community-efforts
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City of Heroes fans rally to try to save the game
It goes without saying that City of Heroes fans are no strangers to the idea of a heroic effort. Now they face the greatest possible challenge of the game's existence: try to prevent the impending shutdown. A petition has been formed asking for a stay of execution, and fans are convening at a message board dedicated to averting the closure of the industry's first superheroic MMO. The boards contain a number of suggestions and calls for respectful action to make it clear to NCsoft's management how much the game has meant to the players. The staff of Paragon Studios is just as invested, however. A recent message in-game has confirmed that management is in talks with both NCsoft and investors. Community manager Andy Belford has stressed that these are just talks at the moment and that players shouldn't jump to conclusions. Regardless of the final outcome, it's clear that the game's fanbase will not let the game go quietly, which might be a more earnest show of what the game has meant to players than anything else.
Fallen Earth takes part in NaNoWriMo
November, for those of you unfamiliar with the concept, is National Novel Writing Month and host to an annual challenge -- write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days. It's a tall order that not everyone can manage, but the Fallen Earth development team contains at least one hopeful. Director of Content Development Wes Platt is working on his novel, and he's looking to the game's players to help make it a collaborative effort every step of the way. With an official thread on the forums, Platt is both posting his progress as he goes and taking suggestions from players as to where the story should head next. He also has posted his NaNoWriMo profile page so that players also taking part in the contest can track his progress and cheer him along. Fallen Earth fans would do well to take part in the crafting of the story -- it's not just the first novel for the game, but a novel written in a month's time.
New blogging community forms around Warhammer Online
When gamers passionate about their MMO of choice form a close-knit community of bloggers, it provides a collective window into the game that readers wouldn't be able to get from the major sites alone. A prime example of this is the very active EVE Online blogging community brought together by our friend CrazyKinux, where EVE's players contribute opinions, tips, even tutorials on a daily basis. Given how successful this has been with EVE Online, why can't MMO gamers rally around another title? It's possible that the next blogging community focused on a single MMO title will be based around Warhammer Online. The WAR-centric blog "Wizards & Wenches" has put out a call to the game's player base in WAR: Age of Blogging. They're declaring January '09 to be the WAR: Age of Blogging month, and encourage any Warhammer Online players with something to say to jump in and start writing, even first-time bloggers. (For those who are relatively new to blogging, there's some support to be found at Blog Warhammer where they can help you get set up with a blogging platform like WordPress or Blogger.)Massively wishes the new Warhammer Online bloggers the best of luck, and we'd love to see the player community build something that turns out as well as The EVE Blog Pack. If the prospect of joining the ranks of the WAR bloggers has caught your interest, be sure to see the announcement post over at Wizards & Wenches for more info on how you can get involved. WAR has gone 1.1! Check out our full coverage of the 1.1a patch, along with our interviews exploring upcoming content and the open RvR changes. Plus, don't miss any of our ongoing coverage as Massively goes to WAR!
