments

  1. Malthol
    Posted October 17, 2013 at 12:38 PM | Permalink

    For a trophy, you might contact the guys responsible for this: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/573834881/trophy-buffet-celebrate-something

    At the very least, watch their video, because it was hilarious.

  2. saurus
    Posted October 17, 2013 at 12:39 PM | Permalink

    This is genius. I am very much looking forward to this.

  3. Tom
    Posted October 17, 2013 at 12:40 PM | Permalink

    In the blog, Pat’s presenting himself as anti-technology. Will #TheRealRothfuss be the one tweeting the least? Or is it misdirection? DAMN YOUR MINDGAMES ROTHFUSS.

  4. chipke
    Posted October 17, 2013 at 12:40 PM | Permalink

    Very cool idea and welcome to the twitters and the smartphone-everse.

  5. Holmelund
    Posted October 17, 2013 at 12:54 PM | Permalink

    I still use a Nokia that does not have any fancy functions at all. It does not even have a camera. It can make and recive calls and send text messages. Thats it.

  6. trunuyawkr
    Posted October 17, 2013 at 12:54 PM | Permalink

    Schmendrick! +15!!!! :) That’s it – #theRealRothfuss is one who knows how to use Yiddish appropriately and with zing! ;)

    Off to follow all……….

    And a HUGE thank you to DAW for the prize money….. they are true mensches! :) :) :)

  7. VanderLegion
    Posted October 17, 2013 at 12:56 PM | Permalink

    “A *very* careful observer will notice that that post is actually from Oct 16th 2012.”

    An even MORE careful observer will notice that the post is actually from Oct 14th, 2012. :)

    • Amanda
      Posted October 17, 2013 at 1:03 PM | Permalink

      His mind was clearly elsewhere. I fixed it for him – thanks :)

  8. Kismet
    Posted October 17, 2013 at 1:02 PM | Permalink

    I went all supertech and created a list to follow all of them so that they don’t get lost in all the rest of the twitterati junk –
    https://twitter.com/Kismet80/lists/real-pat-rothfuss

    What i’m interested in seeing is which account gets verified by twitter. I hear it is a painful thing to do, possibly involving probes

  9. SporkTastic
    Posted October 17, 2013 at 1:02 PM | Permalink

    Some part of me just started cackling maniacally with “There, Al Rothfuss! Ah-hah!”

  10. lenamoster
    Posted October 17, 2013 at 1:04 PM | Permalink

    I see *1* of the accounts has started real tweeting. Is it a clue, or someone who’s just excited to play…

  11. sandibd
    Posted October 17, 2013 at 1:11 PM | Permalink

    Damn. I don’t have or want a smartphone and I have never been thrilled with the idea of Twitter. Maybe I will start a twitter account, and later cancel this when the fun is over. BUT I WILL NOT FOLLOW ANYONE NAMED KARDASHIAN!!!!

  12. Thebackpack
    Posted October 17, 2013 at 1:14 PM | Permalink

    Hey everyone, I made twitter list of all the Rothfusses(Rothfii?).

    It can help to have them all together and organised if you want to chase the real one.

    https://twitter.com/thebackpack08/lists/patrick-rothfuss

    • maine character
      Posted October 17, 2013 at 1:58 PM | Permalink

      Thanks! Duly subscribed.

      • VanderLegion
        Posted October 17, 2013 at 2:06 PM | Permalink

        Ditto

  13. trunuyawkr
    Posted October 17, 2013 at 1:14 PM | Permalink

    Just #hashtagged the contest on FB. Ooooooooooh yeah. :D

  14. fitzG
    Posted October 17, 2013 at 1:20 PM | Permalink

    I’m not on Twitter, but this is a really neat idea.

    I propose that the game be called Twac.

  15. Tubusy
    Posted October 17, 2013 at 1:45 PM | Permalink

    What ingenious fun, you are a consistent joy, sir.

  16. maine character
    Posted October 17, 2013 at 1:55 PM | Permalink

    Funny thing is, I got into Twitter just this week, and you’re one of the people I looked up to follow. Good thing I didn’t do that today, or I’d be mightily confused. : p

    • masha
      Posted October 17, 2013 at 2:46 PM | Permalink

      I’m the same. I started one this week and looked for Pat too (although I did start one a year or so ago which I deleted after a day XD).

  17. skayo
    Posted October 17, 2013 at 2:07 PM | Permalink

    Aww, guess I’ll have to start using twitter too! I’ve tried, and it frightens and confuses me. Maybe this will help!

  18. Timusic7
    Posted October 17, 2013 at 2:08 PM | Permalink

    I noticed something that might be a giveaway. Maybe you already know and left it on purpose for anyone looking closely, or to throw people off the trail. If that’s not the case I’m not sure how to tell you what it is without posting it publicly.

  19. ErinKAZ19
    Posted October 17, 2013 at 2:15 PM | Permalink

    I would love to play a beautiful game, but I am trammeled by the fear of Twitter. I’ve been there and done that, but have never really gotten the hang of it. The thought of having to follow and keep up with six tricksy Patricks fills me with a cold dread, despite that fact that it would be so much fun! BUT I guess if Pat is throwing down the gauntlet by getting on board with the Bird, so can I.

    • Posted October 17, 2013 at 5:04 PM | Permalink

      I’ve no fear of Twitter (or FB, G+, and I don’t know what else is out there), just a complete disinterest. All I can think of when I hear them mentioned is:

      “If everyone Else were to jump off a cliff, would you do it too?!?”

      Dear ole’ mom, chastising me for doing something just because someone else was without a thought in my head about if it was right (or right for me).

      *sigh* Oh well. That’s my choice, and I still think it’s the right one (without question).

    • Little My
      Posted October 18, 2013 at 4:47 AM | Permalink

      I’m not on Twitter and don’t officially follow anyone. But unofficially I occasionally go to the Twitter page of one person (Lev Grossman) and catch up, and it also looks like the consolidated tweet web page they’ve set up for the six Rothfi will be a nice way to watch the game without having to set up any infrastructure.

  20. tikijoe
    Posted October 17, 2013 at 3:18 PM | Permalink

    I remember searching for Pat some months ago, and being super confused by the set of possible handles and their lone tweets claiming to be him. I thought it was just some rando trying to get a monopoly on Rothfussing.

  21. RainGirlLori
    Posted October 17, 2013 at 3:24 PM | Permalink

    You only mention one winner, but with so many people voting, more than one person will vote on the correct twitter account. Is it then left up to a drawing?

    • Timusic7
      Posted October 17, 2013 at 5:14 PM | Permalink

      I believe the twitter account that gets voted as “The Real Pat” is the winner

  22. lykashii
    Posted October 17, 2013 at 3:33 PM | Permalink

    I’m already following those Pats… I saw them a while back and was a teeny bit baffled! Excited for this game!

  23. themaz
    Posted October 17, 2013 at 3:43 PM | Permalink

    My brain immediately started singing this:

    “Yes I’m Pat Rothfuss, yes I’m #TheRealRothfuss, all you otha’ Pat Rothfah’s are jus’ some fake authah’s. Would the real Pat Rothfuss please stand up, please stand up, please stand up”

    (pardon the horrible apostrophes)

    • LaMiss
      Posted October 17, 2013 at 6:45 PM | Permalink

      Hahaha! Mine too.

    • Blaine M Moore
      Posted October 18, 2013 at 12:17 AM | Permalink

      I went another way. My mind started singing “I’m Patrick Rothfuss I am, I’m Patrick Rothfuss I am, I am.”

  24. lykashii
    Posted October 17, 2013 at 3:46 PM | Permalink

    *Just* noticed your reflection in the phone Pat – that is awesome and must have taken a fair bit of effort!

  25. SMantzoros
    Posted October 17, 2013 at 4:10 PM | Permalink

    As of 4:10 PM central I can confirm that you picked 5 amazing contestants. WHAT DO I BELIEVE #TheRealRothfuss

  26. elmobob14
    Posted October 17, 2013 at 5:00 PM | Permalink

    Fast forward to three years from now. *Patrick announces the winner.*

    I’m an ass, but couldn’t resist.

    • Posted October 18, 2013 at 12:29 AM | Permalink

      Actually. That got a laugh out of me.

  27. ali rahemtulla
    Posted October 17, 2013 at 5:08 PM | Permalink

    NO! Don’t give in Pat! You don’t need any of that stuff. I almost never use my phone, and I only made twitter to enter a contest to get a free book. Have no idea how the confounded thing works. Plus, we love your ramblings. They’re great. Don’t leave us!

    • Posted October 18, 2013 at 12:30 AM | Permalink

      I won’t stop blogging. No worries there. But being able to send brief messages to a bunch of people quickly is a good thing when you’re in my line of work….

      • ali rahemtulla
        Posted October 18, 2013 at 1:14 PM | Permalink

        I don’t know. All this new fangled technology is unnatural is all. Sending a short message to ten’s of thousands? Not right. And that’s coming from a seventeen year old. Kids these days.

        • Posted October 22, 2013 at 12:45 PM | Permalink

          Plus it really IS freaking annoying how Facebook throttles posts so that you have to PAY to promote it. Part of the secret is not posting a link into the status update, rather inserting it into the comments. But even that doesn’t always work. Twitter is limited only by how many tweeps a person follows. It will be a better method for Pat to reach his audience in quick bursts. I’m glad he’s taking the leap. :)

  28. malendras
    Posted October 17, 2013 at 5:13 PM | Permalink

    Were the accounts truly randomly chosen? Did he just give out 6 accounts and let people pick which one they wanted? Or did he reserve one for himself and let everyone else go for the remaining 5? (I have a theory. It could be demons… no, wait, wrong universe.)

  29. Jack Lancaster
    Posted October 17, 2013 at 5:32 PM | Permalink

    Damnit, I think this may have been spoiled for me by another author like 6 months ago… Still, I’m furiously doubting! Although so far I am favoring that particular clone, given tweets thus far.

    I keep thinking @FakePatRothfuss is an amazing triple-bluff on Pat’s part though…

    • Jack Lancaster
      Posted October 17, 2013 at 5:37 PM | Permalink

      And I’m pretty convinced @RealPatRothfuss is Wil Wheaton at this point.

  30. JoBird
    Posted October 17, 2013 at 6:33 PM | Permalink

    This is way more fun than I thought it would be. I’m having a blast reading these tweets and trying to figure out who’s who.

    Personally, I’m leaning toward @PatRothfuss as the real Rothfuss.

    Curiously, will we get to know who’s behind the fake accounts when the real one is announced?

  31. Posted October 17, 2013 at 6:44 PM | Permalink

    Welcome to the dark side Rothfuss.
    Cookies are at the back table.

    And I feel the same way about Facebook, every time they upgrade they manage to make it suck even more than before. And seriously, WTF is with the sorting!! My goodreads is basically my primary social media outlet at this point, but I’m starting to migrate away from their as well since Amazon bought it out, just don’t care for the changes on that front. *sigh* I don’t really care about twitter, but I agree it is 100x better than paying facebook actual real money, what a joke…..

  32. LaMiss
    Posted October 17, 2013 at 6:48 PM | Permalink

    Guess I will have to get a twitter account now, too. Also…

    “Why would I want to win anything other than a beautiful game?”

    …love it!

  33. External_Error
    Posted October 17, 2013 at 7:31 PM | Permalink

    i much prefer reading your blog. And im afraid that by going to twitter, which i dont use (cant get my head around it), i will lose a lot of your ramblings which i enjoy thoroughly!

  34. claremay13
    Posted October 17, 2013 at 7:35 PM | Permalink

    I am immensely instead to know who the people controlling the other accounts are! Not who is controlling which one, just whom the individuals are so I can try and figure out who is controlling which account!
    Love this idea!

  35. three west
    Posted October 17, 2013 at 8:37 PM | Permalink

    Nope, I SO don’t care about twitter.

  36. Lisa Laree
    Posted October 17, 2013 at 9:05 PM | Permalink

    Ah, Patrick, almost thou persuadest me to get a smart phone and sign up for twitter…

    • Posted October 18, 2013 at 12:32 AM | Permalink

      Oh no. That’s so not worth it.

      When I have a twitter feed, I’ll put it up here on my webpage. You can peek in at it here.

  37. Jsherry
    Posted October 17, 2013 at 9:36 PM | Permalink

    Am I the only one who saw the picture of Pat and his phone and pondered for a moment how Pat managed to take a pic with it when he was holding it?

    Apparently my brain can only accept one piece of technology at a time.

  38. arun279
    Posted October 18, 2013 at 1:32 AM | Permalink

    After reading all the tweets, I am pretty sure @PatrickRothfuss is the real Pat

    • Jack Lancaster
      Posted October 18, 2013 at 4:00 AM | Permalink

      As am I!

  39. DreamerBelle
    Posted October 18, 2013 at 1:33 AM | Permalink

    So…
    1.)We’re looking for the one who will make newbie twitter mistakes, but is very clever so probably not past the first day or so.

    2.) Was born and raised in Wisconson and will phrase things like a Wisconsonite

    3.) Is a very busy, very wordy well-spoken author with a thing about strictures and guidelines who JUST got a new smartphone when he’s never had one before and probably doesn’t know how to work it yet (is that a Galaxy s4? Jealous. I’m typing this on a Razr from way back in 2011) and thus will probably not be very competent or fast with Twitter just yet (it takes time to build up those thumbs, take it from a former teenage girl)

    4.) Busy. Will probably not consistantly lurk around for hours responding to teasing identity questions. Short, half hour to hour long bursts of witty remarks or wry observations, probably at odd times of the day. You do have a charity to run/kid to play with/girlfriend to love/life to live

    5.) You have always been rather mum on that lovely exploding politics-religion duo. Can’t imagine you’ll change now.

    6.) I can totally see you spouting off random, interesting facts.

    7. And now I’m just starting to guess. This is actually really fun. So, knowing all of the above, if I had to guess right now, without any time passing and just glancing at the page I’d guess that you’re FakePatRothfuss. But it’s just a guess. I’ll have to observe more.

    8. Hey Pat, you realize that the easiest thing for someone to do would just be to hedge their bets, create five new twitter handles and use them to vote six times, right? But I’m a bit diabolical, so maybe no one’ll do that?

    • Little My
      Posted October 18, 2013 at 4:51 AM | Permalink

      I’ll be looking for “meh”, “heh”, and “don’t get me wrong.” “All manner of” those things.

    • christie
      Posted October 18, 2013 at 7:27 AM | Permalink

      I believe the “winner” is the most voted for twitter account and money will go to charity.

      I don’t believe the winner is an individual that identifies the real Pat.

      Hope that made sense.

    • Brett
      Posted October 19, 2013 at 12:48 PM | Permalink

      Just to shoot some holes in your theories: as much as he tries to downplay it, Pat is ridiculously intelligent. I wouldn’t be surprised if he can manipulate that phone to make coffee for him. He also has a great ear for dialect, and can de-Wisconsinite himself at will.

      Also, keep in mind that Pat has the advantage of not trying. He is himself, and as such, can make no wrong moves in this contest. The fakes will be working their butts off, plotting, scheming, misdirecting…

      And lastly, Christie is correct: the winner will be the fake who gets the most votes, and the charity he or she has chosen will win the money. Once the contest is over, the votes are tallied and the charity announced, all masks will come off. Right now, only the fake Rothfi know who is playing, but not who belongs to each Twitter handle.

  40. InfiniteStates
    Posted October 18, 2013 at 4:18 AM | Permalink

    For such a great writer, I am shocked at your inconsistent capitalisation of “Facebook” :)

    • InfiniteStates
      Posted October 18, 2013 at 4:19 AM | Permalink

      And “Twitter” for that matter…

  41. thiefofcamorr
    Posted October 18, 2013 at 6:20 AM | Permalink

    At this stage, I think it’s @Pat_Rothfuss. Seeing as this is running until Hallowe’en, when you’ll be in Brighton with all the cool kids at WFC, will you have a mini announcement there, perhaps?

  42. christie
    Posted October 18, 2013 at 7:49 AM | Permalink

    I believe it’s

    Pat_Rothfuss

    Fakers please take note to use ** rather than “” for quotes.

    So much fun! Sorry for the time suck.

  43. Papoula
    Posted October 18, 2013 at 8:23 AM | Permalink

    Nooooooooooooo! For some time now whenever people ask me about my Twitter I say “When Pat has one, I will have one.” It has always been the best answer, and people don’t have anything to say after that.
    Now, not only you have a Twitter, but you are making a game out of it.
    When I woke up today the first thing my husband did was to laugh at me and say “Your life is about to change.”
    And no, I don’t have a smartphone either. Oh, Pat!

  44. Rahl
    Posted October 18, 2013 at 8:37 AM | Permalink

    Love the idea of the comp and wish i could get off my arse and actually use twitter, instead i end up following a bunch of people and never log on to see what they have said.. maybe for the might Rothfuss it will be different!

    I have an idea of my own, if i may??
    Discworld Monthly do a roundup of Terry&Robs twitter posts over the course of the month. Its literally just a copy and paste but it helps us keep up with what hes been doing and saying.
    Would there be any chance of doing something similar (say once a month) on the Blog? All Pat news is good news and would hate to miss out!

    PS : I (and by I, I mean all readers of your blog) love it when a quick thing turns into a gargantuan 2000 word essay on the futility of trying to tell Pat that a hamster isn’t a fish! Though I do realise that you got better things to be doing such as playing with Oot, WB, conventions, signings, and writing.

  45. BJE
    Posted October 18, 2013 at 9:54 AM | Permalink

    It’s the end of an era.
    I still have fond memories of the first reading/signing I was able to attend last year which started with Pat opening up his clamshell phone.

  46. Dave Mougin
    Posted October 18, 2013 at 10:07 AM | Permalink

    am I the only one thinking that this blog/game was the perfect opportunity to use the word “doppelganger”? it’s underused enough as it is, but it’s so fun to say.

    #doppelganger

  47. WantsToBeAHermit
    Posted October 18, 2013 at 11:39 AM | Permalink

    Kind of a random unasked for observation, but I have never really understood why smartphones and social media things are associated with technology. It’s not edgy or new, it’s just what the world uses right now. It seems techy because we’re getting old enough to remember when Things Were Not So.

    But for example, if someone doesn’t get a smartphone because they spend all their money on sci-fi books and computer parts, don’t really care what everyone in their circle of *acquaintances* ate for breakfast that morning, and perhaps only needs a phone that can Do That Phone Shit, it may have nothing to do with being a Luddite or ungeeky (which is funny enough by itself that geek is a circle one can be excluded from, teehee – not just this but in other things) and everything to do with thinking perhaps you do not need the kitchen gadget that slices, dices, and does sous-vide cooking even though all your neighbors say it’s totally turn of the century.

    (Wee, paragraph long sentences.)

    I totally get all the people that use them for their Lives and scheduling and GPSing and all of these things, and that highly social activities and careers can end up relying on them and other means of distributing information… but a lot of people also get caught up in having the hottest means of distribution before they have content to put out. Um, so yeah, I was really only thinking about the association with “not having phone” and “luddite” and not necessarily all the rest of the cool things that were posted. “Banned from 999 comment sites on the web!”

    • Jay Merin
      Posted October 18, 2013 at 4:45 PM | Permalink

      Yeah, I jokingly call myself a ‘luddite’ to anyone who looks at me with shock and/or pity when I tell them any of the following:

      “I don’t text.”
      “I don’t want a data plan.”
      “I hate cell phones.”
      “I just want a phone that gets and receives calls. Why can’t I have that?”
      “I’ll never join Facebook.”
      “I’ll never join Twitter.”

      I mean, I have been building my own computers forever. I jumped on Netflix back in 2000. I was using BBS’s before there was a WWW, and jumped on the WWW in 95 as soon as I learned of it. My last “work for someone else” job was in tech, fixing systems.

      I’m not really a luddite.

      I’m really just anti-fad, anti-follow-the-crowd, and very anti-social media. The more someone tells me that “you have to get this” or “everyone is doing this” the more likely I am to NOT do it. :)

  48. Jack Lancaster
    Posted October 18, 2013 at 12:39 PM | Permalink

    For some reason, I think @Pat_Rothfuss is Veronica Belmont.

  49. Dave Mougin
    Posted October 18, 2013 at 1:20 PM | Permalink

    for anyone else wanting an image of pat reflected in his smartphone for the wallpaper of their own smartphone:


  50. SMantzoros
    Posted October 18, 2013 at 4:33 PM | Permalink

    Were the fake accounts distributed on a double blind basis?

    aka “Do all the pats know who the other pats are?”

  51. Jay Merin
    Posted October 18, 2013 at 4:41 PM | Permalink

    And …

    another one falls to the smartphone and twitter universe.

    We hold-outs are becoming a very endangered species.

    Sorry to lose you, Pat.

  52. Sahirioth
    Posted October 18, 2013 at 5:32 PM | Permalink

    Pat, would you please stand up? Otherwise we’re gonna have a problem here.

  53. JoBird
    Posted October 18, 2013 at 6:05 PM | Permalink

    So is that it? Is the game over now because Twitter verified one of the accounts?

    • Posted October 18, 2013 at 8:51 PM | Permalink

      Heh. Hardly.

      • JoBird
        Posted October 20, 2013 at 12:18 PM | Permalink

        Thanks. The verification threw me for a loop. In fairness, I don’t really know what it takes to be verified.

        I suppose falsely getting one of the accounts verified is within the framework of the rules. After all, the only thing off-limits is the mention of Oot.

  54. Little My
    Posted October 19, 2013 at 5:05 AM | Permalink

    So far, I’m pretty firmly with @RealPatRothfuss. None of the top three sound like the Rothfuss voice. (Could be the silent one, of course.) I think it’s hilarious that the bottom center one went with “meh” AND “heh” AND “all manner of” already. Either reading the comments here or noticing the same trends. . .

    • Posted October 19, 2013 at 12:45 PM | Permalink

      I’m with you on this one. And I’m a long-time Rothfussian. I follow his facebook and blog for years….

      • Sim
        Posted October 19, 2013 at 1:03 PM | Permalink

        I’ve been following from the begining too. (I actually go all the way back to the *myspace* days.

        So I’m with you, @realpatrothfuss is pretty good. But I think the *real* one is @patRothfuss. (Like the person below here.)

        • Little My
          Posted October 19, 2013 at 7:28 PM | Permalink

          Not sure about that. @PatRothfuss reads to me like Rothfuss parody – someone having a really good time mimicking some commonly seen blog phrases and habits. The emphases, even a misspelling. I think that the person who wrote it is getting a kick out of the process even if they don’t win. And in Pat’s case, I think he would just be himself and not make an effort to be EXTRA-himself.

        • Little My
          Posted October 19, 2013 at 7:37 PM | Permalink

          And on a read of more recent stuff, I’m giving a DEFINITE no to the first two (the second one isn’t even trying – just scoring points), but @Pat_Rothfuss is sounding more like him than it did earlier. . .gotta be the third or fourth.

      • christie
        Posted October 20, 2013 at 12:29 AM | Permalink

        I think it’s Pat_Rothfuss

        1. Was thankful assistance shut off email notifications
        2. Worked to reconcile the *verified* issue
        3.Has remarked it’s interesting to see how people view him by their impressions (convincing conversation with Amber)
        4.Quick to post kick starters and calendar updates

  55. Thejaka
    Posted October 19, 2013 at 11:36 AM | Permalink

    I would guess ‏@PatRothfuss is #TheRealRothfuss. Multiple points in favor of this theory. The name is the most obvious. I think Pat plans to continue using this id beyond the game. There are several additional reasons for my theory, though I won’t mention those just yet (Why spoil the fun?). But seems like Pat’s playing mostly straight (meaning: no mind games, and no tricks, just being himself including the language quirks mentioned by others)

    I can’t decide whether to vote for one of the pretenders purely based on how convincing they are, but I’m not rally sure how that relates to which charity gets the prize…

  56. Kate@LivingTheFrugalLife
    Posted October 20, 2013 at 11:02 AM | Permalink

    I think it’s @NotPatRothfuss. @PatrickRothfuss would be my second guess, but it’s early in the game at this point. I’m basing my hunches on words like heya, y’all, and some others that Pat has used on this blog. But this is a pretty base level analysis. Of course the other players will try to imitate Pat with varying degrees of success, and Pat will try to camouflage his style. And it’s early days yet.

    The real challenge here comes from the brevity of twitter posts. I have very little doubt I could pick a genuine Rothfuss paragraph out of multiple pretenders. 140 character posts? Now that’s challenging!

    FWIW, I’m not on Twitter either. Nor do I have a cell phone of any stripe.

    • Little My
      Posted October 21, 2013 at 4:53 AM | Permalink

      I don’t know -why would Pat try to camouflage his style? He’s trying to get people to vote for him so he can get $$ for WorldBuilders. Plus, I bet he wouldn’t want people thinking someone else could counterfeit his unique voice.

      • Kate@LivingTheFrugalLife
        Posted October 21, 2013 at 11:33 AM | Permalink

        Good point. Maybe I read too much into his statement that he’ll try to play a beautiful game. Maybe the elements of style that I’m looking at are simply good imitation by one or more imposters.

        Isn’t it nice that Pat keeps us entertained even between publications of his books? This is fun.

  57. JoBird
    Posted October 20, 2013 at 12:26 PM | Permalink

    I’ll be incredibly surprised if any of the accounts other than @PatRothfuss turns out to be #TheRealRothfuss. Surprised and humbled, as I’m almost certain he’s the bottom, middle one.

    Specifically, it’s because of the “cash or credit” question he answered. Pat’s spoken at length about how folks should pay with cash, as opposed to debit cards and such. It’s possible one of the pretenders would know that about Pat, but none of the others answered the question (excepting the barter answer), and it’s not an issue I’ve seen Pat write a lot about, meaning it’s possible his pretenders don’t know his stance. In fact, I’ve only heard him talk about it, in person, at conventions. So, shrug. Bottom, middle. That’s what I think.

  58. servant
    Posted October 21, 2013 at 6:29 AM | Permalink

    As much as I approve a contest in which a charity ends up with more moneys, it does kind of saddens me that someone who writes for a living and whose use of the English language puts a smile on my face would limit himself to a medium where 140 characters is the max for any given message.

    • dietl
      Posted October 21, 2013 at 4:53 PM | Permalink

      He doesn’t really limit himself. This is just a bonus, he doesn’t stop with the blog or the books.
      So heads up and keep smiling ;-)

  59. SAOIRSEfreedom
    Posted October 21, 2013 at 3:36 PM | Permalink

    oh my lord! I looked you up on twitter last year and followed all six *facepalm* I un-followed them thinking they we ALL fake accounts because that had nothing like the inputs you put into your blog!
    i have been played for a fool Rothfuss!
    i am getting my arse back on there right now and finding #TheRealRothfuss you conniving meanie you!

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