monarchy
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Facebook stays online in Thailand -- for now
Last week, Thailand's government told Facebook that it had to take down 131 web addresses the country saw as threatening state security or insulting to its king, Maha Vajiralongkorn. There was an understandable groundswell of concern that Thailand would block Facebook if the social network did not comply. Today, however, the secretary-general of Thailand's telecom commission, Takorn Tantasith, told reporters that there is no immediate plan to block access to Facebook. "Facebook has cooperated well in terms of taking steps to block the URLs that we asked them to in the past," he said.
Drones are pestering Spain's royal family
France isn't the only European country grappling with suspicious drone flights, it seems. Reportedly, guards at the Spanish royal family's La Zarzuela palace have spotted numerous robotic aircraft flying through its airspace at night, including the residences. That's bad enough by itself, but the kicker is that radio jamming isn't working -- short of breaking out guns, the guards can't just bring these machines down.
Queen Elizabeth II takes to an iPad to send her first Tweet
Queen Elizabeth II of England is pretty seriously old-school. She casually signs her name, "Elizabeth R." (the "R" stands for "Regina" or, in English, "Queen"). She wears killer matching outfits (as seen above) that would be at home in 1962. But she's also not above jumping into the modern age every now and again. Take, for instance, the tweet that she sent this morning -- her first ever -- from London's Science Museum. It's how she helped open an exhibit on "The Information Age" -- a live-action tweet from an iPad. There's some contestation over whether she sent the tweet herself; the tweet originates on an iPhone, though the Queen was clearly using an iPad. Does it really matter? Do you care? This is all a publicity stunt anyway, right? Let's all just enjoy that beautiful blue dress and the killer matching hat. The tweet, in all its glory, can be found below. Update: We've got an especially hilarious update on the did she/didn't she debate, straight from a spokesperson for the Queen of England: "If an iPhone was involved it was purely processology." And no, in case you're wondering, "processology" isn't a real word.
MMO Blender: Bree's big-budget sandbox
Writing MMO Blender feels like getting three wishes from a magical lamp and having to think very, very carefully about what you ask for. You have to word it just right and ponder the consequences of each wish on the others because you just know that Genie's going to screw with you. If I were stronger, I'd reject the wishes (here, the 1000 words) outright, knowing they're a trap, but I just can't resist a turn at this column. I want a new sandbox. A good one, not one made by gank-obsessed fanboys on a shoestring budget. I don't think sandboxes are dead; I just know it takes money to make money, and modern indie sandboxes are forgetting that rule. Fortunately, I don't need money for this column. I'll take my MMO Blender wishes and build a sandbox that's more than just a pile of sand and an empty box.
The Daily Grind: Should games bother innovating guild systems?
In-game support for MMO guilds has come a long way in the last 15 years. Ultima Online launched without guilds at all, let alone chat, so we tacked our guild abbreviations onto our character names. EverQuest's early months required guild leaders to petition GMs to form guilds. In fact, it wasn't until Asheron's Call that an MMO tried to break away from the "unofficial online shooter clan" mold and provide something different: a monarchy system that encouraged players to form official but dynamic allegiances, which provided an in-game benefit to patrons and vassals alike. But the genre didn't iterate on Asheron's Call's invention, instead preferring to bolster in-game guilds with perks like guild vaults and achievements -- cool stuff, but layered over a static, military style of guild structure with generic ranks. Most MMOs don't allow you to join multiple groups, either (Guild Wars 2 being a notable exception). So today I'm wondering whether you think there's room for innovation in MMO guild mechanics. Should studios design unique and flexible guild systems, or should they just get out of the way and let players decide how to organize themselves like we had to Back In The Day? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
The British Monarchy launches official Facebook fan page
So, everybody has a Facebook page now: your parents, your next door neighbor's cat, and now even the Queen of England... or more specifically, the British Monarchy. Yes, the Crown of England has launched an official fan page for itself on everybody's favorite and most hated social network. Apparently, the page managed to rake in over 40,000 likes in its first hour of operation -- no small feat considering it took Miley Cyrus something like three days to get that many. Regardless, the Queen is posting tons of candid photos and we're hoping to get some videos of her getting crazy with the Cheez Whiz any day now; we'll let you know if / when they appear.
Our leaders (and the tough task of replacing them)
So what's the deal-- do we elect our leaders or what? Obviously, I can't think of a single leader in WoW that's actually elected, by the players or anyone else. Thrall is a Warchief, so you'd assume he has to be overthrown, and that seems to be the case with most of the faction leaders-- King Bronzebeard isn't leaving anytime soon, and though the boy king of Stormwind sits pretty precariously on his throne, there's probably a few legal strings (and big black dragons) holding him in place. I can't think of any seats that might change hands anytime soon.Save one: you have to think that if anyone's days are numbered, it's Sylvanas'. We already know she's got a bone to pick with Arthas, and if anyone isn't coming back from Northrend ali-- err... undead, it's probably her. Who would take over Undercity then-- Varimathas? If something did happen to Sylvanas in Northrend, the whole Horde might be upset, and considering Jaina may end up in on the action as well, no one's probably safe.Still, even if our leaders get toppled anytime soon, I doubt elections are just around the corner. I don't think we really live in a democracy here-- more like a military dictatorship.
