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Seraphina Brennan

Pittsburgh, PA - http://experiencecurve.wordpress.com

seraphina@massively.com

Colin \"Seraphina\" Brennan has wasted more money on MMOs than most third-world countries possess in their entirety. She's touched almost every single game on the market, and has been playing MMOs since the MUD DragonRealms and the era of Mplayer's Underlight. When she's not stuck to a beta test or playing a new MMO, she's at the University of Pittsburgh finishing up her Psychology/English Writing degree. Sera's also been in the developer's chair, being the lead writer of two grassroots Alternate Reality Games.

Win your guild a voice server by looking cool in our Guild Photo competition!

Quick, what are the two most important things for a guild to have?! If you answered being well-coordinated and looking cool, then you're already qualified to enter into our newest contest!

We're looking for screenshots of your guild looking awesome! Whether you're posing in front of your guild hall or a monument in your favorite game, or you have a great action screenshot of your guildies doing something awesome, we want to see it!

But even better, we have something in it for you besides immortal fame here on Massively! We've teamed up with voice server hosting pros MMO Mumble, so you might just win a few free months of voice server service (try saying that five times fast) for your guild!

If you're looking for more information on how to enter and what you can win, look after the break for all of the information!

Anti-Aliased: End of line pt. 2

Anti-Aliased: End of line

LotRO
Turbine
Yeah, it's exactly what you think it is. It's one of those columns where the writer announces that she's packing up and moving out. It's a column where the writer talks about how she's been here for two years and 199 days, and has written over 1,018 posts that have included over 534,580 words. It's a column where the writer says goodbye, wishes that she wasn't moving on, but knows that she must.

Guys and gals, it's been an amazing two and a half years and it has been nothing but an honor to write for all of you. I know sometimes we all disagree, and I know I say some really insane stuff that leaves people going, "Wow, she really said that aloud?" But, I'm glad that all of you still come back to discuss gaming here on my column, despite some of our disagreements. Anti-Aliased has remained one of the most popular columns here on Massively throughout these two years and I am very grateful for your readership.

As I prepare to leave Massively and say goodbye, I'd like to take one final look at the MMO genre as a whole. Plus, I have a surprise announcement to make at the end! Yay surprises!

Reminder: Attend our Global Agenda Halloween event this Thursday at 7 PM

Did you forget about our Halloween event in Global Agenda? You forgot, didn't you? Tsk, tsk. Well, good thing this post is here to remind you!

This Thursday, please take out your level 30 characters and join us in Global Agenda for a frightfully fun Halloween raid mission with the developers! All you need to do to participate is log on between the hours of 7:00 p.m. EST and 9:00 p.m. EST and queue a level 30 character up for a raid. Raids are starting when you see the red flashing lights in Dome City go off! The Global Agenda developers, Hi-Rez Studios, will be queuing up for raids as well, so you might just run into a few of them while you play!

If you're still not high enough level but want to try out the raid, don't forget about the new microtransaction boosts. They could get you the experience you need!

If you're not in a raid, then join the Massively.com editors in City Chat as we tease you all with Global Agenda trivia! Winners of the Global Agenda trivia contest will win the raid instance's Halloween swag -- so if you're a lower level player, you can always try to get some flair by answering some questions about the game!

Either way, we invite you to come have a great night with us in Global Agenda, so don't miss out!

The Friday Livestream: Global Agenda [Updated]

It's another Friday, and that means it's another edition of the Friday Livestream! Tonight we have an agenda... a Global Agenda, in fact!

We're going to be going through the various play modes of Global Agenda, live! So come join us as we get thrashed in PvP, tour the new Sonoran Desert open zone, and maybe even give PvE missions a go. But, PvP action is where we'll be at for most of the night, so I hope you all enjoy watching me die over and over again!

As always, click the picture above or hit the button below to get to the video. If you're feeling social, you can also join us in the Livestream chat located at http://www.livestream.com/massivelytv!

[Update: The stream is over, but the video lives on! Check it out after the break!]

Massively Mob Halloween event: Global Agenda's Oasis Checkpoint... Of Doom!

Happy Halloween Mobsters! It's another Massively.com community event, and this time we're getting spooky! The team at Hi-Rez Studios has put together a brand new Halloween-themed raid, and you're invited to come along and raid with the developers!

Next Thursday, October 28th, join us in Global Agenda from 7:00 p.m. EDT to 9:00 p.m. EDT to lay the smack down on some ghostly robots inside the game's level 30 raid queue. In celebration of Halloween, all of the level 30 raid queues will be converted over to run the brand new raid mission: "The Oasis Checkpoint... Of Doom!" During our two-hour-long event, the staff of Hi-Rez will be jumping into the raid queue to play as well, so you might get the chance to play with one of the Global Agenda developers!

Not level 30? No worries! You have plenty of time to level up before Thursday, or you could use a Global Agenda boost to double your experience while you play. (Use boost to get through?)

Plus, while you're waiting for the raid to pop, Massively.com editors will be in Dome City, holding a Global Agenda-themed trivia contest. Ten lucky contest winners will get Halloween head flair for their character, so you can celebrate Halloween all the time!

So be sure to join us next Thursday, and keep an eye out for a post on Tuesday where we'll break down the entire schedule of events!

Anti-Aliased: What happened to building worlds pt. 2

Anti-Aliased: What happened to building worlds

I hope you guys have taken the time to check out our GDCO coverage, specifically our interview with Richard Bartle. If there's anything that has really been on my mind for these past weeks, it's been that. Dr. Bartle's approach to MMOs is very similar to my own personal approach to MMOs: these are games, but they are also worlds.

And it's been that line of thinking that has lead me to today's column. What happened to creating worlds in our games?

Now, I'm not saying that our games don't include vast settings for us to explore. All of our MMOs include some great settings, but they seem to fall flat anymore. Instead of focusing on how players can interact with the world and each other, many developers are focused on creating the coveted "theme park" environment. We have worlds filled with pre-planned obstacles and challenges that rarely change and evolve over time, instead of allowing players to interact with the world and vice-versa.

So, with all of our new knowledge on how games work, what's stopping us from tackling the challenges we used to tackle regularly? How can we make world building and sandbox practices approachable? How can we re-ignite the creative fire?

Put the pedal to the metal with a beta key for Test Drive Unlimited 2's beta event this weekend

You know, we don't get many racing games around these parts. Need For Speed World was one of the first games, for sure, but there was another game before that -- Test Drive Unlimited.

Test Drive Unlimited is back with a sequel, and this time it's coming to the PC crowd in addition to the consoles. TDU2 will be taking place on the beautiful Mediterranean island of Ibiza. Just like before, your single-player and multiplayer experiences are blended together in TDU's "always online" M.O.O.R state (Massively Open Online Racing), so you'll pass/meet other players, even if you're choosing to play the single-player mode.

This version of TDU also finally allows you to get outside your car and walk around as an avatar, buying clothing and customizing your look. And, if you missed not being able to form your own social cliques in the last game, no worries! This sequel features the ability to create "clubs" -- groups of drivers racing for power and profit.

This weekend is a special beta event for the game, and we here at Massively are holding 1,500 keys to give away! Be the first to check out the new Test Drive Unlimited by jumping past the break for your key and the full instructions on how to get into the beta weekend!

Caption this, win a white Vindictus wolf hood! [Updated 11/5]


See that picture above? Yeah, it needs a caption, and we need you to caption it!

Of course, we're not asking you to be creative for absolutely nothing. We know that it's hard coming up with funny captions for screenshots, and that's why we're adding a little bit of an incentive into the mix. How would you guys like, oh, a Vindictus wolf hood? And we're not talking about the common, everyone-has-one, red Vindictus hoods either. No, no, we're talking about the new white wolf hoods!

Our good friends at Nexon have sent us five white Vindictus wolf hoods, and we really want to give them away to the five best captions we receive for this picture. If you're interested in throwing your caption into the ring, then just click the "read more" button to get the full scoop on this contest!

[Update: Check behind the break for an update to the contest!]

Massively Features

Events Calendar

Name Date
Cataclysm Launch
Dec 7, 2010
DCUO Launch
Early 2011

Massively Staff

Name Title
Shawn Schuster
Editor-in-Chief
Brianna Royce
Senior Editor
Rubi Bayer Community Manager
Brendan Drain Contributing Editor
Eliot Lefebvre Contributing Editor
Jef Reahard Contributing Editor
Justin Olivetti Contributing Editor
Krystalle Voecks Contributing Editor
Larry Everett Contributing Editor
Beau Hindman Columnist
Edward Marshall Columnist
Greg Waller Columnist
Jeremy Stratton Columnist
Karen Bryan Columnist
MJ Guthrie Columnist
Patrick Mackey Columnist
Ryan Greene Columnist
Lisa Poisso Columnist
More about the Massively staff

Massively Podcast

New episodes every Tuesday. Now playing:
Episode 123, for Wednesday, November 10th, 2010.



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