One Shots: Gnometizers
As a former, fully recovered World of Warcraft player, I always welcome the colorful yet chunky images from Azeroth in my inbox. But reader Jon crossed a line when he decided to serve up, and I quote, "a delicious side of Gnome" in this particular picture.
I, and many like me, have been lifelong Gnomes and choose such avatars in-game to show solidarity and to deliver the comeuppance that "tallies" deserve. This screenshot is just a sad reminder that we are often portrayed as the butt of jokes and thoughtlessly killed every single day just to amuse those who had a stronger growth spurt than we.
Oh, how I do hope that Troll choked on his first bite of Gnome pie and suffered through explosive intestinal distress shortly thereafter. That's the only way they'll learn.
Reader Jonathan tapped into his inner Indiana Jones fantasy as he went through The Secret World's Last Train to Cairo series. It's not every day that you get to outrun a boulder, travel through time, punch a guy onto a spike, and then fight on top of a moving train -- at least not in MMOs. New Jersey, maybe.
"Here's the cutscene as you're finishing the Last Train to Cairo," Jonathan said. "I think it's a great action shot, even if you can't see my character's face."
From fantasy to horror to superheroes, we're covering all of the genres in this week's column! In this picture, reader Trevor strapped on a flight suit to blast off as the world's most air polluting superhero.
"I love everything about Champions Online, but one thing that I hate is that you can't go to the moon just by flying there. If only you could skip the teleporting part to fight your nemesis!"
MMOs bring families together in tender, Hallmark moment ways. Of course, they also shred relationships when the father accidentally pulls the next group before the daughter has recharged her mana and the wife is sorting her inventory and the son decides that it's a good time to see how high of a fall he can survive without dying.
Reader Becca took this one of her and her man: "You've got me opening up my screenshot folders! At one point in our Guild Wars 2 adventures, my hubs and I decided to roll Warriors together because dual carnage. We figured a big burly Norn with a tiny Asura buzzing around him would look pretty rad. It does."
This week's screenshot challenge is to send me in pictures and stories from one of the four MMOs that SOE is sunsetting later this year! I want to put together a special tribute, and you can help to make that happen.
Want to be featured in a future edition of One Shots? Send your favorite MMO screenshots to oneshots@massively.com, and don't forget to include your name, the name of the game, and a description of the scene. Large, colorful, UI-free shots that tell a story and really show off the game make for the best images. Look ma, we brought back One Shots!
